What Toy Would YOU Like To See Brought Back?

[Dr.Terror]

Thats the thing, if there is a way to make something available to everyone not just serious collectors then why not do it.   I've always felt that if an item is cool, it's cool regardless of how old the plastic it's made from is, or who owned it or what was done with it.   I look at it like albums , movies etc..Here is a good example..Comic Books  Should only 2-3 people be able to read Action Comics #1 just because they are Serious  Collectors?   Imagine if they never re-printed that?
Certain lower priced items would be senseless to reproduce, but it's the Mega bucks items that would be cool to see.   A perfect example are the Don Post Reissues, say what you will about them, but there is no way in the world anyone but the most serious collectors could have them had it not been for the re-issues.   There are just some Iconic items that should not be only available to folks with deep pockets.   

I'm so glad Big Frankie will now be available to Everyone, not just serious collectors.



And when I say repro, I'm talking about actual production items, done in the same way the original was.   Not fan made glued cardboard and resin heads. 

[Toy Ranch]

  I've always felt that if an item is cool, it's cool regardless of how old the plastic it's made from is, or who owned it or what was done with it.   

And that's fine that you feel that way.  I think those things are important, and they are some of the reasons I collect. 

[poseablemonster]

Repros displayed 'twixt vintage real kinda cheapens the neighborhood, I think. 

Monster Bob
UMA pimp

Well, I guess my rent is going down.

[Wich2]

Friend Bobby-

Well writ overall, sir.

>I don't feel that repros devalue vintage toys, and that has nothing to do with it.  I don't mind that they are made, I just don't care about them and they don't hold any interest for me personally.<

Fair 'nuff.

>I collect toys for several reasons, one is the shape and color.  From a simple artistic standpoint as pop culture icons, I like to look at them.<

A (really good) Repro shares this with a Vintage, of course -


> Beyond that, for me vintage toys have a historic reference, and a personal historic reference as many of them I remember from childhood and they are touchstones to my past.<

- but obviously, this is one characteristic only Vintage can have.

I'm glad "archive" reprints of Kubert's divine TARZAN comics are out there, for new readers; but I'd rather read the old pulpy originals, ads, LOC, & all.

>It may sound corny, but I can feel something from vintage toys that reproductions just don't have.<

All Truth sounds corny. And this is why I've always said, the timeworn original you still have from your OWN past is most valuable of all - FAR beyond the cherriest, arid MIB replacement.

>I simply do not buy the idea that reproductions devalue originals.  People who seriously collect original vintage toys are not satisfied with reproductions.<

Exactly.

>People were paying $3000 for a $20 reproduction that had been weathered a little.  I don't want to see that happen to this hobby.<

You can no more perfectly prevent that from happening in this field, than in any other. You'll never eliminate Human Greed.

Both on the part of the seller - and let's be honest - sometimes on the part of the buyer. W.C. Fields wasn't TOTALLY right when he said, "you can't cheat an honest man"; but he did have a point. Folks have often been burned because they were trying to get something for nothing, or worse, beat out their fellow collectors.

Best,
-Craig W.

[Toy Ranch]

>It may sound corny, but I can feel something from vintage toys that reproductions just don't have.<

All Truth sounds corny. And this is why I've always said, the timeworn original you still have from your OWN past is most valuable of all - FAR beyond the cherriest, arid MIB replacement.

For you, that's true.  For me, it's often true, but not always.  There are things that are equally or more important to me now than some of the toys leftover from childhood, for various reasons.  Doc Terror said something about Big Frankie, suggesting it's important to him, and he was born long after Big Frankie left the store shelves. 

>People were paying $3000 for a $20 reproduction that had been weathered a little.  I don't want to see that happen to this hobby.<

You can no more perfectly prevent that from happening in this field, than in any other. You'll never eliminate Human Greed.

Both on the part of the seller - and let's be honest - sometimes on the part of the buyer. W.C. Fields wasn't TOTALLY right when he said, "you can't cheat an honest man"; but he did have a point. Folks have often been burned because they were trying to get something for nothing, or worse, beat out their fellow collectors.

Best,
-Craig W.

No, you can't prevent it...  but the title of this thread is "What Toy Would YOU Like To See Brought Back?"  Personally, I don't care if any of them are brought back.  I wouldn't pay $20 for a reproduction of that bank.  I had an $817 snipe set up to try and win it.  That's how much the vintage one is worth to me, and how little a reproduction would be worth to me.  I don't have any hard feelings about others being willing to pay more.  If it were in better shape, if I hadn't just paid a big tax bill, I would have bid a lot more.  If it were reproduced, it would not change my desire to add a vintage one to my collection.  If the reproductions were manipulated to appear in photos on the internet to be vintage, I think that would be a shame, and I'd hate to see that happen to the hobby.  I personally cannot understand why anyone would want a reproduction of that toy, but I accept there are people who would.  If you're buying new toys, there are lots of new toys that are vastly more appealing than that one. 

[raycastile]

I'm "guilty" of owning some Don Post calendar mask reissues.  Like Aurora reissuing its own kits, DP already reissued most of those masks, in some cases three or four times.  These were just the latest reissue.  And I'm sure we'll see them all again.  They seem to pop up at least once a decade, so we're about due.  But I didn't buy the DP reissues as low-cost replacements for the originals.  I like them as DP masks in their own right.  They can stand on their own.  Maybe the fact that it was DP itself that reissued them makes them seem more legit.  There are lots of privately made pulls from DP masks floating around, but they don't interest me because they were not manufactured and sold by Don Post Studios.

[Dr.Terror]

I can assure you, based on the licensing involved with those calendar masks, you won't be seeing them re-issued again. Not anytime soon thats for sure.
The thing that was so special about the Don Post re-issues is that was the first time the "Version A" or Calender masks had been made commercially available since the 60's.  The Versions As were never re-issued prior to that.

Thats why Big Frankie is such a big deal.   The re-issuing on the monster scenes is also very exciting.

[Toy Ranch]

I can assure you, based on the licensing involved with those calendar masks, you won't be seeing them re-issued again. Not anytime soon thats for sure.
The thing that was so special about the Don Post re-issues is that was the first time the "Version A" or Calender masks had been made commercially available since the 60's.  The Versions As were never re-issued prior to that.

Thats why Big Frankie is such a big deal.   The re-issuing on the monster scenes is also very exciting.

I'm pretty certain that Don Post was not owned by Paper Magic when those Calendar reissues were done, and Paper Magic owns the Universal mask license, so it may not be quite so complicated today.  That said, the molds were mostly reworked or recreated from scratch on those reissue masks, so in a way they are reproductions too.  Some of them are more accurate than others, but NONE of them look like production masks from the 60's and 70's.  Personally, I look at them the same way I look at Sideshow stuff.  I've been buying masks of B Movie Monsters, and so instead of the Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster figure, I have a mask and hands.  Instead of a Teenage Frankenstein figure, I have a Teenage Frankenstein mask.  I like the masks better than the figures, but that's just personal preference.  I don't have the same connection to the Don Post reissues I have as I do with the original Don Post masks though.  If I didn't have a built up Big Frankie, I would probably buy one and build him.  I might do that anyway, just for the fun of building a Big Frankie, but for me it's not the same as the vintage Big Frankie. 

[kklloo]

I've been buying masks of B Movie Monsters, and so instead of the Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster figure, I have a mask and hands.  Instead of a Teenage Frankenstein figure, I have a Teenage Frankenstein mask.  I like the masks better than the figures, but that's just personal preference.  I don't have the same connection to the Don Post reissues I have as I do with the original Don Post masks though.   

