- Why Gremlins? What made you decide to make this such a big part of your life?
For whatever reason, Gremlins have been part of a lot of bullet point memories for me. One of my first memories as a child involved visiting an old 1985 electronics store, my dad buying a Betamax player, and I guess the owner of the store felt I should have his Gremlins Rub n' Play transfer set that he had behind the desk. More than likely I had just come from seeing Gremlins at a drive-in theater and just talked his ear off about Gizmo, but I remember owning that set vividly.
Somewhere around this point I was clearly having significant nightmares centered on Gremlins hiding under my bed. I remember a moment where I had a rather terrifying nightmare the evening before swim class and when I was lining up with the other kids at the diving board, someone pointed out that I had a giant slash mark across the chest. Stripe and the Gremlins were real!
Fast forward a half a decade and Gremlins 2 mania was making the rounds. I was very into the Nintendo game at the time and thought the image of Mohawk being surrounded by red and gray smoke was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I don't know how many times I just stared at that box just mesmerized. Somewhere around this time, I made a mental note of needing to own a Gremlin at some point and that stuck with me into adulthood.
- What can you tell us about the scope of your collection? Is it all things “Gremlins,” is it movie props only, is it Gremlin puppets only?
I’m a big collector of nostalgic things I loved as a child. When it comes to movie props, my interest really only lies in Gremlins.
For whatever reason my brain likes to organize these giant cohesive projects, so I kind of found something that I could do that with. It’s gotten to the point where I’m out looking for very specific types of puppets because they all display well together. Truthfully, Gremlins bring me a lot of joy and provides never-ending projects I can do deep dives on.
Right now we have around 20 puppets in the collection with most of them being hero level foreground ones. We also have tons of the various merch along with props, scripts and set pieces that were found or gifted to us over the last few years.
- When did you start collecting, and what was your first piece?
Around 2020 I was pretty engaged in finding interesting and rare Gremlins merch and seeing what I could track down on eBay. Randomly, one afternoon, I had just woken from a nap and groggily proceeded to check eBay to see what was new. That's when I saw these crude photos of a Gremlin that looked kind of like a Trick or Treat replica (which had released a few years prior), but something wasn't right. The eyes looked different, almost glass like and he was beheaded, much like I had seen in years prior on Tom Spina's restoration site. It was rough, but I had a good idea what this little relic was when he was posted no less than 4 minutes prior.
I reached out to the owner to see what he wanted for it. He had it set up for bidding, but every once in a while you can convince someone to just sell it outright. His description included knowing it was in the movie, and it was in really bad shape. It sounded like he just wanted to get rid of the thing. He quickly replied to my inquiry stating his price and I responded...send an invoice over...please.
So, after that I walked downstairs to which my wife and daughter could tell something wasn't quite right. I was shaking. "(Adult phrase), I just bought a (expletive) 84 Gremlin, I think." Of course they didn't really quite get the significance of the moment, but I did my best to explain with my somewhat limited knowledge at the time. Winning the lottery was really the best analogy I could come up with.
The following week was spent in suspended animation as I waited to see if this thing was actually going to show up. Predictably the FedEx box was dropped off at my neighbor's house instead of mine but sure enough, there he was in the box. Flaking forty-year-old foam and actually not in that bad shape to be honest.
From there I was able to have him restored at Tom Spina Designs and he’s been proudly displayed in our collection ever since.
- What's your favorite item in your collection? Do you have a certain prop or costume you'd love to add to it?
It’s hard to really call anything a favorite, but I really enjoy our animatronic Mohawk mogwai because he looks like he looks like he just got off set and has amazing personality. We also have the hero Greta Gremlin which seems to get more and more popular every year. Last year I found a skateboard with that specific puppet on it. I recently got some shirts in the mail with her on them as well. I also really enjoy our Vegetable Gremlin who was pushing the envelope on absurdity in "Gremlins 2." They truly never get boring.
- Are you currently expanding your collection or seeking new items for it?
I’m always looking for new pieces to upgrade what we have or make the collection more complete. Thankfully at this point I have a pretty good idea what’s still out there, so it makes it slightly easier to set long term goals and really round out the missing pieces I’d still like to have.
- You own “The Gremlins Museum.” Tell us a little about that.
The whole Gremlins Museum idea stemmed from just thinking the idea of a museum dedicated to Gremlins was pretty funny and absurd. It kind of snowballed into something that probably was worthy of an actual museum, so that’s kind of where we’re at now. I’m always having various props out being restored or pulled in from around the world and doing my part to be a good caretaker. It’s truly a wonderful experience befriending other like-minded collectors who love and cherish these beautiful pieces of art as much as I do.
Thank you, Ian, for sharing your museum and your story with us! Be sure to check out their Instagram @gremlinsmuseum, and the online museum at https://www.gremlns.com/ to see more Gremlins!
If you would like to be included in our "Featured Collection" blog, simply send us an e-mail at vault@planethollywoodintl.com!