Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 26, 2025 | 6 comments

Halloween is less than a week away!

A selection of Universal Monsters items throughout the decades, including a few bonus ones!

By CHRIS FRANKLIN

Like the undying monsters themselves, Universal’s bevy of horror films refused to perish, and were resurrected in 1957, this time on television. Screen Gems released the Shock package of movies to TV stations that year, and nationwide, a craze slowly began to gain steam. Often introduced by local, sardonic horror hosts, Baby Boomers couldn’t get enough of these tales that had frightened their parents in cinemas during the 1930s and ’40s. The demand for more monster material birthed the creation of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine from publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J. Ackerman, as well as a series of well-crafted, but expensive masks from Don Post Studios.

Seeing the trend toward monster mania, Aurora Plastics Corp. issued a Frankenstein model kit in 1961… and it sold out EVERYWHERE. Aurora followed up with nearly all of Universal’s other ghastly ghouls, running into the 1970s, and they’ve been periodically re-released by other brands well into the 21st century — allowing kids to make like master monster designer and makeup artist Jack Pierce, and create their own creatures. Marx, Azrak-Hamway International, Remco, and other companies issued plastic phantoms for many years too.

But then came the age of the adult collector, and the Universal Monsters were the perfect subject for interpretation after interpretation. When one line died, we knew the fiends would rise again, to terrorize our shelves and pillage our wallets. Just like an angry, torch wielding mob, we just can’t resist these near century-old nightmares. As Halloween approaches, let’s dare to peek at 13 classic examples of the Universal Monsters in figure form, from my personal collection:

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Frankenstein Model Kit (Aurora Plastics Corp., 1961, various reissues since). The kit that made monster makers out of children nationwide, based on Boris Karloff’s iconic portrayal of the creature in the first sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935). The out-stretched arm stance is more like Bela Lugosi’s creature in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), and Glenn Strange in the films that followed. This particular version of the kit was issued in the mid-2000s by MPC, and was built by my son and me, the first of several Aurora reissues my kids and I would work on every Halloween.

We never bothered to sand down the parts, or fill the cracks with putty, we were just having fun! I still wonder why there’s a tombstone with the word “Frankenstein” inscribed. Who’s buried there? Colin Clive’s Henry Frankenstein kept getting last minute reprieves in the series!

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The Wolf Man Model Kit (Aurora Plastics Corp., 1962, various reissues since). Ostensibly based on fiction’s most famous lycanthrope, Lon Chaney Jr.’s Larry Talbot, this kit diverges from the source material more than any other Aurora product. First off, Larry was always fully dressed, even changing into a button-down shirt AFTER his transformation in the first film! And he wasn’t really ripped like this either.

But it’s still a great visual, and no doubt influenced future werewolf designs… such as Marvel’s Werewolf by Night, who had the same fashion sense! It’s the reason my son and I gave Larry here a pair of green pants like Jack Russell!

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The Mummy Model Kit (Aurora Plastics Corp., 1963, various reissues since). This kit is NOT based on the original 1932 film, The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff as the resurrected Imhotep. No, this is Kharis, the Mummy from the sequel/reboot series of films, played by Tom Tyler in The Mummy’s Hand, and Lon Chaney, Jr. in the three follow-up films (The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost, and The Mummy’s Curse).

Oddly enough this looks far more like Chaney than the Wolf Man kit! The detail is extraordinary, especially for the time. It was fun dry-brushing all of the weathered decay on Kharis and his surroundings.

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Universal Pictures Co. Inc. Monsters (Louis Marx & Co. Inc., 1963, various reissues since). If model kits weren’t your thing, maybe you preferred pre-made monsters? Louis Marx, manufacturer of many all-plastic figurines, introduced a set of Universal horrors in 1963, available in several solid colors. Frankenstein’s monster is based on publicity stills of Glenn Strange from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). The Mummy is Chaney’s Kharis, and the Phantom of the Opera is his father Lon Chaney… as reinterpreted by James Cagney playing Chaney in the biopic, Man of a Thousand Faces (1957).

