Monster spitballs

Entertech's Spitball line of the 1980s started out as a fairly generic range of character-based water-squirting doohickeys. The image above (cribbed from a French GI Joe forum) shows a mixed bag of designs: "beasts" (specifically, a beaver, a pig, a shark and a frog); "jocks" (a baseball player, an American footballer, a soccer ball and… a beach ball, I think) and "wacko's" (Frankenstein, a skull, a Jack O' Lantern and, inexplicably, a boy scout).

As time went on, the line seems to have focused more on monsters - possibly influenced by those Madball toys from around the same time. Just look at the Monster Spitballs (available second hand, at the time of writing, from Goblinhaus):

Frankenstein has better things to do than hang around with boy scouts. Look - it's a small rubber approximation of Bela Lugosi! And just like the real thing, it projects water over eighteen feet when squeezed.

It's not just classic horror fans who were catered to by these things. These Spitballs also branched out into contemporary films - namely, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. A number of websites have covered these oddities, in particular Dracula Dinosaur, from where I have shamelessly swiped the photos below:

While Drac and Frank were sold together, Freddy and Jason came separately. But Entertech stuck to its two-Spitballs-per-pack guns, resulting in the curious decision to sell each slasher villain with an unnamed victim.

"JASON." "VICTIM."

Exactly what this fellow's a victim of is unclear. Freddy's victim has clearly been slashed down the face, but Jason's hapless teenager… well, he's in pain, but has no visible injuries beyond a pink patch in the shape of a comic book "pow" effect above his nose.  An axe wound would have been more Jason's style - this guy looks like he's just trod on a rake.

At this point, some people may be raising an eyebrow at gruesome slashers such as Friday the 13th having merchandise that was clearly aimed at children. Well, rest assured that Entertech also covered more age-appropriate fare, with some Spitballs based on the Real Ghostbusters cartoon.

The packaging depicted Slimer and an orange ghost squirting water at pink and yellow beasties, but the set actually partnered Slimer with, curiously, the Ghostbusters' car. Doesn't quite fit in alongside Dracula versus Frankenstein or Freddy versus slasher victim, but there we go.

Most sites I've seen go no further than the eight horror Spitballs covered above. However, thanks to the magic of the Google image search, I managed to find two more entries in the series, again tying in with Ghostbusters…

These are from eBay listings that are long-gone, so I was unable to find higher-res images. Still, these should be sufficient to demonstrate that the line also included a 3-D version of the Ghostbusters logo and quite possibly the most unsettling representation of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that the world has ever seen.

The whole point of that scene in Ghostbusters is that the world was in danger from something that looked utterly harmless. But this… this I can see bringing about the apocalypse, somehow.

One last thing I'd like to note about these is the ingenuity in nozzle placement. Most of these Spitballs shoot water out of their mouths, as the brand name - nay, the very tradition of character-based water squirters - dictates. But there are exceptions: Frankenstein shoots water out of the scar on his forehead, the Marshmallow Man out of his stomach, and - best of all - Jason out of his nose.

Now that's a Friday the 13th remake I'd pay to see.

Mr.Tom taps into archetypal childhood fears

When I was a child in the nineties, I once ate a certain candy bar. Forgive the Americanism - "chocolate bar" would be inappropriate as there was no chocolate involved, the confection in question consisting mainly of peanuts and caramel.

But it was not the bar itself that stuck in my mind, it was the packaging. I found its wrapper so fascinating that I squirrelled it away in a box of trinkets, still in my possession today. Here it is:

Look at it. Just look at it. Gaze upon that phantasmagoria of clowns and monkey-men, and imagine the effect that it would have on the psyche of an innocent child. If you can't be bothered to zoom in, here are some highlights:

Mysteries within mysteries. The bar is German in origin, but yet bears the Anglophone name "Mr.Tom" (not to mention the English word "PEANUT" proudly emblazoned to the right of the wrapper). Unlikely to have been named in homage to the fiction of Michelle Magorian, the bar was possibly intended to carry the exotic feel of genuine Americana.

On only one occasion during my childhood did I ever find a place that sold Mr.Tom bars. Were it not for the fact that I held on to the wrapper, I may even have passed off the experience as merely a product of my fevered childhood imagination.

However, just this week I visited a local bar that sold Chomps, Milky Ways and… Mr.Toms, still bearing that familiar packaging. Without hesitation, I plonked down 50p.

As can be seen, the wrapper did not survive the past twenty years entirely intact, the imagery having been truncated to make way for nutritional information. It is also worth noting that, although the design is much the same, a side-by-side comparison will reveal a few adjustments - such as the baffling absence of the strongmen. Did somebody decide that musclebound men squeezed into leopard-print shorts were an inappropriate subject for a children's confection?

