razorwyre1

Show and Tell!
Well last weekend my assistant and I attended the Halloween and Party Expo at the Brown Convention Center in Houston Texas. Its kind of hard to describe one of these shows to someone who's never attended one. In many ways, its just like any other large industry trade show: hundreds of booths from companies offering their products to tens of thousands of retailers, who have come to see the new stuff and order the stock they will be selling in their stores. On the other hand, its much cooler and more fun than any other trade show simply because of the nature of the products. Some booths are simply a single table, operated by a small company's owner, while others are huge custom built displays that cost millions, and all of them offering every sort of Halloween item imaginable. I'm always staggered when I realize that a large chunk of the billions of dollars generated by the Halloween industry changed hands during the 4 days of the show. Unfortunately, I usually only have about a day and a half to try to see everything and place my orders for the masks and decorations I sell on the web, so I have to do it as sort of a blitz, grabbing as many of the relevant catalogs as I can, and trying to predict what the public will purchase.

But I'm sure what you all want to know about are the mask companies and their items. Time and energy dictate that can only write about a fraction of them, but I want to mention a few of the things that particularly surprised or impressed me. (I apologize in advance for not having photos of all of these, but I normally rely on the photos the companies issue for promotional purposes, and I have yet to go through all the discs I gathered.)

Trick or Treat Studios added a few new licensed characters to their line, including a comic book style Hellboy and the Goon, reissues of Bill Malone's Syngenor and Thanatoid, as well as a Cousin Eerie to match their Uncle Creepy, and what is easily the best mass produced Micheal Myers mask ever offered.Of course, most of you know about Forum's Universal Monsters line, but most of the industry saw the Frankenstein and the Wolfman masks for the first time at this show.

Speaking of the Universal Monsters, Rubies displayed their "Gravewalkers" lawn ornaments. These are what are normally called "groundbreakers", life-size sculptures of the character's head, shoulders, and arms, designed to look as if the character is digging its way out of the earth. The Creature was particularly impressive, and will look great at the edge of a garden pond.

Don Post Studios, along with re-releasing their Halloween 3 'Silver Shamrock' trio of masks, and reviving their Gremlins mask, also introduced new masks of Pumpkinhead, an oversized "Motel Hell" pig's head mask, and a number of Full Moon characters, including Puppet Master's Blade, Killjoy, and the Gingerdead Man.

Morris Costumes displayed a several new life size figures from Distortions Unlimited, but the Distortions piece that really impressed me was a magnificent licensed mask of the circus sideshow performer Enigma, which I think is sure to become a highly sought after collectors item.

Of all the masks at the show, the one that I was most impressed with was Incognito's licensed "Mars Attacks" Martian mask, complete with its huge collar and clear plastic space helmet. In a word, "Wow!!!"

There were of course dozens of other companies showing off hundreds and hundreds of really great masks, including Zagone Studios, Fearscape, Specter, 1313FX FrightZone, and many, many more. (Again, I apologize for not having more photos, but you will be seeing all of the new items at their manufacturer's websites soon.) All and all its a great time to be a mask collector, so start saving your pennies NOW!