Growl and Glow in the Dark: Universal Monster Toys

The Phantom of the Opera
[click on any image to enlarge]

It's time for a short, rather incomplete profile of yet another Universal Monsters set, and one where I definitely wish that I had the other figures in the set. These figures are from a set put out in 1990 by a company called Uncle Milton. The two pictured here – the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame _ are the only two that I was able to snag, or even find, in my neck of the woods (that being Anchorage, Alaska at the time, where I was born). 

I do not remember which store it was that I bought them, though Kay-Bee or Woolworth's are as likely suspects as any. I just remember that any time that I looked for the other figures, I could only ever find these two characters, as if the other bigger monsters were short-packed in the cases (which is a possibility, or the others just sold better). It's a scenario that I used to run into a lot in Anchorage back in the day, where even when a toy line was new to a store, they would only have a couple of the characters, and never the full set. You could make requests (which I would in many cases), but of course, the people working the toy counter don't give a rat's ass if the weird, nerdy guy who should really just grow up already that hangs out in the action figure section ever gets what he wants.

The Hunchback of
Notre Dame

There are six figures in the set overall, the other four being the Frankenstein Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (quite angry about never finding that one, mostly because he is my favorite Universal Monster, and partly because the mold is really cool), the Mummy, and the Wolf Man. Once more, we have a Universal Monsters set missing one of its primary figures, that of Count Dracula, which was largely due to the estate of Bela Lugosi pushing Universal Studios hard for royalties in order to use the likeness of their namesake. This situation has reversed itself in recent years for the most part, but it does mean that there are numerous Universal toy sets and other series (trading cards, books, etc.) out there where Dracula seems to have been forgotten altogether because of this insane back-and-forth battle.

From the slim information that I have been able to gather, the molds used for these figures are the exact ones used by the Marx Toy Company in the 1960s when they released their Universal Monster sets, which were exceedingly popular in the day. Growing up in the '70s, I knew kids who either owned or had inherited these figures, and was also roundly jealous whenever I saw them or (once in a while) got a chance to play with them. (I was the same way around Mego figures; never had any of my own, but went crazy when I had the opportunity.)

Because the Marx versions were in more varied colors and not meant to glow in the dark, you could make out the details a lot better on those than on these, including the names on the plates near their bases. 

While the lightness in color does make it hard to really make out many details, close-up views do reveal the fine sculpting and care used in creating these figures. 

I didn't really have time to get these puppies charged up and ready for a glow shot, nor did I have a photo of the entire set (since I don't own all of them), but a glance at eBay found a pretty groovy image of the whole crowd gathered for a glow in the dark group portrait.

Full group GITD shot ["juicyfinds4u" on eBay]

Seeing that shot just makes me even more covetous of one day having a full set, not just of the Uncle Milton remolds, but of getting a couple of different color variations or so of the original Marx releases. A fella can dream, can't he?
RTJ

[Except for the glow in the dark pic from eBay (noted), all of the images of toys in this article are from my personal collection. Feel free to copy and use as you wish, but if you repost on your website, please credit The Cinema 4 Pylon.]

Bay It, Don't Spray It, Wolfie!!!

Sure, you might recognize these two good fellows, but you may not believe the form in which they arrive. Yes, it is quite clearly the Wolf Man and his on again/off again pal, the Frankenstein's Monster, and they are most definitely in some degree of officially licensed Universal Monsters design here in these pretty nifty toys that I obtained in 1991.

But what are they? Well, take a look at the corner of Frankie's mouth (my favorite part of the sculpt is that sneer he has) and what looks like an odd gap in Wolfie's teeth. These guys are nothing more than water squirters (or really, they will squirt whatever weird thing you want them to squirt, you sickos...) released by a company called Happiness Express, Inc. ("H.E.I." on the bottom of the toys). Also on the bottom is a matching 1991 copyright date for Universal ("U.C.S.").

Honestly, these were fun for a few days, but you could only squirt so many people with them  – back and forth – or pull pranks on the unknowing, before the game got old. I suppose others might have used them for other liquids (and therefore, other types of games) beyond water, but just like with plastic squirt guns, you start to wonder if you should really be drinking out of painted rubber in any amount.

