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Toys/Games

La Horripicasa De Los Monsters Game

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I would love to have the full La Horripicasa de los Monsters game, but I at least have the gameboard. Which, filled with so many classically creepy horror illustrations, is a keeper all by itself. Note the more discretely rendered Jose Gonzalez Vampirella at the lower right, and that werewolf has some crazy hairy eyebrows. Colorful terror all the way.  I peg the date no earlier than 1971 (when Gonzalez started drawing the sexy vamp), but if you know more about this game, please share in comments.

La Horripicasa de los Monsters Game Board

Rapco Famous Monsters Plaster Casting Kit:
Creature From the Black Lagoon

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Someone recently sold this on eBay. What's cool about this (and, hey, if you're a monsterkid who played with one of these, that was way cool, too) is the graphic on the box cover: who says horror's just for the boys? I miss the more tactile pleasures of monster play. Don't you? Molding, painting, model kit building, it was fun. I still vividly remember that night my dad brought home an Aurora Wolf Man model. The long box was tied with string. He built it while I watched. I was too young at the time to build it myself. Of course, I would do a lot of model kit building later on as I got older. But that was the first time I'd seen a plastic model. And it was another step closer to becoming a monsterkid.

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Rapco Famous Monsters Plaster Casting Kit:
Creature From the Black LagoonRead More »

Bats in Your Belfry Game 1964

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Spotted this on eBay. Mattel's Bats in Your Belfry is one of the quintessential games monsterkids played with, and lament not having held on to. Here's a description for newbies from a Hake's auction.

Main portion of game consists of 15" tall molded plastic castle w/spring-loaded launchpad that would toss any of the 24 included plastic "Vampire Bats" into the sky. Object of the game was to drop one of the two included heavy metal balls into castle to activate spring-loaded mechanism and catch as many bats as possible w/the two provided plastic skeleton hand scoops. Castle has exterior pegs to hold bats and comes w/eight "Diet Tokens," plastic discs w/monster face on one side and either "Vampire Bats" or "Giant Bats" text on reverse. Game is for up to four players and comes w/four pegged racks to place your bats on.

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Cool Sci Fi Stuff Seen on eBay:
Nomura Robby Robot 1957

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Seller chancchabhnclv has this up for auction on eBay. Although, at zero feedback and an asking price of $850.00, I doubt he (or she) is going to get many bites. But this Robby the Robot knock-off by Nomura is a fondly remembered toy from my youth. I still have a strong memory of my mom and I walking down 86th Street in Brooklyn to a small, hole in the wall, toy store. I was maybe 5  years old. Inside the store, behind the counter that ran the length of the store, the man had all these wonderful metal robot toys from Japan. This one, the Mechanized Robot, caught my eye and wouldn't let it go. It was Robby! Even the clear plastic dome showed his memory pistons all moving and lighted up as he walked!  I took Robby home and spent hours watching him walk around while those memory pistons pumped up and down. He was even more awesome in the dark (see the YouTube video at the end of this post: how cool is that!)

Sadly, over time, my Robby toy didn't grow up along with me. I don't remember what happened to him. My bad. But I still remember him. (Note: I added two photos that show the unique battery position and a side view, taken by vintagespacetoys.com.)

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Cool Sci Fi Stuff Seen on eBay:
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Medicinal Monster Stuff Seen on eBay:
Benylin Monstrous Mailer

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I love seeing monsters and elements of the fantastique used in advertising. This one is rather an odd but pleasantly cheeky promotion for Benylin. Must have been a monsterkid on their marketing team that came up with this one 😉 And to think, this was #1 in a series!

From seller phxsunny's listing: "Here is a very rare Mailer Advertisement promotion by Parke Davis for Benylin  Medicine in the 1980's. The ad promotion was called "How to treat a monster" and these  Monstrous Mailers were sent with a Benylin Monster wind up Toy (which still works) and probably a bottle of Benylin. (No Benylin comes with this auction) Only for the products shown."

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Medicinal Monster Stuff Seen on eBay:
Benylin Monstrous MailerRead More »

Cool Monster Stuff Seen On eBay:
Horror House Paint and Pencil

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Seller frankenkid offers this artful Horror House Paint and Pencil playset (Hasbro) from 1963. And only for $1,999.99 starting bid; you should get right on it. I dare you to bring it to one of those coloring book parties adults are doing these days.  (I also added a photo from crabmonk's Cool Vintage Monster Toys collection on eBay)

Frankenstein paint and Pencil

Frankenstein paint and Pencil 6

Frankenstein paint and Pencil 4

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Cool Monster Stuff Seen On eBay:
Horror House Paint and PencilRead More »

Cool Monster Stuff Seen On eBay:
Uncle Milton’s Gro-A-Face (1969)

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I'd buy this for the box alone! Look at that eye-popping illustration! I can already hear today's parents moaning and bitching about it in the aisles of TRU, in spite of it saying it's "an exciting hobby for the whole family." I don't get it, though. I know you're growing plants, but how the "face" part comes in, I'm not clear on. Looks like the box is missing the "decorator kit."

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