Long may you live, Mr.Tom. Long may your bizarre images be burned into the minds of impressionable children as they devour your peanutty goodness. If only more confectionary followed your approach to packaging...

DarkWorks and plagiarism

I intended this blog to focus on nostalgia and retro horror imagery, but with this post I've decided to take a sidestep into a modern issue, and not a particularly pleasant one.

DarkWorks is a small outfit in America which creates horror fiction and graphics. Recently, the people behind the wonderful Horror Honeys website have accused DarkWorks of plagiarising from Anathema Photography:

DarkWorks appears to have created this image as a response:

The accusation is entirely correct. Here is one of the DarkWorks images in question...

You can see the original image right there on the Anathema website. Incidetally, as far as I can tell "Cyberized Demonica" doesn't exist, and this film poster was made as a mock-up portfolio piece - just as well, as I'd hate to think that a film studio had payed DarkWorks to steal someone else's work.

Similarly, this image from DarkWorks...

...is lifted from a comic book published by Zenescope.

Next, we have this image...

...which was taken from a Brazilian artist named Andre Bdois (note that DarkWorks has carefully removed Bdois' signature from the painting).


I also noticed that the cover of the DarkWorks novel Tales from Under the Concrete...

...uses one of the first images to come up if you do a search for "gagged girl" (although, to be fair, this particular image may be in the public domain):

DarkWorks boasts about being a purveyor of "adult horror". Hopefully, that means that it will do the grown up thing and apologise to the victims of its theft.


UPDATE


The more I look at DarkWorks' portfolio, the more plagiarism I find.

Another mock-up film poster...

...this time, taken from the cover of an X-Box game.

 A natty Grim Reaper design...

...which was pinched from the DeviantArtist Christos Karapanos.

Another pinch from Zenescope comics - this is the cover to Beyond Wonderland.

Finally, we have this. I'm not entirely sure where the image originates, but I found the same picture without watermarks at Pinterest.

The character in the image is Leatherface, from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. If you look closely, you can see the name "Geldhof" written in the lower right - DarkWorks apparently forgot to remove the original artist's signature this time.


UPDATE #2

It goes on. Take a look at the latest book from DarkWorks:

After the accusations of plagiarism, the publisher has been quick to point out that the cover turns up no hits on the TinEye reverse image search:

 

The simple reason for this, of course, is that the text on the cover throws TinEye off. Crop the text from the image, and a reverse search will take us to the original:

A number of sites have this image, and again, I cannot trace the artist. It is possibly in the public domain. But if so, why is DarkWorks trying to cover its backside with that TinEye screencap, instead of being upfront about where the image came from?


UPDATE #3

There have been a couple developments. One is that DarkWorks appears to have removed most of the plagiarised images from its Twitter feed (but some remain, including the above book cover).

However, the book covers on Amazon remain, including this one:

 

The image was swiped from DeviantArt user LenoreScarecrow. DarkWorks will have to try a little harder to cover its tracks...

Secondly, somebody has set up a parody Twitter account exposing all of DarkWorks' plagiarism. In case you're curious, the company's official Twitter is here.


UPDATE #4

It's been a few months since I wrote this post. Since then, there have been some more developments...

First off, in reporting that he'd deleted most of the images from his Twitter account, I implied that he was no longer posting plagiarised graphics. This was incorrect. Here's a snapshot of some of the more recent pictures he's posted:

I was able to trace four of the six images. The glowing skull, undead girl in bath and Sweet Zombie Jesus are all available online in forms without the DarkWorks logo; Zombie Jesus has a signature in the lower left, but the file is too low-res for this to be read (the altered version, meanwhile, completely obliterates this signature with the DarkWorks logo).

The last of the six images was taken from DarkWorks' favourite stomping ground: DeviantArt; it was painted by Peter Oritz. Has the owner of DarkWorks learnt from his mistakes, and given Peter due credit?

...No, he hasn't.

Let's put this in perspective. He's shown that he knows how to use TinEye to trace where an image found online originates. It would have taken him a few seconds to find out that Peter Oritz created this image, and only a few seconds more to mention the artist in his tweet. He was willing to take the time and effort to paste his logo and site URL over the picture - but simply couldn't be bothered to acknowledge where the image came from.

In short, he's still up to his old tricks.

Next, DarkWorks has changed the cover of Tales from Under the Concrete Volume 2, possibly after pressure from LenoreScarecrow...

