Frankenstein's Monster & Hunchbacked Man

Dr. Victor Frankenstein's infamous flesh golem and his diminutive deformed ally serve together as the "boss" of Level 4.3 (Stage 12 in the game's numbering system) in Konami's 1987 Castlevania Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game (original 1986 Japanese Famicom title: "Akumajou Dorakyura", or, in English: "Demon Castle Dracula".) Frankenstein's Monster and Hunchbacked Men (more often known as Flea Men) make appearances in many of the installments of the Castlevania franchise, but their short-lived partnership in the original NES outing is arguably their most memorable.

Like normal Hunchbacked Men, the one that accompanies Frankenstein's Monster moves quickly and can leap incredible distances. However, unlike the typical specimen, this Hunchbacked Man also has the ability to toss an unlimited number of projectiles at the protagonist, Simon Belmont, and, even worse, cannot be destroyed. Any attacks that Simon successfully lands on this invincible midget will briefly stun the Hunchbacked Man, but that's all. Needless to say, wise players will instead focus their assault on the curiously passive Monster, who is vulnerable to injury (he just plods back-and-forth, without attacking, although physical contact with the Monster will damage the player.) The Hunchbacked Man is really nothing more than an annoying, albeit deadly, distraction.

It should be noted that this special Hunchbacked Man is usually referred to as "Igor" in the West. When one considers Castlevania's overall theme, and that the game's rendition of the Monster is based on Boris Karloff's iconic portrayal from Universal's 1931 Frankenstein film, that's not an unreasonable assumption to make. However, the original Famicom instruction manual does not give a unique name for the creature, simply labeling him as a generic "Semushi Otoko" (Japanese for "Hunchbacked Man").

Materials:
Newsprint, white glue, acrylic paint, super glue, plastic, dog hair, plastic, and a wire twist tie.

Dimensions
(Frankenstein's Monster) 2.8 cm / 1.1 in. x 4.7 cm / 1.9 in. (widest point x highest point)
(Hunchbacked Man) 2.0 cm / 0.8 in. x 2.1 cm / 0.8 in. (widest point x highest point)
(Mounted Together) 3.9 cm / 1.5 in. x 6.9 cm / 2.7 in. (widest point x highest point)

Time:
Three days: October 11-13, 2012.
I modeled the Frankenstein's Monster figure on the eleventh and the Hunchbacked Man figure on the twelfth. I did all of the finishing touches, including painting and mounting them on their respective stands, on the thirteenth.

Frankenstein/Hunchbacked Man entry from the Japanese Famicom Demon Castle Dracula instruction manual, which reads "Furankenshutain to Semushi Otoko - Bosu - (5,000) Semushi Otoko ga tama o nage te kuru no de kanari muzukashii." My rough translation of that into English, with some help from Bing's Translator: "Frankenstein & Hunchbacked Man - Boss - (5,000) Hunchbacked Man throws grenades and is fairly difficult."

Pictured above are a couple of screenshots, enlarged 200%, of the Frankenstein's Monster & Hunchbacked Man boss battle. The first depicts them as the fight begins, with the Hunchbacked Man perched on the Monster's shoulder. The second shows the battle well underway with the Hunchbacked Man doing what he does best: Leaping madly about peppering Simon with fireballs. Meanwhile, the Monster plods mindlessly back and forth.

  

Animated gifs, enlarged 400%, that I made using GIMP, of the Frankenstein and Hunchbacked Man sprites.

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Any and all copyrighted imagery, terminology, etc., depicted here belongs to its respective holders/owners, namely Konami.
The repeating background graphic is composed of masonry tiles from the game.
The midi music playing is the "Walking on the Edge" track from the fourth stage of Castlevania.