Prototype Creature from the Black Lagoon

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I recently got a decent scan of this to ad to the Azrak Hamway Monster archive, it's the mocked up Creature from the black lagoon figure on his looks to be hand drawn card.

It's hard to say what he's constructed of, it almost looks like a converted Aurora Creature kit, either way I hope it survived and will be found some day.

if this guy looks vaguely familiar it's because you saw the same figure in Famous Monsters ads:

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[jwyblejr]

From the looks of that ad,it looks like the Monsters want to shake hands with you. "Hi. I'm Drac and this is my bud Frank. We just moved into your neighborhood."

[cjefferys]

That's really cool, it would be great if the actual figure showed up some day, but at any rate that's a great pic!

[Werewolf]

Awesome find. That's totally the Aurora Kit mashed up.

[darkmonkeygod]

... either way I hope it survived and will be found some day.

I think you meant "either way I hope it survived and will be found some day and got into Shannon's collection." Thanks, as always, for sharing the amazing.

[vulcan2074]

Amazing! I am loving this picture.
Sammy

[raycastile]

He's really cute. Did that come out of a catalog?

When I first saw that image, I thought it was a picture of the mythical "third version" AHI Creature that I heard about in the 1990s. I have heard stories from multiple people that there was a dealer who set up at a toy show in Chicago in the late 80s or early 90s, and this dealer had three carded AHI Creatures on display in a glass case. He had the "male" and "female" versions, plus a third version that was like an 8-inch bendie. Not just bendie limbs like the female version, but an entire rubber bendie Creature, more realistic looking than the other two action figures, more realistic than the small Bend Ems figure. It was on the same style Super Monsters card as the other two, same scale, obviously part of the same series.

I heard this story from two toy dealers in the 1990s. But I did not really believe it until I heard it a third time. I was working as an intern at a cable television production studio. One of the other interns found out that I collected toys. He collected comic books and had a few Mego Super Heroes. (Back then you could get carded Megos for $15-$25 each.) I told him I collected monsters, and that my favorites were the AHIs. He said he had seen those before. I was surprised. Back then, nobody knew about stuff like AHIs, Lincolns, Tomlands, etc. But he knew about the AHIs. I asked how? Because he had seen them at a toy show in Chicago. The coolest ones were these three Creatures that the guy had on display. Huh? Can you describe them? Oh sure, there were three on cards. A plastic one, another one that looked different, and one that was all rubber, like a bendie. They were on cards, behind glass. They were cool.

This was a guy who knew nothing about nothing, totally out of the loop, just coincidentally interning with me at this studio. I had never mentioned toys or monsters to him before. And he told me the exact story that I had heard from the dealers. He was at the same show and saw the same thing they described. So now I had multiple, unrelated witnesses describing this giant bendie AHI Creature.

So when I see that prototype, I have to wonder if there is some connection. Was it actually the prototype that they saw? Wouldn't they know a plastic figure from a rubber one? Is that really a picture of a plastic mockup, or could that be a picture of the bendie? Maybe the bendie was molded directly off the Aurora model. Maybe they got in trouble for that and had to change it. Maybe, maybe, maybe, who knows. When I look at that picture, I see something made of styrene plastic. But I also see something that looks just like I always imagined that bendie would look.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Wow, that's quite a mystery. It could be me, but it looks like there may be a joint at the inner elbow on each arm.

Chris

[jimm]

Yep looks like a jointed elbow to me.

[sauce]

I need a monster to hunt. This is amazing!

[palitoy]

I think you meant "either way I hope it survived and will be found some day and got into Shannon's collection."

Yes of course but I didn't want to embarrass you.

He's really cute. Did that come out of a catalog?

Yes I was lucky enough to secure the '74 catalog recently and well, this was important enough to mention here.

Ray, your story is one that I can relate to. In the early 80s, I kept ordering 8" Frankenstein figures out of comic buyers guide and Starlog ads thinking they were my Frankenstein (which I assumed was Mego) . First I got the Mego one, nice but not the one I had as a kid. Then the AHI one came via a comic store find. It confused the hell out of me. Finally some kind dealer said, "You want the Lincoln Monsters kid". Lucky for me, they weren't rare or anything. I remember the rumours about Creatures as well, It took me years to find one.

One can only hope this Captain Company example survived, seeing as we live in an age where the original Mego Ape prototypes featured in Famous Monsters were found, I'd like to believe that the Creech is out there, somewhere....

[kresge1]

This is so awesome. i would like to think its out there somewhere

[cjefferys]

Interesting story Ray, mysteries like that are one of the things that makes the toy collecting hobby so fun and keeps things fresh (although frustrating at times).

[Meule]

Oooh, wouldn't it be something if he showed up someday somewhere

[actionplus]

At the minimum, this guy has hip joints, shoulder joints and elbow joints. Articulated resin hardcopy, I'd say. Probably cast from the Aurora kit. Very cool.