In 1980, Remco introduced a series of Star Wars figure-scale 3-3/4" figures of six classic Universal Monsters — Frankenstein's Monster, Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera, and of course, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The following year, each was re-released in a glow-in-the-dark variant.
I managed to collect five of the six glowing monsters (all but the Mummy) on their second state glow cards (after the initial non-glow release, the glow figures cardback featured a "Glows in the Dark" hype logo, and the second state added a surrounding glow to the area of the card behind the figure itself.
Years later, I acquired a non-glow dark green version of The Creature (and a non-glow version of the Mummy, to fill that hole in my collection as well). Diabetes must run in their family, because a lot of the Creatures you'll see on the secondary market these days are missing one or both feet! Fortunately, both of mine still have their flippers intact.
It should come as no surprise that the Creature is the most desirable figures in the line.
In addition to the six figures, Remco offered a Mini Monster Play case where you could store your figures, or display them in a setting that's part Dracula's castle, park Frankenstein's lab. While I've got one of those, in all my travels, I have yet to come across the Mini Monster Monsterizer, with which you could strap your Mini Monster to a lab table and expose him to light in order to initiate the glow effect. Those pop up on eBay from time to time, often in the $1000 range — and that's not even for an example that's new in a sealed box!
And yes, 40+ years on, and that magic glowing plastic still does the job!
Check back next week for another item from my Creature collection!
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