Monday, March 8th, 2010 — No Comments
Made in 1991 by MFG OSP Publishing, Inc.
The illustration is by Jenice Heo and Jan Sheets–the same illustration found on the trading cards.
There are virtually no pins in circulation, and it is unknown how many may have been made, where and why they were released.
This Medusa pin is the only known example–to date, no other variations appear to have come up.
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A MIMP-themed combination lunchbox and thermos set was produced by Aladdin Industries in 1991.
The lunchbox is red and has a black sticker on the front depicting a pocket with Skeleton, Werewolf, Medusa, Ogre, and what appears to be Gremlin standing around and sitting along the pocket’s edges. A human hand with Hobgoblin sitting on the index finger points inward from the left. The red and yellow Monster In My Pocket logo appears in the upper left-hand corner. The Aladdin company’s address is written across the bottom of the sticker, and the Aladdin logo is displayed across the back of the box.
The thermos is white with a red cap and base. The images that wrap around the thermos include: a pocket with the MIMP logo on it with Hobgoblin popping out from the top and Skeleton and Medusa standing on either side; Werewolf, Ogre, Great Beast, and Windigo; Monster Mountain (with the words “Monster Mountain” written in white above it), with Bigfoot, Tyrannosaurus Rex, a vulture, a winged monster and a full moon surrounding it. The top and bottom of the thermos have the Aladdin logo; the bottom includes patent information about the thermos.
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This MIMP kite was made in 1991 by Hi-Flier.
It’s a fifty inch kite that came in a “bonus pack” that also contained the cord and winder. The actual kite has a colorful picture of Tengu climbing out of a pocket next to the MIMP. It is labeled a “Plastic Delta Kite with KEEL.”
Like the Halloween costumes, which feature similar artwork and packaging design, there were three variations: Tengu, Hobgoblin and Windigo.
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A sticker possibly given away as a premium with a children’s personal pizza at a restaurant or with some kind of individual frozen pizza dish. The sticker measures about 5 inches by 5 inches and has a sort-of holographic background–silver, reflective and made up of small circles and squares in an interesting pattern. A drawing of Jabberwock is printed on it in green, with the Monster In My Pocket logo at the bottom, along with the text: “JABBERWOCK. COLLECTOR’S NO. 60. 20 POINTS.”
“KIDSTUFF Pizza” is printed in the lower, right-hand corner, along with some standard Morrison Entertainment Group copyright information and a warning that the sticker may damage some materials printed vertically across the right-hand edge.
The sticker was printed in 1991.
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Matchbox released MIMP Super Scary Howlers in 1992. Howlers were larger, fully-painted toys with “eerie light-up eyes and scary monstrous sounds” activated by pressing a button on the bottom.
Only four were released: Vampire, Werewolf, The Monster and Swamp Beast (interestingly, none of which were from the Super Scary series). The selection of monsters most likely made to match with the then about-to-be-released cartoon, which featured all four monsters prominently.
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The MIMP Collectors Club was a mail-in offering that gave fanatics a number of benefits and exclusive memorabilia.
A check or money order for $5-10 would get a year-long membership in the club, with perks such as an official membership card, a “Monstership Certificate,” startling stickers, Monster Keeper totebag, March of the Mini Monsters game and two issues of the Monster Mailer, the official MIMP Collectors Club newsletter.
The membership card was made of plastic and was stamped with a unique membership number. The front had a line for members to sign their name and the back was “signed” by Joe Morrison, Vampire and Warlock, much in the same way it was on the Monstership Certificate.
The March of the Mini Monsters board game was a large board game featuring an illustration of Monster Mountain printed on glossy paper. Individual colored squares had drawings of each series 1 monster and were colored red, purple, green or yellow. Additionally, there were colored squares to cut out that were used in conjunction with the illustrations to advance through the game, along with a few extra squares with directions to skip a turn, go back so many spaces and so on. A red plastic decoder was included to unscramble messages throughout the game.
The six-page Monster Mailer newsletter unfolded across a sheet of paper as wide as three standard-sized sheets, with information printed on both sides. Included were games, a monster-drawing contest, a history of Spring-Heeled Jack, an update on the upcoming Super Scary figures (referred to as “Series III” here, as the real series 3 was never fully released) and Dinosaur figures (oddly skipping over the Super Creepies entirely), and order form for other MIMP memorabilia, letters from fans answered by monsters themselves (including the first mention of a MIMP cartoon) and a message from Joe Morrison.
