NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
ACTION FIGURES

March 18: Creator talks exclusive B&W NOTLD toys!

Earlier this month, EMCE Toys, a brand of subculture marketers from SphereWerx Micromedia, announced that they will be releasing 8-inch Mego-style action figures based on characters from the seminal 1968 classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. SphereWerx president Joe Sena gave us news today that will be of interest to Fango fans in particular: Exclusive black-and-white versions of the first character’s head (Bill Hinzman’s Graveyard Zombie) will be available for pre-order exclusively at the Los Angeles FANGORIA Weekend of Horrors (running April 25-27). To be issued in blister packs with illustrations by original Mego artist Harold Shull, the heads were sculpted by James Brady in the classic rotocast plastic style, and will be released in June alongside the color versions of both Hinzman’s ghoul and the late Duane Jones’ Ben (both are now available for pre-order here).

“Once the convention is over,” Sena tells us, “no further orders for the special edition will be taken. When all the figures are released in June, only those who pre-ordered them at the convention will receive the black-and-white heads, complete with a special stickered version of the packaging. Our original plan was to actually have the figures at the convention; however, we pushed the button on the production late. We’ve actually had the prototypes done for over two years!”

The reason for the delay? “With the 40th anniversary of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD looming late last year,” says Sena, who runs the EMCE Toys brand with Paul “Dr. Mego” Clarke, “there were several parties claiming to be custodians of the copyright who were supposed to make sure that people from the original film got paid. Now, I didn’t just drop off the turnip truck—every film school teaches the story behind how NIGHT, rightly or wrongly, was surrendered to the public domain, and no one can legally claim rights to the property. However, we came to know these parties only because we wanted to offer royalties to the actors and anyone else we felt was due, so we offered the development of the figures as part of what they were claiming was their big merchandising strategy for 2008.”

After patiently waiting with no results, Sena jettisoned the relationship and teamed with Amok Time Toys, which he says “graciously connected us to the talent. We struck deals directly with them, and went public just last week. Amok Time Toys developed the 12-inch NIGHT figures for release in May, with the cooperation and financial participation of several of the original actors,” including Judith O’Dea (Barbara) and Kyra Schon (Karen Cooper), who both have figures in the lineup.

Sena’s company is also set to produce additional NOTLD merchanchise as well. “For 40 years, that property has been bootlegged to death,” he notes, “without any of the original talent benefiting. Kyra’s face alone has probably made people hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, and she never got a dime.” FearWerx, another of Sena’s SphereWerx brands, will be producing an entire line of NOTLD swag, from T-shirts to glassware and housewares, royalties from which will go to the participating talent. “This is the year that all NIGHT fans should benefit from a real, consistent quality merchandising program, and the talent should benefit from the sales such a program will generated,” Sena says. “We’re gonna make sure that happens.”

Article by—Sean Decker for fangoria.com

Close Window