It is remarkably hard to find much in the way of information about these toys. I found someone selling the Wolf Man on eBay, but they had no extra information. I did find someone online in a monster forum who mentioned these were manufactured exclusively for Woolworth's

Since Anchorage, Alaska still had a Woolworth's downtown (barely hanging on, like everywhere) in 1991, it is very likely that I purchased mine there. Woolworth's closed its doors everywhere in the world (there was still one in Fairbanks, Alaska at that point too) in 1997, but I remember finding a lot of unique baseball card sets branded with the company's name at the Anchorage store, and I used to find many cool toys, costume ideas, and music bargains in those too crowded shelves and pathways. (My fondest memory of the place was a little diner area at the front where I used to always buy a grilled cheese sandwich, fries, and a Dr. Pepper, but it was cleared out a few years prior to the store's ultimate closure. The place is now a gift shop, I believe.)

Found on eBay this morning.
Don't know about other
characters.

I did find someone selling an official Dracula squirter head from the same 1991 Happiness Express series on eBay (it was going for just under twenty bucks), but as to other characters in the series, I do not know. I really hope that there is a Creature from the Black Lagoon head out there somewhere, since he was heavily promoted along with these guys by Universal in that period (as he should). A Bride of Frankenstein would be really great to see too.

RTJ

[The pics of the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster are of my own toys. Feel free to repost as you wish, but please credit this blog.]

Behind the Scenes at the Halloween Pez Reunion 2016

Behind the scenes at the Halloween Pez Reunion 2016 photo shoot... Could it be that somebody is a little miffed about being left out of the "scary character" shoot? What cruel thoughts are hidden behind that greasepaint smile? Is revenge on the way?

The Halloween Pez Reunion 2016

I think everyone that is supposed to be here is here...

Surveying the Battlefield...

"My dad says I'M the crazy one..." – The Blueberry, October 1, 2016

Pull the String! No, Not Bela's String... King Kong's! [The Ballad of Kong Pt. 9]

[This is the ninth part of an ongoing (and resurrected) series called The Ballad of Kong. To read the previous parts, start with Pt. 1 from December 2005.]

In once again picking up my multi-part memory slideshow regarding the early years of King Kong's influence in my life, I have encased in amber within my stupid brain a prehistoric notion of Kong that far precedes any viewing of a Kong film or video, or any reading of a book or magazine on monsters, or any sneakily clandestine ogling of Jessica Lange on Topps trading cards. It is a vivid memory of my playing with a King Kong puppet as a small child. Not just a generic, stuffed gorilla that some money-grubbing opportunist says is King Kong, but rather an actual merchandising tie-in to a late 1960s television cartoon that I most certainly have viewed on Saturday morning television when I was a child, but I truly have no actual recollection of the show. I only remember the toy.

But the toy was not played with in Alaska, where we lived for most of my childhood. I remember playing with the puppet, but I did not possess the thing. I am a tad fuzzy on the details from here on out, but I do dredge up a picture of Kong belonging to a cousin, or a friend of a cousin, in Wisconsin in the early '70s. The locale might even be my Granny's house. I do have slight memories of playing at other houses in Wisconsin in that period, but my memory of the Kong puppet incident is set somewhere between the organ and the big stone fireplace setting at Granny's wonderful house. This leads me to believe that the Kong puppet might have belonged to a cousin. 

Since I still possess a great many of the toys that I owned in my youth, I find it hard to believe that it belonged to my brother Mark or I, though that is not out of the question. Perhaps it was a toy purchased but left behind in the trip before we headed back to Alaska? It's sad if it is so, because that puppet is worth a mint now.

The King Kong Talking Hand Puppet, sold by Mattel, was bright blue and yellow in color, while his face was made of a hard rubber. Why he was blue and yellow doesn't make sense to me since in every picture that I see from the TV series, Kong is clearly black or blackish brown in coloration, with a lighter tannish color on his underside. The puppet had a string imbedded in the cloth comprising the sleeve for one's hand. A steady, long tug of this string (using what the box calls a "Chatty-Ring," would cause Kong to say many assorted phrases -- such as "I'll swat that airplane! or "Hang on! Here we go!" or "Let's leapfrog over a mountain!" Bobby's squeaky kid voice (far squeakier than in the cartoon, where he seems a bit older) also comes out of the puppet, which is a big strange sounding if Bobby is no longer attached to the toy (he comes buttoned on Kong's arm, but can be easily removed). For Kong himself, a thunderous voice emanates from deep within the bowels of the plush simian, a sound which must have passed for crystalline clarity in those days but has that slight echo that seems to come with most pull-string toys. [Note: What Kong spoke, or rather, roared is beyond my memory, and is entirely unimportant to that memory. I have relied on the internet for that information.] The Kong that I actually grew to love did not speak somewhat like a human, and it is proper that my earliest memory of the creature is similarly bound in a lack of English.

