Monster In My Pocket

Monster in My Pocket was best known as a toy-line released by Matchbox in 1989. It consists of small, soft plastic figures representing monsters, and later other tangentially related characters.

In its first run, there were 11 series released. There were over 200 monsters in the collection, most of which were assigned a point value. Among the highest valued monsters were the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Griffin, Great Beast, Behemoth, Hydra, Werewolf (25 points) and among the least being Charon, The Invisible Man, The Witch (5 points). Initially, the high point value was 25, which was elevated to 30 for the second and third series; the fourth, "Super Scary", series introduced the 50-100 point monsters. The toys 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.

Subject ID: 106744

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Monster in My Pocket was best known as a toy-line released by Matchbox in 1989. It consists of small, soft plastic figures representing monsters, and later other tangentially related characters.

In its first run, there were 11 series released. There were over 200 monsters in the collection, most of which were assigned a point value. Among the highest valued monsters were the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Griffin, Great Beast, Behemoth, Hydra, Werewolf (25 points) and among the least being Charon, The Invisible Man, The Witch (5 points). Initially, the high point value was 25, which was elevated to 30 for the second and third series; the fourth, "Super Scary", series introduced the 50-100 point monsters. The toys 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.

The lines ran into difficulty in the Hindu communities, as the divinities Kālī, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Yama, were all depicted as "monsters", which included a public outcry by the Vishva Hindu Parishad. After the fourth series, which contained Hanuman (who was removed from the UK run) 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 200, 24 Dinosaurs, released in both regular and "Secret Skeleton" format, and 16 Space Aliens that were essentially original. The point values increased even further, up to 500. A second series of dinosaurs is rarer than series 3, and included only four premium figures released with confectionery, numbered #223 to #226. 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.

They were mainly yellow, green, orange and red but monsters with more than 30 points had more than just one color. 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 never released, although it was shown at Toy Fair 1992.

Subject ID: 106744

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