Amigos Del Terror

Amigos Del Terror (which translates into "Terror Friends") is an Argentinian off shoot of the Imperial Monsters figures discussed earlier in the day. The main differences are that the figures are blow molded (meaning they're hollow) and they dropped the Wolfman for the line.

While I'm not fond of the Imperial Monsters, I'm gaga for this line, mostly because of this:

This image of the three monsters palling around never fails to bring myself and anyone I show it to pure joy. It's a happiness generator, that's why I collect toys in the first place, so thank you Terror Friends for showing us how to laugh again.

Here's a shot of the Dracula in the series, there are subtle variations between these and their North American counterparts.

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.

Dave's 70s Halloween Review

Dave sent in this awesome review of his 70s Halloween experiences. I wish I had such good records, Dave also had great taste in costumes, above is Batman but you already knew that.

73 saw him choose the Skeleton, a staple of Halloween.

76 had him choose Spider-Man, always a good choice.

Frankenstein for 75, love the purple pants!

Thanks for sharing Dave!

Imperial Monsters

I have to admit that I've never warmed to the Imperial Monster figures, they came out when I was a teenager and I was spoiled by what came earlier. Since then, I've met several people who owed their adult monster love to these very figures, plus this display box is pretty swell, so I thought I'd feature it today.

While I find the sculpting on the figures crude, thumbs up to this wonderful displayer art. 

I bought this piece to feature it in Rack Toys but unfortunately it got cut for space, maybe it'll make it into volume 2 someday.

Costume Spotlight: The Shadow

 

 I gotta say, I've got nice friends. This month is always a bit of a stretch to come up with a whole month of Halloween updates. Enter my pal Matt, Shadow collector extraordinaire (check out some of his cool collection here) .

While I knew Collegeville made a Shadow costume, I had no idea how many. I'll let Matt take over here and explain the differences after the jump.

More Glowing Monster Puffy Stickers

So in my post two weeks ago about these wonderful items, I ended with "does anyone collect these?". Enter Mike, who chimed in with "I do" and he proceded to share his killer collection with us. I had no idea that some of these, like the giant version pictured above, existed. The photos below are going to cause my wallet some harm, check 'em out:

Out of all of these, I love the little frame for this Wolfman (which is actually a swipe from the Delaurentis Kong poster)

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.

AHI Creature!

Up until last summer, I was pretty much done with collecting AHI figures, completely talking myself out of the one figure that I (and my site) needed, a carded AHI Creature.

This mostly because they're always so pricey, I mean "both kids need braces" pricey. So I just kept the idea that if the opportunity to own one popped up, I would go for it.

This open carded beauty popped up five years later and I had exactly the amount of the BIN, i hit it before I could think. 

Patience rules. 

More AHI at AzrakHamway.com

PodStallions Episode 10: Glows in the Dark (Monster Toys)

Our second October episode, Jason and Brain try to cram in as many monster toys as they can into an hour and a half. 

Aurora model kits, Marvel comics, action figures by Tomland, Remco and Lincoln International get discussed as does Cracked magazine, Power Records, the number of times we rented "LifeForce" on VHS (I've never seen the end)

As usual, the topic tends to veer off into a disscussion first experiences with theatre jumping (with first movie nudity) and Lee Marvin fishing, it may look like those pieces fit together but they do, they do.....

Download the Show Here

Listen here

Show Links:

• The Star Wars Issue of Cracked Magazine that Jason mentions.
• A late 1960s Collegeville Mr Spock Costume.
• Brian as Boba Fett.
• Lincoln International Monsters are some of Brian's favourite Monster Toys and Mr Rock is their spock knockoff.
• The Aurora Girl Victim model kit got them in a lot of trouble.
• Wind Up Super Monsters were $0.99 well spent.
• Jason brings up the Tomland Famous Monsters of Legend.
• The Famous Monsters Speak Record Jason traded for.
• Power Records Monster album is on Youtube.
• Star Trek: Passage to Moav features a blonde Lt Uhura and an off model Mr Sulu.
• The AMT Gigantics kits are incredible and should be owned by you.
• Remco Mini Monsters are beloved by both of the guys.
• The Jack Davis Frankenstein Poster Jason mentioned.
• Monster Squad action figures almost happened, Brian's pillow is soaking wet with tears every night.
• Henry Polic 2 passed away this year sadly.
• REAL dirt from Dracula's castle captivated Jason.
• The Incredible Melting Man got a Kid's halloween costume and a makeup kit.
• Life Force is on Blu-Ray in case you ever wanted to get us something for Christmas...
• Mattel Godzilla and Rodan are full of win, Gre-Gory the vampire bat is something Brian needs to own.
• Mattel Krusher Commercial from 1980.
• The Lee Marvin documentary that Jason mentions.

