Monster Scenes

[Tory]

I know it has been forever since I posted a model of a show rod, so I thought i would share what I've been up to in the last few years.

I was contacted by Dennis Prince to build all of the original Aurora Monster Scenes kits for his latest book "Monster Scenes: The Most Controversial Toys of a Generation". Here are some photos of the original 8 kits. These were built from authentic Aurora kits, not Moebius re-issues:

Dr. Deadly


The Victim


Frankenstein's Monster


Vampirella


All four figures together


Gruesome Goodies


Pain Parlor


The Hanging Cage


The Pendulum


For anyone that might be interested in the complete story of these highly controversial kits (by 1970 standards anyway)you can order a copy at:

www.monsterscenes.net/

And no, I don't get a percentage of the profits!

Tory

[TooOld]

Those look fantastic , and from original kits no less ! I'd love to find an original Frankenstein's Monster someday .
Thanks for the link too , never seen that website before . I'm gonna order a book too !

[ira]

Great Builds!
I remember those from when I was a kid...

[jimbertges]

I just finished reading the book and not only is is a great read, but it provides little known historical facts and insights into Aurora during The Monster Scenes years. There are tons of illustrations and rare behind the scenes photos. Tory, your work throughout the book is extraordinary. It's an inspiration to see these kits done so well.

[Tory]

Thanks for the kind replies guys. I know posting these here was a bit of a stretch, but glad to see they found favor with a few of you anyway.

Jim, thanks for your compliments on what I did with the built ups in the book. I really tried to show the potential of these kits. I think a lot of modelers dismissed them as being toy like, but if you surrender to their charm, they are beautifully detailed little gems. Their only limitations came from the need for them to articulate and have interchangeable parts. Otherwise they actually exceed the original 8" monster kits in detail and finesse.

Here are a couple of others I did for the book:

Dracula


Mr.Hyde


Giant Insect


These were never released in the US, only in Canada.

Dracula and Hyde were recycled into Monsters of the Movies kits.

Tory

[hobbybobby]

Hats off, Tory, you've done an absolutely excelent work on each of these kits!

It's hard to believe, but these little devils are actually responsible for bringing down the Aurora empire...

Although tame by today's standards, concerned parents' groups of the early '70s deemed these model figures and playsets too sinister and depraved for their sensitive, impressionable youth.

Worried moms and dads mounted an assault on all the popular monster toys and comics of the day, urging boycotts and letter-writing campaigns.

Meanwhile, with the horrific battlefield images pouring out across the airwaves, we kids were wondering:

"What's the big deal about a little monster or two?"



Monster Scenes was a series of plastic, snap-together model kits originally produced by the Aurora Products Corp. beginning in 1971.

Aurora had already made a big splash in the 1960s when they introduced unique kits based on Universal Studios' classic monster characters, at a time when hobby store shelves were dominated by model military vehicles and hot rods.

The monster-based kits were extremely popular, but by 1971, having exhausted the Universal cadre with kits based on Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, etc., Aurora pushed its luck by putting out a new series of Monster Scenes, modular dioramas of original designs that, while not directly based on any licensed horror film characters, tried to capture the same spirit.

But some critics felt these new kits, which included The Hanging Cage, The Pendulum, and Dr. Deadly, a mad scientist who appears to be experimenting on animals, had a mean-spirited, sadistic quality, and were inappropriate toys for young children.

The last straw was a kit called "The Victim", depicting a scantily clad female, to be used as fodder for the dungeon or torture chamber, sold separately.

When the wholesome Nabisco company bought Aurora and found themselves picketed by angry parents, Monster Scenes were retired.


First released in 1971, the Monster Scenes provided kids with a plastic "Victim", a nubile young 70s hottie in torn halter top and cut-offs who looked like she stepped straight out of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Sweet Hitchhiker” or any rock group’s gaggle of Groupies - to presumably be tortured or experimented upon in a snap-together torture chamber, handsomely decked out with immortal horror trappings like Edgar Allan Poe’s Pendulum, The Hanging Cage (replete with brazier of red hot coals and pokers), and the subtly-titled Pain Parlor playset.

Presiding over this deviltry were the loathsome Dr. Deadly and, like a plastic dominatrix, the scantily-clad Vampirella kit, the most un-loathsome sight imaginable.


Further killing any pubescent boy’s hopes of getting these monstrosities for Christmas was the fact that both buxom female kits were molded in flesh-colored plastic, effectively giving boys the chance to “paint clothes on a naked woman,” as one writer put it.

The coup de grace, though, was the Monster Scenes’ tagline: “Rated X- For Excitement!”- a bizarre reflection of the increasing media permissiveness ushered in by the MPAA’s movie ratings code during the interval between Aurora’s first monster kit in 1960 and this series’ release in 1971.

The models drew heavy protests from feminist and parents’ groups, and were exorcised from hobby store shelves.


Moebius Models has since licensed all the original Aurora monster kits and remanufactured many of them using the original molds and box art, also MM seems to embrace the legacy of the Aurora Monster Scenes and even reprints a newspaper excerpt about the Nabisco protest in their catalog...