Monster in My Pocket
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Monster in My Pocket is a media franchise developed by Morrison Entertainment Group, headed by Joe Morrison and John Weems (two former senior executives at Mattel).
The focus is on monsters and legendary creatures from religion, mythology, literary fantasy, science fiction, cryptids and other anomalous phenomena. Monster in My Pocket produced trading cards, comic books, books, toys, a board game, a video game, and an animated special, along with music, clothing, kites, stickers, and various other items.
The line proved controversial for various reasons and many changes were implemented that took it away from its original mythmaking focus, though it has since reemerged with the original idea intact. It is not to be confused with Pocket Monsters, the Japanese name for Pokémon (which was the planned name for the franchise).
Contents
1 Toys
2 Monster in My Pocket in other media
3 More details about individual monsters
4 Known Monster in My Pocket items
4.1 2006
5 Credits
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Toys
Monster in My Pocket is best known as a toy-line released by Matchbox in 1990. It consists of small, soft plastic figures representing monsters, and later other tangentially-related characters.
In its first run, there were eleven series released, the third being the rarest. There were over 200 monsters in the collection, most of which were assigned a point value. Among the highest valued monsters were the Etruscan deity Charun (100 points) and among the least being the Invisible Man (5 points). Initially, the high point value was 25, which was elevated to 30 for the second (49–72) and third series (73–96); the fourth, "Super Scary", series (97–120) introduced the 100 point monsters. The third series does not appear to have been formally released, though portions of it were released as premiums through Shreddies, Bob's Big Boy, Pizza Hut, and Konami. Indeed, Monster Mailer #1, the Monster in My Pocket Collector's Club newsletter, refers to the fourth series as "Series III", in spite of a gap in numbering. They were initially solid-colored, though later series would gradually add more painted colors, until they became fully colored under the auspices of new toy makers Corinthian Marketing and Vivid Imaginations.
A board game was also released by Decipher Limited, which used the action figures as playing pieces. The game involved using the monsters to fight battles in terrains where they had different strengths—New York, Tundra, Volcano, and Swamp. This should not be confused with the Monster Clash action game made by Matchbox—a board game/playset combo in which glow in the dark rubber balls were launched from catapults as part of the game. Other toys included Super Scary Howlers representing Vampire, The Monster, Swamp Beast, and Werewolf, a Monster Mountain display case with custom labels for series 1, a Monster Pouch fanny pack, Battle Cards featuring The Beast and Witch, and a Haunted House playset, which was probably never released, although it was shown at Toy Fair 1992.
The line proved more popular in the United Kingdom and continental Europe than in the United States where it was originally developed. It ran into difficulty in United Kingdom with its large population of Hindus, as the divinities Kālī, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Yama, were all depicted as "monsters" resulting in great offense, including a public outcry by the Vishva Hindu Parishad[1]. Except for the minor deity, Yama, god of death, these were removed from the line in United Kingdom. After the fourth series, which contained Hanuman and Yama, was released, they decided to play it safe and provided follow-up series: Super Creepies, 24 comical (punning) aberrations of real insects and arachnids created by "Dr. Zechariah Wolfram" with point values up to 250, Dinosaurs, released in both regular and "Secret Skeleton" format, and 16 Space Aliens that were essentially original. The point values went up even further, as high as 500. A second series of 24 dinosaurs is even rarer than series 3. In some markets, such as Argentina, the dinosaurs were released as Dinosaur in My Pocket. Many of these were not released outside of Europe. The Dinosaurs appear to have been released in the U.S. only through premium distribution by Hardee's, and these were not the standard figures that were sold in stores.
The Monster Wrestlers in My Pocket debuted in United Kingdom in 1994, no longer produced by Matchbox, but by Corinthian Marketing. The first nine, including Tony the Tiger as a coach, were released in Kellogg's Frosties cereal. The numbering was restarted, the high point value was returned to 100, and the coaches and referees, save for the 100 point "Tony the Coach", were the first monsters designated with 0 points. Frosties also did a nine-monster series of Monster Sports Stars in My Pocket, including "Tony the Referee", which were made of much harder plastic and had no point values. Seventeen Monster Ninja Warriors in My Pocket were produced in 1996 by Vivid Imaginations, some of which came with vehicles and accessories. These also caught on with the Pog fad, in addition to being the first Monster in My Pocket figures with removable weapons. The figures that were not made by Matchbox were painted in full colors and came in only a few variations, rather than previously coming in multiple solid or tri-tone colors.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Monster in My Pocket is a media franchise developed by Morrison Entertainment Group, headed by Joe Morrison and John Weems (two former senior executives at Mattel).