The newest Universal monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon is based on a still from the first sequel Revenge of the Creature (1955). And the Wolf Man is odd man out again. The head appears to be Larry Talbot, but his ripped, puffy shirt and cummerbund match Oliver Reed’s Leon in Hammer Films’ Curse of the Werewolf (1961), which was distributed by Universal! Marx also made a Hunchback of Notre Dame figure, but since mine is cast in blue, I didn’t feature him here.

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Mini-Monsters (Remco, 1980/1981). After various monster figures were released in the 8-inch format pioneered by Mego in the 1970s, Remco started the ’80s with similar figures in a slightly larger 9-inch size. They also followed the hot 3.75-inch trend trailblazed by Kenner’s Star Wars line and issued the Mini-Monsters beginning in 1980. After the initial release of the six figures, Remco updated the figures to have glow in the dark parts. They also introduced a “Monsterizer” accessory that helped to charge the glow effects. But no good toy line is complete without a playset, and the Mini-Monster Play Case fit the bill nicely. Doubling as a carrying case, this creepy haunted house/laboratory playset has a slab for Frankenstein’s Monster, a sarcophagus for the Mummy, and a grate for the Gillman to emerge from.

A childhood friend of mine up the street had this playset and Frankenstein, Wolf Man and the Phantom. We used the latter as Dracula and subbed in his Star Wars Greedo figure for the Creature. My wife gifted me what you see here over the course of several years. This is one of my favorite toy lines, and Remco really managed to capture the essence of the monsters, and decent actor likenesses, through sublime sculpting.

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Universal Studios Monsters (Burger King Kids Meal, 1997). Perhaps the greatest fast-food toy campaign of all time, these four figures issued via the Burger King Kids Meal in 1997 are some of the nicest and inventive small monster figures produced. Just slightly taller than the Remco Mini-Monsters, each fiend had a unique action feature. The Creature spat water; the Wolf Man emerged from a set of cellar doors; Dracula rose from his coffin; and the Frankenstein Monster came with a light-up lab table, the power showing through his translucent head and hands.

I was a grown man in college but hit the BK drive-thru like mad collecting these. I let my son play with them when he was around 4 or 5 and never saw them again. Luckily, I was able to get a replacement set a few years back. For more on these wonderful toys, check out my YouTube video:

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Flatt World Figures Bela Lugosi as Dracula (Flatt World, 1998). This figure, from the pioneering 8-inch figure customizer Charlee Flatt was one of the first releases to revive the Mego format that had been largely abandoned for over a decade. Licensing from the Bela Lugosi estate and not Universal, this is technically a representation of Lugosi as the Count from the stage play, not the film inspired by it. But it’s the iconic Lugosi in his signature role, so we’ll let that slide.

The likeness is pretty decent, the costuming is well done at this scale, but the accessories are what put this one over for me, particularly the coffin. It’s a great set piece among a shelf of Mego-style monsters.

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Wolf Man, Larry Talbot and Bela the Gypsy (Sideshow Collectibles, 2001-2002). Beginning in 1999, Sideshow Collectibles released the largest assortment of Universal Monsters products to date, in various sizes and formats. Perhaps their most popular were their 12-inch, cloth-costumed figures. From my personal favorite Universal Monster film, The Wolf Man come these three figures: the doomed Larry Talbot and his feral alter ego, played with empathetic conviction by Lon Chaney Jr., and the man who passed the curse onto Larry, Bela, the fortune teller played by Bela Lugosi.

While not to the level of today’s Hot Toys and similar 12-inch figures, the likenesses are really well done, particularly Larry, capturing his permanent hangdog (pardon the pun) expression as he contemplates the cruel fate thrust upon him. Bonus points for the nice tailoring, and including the silver-headed wolf’s cane, the weapon that murdered Bela in werewolf form, and later, Larry himself.

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Bride of Frankenstein: The Monster 12-Inch Figure (Sideshow Collectibles, 2002). Sideshow made a 12-inch figure of every actor who played the Frankenstein’s Monster in the classic films: Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange, and, of course. Boris Karloff. In fact, they released figures of Karloff as the creature from each of his three films in the role. This figure is based on Karloff’s appearance toward the end of Bride of Frankenstein, after he has mostly healed from the burns suffered at the climax of the first film. It’s an excellent representation… if not for that blasted green jacket.

