The legend of AHI Mummy Bend em's

[AHI Creature]

Ok, since it seems like everyone is into AHI talk and trivia, here's my thoughts on AHI Mummy bend 'ems.  I have posted a photo you won't see to often because it is three of them all together at once..  The story is that I collected all the AHI Super Monsters as a kid in 1973 and 74 in a suburb of Chicago.  I would buy them at Kmart and Osco Drug with money I got from cutting grass in the summer and shoveling snow in the winter.   One of my favorites, like Ray, was the Mummy.  The one on the left in the photo was my original childhood Mummy bend em, which is to this day near mint, I never bent him to avoid breaking the wires.  However, I left my collection at my parents when I went off to college, and my mom would bring them out for visiting kids to play with, and that's how someone decided to use a hole punch to destroy his hand as you can see.  At least the kid didn't bite his head off and my mom didn't sell it in a garage sale for 25 cents.  So, I tried to ignore the hole in the hand as I built up and upgraded my collection via ebay in the late 90s but it always bugged me.  I finally had everything I needed and the one thing missing was a perfect mummy bendem.  Starting in about 2005 I scoured constantly, there was an auction with a bunch of figures 10 or 12 megos, ahi 8" figures and  included the mummy  bendem, but I accidentally missed bidding, just forgot and it closed for around $160 (does anyone remember that?, did one of you win it?)  ....finally in 2007 the middle one in the photo came up and I got him for $163, when he arrived I was shocked that every single wire was broken he could not hold any other pose than that of a starfish....I emailed the seller and they apologized but said they did not even know anything about the figure other than a lot of people wanted it and they were surprised how high it went.  So I did not complain, how were they supposed to know about this 35 year old toy they found in their attic?

I was more determined than ever to find a perfect Mummy bend em, that's when I emailed Ray and Toy Ranch about it, they both had one and knew of others that had them but no one wanted to sell.  I continued to search, like a possessed person and finally,  the one on the right came up in December 2008, it was mislisted as universal mummy figure.  I promised myself it would be my xmas present to myself and with 30 seconds left I bid to win, and got it for $263.  It is as perfect and intact with nice paint and unbroken wires as  any I will ever see. 

I love these guys, all three and for their own reasons.  I don't think I will ever sell them.  I could not stop scouring for more mummies and I bid, but did not need to win the one that sold for $282 a few weeks ago.  I might  slow down collecting  AHI for now, I think I will try to satisfy the mental disorder by sharing pictures and stories with you guys.  The ahi mummy bendem is my favorite figure and this will be my favorite topic.  Please post any stories and pictures of your AHI Mummy bendems, if you cant post a photo you can email it to me and I will post it for you.  Please join me in making this the Ultimate AHI Mummy Bend 'em thread.

Thank you for reading and please share any AHI Mummy bendem comments, questions or photos.

[Dr.Terror]

I got lucky and finished my set last year.   Getting a Frank, Kong, and near mint Mummy for a staggering $40.

[AHI Creature]

I got lucky and finished my set last year.   Getting a Frank, Kong, and near mint Mummy for a staggering $40.

Dr. Terror:
...please do tell the story of how you got that group so cheap...was it a Buy it Now?  Or was it somewhere other than Ebay?  Also, for anyone interested, here is a close up of my original mummy's mutilated hand.  (I hope it is not against any site rules to post such a gruesome, horrifyingly graphic photo here.)

[aurora1craig]

Ouch!! That must hurt!(Mummys Hand). Thank you for the Great story & Pictures , Aurora1Craig

[1975]

Ah-hah, now I know who clobbered me back in December.

[marsattacks666]

Ok, since it seems like everyone is into AHI talk and trivia, here's my thoughts on AHI Mummy bend 'ems.  I have posted a photo you won't see to often because it is three of them all together at once..  The story is that I collected all the AHI Super Monsters as a kid in 1973 and 74 in a suburb of Chicago.  I would buy them at Kmart and Osco Drug with money I got from cutting grass in the summer and shoveling snow in the winter.   One of my favorites, like Ray, was the Mummy.  The one on the left in the photo was my original childhood Mummy bend em, which is to this day near mint, I never bent him to avoid breaking the wires.  However, I left my collection at my parents when I went off to college, and my mom would bring them out for visiting kids to play with, and that's how someone decided to use a hole punch to destroy his hand as you can see.  At least the kid didn't bite his head off and my mom didn't sell it in a garage sale for 25 cents.  So, I tried to ignore the hole in the hand as I built up and upgraded my collection via ebay in the late 90s but it always bugged me.  I finally had everything I needed and the one thing missing was a perfect mummy bendem.  Starting in about 2005 I scoured constantly, there was an auction with a bunch of figures 10 or 12 megos, ahi 8" figures and  included the mummy  bendem, but I accidentally missed bidding, just forgot and it closed for around $160 (does anyone remember that?, did one of you win it?)  ....finally in 2007 the middle one in the photo came up and I got him for $163, when he arrived I was shocked that every single wire was broken he could not hold any other pose than that of a starfish....I emailed the seller and they apologized but said they did not even know anything about the figure other than a lot of people wanted it and they were surprised how high it went.  So I did not complain, how were they supposed to know about this 35 year old toy they found in their attic?