Here is the new cover:

Incredibly, DarkWorks has replaced the stolen image with another picture swiped from DeviantArt. It is a piece called Maleficent, by Slevin Aaron:

This is actually a double plagiarism, as original image is fanart. Maleficent is the villain from Walt Disney's animated version of Sleeping Beauty, soon to be adapted into live action:

Utterly hilarious that DarkWorks, a publisher whose blog is full of bluster about "adult horror", has chosen to use a Disney character on the cover of its book.

The other development is that the owner of DarkWorks wrote a somewhat eccentric response to Danielle Anathema, owner of Anathema Photography.

Here are the key arguments that he makes:

'I don’t sell any images of any kind here, let alone yours for fuck sakes, that would be illegal in the United States  – All images on this blog are free for anyone to snag for their own personal use or otherwise. It’s always been that way. Danielle, everyone here that’s been with me knows this. Besides, they don’t know you or want to fucking know you in the first place.

Let’s be crystal here, Danielle. People grab images all the time and write all kinds of shit on them. You see this all the time in memes, themes, and collaborations throughout the Internet.'

Well, yes, people do distribute images over social networks with little regard to copyright. But what DarkWorks is doing is different. The images I've shown here have the DarkWorks label slapped all over them. In some cases the artist's signature has been removed. They were posted on the official Twitter feed and blog of a professional company. The owner of DarkWorks has also referred to the images as "my graphic designs" and "my pretty pictures"...

...and claimed that all images posted on his blog are under his copyright ("all images and content is own by DarkWorks" writes the novelist, in what appears to be an impersonation of CATS)

This is not the same as uploading a picture of Homer Simpson to your Facebook page as a laugh. This is a clear attempt to claim ownership.

Above all, I should also remind you that DarkWorks has plagiarised images for at least two ebooks, made commercially available over Amazon. When this man claims that he "doesn't sell images", I'm afraid he's just not being truthful.

He then goes on to make it personal, by insinuating that Danielle is guilty of piracy:

'Yes indeed, and I often wonder how many illegal downloads of movies are going on right now as you read this?

No, not that YOU have ever done such a thing, let alone any of your shit-eating trolls busying themselves by creating “Sock-Puppet” accounts on Twitter to attack me personally. I am certain you have licenses with such software companies as Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, as others as well?

Right?

Wrong, call it a fucking hunch but something tells me, bitch, you don’t…

My dear friends in the U.K and as you can see on my Twitter Account alone, I have far more than you ever will. These fine folks tells me that you can get arrested there in your country, in your area of Covington, for simply downloading, uploading, sharing “ill-gotten” music and movies. Not to mention pirated software.'

Unless he has evidence that she is a software or music pirate, of course, then this is merely name-calling.

After that, he moves on to what appears to be some kind of threat:

'Oh, I might suggest that you take more care of your firewall and Internet security by the way, it’s full of fucking holes, just like you, just like your tactics, just like the lack of your on-line security.'

The article soon becomes almost completely incoherent:

'Your juvenile cyber-attack campaign is obviously blown up in your face.

I would like you to know that you have jaded any hope of reconciliation of reaching any kind honorable resolution because of your actions against me, my military record which is all detailed out in my DD-Form –214 and on public record here in America to say nothing of the attacks said about my wife – Oh yes, I hold you personally in these vicious attacks against someone as innocent as anyone in your family in regards to our  subtle differences.

However, you have worked so diligently  with your minions to press upon me your public display  of misgivings, misjudgments, and the promotion of your shit-eating drones in cyber-bullying and your keyboard attacks, I figured that I would grabbed you and your trolls right now in a public forum here like the fucking baby seals you guys are and club the fuck out of each of you verbally!

Again, when I say you, I mean all of your sock-puppets all with your own medicine.

Call it a fatal dose “Industrial Strength” medicine. Swallow deep. Shit, you’ve fucking  earned it!'

He moves on to attacking the parody Twitter account, which I mentioned earlier:

'Let us consider the creation of bogus accounts, pretending to be me – Fucking me?

Really, cloning my name, company, and web presence on Twitter. Where in the fuck did you think you’d get with that?

Really??

Who in the fuck would fall for that I wonder?'

I'm fairly certain that the Twitter account in question was intended to make fun of him, rather than fool people into thinking that it was him.

'In basic, I am saying where I got your “claimed copyrighted” images was not “lifted” (as I think you or one of your spineless fucks put it so eloquently into words)  from your site on Twitter, your so-called Danish Hosted “Professional” Web site, or your pithy Facebook Page.'

I think the "spineless fuck" ccomment might be a reference to me, as I used the term "lifted" in this post. I'm not sure why this word seems to have offended him more than "plagiarism".

'Truth is I got these said images right off the Internet and shared them to the world in return just like everyone else, like on any other given day of the fucking week.

There was no “watermark” bullshit to speak of claiming it was yours or you made it.  Again, from where I got them from, I would have never have known of you in the fucking least.'

