Remco Mini-Monsters

Remco Frankenstein 1980

Sometimes it's strange which childhood memories stick with us.  For some reason, I vividly remember a day my grandmother took me to ToysRUs to pick up a Star Wars figure, or two.  (Actually, I think I got three that day.)  Anyway, while searching through Kenner's latest offerings, I specifically remember an entire endcap dedicated to Remco's Universal Monsters 3 3/4" action figures.  These were cool; the packaging was scary, and the possibilities were exciting.  

Frankenstein vs. Darth Vader? 

Chewbacca vs. The Wolfman?  

 

   


Dracula vs. Obi Wan?  

However my request for some monsters, instead of the Cloud Car pilot, was quickly dismissed by my dear grandma.  "We came here for Star Wars, not for monsters!"   

She was right, and because I appreciated her generosity, I gave up on the monsters without effort. In fact, I completely gave up on them.  Star Wars continued to dominate my birthday and Christmas lists.  The monster playsets just couldn't compete with recreating the Star Wars Universe.  So now, thirty years later, I am hunting down these Remco figures to add to my collection.

Frankenstein is the best of the set as far as I am concerned and one of my favorite Frankenstein pieces.  Great detail in the sculpt and an excellent paint job.  This figure happens to be the glow-in-the dark version.

Bolts, Scars, and Baggy eyes.

I have also been able to find very nice versions of the Wolfman and Dracula.  These figures are hard to find without the traditional paint chip on the nose. My Dracula has a small one, but the wolfman is in great condition as is the Creature.  All four were purchased on ebay and I think I paid the most for the Creature. ($23 including shipping.)  Only Frankenstein is the glow-in-the-dark version.

Greedo vs. The Creature?

To close, I added a photo of some original packaging.  Funko is producing a ReAction line of 3 3/4" Monsters.  I like Funko's packaging, however early photos of the figures are not promising.  The purpose of the line is make the figures look like "throwbacks."  However, vintage figures were made with quality and attention to detail.  I do not expect either from Funko's ReAction line.

Original Packaging

AHI Wolfman

This weekend my son and I went to G-Fest and in amongst all the Godzilla goodness there were some monster gems.  One dealer took a set of AHI Jigglers and shrink-wrapped them to a reproduction 15 x 11 inch card.  They looked great.  He sold the Creature immediately, and I had a hard time choosing between Frankenstein and the Wolfman. Ultimately, I went with the Wolfman as I just felt it looked better to me. Jigglers were never as high on my list as the mego-style figures, but I had to get one like this to display in my collection.  I added my "mego" wolfman to help show the size of the card.

AHI Wolfman "Jiggler" and Mego-style

A few more photos for detail...

Here is a photo of the complete card.

Finally, here is the "mego-style" AHI Wolfman that I acquired the same day I found Frankenstein. Again, this appears to be a later version which appeared closer to the end of the line around '76.  For more information on these figures, see my previous post!

Welcome to the Museum!!!

Azrak Hamway Frankenstein

I decided to photograph my first piece in front of Kirk Hammett's book, Too Much Horror Business, because this is where I first discovered AHI Monsters.  (If you are a fan of horror collectibles and don't yet own this book, click the link now!)
These classic figures by Azrak Hamway could be found throughout the mid 1970's in drugstores and dime stores. The line, which ran from 1974 to '76 included Frankenstein, The Wolfman, Count Dracula, The Mummy,and the rarest figure, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and retailed for $1.96.  Today, in good, loose condition you can expect to pay over $100.  If you find one still on it's blister card, expect the price to go much higher depending on the figure.

The figure I have is one of the last in the line ('76).  Earlier versions included a sweater underneath the jacket and green limbs, instead of the flesh colored version here. (I still hope to hunt down an earlier version as I think the sweater looks better under the jacket, but the green limbed version has smaller hands and the dark green limbs do not look as good as this version.) A lot of these figures include repo jackets, pants, and boots.  Mine are original as far as I can tell.

The neck and back are stamped Hong Kong, while the jacket includes a tag.  I didn't find a tag on the pants or a stamp on the legs, however I didn't remove them all they way as I didn't want to damage the boots, which often split when taken on and off.

As cheaply as these figures were made, they may be the best action figures ever produced for the Universal Monsters.  The Frankenstein sculpt looks like Karloff. Next to my figure below, I've included a picture of the original packaging.  If you want to read more about this line, click on the packaged picture and it will take you to an excellent resource on these figures found on plaidstallions.com.