McFarlane Monsters [Repost]

[Originally posted here.]

My favorite toy line ever is the first series of "monster" toys ever produced by Todd McFarlane's then-burgeoning toy arm. They were 4-inch reimaginings of classic Universal monsters (reimagined, in no small part, because McFarlane didn't have the license to produce Universal monster toys and so had to change them enough to make them fall under the public domain). Released in 1997-98 there were two lines, each of which contained four sets. Each set was themed around one of the classic monsters and came with a monster figure, a victim or antagonist figure (generally), and an elaborate diorama base.

Naysayers of the line and Universal monster purists tend to decry the revisions as being typical of McFarlane's dark and sadistic design philosophy. I, clearly, disagree. If you want to see what would happen if McFarlane's typical design philosophy were applied to several of the same monsters, you need look no further than his dip back into the "monster" line, released in 2002, which is far too grotesque for my personal taste.

Which is not to say that the earlier lines weren't grotesque in their way. Certainly they were much "darker" than the traditional portrayals of their Universal counterparts, but they showed an influence more along the lines of the great Bernie Wrightson who, rumor has it, was working on a project for McFarlane Toys about this same time, though I've never seen substantiation that he had any hand in designing the figures. (They also, upon closer consideration, bear a more than passing resemblance to the designs from Monster Squad in several places.)

Regardless, I loved the figures precisely because of their design. That slightly more deformed style made them a little more monstrous than their (by now fairly familiar) Universal versions, while not delving into the off-putting depravity of McFarlane's later toy output. I also liked them because they were an appealing size (I seem to prefer 4-inch toys to the more usual 6-inch varieties) and because they were still at least making a token effort to be toys. While the figures themselves aren't particularly articulated, their fun diorama bases tended to have various odd action features, like a falling chandelier or a working catapult.

When I was younger and the toys were (relatively) new, I picked up the Dr. Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, and Sea Creature playsets, which are still my favorites, but I always wanted to get the rest. Now I'm a fair bit closer to that goal, since I just received the entire first line in the mail. I'm especially fond of the Frankenstein's Monster and Hunchback sets, but I like them all. Except for Dracula. He looks pretty terrible. About the only thing he has going for him is that he's got a hole in his chest where you can stick a wooden stake that comes with him. Also his diorama is pretty neat. The only one of all the monsters that I'm missing at this point is the Mummy. And he too will be mine one day. (One of the benefits of liking stuff that nobody else seems to care about is that after awhile if it doesn't disappear entirely it tends to become rather cheap.)

I'm just sad that the series couldn't have continued for just one more line so we could have gotten the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (talk about perfect for a two-figure playset), Bride of Frankenstein, and... I dunno, Mole People. Or an ape one, like a King Kong knock-off, or maybe a Murders in the Rue Morgue playset.