Imperial Monsters

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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.

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[Earth 2 Chris]

Wow, that box is a beaut! I remember passing these up at TRU for years, due to the gangly arms and sticky paint jobs. But in hindsight, the Wolfman is really nice...and they made Klaris (not Kharis) from Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy. How cool (and weird!) is that?!?

Chris

[Hedji]

The box is better than the toys. I have all but Frankie, and I'm always considering selling them. Somehow, they're just too... stocky or something.

[vintage spideyfan]

That display box is amazing. I still have my original childhood set and remember being disappointed with the sculpts, especially Frankenstein. I recently picked up a carded example of their Latin American counterpart, the "Amigos del Terror"...

[palitoy]

The box is better than the toys. I have all but Frankie, and I'm always considering selling them. Somehow, they're just too... stocky or something.

Yeah the blockiness really bothered me, it didn't seem like a style choice either, just "meh, this will do".

[Falstaff13]

What years were these made?

[palitoy]

Mid eighties, they hung around until the mid nineties here.

[Falstaff13]

I have a vague memory of these. I know Imperial has long been a rack toy maker, but I feel like some of their action figure lines suffered from delayed timing. Their monsters were just a few years after the 1970s push (and early 1980s with the Remco mini-figs), and they put out "Legends of the Wild West," that never to me lived up to Excel/Empire's "Legends of the West" in the early 1990s, definitely after any height for cowboy toys.

[Werewolf]

I had a set of those for ages but actually donated them several years ago. They are just so ugly and not in a cool way either. Ugly in they are just so poorly done and clearly didn't care.

[raycastile]

I like the Imperials. One of these days I'm going to get a display box.

I remember buying a Dracula at Toys R Us circa 1990. I took it to the checkout lane where there was a mom and little boy ahead of me. The boy got very excited when he saw the Dracula. He explained to his mom that the character was not just Dracula, but Count Dracula. It was very important that we understood he was a count, not just some garden variety vampire. I was surprised a little kid at that time would be so excited about Count Dracula.

So if there are now collectors saying their monster love started with these toys, I believe it. I would not be surprised if that kid grew up to collect monsters. Strange to think that little boy from my memory is probably 30-ish today.

[Chris]

Wow, that box is a beaut!
Chris

Agreed.

[cjefferys]

The figures are truly stinky, but that's a nice looking box.