Charlee Flatt Customs: Were they on a new body?

[Dark Shadow]

Not too sure about that.

It was, after all, one of the first (if not THE first) Lugosi portraits on a figure following a very long dry spell. The Sideshow efforts, which also took flight in 1998, did quite well.

The price point & limited availability would be my top two suspects.

[megozilla13]

I don't know who told you that, but Charlee and FWF did not farm out that sculpting - he did all the work.

FWF failed for one very good reason - a lousy underhanded manufacturing rep that took advantage of the company and drove them out of business with increasing demands for money and never producing product on schedule. Crappy manufacturing reps are the bane of small action figure companies to this day.

Dan Platt sculpted the Phantom, Samaritan, and Zorro heads for FlattWorld, it wasn't Charlee.

There were other reasons why FWF failed, the manufacturing rep being the least of them.

mikej

[Tothiro]

Dan Platt sculpted the Phantom, Samaritan, and Zorro heads for FlattWorld, it wasn't Charlee.

There were other reasons why FWF failed, the manufacturing rep being the least of them.

mikej

Dude, this Dan Platt? He's got some nice stuff there...
I find that kind of interesting too - because the FWF Phantom head was probably the one I'd seen the most "Charleeism" in.

[Robin NY]

holy crap this thread is so intriguing, a tortured artist, greedy middle men, and a Police officer, u can't make stuff like this up!!!

[johnmiic]

This Ron Murgo, (last on right), was an ex-cop & did homina, homina on what Google said?!?



More pics at:

http://www.megomuseum.com/megolibrar.../friends.shtml

[Type Two]

holy crap this thread is so intriguing, a tortured artist, greedy middle men, and a Police officer, u can't make stuff like this up!!!

So true and so glad I started the thread. I only knew Flatt from the customs he did in Toyfare and his Flatt World project. Now I see an amazingly complicated artist and the strange journey he went on in an attempt to bring his joy regarding making figures to others.

You could only contact the guy through snail mail and he wanted $1200 up front for a figure? Did this money have to be left, in cash, in a brown paper bag under a table in a restaurant in Orlando, FL, or could you send him a cashier's check through the mail?

[Anarchy]

does anyone know who owns the prototype Zorros??

[Donkey Hoatie]

You could only contact the guy through snail mail and he wanted $1200 up front for a figure? Did this money have to be left, in cash, in a brown paper bag under a table in a restaurant in Orlando, FL, or could you send him a cashier's check through the mail?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Charlee himself wasn't asking me for $1200 for a figure. One of his "contacts" here on the Museum was. The numbers didn't add up for me. I was willing to drop maybe $400 on a figure at the time, because the kid hadn't come along yet to steal all my money for diapers and stuff. I'd see guys here on the Museum collecting a dozen or so Flatts in a year and think, "Wow, must be nice to have that kind of disposable income to drop on these things." After that, I looked at it as, "There's no way I'm going through this 'representative' and financing his figures as well as my own." I have no proof, mind you, but I have a hard time believing that all $1200 would have gone to Charlee.

The guy from the Museum called me a bunch of times asking about how "serious" I was. I told him I was serious about buying a figure, but not for $1200. He was pretty persistent and took a hard-sell approach, but after about 3 or 4 calls, he finally gave up. It was a weird, unsettling experience that left me feeling like I'd almost committed some sort of felony. I asked for Charlee's number (since I only had his address), but this guy wouldn't give it to me. And, in hindsight, why would he jeopardize his cash cow?

In the end, it's a shame that Charlee took his talents, not to South Beach, but to some completely different creative arena. You could tell that he really cared about the figures he made, it's just that he couldn't keep up with the demands of people (both the ones who wanted his figures, and the ones who wanted to personally profit off of his figures).

I hope he decides to give it a whirl again some day, on his own terms. It would be cool to see what he could come up with today.

[michael crawford]

does anyone know who owns the prototype Zorros??

I believe there were only two as I recall, and only one was really in pristine shape. Last I knew, Cal Weaver had that one.

And sometimes this idea of 'prototype' got thrown around a bit after FWF folded. For example, there were only 3 actual Phantom prototypes that we used either for shows or instructing the manufacturing rep, but it seems like everyone and their brother bought a 'prototype' from Charlee later. The actual prototypes had die cast metal guns and belt buckle.

[cricketts99]

Just a quick post here. I recall in the mid 90's Charlee's work was showcased in one of the Action Figure magazines out at the time. It included contact information. I called figuring I would get a secretary or assistant but was amazed it was Charlee. We had a a great conversation and he ended up sending me his catalog.

[samurainoir]

he ended up sending me his catalog.

Okay, someone needs to scan and post this catalogue!

[jwyblejr]

Didn't one of his figures make it's way into a TV show?

[mishu2nite]

http://www.dippyrecords.com/getalife.../toyfare98.htm

[mishu2nite]

There are more than 2 zorros, some were made with his modified riddler head.

[Anarchy]

if you go to my website http://www.gregturpin.com enter the site and click on charlee flatt photos I have over 9 pages of photos and many more to post. Thought everyone knew about my site

Okay, someone needs to scan and post this catalogue!