Monster In My Pocket

No one seems to remember these little plastic toys despite take over of the 90s
On
February 19, 2008


Monster In My Pocket was huge in the early 90s and I loved them! And I think I still am. The little monsters gained celebrity status as pocket-sized rubber figurines (painted all one colour) which could be found in

single packs:


packs of 4:


packs of 12:


or 24:


The monsters were found everywhere in the 90s, they were pogs, posters, toys, an NES video game, a short lived tv show (I think only one episode was aired and then the VHS was sold with a monster toy),


they were on the back of cereal boxes (Shreddies and others) and by 1994 they made it into the U.K.




A good friend of mine collected more of them than I did. Him and I would rush into the bedroom to peel open the silver foil package to claim the mysterious monster prize. They came in many solid colours light olive, red, yellow, dark purple, neon green, light red, neon yellow, light purple. Some of the ones we had were:

Great Beast


Werewolf


The Monster


Kali


Medusa


Vampire


Spring-Heeled Jack


Invisible Man


Skeleton
There were 48 in the first series, and seven series in the entire toy figure set. (1990-1994)


As you collected the figurines you were then able to purchase the display mountain!


And if that wasn't enough you could also collect the popular trading cards




There were 48 cards, 24 stickers and a map for the stickers.


The cards had a point system, and I think there was a game attached, maybe the game was about adding the points?
.




But my friend and I were more interested in the Nintendo Entertainment System game,a 2-player side-scrolling adventure.


With button "A" you could jump and button "B" was your attack, some sort of fire swoosh thing in the air.



The game has two characters, Vampire or The Monster. The game starts inside of a house and you are forced to battle other pocket-sized monsters, but there are items along the way that you can pick up and throw in your defense, such as keys.


I don't remember if we ever beat the game but I know that we tried over a hundred times. It seemed like each weekend we would run to the local video store (Microplay or VideoFlicks) and rent the NES game for maybe two or four dollars.

My fondness for the game and characters aren't really based in how amazing the toys were or the characters. Sure the game was fun and the toys were based on famous mythological figures, but it's like anything else from that time. I've since tried to play the video game, watch the show, collect the toys and it just doesn't appeal to me as it did then, as I thought it would now. I suppose the nostalgia is less for the items and more for the time. The innocence I ha which I didn't know I had, the lack of responsibilities - all of that replaced now by bills and debt, watering the plants, or feeding myself


The neat thing is Monster in my Pocket grew up too. There's a new line of figures for the next generation of fun and free spirited kids.



These new toys are painted with detail, and sure I resent the changing of anything from my childhood (CGI carebears, CGI Gadget, CGI TMNT)





But hey, at least someone is making from those precious memories.

I got most of my images from: http://www.raumhafen.de/galerie/rubber_guys/mimp/index.html
and the NES images were screen shots from my own playing...I died within minutes.
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