Sometimes a fast food premium or series comes along and it is so awesome it transcends it's meager 'free with food purchase' beginnings and becomes something of a legend amongst collectors. The DC Superhero Looney Tunes, Muppet Babies with ride-ons, transforming fast-foodstuffs, Deiner space aliens, and so many others are true great toys and not simply free trash that shuts the kids up for five seconds and then ends up clogging a landfill or choking a sea turtle.
The Universal Monsters from Burger King are such toys. I have known about these for years due to other collectors talking about how great they are, but honestly I've not experienced these two up close until now, and had not realized before today that they came in coffins/crates with a lever on the side for the monsters to rise from the dead and kill you in your sleep. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!
I found Dracula and Wolfman at a garage sale this weekend, and got them for fifty cents each! Complete with their crypts! I actually once had the water squirting Creature from the Black Lagoon but I don't believe I do so anymore. I do have the Frankenstein's Monster hanging around Toyriffic Central, which was given to me by
Space Mason of D.I. Treasures, but he doesn't have his 'base' (which was a table with a light in it to light up his translucent noggin) - unfortunately I didn't have him on hand for the photo shoot.
The thing that makes these guys stand the test of time and elicit so much joy and praise from toy fans is that they are as good of a five point of articulation 3 3/4" action figure as you are going to find on any toy store shelf (some might even argue that they are better than many). They are classically designed and well detailed. Dracula's skin even glows in the dark!
Not to mention the coffin. It's gorgeous. I want to be buried in a coffin exactly like this, except it can say BubbaShelby instead of Dracula across the front.
Each figure pops up and the lid flies off or the doors fly open when you turn a lever on the side of the box. The figures are also removable and can pop on and off the base for playtime fun!
Obviously Dracula was, well, obvious...when I found him in his coffin at the garage sale. But I wasn't sure who was hiding in this crate when I found it (I first assumed Frankenstein's Monster. I was wrong.)
Aw yeah Wolfman! My favorite classic Universal Monster! I love this figure and his rickety crate. There's even a little pop-up tab that has a sticker with a glow-in-the-dark moon on it that rises when Wolfman comes out of the crate!
The doors of the crate are a little snug, but I suppose when you have a werewolf in a box you want those doors to hold tight!
I can't believe it took me almost twenty years to find, and find out, how groovy these ghoulies are! I can't wait for Halloween!