The Halloween keshi gang: unidentified monster minis

Happy almost Halloween! I thought the weirdos pictured above would be fitting to post about in honor of the occasion.

I don't really know much about them, aside from the fact that there are six different sculpts that came in six different colors. I got my first few in a trade recently, and then my bud Justin/Metalmonkey was kind enough to hook me up with a bunch more (thanks again, Justin!).

They are made out of a soft rubber, eraser-like material. They might have actually been sold as erasers, but I'm not sure. They are a bit reminiscent of Monster in My Pocket just because of the characters and their soft, flexible material, but the sculpts are more cartoonish. Here's a comparison shot with a couple MIMP figures:

Below is a roundup of the six different monsters included in the set. Each came in red, blue, neon orange, light purple, light green, and neon pink.

Mono Minis of the Day: 10/14/13 to 10/29/13

Here are the latest batches of Mono Minis of the Day--as posted daily on the Little Weirdos Instagram, Twitter and Flickr.

The lineup in the photo is as follows, from left to right, top to bottom:

1. Medusa from Diener Mythology Monsters
2. Chief Dred from Mini Boglins
3. Kyoaku Chojin from MUSCLE
4. Red Cap from Monster in My Pocket
5. Skeleton from unidentified Halloween monster keshi set
6. Dr. Decay from OMFG
7. Filth from Micro Bastards
8. Oranjah from Neclos Fortress
9. Unnamed figure from Musclemania
10. Unnamed figure from Terrible Monster / Monsters & Goblins
11. Sy Clops from Garbage Pail Kids MiniKins
12. Trung from Mini Boglins
13. Okutopasu Dragon from MUSCLE
14. Bad Bad Ball Madballs knockoff pencil topper
15. Flesh Eatin' Phil from SLUG Zombies
16. Zomborg from Neclos Fortress

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Mystical Warriors of the Ring: Kayin Kungaa, Sheldon Sabre, & Widowmaker PVC figures

Last month I posted on the exciting news that certain figures from Fantastic Plastic Toys' indie mini figure line Mystical Warriors of the Ring were going to be produced in PVC instead of their typical harder resin material. Since then, they've been released and are now invading mini figure collections all over.

This set consists of the three animal-wrestler characters Kayin Kungaa (an ape), Sheldon Sabre (a tiger) and Widowmaker (a spider). The sets have been released in two different colors of plastic: a pink/flesh reminiscent of the classic M.U.S.C.L.E. color, and a vibrant candy apple red. Each three pack sells for the very affordable price of $9 via the True Cast Studio Store.

I received a flesh set, and I've got to say, if you are a fan of M.U.S.C.L.E. (or really, mini figures in general), you are going to want to own these toys. The amount of detail in the figures is superb, and the softer, more flexible PVC makes them more fun and a better fit among other mini figures.

Here's a closer look at the three debut PVC characters:

KAYIN KUNGAA, the ape, is definitely the hulk of the set. This ornery-looking dude is huge, especially when compared to the tiger character, Sheldon Sabre. In that way he reminds me of Goliath, the crocodile character from the very first MWOTR set, who also towers over the rest. It's cool to have this type of size variation in the line. It keeps things more interesting and just adds en extra element of fun.

MiniKins: 'New Kids in the Garbage Pail' (video)

To follow up my initial post on the new Garbage Pail Kids MiniKins mini figures, I wanted to share a video I created in my excitement over them (I really do think I have a slight MiniKins addition...or maybe not so slight). I thought it would be fun to make a little story around what happens when the old GPK Cheap Toys from the '80s encounter their new MiniKins counterparts. Here it is. Hope you enjoy!

MiniKins: New Garbage Pail Kids mini figures!

WHAT: They're here! Announced in the Spring of this year, MiniKins are the first official mini figures of characters from the popular Topps Garbage Pail Kids trading card line since the "Cheap Toys" of the 1980s (which were plastic monochromatic minis sold with "Crummy Candy"). Garbage Pail Kids fans and mini figure collectors had been asking for new GPK toys for years, so the announcement that MiniKins would be hitting the shelves later in 2013 was met with much excitement and anticipation.

