In keeping with the Monster Toy theme, I thought I'd share two of my favorite toys that we created at Sideshow so many years ago. They make their appearance every Halloween and take their designated spot inside a blow molded witches' cauldron in front of the fireplace. There they sit, arms around one another hanging out like 'besties'...staring at me while I watch television. Those two never fail to put a smile on my face.
I love them for a number of reasons. The first being the fact they are the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolf Man - 'DUH!'
The second reason, the sweet smell of victory. This product was a REALLY tough sell with Universal at the time as well as internally. Up until this point we had been making 8" Tall action figures, 3" Tall figures we called Little Big Heads, Polystone Bobble Heads and had begun making 12" dolls based on the Classic Universal Monsters - and we were pretty successful doing that. I wanted to start branching out and create new lines, and basically make some fun toys. It had always been my dream to make a large oversized Big Frankie doll along the lines of Aurora's classic GIANT model kit, Gigantic Frankenstein (or Big Frankie like everyone called him) from 1964. This idea wasn't exactly universally accepted at first-people thought I was nuts. The general consensus was to stick with what we know and do best, and not experiment too much...make more of the same.
I couldn't do that, so I did a few sketches. I played around with a look/style that I liked and figured out the best way to make it the cheapest way possible but still maintain a level of quality that we were cultivating at the time. Luckily my partner at the time, Mat Falls (Head Sculptor), saw the merit in my designs and thought it would be a nice change of pace for him to sculpt. To his credit he knocked it out of the park. It is by far my favorite piece he sculpted back then - that and the Wolfie Pozer. Once it was sculpted, people started to get behind it. But he really started to come together once he was painted. My original concept had him painted like your standard 1960's vinyl toy, BUT when I saw the amount of surface detail Mat had put into the final sculpt (that was all him, my original design was more stylized) it would have been a sin not to show it off. The new direction would be to make this thing look like a painted statute, make him creepy as hell and really push the capabilities of our factory to match the paint master. They did, and the results speak for themselves...he came out amazing.
The Frankie Pozer was complete and ready to be peddled to the 'big' retailers for orders. At 18" tall he was the biggest thing we ever made and the most expensive. Luckily the initial order was well received by my fellow monster nerds and sold out rather quickly much to my delight. This prompted for the quick creation of our Pozer line (because they had wire in their arms and legs for posing), so I quickly drew up concepts for the Wolf Man, Creature, Mummy & Dracula (trying to find them so I can share later).
We quickly noticed that after the initial success of Frankie, we began to seriously struggle with convincing the retailers reordering our monster lines. Items were selling out in a week and the pegs were bare, what the hell aren't they recording more action figures and Pozers? They all felt that monster toys were a SEASONAL item and had a very small sales window...4th quarter only. This was in 1999-2001, a very different time than now when it comes to selling these kind of items, AND our subjects were 70 years old, not the latest blockbuster movie. They just didn't get it. They didn't see our products the same way we did. We believed them to be an 'evergreen product', a product line you could sell year round. EVERYONE knows who these characters are, these characters are engrained into everyone's DNA for Christ sake! You didn't have to see the films to know who they were. Sadly they didn't understand, they didn't know the fan base and the fact that it wasn't children buying these items...so we eventually stopped selling to them and cultivated the web business and focused on 'Mom & Pop' & Comicbook shops.
That is why the Pozer line quietly went away when it did. We no longer had the initial preorders that we used to get from TRU etc, that the factory needs to produce the item at the price and quality we needed. The smaller shops just couldn't order the same numbers (item took up too much shelf space) and web commerce was still in it's infancy, so our reach wasn't where it needed to be at the time. So my beloved Pozer line died after we made Wolfie. I was bummed, but for a short time I felt vindicated, like I knew what I was talking about...I was just a little too early for my own good.
But out of the ashes of the Pozer line grew another line of products that is still going today, and I'll talk about that one another time.
The original marker & pencil concept sketch that was submitted to Universal Studios for approval.
Holiday Frankie concept. I basically traced the original drawing and added a Santa Hat and added a candy cane - how's that for HIGH concept?! Anyway, we actually prototyped that one and displayed him at Toy Fair coming out of chimney, so I'm sure there are images floating around somewhere. He came out really cool, but unfortunately we never produced him...
My Bed Time Buddy/Sleepy Time Frankie concept. The idea was to make a retro doll with a 'Nite-light' feature that kids (or grown men) could take to bed with them. This was going to be a 'Big Box Retailer exclusive item...but alas, twas not to be for various reasons.
MY FAVORITE, and the one I'm most disappointed about not producing. Biker Frankie or Fink Frankie as I liked to call him. Once again, traced the original design and dressed him up to be a Biker thug. I still believe in my heart of hearts this would have been pure Gold. Universal kicked this idea to the curb, but that's a WHOLE different story.
Sadly, Wolfie was the last of the Pozers...another great sculpt by Mat based on my drawings. We were a good team on these guys. I was really hoping to do the Creature from the Black Lagoon next...THAT one would have been epic.
This guy is highly collectible if you can find him, I'm just saying...not too many of him were made.
Gee, I wonder where Ray Villafane got the idea for THIS pumpkin...
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