Although two issues of the Monster Mailer were promised, in reality only one issue was ever printed and mailed out, and the “year long” limit to the membership held no real weight.
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The Haunted House Playset was advertised as “coming soon” on the back of the boxes for certain MIMP memorabilia. It was most likely never released, though there have been rumors circling the internet that it was seen at a tradeshows and a few mom-and-pop toystores across America.
Printed above is a reproduction of the box art as featured on the back of a Super Scary 24 pack. One may assume that monsters were packaged in with the playset, including (as in this depiction) The Monster, Hobgoblin and Harpy.
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Parts of Europe and Hong Kong (and most likely other parts of the globe) have been home to single-monster fun packs, which include a single series 1 figure and trading card (not necessarily matching monsters) packaged together in a plastic wrapper.
Pictured is an Italian fun pack, which was made in 1990 by Giochi Preziosi. In this case, the pack contained a red Kraken figure and a Redcap trading card (printed in Italian, with the Giochi Preziosi trademark added at the bottom).
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Nabisco gave away series 1 monsters in unique colors (dark green, pink, blue and orange) in boxes of Frosted Wheat Squares cereal. Exactly which figures and what color combinations were available has yet to be determined, but one can assume, based on the ad above, that at least Griffin, Werewolf, Great Beast, Cockatrice, Hobgoblin and Windigo were included in the promotion.
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These Halloween costumes are of the same quality as Collegeville’s other costumes.
The half-mask is made of thin plastic with an elastic band around the back. The costume itself is some kind of thin, plastic-like material. The pants and sleeves are a single color and the main body of the shirt is white with the trading card illustration of whatever monster the costume represents in the middle.
The box itself has a plastic window on the front through which one can see the mask. The MIMP logo, in purple and green, is displayed across the top with an illustration of Hobgoblin standing next to it. The side of the box is illustrated with silhouettes of children in costumes trick-or-treating.
The only three confirmed costumes are Windigo (here spelled “Windingo” on the box), Hobgoblin and Tengu, though there may have been others.
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Harvey Comics published four MIMP comic books in 1991.
Written by Dwayne McDuffie and illustrated by Ernie Colon, Gil Kane and Nelson Dewey, the comics follow the story of Vampire and Warlock fighting for control of all monsters. Vampire wants a peaceful coexistence with humans and Warlock wants to enslave them. They gather all the monster from across the earth to take a vote at Monster Mountain to determine once and for all who will be the leader. Once all the monsters have gathered at Monster Mountain there is a bright flash of light and all the monsters shrink to an inch high. From there, the good monsters, led by Vampire, end up going to typical American teenager’s Jack’s house and the bad monsters go elsewhere, appearing every now and then to fight the good monsters. Throughout the four issues, the good monsters struggle to discover a cure for their short stature, and along the way end up fighting off a crazed exterminator, a radioactive Tyrannosaurus Rex, and an obnoxious girl who wants to keep them in her dollhouse.
Along with the stories—two per issue—there was a two-page spread in the very center of each comic featuring an illustration of Monster Mountain and 19 monsters displayed and named across the top of it. Interestingly, issue 3 had illustrations of monsters labeled “Sciapod,” “Bash Tchelik” and “Blemmyea.” Blemmyea being confirmed as monster number 81 from series 3, one can only assume that Sciapod and Bash Tchelik, too, were series 3 monsters. Also of note are the illustrations of Winged Panther and Gremlin; whereas all the other monsters are drawn in the same poses as the actual figures, these two illustration s resemble the unusual depictions of the monsters on the trading cards.
An annual was released which compiled many of the major stories from the four comics into a single hardbound book and included extra pages with biographies of the characters, games and other assorted activity pages. The video game was loosely based on the comic books, with Vampire and the Monster (both good monsters in the comics and video game) battle against Warlock and his forces of evil. Additionally, the character Jack is referenced on the back of the box.
The story in the comics is also somewhat similar to the story presented in the cartoon, as both plots feature two groups of monsters, good and evil, gathered at monster mountain and being shrunk and launched their separate ways in a flash of light.
Writer Dwayne McDuffie snuck a MIMP crossover into a script for another series he worked on, Deathlok (annual #1), wherein the little girl from MIMP issue 4 (here named Melissa) brings her dollhouse full of “inch-high versions of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and others” into school for show and tell.