Well, "later in 2013" finally arrived, and MiniKins began appearing in stores earlier this month. And they do not disappoint. I've got a few things to say about these toys, but first, let's round up the basic facts of the line:

Set of 26 Series One MiniKins (painted versions)

• There are 26 different figures in MiniKins Series One, each one representing a character from a GPK trading card. 
• Each figure comes in five main versions: a base painted version, as well as blue, red, green and yellow unpainted, monochromatic variants. Blue and red figures come 1:3 packs, green 1:4 packs, and yellow is the least common with 1:12 packs. Once the toys hit store shelves, people also began finding rare, unannounced monochromatic black variants of the figures. Special one-of-a-kind gold MiniKins have also been announced as prizes for upcoming fan contests surrounding the toys.
• MiniKins are made out of a squishy, soft rubber material (think just a bit softer that Monster in My Pocket figures, but not as soft as other modern minis like The Trash Pack or Squinkies).
• The figures are sold two ways: In blind two-packs ($2.99) as well as four-packs ($4.99)
  with one painted figure visible in the package and three figures hidden.
• Each figure is packaged with a sticker featuring GPK card artwork of the respective character on the front, and humorous character bios on the back.
• MiniKins are around 1", so a bit smaller than the old GPK Cheap Toys.

Adam Bomb & Leaky Lindsay MiniKins with their Cheap Toys counterparts

Now that we've got the basics covered, I've got to say...I'm pretty much addicted to these! I think Topps really got it right with MiniKins, for a number of reasons.

Mono Minis of the Day: 9/28/13 to 10/13/13

Here are the latest batches of Mono Minis of the Day--as posted daily on the Little Weirdos Instagram, Twitter and Flickr.

The lineup in the photo is as follows, from left to right, top to bottom:

1. Bad Bad Ball Madballs knockoff pencil topper
2. Jail Jaw Ghost from The Real Ghostbusters
3. Witch keshi from unidentified Halloween monster set
4. Teapack Man from MUSCLE
5. Eyeklops from Universe of Violence 
6. Man-Bat from Diener Space Creatures
7. Bootleg vending machine robot
8. Ancient Gorgon from Monster in My Pocket
9. Chief Smog from Mini Boglins
10. Cthulhu from Neclos Fortress
11. Ghost from The Real Ghostbusters
12. Dunkin monster cereal premium from Portugal
13. The Mountain from MUSCLE
14. Jotun Troll from Monster in My Pocket
15. Mr. Jangles from SLUG Zombies
16. Gundam vending machine knockoff

Monstruos de Matutano: crazy monster figures from Spain

Bottom photo courtesy of TwoHeadedBoy

So, there's these wacky-looking plastic monsters that I've come across photos of quite often, but until recently hadn't really been able to place. The above images show a handful of them. Over the past month or two I got the three shown in the top photo, and TwoHeadedBoy (who runs the blog on neglected comics called TwoHeadedThingies--check it out) was kind enough to contribute the other photos in this post of additional Monstruos from his collection.

After doing some more research on them, below is what I've been able to find out about them (leave a comment if you have any corrections or additional info):

Photo courtesy of TwoHeadedBoy

• They are premiums called "Monstruos de Matutano" that came in snack bags and/or cereal boxes in the late-1970s to early-1980s, originating in Spain and Portugal and later being reproduced in South America.
• The names "Disvenda," "Tito" and "Dunkin" are also commonly listed in association with them, although I'm not sure if those are company names, product names, or what.
• There are 20 different sculpts. You can see them all on the blog Figuras Promocionales (just search "monstruos" on the page).
• They are made of hard plastic.
• They were released in an undetermined amount of monochromatic colors. I've seen them in basic primary colors such as red, blue and yellow, plus others like light pink, purple and black.
• The sculpts range from almost-human creatures to truly bizarre monstrosities (for a prime example see the blue guy in the first photo above with the light hanging off his head and a little dude sitting in his chest).

Orange and blue crew

Just thought I'd do a quick post to show off a few cool custom keshi in one of my favorite color combos.

