King Features who owned the Phantom property thought otherwise. They claimed the face didn't look like the face on the lamp in their office, but despite emailing photos of said lamp, they couldn't effectively explain what they thought was wrong.
The easy way out would have been to drop over to their office and take a look myself, except... their office was in New York NY USA!
As luck would have it, I was actually just about to go on a holiday that was taking in Tokyo and New York. So I made an appointment and packed some tubs of 2 part silicone putty in my suitcase.
As luck would have it, I was actually just about to go on a holiday that was taking in Tokyo and New York. So I made an appointment and packed some tubs of 2 part silicone putty in my suitcase.
King Features in NY was a swanky office complex and I spent about half an hour photographing the face of this damn lamp and making a rubber mould of the face. When I got back to Australia, I made a direct cast and glued it over my own sculpt, so the client would get exactly what they wanted.
The final approved lamp was a good seller and encouraged my Merchandiser to look at other options for lamps based on the same gimmick. He tried Marvel and got me to sketch up a proposal, but it went nowhere...
So next, he decided to try Star Wars and here is where the troubles really began...
What was proposed was a ceramic Darth Vader with red glowing eyes. I clearly remembered a pottery Darth Vader coin bank I had in the early 80's and as The Phantom had basically been a ceramic vase with empty eye holes, I decided to go for a smoothed feel as opposed to a hard edged look.
The final approved lamp was a good seller and encouraged my Merchandiser to look at other options for lamps based on the same gimmick. He tried Marvel and got me to sketch up a proposal, but it went nowhere...
So next, he decided to try Star Wars and here is where the troubles really began...
What was proposed was a ceramic Darth Vader with red glowing eyes. I clearly remembered a pottery Darth Vader coin bank I had in the early 80's and as The Phantom had basically been a ceramic vase with empty eye holes, I decided to go for a smoothed feel as opposed to a hard edged look.
The merchandiser also wanted a Yoda lamp as a companion with green eyes and I was actually quite pleased with the organic/ceramic look I achieved.
So we now had two reasonable working prototypes to take to the next level. Unfortunately things got off to a bad start with Lucasfilm who had very specific procedures that my Merchandiser didn't follow to the letter and things only got worse. The Darth head was sent to China to get a quote on manufacture and instead, they chose to cast the entire thing as a solid lump of resin.
I don't know what happened to my prototype, but the resin lump really got up Lucasfilm's nose. They didn't like the sculpt, they wanted to know which film the design was based on (the actual design changed subtly from film to film and they were insisting our piece represent a specific version).
So we now had two reasonable working prototypes to take to the next level. Unfortunately things got off to a bad start with Lucasfilm who had very specific procedures that my Merchandiser didn't follow to the letter and things only got worse. The Darth head was sent to China to get a quote on manufacture and instead, they chose to cast the entire thing as a solid lump of resin.
I don't know what happened to my prototype, but the resin lump really got up Lucasfilm's nose. They didn't like the sculpt, they wanted to know which film the design was based on (the actual design changed subtly from film to film and they were insisting our piece represent a specific version).
They were suggesting the Merchandiser hire Gentle Giant Studios (fully owned by them) to do a sculpt at his own additional expense. He could see how it was going and already being several thousand dollars out of pocket, he decided not to throw good money after bad...
So I don't think my Yoda lamp was ever even seen by Lucasfilm, certainly it stayed with me and still peers down at me from the top shelf of my studio. Whilst a white eyed Phantom worked quite well, the red eyed Darth (although quite effective) never got to strut his stuff and poor old Yoda...
So I don't think my Yoda lamp was ever even seen by Lucasfilm, certainly it stayed with me and still peers down at me from the top shelf of my studio. Whilst a white eyed Phantom worked quite well, the red eyed Darth (although quite effective) never got to strut his stuff and poor old Yoda...
While the idea of a glowing green eyed Jedi might have seemed a good idea, it practice it was more reminiscent of "Village of the Damned Yoda"!
And pretty much here ended my Merchandising adventures, certainly we never worked together again.
I think the demands of Licensing Holders are very specific and certainly the charming "off model" toys of the 60s and 70s are a thing of the past, in this pre-vizzed computer designed, computer manufactured world. Sadly, movie making has now gone the same way with everything pre planned down to the micron.
But like Rock and Roll, I'm thankful for the little bit I knew.
Cheers,
And pretty much here ended my Merchandising adventures, certainly we never worked together again.
I think the demands of Licensing Holders are very specific and certainly the charming "off model" toys of the 60s and 70s are a thing of the past, in this pre-vizzed computer designed, computer manufactured world. Sadly, movie making has now gone the same way with everything pre planned down to the micron.
But like Rock and Roll, I'm thankful for the little bit I knew.
Cheers,
Looey
Interesting. I once lettered some comic strips featuring Hanna-Barbera characters from scripts that had been allegedly approved by representatives of HB. However, they were full of mistakes, like the Town of Bedrock being called Rock City, picnic baskets being called luncheon hampers, Ranger Smith being called Warden Smith, etc. Fred Flintstone even indulged in blasphemy and aggression while fighting a burglar - "God, I'll kill you!" Seems that some companies are more strict than others when it comes to approving things, eh?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story, I love hearing about the shenanigans of licensee and licensor, I had a similar experience albeit a lot smaller, back in the eighties I produced a small run of hair wax, all very home spun, I called it Excello (after the Blues label) it sold well until a local thug came out in a rash cos he was allergic to Lanolin, so stopped production. Years later a guy in a cool 50's suit pops his head in the shop asking for Black and white (hair wax), as he's paying I had a moment of clarity, I'd never met this guy before but I knew exactly who he was, "Hello Mick", he replied " how did you know my name?" "Well..." and I explained that his suit was very popular on the Rockabilly scene 20 years ago and inspite of a lack of quiff his French crop was period perfect, also this guy was responsible for bringing the black and white wax into the country and its popularity and therefore scarcity as the price rocketed and then the need for me to produce my own wax, which I then mentioned to him, "Oh you're the guy!" "I was gonna sue you for the use of the same wording on your wax" black and white had "Long Hold Control" whereas my Excello had "Long hold control on Ducktails and Flat-tops" I laughed and said" well you'd have got my mum's microwave, Pyrex bowl and orange spatula and about £20 in loose change" he found this very amusing and said I caused some sleepless nights but now has a great anecdote for his hair industry mates! -MJ Southcoast base
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