14 Awesome and/or Perplexing Collectibles of Dune
By James Daniels in Daily Lists , Merchandise , Miscellaneous
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 8:07 am
Longtime TR readers might remember my "salute" to David Lynch's Dune
movie , a film that was epic, visually stunning and well-acted... but
also confusing, uneven and occasionally downright goofy. Among the
film's many problems is that it was also poorly marketed. It was 1984,
and Universal was hoping they had the new Star Wars on their hands,
because the biggest lesson most of Hollywood took away from the success
of the Star Wars trilogy was the merchandising. Just hold on tight to
those licensing rights, and get ready for a deluge of sweet, sweet
revenue. License anything and everything, because that's where the real
money's at! What Universal failed to realize is that while Star Wars was
kid-friendly, Dune was anything but -- anyone who's either seen the
movie or read the book could tell you in a second that it's neither
appropriate for, nor appealing to youngsters. This meant Universal
licensed a ton of merchandise for a movie kids never saw (or if they had
lax parents who did let them see it, didn't understand or like). Here's
a collection of some of the Dune movie's most bizarre merchandising, as
well as some honestly rare and actually awesome bits of memorabilia
(special thanks to Dune Index , Collectors of Dune , and
DuneStuff ). Enjoy, and may the Hand of God be with you. 14) Jigsaw
Puzzles
Waddingtons actually put out several of these 150-piece puzzles made
from movie stills and promotional images. This one of Feyd-Rautha
Harkonnen was selected in particular because it's frankly a larf to
imagine that when assembling this, you'll find a puzzle piece with
Sting's codpiece on it (or possibly four). 13) Belt Buckle
Who says elaborate pants-retaining systems are the sole province of
cowboys and other macho stereotypes? Maintain the integrity of your
lower garments in style with this pewter beauty featuring a simple, yet
elegant Arrakeen skyline showing both moons and some Guild Frigates in
the distance. 12) Children's Book and Record Set
Remember these from the '70s and '80s? A picture storybook with an
accompanying 45 RPM record (ask your parents, younger readers), you read
the book and play the record simultaneously, with audible cues telling
you when to proceed to the next page. I like to think in this case, when
Feyd screams "I WILL KILL HIM!!!" you immediately have to turn the page.
11) Paper Dolls
Who knows why or how these things exist? It's doubtful there's much
overlap between Dune fans and paper doll enthusiasts. These don't even
have the excuse of attempting to market the film; apparently they were
made in 1991, somewhere, for some reason. Sorry, this one has me
baffled. 10) Revell Models
Model builders will tell you with absolute assurance that there's a
model for pretty much everything, and you should believe it. The Sand
Crawler actually looks pretty cool, while the Sandworm model looks even
more inappropriate than the Sandworms in the movie looked, which is
saying something. 9) Bedsheets
Christmas morning, 1984: "But MO-OM! I asked for Return of the Jedi
sheets!" "I'm sorry, honey, they were all out. But they had loads of
these, for half the price -- and it's still one of those spaceman movies
like you like!" 8) Action Figures
LJN was no Kenner or Mattel, but the Dune toys were actually pretty well
made. If the film had done better, the line might have actually gone
somewhere. The figures are quite sought after by collectors; the catalog
here shows Lady Jessica and Gurney Halleck figures that were never
released, though toy collector myth claims prototypes exist somewhere.
1 | 2 | Next Page >>
Tags: Bizarre Merchandise , Dune
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