MPC Model Kit - Grave Robber's Reward

I've never constructed a model kit, but if I had the time, proper materials, and a bit more patience, I could probably get into them. I love recreating scenes from the Mansion for our halloween yard haunt, so I can see how these miniature models could appeal to someone like me.

MPC released four Haunted Mansion Model Kits in a series with the new concept of ZAP/ACTION! ( I had to capitalize the zap/action because that is how it is on the box.. MCP must have been excited about this new concept. har har) What I found interesting about these kits beyond the ZAP/ACTION motion, is that 2 of the scenes aren't actually in the Mansion at all, including this first one. When I first saw this kit listed on ebay, I mistook Grave Robber for Grave Digger, you know that scaredy-cat character with his emaciated dog located just outside the gates of the cemetery? Yeah, I guess we actually call him the Caretaker, but anyway, I thought that was the character in this kit. Even after I bought this kit several years ago, I thought the person holding the shovel was the same guy in ride...until I actually read the side of the box.

Did you know there is a little background story to each kit on the side of the box?




I wasn't expecting the picture to show up so tiny, so let me give you the transcript for the story.

1. A lonely light illuminates a dark deed.

2. "They said Ebeneezer's fortune is hid under his coffin" Spoken by the grave robber

3. "Said he was going to take it with him."

4. But a touch of ZAP/ACTION and suddenly...up leaps the ghostly grabber!

5. Grave robber continues to speak, unknowing that the ghostly grabber is almost upon him: "I'll soon be rich... and get to go to college."

Ok, lets stop right here for a moment. College?!?! Really? Is this Disney's way of validating this dark deed.. so this guy can go to college? Maybe this guy was a mortician, because he obviously has no problem hanging around a bunch of dead people, but decided he wanted to be doctor or a lawyer, a much more respectable and profitable career, but didn't get that scholarship to Harvard. Sorry, let's finish this little sordid tale...

6. "Your money's not safe anyplace nowadays," says Ebeneezer!

This just cracks me up! Perhaps the caretaker standing outside the cemetery actually IS the grave robber frozen in fear of Ebeneezer's ghost. After all, he is standing there with the shovel in one hand, and the lonely light in the other, with the same scarf and coat. Circumstantial evidence? And I can't help but wonder if the lure of higher education is what's kept him there for nearly 40 years.