There will always be a debate on whether the Monster’s skin should be green, or grey, or slightly yellow, but there’s no doubt his jacket in the black-and-white films was BLACK. But from the ’90s until recent times, Universal’s licensing arm insisted his jacket always be represented as green. Maybe the Monster sold used cars or was in a golf tournament on the weekends?

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Dracula 12-Inch Figure (Sideshow Collectibles, 2002). Despite his prominence as one of fiction’s most famous fiends, Dracula was a late arrival to the Sideshow lines. That’s because the estate of Bela Lugosi has had a tempestuous relationship with Universal over the years, wanting compensation for the use of Bela’s likeness. And who can blame them? But it has kept Lugosi’s Dracula out of many toy lines, even going back to the Marx figures of the 1960s.

Thankfully an agreement was reached, and there was no need to insert a generic, non-Lugosi Dracula, like other collectible and toy companies have opted for. The sculpting is nice, but I would have preferred one capturing Lugosi’s hypnotic look, myself. I do love the tailoring of his outfit, and those distinctive, curled hands, used to beckon and command.

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Universal Studios Classic Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon (EMCE Toys/Diamond Select, 2012). During the 1970s, Mego passed on the Universal Monsters license, which went to rival Azrak-Hamway International. Mego instead made their own versions of the classic monsters, but fans still longed for the day Mego would put out their own, fully licensed Universal horrors. That day came closer with the launch of EMCE/Diamond Select’s line of 8-inch figures in 2010. In 2012, they released their most impressive figure, the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Not content to just put out a figure in printed pajamas like past attempts, the creators opted to include hard plastic elements to replicate the plating and fins of Millicent Patrick’s never-topped Creature design. The result is a fine figure that really captures the Gillman like few have. EMCE essentially morphed into the revived Mego, and they issued a very similar figure in 2020.

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BONUS: ReAction Creature from the Black Lagoon (Super7, 2018). I’m cheating a bit, but it’s my list, so sue me. In 2018, my family and I had the pleasure of meeting Ricou Browning at a convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Browning played the Gillman in all the underwater scenes in all three Creature films (Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, The Creature Walks Among Us). He went onto have an amazing career in Hollywood besides, co-creating Flipper, and working on the underwater scenes in Thunderball, for instance.

Ricou, who died in 2023, was at the time, the last living Universal Monster actor. I had him sign the packaging of the recently released ReAction figure of the Gillman from Super7. These figures, which harken back to the Remco line are fine, but it’s the packaging art by Ed Repka, homaging the work of Famous Monsters of Filmland cover artist Basil Gogos, that really makes them stand out. Add that cherished signature, and it’s a keeper for all time.

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Ultimate Invisible Man (NECA, 2022). For the past several years, NECA has been producing beautiful 7-inch collector figures of the classic Universal Monsters in both color and black and white. All are worthy of being on this list, but I thought I’d spread the love to a few monsters who have been left out so far. First up is Jack Griffith, The Invisible Man, played with megalomaniacal glee by Claude Rains in the 1933 film directed James Whale, based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name.

NECA’s first figure of Griffith shows him as he appears in the early part of the film, with his fake nose and goggles hiding his invisible body. NECA included several head sculpts to recreate the still draw-dropping unmasking of the seemingly headless Griffith, achieved by special effects master John P. Fulton. You can just hear Rains’ mellifluous voice from behind the muffled bandages.

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Ultimate Bride of Frankenstein (NECA, 2023). It’s only fitting that we end with a figure based on the title character of what many consider Universal Horror’s crown jewel, James Whale’s iconoclastic Bride of Frankenstein. NECA nailed the likeness of the unforgettable Elsa Lanchester, in both her calm visage, and her famously screaming face, as she reacts to her first encounter with her would-be-mate. In a line full of well-executed figures, this may be the best, and that’s really saying something.

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MORE

— HALLOWEEN VIEWING GUIDE: Dig These 13 Great UNIVERSAL MONSTER Performances. Click here.

— LINCOLN MONSTERS Have Risen From the Grave! Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor Chris Franklin is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, and podcaster, who co-hosts and produces several shows on the Fire and Water Podcast Network, including Super Mates, featuring the annual Halloween series House of Franklin-Stein. Check out his illustrative and design work at chrisfranklincreative.com.