Early Invisible Man Merchandise

[horrorhunter]

You're probably right about that. 

I grew up in the '60s and early '70s and every kid I knew had more sense than to do something that stupid (like setting themselves on fire!?). We played with Thingmakers and other potentially dangerous toys and learned quickly not to do idiotic things or.. guess what?.. IT FREAKIN' HURTS! 

So it begs the question.. did kids get dumber in the '70s, or did rulemaking busybodies infect society with more of their BS? Hmmm.. yep, it's the latter. 

[Gory Glenn]

I grew up in the '60s and early '70s and every kid I knew had more sense than to do something that stupid (like setting themselves on fire!?). We played with Thingmakers and other potentially dangerous toys and learned quickly not to do idiotic things or.. guess what?.. IT FREAKIN' HURTS! 

So it begs the question.. did kids get dumber in the '70s, or did rulemaking busybodies infect society with more of their BS? Hmmm.. yep, it's the latter. 

I think it was guys like Irwin Mainway they were worried about. 

[Mord]

 The first Invisible Man toy I can remember was the Horizon vinyl kit from the late eighties. Anything before that?

[horrorhunter]

I grew up in the '60s and early '70s and every kid I knew had more sense than to do something that stupid (like setting themselves on fire!?). We played with Thingmakers and other potentially dangerous toys and learned quickly not to do idiotic things or.. guess what?.. IT FREAKIN' HURTS! 

So it begs the question.. did kids get dumber in the '70s, or did rulemaking busybodies infect society with more of their BS? Hmmm.. yep, it's the latter. 

Of course, the real reason the Human Torch wasn't used in the 1978 FF cartoon is because the character was tied up legally for another proposed show which was never produced. Here's the link to the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241100/combined

My comment about the rulemaking busybodies was really aimed at the overall change in the '70s and '80s which saw storytelling hamstrung by the attitude that violence in entertainment would convince kids to go out and do stupid things. This led to the cutesy crap in cartoons like Godzooky, and The Smurfs. Me and the kids I knew were exposed to a lot of entertainment where people were punching and shooting each other like superhero comics, Warner Bros cartoons, and most movies, but it never made me or any of the people I knew want to go out and break the law. On the contrary, it instilled in us the difference between right and wrong, heroes and villains, and being a law abiding person or an outlaw. I hated to see things get watered down so because a few overly cautious people had their way and made "punching the villain" taboo in certain entertainment. Most logical folks are of the opinion that anyone stupid enough to purposely break the law and hurt others will do it regardless of what they see in a cartoon, even when they're an impressionable kid. During childhood we need to be grounded with a clear sense of right and wrong, and the villain needs to be subdued until they're carted off to the pokey. If the story calls for a good brawl between heroes and villains, so be it. Violent characters have always been a common story telling device in most entertainment. BTW, I hate The Smurfs, The Snorkels and the other cutesy shows which proliferated the '80s cartoon world. We went from Jonny Quest and The Herculoids in the '60s to that dreck in the '80s. Okay, sorry for the soapbox routine. Through venting now, back to our regularly scheduled monstering.

[Mike Scott]

The first Invisible Man toy I can remember was the Horizon vinyl kit from the late eighties. Anything before that?

Nothing you'd call a "toy".

[ravenloft]

Sexism seems evident in the choice of female monsters.  Not even a monster in her own right, "The Bride" was more of a victim than a monster.

I think a better choice would have been an active monster like Dracula's Daughter.  She never got the respect I thought she deserved.

While she was not monstrous in her actions, she was a supernatural creature brought back from the dead so she is a monster per se, while invisible man is only monstrous in his behavior and is just a normal human with a complexion problem, more of a superhero/villain with a science mishap origin.
Clearly Hunchback (and possibly the Phantom) are no longer marketable because portraying the disfigured as a monster is no longer acceptable and they are just regular humans as well. Franky, Wolfy, Mummy and Drac are all supernatural creatures and certainly qualify as monsters, while Creech is a natural creature so I don't think qualifies as a monster any more than a leopard or crocodile does.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

Clearly Hunchback (and possibly the Phantom) are no longer marketable because portraying the disfigured as a monster is no longer acceptable and they are just regular humans as well. Franky, Wolfy, Mummy and Drac are all supernatural creatures and certainly qualify as monsters, while Creech is a natural creature so I don't think qualifies as a monster any more than a leopard or crocodile does.

See, I hate all this, Phantom is misunderstood just because he's a human crap. He's evil. He murdered people and took glee in it. Frankenstein never meant to hurt anyone but he's fine to call a monster just because he's supernatural. Also the Creature is definitely supernatural, even if he's just basically an animal he's still an animal that could never exist.

[ravenloft]

two different kinds of monster are being talked about here and you are blurring the lines.
Yes Ted Bundy or any other real world serial killer is a monster, as are spree killers, mass murderers, terrorists, child rapists etc.
Is Phantom a monster in this sense? Perhaps, he kills many with a chandelier in the original story and kills others by garrote so he fits the sociopathic type of monster well. But he certainly isn't a supernatural monster although he tries to masquerade as a ghost.

Supernatural monsters are monsters in the fairy tale sense, they do not exist in the real world as much as we would like to be blood sucking immortals, wolf out or raise the dead.

Creature is just a undiscovered animal, no different from any unknown to science and only a "monster" because he is anthropomorphic, and in the cryptozoological sense similar to bigfoot.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

But he certainly isn't a supernatural monster although he tries to masquerade as a ghost.

Hard to say on that. His deformity isn't exactly a real life deformity, to my knowledge.

But I'm not arguing on the whole if he technically is a monster or not. I'm just talking about the politically correct scale. And I would say that he can be grouped as a monster without being offensive because he's a serial killer. But Quasimodo can't really be grouped as one by this way of thinking.

[The Red Death 30]

I would submit a much different theory as both monsters seemed to fade out of the main Universal lineup around the same time.  I think that the two being from the silent Era has some impact on that as they are just not movies most people are willing to watch anymore, whereas shows like Svengookie still keep yhe "talkie" Universals going.

I would, also, submit that both have been wussified  (yes, I made up that word for this srgument) for the modern audience.  To a large number of people Hunchback is a tragic hero from a Disney movie and the Phantom is some guy who sings on Broadway.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

I would, also, submit that both have been wussified  (yes, I made up that word for this srgument) for the modern audience.  To a large number of people Hunchback is a tragic hero from a Disney movie and the Phantom is some guy who sings on Broadway.

Thanks, Andrew Lloyd Webber. By the way, I don't think the Phantom faded out into a lesser role until the 90's whereas The Hunchback was pretty much gone by 1980. Also, I'd go and say that all the monsters were wussified by modern media, yet somehow the wuss Hunchback and Phantom are the iconic ones now.

[Mike Scott]

I would, also, submit that both have been wussified 

They did the same thing with Kong.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

They did the same thing with Kong.

Which time? 'Cause as an answer I could (probably controversially) accept every movie other than the first one. I'd also like to say at this time that my 3 favorite monsters other than Frank are the Phantom, Hunchback, and Kong. Lucky me.

[The Red Death 30]

The first monster toy I ever owned was the 80 Remco Phantom. Picked it out myself at Kmart when I was 5.  Phantoms always had a soft spot for me.

[Mike Scott]

Which time?

I was thinking of the 2005 movie, but yeah, anything after 1933.