The focus is on monsters and legendary creatures from religion, mythology, literary fantasy, science fiction, cryptids and other anomalous phenomena. Monster in My Pocket produced trading cards, comic books, books, toys, a board game, a video game, and an animated special, along with music, clothing, kites, stickers, and various other items.
The line proved controversial for various reasons and many changes were implemented that took it away from its original mythmaking focus, though it has since reemerged with the original idea intact. It is not to be confused with Pocket Monsters, the Japanese name for Pokémon (which was the planned name for the franchise).
Contents
1 Toys
2 Monster in My Pocket in other media
3 More details about individual monsters
4 Known Monster in My Pocket items
4.1 2006
5 Credits
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Toys
Monster in My Pocket is best known as a toy-line released by Matchbox in 1990. It consists of small, soft plastic figures representing monsters, and later other tangentially-related characters.
In its first run, there were eleven series released, the third being the rarest. There were over 200 monsters in the collection, most of which were assigned a point value. Among the highest valued monsters were the Etruscan deity Charun (100 points) and among the least being the Invisible Man (5 points). Initially, the high point value was 25, which was elevated to 30 for the second (49–72) and third series (73–96); the fourth, "Super Scary", series (97–120) introduced the 100 point monsters. The third series does not appear to have been formally released, though portions of it were released as premiums through Shreddies, Bob's Big Boy, Pizza Hut, and Konami. Indeed, Monster Mailer #1, the Monster in My Pocket Collector's Club newsletter, refers to the fourth series as "Series III", in spite of a gap in numbering. They were initially solid-colored, though later series would gradually add more painted colors, until they became fully colored under the auspices of new toy makers Corinthian Marketing and Vivid Imaginations.
A board game was also released by Decipher Limited, which used the action figures as playing pieces. The game involved using the monsters to fight battles in terrains where they had different strengths—New York, Tundra, Volcano, and Swamp. This should not be confused with the Monster Clash action game made by Matchbox—a board game/playset combo in which glow in the dark rubber balls were launched from catapults as part of the game. Other toys included Super Scary Howlers representing Vampire, The Monster, Swamp Beast, and Werewolf, a Monster Mountain display case with custom labels for series 1, a Monster Pouch fanny pack, Battle Cards featuring The Beast and Witch, and a Haunted House playset, which was probably never released, although it was shown at Toy Fair 1992.
The line proved more popular in the United Kingdom and continental Europe than in the United States where it was originally developed. It ran into difficulty in United Kingdom with its large population of Hindus, as the divinities Kālī, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Yama, were all depicted as "monsters" resulting in great offense, including a public outcry by the Vishva Hindu Parishad[1]. Except for the minor deity, Yama, god of death, these were removed from the line in United Kingdom. After the fourth series, which contained Hanuman and Yama, was released, they decided to play it safe and provided follow-up series: Super Creepies, 24 comical (punning) aberrations of real insects and arachnids created by "Dr. Zechariah Wolfram" with point values up to 250, Dinosaurs, released in both regular and "Secret Skeleton" format, and 16 Space Aliens that were essentially original. The point values went up even further, as high as 500. A second series of 24 dinosaurs is even rarer than series 3. In some markets, such as Argentina, the dinosaurs were released as Dinosaur in My Pocket. Many of these were not released outside of Europe. The Dinosaurs appear to have been released in the U.S. only through premium distribution by Hardee's, and these were not the standard figures that were sold in stores.
The Monster Wrestlers in My Pocket debuted in United Kingdom in 1994, no longer produced by Matchbox, but by Corinthian Marketing. The first nine, including Tony the Tiger as a coach, were released in Kellogg's Frosties cereal. The numbering was restarted, the high point value was returned to 100, and the coaches and referees, save for the 100 point "Tony the Coach", were the first monsters designated with 0 points. Frosties also did a nine-monster series of Monster Sports Stars in My Pocket, including "Tony the Referee", which were made of much harder plastic and had no point values. Seventeen Monster Ninja Warriors in My Pocket were produced in 1996 by Vivid Imaginations, some of which came with vehicles and accessories. These also caught on with the Pog fad, in addition to being the first Monster in My Pocket figures with removable weapons. The figures that were not made by Matchbox were painted in full colors and came in only a few variations, rather than previously coming in multiple solid or tri-tone colors.
