I finally got a prototype of an item from my childhood! On December 27, 2007. A prototype was created at the Tailuxe Artware factory for the Talking Vampire Head which was destined to be fully released at Spirit Halloween for the 2008 season. After the 2008 expos concluded. The owner of Halloween Connection, a Halloween shop in Massachusetts purchased a “closeout box” filled with miscellaneous samples and costumes etc. including this prototype vampire head. Which would have been presented to potential buyers. It sat inside Halloween Connection for 11 years until it was fortunately discovered by a collector, Christopher Damico. Also known as HalloweenFan101. It was in his collection for several years until my friend CJ Webbler went through the effort of helping me acquire this after going after it for 3 years!
Obviously he includes a handwritten Tailuxe prototype label with handwritten information. I believe it is the same face sculpt as the produced model but it has very noticeable differences. One being a darker, more defined paint job. Another being the fact the face is slightly more narrow than produced. I believe this prototype has an eprom due to longer pauses between each joke he tells. Even revealing the entire “pain in the neck” phrase which is partially cut off on produced. But sadly I am unable to open to check for eprom because the latex is very fragile being nearly 16 years old at this point. And opening it up could potentially result in irreversible damage to his mask.
I have a longtime history with this piece. My parents bought me one from Spencer’s in 2009 during a huge blowout sale. I believe it was under a dollar! It was one of my first few Halloween items. I do not have it anymore sadly. But I’m glad the replacement is so significant. I hope to get my hands on all 3 produced Tailuxe Artware talking heads in box at some point. If anybody has a lead on the prototypes for the other two talking heads please let me know!
Big thank you to HalloweenFan101 for agreeing to trade this, big thank you to CJ Webbler for arranging a deal, doing some minor repairs and shipping it to me. Also big thank you to Haunt Channel for providing me with additional background information and history for this description!

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