Remco Mini Monster's Questions

[fearliath]

I searched prior threads and I can't find anything that directly addresses my questions so I apologize for creating a new thread if there is something already out there. I would love the army's thoughts on a few things regarding Remco Mini Monsters. I have all of the figures (glow and non-glow) loose. They are the same ones I've had since I was a little kid and they are in shockingly fantastic condition (no rubs or paint loss) despite having played with them (apparently carefully) my entire childhood. I have recently begun acquiring the figures on the cards. I have started with the middle series (glow, non-burst). I am well versed on the different "Series" (non-glow, glow, glow burst) but I do have a couple of questions related to relative scarcity of certain figures.

By all appearances the Mummy is significantly more difficult to find and much more costly than the other figures. It seems to go from around $220 to $280 and actually sell (not just float on eBay for months on end). One went this morning for $249 after being listed for a few hours. Is this an accurate observation regarding the mummy, and if so, why is that the case? It appears most of the other figures, in fairly decent shape on the card, go for between $75 and $120 depending on the figure.

Related to the last question, have you noticed a fairly decent increase in the going rate for these in the past 5 years or so?

Lastly, what are your thoughts on removing the old $1.49 Toys R Us stickers on these things. I will never sell these figures but is it considered to be some kind of abomination to remove a "vintage" price tag?

And if I remove a tag I have heard several places that lighter fluid does the job? Has anyone had experience removing old (40 years) price tags/stickers without leaving residue/damage?

I would really appreciate your thoughts.

[Hepcat]

Do your questions concern specifically the carded figures?

I have recently begun acquiring the figures on the cards. I have started with the middle series (glow, non-burst). I am well versed on the different "Series" (non-glow, glow, glow burst) but I do have a couple of questions related to relative scarcity of certain figures.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on removing the old $1.49 Toys R Us stickers on these things. I will never sell these figures but is it considered to be some kind of abomination to remove a "vintage" price tag?

And if I remove a tag I have heard several places that lighter fluid does the job? Has anyone had experience removing old (40 years) price tags/stickers without leaving residue/damage?

Typically I just leave price tags in place. To me original price tags don't constitute a negative, but any damage done by removing the price tag constitutes a major negative.

I take it though that you've acquired some carded figures with price tags. Do you have any pictures?

[Mike Scott]

To me original price tags don't constitute a negative, but any damage done by removing the price tag constitutes a major negative.

I agree with that. I will remove the stickers, if there isn't too much resistance. I never use chemicals on cardboard. Just don't want to take the chance.

And yeah, the prices have tripled in the past few years! 

[fearliath]

Do your questions concern specifically the carded figures?


I take it though that you've acquired some carded figures with price tags. Do you have any pictures?

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I'm just referring to the carded stuff as far as my questions go. I do have pictures ... but I don't have anywhere to host them yet. I'll look into that. I purchased a Mummy, Wolfman and Phantom glow (non-burst). The price tag is right over the Mummy's mouth, the Wolfman has a sticker on the Wolfman's forehead and the Phantom has no stickers of any kind.  I missed out on several others because I'm not willing to pay close to $100 for Frankenstein and Dracula as I don't think they're worth that. I just want to know how much I need to filter my purchasing options if there is a sticker.

The reason I mention lighter fluid is it apparently leaves no mark or smell and evaporates very quickly. People use it like crazy on old record album sleeves. I just don't know the result on an action figure cardback and I'm not too keen to experiment with it on a rather expensive Mummy card.

[Mike Scott]

As far as photo hosting goes, I like ImageShack. I only pay $2 a month for unlimited downloads.

Find something to experiment on before using chems on your cards.

[Hepcat]

Find something to experiment on before using chems on your cards.

Very good advice!

[Palifan]

I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of price stickers but agree that removing them and leaving damage to the card would be even worse so do go slowly if you do try to remove them.

Over the years I've removed several price stickers from vintage Star Wars cards with little to no trouble using lighter fluid. It doesn't seem to cause any problem to the cards as they tend to have a fairly resistant semi gloss outer layer to the litho on them. As the price stickers on the ones I've removed are fairly small I tend to place them on the back of the card in a lower part of it just to keep the history so it's the best of both worlds.

With the lighter fluid I tend to squirt it onto a Q-tip and then rub it on the top of the sticker and work away at lifting it. Take your time and be careful but it's always worked for me but once the stick is removed I use a paper towel damp with water and wipe over the area where the sticker was to make sure I don't leave any fluid on it. I know other people have used Goo Gone which is good for sticky residue but I've not used it to get a sticker off.

The one problem you may have though are that the big orange Toys R Us stickers are notoriously hard to remove without damaging the card. If it seems too stubborn you may well have to leave it be. I would probably try to find some old packaging with the same type of sticker on it that I wouldn't care if it was damaged and test out removing it from this first before doing it on something precious.

One other method that people seem to really like doing is using a hairdryer which warms the sticky gum underneath the sticker and helps to lift it. Again go slowly with this and also you need to find a way to shield the bubble so that you don't end up warping it.

Hope that's all of some help but if in doubt, test it out (you could get a T-Shirt made up with that slogan lol!).

