Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland

Discussion in 'Americans and Other Western Gaijin' started by kid_miracleman, Jul 13, 2016.

  1. kichigai

    kichigai Removed by request

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    [​IMG]

    I do really love the doll they are making, but find it lacks the charm of the illustration, looks more like
    a remake of the Bemon doll rather than being based only on the Monsters 1968 Yearbook character.

    The hands certainly are off as are the size of the shoulders, no hair sculpted on forearms etc.

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    The Bemon version looks more and more like a distant cousin or mutation of the FMOFL
     
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  2. Michael Beverage

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    I think if this toy will be made widely available and relatively affordable, it will be rad. Nothing beats the Bemon sculpt in my book, but this looks to be a high quality character interpretation, and if folks can get their hands on it easily enough, then it's all good to me. Otherwise there is no point in making another 2 headed monster that is hard to obtain with a ridiculous resale price. Seems like Justin will treat the fans right though.

    I agree with Kichigai, it resembles the Bemon sculpt more than the original cover art. But I like it much better than the Yabanjin sculpt personally.

    My only complaint with the Bemon sculpt is that it is a terrible shelf-diver. Hopefully this one will have better balance.

    It will be tough to top the Bemon paint jobs though. Tbey are something special, as evidenced in the pic above.

    I'm looking forward to seeing one in hand. The head sculpts look very well executed.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2016
  3. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    I think Bemon is the greatest painter in the history of soft vinyl hands down, across the 2 headed, and the kougai, the paint work on almost everything is just stunning, with the exception being that rub job on the GID 2 headed :lol:
     
  4. Rich

    Rich Die-Cast

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Your crazy, that rub job is amazing. Multi layered colors, with some super clean areas. It falls in line with is history of greatness.
     
  5. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    We've got to agree to disagree on that one.
     
  6. Michael Beverage

    Michael Beverage Line of Credit

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    I think the GID rub is fantastic too, but it's not my favorite of the bunch. I'm a sucker for the metallic color ways personally. And the original green.

    Anyway, I'm derailing this thread kinda, but still pretty relevant. ;)

    I'm guessing Justin may go with the OG green for the first release? Would seem like a reasonable assumption. It looks fun to own unpainted as well.

    Also, somebody needs to do a faux rust chain/ball treatment on one of these 2 header sculpts, a la drilone. Would be a nice touch.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2016
  7. kichigai

    kichigai Removed by request

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    I would love to see them go with peach vinyl since it was the vinyl color base of all 1960's Monsters

    Plus Bemon never did his on peach afaik so it would be nice to see the Monster in the color painted
    with green and rubbed with iron oxide then topped off with silver highlights and last but not least...

    yellow ochre eyes

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. xSuicide Squadx

    xSuicide Squadx Super Deformed

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Aww! That's my second favorite paint he did, next to the black and red! :lol: But I love the metallic blue version, as well. And, of course, the "Thrashout" version is pretty spectacular.

    I'm very curious as to the first release of this beast, whether it'll be blank or painted. I'm in for either or.
     
  9. RudeBeast

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    I have to agree with everything you just wrote except for the rub job on the GID which I find mind blowing. Mind you I think Bemon's best painting has been on the Kougai - although the two heads are generally stunning.
     
  10. Anti Social Andy

    Anti Social Andy Die-Cast

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    Rinse and repeat!
     
  11. Michael Beverage

    Michael Beverage Line of Credit

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    Even though what you say has truth.......
    I still break wind in your general direction.
    ))~ ~ ~
     
  12. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Anyways, enough threads on here to spread praise (or diss, if that is your thing) on Bemon already I would say, let's try and get back to the figure at hand. I have to echo kichigai's comments. While the figure looks fantastic, it is, somewhat unfortunately, just a too literal/realistic take on the character, for my own personal tastes. That is to say, it is an amazing degree of sculpting and detail, and looks fantastic, just for my own aesthetic of toys I would have preferred a more 'softer; interpretation like the illustration. Somehow the proportions don't fit, with the body, the heads and the limbs, and it is missing a bit of the naive monster charm. I definitely feel like it is influenced a great degree by the other modern art toys out there, rather than being a whole new thing. Which is not a bad thing at all, those are obviously incredibly popular and what all the cool kids are chasing these days; not to mention fetching stacks of bills. It is still a wonderful toy and I am excited to see it. And we should note that this sculpt was ultimately rejected, so we don't really know how the final guy(s) will look, though I suspect at this stage there wouldn't be any major changes.
     
