Phantom of the T-Shirts

[Toy Ranch]

At one point, the store at Universal Studios Theme Park had some mannequins made up to display T-Shirts in their stores featuring Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Phantom of the Opera.  They stood on the counter and modeled T-Shirts, but after a time, they went away. 

A while back, a Bride of Frankenstein model came up and there was some discussion about it back on the old Y! Group.  A member won it in the auction.  Well...  some more of them popped up a couple of weeks ago, and I was able to land a Phantom.  Today he arrived.  Soon he'll receive some new attire, but for the meantime I put him back to work modeling T-Shirts.

[Monsters For Sale]

WOW!

Bobby, your picture sure is a lot better than the one the eBay seller used.

I'm glad a true Phantom Phan got him.

[Toy Ranch]

Yeah, I was very pleasantly surprised with what I received.  The stand is really nice and heavy too.

[poseablemonster]

Wow, that's a really great piece, Bobby.  Great score!

[zombiehorror]

Killer!  Hmmm.....How did I miss that listing?  I've been checking all things Universal for the past few months......
Great score.

[ProfGriffin]

NICE! 

Can't wait to see him in more...ah...appropriate attire.
It will be an awesome sight.

[The Phantom Creep]

Ha that's great Bobby, good score on that one!!!

[fmofmpls]

Bobby. That is an incredible score. I absolutely love these monster mannequins. Ever since I first laid eyes on these back in the late 80s, at Universal Studios, I've dreamed of owning one of these. I still do. Someday, I want to own all three. Should you ever decide to sell him, please let me know!

Here are the other two mannequins in the series.

[Monsters For Sale]

This handsome guy is my Frankenstein mannequin as he was produced by the same factory:



Notice that this is a free-standing half form like Bobby's Phantom and not the wall-mounted version in Terry's pictures.  He also has the original factory paint and not the Universal Studios Store re-paint.



I dressed him more appropriately and snapped a couple more pics:







All three of the Universal mannequins were manufactured with a factory paint job.  I'd like to find out what company produced these figures.  Here is a free-standing example of the Bride with factory paint:



No red highlights in the factory job's hair.



And here is my wall-mounted Bride with the Universal Studios Store re-paint:



She was obviously used.  Hard to see from my picture, but she has red highlights in her hair.  She was a little marked up, but had no damage.  The seller I bought her from claimed to have aquired her in an auction of odds and ends that the Hollywood park was selling off.  There could not have been many of these made.  Maybe she is the very same one in Terry's photo.

Here she is after I gave her a light cleaning:



Isn't she pretty?

I still need to get some super glue and re-attach her eyelash.  You can see the full-sized photos here:

http://tinyurl.com/5z9ofp

[Toy Ranch]

Those are awesome, Adam.  Glad you got them.

[gracebuster]

I should get better pics!

[Toy Ranch]

Alright Dan!  Very cool.  The trio!  I wonder how many of these things are floating around?

[fmofmpls]

Alright Dan!  Very cool.  The trio!  I wonder how many of these things are floating around?

I'd sure love to see some float their way to Castle Famous! These monster mannequins are at the top of my want list; and have been for several years. I adore these a great deal! If any of you ever grow weary of your mannequins, please give me a call! 

[Monsters For Sale]

I should get better pics!

Please DO!  I would love to get a clear, high-res picture of the paint scheme on the Frankenstein.  The Universal Studios Store re-paint is very different from what the factory turned out.  The store paint has a goofy, Mexican chalkware look that I really like.

Just as a side note:  My pictures don't really show it, but the detailing on these is very nice.  The stitches on their jaw lines are actually molded into the faces, not just painted on.  The bride has a very subtle purple blush on her cheeks that doesn't photograph well.

Do you happen to know who made these and if they were commissioned by Universal for their stores, or just bought from the manufacturer and adapted for store use?  Since the three include the Phantom, I have always assumed that Universal had them made to order.

But the fact that Universal re-painted all three of them for store use could mean that they took advantage of some that were already being produced.

What do you think?