The show that the puppet was based on was called The King Kong Show, and ran for three seasons starting in fall of 1966. I would have just turned two when it came on the air, and five when it went off, so I fell into the target audience of the show eventually in that span. If indeed I had seen the show as a child, I am not sure if I would have made the connection between the show and the puppet, since the colors of the different Kongs are so different from each other. And yet, the puppet did come with a boy character named Bobby Bond, whom I do not recollect in my memories of the puppet, and he is the same boy who has adventures with Kong in the cartoon show. The other confusing thing about the talking puppet is that Kong does not actually talk in the show (at least the few episodes I have found online). He grunts and makes other sounds back to Bobby and the other humans who converse with him, but does not actually talk as we do. 

If I would have remembered anything about this cartoon from my childhood, it would have been the theme song. But even here, my memory is negligent. I was able to find people singing the song on Youtube, and even a clip or two of the song with its cartoon opening, and it is pretty catchy. Here are the lyrics...

"King Kong!
You know the name of
King Kong!
You know the fame of
King Kong!
Ten times as big as a man!

Throughout the land,
you've heard about this wonder!
Listen closely and
you will hear the thunder
of this mighty ape,
and he's a friend of man!
So goes the legend...
the legend of..

King Kong!
You know the name of
King Kong!
You know the fame of
King Kong!
Ten times as big as a man!

One day, a boy
too young to know the danger,
Made a friend of
this giant fearsome creature,
and the life they led
on their island home
became a legend...
the legend of . . .

King Kong!
You know the name of
King Kong!
You know the fame of
King Kong!
Ten times as big as a man!"

One other note... The King Kong Show was produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, whom you may know better as the creators of such stop-motion animated specials as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and The Year without a Santa Claus. They co-produced a feature film with Toho (the studio of Godzilla and his pals) in 1967 called King Kong Escapes [Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū]. The film had its roots in this show, which does have an episode featuring a battle between Kong and a mechanized double, a plotline directly used in the film version. I saw King Kong Escapes as a teenager, but had no idea of the connection with the older cartoon show. I just thought it was a direct sequel to 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla, also co-produced by Toho. From the beginning, though, it was easy even then to tell the similarities in design between the robot Kong in the film and many other characters designed for Rankin-Bass productions, of which I was a fanatic since a wee child.

Getting back to the King Kong Talking Hand Puppet, this memory may explain why I have been so drawn to puppets over my lifetime, even becoming a puppeteer for many, many years within the Moorish circus my friends and I performed in annually at our local renaissance faire. I still own many, many puppets in my personal toy collection, retain a perfectly happy relationship with all things Muppet even nearing middle age, and am fascinated anytime that I find old puppets in antique stores and even new ones in toy shops. If I had indeed owned the King Kong Talking Hand Puppet when I was a kid vacationing in Wisconsin, then it is a very sad thing that it didn't survive the transition back to Alaska.

So it had to be an accident if it was mine. I would have never parted with it willingly. Not King Kong. A boy and his gorilla need to be together.

RTJ

*****

To see an episode from The King Kong Show for yourself, check this out...

And to see the King Kong Talking Hand Puppet talk, watch this video...

[Editor's Note: The pictures in this piece were found on a French King Kong fan forum -- http://king-kong.fansforum.info/t193-THE-KING-KONG-SHOW.htm -- and also on Ebay, where a King Kong Talking Hand Puppet (or even the stuffed doll that looks very similar) in fine condition will run you a few hundred dollars. So it is very doubtful I will ever get one of my own. But if I ever win any size portion of the lottery, that puppet is mine.]

Counting Up to Me Choking to Death on a Creature Adult Collectible Figure

[Click image to enlarge]

Yesterday, it struck me as odd when considering that in order to count down to Halloween, that I need to start on the 1st of the month at 31 to get down to 1, but in the end, we arrive at the 31st. Why don't we just count up? It seems to me that a COUNT UP TO HALLOWEEN would actually seem more appropriate since we are heading to the 31st. But, "countups" are not really a thing while "countdowns" have been long established as immensely appealing to populations of people all over the world. Especially NASA employees. And people who play NASA employees in movies and TV.

