APC puzzles

[NekroDave]

This is probably common knowledge, but I didn't find anything either in the galleries or in doing a search, so I'll just flat out ask. How many monster puzzles did APC do? I'm interested in the canned ones specifically, but feel free to post any others.

So far, I've got Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, King Kong, Godzilla and a "Funny Flicks" King Kong.  I know I am missing the Creature and the Phantom for sure, but don't think I've ever seen a Mummy. Was one made? Any others I don't know about?

[NekroDave]

Nothing?

[darkmonkeygod]

It gets a little tricky because the American Publishing Corp. released two different monster puzzle assortments, three in each. First: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster & Wolf Man full figure scenes in 1974 through at least '76 in cans. Creature, Phantom & Frankenstein's Monster portraits from the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine (two by Gogos) in 1974 or '75. These are boxed and have glow in the dark elements. There is a box graphic variation for all three. APC then released those same three portrait puzzles in cans in '76 and seem to have done so into '77 (perhaps beyond). I think the Godzilla and King Kong can versions came out in '76 and '77. APC added a Universal copyright to the Dracula and Wolf Man from the first can assortment and released them along with the Frankenstein's Monster portrait from the second series in square boxes with 81 pieces each (no glow feature). The Godzilla and Kong were released like this too. I might have the dates a little off on some of them, and there's be rumour for years that in the '77 square box series there is a Phantom and Creature, but from old sales sheets I've seen, that assortment was only three (of course, there could have been a second assortment in '78 or 79). These same images (minus the Dracula and full Frakenstein's Monster were used as insert give-a-way posters in Suger Crisp in 1975. Never, ever heard of a Mummy at all and I don't think one exists.

As simple as possible on the cans:

Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster & Wolf Man full figure scenes in 1974 through at least '77.
Creature, Phantom & Frankenstein's Monster portraits in 1976 and at least at least '77.
Godzilla & King Kong full figure scenes.
Dunno much about the Funny Flicks, I think APC claimed public domain on the RKO version. I've seen no other monsters in that series, but there could be.

APC released new UM puzzles in 1990 btw, but all boxed, none in cans.  I should have pix of much of this, and some are in our gallery here.

[darkmonkeygod]

       

   

[NekroDave]

Sweet! Thanks for all the info. All I could have hoped for and more! So for the cans, it seems like the second Frankenstein is the only one I didn't know about and I still need that whole series.

Getting into the total minutia, one of my cans has a red lid. Is that a variation or might it be taken from another non-monster canned puzzle? It sort of annoys me having one different from the rest.

[Mike Scott]

Nice collection of APC puzzles! I like the trade ad for the 3 monsters!

[darkmonkeygod]

Nice collection of APC puzzles! I like the trade ad for the 3 monsters!

Well, a nice collection of photos. I do own most of these, but I've collected the pics since the days of Famous Monsters and Monster Times, and with digital photography and ebay, I've got thousands I'm still sorting, and my own collection has not even begun to be shot. The 'trade ad' is actually a page from one of the '76 APC wholesale catalogs. Always on the look out for more dealer catalogs.

Missing from the above are the square box versions of the Godzilla (particularly gruesome image that one, people falling to their death from his jaws) and King Kong. Same images as the cans. Note that the Godzilla puzzle has a t-shirt offer inside. Shawn has the redemption ticket. No one I know has ever seen the shirt.

Sweet! Thanks for all the info. All I could have hoped for and more! So for the cans, it seems like the second Frankenstein is the only one I didn't know about and I still need that whole series.

Getting into the total minutia, one of my cans has a red lid. Is that a variation or might it be taken from another non-monster canned puzzle? It sort of annoys me having one different from the rest.

Dave, for you, it is the least. So you are missing all of the FM covers (portraits)? They tend to be pricier and rarer than the full figure paintings. Cases of that first series popped sometime in the last 15 yrs and sealed ones went for $10. The seem to have settled in at $20 to $30 complete, but still turn up for under. The other three, look out. I've only seen two sets of sealed ones since '98, and they were $100 each on Eric and Frankie, $260 on Gill. Open and complete, you rarely see them - I don't think I saw a Phantom this year, maybe one each of the other two. $60 to $80 was the average on Phantom and Frank, $100 to $150 on Creature.

