More Runaway Brain Designer Toys

The dazzling 1995 Mickey Mouse Meets Frankenstein short, Runaway Brain, is proving popular with designer toy sculptors. Following up on my last post about the vinyl figures by Mediacom Toy of Japan, here are some more versions offered through Sideshow Collectibles.

The figure at top is the crazed, Maniacal Mickey who’s had his brain electrically switched with that of a Kong-sized Frankenstein Monster.

Also available is the mad scientist monkey, Dr. Frankenollie (at right) whose name is a playful homage to legendary Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson. These were sculpted by David Pacheco and cast in porcelain.

Still available from Sideshow is 2007’s Runaway Brain Mickey sculpted (I love the drool effect) by Monster 5 for Span of Sunset. This one’s an articulated vinyl figure available in standard color, a “neon” version (pictured below), as well as versions in candy red, and chrome (photos of the color variants appear on Vinyl Pulse). The Span of Sunset figures are packaged in a cereal box with a t-shirt and a pack of trading cards.

Runaway Brain, the seven-minute short from 1995, is up on YouTube.

Related:
Mickey’s Frankenstein Figurines
Frankenstein Meets Mickey Mouse

Mickey's Frankenstein Figurines

It’s two pop culture icons rolled into one. Medicom Toys of Japan has revealed pictures of its new vinyl figures of Mickey Mouse in full Frankenstein mode.

At top, Mickey appears as a stiff-limbed Teenage Frankenstein, standing some six and a half inches high, with a bolted flat head and a blue smurf-like complexion. Below, it’s Evil Mickey from the 1995 short Runaway Brain that featured a giant Frankenstein Monster.

Beautifully sculpted, these collectibles are scheduled for an October ’09 release and should run over 100$ apiece.

Related:
Frankenstein Meets Mickey Mouse

Frankenstein Meets Mickey Mouse

The Mouse, created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, first graced the screen in 1928. The Monster, assembled by James Whale, Jack Pierce and Boris Karloff, followed in 1931. Twentieth Century icons, their parallel paths would intersect twice in the first sixty years of their ongoing careers.

The phenomenally successful Frankenstein made its Monster an instant cultural reference, signaled by appearances in three animated shorts in 1933. Betty Boop’s Penthouse features a laboratory-made, wraith-like Frankenstein menace, and Bosco’s Mechanical Man is a frenzied robot called Frankensteen. It fell to Mickey’s Gala Premiere to present the first recognizable representation of the Karloff Monster.

The story — Mickey’s new picture premieres in Hollywood — serves as an excuse to caricature a parade of then current movie idols, from the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo and Mae West, to now largely forgotten stars like George Arliss, Chester Morris and Mark Swain. The Frankenstein Monster appears in the company of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and a missing link-like Fredric March as Mr. Hyde. The monstrous trio, enjoying the show, laugh in perfect unison. According to studio archives, the sequence was animated by Art Babbitt.

What’s interesting here is that the animator’s reference was obviously a photo of an unused, early test makeup that had curious fleshy folds, or ‘horns’, on the forehead. Babbitt replaced the circular clamps with safety pins and added electric wires to the neck bolts.

In 1995, Mickey Mouse became the Frankenstein Monster in Runaway Brain, an energetic short where Mickey’s brainwaves are switched with that of a giant creature with a peg leg and a flat Frankenstein skull. The film, nominated for an Academy Award, was directed by Chris Bailey.

In the age of YouTube, Mickey’s Gala Premiere, unseen for many years, is now freely available on the Net (see how many Golden Age movie stars you can ID!), as is the entertaining Runaway Brain.