The awful Aurora Vampirella sculpt!

[Hepcat]

In the sixties Aurora released a wealth of figure kits which were characterized by magnificent sculpts. For example:



The above by Redking.



The above by StyreneDude.

Then in 1971 as part of the Monster Scenes line Aurora released a simply abominable Vampirella sculpt:



The above by Jim Bertges.

Let's see, a hairstyle that resembles that of Alfalfa of the Little Rascals, teeth with an Alfred E. Neuman type gap, thick toneless arms, breasts that look like bolt-ons fifteen years before these became omnipresent, and thighs and hips like a horse. Even the bat in the Aurora sculpt looks like a hamster wearing fake rubber wings. Just very crude overall.

The Vampirella sculpt actually looks like some buffoon copied Frank Frazetta's cover art for Vampirella 1 which was actually Frazetta's most miserable effort for Warren:



Although perhaps Frazetta's cover can be defended as a surrealistic representational piece.

Anyway what happened? Who was the butcher at Aurora who did the sculpt? Did the regular sculptor's secretary fill in for him on the Vampirella while he was out to lunch or something?

Does anyone know? Because I still think the schmuck should be tracked down and jailed for his "effort".

[Anton Phibes]

You are going to find yourself in the minority in bashing The Monster Scenes kits. Yes, it's true. They weren't nearly as nice or refined as the first Aurora Monsters...I  will give you that. But with proper paints the kits shine. Even Vampi. They have a strong following, Hep.

[Gory Glenn]

Wow, I absolutely love this Mummy by StyreneDude!

[FrankFan95]

Yeah not a big fan of that kit at all. Looks ugly even with a good paint job it still looks off.

[Anton Phibes]

Guys, you do realize that if we wanted to we could make a thread bashing nearly every Vintage Monster toy as being off...right? Aurora's Wolfman is a perfect example. He was never shirtless in any films, he never wore Ollie Reed's get up from Curse of the Werewolf, His feet were never flat in the film, etc,etc,etc. Doesn't stop me from loving the kit. Die Hard Monster Scenes fans feel the same way about these kits.

[Hepcat]

Aurora's Wolfman is a perfect example. He was never shirtless in any films, he never wore Ollie Reed's get up from Curse of the Werewolf, His feet were never flat in the film, etc,etc,etc.

All beside the point. Who says Wolf Man has to look like some movie star? James Bama drew him as he saw him that night and the box art is beyond cool. And the sculpt wasn't too bad either although I guess Wolf Man didn't hold still long enough for the sculptor to get his ears right.



But how did whoever sculpted the Aurora kit make a lithesome beauty like Vampirella look so crude and awkward?

[Anton Phibes]

Well, he clearly didn't follow the beautiful cover or sketch, but its pretty close to the artwork done for the box.

[Vandor_Zorkov]

Does the Vampi kit look like she's commonly been depicted in artwork? Not really.

Does it look like a pretty realistic version of an naturally voluptuous woman with some meat on her vs a supermodel stick figure with overinflated breasts?  Yep, it does! And that ain't a bad thing, as far as it goes.

[Jimi Bat]

Wow, that's an absolutely lovely paint job on Vampi in post two.

[Mike Scott]

How come the right arm is straight on one kit and bent on the other? Did the kit come with 2 right arms?

[Anton Phibes]

2 sets of arms. Inter change type.

[Mike Scott]

2 sets of arms.

Thanks! Figured that must be it.

[FrankFan95]

Guys, you do realize that if we wanted to we could make a thread bashing nearly every Vintage Monster toy as being off...right? Aurora's Wolfman is a perfect example. He was never shirtless in any films, he never wore Ollie Reed's get up from Curse of the Werewolf, His feet were never flat in the film, etc,etc,etc. Doesn't stop me from loving the kit. Die Hard Monster Scenes fans feel the same way about these kits.

I'm not a big fan as I stated of the Vampirella kit but I still do live the vintage kits because of the time they were made in. I let accuracy go because they are just fun. Not trying to bash anything in all honesty but Vampirella isn't my favorite.

[Anton Phibes]

She isnt mine either. Aside from the MS kit, I have nothing of the character. MS kits were such a bizarre amalgamation of Universal Monsters, Original idea, and Warren publishing it would be a licensing nightmare today. They were truly 70's mod fun.

[Hepcat]

They were truly 70's mod fun.

Yeah, but Snap-Together kits were big in the seventies and I think one of the reasons why the Vampirella sculpt was so crude was so the parts could easily snap together.



Meanwhile I just thought the whole Snap-Together concept was dumbing down model building. I still refuse to admit any Snap-Together kits into my model collection.