This is an argument that he makes more than once in the post - that he found Danielle's image somewhere online with no indication as to who owns it. This may be true, but...

1) That does not justify slapping his company's name on it;
2) Some of the other images he used came with signatures;
3) He continued to post uncredited images in the same fashion even after demonstrating that he knows how to trace the source using TinEye.

Finally, there's this:

'One last item I like to publically address is the matter of these various “death threats” and making “physical threats” upon me and my family has been turned over to certain agencies here in America that take great concern of these matters. According to these agencies, the United Kingdom has these same laws in these regards. I made it real fucking easy for them to trace these sloping foreheads down.'

Of course, if he genuinely has been receiving death threats, then the people responsible should be condemned. However, given the lack of evidence to back this claim up, not to mention his overall disregard for facts, I'm inclined to doubt that he has receieved anything of the sort.

This is not the only time that DarkWorks has published a lengthy, semi-coherent rant about its detractors. Just look at this post, which is a response to two unnamed individuals who (as far as I can tell) wrote negative reviews of DarkWorks books.

'Yeah, one sap went that far and gave my stories a “Hard R” rating. This same idiot-savant couldn’t even spell “Christian” correctly as he proclaimed his self-righteous faith.

Now what in the fuck caused him to bring that shit up in the first place?

Was the story so disturbing for him that he sat there reading it with his Crucifix in hand all naked with his shorts passed his ankles after downloading child-porn and illegally gained music?

I am most certain I don’t want to know.

Now the Novella has a 5-Star Rating and review as we speak. Over 20,000 on the free offer lasting up until tomorrow will be sent out to all who requested it. Not to mention, we have over 82,000 page views and a screaming subscription count.

On Twitter, we have over 70,000 fans alone. So what about those two “Editor-in-Chiefs” of their trifle magazines in comparison to all the accolades from my fan base?

I’m ashamed you even have to ask?

These two clowns don’t even register as a blip on the radar. More like two little Canaries breaking wind in a Category 5 Hurricane actually.'

It's already pretty undignified for a novelist to respond at such length to negative reviews (just ask Anne Rice). But accusing his detractors of looking at child pornography? Aburd and utterly spiteful. If he hadn't left the reviewers unnamed, he would be open to charges of slander as well as copyright violation.

Note also how the accusation is followed (in a fine example of arson, murder and jaywalking) with a curious reference to illegally downloaded music, which seems to be something of an obsession with this man.

Just to round things off, here's a link that I was previously unaware of: a discussion about DarkWorks on the Anathema Photography Facebook page.

At this point, I think I've said just about all that needs to be said about this person - although I'll still update this post if anything more happens.


UPDATE #5
 
Tales From Under the Concrete has another new cover:

He's doing a slightly better job of covering his tracks. The flames he's pasted over the picture mean that you can't find the original by doing a reverse image search on the cover. You can, however, find the original by doing an image search for "grim reaper":

Meanwhile, DarkWorks has another response up. Here's what he has to say this time:

"From all over the world on Twitter I get complemented for my graphic arts and designs in the Independent Horror Genre."

Quite possibly true, but the people giving the compliments are under the mistaken impression that he creates the images himself. As I have demonstrated, he doesn't.

He then goes on to the allegations of plagiarism, which he claims were made by "talentless trolls of envy":

"When I was accused of plagiarism, I challenged that allegation and my legal team fired back with deformation of character and demanded proof of these slanderous accusations. As to the death threats, the ISPís and authorities took these ass-clowns off line. Overnight the world on Twitter changed for me. No more nasty death threats, no more outlandish claims, no more negativity.

Where was the proof that something I wrote here on my blog or anywhere for that matter, plagiarism?"

The proof, of course, is all over this blog post. Speaking personally, I have never heard from DarkWorks' legal team in response to my post, and rather doubt that this one-man-band even has a legal team.

As for the death threats, again, if he received any then the people responsible should be condemned. But bear in mind what a colossal liar this man is.

And then comes the conclusion to his thoughts, such as they are:

"After all, I am not for everyone, and everyone isn't for me. It is a fact of life and we all move on. Least most of us who don't have some penis-envy disorder and or on some sort of medication that is working. I'm tired of fucking with these ass-clowns!"

"Penis envy". Hmm. An odd accusation, considering how many of his detractors have vaginas.

Universal Monsters Online

Let's start things off with something very recent - Universal Monsters Online, a game which shut up shop earlier this year. Before it closed I grabbed some screenshots showing the biographies of the playable characters; the cast combines familiar faces with some real obscurities (such as the robot from The Phantom Creeps). I got a kick out of the characters' redesigns: