My Sidehshow UNIVERSAL MONSTERS Collection: SPECIAL HUGE UPDATE!

Brandon WOOOOW you have got one very large scary monsters collection my friend, I'm just glad that you have Van Helsing in your collection to slay all them monsters.

One scary monsters collection Brandon, I love it!

tmull wrote:

Dang.........................You have some NICE Figures.............................       


                                                                                Tony

                                                                               

Thanks a lot dude

peterodgers wrote:

Great upload!  Amazing detail on those figures!  How do you sleep at night with all those monsters in the house?

Thanks a lot dude:) Yeah it can be sometimes  

Ackie88 wrote:

Brandon WOOOOW you have got one very large scary monsters collection my friend, I'm just glad that you have Van Helsing in your collection to slay all them monsters.

One scary monsters collection Brandon, I love it!

Thanks a lot dude, yes Van Helsing was a must! Thanks again dude

Wow Brandon! Fantastic collection of ghouls!   

inntruderr61 wrote:

Wow Brandon! Fantastic collection of ghouls!   

thanks a lot dude

I missed this first time around. Nice set of figures. My favourites are The Creature, The Mummy, The Mole Man, and Metaluna. I loved those movies!

bela as drac #1

Joe90 wrote:

I missed this first time around.  Nice set of figures.  My favourites are The Creature, The Mummy, The Mole Man, and Metaluna.   I loved those movies!

thanks so much dude

That is a great collection!

I really like the small details that Sideshow did for those figures!

I see that TNShooter has resurrected a topic from nearly a decade ago... and one that I had definitely missed!  So much awesomeness in one collection!

I has no idea that a London After Midnight Lon Chaney figure had been produced! How cool is that!

If Brandon pops in to reply, I'd be curious to know if he still has most of these figures in his collection.

Definitely a worthy thread to re-boot!

Amazing collection Brandon! I thought I knew all the Sideshow Monsters but clearly I didn't. Wow, was Sideshow ever productive in the early years.

Thanks!

TNshooter wrote:

That is a great collection!

I really like the small details that Sideshow did for those figures!

Thanks Daryl Yes, Sideshow had some of best sculpting and details ever IMO. I just fell in love with these guys way back in the day about 20 years ago already

Thanks dude

SCU_HQ wrote:

I see that TNShooter has resurrected a topic from nearly a decade ago... and one that I had definitely missed!  So much awesomeness in one collection!

I has no idea that a London After Midnight Lon Chaney figure had been produced! How cool is that!

If Brandon pops in to reply, I'd be curious to know if he still has most of these figures in his collection.

Yes SCU, I am replying, I can't believe that My topic has replies and talk about it after all of this time I had posted a lot of stuff that got little attention years back thus getting buried unfortunately. Is all anybody has to do really is just go to off topic and go to page 10 or so and walla, My stuff is there:)

Oh man, the LAM Vampire was one of the ones I fell in love with in the beginning and I had to start collecting these guys back in 2001 which was about 20 years ago this year and I collected them throughout the 2000s till Sideshow decided to end the line.

And yes, I still have ALL of them in storage, these are some of My most prized figures ever and I will never give them up

gibri wrote:

Definitely a worthy thread to re-boot!

Amazing collection Brandon! I thought I knew all the Sideshow Monsters but clearly I didn't. Wow, was Sideshow ever productive in the early years.

Thanks!

Indeed it is Thanks, yeah Sideshow made a ton of great stuff back then and original things too in the 2000s. They were arguably My fave company at the time for many years next to McFarlane, Playmates, Mattel and Hasbro. This was when companies weren't trending off of each other and things were more affordable. What I mean is Sideshow followed suit like everybody else and getting the same old licenses that everybody else has and has been done and already made dozens upon dozens of times like Star Wars, DC & Marvel and Disney and so much more so when Sideshow quit "being" the company that "made them Sideshow" because of their great original stuff and then became more like everybody else and making things so unaffordable thus losing My interest in them and collecting action figures as a whole. I think about this a lot and its really pathetic that most of every thing is the same and it's downright insanely priced, I just find it deplorable.

Thanks again

1 more thing about these. I have all the characters but not the variants. I regret not getting them in the past. Despite several versions of Frankenstein, he is the same monster just played by different actors. Originally The Creature was IMO at the time the only necessary one because he was so different but I did get The Mummy & Ardeth Bey because he was kinda like two different characters in the film so there's that.

As a side note, I do regret not getting the Twilight Zone and most of the classic 80s & 90s horror icons as well as some others

Yeah, 20 years is a long time. I had forgotten all about the Twilight Zone figures. At the time I was trying to keep down costs. Little did I know that the $35-$40 they were asking then would seem like a steal now.

These do crop up on eBay from time to time. I had completely given up on The Creature, but then found him on eBay for a reasonable price (don't remember exactly how much, but it wasn't too much) Also picked up the Hunchback for a reasonable cost and the Lon Chaney Jr. Frankenstein's Monster figure.

