INTERVIEW: The Kolchak phenomenon continues
Image courtesy of Wandering Planet Toys / Provided by Superfan Promotions with permission.
Wandering Planet Toys, creators of unique action figures for genre fans, is currently raising funds via Kickstarter for a supernatural project. They’re set to launch a new series of action figures based on the hit show Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The first two figures are Carl Kolchak himself and the vampire Janos Skorzeny.
For the unbeknownst, Kolchak: The Night Stalker is a cult TV show from the 1970s starring Darren McGavin as the title character, a journalist who tries to uncover the supernatural truths in the Las Vegas area. The series came after the success of two TV movies, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler. Jeff Rice’s novel began it all.
Wandering Planet Toys teamed with the folks at Monstrous to bring these two action figures to market. They are 1/12-scale models with 22 points of articulation, and changeable heads and hands, according to press notes. One can even hold these figures in a new Kolchak lunchbox, which is also part of this licensed release.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Wandering Planet Toys co-founders Gavin Hignight and Chris “Doc” Wyatt to learn more about the project. They were previously interviewed by Hollywood Soapbox for their Laurel & Hardy figures and The Prisoner figures. Also, check out Hollywood Soapbox’s interview with Monstrous when that company released Rice’s original novel.
Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What made Wandering Planet Toys interested in making Kolchak action figures?
HIGNIGHT: You know, from the beginning we’ve always wanted to make Kolchak. We’re big fans of the series, the original novel and the comics, and he’s just the kind of awesome hero we like. So yes, he was always a figure we wanted, and we assumed other fans want. There’s a reason after all these years we’re all still talking about Kolchak with such affection.
WYATT: I can’t believe they haven’t been made before now. Lucky us that we get to be the ones that do it!
How long has this project been in the works?
HIGNIGHT: Quite some time. Years. It takes so much time and bandwidth to get to even launching a Kickstarter like this. Work before the campaign and work after the campaign, but these unique characters and collectibles are worth it. I will say, we really had to pause and determine if we could even launch this figure when the tariff nonsense started hitting. There were moments in development when we were worried because of current challenges, but we stayed the course on our previous line Laurel & Hardy, we navigated the waters of modern toy making. And those figures turned out great, and fans are happy. So in a way they paved the way for Kolchak in toy form to follow.
WYATT: If you think about it, it took Laurel & Hardy about a century to get 1/18-scale, fully-articulated action figures, so Kolchak managed it in half the time!
How did your company design and develop the look of the figures?
HIGNIGHT: We work with a small group of amazing designers and sculptors who utilize Zbrush for design. We are very hands on in art direction. We have strong opinions about what a toy should be and what fans deserve because we are fans. We buy and enjoy lots of toys, so we make mental notes of what we love. And we let it inspire during design. Our graphic designer Jenny always brings ultimate A game with packaging that’s just as important, and we make sure to have fun, and to pay attention to the details of the character or IP we are making. Also, huge shout out to our factory in China. They are great people and elevate everything we do.
WYATT: We also have to give props to James Aquilone at Monstrous who helped us acquire the license, permitted us to use Monstrous art assets and was a voice at every step of the design process.
Why is Kolchak still a cult phenomenon in 2026?
HIGNIGHT: He’s the everyman hero who gets knocked down and always gets back up. He’s you and me, and he’s stumbled into things we can’t comprehend or define. He’s timeless.
WYATT: Well said. He’s more of a film noir style gumshoe than he is an action movie monster-hunter type, and there’s something so grounded and relatable about that, especially when dealing with monsters from fantasy.
Who is in your target audience for these releases?
HIGNIGHT: Four-plus decades of fans! We’re making the figure we’ve all wanted for ages! So yeah longtime fans, and if this figure turns new fans on to the amazing novel and other media that came from it, all the better!
WYATT: Also, paranormal investigators are firmly in the core demographics for these.
What’s on the horizon for the company?
HIGNIGHT: Kolchak is kicking down the door for us on future horror releases. There’s gonna be some cool horror/monster stuff on the horizon, and we’re not finished with the retro Prisoner line just yet. Something really cool being designed as we speak. Also, we are getting warmed up for an original line in our future as well. Folks might not realize Doc and myself are writers and have worked on tons of amazing IP, Marvel, Transformers, Star Wars, Gundam, and at some point we want to play with some narrative we’ve created and back that up with cool ass toys.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Wandering Planet Toys is currently raising funds for its Kolchak: The Night Stalker action figures via Kickstarter. Click here for more information.
