#509 MONSTER IN MY POCKET – SEVERAL FIGURES from SERIES 1 (1990)

Monster in my pocket (MIMP) are small plastic figures (mostly monochromatic and made in bright colours) released by Matchbox in 1990 onwards. Although I never saw them in shops, there were dozens of them made… almost 200 between 1990 and 1994, plus several premium figures more.  In this entry, I will present the figures I own from the first series.

Series 1 comprised 48 figures (numbered 1 to 48) in 4 different colours: red, yellow, light green and light purple, and all of them are identified with a number and a letter (A or B, although there are also figures with C and F). Figures between 1 and 24 were available in two colours each, while figures 25 to 48 were available in all four colours.

Later on, four more colours were added: neon green, light red,neon yellow and light purple, although I won’t be showing one of these.

The figures were available in 1-packs, 4-packs, 12-packs and 24-packs, so you could actually get all figures with just 2 big packs (one with even numbers, the other with the uneven numbers).

The figures represent monsters and strange creatures from classic stories and legends from all over the world. The casts are really amazing for figures of such size. The line probably led to other similar PVC toylines like the Trash Bag Bunch. I don’t know if these figures would still sell today, but back then, it was cool to have a collection of monsters and being able to make them fight against each other.

Unfortunately, the toys are unpainted. How cool would they be if painted! It is a similar case to the SuperMonstruos made by Yolanda. There were monocromatic and hand-painted versions, being the hand-painted much cooler.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name:  WEREWOLF (#3), TYRANNOSAURUS-REX (#6), CYCLOPS (#8),  TRITON (#10), COATLICUE (#16), BABA YAGA (#18), KALI (#19), CATOBLEPAS (#20), HANIVER (#22), RED CAP (#25), ZOMBIE (#29), GHOST (#31), VAMPIRE (#33), THE PHANTOM (#38), MUMMY (#41), THE BEAST (#43), SPRING-HEALED JACK (#45), SKELETON (#47) and HUNCHBACK (#48)
• Toy Line: Monster in my Pocket (Wave 1)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size of the figures: 4 cm