Monsters in My Pocket

[Griffin]

I bet a lot of you may be familiar with this line. For those who dont it was a toy line that started in the 80s that consisted of a large series of small 1.5-2 inch tall monster figures made of unicolored rubbery plastic. They each could come in a variety of colors. The cool thing was that every single monster actually exists in some culture's mythology, religion, folklore, is a cryptid or is known from a famous old horror movie. So in other words the makers of this product did not simply make up a bunch of random monsters. As a little kid this was pretty cool since I got to collect them and at the same time I actually was learning a little bit about cultures and mythologies from around the world since they also came with information sheets about each monster.

Today I will show you the ones that I have from the first series of monsters. I have some from series 4 as well but they are a bit different looking so I'll save that for another time.

First up, monsters that are featured in famous old horror films. (Sorry I don't know the exact roots of these I'm sure some of them go back farther than that but I do know they were in film at least) From left to right we have the Phantom of the Opera, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and the Hunchback (I have 2 variations)


From Mythology I have the Basilisk, Chimera, Hydra, Griffin and an interesting rendition of the Japanese Tengu.


From children's stories and folklore I have a hobgoblin and an Ogre


The witches, classic broomholdingpointyhat-wearing witch and from Slavic folklore, a pretty gross Baba Yaga.


From beyond the grave Skeleton, Zombie and Ghost (really funny)


Cryptids Bigfoot/Sasquatch and the only one here from series 4 the Jersey Devil (sporting a cool hairdo). I just wanted to show it by bigfoot since they are both cryptids


From the Hebrew Bible, Behemoth (2 colors) and the only monster in the group that ever actually existed, a barely recognizable rendition of Tyrannoaurus rex. (Yes T. rex was apparently worthy of "famous monster" status which I always found pretty sweet)


This is a fond memory from my childhood and I'm glad I kept my collection to this day.

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Monsters in my pocket! You put them everywhere!

[veloziraptor]

I have a ton of these guys and love them. Hey, if you have the later series Dinosaurs, don't forget to put them in water or whatever and see if they are the secret skeleton versions. They're pretty hard to find and $$$.

[Griffin]

Unfortunately by the time the dinosaur series came out I was out of it. I only have monsters from series 1 and series 4 actually.

[Griffin]

Got a few more off ebay.

Werewolf, Kraken and Loch Ness Monster



Winged Panther, Minotaur and Sobek

[Horridus]

Jul 9, 2010 17:05:27 GMT veloziraptor said:

Hey, if you have the later series Dinosaurs, don't forget to put them in water or whatever and see if they are the secret skeleton versions. They're pretty hard to find and $$$.

NOOOOOO!!! Not again. First the Invicta Troodon, and now this...