Speaking of Vendors...What is on your Christmas List?

[drfrightner]

As you know most vendors are now working on new products. What is on your Christmas list for Vegas '08? What do you want, what do you need, what are you hoping gets created for your haunt?

Every vendors, and I mean EVERY vendor reads these forums. Trust me I know!

So TELL THEM!

Larry

[bodybagging]

Hey we hear at BBE do not read these forums, we are just here for the purty pictures.........

[Gore Galore]

WOW!
I am a little surprised at this.
Larry posts a great question for buyers and not a single buyer answers.
I am dumbstruck.
why is this?
Do you not know what you want until you see it?
Do you not want to reveal to others what your plans are?
Do you not know what your plans are?
Have you already posed this question to your favorite vendors?

Honestly, it is a little late for this question but what a great question to be put out there for you.
Larry,
I think you should post this question every year, but do it Nov 1st or so.

I really am curious as to why no one answered.

we are doing a few pieces right now based on our buyers suggestions.

[Frighteners Entertainment]

Well Kev, since you brought it up.
You did mention that you had a couple of pair of Batman Underoos and Superman underoos is premium condition...?

[drfrightner]

I'm kinda dumbstruck myself... we've got two or three vendors who've responded but no buyers.

I guess everyone had a terrible season and has no money. LOL

When it came to talking about how much some people are upset with Scarefactory we saw 300 posts on the subject. But now we want to help those vendors help the haunt owner we see none.

C'mon people!

What do you want under that tree???

Larry

[drfrightner]

I will make a wish list myself for later tonight.

But I can tell you it starts with HIGH END COSTUMES for my actors.

Larry

[lurker]

Dear Santa Vendor,
Our theme this year is going to be more eclectic than most years, and we haven’t hammered out all the details yet. Based on what I’m already 100% set on, we are going to need SNAKE STUFF. Fake snakes, giant fake snakes, and some sort of cool kick ass giant snake costume. We are doing a room this year themed as “Yigg: Temple of the Snake God”. Of course the giant snake costume would be old Yigg himself. I’d like it to be a costumed actor, but I may go with an animation for the part. And Santa, please keep the real snakes at the north pole.
We are also looking to get one or two skelerector type rigs that we can add our own props to.
And maybe a really good giant spider animation.
Of course, we are always looking for cool and durable foam latex prosthetics that will go with the characters we have planned. As already indicated we will have one or two snake characters. We will also possibly need a prosthetic for a Spider Queen character.
Also, I got to get one of those Gore Galore Scream Cubes. That can turn a bad actor into a great one.

Other than that, the rest of what we'll need this year will be mostly building materials of various degrees and forms.

Here is something I think vendors might want to consider. We build a lot of our own stuff, which I’m sure a lot of haunts do. For us that is about 65% of the fun of haunting, but we have limitations on what we can do. One of those things is to sculpt and cast large pieces for costumes and animations. We have the talent, but we don’t have the time it takes to sculpt, mold and cast pieces for costumes and animations, but we still want them to be our own creations to some degree. That is why I think more vendors should openly market their cast parts, or skins. I can’t tell you how many times in the last few years that I wished I had access to a catalog of oversized heads, chests, and hand pieces. I know some vendors will sell those to you if you approach them on the side, but no one really markets them openly.
Just a thought.

I want to see all of the stuff on my above list, as well as a Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle BB gun in front of my haunt by Monday. 
Go Santa go!

Thanks
Ralphie

[Dman]

Santa Wish List

I have to agree with Kevin and Larry, I thought that a bunch of folks would have posted ideas. I normally check this board 2 times a day and have purchased and sold numerous items throughout the years. I would like to see more Higher Quality Costumes geared toward outdoor attractions (Hayrides and Trails). I would like to see a Scarecrow, Clown, Zombie and Custom Characters. I have a couple of Castle Blood Costumes which is the quality and price that I'm talking about and they're Great. I wish that there was a company that would produce the kind of costumes that Rozzy Alexander (RIP) did but at a more affordable price. I have 2 of Gore-Galore's costumes (Freakenstein and Reaper) and love them. The problem with spending $$$$ for these costumes is that it Greatly limits the actors that I will Trust to wear them.

Just an idea..

Dan Augusto
Owner Tombstone Productions

[twohlgemuth]

Hi Dman,

Your wish has been granted! Visit the new vendor SpookywoodsFX at Transworld this March. Film quality costumes for todays modern haunts is the tag line.

We will be revealing the new web site with videos in Feb.

Prepare to be simply blown away by the extremly detailed full body suits that can be themed to fit many haunts. We are bringing 20 suits to the show for sale, so make room in your suit case!

[Jim Warfield]

20 suits!?

No "Suit" can be scarier than...my "Birthday Suit"!
hahahaha!
Now everybody knows! You will be selling copies of me naked !
"Run! Hide! It must be the armagedeon!"

Now you have us all curious.
All I ask is please, no Jim-Birthday Suits! Too many imposters would be wearing them when they lie at the sperm bank.

[Gore Galore]

Jim,
Ouch
Don't do that to me.
No wmy brain hurts.