Plenty more content on the PodStallions Facebook page!

PODSTALLIONS ON ITUNES
PODSTALLIONS RSS FEED

Monster Hunt Game

I found this game at a toy show a while back, it's dated 1977 and is made by Hasbro but I have no recollection of ever seeing it before.  The vendor was a friend and told me to take it for five dollars, i hadn't bought anything that day so it was a pretty quick purchase...

I was mostly captivated by the weird off brand monster designs on the box, Dracula resembles Canadian game show host Pierre Lalonde from the "Mad Dash", (youtube it, you'll be glad you did) . The other monsters make me wish this was an action figure line.

The game itself is cheap, I thought the Monster Squad board game was chintzy but it looks fabulous compared to this thin board and spinner. The art on the board is funky and the main reason I bought it, note the Barnabas Collins looking Dracula.

And here is the spinner, I really shouldn't end the tour with this.

Remco Monsters At Home Revisited

It's been a while since I updated the Remco Monsters at Home Gallery, thanks mostly to some bargains being found. Above is the carded Creature set, something I had basically given up on owning. The Creature, is always the painful one to get in any set, mostly due to his popularity. 

Here is the Mummy, another favorite character of mine, you can see the whole set and more on their newly revised gallery page here.

Groovie Goolie Love

I was super stoked to find this amazing Chemtoy catalog page featuring the Groovie Goolies figures (which I sadly don't own but luckily are featured in Rack Toys). It's bittersweet that the find happened just as I get news that Lou Scheimer has passed away. It's no secret I adored the man's work and I am so glad that he managed to document his stories in an amazing book.

Think I'll go watch some cartoons....

Tomland Monsters Catalog

This picture from the 1980 Combex catalog is something I've been searching for years for, evidence of who distributed these darn things.  

It's kind of joyous to see the Creatures from Other Worlds mingling with the Star Raiders and Famous Monsters of Legend. Now I've just got to find the catalog from the next couple of years.

1981 Ben Cooper Costume Catalog

Halloween around here wouldn't be the same without the store bought goodness that is Ben Cooper. If you were a child of the 70s or 80s, then you certainly knew their product.

Cooper held some of the great licenses in 1981 including the Disney characters, both the DC and Marvel comics Superheroes, Clash of the Titans and of course, Star Wars. The only thing they were missing were the Universal Monsters (who had jumped ship to rival Collegeville).

In addition the store bought costumes, Cooper had a mountain of other fun Halloween related items like rubber masks, fake blood, rubber bats and bugs and tons of Jigglers to suck your wallet dry like a vacuum baby!

Scan through the 1981 Ben Cooper Catalog here.

For more Superhero and Monster related items, Check out these fabulous links:

. ..

Mattel Creepy Feature Promotion

I recently came across this promotional folder from Mattel full of different concepts for stores to boost sales of (duh) Mattel Toys. The one that most interested me was the Halloween specific teaming of Suckerman, Gre-Gory and Krusher into an end cap called the "Creepy Feature".

While I'm 100% sure this never made it to Canada (*sob*) I'm wondering if anybody remembers seeing this promotion in action?

I can only imagine if it did happen, it would be a good memory for somebody, I mean, look at this thing!



One of the earliest pages I put up on Plaidstallions was about the Mattel monsters including Suckerman, Gre-Gory and Krusher. Watch out for old html though.

More Mini Monsters

Since I originally posted about these little guys three years back, I haven't added anything to the collection. In fact, I'm kind of the belief I may not be able to complete the set for the price I'm willing to pay.

Fortunately, I have a pal in Bill, who has some of the characters I don't and is willing to share.  Above is the Tomland Hunchback, who resembles the Lincoln International Hunchback and is one of the characters Tomland didn't do in 8" format.

And this is mini AH, one of the Star Raiders characters. Ah is a tough cookie to find as a regular figure, let alone this little guy.
Fun stuff! Thanks Bill!

More Tomland Toys:



Tomland Famous Monsters Gallery

Tomland Star Raiders Gallery

Franken Squirt

I've always wanted one of these AHI squirt guns, but they're so rare and desirable that I could never come close. The other thing that held me back was paying a beefy sum for a squirt gun. I don't know why that should bother me but it did.

Fortune smiled on me and I managed a good deal on my favourite monster, Frankenstein. As much as I like the other two, I don't feel the need to "Collect 'em all"

OK when I see this display, it kind of makes me want to get them all but I probably won't.  Right?

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.