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Lacking a sponsor, Hankster decided that the PL board should be combined with the Modeling Forum board bringing the PL group into a broader modeling community. All of the PL BB threads were brought over to the Modeling Forum followed by a little judicious and needed closing of OT threads by PM Moderator (Dave Metzner).

Ironically, the Playing Mantis/Polar Lights web site still links to the new forum (June 13, 2006)

Hankster: With the decrease in product releases from PL and the corresponding decrease in traffic to the Polar Lights forum I think it was time to combine the PL forum with The Modeling Forum. This should increase the traffic within the combined forum making for a better experience. I have also combined the AMT/Ertl forum as it didn't make much sense to have a separate forum for that product either.

I know it may be hard for some to come to grips with the changes in the PL product line but I’d rather make some changes here now before the PL forum traffic decreases even more then it already has.

This, of course, the evoked responses from board members.

Phrankenstign: Nnnnnnooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT!!! I'M LOSING MY GRIP ON REALITY!!! AAAAAaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Yamahog: I don't mind the forums being combined. They're both modeling forums anyway. But seeing the "Polar Lights" sign getting taken down is kinda rough. I know PL doesn't exist anymore, but after seeing it here for seven years, or so, it's still kinduva shock.

CultTVMan: Man ... the Polar Lights forum at Hobbytalk has ceased to exist. It's now been incorporated into the generic modeling board. There was a great community over there, at least for a long while. It was brought together by they illustrious Queen of Styrene, Lisa Greco and maintained for a long time by Dave Metzner as well. The community lived on for a long time and it was well documented by Mike Warshaw in his excellent article for Inc. Magazine

Back in Feb 1999, the board almost had the plug pulled by the suits at Playing Mantis. I got the word out to all those on my newsletter that the board was in danger of closing and readers rallied, posting about why that board was so important.

But seven years later, there's not much to be done to save it a second time.

JL guys and the various raids

TAY666: Back in the good-old-day, the JL board was just above the PL board in the order of things on the main page. We used to occasionally raid each others boards. All in fun. We would go over there and post a bunch of model topics, they would come here and post a bunch of car topics. It was good times.

Well, shortly after Lisa left and things were still tense around here, the JL guys thought they would cheer us up, and liven the place back up ( a lot of members had left for the clubhouse and were no longer posting here). They started their raid on a Sunday evening. Several of us PL guys did our best to fend them off. By bumping up model related topics to battle their car topics.

Well, I guess several people didn't see the fun in it. Hanks mailbox got filled with messages. When he got in and saw that, then saw what was happening on the board. Well, lets just say he wasn't happy and he though people were trying to sabotage the Hobby Talk board. It was ugly and tense for a day or two, but it all got ironed out.

Hank lifted the bannings and we promised not to take part in activities like that again.

Klaatu Barada Nikto

Yamahog: The Johnny Lightning folks used to have panty raids on our club house. I had a lot of fun with a thread titled, "Klaatu Barada Nikto" where The Clubhouse had been "invaded" and overtaken. "gReEtingS, MemBeRs oF THe PoLAr LiGhTs...We cOnTrOL yoUR CLuBhoUSE," etc. The thing was, some of the members thought that the takeover was real, meaning that they thought the site had been hacked. So it actually took on a kind of "War of the Worlds" reality.

The board had already been shut down during the "KLaAtU BaRadA nIktO" incident, which only accelerated the belief that the board had been hacked

The Notre Dame Session

Yamahog: This was pretty cool. We should call it, “Lisa Goes to Notre Dame.” The Grand Experiment could have become a great technological success, except that it didn’t seem to work that great. Kinda like waiting for a rocket to blast off that never makes it off the launching pad. Regardless, the hoopla of it all was worth it.

DaQueen: Someone mentioned the "field trip" we all took to the graduate marketing class at Notre Dame? That was a hoot! The idea was this...the Inc article had come out and I got a call to come speak to this high falutin' marketing class about "branding." Now, what I knew about branding, you could put on the head of a pin, but I did know about the guys who loved PL and why...it actually ran deeper than styrene and still does.

The Tom Lowe Session

Yamahog: The online chat with Tom Lowe was another Grand Experiment (technologically-speaking) but this one worked much better, and if I recall correctly, this and the Notre Dame visit were both at about the same time. Mr. Lowe comes out of his office and actually fields questions from his minions. Kind of like getting to see The Wizard while in Oz.

The Junk Food Exchange

Yamahog: Famous and not-so-famous junk food from around the country was to be brought from the hinterlands to Wonderfest. This originated from a thread about regional snack foods and the fact that there were some who had never heard of Little Debbie and others who knew not of what a Lance Nekot was.

Everyone attending Wonderfest was to bring some kinda foodstuff that may (or may not be) unique to your area. I had all sorts of good folks bringing me root beers from around the country as Da Hawg used to be a great connoisseur of said beverage.

The Great BB Purge

Yamahog: As I recall, the Hankster notified the board that he had too many electronic files taking up too much space and while he realized the great historical significance of these files, alas there was no more room for them. Into the dumpster they went.

