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Oh this Imagineering stuff makes me crazy, it's really hard not to go spend hundreds on Ebay when you see ads like this. The pretend blood was schoolyard magic...
The Gigantics kits by Fundimensions are one of the coolest model kit concepts EVER! In 1975, fundimensions went to back to 1950s cinema with a series of giant insects attacking urban areas. I somehow missed these when they were first released, only discovering them in the mid 1980s when I grabbed the wasp kit at a toy show.
Sadly when I opened the kit, I realized I couldn't do it justice so I ended up selling it at the next show, I still kind of regret that decision. However, reissues of these kits are now about, so maybe I'll try again.More Model Kit Monsters
And the Mummy (these guys are hard to photograph) which I'd like to point out is a toy of Kharis, the Mummy played by Lon Chaney Jr and Tom Tyler and not Boris Karloff's Imhotep. I don't think that's really important to many but it is to me. I don't know why but I love big bloody splotches like this on Mummy toys.
October is the perfect time to highlight the cool custom Mego Monster figures from my pal Thomas in Belgium. He's both made and collected 8" versions of the classic Universal and Hammer monsters for his collection. 
I love his Christopher Lee Dracula figure.
You can check out more, including his cool 1966 Batman customs here.
Got a cool collection to feature, drop me a line!
With it being October, I tend to get a little nuts with the Halloween costumes especially my favourite company Collegeville.
1978 was a fun year for Collegeville, sure they didn't have Star Wars but did Ben Cooper have the Hardy Boys? Not a chance. The 1978 Collegeville catalog is exploding with characters and creations that made the 1970s great including Jaws, Grizzy Adams, Farrah Fawcett, Superjoe, TV Super teams The Osmonds, Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch and the Monster Squad, just to name a few. It's like some weird TV special that probably happened...
Rob Reiner has one of these somewhere. Click on any image to check out all the fun of the 1978 Collegeville Costumes Catalog.
More Costume Catalogs:
For Maxx Fx Fans, here is a 1989 article (click on it for a larger read) about the problems Matchbox encountered when they attempted to market Freddy Kruger toys to children. This was more based on the cuddly talking doll (bad idea) but it eventually doomed Maxx as well. I don't give a toss about Freddy personally but find it a shame that those wonderful Universal Monster toys weren't released. If you haven't already, I insist you spend the next hour checking out creator Mel Birnkrant's fantastic Maxx Fx site.
And lastly, I found this postage stamp sized ad in an old Canadian newspaper, it's for a clearance of Aurora Monster Scenes kits (which got Aurora in a lot of trouble at the time) and I know that the Giant Insect kit is one thing a lot of collectors would have loved to have found for under a buck.
Mattel relaunched their popular Thing Makers from the 60s in a new version that wouldn't permanently scar you (seriously I know people with scars).
This commerical from our DVD is kind of bittersweet for me, the happy part is realizing that it's narrated by Jackie "Uncle Fester" Coogan. but I'm also reminded how quickly I was shot down by my folks when asking for one of these. I'd have made a real mess of things, so I forgive them...
The Bendy Mummy is by far the hardest one to find, even eclipsing the Creature from the Black Lagoon, which is usually the hardest to come by in any set, due to high demand.These little guys have really grown on me and they're one of my favourite Monster toys now, I mean, just look at them.....
Awwwwwwww!
Halloween Countdown Item
Ahhh sounds to make you Shiver, it worked well on me back in the day. I never lingered at people's houses who played spooky sounds. Anyone have this for the ipod?
Chris sent in the cool pic of his KIng Kong merchandise from the 1977 remake, all of this stuff was made by Mego and is really hard to find. I have to admit I love that Japanese Vinyl.
Here's a page about 1977 Mego King Kong Merchandise in case this whetted your appetite.
How can you not love Youtube? That's where I found this home movie footage of a live Planet of the Apes appearance in Plymouth Hoe circa 1975. I know I say this far too often but had I been exposed to this level of awesome as a child, it would have reduced me to a babbling, incoherant state.
Seeing as it's October and it's all about dressing up, I thought I'd show off other Ape Mall Appearances from previous posts:
Scott sent in this awesome shot from Long Island in 1975,
I've always wondered if it's the same one that was sent anonimously here, love the Addar kits in the foreground.
All of this was put on by Mego of course, the one company that really drove the train when it came to "apechandise" , kids even got this handout which I now happily own:
Send us your Mall Appearance photos!
By 1983, Remco had put down their utility belts and picked up some swords but never actually straying from their comic book licensing ties. Their long relationship with Marvel comics made them a natural to market the action figures based on their Crystar comic series , also announced were a series of figures based on Kazar that sadly, never materialized.
DC comics provided Remco the opportunity to combat Masters of the Universe in the form of the "Lost World of the Warlord" toyline based on the works of Mike Grell. The Universal Monsters (another long relationship for AHI and Remco) were still kicking and after years being seperated it seems that Remco/AHI finally became one in 1983 with the rack toy items finally being marketed in the Remco catalog.
Thanks to Steve F. for these marvelous scans. Click on the images for pages with descriptions:
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