FREE MONSTERS - Premiums & Give-A-Ways

[Haunted hearse]

Somehow the bride on that cup reminds me of Carol Brunet doing Gloria Swanson in that "Airport 75" parody she once did one her show.

[Monsters For Sale]

Pepsi gave us this 44 oz. cup in 1992's Monster Bash promotion:






The same promotion brought us these monsters cards:


Front




Back




Also these three 3 in. buttons.
 

The "I'm a Party Monster" button is kind of generic and might have been given to anyone:




These two "Ask Me About the Monster Deal" buttons must have been given only to store employees:





(OK, that last button doesn't have the picture of a monster on it, but is from the same promotion.)

[Monsters For Sale]

This 3 in. glow-in-the-dark button has the same brick wall background as the Wendy's bag listed earlier, but does not mention Wendy's anywhere on it:

[Monsters For Sale]

Since I have listed a few buttons...


This 1976 Frank 'N' Stein 3 in. button was made for A&W Root Beer:




Anyone know if these were offered to customers or given only to restaurant employees?

[Monsters For Sale]

Pepsi gave us these unpopular cut-out panels on their 12-pack can cartons:






There were six images in total.  Missing are Dracula, Mummy & Wolf Man.

[Monsters For Sale]

Pepsi was kinder to us in 1991 for their Monster Match promotion.  Here are some of the 12-pack carton panels from that year:





















Here are some of the game pieces:





And here is an unobstructed view (no Pepsi logo) of the Frankenstein artwork:




Pepsi has been very good to us over the years.

[aura of foreboding]

Missing is Dracula.

Drac was the best one of all.  Here you go:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4bfyhOG5x1qemxfbo1_500.jpg

[Monsters For Sale]

Drac was the best one of all.  Here you go:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4bfyhOG5x1qemxfbo1_500.jpg

Thanks!

I added him to the post above.

[Monsters For Sale]

I don't think I am cheating by including these three Sideshow busts as premiums.  For me a "premium" is something that adds extra value to a purchase without adding extra cost.

These Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man busts were very nicely done.  More importantly, the Dracula bust gave us a much welcomed Bela Lugosi collectible.

Although they were included in the Monster Legacy Collection Gift Set, they did not come at any added price.  The three Monster Legacy Collections DVDs in the gift set with the three Sideshow busts were selling at Target Stores for less than the combined price of the three Legacy Collection DVDs alone priced individually. 

The price I paid for my "Gift Set" was just $35.00.  That wasn't a remainder price for DVDs that had been out for a long time.  That was the price the first week they were released as a set.  Imagine that.  Thirty-five bucks for six discs containing 14 movies, many with commentaries.  Unlike some others, I never had any problems with my discs.  I'd rather have today's much improved picture and sound quality.  But at the time, this was a helluva deal.

By-the-way, Amazon is now listing this gift set for $139.00. 








It is sad that Universal/Sideshow did not continue their partnership with a Monster Legacy Gift Set II, featuring busts of The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

- - - NOTE TO MODERATORS:  Spell Check does not recognize "Bela" as a valid name. - - -

[Monsters For Sale]

Although these give-a-ways were not handed out to the general public, they were distributed by Sideshow free of charge.


In 1999, Sideshow gave out a Limited Edition of 200 sets of Holiday Little Big Heads to favored retailers/distributors.  The standard Frankenstein, Mummy, Wolf man and Dracula were painted in Christmas colors and packaged in a vacuum molded plastic holder inside a plain, gold box.








Note that all the metal items are painted gold and the figures are sprinkled with glitter to simulate snow.  (Gotta love that Mummy is wrapped like a candy cane.)



In 2000, Sideshow gave out a Limited Edition of 350 12-inch Frankenstein dolls to retailers/distributors.  The doll was dressed in a red nightshirt and given an Ebenezer Scrooge styled nightcap.  The box and accessories were identical to the regular 12-inch Frankenstein edition.





In 2001, Sideshow gave out a Limited Edition of 400 12-inch Dracula dolls to the retailers/distributors.  Dracula was dressed in pajamas with feet and has his cape.  His PJ's have a trap door in the back.  The box and accessories were identical to the regular 12-inch Dracula edition.  In addition, Sideshow provided a cardboard sleeve printed with a big, red bow and gift card that reads 'Happy Holidays", "To..."  and "From Sideshow Toys."








Luckily for us, many toy retailers are not also collectors (or they collect something other than monster toys), so the 12-inch Christmas Frankenstein and Dracula dolls show up on eBay quite often.  The Little Big Heads are listed less often, but don't seem to be much in demand.  They can usually be bought fairly reasonably.


NOTE:

I used what I thought were the most reliable edition numbers on these.  Many eBay sellers claim some issues were limited to 100.  Some sources state that small numbers were available for retail - with the lion's share given to retailers/distributors.

Wish I could get hard numbers directly from Sideshow.

[Dr. Madd]

I loved all these, even the pepsi premiums. Bad Monsters are like Bad Pizza. No such exists.

[Monsters For Sale]

Here are the Pepsi 12-Pack Carton cutout panels for 1992's Monster Bash promotion:

[Hepcat]

Pepsi's latest monstrous promotion horrifies me so much I'll be reaching for Coke instead every time:

[Monsters For Sale]

Not all free monsters are strictly Classic Universal Monsters.


These 2001 Burger King Halloween toys feature the Simpsons portraying  monsters and such.  There were 15 toys and each lit up and performed some physical stunt - like a tombstone that would spin around to reveal a different inscription, etc.





Of special interest to this group would be Mr. Burns in a Dr. Frankenstein outfit complete with ice cream scoop brain extractor, Barney dressed as a Mummy, Homer Simpson as a green-skinned Frankenstein monster, Mr. Skinner as a Zombie and (my personal favorite) Grandpa Simpson as a Vampire - he makes me think of Al Lewis.

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Burger King continued the Simpsons Halloween theme in 2002 with 10 more toys.  These "Creepy Classics" figures had a little more fun with the vintage monsters. 





There is Willie the Groundkeeper as the Creature From Springfield Lake, Living Dead Otto, It Kang From Outer Space, Bartzilla, Bride Marge, Attack of the 50 Ft Lisa, King Homer (holding Marge Wray, Mad Dr. Hibbert (with half good, half evil face), Invisible Professor Frink and Wolf Man Flanders.

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Although Burger King did another group of Halloween Simpsons toys in 2011, they were not monster-themed.

[Universal_Adam]

Doritos stickers from 1991.

These were so cool! I see them once in a while on Ebay but they're out of my price range.  I try to snatch up as much UM stuff from the Pepsi, Doritos, ETC advertising in the 90s that I can.