Still keeping my eyes open for the Mummy and the Bela as Frankenstein's monster figure...and Dwight Frye...etc...

gibri wrote:

Yeah, 20 years is a long time. I had forgotten all about the Twilight Zone figures. At the time I was trying to keep down costs. Little did I know that the $35-$40 they were asking then would seem like a steal now.

These do crop up on eBay from time to time. I had completely given up on The Creature, but then found him on eBay for a reasonable price (don't remember exactly how much, but it wasn't too much) Also picked up the Hunchback for a reasonable cost and the Lon Chaney Jr. Frankenstein's Monster figure.

Still keeping my eyes open for the Mummy and the Bela as Frankenstein's monster figure...and Dwight Frye...etc...

Yes, I know, that is what I'm talking about. These guys were really cheap back (I really miss those times) then compared to this past decade/now. Same thing with the 80 & 90s priced figures (I really miss those times). How can anybody afford a small $25 Star Wars figure now and complete the series or a $150.00 + Sideshow figure or a $300 Hot Toys figure IMO It's insane

Cool that you got them, hopefully you can get the others that you need too as well. Thanks Gibri

So in the midst of seeing the signs finding & getting all kinds of new action figures with the now revolutionary tech & sculpting done by multiple companies and as well as discovering news ones in 2001, Sideshow Toys/Collectibles was instantly My favorite one as they were like no other, even more so than that of McFarlane Toys who was My previous fave I loved Sideshow because they were so unique, took on many different properties that had never been done before and remaking some franchises and making them way better that previous companies did. Unfortunately I cannot say that about them now as they along with McFarlane and many other great companies have supposedly lost their creative edge and joined each other making lines & variants that has been made dozens of times thus making their-selves pathetically generic. I struggle with this a lot because back in the day in the 2000s figures were cheap and seemed special but now with adults collecting figures more than kids and ridiculously insane prices on items that has already made in the past...it just pains Me about this as people keeping submitting to this and not thinking about the classic past  

So with My small venting rant coming to close, I am about to showcase one of My most beloved action figure series' that I have in My collection and that is the Sideshow Toys Universal Monsters! I saw these great looking 8" guys along with the 12" figures (seen in this very topic) which really green-lighted My liking about 1/6 scale figures as I saw the signs there Of course I was like wait, Hasbro (over 2 decades before they fake awoken) already made Universal Monsters but they didn't make many of them. They were easily to get on eBay but I felt Sideshow's was far superior and many ways. See, I didn't feel this way then because It had already been nearly 20 years since I missed out on REMCO's versions but thankfully I got Imperial's Universal Monsters which this was only two companies that was making them and they made them only in sparsely and in selections where Sideshow went THEY EXTRA MILE MAKING NEARLY EVERY CHARACTER                  That there in itself was such a huge important matter for Me as I am a completist in many ways and having all the characters even obscure ones. See, some people don't want them secondary characters while I always have.

The series was such a deluxe one to behold with Sideshow's uncanny sculpting and their good painting. One thing I wasn't and still not a fan of is how fragile they are, they are as brittle as McFarlane's figures and this seems like it was such a dismaying trend that was going along with many companies as most followed suit to compete with each as their sculpting was improving so much but the quality was nearly at an all-time low which is quite unacceptable by some but I hung with it and just got used to these distressing times and just accepted it. So here they are, thank goodness I took care of them. Not all accessories are shown and these figures are not in any particular order but one that i saw fit so get ready for the classic horror show

Count Dracula - (1941 - Bela Lugosi)



Frankenstein's Monster/The Son of Frankenstein - 1931-1939 - Boris Karloff




The Bride of Frankenstein aka The Monster's Mate - (1935 - Elsa Lanchester)




"The Mummy" Imhotep - 1933 - Boris Karloff



The Phantom of the Opera/Mask of Red Death - 1929 - Lon Chaney




The Wolfman - 1941 - Lon Chaney jr.



The Creature from the Black Lagoon/Gill-Man - 1954 - Ben Chapman on land and by Ricou Browning underwater



Dr. Jack Griffins The Invisible Man - 1933 - Claude Rains




The Werewolf of London - 1935 - Henry Hull



Quasimodo the Hunchback of Note Dame - 1923 - Lon Chaney



Ygor - 1939 (SOF) - Bela Lugosi



The Mole Man - The Mole People 1956 - Various



The Metaluna Mutant - This Island Earth 1955 - Eddie Parker



SPECIAL BONUS ENTRY!

The Silver Screen editions:  Ah, these guys Long story short, when I was collecting this series, I got them from various stores online and The Metaluna Mutant was the hardest one to find at the time and I only found 1 place that had him then. I don't the name of the place though they don't deserve Me mentioning their name anyway as they went out of business and for good reasons them them reasons are these: I was very thrilled they had what I wanted, they shipped them after waiting several days for them to do so. Waited about a week for them to get to Me, on the day they are supposed to be delivered I waited hours outside for the mailman, he missed My house as I saw him drive all the way down the street. I had to hurry up and run down there, talk to him and after waiting for him took, he finally looked for Me box and it was there...I had to walk all the way back home just to find out these ARE NOT WHAT I ORDERED! I didn't want the variants, I wanted the regular versions! So I e-mailed them with no answers, then finally got one and they were out of stock and made a mistake and they wouldn't give Me a refund if I would return them and it became a big fight. I had to file against them and I got my money back thank goodness so I kept the figures and then not to long after that thanks to their horrible CS, they became obsolete and were no more. I took it they were just a terrible company to do deals with...I should have known since how they page looked so plain and looked like it was ran by nobody! A fun time this should have been but nope, it was impossible for it to be as NONE OF THIS SHOULD HAVE HAPPEN So with that out of they way, here is the Silver Screen editions of The Hunchback, The Invisible Man & The Metaluna Mutant!    