   I agree with Toy Ranch here. I have masks instead of certain figures as well as figures instead of masks. There are also times where I have posters, " I Married a Monster From Outer Space" instead of either. To each their own. I am not knocking reissues or anything, just feel the hunt of the item and the nostalgic feel to an original supersedes the repro. I do have some Tin Toy repros, Flash Gordon Rocket Ship, Some Robots and friction guns, but would rather have an original. 

[Monster Bob]

Collecting is a very individual thing, and while there is nothing wrong with collecting new or repros, as far as monster toys go for me, it's not the reason I do it. It is the euphoria of owning an artifact from past that happens to survive, not simply buying something.

 To me, collecting vintage monsters is like collecting vintage wine or something, not about 'filling holes', but about procuring good pieces to enhance the collection.

Vintage collecting is not about quantity either. Many years ago, I took something a former monster head (as we called ourselves) Mark Karpinski taught me to heart, and I've never forgotten it. He would say [as far as collecting vintage anything goes- paraphrasing here] that he would 'rather have a collection room with five really nice pieces, than a room full of new crap'. I'm not talking strictly monster toys here-which was a new thing then- but anything old and collected.  Not trying to offend anyone here, because collecting new stuff is great if that's what you like, but it a whole different world than collecting strictly vintage pieces. I can certainly enjoy new stuff, but I don't HAVE to own it. And as I said a couple of days ago, with the way they price new items nowadays (hello, Sideshow), it makes it much easier to say "I'll pass...".

Collect what makes you happy, but I try not to fall in love with something [esp. newly made] just because it happens to represent a Universal Monster.


OK, the crotchety old man is done preaching... 



.

[Toy Ranch]

Collecting is a very individual thing, and while there is nothing wrong with collecting new or repros, as far as monster toys go for me, it's not the reason I do it. It is the euphoria of owning an artifact from past that happens to survive, not simply buying something.

 To me, collecting vintage monsters is like collecting vintage wine or something, not about 'filling holes', but about procuring good pieces to enhance the collection.

Vintage collecting is not about quantity either. Many years ago, I took something a former monster head (as we called ourselves) Mark Karpinski taught me to heart, and I've never forgot it. He would say [as far as collecting vintage anything goes- paraphrasing here] that he would 'rather have a collection room with five really nice pieces, than a room full of new crap'.

I agree with the sentiment, but frankly the only people I've ever heard express it are people who are advanced collectors with many really nice pieces.  The collecting journey almost always starts with lower end stuff and grows as the collectors tastes become more refined through experience.  The first time you get that really nice piece it starts to make the rest of your stuff look like crap.  Some people come to this along the way, and some don't.  Woe be unto those who do... 

[Monster Bob]

Yup, and that's what controlled, thought-out collecting is about. Having the discipline to say 'I want this but not that'.

It's also about pruning (selling off) and stepping up to better pieces, no matter how hard that is. Being of limited funds, I tend to 'weed the garden' when I think I need to, whether it's because I'm tired of something, or more often, need the money for something I like better (!) 

Oh, and did I mention that this takes a looooong time......?!   

[Monster Bob]

Just thought of something. Having dealt in all types of antiques and collectibles and with all types of collectors, monster collectors in particular are amongst the least likely of collectors to 'sell off' good pieces. No matter what they paid for it, or what they are (reasonably) offered, they don't sell good pieces often. I always found this a frustrating part of the hobby, and makes collecting the genre a little tougher. Unfortunately for me, I have always had to sell off, just to participate.

[Toy Ranch]

Just thought of something. Having dealt in all types of antiques and collectibles and with all types of collectors, monster collectors in particular are amongst the least likely of collectors to 'sell off' good pieces. No matter what they paid for it, or what they are (reasonably) offered, they don't sell good pieces often. I always found this a frustrating part of the hobby, and makes collecting the genre a little tougher. Unfortunately for me, I have always had to sell off, just to participate.

I don't know Bob.  Seems like there's always good stuff coming up for sale.  More than I can keep up with for sure.

[Toy Ranch]

Here's an example of the difference mask-wise...

Reissue


Original