Universal Monsters action figures, it seems, will never go out of fashion. Only this week the Intertubes were buzzing with news of the latest Diamond Select retro cloth Dracula and the Mummy figures, which are set to hit stores this Autumn, following the success of the Wolf Man and Frankenstein last year. These new figures are highly reminiscent of Remco’s 9-inch Universal Monsters from 1980, of course, which spurred me to share another classic Remco action figure from the same year – the Frankenstein Mini-Monster. At 3 ¾ inches, these figures were pint-sized plastic Universal Monsters released in conjunction with the larger figures (hence the “Mini” moniker), but have arguably become even more popular than their larger counterparts and have enjoyed almost continuous adoration from monster movie and action figure fans ever since.
1980 Remco Universal Monsters Mini Monster Play Case & Figure Set..
🇺🇸 Price: US $3,300.00
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Vintage 1980 Remco Universal Mini Monsters Frankenstein Monster Damaged Card
🇺🇸 Price: US $1,200.00
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Perfectly detailed in almost every way, these Universal Monsters feature some of the best movie likenesses ever created in an action figure – the resemblance to Boris Karloff as The Monster in James Whale’s wonderful 1931 movie Frankenstein is spot-on – and details such as the weave of the monster’s jersey, the bolts in his neck, the blood on his forehead and even the laces in his boots, have all been carefully reproduced. Frankenstein has the usual limited 5 points of articulation in the neck, shoulders and hips, but that was standard for the day and actually suits the stiff-limbed Frankenstein really well!
Remco re-released all figures in the series, which also included Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, as glow-in-the-dark versions. As an extra and unexpected feature, I discovered that this Frankenstein Monster is also glow-in-the-dark edition! After a few seconds of charging him up under a light bulb, his face and hands still glow eerily with the lights out…utterly cool!
I remember seeing these in the store as a kid and always wanted and still want them.
they really are some of my favourite figures! still quite easy to find on eBay…
I just spotted a lot of them for $30 US on Ebay the other day. Reis over at ‘Hey, Look at My Toys’ did a Vblog on them once, they look pretty cool. Do you have the set?
Am working on collecting the whole set! Right now I’m still missing Wolf Man and the Mummy…
I MAKE ALL OF THE 8″ REMCO MONSTERS AND THE MONSTERIZER BOXES
@Ryan Do you have a website?