General Information

Updated January 20, 2011
919-957-3700:

TOMBSTONE UPDATE SNEAK PREVIEW Here's a first look at Billy Clanton
from our Gunfight At The O.K. Corral range

Unlike toy soldier versions of Billy produced by other manufacturers over the years,
we have elected to show him firing his pistol with his left hand as his wounded right
arm hangs at his side. Contemporary accounts (backed up by reports of the wounds he suffered)
describe him being shot in the right wrist at the opening of the gunfight & then switching
his gun to his left hand so he could keep the fight going. While it is always difficult to
decide 'what moment' should be depicted in sculptures of a gunfight, this seems to be
the right moment to us...

Frank McLaury will be appearing next...and i haven't decided whether he should have a
bullet hole in his head or not....decisions, decisions....

The NON Vikings

The rumors are true. We will at long last be releasing a few figures from a new range
which I am calling "the NON Vikings".
Crazy you say? I agree....but read on.

Our corporate logo is directly based upon the design of the sail on Ernie Borgnine's
flagship known as The Great Snake. Since the beginning , we have routinely ended
collector correspondence with the salutations "Hail Einar", "Hail Ragnar" or "Hail
Ragnar's Beard". Longterm Conte collectors know what I'm talking about.
The Vikings remains my all-time favorite movie and Spartacus remains the most
important 'message' film in my book.

Years ago, we had the licenses to make product based upon both " The Vikings"
and "Spartacus". My childhood hero , Mr. Kirk Douglas had produced and starred
in both epics and to this day still owns both movies. He had approved the projects
and with the help of his people we acquired the rights to make figures and play
sets based upon these labors of love. Licensing for Spartacus was via Universal
Studios and went along swimmingly and we ultimately released some memorable toy
soldiers. Licensing for The Vikings was with MGM and turned out to be one of
the most frustrating and disappointing experiences in my life. That is an understatement...

We made numerous sculpts based upon characters such as Einar & Ragnar & Eric &
Morganna and events in the movie and were mighty proud of the job we had done
with them. Mr. Douglas agreed and each and every set was approved by Mr. Douglas
for production. Even though we had his approval we needed to clear the technical
hurdle of obtaining the 'rubber stamp" approval of MGM's licensing department.
Much to our shock and utter amazement. MGM disapproved each and every sculpt
and specifically told us that all figures could NOT be produced as product based
upon the film as they deemed the sculpts garish, 'did not look at all like the
characters', costumes were painted the wrong colors, the sets were too violent,
etc. They even told me Tony Curtis would never approve being depicted with an
unkempt beard..... Worst of all, the twenty-something lady MGM licensing exec
demanded that we remove the scar from Einar's face and 'fix" his discolored eye
as she deemed this 'ghoulish' and inappropriate for consumers.....I tried to explain
the importance of the 'look', the pain Mr. D had experienced wearing a
primitive contact lens during filming, etc., all to no avail.

What remains remarkable is that the MGM exec had never seen the film and refused to
watch it... Despite not ever having seen the movie, she demanded we make the clothing
colors 'more colorful' and 'cheerful".....When I asked her where she was getting
her color choices from, she condescendingly referred to six 8 x 10 stills in the
MGM files; when I asked her to show me , it turned out that the photos were all
100% black & white... I repeated my request to see her 'color' references and
suggested we view the dvd on her computer screen...she refused & was indignant.

The final straw was when I told her that we already had garnered Mr. Douglas's
approval and she in an exasperated response said to me "Who is this Mr. Douglas
you keep referring to?". She went on to tell me she had never heard of him and
that our meeting would be terminated if I mentioned him ever again!!!!!
I tried to explain that Mr. Douglas and the Bryna Company owned the movie at
which point she blew up , began yelling at me , told me "we own the movie"
(meaning MGM) and told me that the meeting was at an end. I inquired if
she knew who Michael Douglas was. She didn't but she asked a co-worker if
they had heard of Michael. The response was "Isn' t he that creepy old guy
who married that British actress?'.......Neither exec knew of any film starring
or produced by Michael Douglas....

A few days later I received an official letter from this erudite charmer at MGM
telling me that all sets were totally rejected as they looked nothing like they
should look like, did not look like the performers in the film, were the wrong
colors, did not represent the characters in the film, etc., etc. and that they
could not be produced as sets based upon the film. She told me I needed to go
back to 'square one' and redo all of our work and to come back with new sculpts,
colors and especially a better attitude. Hmmmm....

Since I am a humble toy soldier maker, I ask you to defer to the expertise of the MGM execs.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT PURCHASE ANY FIGURES FROM THIS SERIES THINKING THAT THEY ARE BASED
UPON THE FILM THE VIKINGS AS THE WISE MGM EXECS HAVE OFFICIALLY OPINED THAT
THESE FIGURES ARE NOT NOT NOT BASED UPON THE FILM. Who am I to argue with the pros?

A portion of the proceeds of each set in this NON Vikings series will
go to the Anne & Kirk Douglas Foundation, in honor of my childhood hero.

Despite MGM's advice, my attitude remains the same ...as do the figures......

Hail Ragnar's Beard

JANUARY CLEARANCE SPECIALS

WE NEED TO MAKE SOME ROOM ON THE SHELVES FOR ALL OF THE NEW SETS
WE HAVE SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE IN 2012, SO HERE ARE SOME SPECIALS:

BUY $100.00 OF METAL OR PLASTIC, TAKE $20.00 OFF THE TOTAL = 20% discount

BUY $250.00 OF METAL OR PLASTIC, TAKE $75.00 OFF THE TOTAL = 30% discount

BUY $500.00 OF METAL OR PLASTIC, TAKE $200.00 OFF THE TOTAL = 40% discount

FREE SHIPPING ON ALL USA ORDERS; SPECIALS EFFECTIVE JANUARY 4 THROUGH JANUARY 30.
QUANTITIES LIMITED. NO BACK OR PRE -ORDERS;
LIMITED TO INVENTORY ON HAND IN THE WAREHOUSE TODAY.
Specials do NOT apply to the NW Frontier sets, which have just arrived, or the Zulu War range.

FOR INTERNET ORDERS, THE DISCOUNT WILL BE CALCULATED AFTER WE MAKE SURE
THAT WE HAVE WHAT YOU ARE SEEKING--SAID DIFFERENTLY, DON'T PANIC IF THE
'CHECKOUT' SYSTEM DOES NOT REFLECT DISCOUNTS/SPECIALS.

The Yahoo shopping cart system automatically sends you a 'copy of your order'.
Please ignore this as it will NOT reflect the discount.
AFTER we calculate the discount we will send you a corrected invoice.

The best way to place an order for one of these specials is
by sending an email to us at einar1eye@gmail.com

Thanks for helping us to make some room....

NEW RANGE UNVEILED

TOMBSTONE

Doc Wyatt

Virgil Morgan

WE HAVE LONG WANTED TO GET INTO WESTERN FIGURES & AT LAST ARE
DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT. DEPENDING UPON COLLECTOR SUPPORT/ENTHUSIASM
WE HOPE TO MAKE THIS AN ONGOING RANGE COMPLETE WITH BUILDINGS THE
CLANTON & McLAURY BOYS are coming next.......

Please click to join the Vengeance Ride with us......