The "They left us too young" thread: IE cancelled toys shown at shows or in mags

[Anton Phibes]

The recent discovery I made of an old thread (at Hobby Talk forums) got me thinking.  The thread discussed the Sunday circular ad, and subsequent cancellation, of a Hawthorne lighted village. The subject was Psycho. There have been quite a few things, in this glorious information age, that have made it to prototypes being displayed...and then vanish forever. I know we have all talked about an item here or an item there....but I thought I would make a thread. Specifically to cite the ones that got away that bug me the most. Feel free to add any items I am not aware of.  Here are the ones that pain me the most. My top "unlucky 7". The last two being the most devastating.

7. LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 3  Seven Inch Figure: this one bugs me because my younger son was really into this character at the time. He would ask me repeatedly "when". Then, he got older, and stopped asking. Kind of sad.



6. UNIVERSAL MONSTER ARMY MEN VILLAGERS: These were a super cool novelty that reminded me a great deal of Marx monsters. It was a sad day when they became KIA.



5. DAWN OF THE DEAD: ROGER ZOMBIE: My son's favorite zombie film. We met the cast. This would have been an awesome item to have in both my collection and my kids's as well.



4. THE RING ACTION FIGURE AND WELL DIORAMA: As there is no merchandising for this character that I am aware of, I wonder why this one was dumped? I cannot recall if it was supposed to be a NECA project or SOTA. Regardless, I certainly would've snagged one.



3. IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE 1/6 SCALE FIGURE: Amok Time Toys. Martin has heard me yelp about this one more than anyone else. I was more than a tad annoyed it when it was announced as scrapped.



2. "THE" LUNCHBOX: What can any of us add here? This was probably the one that soured every member here on bright eyed optimism regarding prototypes being shown off.... without things already set in order for production to begin. This one is almost tied for my #1 unproduced item. One that everyone here can guess, based on the pining I have done for her, and the lamenting after her confirmed "death".



1. MRS. BATES MEZCO FIGURE: This one did something that no other toy company could accomplish....planning to add a stuffed "doll" style figure to my collection. But alas, she was not meant to be. Thus my post comes somewhat full circle. It was a cancelled  "Psycho"  item that led me to this thought, and so we end the post with a cancelled Psycho item.

It seems like a film this popular would have  more merchandising.



There are other things from other genres (EMCE Vina and Nurse Chapel, Art Asylum Salt Vampire and Sarek, NECA Shredder and Foot soldiers Mirage comics versions, and others.), but these are the top 7 that caused me a few gray hairs,lol. What about you? What announced and prototyped itm were you jazzed for that didn't...."make the cut" as it were?

[Mord]

This is really heartbreaking,  Anton.

[Mike Scott]

Hawthorne's "Monster Matinee" never got produced.

[Mike Scott]

Jakks Pacific was going to follow up there series 1 (Frank, Drac, WM) with a second series of The Creature, The Invisible Man and a Kharis Mummy. Series 3 would have had a Metaluna Mutant and another Frankenstein monster.

[Lazarus]

I believe either Figma or SH Figuarts produced a Ringu figure.  I think she even comes out of a tv.  The one in the photo is the scrapped NECA Cult Classics figure, isn't it?

And it would figure that two products that wanted to do a Kharis mummy didn't live to see the light of day.

[Anton Phibes]

Ahhh yes....Jakks Pacific monsters. I nearly forgot that wave was shown!! I really liked the Kharis and Creature in those pix. I saw those Monster Matinee unpainted prototype figures for sale on ebay once (no theatre though). Seems like a lot of good items got shelved due to either lack of orders or interest.

[Wolfman]

Monarch models The Fly kit.  Only salvation is Moebius is supposed to do one. Fingers crossed.

JP

[Anton Phibes]

Yes....the Monarch Models Fly kit was another awesome display that just never made it out of the gate and into our hands. I saw the box for it at Wonderfest. I have one of the boxes in my collection.

