After a highly successful first round, Wandering Planet Toys is back with another Kickstarter — this time for The Prisoner Wave 2. Based on the classic TV series starring Patrick McGoohan, this new set features some riffs on the main character, as well as some figured highly requested from the first go-round.
“LEO MCKERN as Number 2 was by far the figure our backers most requested that we make next, and we’ve got him,” said Wandering Planet Toys Co-Founder Chris “Doc” Wyatt via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “We also have THE BUTLER (as portrayed by Angelo Muscat), who was requested almost as frequently as Leo’s Number 2! We also have variations of Number. 6, but this is called “Wave Number 2” for a reason. In addition to Leo, we have figures of THREE OTHER Number 2s ready to interrogate all the kidnapped ex-spies on your toy shelf!”
To find out much more about the campaign, we talked to Wyatt and Gavin Hignight over email.
Comic Book Club Live: Broad question first, but what do you think is the enduring appeal of The Prisoner?
Chris “Doc” Wyatt: THE PRISONER is BOTH a perfect representation of the era in which it was made, and also ahead of its time. It was a representation of its era, because of the “mod” designs and visual style, and also because of the psychedelic aspects. Additionally, the suspicion of authority in general (and governmental authority in specific) which was typified by the hippie movement. But it was also ahead of its time in terms of some of the techno-surveillance stuff.
At the time this was made, the idea of living in a community where cameras were pointed at you all day long was a weird dystopian sci-fi idea, but it’s the world we now all live in. Also, the show depicts a world where authorities can use computers to open detailed files about every aspect of your life, down to how many sugars you take in your tea– that was a “what it”-style fantasy idea at the time, but isn’t fantasy any more.
Because it typifies the time in which it was made, but also was ahead of its time, it can be watched both for reasons of nostalgia, and also as a surprisingly contemporary story.
When you’re making a licensed figure like this, what is the most important part to get right? The face? The body? A certain je ne sais quoi?
Gavin Hignight: Our approach to this Prisoner line was through the lens of a retro action figure, one of which would have been made in the past, and maybe the likeness would look good, and harken to the performers, but not be photorealistic like modern figures. We tried to split the difference between truly retro but having some advantages of modern figures. Honoring the series, and Patrick McGoohan was very important to us andto fans. The Prisoner has a very loyal, smart and detail oriented fanbase, its a series that attracts detail oriented viewers… so we knew we had to get the details right. Should we explore in a different style… like a modern Legends, Figma or Black Series, we’d look at sculpting, painting, and the approach differently.
Doc: For me, it’s the vibe. In the 80’s those Kenner 5-point articulated 4-inch figures of Luke Skywalker and friends weren’t super screen accurate. But we loved them, because they hit the vibe of the character we loved. We can be better technically now in terms of sculpt detail but we still have to remember it’s all about encapsulating the vibe of the character in four inches.
The first Kickstarter was a big success… Why do you think people are so hungry for these collectibles? And what are you aiming to do differently — or the same! — with this second campaign?
Doc: THE PRISONER “Wave No 2” isn’t about achieving a higher financial outcome than “Wave 1”. It’s about going DEEPER. A deeper dive on characters, a deeper reach in terms of which episodes we’re honoring. The success of the first Kickstarter isn’t a goal to beat, it’s the fuel that proves there’s enough interest that we can do some deep dive characters. Some characters that will make fans say “I never dreamed there’d be a toy of him/her!”
Gavin: I see this as a continuation of the first campaign. We were just starting out, so we had to be strategically small, we’d never manufactured like this before, we’d never seen the process all the way through with an action figure and we were purposely careful with how much we took on… and yet there are some AMAZING characters in the series we did not get to pay tribute to in action figure form… so we’ve known all along, if wave one did well we’d continue with a wave No2 to get fans other important characters from the series for their collection. Leo McKern and The Butler are a great example, does it really feel like a collection without them? They are as iconic as No6, and we can’t wait to get them made and add them to OUR shelves! As for the hunger for these figures… we are so thankful and humbled at the response. Other Prisoner fans, like us, have loved this show for years and years, and never had cool collectibles to celebrate that love with. That’s why there is a hunger for these… we are all celebrating the greatness of the series.
You’ve got a lot of figures from the series… Is there one that’s your white whale? Or have you tackled all you need to tackle with this second round?
Gavin: Oh yes, I am so excited with what characters we have brought to wave No2… but there are still some on my dream list (and the dream list of fans and backers we have heard from). I need No6 and The Kid from “Living In Harmony” I love westerns, I love scifi and I love that episode. Also, we are exploring Kar… aka No6 amazing little Lotus roadster… How cool would it be to have a scale Kar to go with these figures… If we can make wave No2 happen… we’ll set our sites on that next.
Doc: If “Wave No 2” is a success, and we get to do a “Wave 3” then I desperately want to do [SPOILER WARNING FOR THE PRISONER’S FINAL EPISODE] a Number 1 figure where you take off the mask, and it’s a gorilla underneath, then you take of the gorilla mask, and it’s Patrick McGoohan. I’m not even sure that it’s technically possible for our factory to have two layers of masks over an action figure’s head, but if we can technically do it, it will become my MISSION IN LIFE to make it happen.
Similarly, you’ve tackled The Prisoner and Nancy Drew, do you have an eye on some other classic property next?
Doc: To quote Number 2: “That would be telling.”
Gavin: We have sculpted and received approvals on something very classic and AWESOME, I can’t say what yet, but let’s just tease that 2024 has us moving into 1:12 scale with something… or someone very classic!
You can check out the Kickstarter campaign from Wandering Planet Toys now! Wyatt has also launched another Kickstarter campaign for a graphic novel with Black Sails star Luke Arnold for a new graphic novel, which is also live now.