Putting these notions aside, I am, after a break of several eons, taking part once more in the Countdown to Halloween, which is a fun little blogroll maintained by my friends at -- wait for it -- www.countdowntohalloween.com/. [Or click on the handy cat mask button on the right hand side of my page.] Visit their site to see a list of blogs that will be posting regularly (some daily, some less frequently) throughout the month of October leading up to some celebration of something at the tail end of said month. (Really hard to keep these holidays straight anymore...)

The owners of the Countdown to Halloween site have been good enough to keep emailing me annually to see if I want to participate, though I last did so about four years ago or so. I had actually been meaning to use this opportunity each year to jumpstart myself back into writing regularly on the blog, but then found myself keeping too busy in passing the open windows to do so. This year, circumstance has forced my hand in getting the writing machine running again, and so, after a long sequence of skipped starts and shutters, I now have my site moving relatively smoothly in time to enjoy the Halloween season. 

Of course, I needed some aid in this effort. In my case, aid comes in the form of regaling myself with a few small purchased items, generally monster toys and comics, books about horror movies, or a handful of horror and science fiction DVDs to add to my collections. A well-timed trip to Barnes and Noble three days ago allowed me the chance to pick up some of my favorite movie-themed magazines -- Fangoria, Filmfax, Famous Monsters of Filmland, and Video Watchdog -- as well as the dandy little guy displayed in the image at the top right of this post, a ReAction Universal Monsters Creature from the Black Lagoon figure.

I am not a collector who "keeps it in the box," so to speak, unless I have multiple copies of something. The Creature (being my favorite Universal Monster) will be freed of his plastic tomb soon enough, but in looking at him, I am trying to figure why the toy has an age designation of 14+ on the packaging. Not kidding... in a circle at the top of the package it says "Age 14+," along with the requisite warning about the toy being a "Choking Hazard. May contain small parts."

Was there an outbreak of 13-year-olds choking on inch-long rubber arms and flippers in this world? I know stupidity doesn't cut off once someone gets past their first teenage year, so it can't be that. Apart from a small 3.5" toy with only five points of articulation, there are no other parts with this thing, let alone small ones! There's no speargun or net like in the larger Sideshow figures, just a tiny, menacing Creature. Are pre-teens just shoving the whole toy in their mouths? Why doesn't this say " Age 6+" or something else? How dumb have kids gotten?

[Click image to enlarge]

And forgive me, Gertrude, for calling this a toy! I have just been informed by the top of the package that this (in all caps) is an "ADULT COLLECTIBLE - NOT A TOY". That's right. Adults don't play with toys, unless they are shaped like things that occur in the groin area or made to go in other things around the groin area. This is a collectible, and only made to be collected!

[Click image to enlarge]

But they are liars on this count. Right on the back of the packaging, there are pictures of the other, um, "collectibles" in this line, and just below to the left of those pictures, there is text that informs me that these figures, apart from being "sturdy," "plastic," and "posable," are also "ready for adventure!" But... they aren't toys, so I obviously can't play with them. So, what type of adventures can they have if they can't be played with at all? Does this imply that I am simply meant to free them and let them go off on their own? Is it "Choose your own monster and let them have an adventure"?

Or maybe these really are adult toys after all and the Creature is meant to have adventures in places that are not to be mentioned in polite company.

Maybe being from the Black Lagoon was simply a metaphor all along...

Countdown to Halloween 2011, Week #2: Stuff That Helps Me to Not Be Afraid of No Ghosts

The stuff that helps me to not be afraid of no ghosts (apart from the fact that I do not believe in the supernatural at all) comes courtesy of the local Ghostbusters chapter wthin my own home. What that translates into is that I have my own Ecto-1 at hand -- also known in some quarters as the Ecto-Mobile -- still on call for "cleanin' up the town."

I have figures of all the main Ghostbusters (technically, Real Ghostbusters) figures, but they never quite made it out for Halloween, so their time will have to come next year. However, for some obscure reason, I always seem to have the figures of Louis Tully and Janine Melnitz inside the Ecto-1. Slimer and Stay-Puft are also forever lurking about my place on one shelf or another, in the same way that the Ecto-1 is always on display, so they made the picture as well.

Gotta be ready in case "Paranormal Activity" suddenly becomes a real thing...

Countdown to Halloween 2011, Week#1: What do you mean, "The party's over?"

