AHI - Azrak Hamway International

Azrak Hamway International (AHI) was Mego's biggest nemesis. They ripped off their products over and over. From "Adventure Man" which ripped off Mego's Action Jackson to their "Action Apeman" line which ripped off Mego's license of "The Planet of the Apes". They were even sued by Mego at one point and finally settled. They even went so far as to copy the Kresge style card of their Mego counterparts. They did create a series of monsters with incredible "monsters of the 60's" looks to them. They "borrowed" artwork from the Aurora monster model kits of the 60's. Housed in NYC and in the same building as Mego, they had the honor of having an action figure named after the owner himself. The figure was a micronauts series figure named Baron Karza, "Karza" being "Azrak" in reverse. AHI did create some great Creature from The Black Lagoon figures, including a male plastic version and a female bendy type in the arms and legs. The bodies came in several varieties: some were painted with and without molded "hair" on their chest, straight hands, curved hands, bendable wrists and shared some clothing some with Action Apeman figures. There is a very cool variance on the Mummy. One version has the arm in a sling across the body instead of at its side like the later versions.

Please be sure to check out The Gallery of Monster Toys or Azrakhamway.com to see more about these treasures! The Adventure Man card art clearly depicts the western figures (cowboy, indian and bad guy) directly modeled after the Gabriel Lone Ranger artwork with a few modifications. AHI also made many other toys as well.

If you have any further information, please feel free to contact me at: lmelogra@optonline.net:

8" AHI Adventure Man
Cowboy	Cowboy (blue outfit)	Indian	Karate	Army	Navy ?	Snowgear ?

AHI Adventure Man - packaging
Adventure Man - card	AHI Card Art vs. Gabriel

The 8 inch Adventure Man was AHI's answer to Action Jackson. He was made in the typical, cheaper AHI fashion. He came carded with the uniform on. If you look carefully at the card artwork, you can see where the cowboys and indian figure are slightly modified versions of the Gabriel Lone Ranger boxes. The figures are in the same stances and the clothing is near identical. These figures came with the straight-handed version as well as a jointed wrist version (see Snowgear above). They also came bearded and unbearded. Aside from the Indian - I believe they only made a caucasion figure.

---

8" AHI Action Apeman
Orangutan	Chimpanzee	Gorilla	Chimpanzee 2	Orangutan 2

Action Apeman - packaging
Apeman - carded

The 8 inch Action Apeman was conceived by the popularity of Mego's Planet of the Apes figures. AHI was quick to follow suit and ride on Mego's coat tails. The Action Apeman was packaged on at least 3 different cards. They came on a Kresge style card with the bubble in the middle and also one where he was on the right half of the card. The artwork is different. The latter card had illustrations of apes on the card and the former has some jungle-looking vines and one ape face. Also, the Kresge styled cards are different themselves. One is marked "Official Action Apeman" and the other just "Action Apeman". The figures came with an outfit that was interchaneged among the characters regularly, as well as, shared with some of AHI's monster lines. They also came with boots and a plastic gun in both black and a reddish brown. The bodies are caucasion with painted hands. As far as I know there were no jointed wrist or cupped hand versions.

---

8" AHI Official World Famous Super Monsters
Dracula	Frankenstein	Mummy	Wolfman	Creature from the Black Lagoon	Creature... (Female)

AHI Official World Famous Super Monsters - packaging & advertising
Mummy - carded	Frankenstein - carded	AHI Advertisement
Dracula - carded	Wolfman - carded	AHI in Alden's 1974 catalog

The 8 inch Official World Famous Super Monsters are some of the greatest sculpts from the era. They are modeled very closely to their era's movie monsters. They did have several varieties of head sculpts and also body styles. They came in plain flesh tone, yellow, green, red, painted (green, red or brown depending on the character) and in molded on chest hair or plain. Their wrists were either straight wristed, cupped hands (unjointed wrists), or even jointed wrists. The figures came with the appropriate character outfit and some of the clothes are interchangeable with the Action Apeman figures. There is a very cool first issue of the Mummy which has his arm in a wrapped sling across its body instead of at its side. They even came with shoes (the Mummy's shoes are white like nursing shoes and give it a truly cheesy effect!). The cards are modeled right after the Kresge (now "K-Mart") cards designed by Mego to fit Kresge's demand for items saleable on a peg board. They have the same model of a bubble in the middle of the card, character heads on the sides and even the name "Official World Famous Super Monsters" is a direct knockoff from Mego's "Mad Monster Series" marked "World's Greatest Super Heroes". The artwork on the back of the card was "borrowed" from Aurora's monster models of the times. The CFTBL figures were the "male" and "female". The female had bendable rubber arms and legs with wire inside and the shorter male version was plastic and jointed. Both figures are expensive and both are VERY susceptible to paint wear.