Check Out The New Universal Lifesize Frankenstein Bust for $450&500

[Count_Zirock]

Bingo. This piece is the litmus test of similar Frankenstein busts. Keeping that in consideration, $500 is five times too much for a VERY-similar-but-inferior-looking Frankenstein head. Even then, I have never bought one of these.

Now, I JUST MIGHT break down and spend $450 if they were to do a similar bust of Lugosi as Dracula. The glowing eyes would at least make sense (as they would on a Karloff as Ardeth Bey bust), and the lines of dialog and sound effects (wolves howling, bats flapping and squeaking, strains of "Swan Lake") would probably sway me. I have no idea where I'd PUT such a piece, but that's not a concern right now. After all, how likely is that to happen? It means Lugosi Jr would have to work out a deal with Universal, which he seems hell-bent on NOT doing at the present time.

[Mord]

The Cine-art busts are a perfect example of what I'm talking about. They offered at least 3 (maybe 4) versions of the Frankenstein bust. There was an unpainted resin kit for $500, a painted resin piece for $900, and the roto-cast vinyl one for $100. Same piece adjusted to the needs and budgets of the individuals. To answer Factory's previous questions a.) yes, accurate likeness is very important (you can produce a wellsculpted piece for the same price as a badly sculpted one b.) no, edition size is NOT important (sell as many as you want, as long as I get mine) and c.) certificates of authenticity double as toilet paper for most of us. I hope that was helpful. I'm sorry you guys took a bit of a bashing, but I really appreciate you communicating with us. I look forward to buying many of your products in the future. Hint: when in doubt, go with The Creature (no actor's estates and always the most popular in any Uni Monster line).

[Universal_Adam]

Now, I JUST MIGHT break down and spend $450 if they were to do a similar bust of Lugosi as Dracula. The glowing eyes would at least make sense (as they would on a Karloff as Ardeth Bey bust), and the lines of dialog and sound effects (wolves howling, bats flapping and squeaking, strains of "Swan Lake") would probably sway me. I have no idea where I'd PUT such a piece, but that's not a concern right now. After all, how likely is that to happen? It means Lugosi Jr would have to work out a deal with Universal, which he seems hell-bent on NOT doing at the present time.

What is Lugosi Jr's Deal by the way?  I mean..I know bits and pieces, but he seems very stingy with his father's likeness, and even sued Universal because of it?
Maybe I'm just different, but if MY Dad was famous, I'd be excited that people are still making figures of him several years later.  I think it would be a  good way of keeping his memory alive.

[Count_Zirock]

What is Lugosi Jr's Deal by the way?  I mean..I know bits and pieces, but he seems very stingy with his father's likeness, and even sued Universal because of it?
Maybe I'm just different, but if MY Dad was famous, I'd be excited that people are still making figures of him several years later.  I think it would be a  good way of keeping his memory alive.

It's all about the Benjamins.
Lugosi v. Universal Pictures
California Celebrities Rights Act

[Factory]

The Creature piece from Rubies is actually considerably better then you are giving it credit for. None of it is latex and is a VERY durable piece. I own one and there is no doubt this thing will last for a LONG while. As I said, the Spirit Frankenstein is no winner either, but none the less, I just can't see the $500 in this piece. It has nothing to do with weight, or production material. I don't really care WHAT it's made of as long as it looks good. To me, this just doesn't look that good. It has a pretty basic paint job with a nice sculpt (no argument with the likeness, you got Karloff spot on sculpting wise!) but things like the stitches on the scar are kinda odd. I'm not saying that you have a terrible product, like was stated earlier, it's just hard to see $500 in it.

As far as sculpting on the diorama figures goes, have you ever considered going the 3D printing route? I have done projects with 3D models and 3D printing and for smaller scale items the level of detail and the cost effectiveness is MUCH better! Your ring replicas are beautiful and priced well. If you don't mind my asking, what is this Frankenstein bust made out of? Is it hand painted? Limited edition pieces never really do much for me, I don't really care how many there are, and if it makes it easier and more affordable, I would much rather it NOT be limited. Vintage collectibles weren't limited editions and they can be WORLDS more valuable than a lot of modern things that are limited editions. You can't force something to become valuable just by making fewer of them, there has to be a high demand for it first. If no one really wants it, you could make anywhere from 400 to 4,000 of them and the value won't change.

