So, anyone pulling the trigger for one of these? I find it surprising there is no thread for this yet. I want to preface my observations with this: I think this has a lot going for it, despite the ever accelerating SRP on items such as these. I also think after pre-ordering and pre-paying for the Kaustic Plastik Bela Lugosi Dracula Deluxe, that I will be sitting this one out.
Here are my observations, and pics of the product.
1. Where is Bela's ring? He wore a ring in White Zombie and its clearly visible in most scenes.
2. Why does he have a raven? The character is followed about by a Vulture in the film.
I made some observations on this on the thread on the OneSixthFigures forum:
The base of the lamp is wrong, and the birds in the film are supposed to be vultures, not crows.
"A cloud of vultures always hovers over the house of the living dead."
Also, the layout and copyright information is very similar to KP's Bela Dracula, and Star Ace is marked only as the distributor. Can't tell if the "Distributed by" also covers X-Plus, or whether the latter is supposed to be the actual maker.
With KP's figures the license is for the actor likeness rather than the film, which explains certain differences with the accessories (such as Dracula's coffin). Even the name 'Dracula' is used as the term "Bela Lugosi as Dracula" under the Lugosi LLC copyright.
White Zombie is apparently in the public domain so Star Ace were able to reference it without copyright concerns. Therefore there shouldn't be any need to make the lamps different or the vulture as a crow.
Star Ace have also used "Bela Lugosi as Murder Legendre" under the Lugosi LLC copyright in the exact same manner as KP.
KP may be behind this in some way, as they are with the Stallone Shop figures. However, looking at the Bela Lugosi site there's no mention of KP, Star Ace or X-Plus on the licensing page:
Licensing – Bela Lugosi – The Official Site
The Star Ace and X-Plus sites don't have any reference to this figure either.