Ian

[MadCow]

I searched prior threads and I can't find anything that directly addresses my questions so I apologize for creating a new thread if there is something already out there. I would love the army's thoughts on a few things regarding Remco Mini Monsters. I have all of the figures (glow and non-glow) loose. They are the same ones I've had since I was a little kid and they are in shockingly fantastic condition (no rubs or paint loss) despite having played with them (apparently carefully) my entire childhood. I have recently begun acquiring the figures on the cards. I have started with the middle series (glow, non-burst). I am well versed on the different "Series" (non-glow, glow, glow burst) but I do have a couple of questions related to relative scarcity of certain figures.

By all appearances the Mummy is significantly more difficult to find and much more costly than the other figures. It seems to go from around $220 to $280 and actually sell (not just float on eBay for months on end). One went this morning for $249 after being listed for a few hours. Is this an accurate observation regarding the mummy, and if so, why is that the case? It appears most of the other figures, in fairly decent shape on the card, go for between $75 and $120 depending on the figure.

Related to the last question, have you noticed a fairly decent increase in the going rate for these in the past 5 years or so?

Lastly, what are your thoughts on removing the old $1.49 Toys R Us stickers on these things. I will never sell these figures but is it considered to be some kind of abomination to remove a "vintage" price tag?

And if I remove a tag I have heard several places that lighter fluid does the job? Has anyone had experience removing old (40 years) price tags/stickers without leaving residue/damage?

I would really appreciate your thoughts.

You are correct about the Mummy. In my observation and experience, he is the hardest one to get carded and commands the most $. About 10 years ago I started my hunt for a full set of the carded glow burst figures. Wolfman and Mummy took me the longest to acquire. They either didn't pop up often or the prices were way out of my budget. It pays to be patient sometimes. Good luck on your hunt!

As for the stickers, I actually like them on vintage pieces and will even pay a few bucks more if it's of a store I have fond memories of as a kid (KB Toys, Caldor, Bradlees, etc,). For me it adds a little bit of history to the piece.

[Hepcat]

As for the stickers, I actually like them on vintage pieces and will even pay a few bucks more if it's of a store I have fond memories of as a kid (KB Toys, Caldor, Bradlees, etc,). For me it adds a little bit of history to the piece.

Interesting observation!

[fearliath]

Thank you all! I'm going to try to remove the Toys R Us sticker from the card of a less than stellar Wolfman (the bubble is very yellow and there appears to be something growing on the Wolfman's foot - weird really, I don't know what to make of the apparent growth). I'll let you know how it goes.

[darkmonkeygod]

Bestine is the product you're after. It is literally rubber cement thinner. Preheating the sicker with a hairdryer, then applying the solvent with a q-tip unti the warmed sticker is throughy wet - you can typically watch it sak through at price sticker - and then sowly removing the sticker with tweezers while reaplying more solvent and perhaps heat which will evaporate the solvent but keep the gum active. If there's excess gum on the card, I typically use the freshy removed and drying sticker to pick it up. After all of that is gone, I tend to just let it dry, but NEVER wipe it while wet. You run the risks of smearing some element of the printing and smearing part of whatever you're using to wipe into gum you didn't know was there. After that, dust-off with well washed but dry microfiber cloth, rather than papertowel, and all is said and done.

And, just in case you've never worked with sovents, look 'em up. The basicas are work with them in a reasonaby ventilated space and remeber that even gaseous they are flamable, so absolutely no open flames.

[fearliath]

I looked for Bestine but I wasn't able to locate it locally (I could order it through Walmart but not get it until March). I couldn't resist so I tried the lighter fluid on the Wolfman card. At first I was worried it wasn't going to work but with a bit of patience it worked flawlessly. You would never know there was a sticker at all. After saturating the sticker with a Q tip and letting it sit for a couple of minutes (occasionally wiping it with the Q Tip to prevent drying, I used a business card to slowly peel up the sticker edge. Then once I had enough to grab the sticker with my finger I very lightly pulled the sticker while simultaneously saturating underneath the the edge of the sticker as I pealed to dissolve the glue as it went. (I hope that makes sense).  After I had the sticker off I just applied a bit more fluid to any sticky residue that remained and just dabbed that up leaving a completely smooth, blemish free card underneath. No stain, no smell. Whole thing probably took 10 minutes or so. I probably should have gone slower but it didn't matter in the end.

[Palifan]

That's great news to hear and also good to know that it worked so well on those orange Toys R Us stickers that I know have been a problem in the past.....or maybe I was thinking of Kay-Bee ones!?

Either way it all worked out and I'm it looks a lot tidier now than it did before.

Ian

[Ghost]

After you are done collecting all of your carded Remco Mini Monsters Regular non-glow, Glow, Glow with burst then you can do it all over again by collecting the Canadian carded versions from Irwin Toy company with the diamond logo up in the upper left corner. Brian from Canada found a couple and talked about them on his Plaid Stallions and Mego Museum websites awhile ago.

http://plaidstallions.blogspot.com/2011/10/remco-mini-monster-love.html