I debated for hours if I wanted to let anyone know how much of a bonehead i was. well im A BONEHEAD!
This popped up on ebay a couple weeks ago. this was his picture on ebay.
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6012/5994821709_8b2cc593c9_m.jpg)
It had a starting bid of $20 and i got exited..... I remember going into Woolworths as a child and seeing this on the shelf in the fish department. I would always pick it up and imagine it in the bottom of my fish tank. my mom however wouldnt even consider buying it for me. just go pick out a toy shed say. im not paying for something that sits in a fish tank, she'd say. (which i dont understand as i remember having a scuba diver, and a ship, and a pirate skeleton aquarium ornaments growing up, which she paid for! I think she may have had something against the creature.)
Anyway, ive seen these sell for high denero in the past,just out of reach. i dont need a boxed one . (although very cool) i just wanted one. The auction header stated CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON STATUE. AND THATS ALL THE DESCRIPTION SAID. the picture on the surface seemed legit. i had no reason to think otherwise. the feet seemed a different color and no tube protuding from his Bum though. i thought the tube got pulled out and the feet may have been a production thing?I looked at his other auctions, i thought immediately, He doesnt know what this is! (i now know better) so In my uncontrollable excitement and pure bloodlust for a creature ornament I emailed the seller asking if he would consider selling with a buy it now. He replied back and the auction had a bid on it, but he said hed consider an offer. I was then trying to decide how much was the right amount. i didnt want to offer him to low a price and have to re offer and i didnt want to pay too much, i wanted a decent deal. So I offered him $70. he then wrote that he would end the auction and i could pay him through paypal, I normally would never do this due to the chance of not getting your item and not being protected through ebay. but i did it! I wanted this thing. I asked in return he provedie me with a tracking number, which he did. And after 8 days of waiting i finnally recieved the package. I was exuberent! i popped out the knife cut the tape on the box and pulled out a bubble wrapped creature! Then i began unwrapping it, as it lay in my hand with its wrapping falling to the floor I came to the realization I had been duped! My mind could not comprehend what i was seeing. it initially looked like a penn plax but the waist did not move, but had a black painted line on it!it was fairly heavy and as i looked on the bottom the plastic legs were glued to the base. these are my pictures!
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6145/5995379806_c27cecbb59.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6130/5995380300_4fd797a26e_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5994822337_1896eb2246_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6132/5994821797_5c9567dec6_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6130/5995379976_6edbf2bcb6.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6002/5994822663_79a639c412_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5995380140_a773074cac.jpg)
I was crushed. Eveything i had done went through my mind all at once. the questionable picture, the vague description. it being tooo good to be true! Now I have had a few shady deals on ebay in the past, But nothing like this! i knew immediately i was stuck with it. (i bought it outside of ebay) DOH!
but over the last few days i have come to terms with it. (except the fact i still need to purchase a real penn plax creature from somewhere still.) :( Whether the seller knew or not, and if he did it was wrong . but in the end Its my fault, i set myself up. I decided to tell my story here because i thought if it had'nt happened to me I would want to know about it so it didnt. i normally examine everything and am very carful what i buy, but i was blinded by want and rushed into this without thinking. So creature and all other toy buyers remember to beware there are some pretty believable fakes floating around.
as for my creature hes still gonna get displayed. I have a vintage slate bottomed chrome frame aquarium i had been waiting to put my creature in, (no water of course). and he will hopefully someday have a companion in there with him. he will be a reminder to me to watch as closely as possible what you spend your money on, and dont get so exited you dont forget to use your head!
as for specs on this creature--- he has no joints, solid from head to base.
weighs in at 4.880 ounces.
6 1/2 inches from the base feet to the top of his head.
made of resin im guessing? he has lines across the bottom of the base almost like a factory cut piece.
its a good casting, painted green with gold fins and bloody claws.
the base is painted with orange and green lines.
the claws are pieces of wire molded into the hands.
im guessing its a homemade peice. but if anyone here has seen one of these before or knows anything different please let us know!( Maybe it could be a preproduction sample that the penn plax creature was created from?)
Now im a delusional bonehead!!!HAHA!
