Marx Monsters

[freddie poe]

thanks Mike! if you look a few posts back you can see i posted a pix of the bottom of the popsicle blue wolfman! it is totally vintage 1960's and NOT a mexi marx...........i wouldnt have those repros in my collection just because they come in different colors... not vintage!  - not in the HOUSE OF POE!!

[Gasport]

Yeah, Freddie...that's the one i meant! I should'a said Popsicle instead of darker blue. So cool to know this variation existed back then! Totally worthy of it's display space in the House of Poe!

[Allhallowsday]

I remember going to "dime stores" (we called them five and dime) and there would be bins which were wooden cabinets lined with thick soft edged glass dividers...filled with inexpensive toys... toys like squirt guns, dinosaurs, or monsters.  These toys might be marked 19 cents or 25 cents sometimes with blue ink. 

[freddie poe]

there is a marx frankie in vile green on ebay right now. mexican dealer claims its original marx 1960's . he also shows the bottom of the figure which is undated.  NOT from 1963!!

[Hepcat]

But could an Ebay seller be so dishonest?

[horrorhunter]

there is a marx frankie in vile green on ebay right now. mexican dealer claims its original marx 1960's . he also shows the bottom of the figure which is undated.  NOT from 1963!!

I noticed that "vile green" Frankenstein, also. The first red flag is it comes from Mexico. The second is the extra flashing on the foot. It is marked exactly like the vintage orange ones with the date blocked out. I have all six in this same green with the same markings and varying degrees of extra flashing and slight molding issues. I got all mine off eBay a few years ago. They look cool but I'm not buying that they came from the '60s. The Wolfman has so much extra flashing it looks like he has werewolf ears. I like the color and they display okay, but I don't think they are vintage because those '60s MarxMons didn't have those excess plastic issues. Didn't Marx have a subsidiary in Mexico a few years ago called Plasti-Marx? Maybe these green ones were cranked out in the '80s or '90s by them. In any event I don't think they are the vile green mentioned in that catalog page with bilious rose and creepy yellow. If they were I don't think there would be the molding issues. Just my opinion. If I'm proved wrong I have a whole set of vile green. It just doesn't seem likely considering the better Marx quality control back in the day.

[freddie poe]

i highly doubt those catalogue color claims ever materialized... the only odd/off color Marx monster  i have ever seen that is correctly marked is the Popsicle blue raspberry wolfman pix i have posted which shows the dated bottom........see page previous page

[horrorhunter]

i highly doubt those catalogue color claims ever materialized... the only odd/off color Marx monster  i have ever seen that is correctly marked is the Popsicle blue raspberry wolfman pix i have posted which shows the dated bottom........see page previous page

I agree. You would think something would have surfaced after all this time. You can probably classify Vile Green, Bilious Rose, and Creepy Yellow, with the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and Mothman.

[Hepcat]

I agree. You would think something would have surfaced after all this time.

But Zombiehorror has made a pretty good case that his lime green Frankenstein is an original Vile Green:

I still believe my lime green Frank to be an original Vile Green (I think that was the colors name.).  Although I have seen similar lime colored ones from Mexico mine has none of the flashing issues associated with those repros!  Also I bought them from a seller in Pa. that stated they (there was an orange Phantom [I think it was one of the orange pumpkin/milky ones] as  well) were his from when he was a child.  There was also a 19 cent price tag on its base; not sure when the sticker fell off but apparently it did but I'm pretty sure there was a store name on it as well!

I'll have to check around to see if I have the pictures from the auction and/or a picture of the price sticker!

[horrorhunter]

But Zombiehorror has made a pretty good case that his lime green one is an original Vile Green.

His green Frankenstein looks exactly like mine which exactly matches my other green ones which all have minor flashing or molding issues. It also looks like the one Freddie was talking about on eBay. He also said something about a sticker which fell off, and the seller telling him it was vintage. I'm sure Zombiehorror is trying to get to the bottom of this thing like all of us, but until better evidence presents itself I'm with Freddie on this...I don't think the green ones (which are strangely being sold commonly from Mexico.....hmmmm?) are vintage '60s. Another question...if these are "vile green" from that Marx catalog listing then why haven't any of the bilious rose or creepy yellow shown up? I'm not trying to be overly skeptical here, but I think these green ones were repopped in Mexico a few years ago and are still making the rounds. They are a lot better than those they are currently cranking out down there, though.

[Scatter]

      You can probably classify Vile Green, Bilious Rose, and Creepy Yellow, with the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and Mothman.

I see.............then those colors DO exist!! 

[Monster Bob]

I think it's very safe to say the vast majority of the weird colored ones that are offered now on ebay are Mexico in origin, but sure, authentic ones will and do surface, along with the common popsicle orange and blues.

Remember, probably most of these are coming through the hands of toy dealers, many of which are young, and don't know the difference, and are buying and selling what they find through toy shows and other deals. Initially the blow mold Creatures were blowing through in the same fashion. Several years ago, I remember an east coast toy dealer saying he saw a huge box of the Creatures and sure enough, they started popping left and right for a long while in a multitude of colors. The same happened with the repop Pop-Tops a couple of years ago. The next thing you know, ebay sellers are calling the contemporary Pop-Tops vintage.


In a different vein, I find the fellows on the TOY HUNTER show humorous and a little painful to watch, esp. when they hop and and down, do a jig and act like girlies when they find a GHOSTBUSTERS or MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE toy and call it vintage...ultra rare...uber-valuable...etc. Makes for a good show, I guess? Sure, different strokes for different folks, but the day I'd pay $2000 for a Skeletor this or that (and think it can be easily flipped for $3000) would be a cold day in Miami. 'Ooooo...look at this rare Bumble Bee Transformer from Burger King...!'   

[freddie poe]

You got that right Bob...Toy Hunter is quite comical at best...i guess the word "vintage" applies differently to each individual based on his or her age...........?? when i say "vintage" pertaining to monster toys i am referring to the infancy/height of the monster craze which i classify as the 1960's.....

[Hepcat]

I agree, but in deference to the young fellows on this board, I'm willing to extend the "vintage" period into the seventies.

[Monster Bob]

Yep. In my head vintage=old. Fifty years, half a century, is pretty respectable, for humans or toys. Nobody consciously saved the stuff for its value back then. But by 1980, 1986, 1991, whatever, everybody was hoarding stuff because it would become valuable. General collector mentality. Christmas Barbies. Hoy hoy. "Save the box!" "The box is worth more than the toy!" etc.

TOY HUNTERS cracks me up when then walk into a toy collector's room, and my eyes scan the room like they do at a show, and I think- "Hmmm...shat, shat, shat, shat, shat....BINGO." And spot one thing on the wall I'd want. Of course I'm looking through jaded, glossed over, persnickity eyes, but still, my wife and I er...giggle like girlies. Bless her for putting up with my crap for so long.

Not meaning to offend the younger among us, and beauty and toys are in the eye of the beholder (and BTW, I'm gettin' me some new '66 BATMAN stuff!), but the presentation and antics on that show make me LOL and barf all at the same time. I guess that's dangerous for a guy my age.