I was very fortunate to own a total of twelve Gen 1 'Weeping' ghost masks at on time. Though I parted with most of them, it gave me a unique opportunity to study and compare masks and I’ve reached some exciting observations! I can conclusively say, there were multiple molds used for the original Gen 1 'Weeping' ghost masks. These molds all derive from the same mother sculpture, yet differentiate by specific defects and markings unique to each mask. Some even vary in size. Fun World must have had numerous molds to meet mass production needs.
From my findings, I’ve distinguished the following different molds:
A. Multi-Dot B. Second Dimple C. Small Dot
There's another early mold type we've named 'Splotch' for the splotch-like marking in the mouth. I don't know if we can say it's quite Gen 1 because it has many differences in markings and production quality.
D. Splotch Mold (*may be a later mold?)
There are many matching defects mold-to-mold, but the mouth markings I've outlined are quick and easy identifiers. There are several different molds (possibly more outside of my collection) that all derive from the same source sculpture. I’m assuming multiple master copies were made from a mother mold, each with unique tick guides carved before molding. While individual masks can have their own defects mask-to-mask, I was able to group many masks together by their matching features.
I also noticed a number of markings that must have been on the original sculpture because they are consistent on every Fun World Div stamped mask type. These markings are featured on ‘Gen 2’ and ‘HN’ masks, proving those mask types also derive from the original sculpture. I’ve found a number of differences across 'Gen 2' masks as well, some smaller and some featuring different markings. I don’t have as large of a sample size to reach the same comparisons and conclusions I did with Gen 1s, but this does beg the question: With multiple molds now found, what exactly is Gen 2? Has the Gen 1 / Gen 2 binary been the wrong way of thinking about these masks? Could what we call ‘Gen 2’ be more of a production quality difference of the same sculpture (paint style, thin vinyl, deeper casts)?
Update: I've posted about this before, but having three nearly identical copies with each Gen 1 'defect'. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to illustrate how little the mouth defect matters in what the face looks like. A Gen 1 is a Gen 1.
