Remco

Remco made all sorts of goodies from plastic creatures to dolls to action figures. They had a very diverse line-up and were a pretty big toy company for their time. I am going to focus on some of the monsters and related toys that I personally found interesting.

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9 inch Official Universal Movie Monsters
Count Dracula	Frankenstein	Wolfman	Mummy	Phantom of the Opera	Creature Black Lagoon	Monsterizer

packaging
Count Dracula	Frankenstein	Wolfman	Mummy	Phantom of the Opera	Creature Black Lagoon	Monsterizer

The 9 inch monster series came in window boxes with a side card. There was a monster iron-on patch and glow skull ring inserted into the boxes. Each monster had "monster-crush" action. Basically, you pressed a button on their back and it caused the arms to compress and "squeeze" their victim! Each monster would glow in the dark. The Phantom of the Opera (usually missing his mask) and the Creature from the Black Lagoon are the two most expensive and sought after figures in this series. The Monsterizer is a cool toy! Put batteries in it and strap your monster down, crank him into the "bed" and energize him while pushing the button (it's basically a light show).

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9 inch Official Universal Movie Monsters at Home
Dracula	Frankenstein	Mummy	Creature	card back

OK, so they are not exactly action figures, but I thought it was important to point out why they are here. If you look closely, you will see that they used the same heads and hands as the 9 inch monsters counterparts. There were only four of them, so not all of the monsters were made, but they were a cool hand puppet using the original monsters. Here is what the infamous Ray Castile of The Gallery of Monster Toys has to say about this on his website: "Remco reused parts from their 9-inch action figure line one year later to produce the Monsters At Home series. These finger puppets were constructed by sewing the plastic glow-in-the-dark monster heads and hands onto a simple cloth body. The puppets could pop out of little plastic boxes resembling the monster's "home." Frankenstein's box looked like a piece of laboratory equipment. Dracula lived in a coffin, the Mummy a sarcophagus and Creature a sunken sea chest."

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3.5 inch Official Universal Movie Monsters
Count Dracula	Frankenstein	Wolfman	Mummy	Phantom of the Opera	Creature Black Lagoon	Monsterizer

packaging

Play case w/figures (boxed)

The 3.5 inch monster series came in both a regular and glow in the dark version. They had a mini-monsterizer as well, but the coolest item was the Mini-Monster Play case. It was a portable carry case which folded out into a type of haunted house playset!

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3.5 inch Official Universal Movie Monsters - Glow in the Dark
Count Dracula	Frankenstein	Wolfman	Mummy	Phantom of the Opera	Creature Black Lagoon

The 3.5 inch monster series also came in glow in the dark variations.

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7 inch McDonaldland Series
Ronald McDonald	Grimace	Hamburglar	Big Mac	Mayor McCheese	Professor	Captain Crook

McDonaldland Playset

These were the first action figures made for one of the most well-known fast food chains ever. They ranged in size but were about a 7 inch scale. The poseability is not very good but each figure has a knob in the back of his head to move it around. The McDonaldland playset is about 3 feet x 3 feet around. It has a wind up train, stilts, a tree swing, a hamburger stand, a bridge, and more. It's a unique set in that it was one of the first real commercial products made for a fast-food chain. It even pre-dates the Happy Meal toys.