Please feel free to tell us any buys that you have made that werent what you thought they were gonna be, or just plain BONEHEAD BUYS! I for one will understand, and would love to hear your story. maybe it will help me feel better!
Lol, that's awesome!
There is another thread from a UMA member trying to sell a Penn Plax Creature. You two should be talking to each other.
About this statue, I've seen resin copies of the Penn Plax before. I think that is what you have.
If a seemingly cool piece on eBay is not generating the level of bidding you would expect, there is usually a reason.
Yeah, there are even resin copies that come inside a reproduction of the box, too. Still, it looks pretty cool, but it should have stated that it's a solid resin piece.
The only time I got burned on eBay was the very first transaction I ever made. Some guy claimed to have a bootleg recording of Stevie Ray Vaughan's very last performance. There is a nice soundboard recording of the day's show *before* his last concert, but no recordings of his very last show were thought to have existed. Needless to say I jumped in feet first. I think I only paid around $20 but got this cd with an extremely muddy sounding SRV concert. No way to prove if it was his last at Alpine Valley or not. The sound on that cd was CRAP!
Since then a couple recordings have surfaced purporting to be his last show, which are freely traded in trading circles.
Buyer beware!!! :P
Mike, did you catch the profile of rock photographer Robert Knight on PBS a few months ago titled ''Rock Prophecies''? Among many other things, he was really tight with SRV and was the only photographer permitted at Stevie's last performance. He also walked Stevie to the helicopter before his fatal trip....WONDERFUL documentary!
Great story! ;D
Quote from: Gasport on August 01, 2011, 11:30:49 PM
Mike, did you catch the profile of rock photographer Robert Knight on PBS a few months ago titled ''Rock Prophecies''? Among many other things, he was really tight with SRV and was the only photographer permitted at Stevie's last performance. He also walked Stevie to the helicopter before his fatal trip....WONDERFUL documentary!
No a friend had told me about it, but I it wasn't shown again around here. I did get his book from the library. *Awesome* photos of many different rock performers. I'm glad you got to see it. I'm sure I'll catch it sometime down the line.
Quote from: frankenstein73 on July 31, 2011, 04:39:14 PM
I debated for hours if I wanted to let anyone know how much of a bonehead i was. well im A BONEHEAD!
This popped up on ebay a couple weeks ago. this was his picture on ebay.
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6012/5994821709_8b2cc593c9_m.jpg)
It had a starting bid of $20 and i got exited..... I remember going into Woolworths as a child and seeing this on the shelf in the fish department. I would always pick it up and imagine it in the bottom of my fish tank. my mom however wouldnt even consider buying it for me. just go pick out a toy shed say. im not paying for something that sits in a fish tank, she'd say. (which i dont understand as i remember having a scuba diver, and a ship, and a pirate skeleton aquarium ornaments growing up, which she paid for! I think she may have had something against the creature.)
Anyway, ive seen these sell for high denero in the past,just out of reach. i dont need a boxed one . (although very cool) i just wanted one. The auction header stated CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON STATUE. AND THATS ALL THE DESCRIPTION SAID. the picture on the surface seemed legit. i had no reason to think otherwise. the feet seemed a different color and no tube protuding from his Bum though. i thought the tube got pulled out and the feet may have been a production thing?I looked at his other auctions, i thought immediately, He doesnt know what this is! (i now know better) so In my uncontrollable excitement and pure bloodlust for a creature ornament I emailed the seller asking if he would consider selling with a buy it now. He replied back and the auction had a bid on it, but he said hed consider an offer. I was then trying to decide how much was the right amount. i didnt want to offer him to low a price and have to re offer and i didnt want to pay too much, i wanted a decent deal. So I offered him $70. he then wrote that he would end the auction and i could pay him through paypal, I normally would never do this due to the chance of not getting your item and not being protected through ebay. but i did it! I wanted this thing. I asked in return he provedie me with a tracking number, which he did. And after 8 days of waiting i finnally recieved the package. I was exuberent! i popped out the knife cut the tape on the box and pulled out a bubble wrapped creature! Then i began unwrapping it, as it lay in my hand with its wrapping falling to the floor I came to the realization I had been duped! My mind could not comprehend what i was seeing. it initially looked like a penn plax but the waist did not move, but had a black painted line on it!it was fairly heavy and as i looked on the bottom the plastic legs were glued to the base. these are my pictures!