I was more determined than ever to find a perfect Mummy bend em, that's when I emailed Ray and Toy Ranch about it, they both had one and knew of others that had them but no one wanted to sell.  I continued to search, like a possessed person and finally,  the one on the right came up in December 2008, it was mislisted as universal mummy figure.  I promised myself it would be my xmas present to myself and with 30 seconds left I bid to win, and got it for $263.  It is as perfect and intact with nice paint and unbroken wires as  any I will ever see. 

I love these guys, all three and for their own reasons.  I don't think I will ever sell them.  I could not stop scouring for more mummies and I bid, but did not need to win the one that sold for $282 a few weeks ago.  I might  slow down collecting  AHI for now, I think I will try to satisfy the mental disorder by sharing pictures and stories with you guys.  The ahi mummy bendem is my favorite figure and this will be my favorite topic.  Please post any stories and pictures of your AHI Mummy bendems, if you cant post a photo you can email it to me and I will post it for you.  Please join me in making this the Ultimate AHI Mummy Bend 'em thread.

Thank you for reading and please share any AHI Mummy bendem comments, questions or photos.

Great looking Mummys, though.

[raycastile]

I love how all three of those Mummies have such individual personalities.  I especially like the crabby expression on the far right one.

[raycastile]

Here's my Mummy at Wonderfest '08.





He's my childhood Mummy.  He's got a few holes in his chest where Adventure People foolishly tried to kill him with cocktail swords.  As you can see, he still lives.  Kharis is immortal.

[marsattacks666]

Here's my Mummy at Wonderfest '08.





He's my childhood Mummy.  He's got a few holes in his chest where Adventure People foolishly tried to kill him with cocktail swords.  As you can see, he still lives.  Kharis is immortal.

He seems very happy, with open arms.   The look of Mummy is very reminiscent of Mummy's HAND/TOMB look, maybe a cross between (Kharis) Tom Tyler/Lon Chaney jr.

[darkmonkeygod]

So YOU'RE the reason my the Mummy skyrocketed (yelled with shaking fist)! Only kidding, very cool you were able to add one in good shape to bolster your wounded one(s). Great pic, love the way the one on the right has almost a smirk with the way the red of the mouth goes up.

Interesting how the center one seems to have been passed over - or not as the case may be - with as much grey wash as the others. I've got some pics of figures where the white highlight for the loose bandages misses completely and is on the upper arm or thigh. Guess painting Mummies all day got mind numbing.

I'd dearly love to see unpainted production samples of any of these. Just an all black Frank or Drac or Kong, the Mummy in white, Wolfie in brown or, most of all, Gill in that pearlescent green. Anyway, keep giving us the AHI stories and photos please and thank you.

[Barlow]

Raycastile wrote:

He's my childhood Mummy.  He's got a few holes in his chest where Adventure People foolishly tried to kill him with cocktail swords.  As you can see, he still lives.  Kharis is immortal.

ROTFLMAO!!!! 

And here I thought I was the only one who used cocktail swords to impale my rubber bendy toys!

[raycastile]

One of the cool things about all AHI Mummy toys is that they are definitely Chaney Jr.'s Kharis and not, as all Mummy toys are today, Karloff's Im-hotep.  Not that there's anything wrong with Im-hotep, but he's more a horror villain than a monster.  Kharis is a lumbering monster, a boogeyman, an "it."  I like Kharis.

[marsattacks666]

One of the cool things about all AHI Mummy toys is that they are definitely Chaney Jr.'s Kharis and not, as all Mummy toys are today, Karloff's Im-hotep.  Not that there's anything wrong with Im-hotep, but he's more a horror villain than a monster.  Kharis is a lumbering monster, a boogeyman, an "it."  I like Kharis.

Kharis rocks fo' sho'. The Tyler/Chaney Mummy has my vote.

[poseablemonster]

AHI Mummies are like snowflakes - no two are ever exactly alike.

[AHI Creature]

So YOU'RE the reason my the Mummy skyrocketed (yelled with shaking fist)! Only kidding, very cool you were able to add one in good shape to bolster your wounded one(s). Great pic, love the way the one on the right has almost a smirk with the way the red of the mouth goes up.

Interesting how the center one seems to have been passed over - or not as the case may be - with as much grey wash as the others. I've got some pics of figures where the white highlight for the loose bandages misses completely and is on the upper arm or thigh. Guess painting Mummies all day got mind numbing.

I'd dearly love to see unpainted production samples of any of these. Just an all black Frank or Drac or Kong, the Mummy in white, Wolfie in brown or, most of all, Gill in that pearlescent green. Anyway, keep giving us the AHI stories and photos please and thank you.

I have often wondered about the production of these toys, and where they were made over there in Hong Kong...what happened to all of the molds and production machines?  How many Super Monsters were made?  How many workers and what was the production on a good day?  Can you imagine if we could find the manager of the factory and interview him?  Yes definitely I have wondered what ever happend to those production molds, is it possible they were thrown away??  They must be somewhere.  I would be interested to hear anyones opinions or thoughts.  Also, since it caught several peoples attention, here is a close up of the "smirk" on my perfect mummy.