Most of our prototypes are 3D printed, they have been for some time now.Its just so much faster and more efficient. Particularly when 99% of the sculpting is  done digitally. But its not yet practical for mass production, the materials  cost and clean up alone would be horrific. A diorama measuring 12" x 18" x 6" with several different components would cost $1000's, that's without any paint. The dioramas we are talking about are 'scene replicas', accurate representations of sets and key scenes from the films. They are complex and detailed. In order to get the scale right and have figures and components that are of a decent size to retain some level of detail they need to be around that size. The issue initially is the cost of hiring a sculptor to create the pieces, its a lot of work and the feedback from retail so far is that they are a niche product that will not appeal to a wide audience. So it comes down to economics, if you spend $1,000 to develop something that you only make and sell 500 pieces of that adds $2 straight away to the unit cost. If you make and sell 1000 that cost comes down by half. The second issue is that because there is little or no good reference it will take a sculptor many weeks of research and investigation to come up with everything they need, they will also have to create some parts where no reference exists, or where the angle is not seen on screen. This is a long complicated process and takes time. Time is money!

So dioramas are something we are still working on right now.     

[Factory]

Call me crazy, but I like it.  I think it's cool.  I'd love to see a Bride of Frankenstein companion piece.  IMO (please don't hurt me for it)  I think it looks like you'd get what you pay for.  I'd love to have it. 
Having said all that, I won't be buying it because I'm Po'.

Ha... if Frank is successful The Bride will likely be the next release. (pending approvals etc) We have done prelim work on a number of VFX Monster busts and have a line planned that will run for some time if they are something that sells.

[Factory]

I don't think you really understand it. The issue isn't price vs. screen accuracy or even quality. If its low quality with a low price tag, that's fine. If its high quality with a high price tag, that's fine. But when its low quality as we're seeing here with a price that belongs on a MUCH higher quality piece, there is an obvious disconnect.

What makes you say its low quality? Have you seen the actual piece?

Its the heaviest weight poly-resin material available, with an incredible level of detail in the sculpt and paint. It has real fake eyes. It has a very accurate sculpt. Its a genuine numbered limited edition , with a numbered plaque ( there are only 400 in the world, ever, when they are gone they are gone.) It has a velvet lined base, it has both battery and outlet power. It comes in a full color collector box. Its actually licensed, and official. I could go on an on. What things are you expecting that would  make you feel its a higher quality? We are very interested to know as there seems to be a failure of communication here.

We get you don't like it, that's absolutely fine and you are 100% entitled to your opinion, its like art, its subject. Not everybody likes everything.

But to say its low quality? What is the basis of that?

[Factory]

The Cine-art busts are a perfect example of what I'm talking about. They offered at least 3 (maybe 4) versions of the Frankenstein bust. There was an unpainted resin kit for $500, a painted resin piece for $900, and the roto-cast vinyl one for $100. Same piece adjusted to the needs and budgets of the individuals. To answer Factory's previous questions a.) yes, accurate likeness is very important (you can produce a wellsculpted piece for the same price as a badly sculpted one b.) no, edition size is NOT important (sell as many as you want, as long as I get mine) and c.) certificates of authenticity double as toilet paper for most of us. I hope that was helpful. I'm sorry you guys took a bit of a bashing, but I really appreciate you communicating with us. I look forward to buying many of your products in the future. Hint: when in doubt, go with The Creature (no actor's estates and always the most popular in any Uni Monster line).

Thank you this was very helpful. We except and welcome the bashing... we are big boys and can take it (we just cry alone at night in the dark )  :-)

The Creature will make an excellent VFX bust and its on our list, but a decision was made to hold off for a while as there is a fantastic Creature Maquette coming out from Toynami and a market overloaded with Creature product is a bad thing. Plus its huge and too many big items out at the same time is going to cause space problems, we have to give people a little time to excavate additions to their monster dungeons!

[Universal_Adam]

Ha... if Frank is successful The Bride will likely be the next release. (pending approvals etc) We have done prelim work on a number of VFX Monster busts and have a line planned that will run for some time if they are something that sells.

I'd love to see some of the Prelim work.  I'll bet they look really cool!

[Dr. Blasko]

What makes you say its low quality? Have you seen the actual piece?

Its the heaviest weight poly-resin material available, with an incredible level of detail in the sculpt and paint. It has real fake eyes. It has a very accurate sculpt. Its a genuine numbered limited edition , with a numbered plaque ( there are only 400 in the world, ever, when they are gone they are gone.) It has a velvet lined base, it has both battery and outlet power. It comes in a full color collector box. Its actually licensed, and official. I could go on an on. What things are you expecting that would  make you feel its a higher quality? We are very interested to know as there seems to be a failure of communication here.

We get you don't like it, that's absolutely fine and you are 100% entitled to your opinion, its like art, its subject. Not everybody likes everything.

But to say its low quality? What is the basis of that?

You can make something out of the highest materials, if it still looks bad, it looks bad. Now, I'm not saying this looks bad necesarrily, but there is no possible way its worth $500. You claim there's no alternative, but I can go on eBay and get what quite frankly is a much better looking (which is really what is most important, I don't care what its made out of) for $400 less. It being numbered and made of lots of fancy materials doesn't make it high quality. Just because there are few of them, doesn't make it good.

