In addition to a bloody Kolchak variant figure and an exclusive lunch box, the other figure is that of the murderous vampire, Janos Skorzeny, who stalked prey on the Los Angeles strip as depicted in The Night Stalker.
Doc and Gavin took some time to discuss the campaign, their love of the characters, and what’s coming up from Wandering Planet Toys.
FOG!: How did the two of you originally come together to create Wandering Planet Toys?
GAVIN HIGNIGHT: Doc and I both work in TV animation, and ended up writing on some super awesome shows together and would often talk toys. Doc had really been on my case to start some sort of toy-gang… and I thought… maybe we should do something more like a toy company… and here we are. Really, it all started to come together because there are cool properties out there that we love that did not get the toy treatment, so we thought… Let’s make them ourselves.
DOC WYATT: A toy-gang would have been cooler, because we’d be wearing brass knuckles made out of Lego.
Gavin, Doc, and Carl
FOG!: Kolchak is your latest licensed property following The Prisoner, Nancy Drew, and Laurel and Hardy. How do you select each property and what considerations do you have to take into account before you agree to licensing an IP?
GAVIN: We are both big fans of Kolchak and knew from the beginning he was a character we, as well as many other fans, would love to celebrate with an action figure. I think considerations are… is there a path to doing this and is there a fanbase that supports it?
There are some other cool properties from books, tv, film, and music we love, but we’ve had to admit to ourselves might not be possible due to the extremely expensive nature of manufacturing and fulfilling collectible toys like this… so when we do commit, it means we’ve done some homework, and feel in our heart of hearts that the other fans are like us, want them, and will rise up together to make it happen with us.
DOC: We chase the rights to some properties for a long time and never get them. That can be heartbreaking sometimes!
FOG!: Your newest figure — now live on Kickstarter — is based on the cult TV detective Carl Kolchak. Darren McGavin first brought the character to life in two television films, adapted from the novels by Jeffrey Rice, before it became a short-lived series. Given how often Kolchak has been considered for revival over the years, what drew you to the property? How did the licensing process come together, and what hurdles did you encounter along the way?
GAVIN: The hurdles for us on this one are the epic uncertainty of the toy market due to tariff issues. That has been a major challenge when trying to forecast can we make these and pre sale them, and fulfill them… etc… We just successfully navigated the current market and climate with Laurel and Hardy, so we felt confident finally launching Kolchak.
As for the licensor, we’ve been working with Mounstrous, who puts out the amazing comics and the latest edition of the original book and they have been amazing to work with. Effortless, which we appreciate.
Fans working with fans to make cool stuff for fans. The original series, tv movie and book (and now comics) all drew us to this point. We are fans of Carl Kolchak in various media. He’s a timeless character.
FOG!: If the Kickstarter is a success, and reaction is positive to the figures, are there other characters that fall under the IP license that you’d want to develop for a second wave of figures?
GAVIN: We are always down to make more monster toys! Just need to see how wave one goes. Because we are such a small team, a launch like this takes all our brain cells… so we just take lines one wave at a time.
The good news is that our licensor has been amazing to work with, so if there is fan demand, there are possibilities. But yeah, our mission right now is the best possible 1:12 Carl Kolchak and Janos Skorzeny we can make!
DOC: The Night Stalker was the original Kolchak villain, but the second one was the Night Strangler. The Night Strangler was a near-immortal killer kept alive by a secret elixir that he had to create with the blood of his victims every 21 years. That would be a good figure to keep Janos company on your toy shelf.
FOG!: Are there any dream licenses you’d like to develop?
GAVIN: SO MANY!!!! We are tight lipped about what is in development or what we are trying to do, as it’s such a competitive landscape. But I will tease we just got a license for a horror property I’ve been wanting to make toys of since I was a teenager… decades of day dreaming leading to this. It’s gonna be awesome! We continue to be inspired by film, tv, books and music and we love surprising fans with what’s coming… so just know we are hard at work…. And we are also very interested in launching something original where we get to write the creative.
DOC: We’re very close with some stuff we’re extremely excited about. No spoilers!
FOG!: Who or what were your biggest influences when it came to preparing for not just this, but in all your creative endeavors?
GAVIN: Wow… that is a big question. I will say we get inspired by other toys, and other people making toys. I love NECA, absolutely love what they do. We don’t try to copy how they do it, but we work to achieve quality like they always do. Not just inspired by toys we collect but also film, tv, music, other media. I love getting lost in fictional worlds created by others, and I think our toys are a tribute to some of that. Us celebrating cool stuff out there. Just in toy form.
I think music is really important to me while I work, whether it be creative writing, or doing toy work… I look forward to when musical artists can cross over into what we are doing with toys.
DOC: Horus, the Falcon-headed Egyptian God of Vengeance, guides my creative thoughts and actions. ALL HAIL HORUS!
FOG!: Are there any stretch goals you want to reveal?
GAVIN: For this campaign, we decided not to do stretch goals. We really wanted an obtainable, awesome Kolchak figure. I will say, as often happens, once a campaign launches, fans will reach out with ideas, sometimes, it’s just not stuff we can make happen financially, but sometimes a suggestion comes in that is great and realistic, I’m debating one suggestion I heard just today… wondering if we can fit it into our tooling.
DOC: No stretch goals on the campaign, but I do have a goal to be stretching more often. It would help with my circulation and flexibility.
FOG!: What other projects do you have lined up before the end of the year?
GAVIN: I think we have two more campaigns in us for the year. It just depends on so many factors… but we’re hoping to bring something for our retro Prisoner fans that feels super special. These things take so much time… so I hope it’s this year. And we have a few surprises up our sleeves too. 🙂
THANKS as always for giving us a chance to talk toys!!
To Support The Kolchak: The Night Stalker Campaign, CLICK HERE!