Halloween is over, and while Grover is not the sort of monster one normally associates with the holiday, here he perfectly expresses my sentiments about today...

Random Abode Spookage & Monsters #7: Inactive Model Division

As a child, I made models by the dozens. Always had something being glued together... cars, jet fighters, dinosaurs, monsters. It wasn't that I really loved doing it, but every month or so, I would convince one of my parents to purchase one or two new model kits for me. Suddenly, I found myself putting together some tank battle set or T. Rex, but the truth is that I was never very good at it.

To me, it was always like putting together any other puzzle, like a jigsaw, but you don't have to glue jigsaws. Well, some people do, but that has always seemed silly to me.  Model-wise, I was sloppy. I never had the patience needed to build one to perfection. I hated the smell of the glue, I hated getting it on my fingers, but my real downfall was in the painting. Zero skill with the brush and too many other things to do not to rush the job. I would begin to paint, something would drip no matter how careful I was, and I would see other models that master builders would do and it would drive me crazy. Why can't I do it that way? Why do I always end up with blobs of glue at all of the critical seams and joints? Honestly, I had never considered sandpaper at that age, but as I said, it was more about having the model rather than completing it, so I never ventured too deep into gathering tips about doing them better. Mine was a cursory interest; my real love at that time was baseball cards, and the modeling thing was probably just a way of getting my parents to buy me more stuff.

Eventually, I wearied of the hobby, but to this day, I still have a soft spot for the idea of model building. Like most hobbies, deep down it's merely a silly and addictive time-filler, but also lovely when done right. It was with just such an attitude that I forged through life, and when the time came that I had mad money to burn, I would go back to trying out model building. But a twist came with my new purchases in adulthood: I never actually built them. I have a handful of kits that I have bought over the intervening years between childhood and now -- mostly monsters -- but the fear of screwing up a paint job to the point where I would cause physical destruction to my surroundings in my frustration always loomed too large for me to get over it. Which is where the appeal action figures laid for me. They were already finished, they came with swell accessories, and best of all, unlike most models, you could play with them.

I have gone onto a couple of model boards recently and read some of the disdain for Tsukuda's officially licensed horror/sci-fi model kits of the late '80s and early '90s. Large, vinyl kits of the sort to which I never had access as a kid. As a monster nut, when these were released, I was naturally drawn to them. Bosco's, the only real game in town as regards comics and collectibles in Anchorage, Alaska (and home base to many of my very good friends -- and my little brother -- at one point or another), sold these kits pretty regularly in those days. I would stare at them up on those higher shelves in the store every time that went in (which was then about three or four times a week), but the price tag of roughly $50 a shot gave me pause.

Finally, after mentioning it briefly to my then-spouse, she surprised me at my birthday with the Frankenstein kit, based on the Jack Pierce-designed Karloff makeup of the original Universal film. Awkwardly titled "A Monster of Dr. Frankenstein," Tsukuda Hobby Jumbo Figure Series No. 38 may have its drawbacks according to finicky, nit-picking hobbyists, but to me it has always proved to be a daunting figure of horrific beauty. Once again, though I was happy to own the damnable monster, my fear of totally screwing up the paint job meant that I was doomed to let him lie in his giant cardboard coffin for the next 20-plus years.

Every few years, I would pull him out of the box again, snap his limbs and hands into place (he is meant to have some articulation points) and stare intently at what I had always felt was a pretty accurate sculpt (though apparently, I am so wrong), and muse about the purchase of new paints and brushes. And then, after a few days of display on my dining room table which was meant to provide the impetus for my to actually complete my monster, he would end up back in the box and back up on a shelf in my game closet. I couldn't make the leap.

However, finally owning the Monster kit opened up the floodgates just enough where I was determined to get the other Universal monster available at the store, Tsukuda Hobby Jumbo Figure Series No. 39, "Mummy Man." I had my eyes on the Tsukuda King Kong model as well, but it ran for $100 at the time, and so I opted for the half as costly Mummy figure, with the intention of saving up for Kong (which never happened). This model seems to be based on the Kharis figure from the later Universal series, not the 1932 Karl Freund classic with Karloff as Imhotep. It didn't mean anything to me when I bought it, however; the main thing was that I had a Universal model kit. A kit which I stared at a lot. A kit which I would think about completing. A kit which never got painted.