[Universal_Adam]

You can make something out of the highest materials, if it still looks bad, it looks bad. Now, I'm not saying this looks bad necesarrily, but there is no possible way its worth $500. You claim there's no alternative, but I can go on eBay and get what quite frankly is a much better looking (which is really what is most important, I don't care what its made out of) for $400 less. It being numbered and made of lots of fancy materials doesn't make it high quality. Just because there are few of them, doesn't make it good.

I think his point was that these aren't cheaply made busts.  Also, the fact that there aren't many of them isn't what makes it good, it's what makes it rare..and I guess more valuable?  While 500.00 is a lot for a  bust, I would be curious about how much it cost to make vs/ retail to get an idea of what the profit is for these people.  I'm not going to hold making profit against anyone, because after all, they are in this business to make money.  If I remember correctly, the rep did say that this is geared toward a specific kind of collector that is willing to spend that much. IDK.  That's what I got out of it.  I may be mistaken. Not trying to have my nose up anyones butt either. lol

[Dr. Blasko]

I think his point was that these aren't cheaply made busts.  Also, the fact that there aren't many of them isn't what makes it good, it's what makes it rare..and I guess more valuable?  While 500.00 is a lot for a  bust, I would be curious about how much it cost to make vs/ retail to get an idea of what the profit is for these people.  I'm not going to hold making profit against anyone, because after all, they are in this business to make money.  If I remember correctly, the rep did say that this is geared toward a specific kind of collector that is willing to spend that much. IDK.  That's what I got out of it.  I may be mistaken. Not trying to have my nose up anyones butt either. lol

They said its for new collectors. And frankly, I couldn't see a new collector starting out with something so expensive. If you want new collectors, you release something "entry level", and that's hardly what this is.

[creaturerevenge]

Most of our prototypes are 3D printed, they have been for some time now.Its just so much faster and more efficient. Particularly when 99% of the sculpting is  done digitally. But its not yet practical for mass production, the materials  cost and clean up alone would be horrific. A diorama measuring 12" x 18" x 6" with several different components would cost $1000's, that's without any paint. The dioramas we are talking about are 'scene replicas', accurate representations of sets and key scenes from the films. They are complex and detailed. In order to get the scale right and have figures and components that are of a decent size to retain some level of detail they need to be around that size. The issue initially is the cost of hiring a sculptor to create the pieces, its a lot of work and the feedback from retail so far is that they are a niche product that will not appeal to a wide audience. So it comes down to economics, if you spend $1,000 to develop something that you only make and sell 500 pieces of that adds $2 straight away to the unit cost. If you make and sell 1000 that cost comes down by half. The second issue is that because there is little or no good reference it will take a sculptor many weeks of research and investigation to come up with everything they need, they will also have to create some parts where no reference exists, or where the angle is not seen on screen. This is a long complicated process and takes time. Time is money!

So dioramas are something we are still working on right now.   

Obviously you don't print each individual one that you sell. That would be insane. Not only would each print cost a fortune but it would take forever to get enough of them done to go to market with! The project I am working on now is a statue based on a painting, that single painting from that one angle is all my digital sculptor had to work with. he had the piece 100% finished in about 2 weeks time and it went to printing. After that I pulled my master mold from it and cast each piece in a high quality resin. All told, the finished statue will retail for about 90 bucks. My initial costs weren't cheap, but by keeping it affordable I can easily cover my costs and turn a good profit in volume. Unless you have a piece that is a guaranteed success, limiting yourself to a limited edition run is pretty risky for the reasons that have come up on this board so far. I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but it sounds like you could use some more creative sculptors and designers. There is more than enough reference out there to be able to pull together some amazing diorama pieces for a reasonable price. I know Department 56 did some really small scale diorama scenes a few years back that were pretty decent considering the scale and the technology at the time. Even if you went bigger than those a bit and did it in the 3 3/4 inch scale like the latest line of Star Wars figures (which are pretty darn nice and detailed!) I think there would be a pretty good number of people lining up to buy those! I think it goes back to earlier about looking for more products that are a little more outside the box.

[Universal_Adam]

They said its for new collectors. And frankly, I couldn't see a new collector starting out with something so expensive. If you want new collectors, you release something "entry level", and that's hardly what this is.

Good point.  Or maybe they want RICH new collectors. HAHA.

[Count_Zirock]

Hint: when in doubt, go with The Creature (no actor's estates and always the most popular in any Uni Monster line).

No actors' estates with Karloff, either. His daughter sold the rights to his likeness in all of Universal's films to Universal. That's why he's on the "Universal Monsters" logo now.