Marx Monsters

[zombiehorror]

I've almost completed my blue and orange sets, I just need an orange Frankenstein and a Blue Creature.  I'm wondering though are there other colors that are known to be Marx originals and not recasts?  If so how can you tell?  My first guess would be obviously  the "Louis Marx & Co. Inc." stamped on the bottom but I would not put it past unscrupulous manufacturers (especially those located out of country) to leave this on their reproductions.  Also my blue set all have MCMLXIII (copyright 1963) but the orange set does not, is this copyright date only found on the blue figures?

For some reason I'm really obsessed with these right now, I have to have the entire colored Marx Monster army.  I may also expand into the Mexican repro's as well as a painted set.  The painted sets really show off the detail in these figures, which is even more amazing given they were originally sculpted in the 60's.

And even though I'm sure we've all seen the painted versions here are some images I found on Ebay of them, just because I think this post needed some cool images.

[Toy Ranch]

Orange and Blue are the only two original colors.  They were the only colors anyone had seen until the first repros started coming out in the mid-1980's.  The date and markings are not consistent on the bottoms of them.   The first reissued were cream colored, and then the glow ones came out.  After that they started coming in many other colors too.

[Mike Scott]

Orange and Blue are the only two original colors.

There's the teal blue, but wasn't there a dark blue, as well?

[Toy Ranch]

There's the teal blue, but wasn't there a dark blue, as well?

No, just teal. 

[Mike Scott]

No, just teal. 

Must be those Mexican ones, then.

[Toy Ranch]

I've seen some dark blue ones that are soft vinyl and feel/seem like vintage, but the only colors anyone saw before the 80's was teal and orange.  Some stuff like Nutty Mads came in all kinds of wacky/rare colors, and even different sizes, but the monsters were just the 2 colors.  I've seen some Mexican orange that looks pretty close to vintage orange, but they don't look right next to each other. 

[Mike Scott]

I read somewhere that Quaker Oats bought Marx in the '70s and shipped the molds to Mexico. That would explain how they got there, but does Quaker still own them?

[Eye of Kharis]

The Marx monsters were always a favorite of mine as a kid - in the 60's, they were closest thing we had to monster figures you could actually play with! Well... sorta...

Bill Lemon was always rumoured to have sculpted these, he did sculpt for Marx but in an interview said he didn't do the monsters - anyone know who did?

Wolf Man dressed like the Aurora Bama box art (but minus the pointy ears!), the Creature enchained from Revenge, that flap of scalp hanging off the back of Kharis' head... those sculpts were genius!

[fmofmpls]

Wolf Man dressed like the Aurora Bama box art (but minus the pointy ears!), the Creature enchained from Revenge, that flap of scalp hanging off the back of Kharis' head... those sculpts were genius!

Amazing sculpts indeed not to mention timeless. I would say that the Marx monsters are as iconic, if not more so than the Aurora sculpts. The Marx monsters set the benchmark for all figurines that were to follow.

You would think in a world of endless information, that we would know by now who was truly responsible for these incredible sculpts. 

[fmofmpls]

As a follow up question - were the Marx monsters ever rumored to have been sold on a card (or blister pack)? Or were these figures only sold as bulk product in a bin?

[Mike Scott]

Or were these figures only sold as bulk product in a bin?

Supposedly, as a set in a bag with a header card, though I've never seen one.

[Toy Ranch]

I bought mine out of a bin.  I remember the bins of those larger figs Marx made, the cowboys army guys and monsters....

I bet the playset guys know who sculpted the monsters.

[Eye of Kharis]

I clearly remember buying all of mine out of a bin as well, right next to the Marx Nutty Mads, army men, cowboys, etc. And definitely always either teal blue or orange, as Toy Ranch said.

I don't remember seeing them being sold bagged, but I do know they were sold that way. 

I think they also were offered in mail-order catalogs (maybe Aldens?) in the mid-sixties as well...

[raycastile]

I have seen the Marx bag for sale at least once.  I believe it says "Cinema Creatures" on the bag.  There was no header card, just a bag with art printed directly on it.

[Eye of Kharis]

Here's what I was thinking of that I mentioned in my earlier post:



This is from a 1964 Aldens catalog - maybe catalog order was the only way to get the bagged Marx CINEMA CREATURES set, which could be why none of us remember seeing the Marx monster figures bagged in stores...?

If that were the case, it would also account for the super rarity of bagged examples as well.

Interesting to see them marketed this way in the sixties, sold with paints - almost as a craft item - weren't they reissued the same way as a Universal Monster Paint Studio or something in the 90s?