And so now the monsters and I live thousands of miles from where we started, and we are now at this juncture where I have them up and out of their boxes on our apartment's dining room table. There is a lot of staring going on as I think about what is involved in bringing these creatures fully to life. I have been looking up paint colors online and reading hobbyist tips and tricks. But I have also begun to feel the eventual frustration looming in the near distance.

It's enough to make you quit while you are still behind...

Got a Party to Go to...

Cousin Huet and Brother Dave... Not So Much Resting, but Having a Peaceable Time

When Jen surprised me with these for my birthday about three years ago or so, I didn't realize that I even wanted them. I didn't even know they existed, so therefore I never had a craving to own them. But there they were, heavy and bulky and surrounded by that annoying Styrofoam shell-casing that shreds as you pull them out of the packaging so that it gets all over your floor, so that you keep discovered minute white, foam pellets for the next three years every time you look down.

I had never known that I wanted them, but I am sure glad they are here now. It turns out they were one of the most unique and cool surprise presents I have received since a certain someone scored me an eighteen foot that lit up with "LIBRARY" in giant, two-foot-high block letters (and that only weighed about 250 pounds). Storage is impossible, since the foam shredded so much, so they now stay relatively out in the open for most of the year. I just make them a little more prominent come Halloween time. And now I can't have a holiday without 'em.

Random Abode Monsters & Spookage #6: Monsters from the Universal Backlog, Pt. 2

I've been rethinking that head transplant deal the Doctor offered...

If you are going to do a Google search for the following words all at once: "Frankenstein's," "monster" and "squirter," don't be surprised by what you get in reply. The results will be a little light on the Frankenstein's monster part, and more than a little heavy (or should I say "drenched") with the third word (and I will not explain beyond that...)

Yet another product of the 1991 Universal wave of monster production, these are actually pretty swell items standing about four inches high and that will get you a pretty decent 25-foot squirt if squeezed properly. I don't know how I kept ending up with just the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolfman in some of these items, but that's how it worked out. I pretty much just grabbed whatever was available at that store, and it seemed to come up Monster and Wolfman over and over again. (As always, if I had found the Creature instead, he would have been first...)

Head-istic: Blechhs vs. Severed

Random Abode Monsters & Spookage #5: Monsters from the Universal Backlog, Pt. 1

Not a lot of time tonight. Two movies I need to cram in now since I have to write a piece for work in the morning (and hopefully not much beyond that). Can't miss the mail pickup in the late a.m.; otherwise I won't maximize my Netflix rentals before Halloween.

So, here is what you get tonight: a couple of official Universal Monster sliding puzzles, copyrighted 1991. Universal had a big push on their famous creations that year. I remember Doritos stickers, soda box designs, and a vast array of toys, some decent and some, like these puzzles, really annoying to use.

Here's a tip next time you think about making a sliding puzzle game. Slightly round the corners of your pieces in order to ease the user's ability to slide from slot to slot. These puzzles are swell to have, but man, I hate using them. It's the one time I would think about joining the villagers...

Random Abode Monsters & Spookage #4: Fuzzy Pun'kins & Bats That Can't Turn Left

I can haz twick o' tweet?

It's almost like being on CuteOverload.com, but with happy Halloween stuffed toys instead of kittens and puppies in costume!

All of these guys were presents over the years from various friends, except for the squished-looking little pumpkin, who might be the cutest stuffed toy I have ever seen. (Seriously, get to know him...)

 

In a way, they almost look like Sifl & Olly, pumpkin-style...

The Sideshow is Almost Always Better Than the Circus...

As I detailed a few posts ago, I recently spent a solid weekend going back through boxes and boxes of my collected Halloween memorabilia and horror toys, having a completely grand time getting reacquainted with old pals and favorite treasures.

Chief amongst these objects was my collection of the official Universal Monsters figures that Sideshow Collectibles began putting out around 2001, I believe (don't correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't care).  I had suffered through any number of half-assed Universal collectibles up to that point in time, but when Sideshow started releasing these 8-inch masterpieces back then... well, I don't remember actually weeping at their utter perfection, but let's say it would have been appropriate if I had done just that.

Since I am really bad at being a completist -- the lack of my own vehicle and the fact that, yet again, I just really don't care really plays into that status -- means that I didn't quite get them all. I did get one of each of the characters from the first four series -- a dozen figures in all, though three of them -- Frankenstein's Monster, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Creature from the Black Lagoon -- ended up being the Silver Screen Editions. (In other words, they are in black and white, which is honestly how I would have preferred all of them to be.) I also managed to grab the glow-in-the-dark figure of The Creature, who has graced my desk at home ever since.

