The THING and Ardeth Bey 1:1 busts

[FrankenFan]

Great choice in Ardeth Bey for the inaugural Universal Monsters bust! I guess this makes a bandaged Mummy a lock for the PF treatment.

I imagine the price point will be somewhere between the 1:1 Hellboy and Darth Maul busts, probably closer to Maul since the mixed media elements are about the same. I wonder if Ardeth will have "real" hair?

Hope we get something along these lines that plays to Ardeth's powers of hypnosis:

I've seen the pictures of Mike Hill's Karloffstein, too, so I'm sure I won't be disappointed. (Btw, I went to Mike's site, hoping to get a sneak peak at Ardeth, but his site is down. Anyone know if he's moved from mikehillartworks.com?)

I am going to be very discriminating about this line, too. I've got the CineArt Frankenstein's Monster but passed on the Phantom, and they were only about $100 each.

A Creature bust might not necessarily command Predator dollars. The Predator is nearly a two-foot cube. I don't think a Gil-Man would be that massive. And, though there are lots of gils and warts to keep the fingers of any sculptor busy, the CftBL just doesn't have the insanely intricate detail of the Predator creature design.

A PF Creature, I suppose, could get near the price point of the PF Predator. But again, I don't see it being as labor-intensive as the Predator. I also doubt that the Creature has as large a fan-base as Predator, making both a bust and a PF improbable. I'm holding out hope for a PF! (Ever see Mark Alfrey's "Laguna?")

 

[Universalrocks]

I think if Sideshow would make their bust hollow that would bring down the price a bit. I have never held one in my hands, so they may be hollow for all I know. On ebay I puchased a Bride of Frankenstein Bust from Howard Senft
(https://www.howardsstudios.com/) which cost me $350.00. If he can afford to do these for this price, why can't Sideshow do the same. I know that his busts come unpainted but how much can paint, cost and labor be? After all
they do make these in China where the labor is cheap right. So why not have a hollow cast bust painted for around $400.00, that price I could manage.

 

[BDboystoys]

WOW thats guy is amazing! they ALL look brilliant! so doesnt he paint any of them? some of them are. I love the Michael Myers one, its a beauty.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Ask some of the resident painters here how much a great paint job costs - realistically it doubles the cost of the bust, at least when we're talking about custom work.

 

[BDboystoys]

ok so you dont thinkthat "howardstudios" paints his I dont think it would make the price for Michael Myers mask go up that much. all it is a pasty white colour (not that im saying its an easy task, it'd be really difficult to get it that good.) It looks JUST like the one from the first movie, I've seen so many Myers masks and nearly none of them look good, this one is totally accurate!

 

[oxbeard]

all it is a pasty white colour (not that im saying its an easy task, it'd be really difficult to get it that good.)

If a paint job was just the basic color, we could all do it ourselves. The key though to a great paint job is shading and variations in the paint scheme. This can be very difficult to explain in words, but if you ever get a chance to see some WIP pics of a paint job on bust, statue, etc, you'll see there is much more than meets the eye.

Quality is in the details. How many times have we seen an amazing sculpt become just a below average piece because of bad paint ops.

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

Sideshow has to pay a great deal of money to have a prototype produced for any bust, as opposed to Howard who sculpts it himself. Sideshow also pays a lot of money to license the characters, which Howard does not. Sideshow also has to pay a good sum to have the figure tooled for mass-production, which Howard does not. Finally, the cost of paint, packaging, package design, marketing, royalties, etc..... All of which Howard bypasses. To be honest, $350 is even considered high for a 1:1 bust in most model kit circles.... But you can see where the price difference comes in. Besides that, Sideshow has an entire staff to keep afloat with the profits from any given product.... Howard has to support only himself. Does that clear it up for you?

Comparing what is essentially a 'garage kit' to a high-end mass produced collectible is really comparing apples to oranges.


p.s. Sideshow's busts are hollow-cast.

 

[Mark Hazard]

This guy took his CineArt Karloff bust and painted it after an old Basl Gogos Famous Monsters cover.

 

[FrankenFan]

That looks great but, is it the CineArt bust? The pins on the electrodes are missing and, the bust I have has bare shoulders.

Mine looks like this. Well, mine would look like that if whomever painted that one had painted mine. Paint really does make all the difference.

Sorry if this is getting off topic but, since you mentioned Gogos, take a look at how this guy painted his Dracula Aurora Tribute Box Art Kit.

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

That bust above is actually a 1:1 Frank done by Howard, not the Cineart bust. It was painted by a friend of Howards... He actually painted a bust of mine in the same style (my bust is only 1/3 scale), very talented guy!

1/3 scale bust

 

[Universalrocks]

Did not mean to step on anyones toes at Sideshow. I know they are in business to make money, was just sort of rolling around ideas like the other guys did not mean to upset anyone.

 

[lcummins]

Basil Gogos Figures or Busts?

Now that would be a line of figures I would love! I have been a huge Gogos fan since first discovering him on Famous Monsters way back in the late 60's!! A 1/4 scale line of figures or even busts would be perfect to capture the detail and color without breaking the bank!!!!

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

No worries Universalrocks! Nobody upset here... I hope it didn't come across that way. Just answering questions, I know a lot of folks have wondered the same things.

 

[Mark Hazard]

Oops, sorry. I thought I read it was the Miles Teves (cine art) bust, and that the guy sculpted the jacket on.

 

[Double Dare]

So Andy, what can we look forward to from you in this series?
I would kill to see you do Lugosi at this scale!

Nick

 

[Mark Hazard]

So Andy, what can we look forward to from you in this series?
I would kill to see you do Lugosi at this scale!

Nick

Indeed....

And I'm just curious - was Cineart's hollowcast bust line that much of a disaster? Couldn't Sideshow do a cheaper run...?

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

I love that sculpture, I wish Cineart would've released that Dracula bust. I only see 'Bela' in the bottom half, but it's still a striking piece that would've looked great along with the first 2 releases.