If your only making 300 pieces of a collectible, is it really asking to much to not get a screwed up one?

From what I remember as a child of the 70's (and now as an adult collector today) is that the soft vinyl toy was meant as a inexpensive impulse buy. They would come in a plastic bag with a simple cardboard header card and be cheap good Kaju (in most cases) fun. 30 years later it's evolved into quite the collecting scene. While I “get” the newer renditions of Kaiju monsters in glow and clear styles, this emerging “Art Toy Collectible” thing on the other hand just baffles me. So color me surprised (and interested) when MINDstyle started showing off their prototype of V.I.N.CENT from Disney's film The Black Hole and saying that 300 would be available at San Diego Comic Con 2009.

I love V.I.N.CENT. and the film The Black Hole. I currently had nothing from the film in my collection and wanted an almost 9 inch tall version on my shelf, but the price... $130 dollars. Yikes! For that kind of money, I am used to getting diecast metal and firing fists but friends that are more involved with this kind of collectible assured me that it had some quality paint applications and would be worth the cash. Besides who is doing anything from The Black Hole these days? Nobody. So I figured I would “know” if I wanted it when/if I saw it at SDCC09. So on Preview Night I did find myself passing MINDstyle's booth and there he was looking awfully spectacular but I just couldn't justify spending the money...

Well in the 11th hour on the last day of the Con, Shogunnadia and Shogundan surprised me with the gift of V.I.N.CENT.

The Black Hole is one of those films that made a huge impact on me as a kid and as an adult I think a) the film still holds up pretty well after all of these years and b) completely floors me that it ever got made. It starts as a Star Wars family adventure and ends as abstractly as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It's the story of the crew of the space explorer Palomino as it discovers the science vessel Cygnus (reported missing many years earlier) floating of the edge of a Black Hole and their adventure dealing with the Madman/Genius Dr. Hans Reinhart as he plans to take them into the black hole. I am over simplifying the plot a bit and not doing the film real justice. It's a dark, moody and intellectual film that touches on some great sci-fi and philosophical tenants. Honestly it is very un-Disney-like and it may not be everyone's cup of tea. If you haven't seen it you should at least once.

V.I.N.CENT. was R2-D2 and C-3P0 rolled into one and voiced by the talented and often underrated Roddy McDowall. All the robots in the film are aesthetically well designed and characteristically memorable. While most seem to consider the evil Dr. Hans Reinhart's Maximilian their favorite from the series, I was always more of a V.I.N.CENT. guy myself.

MINDstyle went with a vintage style package to accentuate the 30 year anniversary of the movie. It's a thick die cut box with a lid that wraps around the box and a magnetic clasp to keep it closed up. It's a very nice package really but can't help but wonder if they couldn't have saved everyone 30 bucks on the price by just sticking it in a bag with a header card... but then I guess it wouldn't be an “Art Toy Collectible” then would it? Oh well, fancy box goes in the closet with the rest...

Inside, V.I.N.CENT. is wrapped in a plastic bag (like all classic sofubi) and a card from MINDstyle telling me this was number 56/300 in the SDCC09 “distressed edition” run. In the bag is also a small stump or “third-leg” if you will to brace the figure upright. He stands 8 1/2 inches tall and is almost as wide.

The first thing I notice is just how big and heavy it is. For vinyl it sure has some weight to it and can confirm that it indeed hurts when it falls forward off your computer shelf and lands on your head.

Initially the paint detail is fantastic. All the hand done application (75 different hits of paint to be exact according to MINDstyle's blog) is more than excellent but the pad printing on mine is noticeably screwed up. And not just in a little way...

Right on the front of the main body it looks like the pad “slipped” for the designation number markings or they put the piece in the bag before it was dry. I'm thinking the first really. How does someone not catch this while is going through the painting process?

The rest is all good. The sculpt detail is phenomenal and looks exactly like V.I.N.CENT from the movie.

Sadly he does NOTHING. The head doesn't turn, rise or lower. The “legs” or anti-gravity generators do not extend and neither do his laser guns or claws. I guess action features and articulation aren't really expected on a piece like this.

For all their lip service to these being “art” and “collectible” I find it hard to believe that nobody from MINDstyle noticed such an obvious printing error. So whether no one was really paying any attention or they did see it and figured it was good enough, I ended up with a less than perfect piece. If your only making 300 in the run, is it really asking to much to not get a screwed up one? It just seems to reinforce my take on the whole “designer/vinyl scene” and leaves a bad taste in my mouth... “You'll take what we sell you and like it!”

With that said, I do love having an almost 9 inch tall likeness of one of my favorite robots of my childhood added to the shelves. A regular edition appears to be due in September for the low, low price of $149.99. I'm really not convinced it's worth that asking price.

"How could they stop the devouring death...that lived by sucking on living human bones!?"

