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Okay, okay, sorry I tuned into this one late.
When we first decided to get involved with the design, we wanted it to be a correction of the original MEGO monsters (yes, I'm surprised there are fans of that line here), and if MEGO had the chance to do real Universal Monsters correctly, what would they look like?
This would have happened way before the Karloff, Lugosi and Chaney families got involved with Universal, so likenesses would not have been a factor in the decision. Chances are, they would have just aped the Aurora sculpts.
So, we wanted something that was going to resemble a "generic" Frankenstein, the kind of which was done a lot in the 70s licenses. The person who put up the Bama illustration is dead-on. That's exactly what we were going for. In fact, I still have my glow-in-the-dark version of that poster and other monsters I got in some kind of cereal premium from back in the day.
However, you'll notice that the card background bears the Karloff likeness. That's because, strangely enough (no pun intended), apparently Uni has some kind of settlement with Sara for the use of the likeness in packaging.
This was also apparent in Paul's aforementioned note about Im-Ho-Tep vs. Kharis. Not that there's no Chaney likeness agreement (otherwise we wouldn't have been able to do the Wolfman the way we did), but that they only want Im-Ho-Tep represented in this line (I know, I know, I want my Kharis, too).
Having been part of the initial Karloff/Chaney/Lugosi battles when I was at Universal, it seems that things have changed considerably. I think they realize that the time to make huge bank on the likenesses are over and are happy for whatever comes their way.
That said, we're having a hell of a time with The Creature's estate. Those guys are sharks.
As for a Chaney "Phantom"? Film is in the public domain, likeness is 100% Chaney family owned. Stay tuned.
When we first decided to get involved with the design, we wanted it to be a correction of the original MEGO monsters (yes, I'm surprised there are fans of that line here), and if MEGO had the chance to do real Universal Monsters correctly, what would they look like?
This would have happened way before the Karloff, Lugosi and Chaney families got involved with Universal, so likenesses would not have been a factor in the decision. Chances are, they would have just aped the Aurora sculpts.
So, we wanted something that was going to resemble a "generic" Frankenstein, the kind of which was done a lot in the 70s licenses. The person who put up the Bama illustration is dead-on. That's exactly what we were going for. In fact, I still have my glow-in-the-dark version of that poster and other monsters I got in some kind of cereal premium from back in the day.
However, you'll notice that the card background bears the Karloff likeness. That's because, strangely enough (no pun intended), apparently Uni has some kind of settlement with Sara for the use of the likeness in packaging.
This was also apparent in Paul's aforementioned note about Im-Ho-Tep vs. Kharis. Not that there's no Chaney likeness agreement (otherwise we wouldn't have been able to do the Wolfman the way we did), but that they only want Im-Ho-Tep represented in this line (I know, I know, I want my Kharis, too).
Having been part of the initial Karloff/Chaney/Lugosi battles when I was at Universal, it seems that things have changed considerably. I think they realize that the time to make huge bank on the likenesses are over and are happy for whatever comes their way.
That said, we're having a hell of a time with The Creature's estate. Those guys are sharks.
As for a Chaney "Phantom"? Film is in the public domain, likeness is 100% Chaney family owned. Stay tuned.
Also, I'd love to see a Christopher Lee Dracula.
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