[the_horror_man]

That Dawn of the Dead Roger looks amazing. Why was that not released? Also, as we discussed, the situation with Mrs Bates was just terrible. Also worth mentioning was the cancellation of the An American Werewolf in London figures. However, we are now, in fact, going to get a David, Jack and the Werewolf in action figure form. Also, a large statue of the werewolf. Back to Roger for a moment. If I did not have this custom Roger 1/6 figure, I would be even more disappointed at them cancelling the figure.

thm

[Anton Phibes]

Your Roger custom is beautiful. I never really know what the reasons are why some things are cancelled. my only speculation is perceived lack of interest. Sometimes those perceptions are wrong. In the case of things like the lunchbox....who really knows? The EMCE lunchbox and Mezco's  Mrs. Bates will forever be my top 2 "ones that got away" for me I think. The lunchbox primarily because the Wolfman was featured so prominently (and correctly), and Mrs. Bates because, well....she's Mrs. Bates . Nuff said.

Perhaps Mezco will do Psycho in their 1:12 stuff. Make a whole big diorama (doll house style) Bates house,lol. It might ease the pain of Mrs. bates's demise....but only a tad,lol. 

[Anton Phibes]

While not technically cancelled....its definitely been a lengthy delay, and could very well wind up so limited that it may be considered as such by most collectors: Shrunken Head Studios Creepshow figures. Announced and pre-orders started nearly 5 years ago. No one has one yet. Thing is: all the toys and displays in this thread are super cool. Some cooler than product that actually made it to market. Its mind boggling.



Then there's the tragedy of NECA's Planet of the Apes line. One of the franchise's finest hours in my opinion. Sculpts were great. The only problem; no humans were made. Here's prototypes that never made it into our hands, that one die hard POTA fan is trying to gauge interest in a possible subscription style program:

[the_horror_man]

That Jaks Creature looked great. Also, I have been following the Creepshow Nate situation for about 5 years. At one point, I had an order in for like 5 months. This was almost 2 years ago. I ended up asking for a refund which he did give me. After 5 years, he has finally posted some of the work, so there might be hope.

thm

[Sir Spooks-A-Lot]

While not technically cancelled....its definitely been a lengthy delay, and could very well wind up so limited that it may be considered as such by most collectors: Shrunken Head Studios Creepshow figures. Announced and pre-orders started nearly 5 years ago. No one has one yet. Thing is: all the toys and displays in this thread are super cool. Some cooler than product that actually made it to market. Its mind boggling.



Did you pre-order one too?
I've been keeping track on his facebook page turns out a lot of stuff has been happening he has very recently been posting videos of his progress and so over 300 and something has been pre-ordered. The thing is its a literal one man show. The Figure was supposed to be factory produced then they jacked up the price for production after finally getting the license to make the figures ( more are planned) so Brian made Bits and pieces a 1/6 horror accessory pack to help raise money for the raised costs then the factory they raised the price even more. Brian decided to ditch the factory and make every thing himself and the figures made on order. so he roughly has over 300 pre-order figures to make and his including a Nate's tombstone as a bonus to those who pre-ordered it when it was $97. Brian is planning once everything is done to allow people to order Nathaniel again. I think you already know this Anton but just in case for those who don't know about the current status of Nathaniel.

[Anton Phibes]

I watched the video on his Facebook channel. He states he had to "let some expenses go" like the website... in order to attempt to make the figure happen. That's never a good sign. I wish him the best. I anticipate the worst . Time will tell.

[Anton Phibes]

SOTA made some nice things. I have a few of their items in my collection. Darkman, Jeepers Creepers, and The Mummy remake figures all reside in my small modern monster movies section. They did have more planned, but sadly--SOTA seems to have dropped off the horror toy radar. I am not sure if they closed up shop or not, but they showed some nice items that never made it to collectors.

SOTA Now Playing Series 4:









They also planned The Fog remake figure (why they didn't shoot for the original is a mystery since most hated the remake) and the Anubis creature from Mummy Returns.



The Hellraiser series of figures seemed to make cenobites that no one cared about,lol. Yet this extremely interesting creature from the first film never made his way to fans. Bummer.




Then there's this beauty that never saw the light of day:




and even though Blacula finally did get released (an excellent figure), we are down 2 portraits/ Saved here for posterity.