Here is a comparison of examples of 2 different types: regular vs. silver screen!



SPECIAL GALLERY!

Copyrights!





Scenes & more!

The Monster Meets his Bride!




Frankenstein & Ygor!



Group Shots!

The most usual bunch!



The most classic yet underrated!



The coolest of the Monsters!



The Last two ever of the Universal Monsters  



SUPER COMPARISON SECTION!

Vintage Imperial & Colorforms Universal Monsters vs. modern Sideshow Universal Monsters

NOTE: I previously showcased My Imperial & Colorforms Universal Monsters in all their glory in My great vintage action figure topic so go there and them in all they horrific glory!







Size comparison with Sideshow's Mask of Red Death, ToyBiz' Marvel Legends Wolverine, Mcfarlane's Movie Maniacs Michael Myers & NECA'S Wolf Predator (SPOILER!)

So in the last part of this special spooky Halloween update, here is My collection of Universal Monsters that was sold by Jack in the Box! This was in 2002. Sometimes fast food joints had some good kids toys and that can easily be collectibles for adults! You could get them via a kid's meal but if you ask and get the right person waiting on you, you could buy them singly for full price without additional items and that's what I did  There was 6 in the set and i got all of the. They all have cool features and look very authentic. When I saw them @ JITB, they were a must!

The Wolfman & The Phantom of the Opera!



The Bride and her Monster!



The Mummy & Count Dracula!




SPECIAL GALLERY!

Copyright & Logo!



EXAMPLE - 1992 Vintage White Castle Wolfman (never showcased before but will in time) vs. Modern Jack in the Box Wolfman



The Mummy Comparison: The JITB sarcophagus can actually be a cool display piece



Group Shot!



SUPER SPECIAL ENTRIES!

Dark Horse Comics: Back in the mid 2000s I got these great graphic novels by My fave comic publisher Dark Horse! These are tremendous ones indeed!




Candy Cigarettes:  At My local Shop 'n Save, I always played the vending machines. There was a Candy Cigarettes box that caught My eye, it was Frankenstein's Monster! I got it pretty easy. I ate the candy as them things are yum but I really got it just for that box as it is a great display piece and I've had it for nearly 20 years



That concludes My special Universal Monsters showcase. I had saved this for Halloween for a long time, planning this in advance. I hope you have enjoyed this Halloween special and all of what I have done for Halloween. More great stuff coming soon that i will showcase in time. Until then I'll see you around  

Candy cigarettes! Those things were so fun! Blow through them to release a puff of powdered sugar "smoke." So cool! And yes, they were yum - pure sugar, what's not to like!

I never saw monster-themed candy cigarette boxes! Those are too cool!

SCU_HQ wrote:

Candy cigarettes! Those things were so fun! Blow through them to release a puff of powdered sugar "smoke."

I remember candy cigarettes, but not the packaging.

Dave, you were able to blow through them? The ones I had as a kid were solid,
you could hold them in your lip like a cigarette, but they didn't make "smoke."

They would have been more fun if you could.

I might be confusing the Candy cigs, which were hard white candy, with bubblegum cigarettes, which were pink bubblegum wrapped with a realistic cigarette style paper wrapper. But I’m pretty sure it was possible to blow through both types - the hard white candy was slightly porous - emitting a puff of powdered sugar “smoke.”

SCU_HQ wrote:

Candy cigarettes! Those things were so fun!

Yes, we had candy cigarettes here in Australia, .....no smoke though.
They were sold in cigarette style packets labelled "FAGS".
I kid you not! But back then that expression was not in the public language.
I probably would cause major upset here if I told you what my favourite brand of licorice was called back then!

The manufacturers were accused of encouraging kids to smoke, and later of course , THAT name just had to go.......
So they suddenly disappeared off the shelves.
Dave was right though, see here:
"Candy cigarettes are a candy introduced in the late 19th century[1] made out of chalky sugar, bubblegum or chocolate, wrapped in paper and packaged and branded so as to resemble cigarettes. Some products contain powdered sugar hidden in the wrapper, allowing the user to blow into the cigarette and produce a cloud of sugar that imitates smoke, which comes out of the other end."

I wasn't saying Dave was wrong, just that I never saw those. I don't recall
ever seeing bubble gum cigarettes either. I just remember a white stick with
a slight red tip. Thinking about it, the box had a pattern similar to a real
pack of cigarettes. If there was any writing it probably said candy cigarettes.
I was about five years old at the time.

The ones that you could blow "smoke" would have been more fun than the
ones I got. I remember my twin sister was really into sweet tarts.