MORE ZOMBIES COMING!

Return of the Limited Dead

It's been a crazy week, but I wanted to thank everyone who followed along with our production blog, as well as all those who bought the zombies at the Monster Mania convention last weekend.  All twelve went.  Who knew?

In addition, I've received a buncha emails and been made aware of posts on certain message boards (Mego posse, represent!)* asking where they can pick these up.  So, it seems the answer "they're only available at MonsterMania" isn't being accepted, so we decided to whip up a few more.

Our original intention was to have 20 made for MM, but we only had time to complete 12, so there are various incomplete bits of another 8-10 around the shop.  We're going to design a new card for online-only, and we'll most likely have another 10 as of next week.  If you subscribe to the FearWerx newsletter or belong to either the FearWerx or MegoMuseum message boards, you'll be notified.

*humor the old white guy, don't laugh at him.

ZOMBIE TYPE 1: PRODBLOG #12

All Lined Up And Ready To Go

Day 12: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
T-minus one day and counting. And not a moment too soon. Scott Lefebvre comes by tomorrow to pick them up and bring them to MonsterMania Connecticut this weekend.

And one final shot, before they leave the building. All carded, signed, numbered and clamshelled, ready to go. Only twelve of these suckers and that's it. A steal at $49.95 each, if you ask me -- much more time was put into each one, but I'd feel guilty setting a higher price at this point.  This is what they'll look like once on the table at the con:

I hope you all enjoyed watching us put this project together. It was a first for us in many respects, but if all goes well this weekend, we'll be doing this a lot more, especially for all you zombie-lovin' gorehounds like me.

Joe Sena

President/Creative Director

SphereWerx, LLC

EMCE Toys/FearWerx brands

ZOMBIE TYPE 1: PRODBLOG #11

End of the line

Day 11: Monday, June 8, 2009

T-minus three days and counting.  Well, sadly we didn't take pics of this crazy weekend, as we frantically painted heads, hands and guts, tore fabric and generally beat the hell outta these guys.

And due to the trauma, we've officially reclassified these as "Class 2" zombie which, in War of the Dead lore, is a zombie that reanimated due to a bite, but has been up and about for a while and therefore is more ripe than a zombie that just jumped off the gurney a few minutes ago.

Anyway, here's a decent shot of the completed figure.  I didn't like the lighting on this one as much as the one we're using on the packaging, but the leg wound is more prominent here:

And here's the front of the package, done in classic MEGO style with a few fill-in sketches I literally did a few hours ago.  

And my favorite part, the back of the card.  I love the angle and lighting of the shot we're using here, and all the War of the Dead background story we've crammed in.

And with that, tomorrow we print the cards, I'm gonna sign all 12, stick 'em all in clamshells and then Scott comes to pick them up and take them to Monstermania.

And now I'm going to bed.

ZOMBIE TYPE 1: PRODBLOG #10

The Zombie Is Shrinking...

...and so is time!

Day 10: Friday, June 5, 2009

T-minus six days and counting!  This last step was entirely in Paul's hands: getting the scrubs sewn and shrinking the head sculpt.  I'm really happy with the way the outfit turned out, especially with the Mego-scale "spell hands" Paul has had in stock for just such an occasion.

Without his head, I'm reminded of David Gale in Re-Animator.

Speaking of head, it's long history of bad luck continues.  The "hydroshrink" process involves casting an original in this specific substance, which yields a damp, spongelike cast.  Over time, the cast dehydrates, and it shrinks to a hard finish at 50% of the original.  During this time, the manufacturer can "snapshot" different sizes as it shrinks by getting a new mold of the smaller versions.

So, when the hydroshrink cast reduced to classic Mego proportion, Paul made a new mold, the this is the result:

What I'm happy about: I'm amazed at how much detail it captured.  I thought I'd completely lose the lines in the skin, but it looks like they stayed.  That will be great for the paint.

What I'm not happy about: To my eye, the proportion is a bit off.  Look at the chin in particular.  Looks like the chin receded a bit, which makes the head look wider and rounder.  It also seems to have shrunk the nose, which is fine, given that the one I resculpted (after the dropping-on-the-floor incident of May 25) made him look like Karl Malden.  Plus, to add the neck plug, Paul cut the cast a bit too close (in my opinion) to the neck wound, and we lose one of the smaller "attempted bite" details below it.

I mean, it could just be that I'm so used to looking at this thing in its original size for the last month or so that the new size is disorienting me.  You be the judge:

And at this point, I lose Paul, who is off to get his ass kissed at MegoMeet, the annual gathering of Mego loyalists in Wheeling, WV.  Although there will be some time left when he returns, my conservative project management philosophy makes me take stock and cut off pre-paint development here.  Given what Paul and I have been able to produce together, I can now safely say that, if I get all the painting and assembly done over the weekend, we will definitely have a dozen of these puppies on the table at MonsterMania.  Anything else we can make between Paul's return and the event itself will be gravy, but clearly this will be an ultra-limited release.

To ensure that, this will most likely be the final post until we report that they're all completed.

Cross your fingers.