The Scarecrow from Oz is getting a dark update, but he needs your help

2:00 PM on 07.29.2011   |   Chris Pranger

So then, we find ourselves gathered here on the precipice, looking out upon yet another custom action figure that I could very well want in my hands. But wait! There's a catch! This one doesn't exist yet! Start-up company ShouldBee wants to make custom action figures based on any and everything you've ever wanted, and just because they know how to figure out the perfect thing I'd go nuts for, they're starting with The Wizard of Oz.

To sum things up very tightly, they have a Kickstarter campaign going at this very moment to raise funds in order to create the line o' fabulously re-imagined characters from Oz. The plan is to make a new Scarecrow, Dorothy, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion (in that order), all tweaked to fit with the theme "The Nightmare of Oz." Gritty reboot of beloved childhood classic? This is usually Burton or American McGee's forte. Thankfully, neither of them are involved in the project, so there is much, much hope in my heart that it won't suck. However, it all depends on whether they can raise the needed $40,000 before the Kickstarter campaign ends in a little over a month (35 days as I write this, so I'm guessing by September 1st).

If you decide to donate, you can earn things like stickers or t-shirts or the coveted figure itself, though that starts at the US$50 mark. Of course, if you want to go for the gusto, you can donate a full US$1,500 and get one of the four characters named after you. I...do not have that much, but I have faith. Donating even a buck gets you a vote between the two possible designs, the first being "Zombie Crow" featuring a gnarly rake and the second being "The Reaper," which has some badass double scythe cross thing going on behind his back; I don't know what I'm seeing but I like it. My preference goes to "The Reaper" mostly because I think his structured design will work better for articulation, though if you took the head from "Zombie Crow" and stuck it on "The Reaper," you'd have hit perfection.

Now comes the hard part: Everyone else needs to go out and support this project. I know, "But Pranger, I haven't the money to help you with wish-fulfillment." Sure, and you might as well go stomp some puppies while you step all over my hopes and dreams. Look, this isn't about me, for once. This is about a cool project getting some help. And if that eventually results in me getting to combat the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion against my beloved Beast, so be it. Beast is just itching for a real fight, so you know, if this succeeds, he wouldn't mind getting a review copy as a sparing buddy. Don't disappoint!