Island Of Terror was released in 1966 and although it's been a while since I've seen it, I remember it being a rather underrated movie. Or maybe I shouldn't say underrated as much as unknown. It's certainly not one of the movies that immediately comes to mind when you think of Peter Cushing, but maybe that speaks more for his illustrious career than it does against this film.

When I placed my first order with Ultratumba Productions, I decided to have them throw in these little resin figures as well, mostly because they were cheap. I didn't expect to like them as much as I do.

These Creatures of Terror (aka the Silicates) come in a small (approximately 5"x5"x2") cardboard box with a picture of the product on the lid and brief assembly instructions on the side. The figures rest in a styrofoam tray.

The creatures themselves are just these big green blobs that would slither along the ground and attack with their long tentacles. On these figures, the tentacles are flexible and need to be attached, but a small dab of super glue will take care of that. Each piece comes pre-painted. The biggest one (without the tentacle) is a bit shy of 3" in length while the two smaller ones are less than 2" long (not including the tentacles).

One thing that may seem minor, but that impressed me, is that the two little Silicates are actually unique sculpts. You don't really notice it in pictures, but to see them in person confirms it. When I ordered them, I fully expected the same sculpt on both would be used as a cost cutting measure so I was pleasantly surprised to see they they made the extra effort to make them distinguishable from one another, in a way besides just having a differently shape tentacle.

I find that these are great "filler" pieces in my monster display. With their small size, you can fit them just about anywhere and they add a unique flavor to the overall display.

But here's the best part of all.... each individual Silicate has a MAGNET embedded in the bottom!! Yep, if you'd rather not have them on your shelf, you can leave them on your fridge!

The idea of putting magnets in these was a stroke of genius. For a mere $9, these have been one of the better bargains that I've acquired in my monster collection.

The likeness to 4-LOM is phenomenal. The detail in the sculpt and paint is really fantastic. The finish looks like weathered metal and 4-LOM looks like he could come alive at any moment.

4-LOM, as you may or may not know, is one of my obsessions. Ever since I got that little Zuckuss toy as a kid, I have been smitten with his design. It should be only natural then that I would find my way to Kotobukiya’s Bounter Hunter Series Kit.

Behold - Evidence of my obsession:

Koto’s kits are known throughout the world for their craftsmanship, quality, and insane amount of detail. Each piece is treated with such reverence – nothing feels cheap or shoddy.

The box on this thing reflects the level of regard that this toy is held in. Thick, solid, glossy cardboard with beautiful printing all around. There is a small window that allows for a peek inside at the figure within.

The box separates at the bottom and slides up, revealing the clear plastic tray. Each piece is wrapped in plastic and held in place with twisty ties.

Like all of these larger character kits from Kotobukiya, they are really statues that require minor assembly. For this release you have to attach the arms, legs and head to the torso. The gun adheres to the hands, completing the statue.

The completed figure rests in a base where there are deep holes for the feet. One of my gripes is that the feet have a ton of plastic at the bottom to go in these holes that make it virtually impossible to stand up without the base. Don’t want to display it with the base? Too bad.

The likeness to 4-LOM is phenomenal. The detail in the sculpt and paint is really fantastic. The finish looks like weathered metal and 4-LOM looks like he could come alive at any moment.

Each piston on the droids arm is faithfully recreated.

The head is the perfect realization of this character.

4-LOM is part of the Bounty Hunters series from Kotobukiya. Each bounty hunter includes a piece of Darth Vader, that when completed, sits in the circle of bounty hunters.

I don’t know where in my house I can fit a display like this, but now that I’ve seen the quality of this one I most definitely have to track down the others. And yes, that includes Sheila’s husband Dengar.

A cheap and easy to build resin model kit. Great for beginners!

El Baron here represents a landmark occasion for me. I finally gave real model building a try. Honest to god glue and paint type model building. I've mentioned before how common this is for monster collectors so I knew it would only be a matter of time before I had to give it a go myself, and when I saw how cheap this kit from Ultratumba was, I figured it was as good a time as any.

El Baron comes from the movie "El Baron del Terror", which is more widely known in the the US as The Brainiac. This is a movie that I vividly remember seeing clips of on the old late night celebration of cult movies, Reel Wild Cinema, but I never actually saw the entire movie until just recently. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is viewable online.

This kit by Ultratumba is great for beginners like me. Not only is the initial cost cheap, but construction of the main body is very simple. All you need to do is to line up the arms and glue them onto the body. You can fill in the seams at the shoulders if you like, but it really doesn't need it too much and I didn't bother to do that on mine. Both legs and the pelvis are one solid piece and attach easily as well. Then you can choose which tongue you'd like to display and glue that on. I thought the curved one looked a bit more interesting so I chose that over the one that is straight. Lastly, just add a drop of glue to the bottom of the feet and attach to the base, although I thought it was best to paint the figure before doing this.