  13. Rich

    Rich Die-Cast

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Some food for thought, this was sculpted by Handsome Taro. With him you pretty much give him your ideas and he does what he wants. You really don't have a say after he starts. So in the end this is what he thought it should look like.

    Originally I thought it looked close to the BEMON version but after a bit more time looking at it, it's pretty far from it.

    As much as people will hate this version of the toy it didn't really belong to BEMON anyways. He made it popular, but it wasn't his original work ( BEMON also didn't sculpt it, he didn't sculpt any of his toys).

    I love this version, and I'll like the next makers verion. I just like two headed toys and now this is a thing so it's gonna be made again licensed or not. As of right now this is the official version from famous monsters like it of hate it.
     
  14. badteethcomics

    badteethcomics Post Pimp

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    Yeah I'd agree with that, I'd say this is pretty much exactly what the sculpt will look like. Surely it would be a problem with joints at this point.. that seems to be the only way a test shot could be rejected as sculpting issues would be fixed during the clay, or at the latest, the wax stage?
     
  15. xSuicide Squadx

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Personally, I really love this take, and I can appreciate the near literal translation from the FM cover(pardon my ignorance. I can't seem to find the artist's name). My two favorite details are the "extended", protruding necks. Like the heads are pushing their chins out. I also really like the balled up fist bent at the wrist on the right hand.

    I'm beyond late to the game when it comes to Bemon and his toys, though I admittedly would love three of the 2HB very much. But I certainly can appreciate what he did for the image, the sculptors vision of it, and very much so his paint apps. I can't think of any other painters that do it quite like these. It's hard to describe. But this being an officially licensed product/release, I'd have to say it's pretty perfect for the "spot on" approach HT took.
     
  16. RudeBeast

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    I was wondering is this the reason why Bemon stopped producing his version? Am I mistaken or did I read that the two headed Bemon was dismissed due to copyright issues?
     
  17. kichigai

    kichigai Removed by request

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    I think you are mistaken, Mr. H quit making the 2 headed doll way before this FMOFL was a conception.

    Plus that doll had many versions so not sure what else could have been done really without doing blanks

    Hope this new doll paves the way for many more Monsters in vinyl form, I can think of sooo very many!
     
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  18. Anti Social Andy

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    If this is the case, who's actually 'Officially' licensing this interpretation.

    How come Famous Monsters even have the rights to a figure that it happens to have had illustrated for use on its cover? Aren't those owned by the film company . . . or even the original sculptor depending on his contract?

    That's like saying FMF could disseminate the rights to anything ever used on its cover!

    Confused of the Grim North.
     
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  19. kichigai

    kichigai Removed by request

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Well....... since 4E commissioned that painting for the 1968 yearbook, it was never used nor "owned"
    in any regard to the film it's attached to. So it would be their (FMOFL) property and not anyone else.

    If anyone should get more credit it would be Wah Chang, but I doubt there are more than 5 folks
    on here that would even know who he was, nor the legacy of Monsters and Creatures he left us.

    Had they chose to make a doll based on the sketches of Luis McManus, that would have
    been a different story. He did concept art for the 2 headed creature featured in the film.

    [​IMG]

    AFAIK a guy named Jethro Keane is the only person to ever make a
    prototype puppet based on the McManus images... it literally kills!

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    I tried to contact this guy but never heard back, if you are out there please know that
    I think your work is sincerely amazing and would still really like to hear back from you.

    Will pull the pics if you ask me to do so, only posted to review and with total respect
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2016
  20. bryce_r

    bryce_r Die-Cast

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    AFAIK?
     
  21. analog101

    analog101 Addicted

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    As far as I know
     
  22. bryce_r

    bryce_r Die-Cast

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    Thank you or..TY
     
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  23. kid_miracleman

    kid_miracleman Comment King

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  24. des_yeo03

    des_yeo03 Toy Prince

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  25. Waterbear

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    Officially licensed 2-Headed Giant from Justin Ishmael (Ex-Mondo) and Monsters of Filmland
    Pre-order that will be opened for well over a month. Over 12 inches tall. Packaged in a box. Priced at 200 bucks.

    I have to say I really liked the sculpt but wasn't going to bother playing the whole enter lotteries for months and months hoping I get lucky game. So seeing these are so easy to snag is pretty refreshing. 200 bucks isn't cheap by any means but the thing does look huge and tons of time and care were obviously put into the sculpt which is not always the case. I am convinced.
     
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