AHI/ AURORA heads

[Mod Style]

I wonder how AHI was able to use the same heads as the AURORA monster kits? I don't know about the scale, but the sculpts are the same.
Were they both owned by the same parent company? If not, AHI was ripping AURORA off big time.

[palitoy]

I wonder how AHI was able to use the same heads as the AURORA monster kits? I don't know about the scale, but the sculpts are the same.
Were they both owned by the same parent company? If not, AHI was ripping AURORA off big time.

They not only knocked off the heads but also some of the packaging art. Seeing as they didn't pirate sales from each other, I guess it wasn't a big issue.

[dr_cyclops]

In the case of the "male" Creature from the Black Lagoon, most of the model kit. Even though AHI "knocked off", "ripped off" or just plain used the Aurora monster heads always got my interest as a kid. Just wish they had done a better job on painting the heads.
Did PEZ use the Aurora heads at one time?
Back in the mid-90s I found some halloween cupcake decorations of one of the bats from Dracula and Batman with a plastic extention toothpick coming straight down the tail. It was a bad cast with lots of detail lost and a little flat, but it was taken from Aurora.
Someone (I can't remember who) told me that Aurora was "knocked off" a lot outside the United States. I didn't find it hard to believe.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I've always wondered about things like that. Since Universal owned the characters, and gave the license to AHI, could Aurora really do anything about AHI ripping them off?

In a similar vein, most of Toy Biz's first DC Super Heroes figures were modeled after Kenner's Super Powers figures. A few years later, Kenner reused the actual molds for their Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves line. Which was more wrong?

Chris

[dr_cyclops]

In a similar vein, most of Toy Biz's first DC Super Heroes figures were modeled after Kenner's Super Powers figures. A few years later, Kenner reused the actual molds for their Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves line. Which was more wrong?

Chris

I'll go with "Toy Biz". At least Kenner owned the SP molds. Toy Biz flat out ripped off (very poorly) Wonder Woman, Robin, Penguin, Mr. freeze, green lantern or whoever to create Riddler. Perhaps others I don't recall.
Strange as it is, Kenner didn't seem to take any action over this. It was the 90s Batman movie that ticked them off. Toy Biz interpet their contact with the DC comic versions to include the movie version, and beat Kenner to the toy stores with their Batman movie toys.

Kenner complains to DC, DC complains to Toy Biz, and pulls their license. Marvel buys Toy Biz.
Later that decade, Toy Biz bought marvel out of their bankruptcy.

[TrueDave]

I asked about the Robin Hood figures at my interview with Kenner. Guy told me they were just rushed for time and I had a good eye. ( Being a dork paid off!)
Guess thats how they were able to afford such wonderful cloth costumes.
Kinda like bumping Jawa up. They thought kids would be mad they had such a little figure so they gave it a cloth cape to up its sale appeal.

[palitoy]

In a similar vein, most of Toy Biz's first DC Super Heroes figures were modeled after Kenner's Super Powers figures. A few years later, Kenner reused the actual molds for their Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves line. Which was more wrong?

I'm pretty sure those molds were borrowed from Kenner. I know one of the founders of Charon (the Canadian wing of Toy Biz) and he explained the whole Batman thing to me, he was also the creator of the skinny carded Superpowers figures, next time he calls I'll get verification.