As with any model kit, you can choose whatever colors suit your fancy. Of course, with the original movie being in black and white, there's really no set color scheme that you need to match, but I chose to stick pretty close to the image on the box. For a first try, I wasn't looking to be very creative here. I just wanted to get it to look good enough to display.

Ok, well maybe that's not entirely true. As you know, we here at CollectionDX love all things glow so I figured I would try to use up some leftover glow paint that I had while I was at it. But where on a piece like this would glow be appropriate? I decided that painting the tongue with red glow paint would be the most obvious place to start. And after having what I considered to be a bit of success with painting this, I guess I decided to get a bit crafty after all and try adding a touch of glow paint to the eyes and teeth. I don't exactly have the hands of a surgeon as they say so I was really afraid I was pushing my luck to try to paint such tiny areas, but overall, I think I did a pretty good job for a first try.

Well, that's all well and good, but really, I felt like having just a small amount of glow on the face was not quite enough. The glow was too localized. So what to do then? Well, as you see in the movie, this character comes to Earth in a meteor so although it's not exactly in the movie, I thought it would be neat to add a touch of glow to the base to represent a sort of "star dust" sprinkled on the ground around himk. So, I decided to mix in a small amount of glow paint with the regular paint for the base in the hopes that it would produce the desired effect. I think it did!

El Baron is limited to only 250 pieces and comes with a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. It was a pretty fun kit to build and great for a beginner like me. I was always too hesitant to try this in the past because so many kits are expensive and I was afraid I would be wasting my money if I tried and failed. This one was not only inexpensive, but it gave me the confidence to try the second in this series of Mexican movie monster kits from Ultratumba, the Aztec Mummy. Coming soon!

I picked a good time to start getting interested in statues...

After a few 12" dolls and a 16" vinyl robot, now Amok Time brings us their first fixed pose statue. And so far I'd say it's my favorite entry in their short existence as a toy maker. This statue is a sure fire winner for monster collectors and Vincent Price fans. It depicts Vincent Price in the guise of a vicious member of the Spanish Inquisition, as he prepares to torture a victim, during the classic 1961 movie The Pit and the Pendulum. This was a great role for Price and one of the best Edgar Allan Poe inspired films that he collaborated on with Roger Corman and A.I.P.

The statue comes packaged safely in a large 2-part styrofoam tray. Unfortunately, this makes the box a bit bigger (16.25"x12.75"x9.5") than I was expecting for a 12" piece, but it's a necessary evil. The box itself is a beautiful presentation showing the statue in closeup on the front and back and in a wide shot on each side. The back also features an image of the original theatrical one sheet poster, in addition to information about the item and it's makers.

BOX FRONT

BOX BACK

BOX SIDE

The statue is limited to only 500 numbered pieces, with mine being number 458. Also, it has the approval of the Vincent Price estate. And why wouldn't it? It's a gorgeous piece and the sculpt is an amazing likeness of the man.

In addition to just looking amazing, this statue also has a couple of unique features that I'd like to touch on. First, it actually incorporates magnets into the design! Both hands need to be attached when you take it out of the box but they simply pop right on (and off later if need be) because there are magnets in the wrists and in the sleeves. This was a really great idea. In fact, in hindsight, I wish it had been included in the Saucer-Men statue from Ultratumba so that you could swap out the alternate hands instead of having to pick which one to glue in. Oh well, maybe next time.

The next thing that I really like about this one is that the cauldron of burning coals actually lights up red! This is a great effect and looks really nice in person. It was a bit hard for me to show it properly both in pictures as well as in the video review, but take my word for it, the effect is superb.

The effect requires 2 AA batteries but those are included in the package. The on/off switch is simply on the back side of the base, out of view, but easily accessible.

Overall, I have absolutely zero complaints with this item, which is rare. There's almost always something that could have been done just a little bit better, but I can't think of anything to improve on this one. Maybe a higher production run so that no one misses out? To be on the safe side, go get yours at Amoktime.com before they sell out!

"Two inch nails
Micro waist
With a pale white feline face
Inclination eyebrows to there.."

Here's another example of me messing up and not heeding the advice of a friend. When this statue was released back in 2002, it was recommended to me that I get it. But again, I wasn't into statues at the time and I passed. And unlike the Uncle Boris statue, I had to pay a premium to get it on the after market later.

Vampira, real name Maila Nurmi, was a TV horror host in the 1950s and generally regarded as the first in that tradition. Unfortunately, there's not much footage remaining from her show, but here's small clip.

Of course, she might be better known to modern audiences for her role in the 1959 camp classic Plan 9 From Outer Space...

...which was in turn made more famous by the movie about it's famous director, Ed Wood.