A bit about Graveyard Scenes
I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from people with regards to the Graveyard Scenes bases so here are a few images of the set and a bit of the story behind them. The only time the whole set has been assembled to photograph was at Wonderfest, so these are not the best shots.
The inspiration for these clearly comes from the 70’s Aurora monster kits that had somewhat interlocking bases. I first came up with idea for Graveyard Scenes about 15 years ago as a nice way to build a monster display. Unfortunately, at that time, most of the monsters in the 1:12 scale were hard to get. That all changed when Revell reissued the Monsters of the Movies Dracula and Frankenstein. The resin copies of the other Aurora figures became more plentiful and so we went from there.
A couple years ago, Rick Evans started doing replacement bases for the classic Aurora Monsters and I bounced the idea for Graveyard Scenes off him. He took it and ran with it. I roped in my friend Jim Craig to do some comic art to go with them and the series was born. The first kits were the Vampi base and Drac base. Python had resin reproductions of Vampi available, along with several other 70’s Aurora monsters and the Monsters of the Movies Dracula was easily available. We then added Frankenstein, with an extra stone piece so it could work with either the MOTM Frank or the other 70’s Aurora Frankenstein.
The Mutant Insect came along after that. We didn’t want to be limited by the Aurora Bug, so we designed it to go with any insect kit. It goes well with the old Fundimentions Gigantics for starters.
In 2009 we added the werewolf base as a resin reproduction of the MOTM figure was now available. We then branched off into our first figure kit to go with the line called “The Girl.” We started with the Aurora Cro Magnon Woman, gave here a new wardrobe, boots, and a haircut. Rick suggested either a Buffy or Velma style paint job. Jim Craig did some fun box art for this, adding a zombie coming out of the grave by The Girl. That may actually become the next base that fits in front of Frankenstein.
This year we added the Mad Doctor base, which can go with any of the 70’s Aurora mad doctors, including the MOTM Jekyll and Hyde figures. Plus Monarch is promising to reissue the Canadian Aurora Jekyll/Hyde kit from the 70’s.
We also added a completely new figure called The Vampire Bride. She was partially inspired by the female vampires in the original Dracula movie, as well as Hammer vampires. Joe Simon had fun crafting this new figure which can be painted a variety of styles.
With the upcoming reissue of the MOTM Creature, you can bet we’ll try and figure out how to work a base in for that. We’ve talked about other things, like gravediggers and gallows. Even creepy trees and tombstones. There’s even an original Undertaker style figure in the works.
You can order these in the Cult Shop. I still don’t have the Mad Doctor base listed, but it will be there ASAP. You may also want to check out the Castle Panels, which allow you to display the 1:12 monsters in a variety of ways. I have new additions to that line as well. I just need to find a little time to post them.
Stay tuned.
