Halloween Haunt Special: Creating artwork for Fright-Rags' Halloween figures featuring Slasher Design
- Osbourn Draw
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Cereal Creatures takes a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Fright-Rags' Halloween collectible figures with Slasher Design.
The third wave of Fright-Rags’ Halloween figures includes Ghost Bob and young Michael Myers. Like the previous two waves, each figure’s backer card features photorealistic custom artwork on the front, with reverse-side art that harkens back to action figures of the ’60s and ’70s.
The front of the card doesn’t require much debate—it needs to be an iconic, front-facing shot of the characters as viewers remember them. Artist Justin Osbourn ensures the selected imagery fits with titles and text, while matching the outfits of the actual figures. He makes an extra effort to have have the characters posed with the weapon or accessories included with the figure.
For young Michael, it’s essentially the only shot of him from the movie: post‑killing, when his parents unmask him in front of their home in 1963. Ghost Bob is a little more circumspect. The artwork shows Bob dressed as a ghost. We can practically hear Lynda asking if we “see anything we like,” but the real clue is in what’s in “Bob’s” hand—a phone cord and receiver. It’s the reminder that this isn’t Bob at all; it’s Michael Myers. Bob is quite literally hanging around downstairs.
While the scene has become iconic over the years, it remains one of the strangest moments in the film, with Michael not only donning a sheet but also Bob’s glasses in a playful, almost comical way.
The reverse side of the backer is fully customized as well. The top section includes bio information for the featured character, along with previews of other figures in the series. The bottom third of the card features a gimmick—a free item or piece of related merchandise that doesn’t actually exist. Each wave has included a different one.
The first wave featured a fake mail‑away offer for the three comic books Tommy Doyle reads in the original Halloween: Laser Man, Tarantula Man and Neutron Man. The second wave included pumpkin‑carving stencils. This wave introduces a collectible case for the figures called the Myers House. Shaped like the iconic Lampkin Lane dwelling, it includes a space for each figure released. The design, as described by Justin, is a nod to the Remco monster cases and those that were designed to tote around Masters of the Universe figures in the 80s. Except… this wasn’t the original plan for the wave’s gimmick. In fact, it wasn’t even the second idea.
According to Justin, the first idea centered on a VHS release of a Halloween animated series in the style of the original Scooby-Doo cartoon. Licensor Trancas passed on that idea—we’ll cover it further in an upcoming Saturday Morning Cartoon Show article. The second idea, also rejected by Trancas, was the collector case but under the name “Spook House.” Halloween fans will recall that the kids in the movie call the Myers House by that very name. With the change to “Myers House,” everyone was satisfied and the third-wave gimmick was set. And in a twist, Justin tells us there’s talk of actually producing a carrying case for the figures, though it’s unclear whether it will ultimately be the Myers House.
The figures are now available from Fright-Rags.