Arronax: I do remember the cries of pain from board members with particularly high post counts. I think the average loss was about 30 – 50%

Crowning Da Queen

Arronax: Yama had the idea to make a surprise presentation to Lisa at WF 2000. A suitable gift of a personalized jacket was selected and Yama asked for something else to make the event more “royal.” A crown was suggested. Sources were explored. Since we were a modeling board, it made sense to me that a crown should be scratchbuilt from spare parts. I volunteered to build it.

I was new to the board (10 months) and 2000 would be my first WF. I did not know who all these people with strange names were, so when I got to Louisville, I had no idea who was who. I was lucky enough to run into Yama in the elevator on my way to my room. His picture had been included in a recent post so I knew what he looked like. He insisted on seeing the crown right away. I made a really good impression by forgetting my room number and leading him around the third floor of the hotel until we tried a door that worked.

Wonderfest

Excuse me? This term needs to be explained? A gathering of sci-fi and fantasy modelers each year in Louisville KY. The veritable mecca for our kind. Check out www.wonderfest.com .

The photo was taken at Wonderfest 2000 and is probably the only time that so many board members were in one place at one time. Later, more fuzzy, versions of this photos had the two guys in the front painted out. Click here to find out who's who in the picture.

This group photo was taken at Wonderfest 1999. Back row, L-R: 13x5x2 Nostalgian, Steve CultTVMan Iverson, Dave Metzner (in background), Roy and Nancy Kirchoff and ?? Front row, L-R: Chris White, Big Daddy Dave, Lisa and son, one eighth of someone else (?) [Thanks, Roy, for supplying the missing names.]

Lightningfest

An annual (?) warehouse sale held at the PL HQ. In later years, it was combined with several social events. A great opportunity to pick up cases of model kits. Sadly, of course, the warehouse or PM no longer exist.

Polar Lights Weekend at Highway Hobby House

Ramsey, New Jersey, Feb 23 - 25, 2001. One of many gatherings by PL modelers in this establishment, John Payne has photos at http://inpayne.com/plweekend/plweek.html

Chicago Hobby Expo 2002

The Chicago Hobby Expo in Chicago is one of two annual shows where model makers get to show off new product. The 2002 show was when Polar Lights was at it's peak. Frank of Model Scene wrote this report for Raving Toy Maniacs which includes comments from Tom Lowe and Dave Metzner.

You can see photos of the launch of the Batman kits here: http://www.toymania.com/toyshows/expo02/expo02pmantis3.shtml

The Polar Lights booth at the 2002 Chicago Hobby Expo displayed all the current and prototype model kits.

It was cool to see the Aurora Batcycle. The photos are a test shot. It will be the same Aurora scale with rubber tires. The Batgyro prototype was displayed along with an updated die-cast Batboat.

I talked with the man himself Tom Lowe and Polar Lights Brand Manager, Dave Metzner. Tom began the company and Aurora, Captain Action, and 60's toys are something he wanted to bring back. Because he's a fan like us and is passionate about it is the reason Playing Mantis is a successful fan favorite.

Dave's answers to my questions: Aurora Batboat will be remade a larger 1/24 scale. Batcycle will likely have a white plastic "chase" version aimed at collectors who like to keep items Mint in Box.

No Barris Batmobile - rights too complicated. No to Aurora Superman and Batman reissues with engraved emblems because Revell has the rights to those plus the Revell ones sold poorly and are still too recent. No Dr. Jekyll but I forgot to mention that the new Sean Connery movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" will feature Dr. Jekyll as a Hulk type superhero, so maybe a movie behind it helps.

There will be a Johnny Lightning 1/64 60's Batmobile slot car! Star Trek figures if the Enterprise kits sell very well. Maybe a 32 inch TOS Enterprise if the other smaller Enterprises show a demand. Chris White painted the neat NX-01 box cover. Tom added that the Aurora Wonder Woman would be reissued in about a year.

And don't even ask them about Gigantic Frankenstein. Polar Lights will never make that kit according to Dave. They would like to but it's way way too expensive and not enough buyers. Even at $40.00 they would lose money. Tom and Dave are nice guys who listen to their customers but I get the distinct impression they would be happy if they never again heard "What about Gigantic Frankenstein?"

Dave is looking to borrow a first issue Hulk box and also a complete with box Aurora Batboat that he is willing to pay market price. I mentioned to Tom I liked the idea of the Penguin and other reissues being remade larger scale as it makes them more impressive and he said that was Dave's idea. Good work Dave!

Having collected Captain Action and Aurora kits, I told Tom it was great to see them again. His Captain Action line was a one-time event. Their rights to DC are limited to model kits. I suggested new poses that are sculpted more photorealistic and he replied they would consider that suggestion for the far future. I wish I hadn't forgotten to ask about the Banana Splits Buggy, if they would make the Batmobile parody "The Deathmobile" from Animal House, and if Superboy will have the engraved "S."

The metal 1950's Batmobile is very cool with the Bat face painted black flat as a nice contrast to the gloss.

Tom and Dave were very busy talking to all the domestic and international buyers so I thank them for their time in answering all my fanboy questions. All their new kits show Polar Lights to be a visionary company.

The Great Aurora Train Wreck

The legendary wreck in which priceless Aurora molds were destroyed did actually happen but not as often recounted. For the full story, go to http://www.culttvman.com/aurora_faq_pt_2.html - item 12.

Picture from Paul Newitt. Authenticity is questionable. Small boy in foreground could be Tom Lowe.