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6145/5995379806_c27cecbb59.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6130/5995380300_4fd797a26e_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5994822337_1896eb2246_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6132/5994821797_5c9567dec6_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6130/5995379976_6edbf2bcb6.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6002/5994822663_79a639c412_m.jpg)
(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5995380140_a773074cac.jpg)
I was crushed. Eveything i had done went through my mind all at once. the questionable picture, the vague description. it being tooo good to be true! Now I have had a few shady deals on ebay in the past, But nothing like this! i knew immediately i was stuck with it. (i bought it outside of ebay) DOH!
but over the last few days i have come to terms with it. (except the fact i still need to purchase a real penn plax creature from somewhere still.) :( Whether the seller knew or not, and if he did it was wrong . but in the end Its my fault, i set myself up. I decided to tell my story here because i thought if it had'nt happened to me I would want to know about it so it didnt. i normally examine everything and am very carful what i buy, but i was blinded by want and rushed into this without thinking. So creature and all other toy buyers remember to beware there are some pretty believable fakes floating around.
as for my creature hes still gonna get displayed. I have a vintage slate bottomed chrome frame aquarium i had been waiting to put my creature in, (no water of course). and he will hopefully someday have a companion in there with him. he will be a reminder to me to watch as closely as possible what you spend your money on, and dont get so exited you dont forget to use your head!
as for specs on this creature--- he has no joints, solid from head to base.
weighs in at 4.880 ounces.
6 1/2 inches from the base feet to the top of his head.
made of resin im guessing? he has lines across the bottom of the base almost like a factory cut piece.
its a good casting, painted green with gold fins and bloody claws.
the base is painted with orange and green lines.
the claws are pieces of wire molded into the hands.
im guessing its a homemade peice. but if anyone here has seen one of these before or knows anything different please let us know!( Maybe it could be a preproduction sample that the penn plax creature was created from?)
Now im a delusional bonehead!!!HAHA!
Please feel free to tell us any buys that you have made that werent what you thought they were gonna be, or just plain BONEHEAD BUYS! I for one will understand, and would love to hear your story. maybe it will help me feel better!
Man, great story. Please don't feel bad, it is all part of the game. It is actually a very nice reproduction, I encourage you to display it, enjoy it and consider it a great part of being a monster kid. Someone spent hours building an RTV mold, casting it, finishing it and painting it, and it looks a lot like the real penn plax you wanted. I bet you can sell it for most of what you paid for it in the future, for now display it and enjoy it. Honestly it looks really cool, and well done. I definitely remember the original when it was in the store but I never had a fish tank to put it in. Anyway don't get bummed, just enjoy it for what it is.
You could actually put it in a fishtank...something I wouldn't dare do with an original!
Yeah, I've acctually kinda been thinking of making a mold of it and pushing out a few of them to sell (at a reasonable price)for actual ornaments for people around here who always wanted to put one in their fish tanks. I was wondering what kind of paint to use that wouldn't leech into the water and kill the fish. I think i would offer them painted or unpainted. Like a kit. Any thoughts?
enamel
There are still companies which sell these repops for $35.
Ha! Well so much for that idea! Thanks for that info DMG. Just out of curiosity could you tell us where? Im sure there are a few people here that would buy one to put in their tanks.
I haven't looked in a bit, and several stores took em off their websites as Universal sent c&ds - they are bootlegs of an already unlicensed item - but it shouldn't be too hard to find 'em (and it's against UMA forum rules to post the such a link, where it to exist, even on, say, google or some such. Not that I'd ever endorse such a thing. *ahem*). ;)
Hi,
We have an authentic black Penn Plax Creature from the Black Lagoon still in package up for auction on Ebay, if anyone is interested.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/270845129390?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/270845129390?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649)
Cheers,
Rick Klein
President / Chief Curator
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television
www.FuzzyMemories.TV (http://www.fuzzymemories.tv)