Tony,
There is room for this type of costume. We have had the Bride costume for a couple years, but I just don't enjoy making these types of costumes as much as the Giant Puppet style costumes. Larry has talked to me about it for years. But just be aware that many buyers are going to act like it costs too much. The companies selling silicone masks get hammered all the time with people saying why so much.
You really do have to pay for quality. That is why our costumes are as much as they are, and sadly enough they really should cost more. The market just couldn't bear it.
But if you supply a great product, at a fair price with a service guarantee, and good customer service you will make it. So, good luck and I will most certainly swing by your booth and check them out.

Hey Dan,
thanks for the plug and also we like being reserved for the best. hahaha
And you know our costumes make a bigger than life impression upon your patrons and with the new scream cubes they will push it even further over the top. You will find that out when you receive the ones you ordered. We have been getting great feedback from our customers so far. And we are working on a huge library of downloadable sound effects.

And Rozzy did make some awesome costumes and they were worth every penny. He hand made every one of his costumes and he didn't take any shortcuts. If anyone were to build the same type of costumes for a cheaper price they wouldn't be in business long. They would be making like $5 an hour. Not a good thing. I miss Rozzy. I remember him from his first Transworld show and I was so amazed by his work.

[twohlgemuth]

Kevin,

Before I decided to fund this project I did lots of research. There are a couple of vendors that are in this area of products. One is you and Scream line the other doing costumes at this level. Your new web site kicks ass by the way! I wanted to bring something totally new, I did not want to rip off an idea, but be unique. With customer service being an area I believe strongly in that will be easy. I'll return calls and emails, and take care of clients like I would like to be taken care of from my vendors. Trust me, being a buyer from many years I know who not to buy from for lack of customer service.

One of my visions was to have the product on the show floor for purchase. This insures the customer two things, one delivery and you get the quality you paid for. Based on what you and screamline have to offer I have based our pricing on your amazing large costumes and their stilt monster as the high end and spfx masks on the bottom end of what a customer price point should be. If I'm way off, then I will have a full troupe of extremely detailed creatures for our next parade! LOL

[Speculo]

The best products are the innovative ones you didn't EVEN know you needed. When vendors come up with those kinds of items thats when they have really delivered. That said, the short list is:

1) New products, ideas or effects that REALLY scare people.

2) A new VORTEX i.e. something massive you walk through that blows guests away

3) New Gee wiz items that make the MEDIAS jaws drop.

4) A new CHAINSAW. i.e a portable scary blowoff that almost always works and sends em running home to mommy.


How is that for a list?


Thanks!

Ben Armstrong
NETHERWORLD

[drfrightner]

Kevin,

Actually I would tend to agree with everything you said sorta. The fact is that you're right someone did come along selling high end costumes (Rozzy) but that guy never delivered and if memory serves me right many people made claims he took their money without handing over the product. I've seen many haunted houses wearing some of his cage costumes from the movie 13 something.

Rozzy didn't have a great track record I dont' think. But I do agree that many people back then would say 'why so much'. I do think times are changing now.

People have tapped out the animation scene. What more could you want? People have bought and bought and bought animations and there just isn't anymore room for them, atleast not in my haunt.

If a cool animation does come along ya sure you might consider buying one but for the most part animations are about to start sliding.

People want stuff they didn't have before or couldn't get before.

Now is the time for new idea's rather than re-inventing the same old stuff.

The haunted house industry is flush with cash and people I think will spend it on things they don't have or couldn't get rather than the same old monster that lunges forward. Just an opinion.

I think people keep buying animations because there isn't enough NEW directions offered by vendors. If we go to TW and see NEW innovation I think you'll see money going in a NEW direction.

Just a thought.

Larry

[drfrightner]

Here is my list...

NOTICE TO VENDORS:

I AM TIRED OF ANIMATIONS THAT BREAK!

NOW here is my list...

1) I would love to see more special effects, things that could make my haunt haunted, stuff you might only see in a movie or a major theme park dark ride.

Basically the WOW factor prop. That is what I'd like.

2) High End Costumes. People are ready for this because Netherworld has set the standard, well and Rocky Point. People are wowed by their costumes and are ready for some of their own. Bring it on!

3) Silicone monsters rather than latex. Give me stuff that looks like its right out of the movies made of Silicone rather than latex. I'd love to see more silicone props!!! Lets go!

4) Bring back the masks...we've seen only ONE silicone mask company. Bring on some competition! I'd like to see more companies specializing is masks for haunted houses, I'm talking about masks that fit a persons head, that allow for mouth movement, comfortable, realisitc and scary!

5) Little things that make the difference:

I don't think I've ever bought anything from Oak Island before but last year they had little things that worked out and those heads on a wire. I ended up buying like 40 of them some for myself and some for clients. I made an entire hallway scary by hanging them up and making my customers walk through them. Others I put in pulleys and dropped them to scary customers, blah, blah.

That was something little that worked! You don't always have to think BIG, because sometimes those little things can work wonders. An old saying goes 'its not how big but how you use it' lol. Same applies here.

Bigger isn't always better and Oak Island proved that for me last year!

How are those?

Larry