These figures were all cast in rubber by Tru:Tek and offered recently via the man-e-toys online store as a limited release. Here's the lineup, from left to right:

- Sarcophokill from H.O.R.D.E. wave 2 (by Jimmy Rommel / Ironhaus Productions)
- Critters-inspired keshi (by Zectron)
- Elephantos (by turboPISTOLA)
- Octoegg (reproduction of a figure from the Bad Eggz Bunch line)

Incidentally, orange and blue also happen to be the colors of the university I went to (any guesses?).

What are some of your favorite keshi colors?

Bad Bad Ball: mini Madballs knockoffs

Pastel insanity!

Among the slew of Madballs knockoffs released over the years, these mini guys definitely rank near the very top of my favorites list. They're called "Bad Bad Ball," they bounced their hideous heads into the world in 1987 from a company called "D.V.S." according to their packaging, and they consist of an undetermined amount of sculpts that draw inspiration from the classic AmToy Madballs line. Here are a few of my favorite things about 'em:

• Their name: I don't know exactly why, but "Bad Bad Ball" gives me a chuckle. It kind of reminds me of someone reprimanding a dog or something--but instead of "bad dog!" it's "bad ball! You've been a bad bad ball!" A cheap, strange, yet fun name to match these cheap, strange, yet fun toys.
• Their packaging artwork: Sweet Jesus, do I dig the amazing '80s-drenched presentation of these bizarros. Especially the artwork on the header part of the package. It lives up fully to the crappy-awesomeness of the toys themselves, showing the balls being their bad bad, pencil-sitting selves in a garishly-cool way. The fact that the artwork shows monsters that don't even match up with the ones you get with the toys only serves to amuse further. I also love that the box functions as a really nice display piece; you can put it on a shelf and take in all eight balls through the box's clear plastic while you also admire the wacky artwork.
• Their pastelness: It amazes me that at some point in the Bad Bad Balls production process, one or more person made the decision to release them in super-pastel, Easter-ish colors. Because pastels are the natural choice for toys depicting demented, disfigured monsters, right? When it comes to cheap, weird toys, I love when they reek of decisions that make absolutely no sense. It makes them even more special.
• Their multi-functionality: As the box makes sure to point out, the Bad Bad Balls function as both hi-bouncing balls AND pencil top erasers. Hours of fun x 2. 
• And finally, the sculpts themselves! There are some real winners here, such as a dope with a frog making its home in his eye socket (my favorite!), a creeper with a snake coming out of his mouth and wrapping around his noggin, and a shriveled guy with an elephant's trunk.

To further add to the legacy of the Bad Bad Balls, I have versions of some of the same sculpts in different types of colors that I got out of vending machines sometime in the early-to-mid 1990s. So, I guess they were still being utilized years after the original 1987 release, but I can't remember whether or not they were called by the same name in the vending machines. Here are the ones I got as a kid:

Monster minis of the East & West: Neclos Fortress vs. MIMP

Shortly after I found out about Neclos / Necros Fortress keshi from Japan and took on collecting them, I started to think of them kind of like the Monster in My Pocket toys of the East. Despite some main differences between the two lines (most notably the fact that Neclos Fortress is also a role-playing game and includes figures of non-monster, human characters as well), the two lines are pretty comparable. The figures are similar in size, made of the same type of flexible soft plastic material and a variety of monochromatic colors, and both feature an army of monsters pulled from folklore and mythology. I think they were also both released around the same time (although from what I have been able to tell, Neclos began a bit earlier than MIMP, in the late-1980s).

Check out the image above, which compares interpretations of a few of the same monsters from both lines: Mummy, Hobgoblin, Medusa and Ghost. This is just a small sampling of monsters the two lines share. In fact, there's nearly 40 I've counted (check out a list below--let me know if you think of any I missed).

Personally, I find it nearly impossible to decide which line I like more. Monster in My Pocket is a classic that's hugely responsible for my love of these kinds of toys, but Neclos Fortress is also an amazing, incredibly diverse and comprehensive line that I went nuts over as soon as I found out about it within the past couple years. So...I refuse to choose!

How about you? Do you prefer MIMP over Neclos (or vice versa)? Are you interested in both lines?

List of monsters shared between Monster in My Pocket and Neclos Fortress: