Bruce Lee's Kato Kicks Off Diamond Select Toys' Green Hornet Line [Exclusive]
With all the brouhaha over the depiction of Bruce Lee in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (and its recent novelization), getting lost in the conversation is the show that Lee himself was shooting amid the context of Quentin Tarantino's film — namely, the classic superhero show "The Green Hornet."
To help memorialize the series that ran on ABC from 1966-1967 and its legendary co-lead, Diamond Select Toys is partnering with The Green Hornet Inc. and the Bruce Lee Family on a new line of collectibles featuring the Green Hornet and Kato! They have even given /Film the exclusive reveal on their first Kato bust, which you can check out in the pics below!
The new array of products from Diamond will span multiple categories, including action figures, Gallery PVC Dioramas, 1/7 scale mini-busts and Legends in 3D half-scale busts. They will be offered for pre-order this fall and will ship to retailers starting in 2022. The Legends in 3D Green Hornet Kato 1/2 Scale Bust we have pictured below is approximately 10-inches tall and features the approved likeness of Bruce Lee, wearing his trademark hat and mask.
Designed by Joe Allard and sculpted by Rocco Tartamella, the bust will have a suggested retail price of $175 and will be limited to only 1000 pieces. It will come packaged in a full-color box with a numbered certificate of authenticity when it hits store shelves in Spring 2022. It will be available for pre-order tomorrow at Diamond's website.
A Kick-Ass Crime-Fighting Duo
"I was a huge fan of The Green Hornet as a kid," said Diamond Select Toys president Chuck Terceira. "Plus, I became a fan of Bruce Lee's other projects as I got older. So to be able to capture these two heroes in 3-D is a dream come true. With so little Green Hornet and Kato product out there, I think fan interest in what we make will be through the roof."
Pre-dating Batman, "The Green Hornet" originated as a radio program imagined by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, the same team that also created "The Lone Ranger" for Detroit station WXYZ. The series followed Daily Sentinel newspaper magnate Britt Reid and his sidekick Kato as they infiltrated the underworld disguised as villains. The radio show ran until 1952, and first appeared onscreen in two Universal serials: 1940's "The Green Hornet" and 1941's "The Green Hornet Strikes Again!"
Lasting only 26 episodes, the original ABC TV series in the mid-60's starred Van Williams as Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato, with both crossing over in two episodes of the Adam West "Batman" series in 1967. In 2011, eccentric French auteur Michel Gondry directed Seth Rogen and Jay Chou as Reid and Kato in a big budget "The Green Hornet" movie, which disappointed at the box office. A big screen reboot is currently in the works from screenwriter David Koepp.
Here's our exclusive first look at Diamond Select Toys' bust of Bruce Lee as Kato in "The Green Hornet":
