Why no MOTM Wolf Man reissue??

[Dr.Terror]

Is there a reason we never got a styrene reppop of the MOTM Wolf Man??

[Anton Phibes]

Moebius could've done it, but stated it wouldn't be profitable. Creature is usually the belle of the ball in any UM line, and he underperformed. There are resin re-casts floating around flea markets and the interwebs every now and again though.

[Dr.Terror]

But they thought a Bob Burns kit would be?  Yikes.
 I have the resin, but always prefer styrene.

[Anton Phibes]

From what I understand, the Bob Burns kit did very well. Especially with the after market customizers. They created parts to turn that little guy into King Kong, Robot Monster, Son of Kong, and others.

[Rockshasa]

But they thought a Bob Burns kit would be?

I always thought that model was a case of...the guy that runs the company wanted one of his favorite monsters in styrene.
I didn't understand the appeal of that kit either and passed on it, but then again I've never been a big fan of raging gorilla kits.
I read somewhere that werewolf/wolfman kits don't sell well, maybe that's why the Wolfman never saw the re-pop light of day.

[Dr.Terror]

There are only 2 Aurora Wolfman figure kits.   The original sold good in every repopped form, and they never repopped the other so how would they know Wolfman kits dont sell??

Maybe that new sculpt PL  kit didnt sell, but that kit was bad anyways.   

Its the only major Aurora monster kit not repopped in some form.....and that is a sin.

[MonsterBaker666]

The Monsters Of The Movies kits didn't sell well originally.  Apparently some of the molds did survive and they've been reissued.  It's possible that The Wolf Man molds were damaged or destroyed at some point.  So in order to reissue it they'd have to get hold of an original kit, make new molds, and hope for the best that it sells well enough to offset the expense of making new molds.  That could be a costly gamble. 

[Rockshasa]

There are only 2 Aurora Wolfman figure kits.   The original sold good in every repopped form, and they never repopped the other so how would they know Wolfman kits dont sell?? Its the only major Aurora monster kit not repopped in some form.....and that is a sin.

Wolfman models DO NOT sell well. I can't explain why. I just know that is what I've read. I have been hanging out for years over at the Clubhouse model forums. I asked this very same question quite awhile ago over there. Don't believe me? Read:

http://theclubhouse1.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=123660&sid=96cf88349e605c01d0f81eb424557b55

"Moebius founder Frank Winspur, as I recall, said styrene werewolves were bad sellers and so his planning didn't include any, except for a Curse of the Werewolf that seems to have been canceled when Frank sold the company. If it was common knowledge among styrene producers that werewolves are duds, then that explains why none of them have been interested in the Wolf Man."

[MonsterBaker666]

What werewolf models didn't sell?  I know the original Aurora one sold well at the time.  The entire Monsters Of The Movies line sold poorly.  Polar Lights released a new sculpt...not sure if that was a poor seller or not.  But I've seen LOTS of resin an vinyl kits released throughout the years.  Horizon sold a pretty decent vinyl one.  And they're still making resin kits  including a fairly recent one based on the Aurora box art (both original and glow box art).  If they don't sell someone needs to tell these guys.  Glad NECA didn't hear this.

[Rockshasa]

Well, it's not like werewolf models aren't going to sell at all.
I guess if you're a businessman and you do market research on your product you discover what sells better than something else. I would imagine if you put 20 monster models of each character on a shelf, some are going to sell better than others. Hey, I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the grocery store to buy something I've bought for a long time only to find it's no longer available. I loved Keebler Simply Butter cookies. They were around for years. Recently, they disappeared from grocery store shelves. I wrote Keebler to ask them what happened to my cookie. Their response, it wasn't selling as well as some of their other cookies, so they nixed it. Happens with EVERYTHING!

Bottom line: Nobody wants to produce something that won't sell. And the monster model craze of the 1960's and early 1970's is way over, so we are lucky to get what we have.

In hindsight, my feeling is that somewhere along the line, we will see the MOTM Wolfman repopped again. Nobody ever thought the Monster Scenes line would see the light of day again, along with the Haunted Mansion and Pirate kits. Speaking of which, I was really hoping when the Monster Scenes line came out again that we would see newer kits being added. We got some, but I was hoping for more, and then it ended as quickly as it began.

[Rockshasa]

Polar Lights released a new sculpt...not sure if that was a poor seller or not.

Randy Bowen sculpt. Yep, I built it. It was not a fun kit to build. Bad fitting parts. Had to do alot of work on it. That clump of dirt under his right foot I made of milliPutty. He was leaning too far forward and wasn't standing straight (looked like he was falling over). Despite how much I hated working on it, it's one of my fave build-ups. And I don't think it sold well either. I don't ever remember seeing it in a hobby store. I believe there was also a resin version of it as well. My kit:

[Anton Phibes]

The tiny little styrene plastic version of this kit doesn't do justice to the 1/4 scale garage kit Bowen released. The 1/4 scale cold cast porcelain doesn't either. As a lot of detail got lost for some reason when the kit went from garage kit to licensed.

[Rockshasa]

It's a nasty kit. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[MonsterBaker666]

I remember reading that Frank from Moebius Models initially said the Monster Scenes kits he initially released didnt sell well, so I figured I wouldnt see the other kits released from that line, but then they did release the other kits (including Vampirella).  So here was someone saying "poor sales" yet later on released more kits in the line. 

And what are "poor sales"? Universal wouldn't release a lit of films because they said that they wouldnt sell enough to make it profitable.   Yet they licensed the films to Scream Factory who released many volumes of these films.  Poor sales to Universal was sales profitable to continue releasing them from Scream Factory.

[Dr.Terror]

Poor Sales or not, I just think its silly to have not repopped it to compkete the line.   Maybe the  Mutant will make folks realize they need Wolf.