The awful Aurora Vampirella sculpt!

[long live kong]

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.

The Monster Scenes kits do have a terrific charm. They look like they're trying to be indicative of their time. I would have loved to have them as a kid!

[Anton Phibes]

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.

I am not particularly fond of snap tgether models either. I think its possible that those were the beginnings of the nanny state complex that exists now. "Hey...kids can't use model glue. Its toxic and they can get high. Let's make some regulaions and switch models to no glue required." Then the slippery slope began.....

[long live kong]

I hated the snap together kits too! I remember my local model store (which stocked mainly military kits/model railways etc) brought in a load of StarWars 'snap together' kits. I didn't get it. It defeated the purpose of modelling, and I actually remember thinking "what next, a snap-together model that's already painted?"
I never built one, I always pictured them as a toy that had been pulled to pieces by an obnoxious child.

[StyreneDude]

Wow, I absolutely love this Mummy by StyreneDude!

Thanks Gory Glenn! Wait til you see what's coming...I've been painting for months now.

[Tom_Hering]

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

No, not close at all. It's like online dating. There's the profile photo. And then you meet the real thing.

[Anton Phibes]

Bash away folks. Buh bye.

[the_horror_man]

Anton, your paint up is magnificent.

thm

[djmadden99]

You have to remember these were designed to be toys first.  They were made for and marketed to 12 and-under boys who could make an interactive diorama. Same concept with the later Prehistoric Scenes series. In fact, at one point there were characters on the production list who were meant to time travel between the two sets. One was the Hero and another was a scaled-up King Kong which would be big enough to take on the  Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Snap-together kits with interchangeable parts severely limits the sculptor's ability to make a realistic figure. That said, there are some very nice and customized versions of Vampirella out there. This one certainly comes to mind:

http://www.monsterscenes.net/builders_lair.htm

[Hepcat]

Bash away folks. Buh bye.

I don't understand why you seem miffed about some other people disliking the sculpt. Not everybody is going to like every sculpt or monster piece and discussing our likes, dislikes and preferences is what we do on this forum.

[Anton Phibes]

The thread is dedicated to bashing the sculpt. Which I am not interested in doing. It's titled "That awful Vampirella sculpt" . I thought about avoiding it altogether. Which, in hindsight, perhaps I should have, as its obviously not for me. The thread isn't exactly dedicated to the admiring of someone's work, but the bashing of it based on personal preference.

The sculpt is just fine for the scale, particularly when Aurora instructed the sculptor NOT to make the sculpt "overly seductive", and placed restrictions on him. This is a matter of record, not speculation Thus, you got short legs, and a caricature sculpt. Yet the controversy still ensued because of a sink hole in her groin area. One that resembled an anatomically correct female in the minds of the overly protective house wives of the era.

The sculptor is Bill Lemon. Yup. Bill lemon. Who was great. You may have heard of him. He sculpted all of the original Aurora's from the 1960's(With the exception of the Bride and Witch and/or Forgotten Prisoner, which were by Russ Meyer) that you love so much, and defend vehemently. Primarily because they were released in an era when you were young, and they made an impression on you. So you defend them, warts and all.

Lemon was also involved to some degree (but it escapes me) with the Monster of the Movies. The Aurora Monsters of the Movies Wolfman kit will forever be my favorite vintage Wolfman piece. Why? I was 5 when it was released, and the small base with tree was like a forest to my little hands. He had a shirt on also,lol. It was as accurate a representation I had seen in my years.
The Monster Scenes kits are cool. If you don't like them: that's fine. If I started a thread titled "That awful Phantom of the Opera sculpt "....would you get a bit "miffed"? Maybe even withdraw from the thread? I submit it is a distinct possibility.

To bash Lemon's sculpt isn't a happy time imho. It's like the fellas that bashed Ditko when he was no longer in his "prime" and drawing Rom Space Knight, or dissing Harryhausen's Dark Horse Kong model because he wasn't in his prime when he did it. Which I have heard countless fans do.

I think its rude.

We come here to share common interests....but as of late its been highly negatively opinionated folks ripping others's favorite collectibles or films to shreds. If I want someone to mock or ridicule my hobbies or interests I will just invite people who don't get it to my house and show them my stuff. I am not looking to do it here.

This is why traffic is down at the site lately imho.

[Hepcat]

The sculptor is Bill Lemon. Yup. Bill lemon. Who was great. You may have heard of him. He sculpted all of the original Aurora's from the 1960's (With the exception of the Bride and Witch and/or Forgotten Prisoner... ) that you love so much, and defend vehemently. Primarily because they were released in an era when you were young, and they made an impression on you. So you defend them, warts and all.

But that's just it! I/we all expect things, including Bill Lemon's Aurora sculpts, to get better and better over time. And I think the Vampirella sculpt suffered badly in comparison with his previous sculpts. And I really would have loved to see an Aurora Vampirella model of the same quality as the earlier kits. I was very disappointed when I saw that the Aurora Vampirella kit wasn't in the same league as the earlier kits.

If I started a thread titled "That awful Phantom of the Opera sculpt "....would you get a bit "miffed"? Maybe even withdraw from the thread? I submit it is a distinct possibility.

No! I would most assuredly not be miffed. I'd actually be intrigued as to why another UMA member didn't like a model I admired. I might argue with his rationale, but overall I'd find the discussion interesting. So I wouldn't be miffed.

The Monster Scenes kits are cool. If you don't like them: that's fine.

To bash Lemon's sculpt isn't a happy time imho.

I think its rude.

But you're contradicting yourself! You clearly don't think it's fine to express the opinion that this particular sculpt is lousy if you think it's "rude". Yet it is fine to say the sculpt is lousy because such monster memorabilia is our subject matter on this board and there are going to be differences of opinion regarding aesthetics on any board. In fact there must be differences of opinion or you have a boring board. And any opinions are fine here so long as they don't constitute a personal attack on any other poster.

The thread is dedicated to bashing the sculpt.

The thread isn't exactly dedicated to the admiring of someone's work, but the bashing of it based on personal preference.

Like I say, it's all about personal preferences on this board. In no way are these out of line even if they're negative.

[the_horror_man]

They should have used the bat as a bikini top for Vampirella.

thm

[Paul L]

You have to remember these were designed to be toys first.  They were made for and marketed to 12 and-under boys who could make an interactive diorama. Same concept with the later Prehistoric Scenes series.

Which was, & is their appeal & nostalgia factor.

[Hepcat]

We come here to share common interests....but as of late its been highly negatively opinionated folks ripping others's favorite collectibles or films to shreds. If I want someone to mock or ridicule my hobbies or interests I will just invite people who don't get it to my house and show them my stuff. I am not looking to do it here.

This is why traffic is down at the site lately imho.

I disagree. Traffic is down on this board for two reasons.

1. Traffic is way down on the vast majority if not all discussion forums. I don't understand it but mass market social media sites such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter appear to have drawn the traffic away from subject specific discussion forums.

2. The administrators of this board opted for a smaller less busy board (perhaps because the management of such a board would be less time intensive?) and truncated the board accordingly in the spring of 2014. The loss of content was painful to more than a few members and many previously active posters have found this board less interesting/appealing after the change and have reduced their activity level dramatically.

[Hepcat]

You have to remember these were designed to be toys first.  They were made for and marketed to 12 and-under boys who could make an interactive diorama. Same concept with the later Prehistoric Scenes series.

Which was, & is their appeal & nostalgia factor.

I can understand that. But without the nostalgia factor I just see a face like Alfalfa's and a squat body resembling a fireplug.