Fantastic sculpts, great choice of props for the majority of the characters (they could have done more with the Metalluna Mutant considering they gave one of the Mole People a big bag full of mushrooms), and clever little stand-up sets, I much prefer these to the 12-inch versions Sideshow eventually released. The sad part is that I never knew about the far more limited in production Series 5, which consisted of The Phantom of the Opera in his Red Death costume, Lugosi as Ygor in Son of Frankenstein, and the figure I was most anticipating, Lugosi's Dracula. (Can somebody say "negotiations with Lugosi's estate"?)

Now my only choice cost-wise is to jump to the 12-inch versions, since the ones I missed are way too spendy for my wallet. Or I can just follow the latest trend of mine of not purchasing action figures anymore (which pretty much started once I moved back into domestic bliss in California). Either way, I have my 8-inch Sideshow line to tide me over, their perfection gracing the hallowed halls of the Cinema 4 Pylon, at least until we decide to decorate for Xmas.

[Note: The figures in the pictures above are joined by their corresponding Silver Screen Edition figures from Sideshow's Universal Monsters Little Big Heads line. More on that set later...]

Random Abode Monsters and Spookage #3

Almost Gojira. Almost the Creature. Just a little too wound up, that's all. Old pals that I have had for just about forever.

Random Abode Monsters & Spookage #2: The Non-Karloff-Looking Official Universal Frankenstein's Monster (Imperial Toys, 1986)

"My arms and head move... Wheeeee!"

I remember buying this fellow, but I still can't figure out why I never bought the Dracula, Mummy and Wolfman figures that came out with him. Oh, yeah... now I remember. He kind of sucks. Well, sucks as an officially licensed representation of the famous monster played by the great Boris Karloff. That's right, this guy is the real deal,  authorized by Universal Studios, but as it so often happens with monsters, he has a face that only a monster maniac could love.

He actually stood as the only toy representative of his "breed" in my home for several years, at least until the next big Universal Monster wave hit the market. My brother and I even used Mr. Three Points of Articulation to make an exceedingly crude  four seconds of stop-motion film many years back (lost to history, sadly). Beginning in 2001, once I got the Sideshow Toys figures (more on them later this month), I was pretty much spoiled by their near perfection. In a way not unlike many mad scientists before me, this sad little guy was put in the closet for a few years.

But, now he's back from the dead again (he and that Jesus guy apparently have that resurrection thing down pretty solid) and stomping around my apartment happily with the rest of the lot for the Halloween season.

If you would like to read a pretty great dissection of these figures, with more photos than you could ever fearfully wave a pitchfork at, go here:

http://www.weirdotoys.com/2009/05/18/classic-movie-monsters-by-imperial-toy/

Random Abode Monsters & Spookage #1: The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

I've gotten involved in several conversations involving the Ghostbusters over the past month, so it is only appropriate that I start off this series with Stay Puft, the form the ancient Sumerian god Gozer takes to destroy the world, thanks to the stray thinking of Dan Aykroyd's Ray Stantz. Sure, he's puffy looking and adorable, and that is exactly what got the Ghostbusters in trouble with him in the first place.

And now I am trouble as well, because while I was kicking around the internet, I found these:

Stay Puft Caffeinated Gourmet Marshmallows

I am not joking... absolutely real and real tempting. Just don't cross the streams while fightin-- er, I mean, eating them. (Wow. Such a statement can just go so horribly wrong...)

Which Member of the TPCC Will Get Which Halloween Finger Puppet at Work This Morning?

Questions you might be asking:

1) What is the TPCC?

An initialism.

2) Who are the TPCC?

The members that make up the organization.

2) What does the "C" stand for?

Which one?

3) How do I become a member?

You don't... well, maybe you could... on second thought, no.

4) How come there isn't a werewolf finger puppet?

Don't ask me. There was a witch in the box, but I didn't like her that much. And absolutely zero werewolves, which I felt was odd given the current cultural zeitgeist for the little furry suckers. (For the exact same stupid reason as the much larger zeitgeist for bloodsuckers...)

5) What is the first rule of the TPCC?

To not be self-involved douches like those whiny babies over in Fight Club...
Second rule is: always talk about the TPCC, but remain obscure at the same time.

6) Which puppet are you hoping to get?

I apparently have mummy issues, so...