I have seen many with red tops, mostly coming from the UK. One of mine has one, I'd want a set w clear and wouldn't feel wrong swapping one out. Matter of fact, I may be able to oblige you there, I'll have to dig into the vaults.

[darkmonkeygod]

Anyone know any more about these? I'm looking for more info on the smaller 81 piece square box releases from '77. The Frank face, leaping Wolf Man and arm flaring Dracula. I'd like to know if anyone has seen others (the rumoured Creature and Phantom), or perhaps the other Frank (never heard of this, don't want to start a rumour).

I find it odd that the Dracula has the logo on the box top, unlike the Wolf Man and Frankenstein which are supposedly from the same '77 assortment. The copyrights are interesting too. The first series of can puzzles are NOT Universal, yet when two of those images turn up 3 years later they ARE copyrighted to Universal. Odd.

Then there's the box versions of the second can series. I'll post about them later, but they GLOW IN THE DARK, like the cereal premium posters of the same images, and have three variations in box graphics, that I know of. Fun.

[monsterphile]

O fcourse, making things even more interesting was the use of the Creature, the Pahantom, the Frank face, and the leaping "Wolf Man" for the series of glow mini-posters. 

[Mike Scott]

Well, a nice collection of photos.

That's what's I meant, whoever they belonged to, it's nice to see them all in one place! And thanks for the detailed info!

[NekroDave]

It's funny, I've seen that boxed Frankenstein one plenty of times, but it never occurred to me that it's part of the same collection of puzzles, perhaps because I never knew that there was a canned version.

That's interesting, too, about the Godzilla t-shirt. I'll ask around about it. My canned Godzilla puzzle is actually missing one piece, so maybe if I ever upgrade, I'll hold out for one that has the redemption ticket.

For the lids, I actually need two clear ones ideally. Not only would I love to replace the red one I have with a clear, but my Funny Flicks King Kong has no lid at all. But it's still sealed though no danger of losing any pieces or anything.

[deathfink]

Okay, in my intro post I mentioned that it was a search for info on these puzzles that brought me here. While I didn't find the answers I was looking for, I did indicate that I might have some odd interesting things to share that I just learned on my own.

So here's the story. I have 2 of the APC Frankenstein canned puzzles. One I bought ages ago from someone who probably assembled it as a kid then did the whole puzzle glue job on it. The second one I was pretty sure I recalled I had assembled it before and it was missing one or pieces. So I decided to put it together again and see what was missing. Turns out it was just one frame piece. That got me to thinking that (if you follow conventional wisdom) one should be able to pick up another incomplete puzzle dirt cheap, and the chances would be good that you would score the missing piece or pieces. Flash forward maybe an hour or so, I complete the puzzle and on a whim decide to see how they look together. Here's where conventional wisdom takes a kick square in the crotch.



Okay in this pic you can clearly see some variation in color. The docs lab coat is blueish in the bottom one and more lavender in the top. Also note in the top puzzle you see mostly just a single broken board under the docs back, while below their is much more broken debris.



Here, more color variation. The overlaying puzzle is lighter while the one beneath is more vibrant. Of course this all could just be age and exposure to light. Now look at the top of Frank's head in relation to the top edge of the puzzle. Note the extra inch of sky in one and the other ends at the top of Frank's head.



This is where my mind was blown. While they are the same exact width, obviously one is fully 2" or more longer. Closer inspection shows that they do not even share the same cutting pattern. Of course I put this all down to either different years of production or different locations of production or both. At any rate it certainly makes finding replacement pieces that much more of a crap shoot. Moral of the story is, buy one complete. In the end I cut and colored a cardboard to fill in the gap. At a glance you don't really notice it. One final bit of onfo, the piece count breaks down as 165 for the smaller one, 204 for the larger.

I dunno I thought it was interesting anyway.

[monsterphile]

It's been a long time, but I ran into a problem like this before with some puzzle (possibly the same one).  I had 2 incomplete ones hoping that I could get at least one complete one between the two, but the pieces didn't line up the same way.  Moral of the story, if you're going to buy an imcomplete puzzle, only pay what the box/can is worth to you.

Rob

[Toy Ranch]

It's been a long time, but I ran into a problem like this before with some puzzle (possibly the same one).  I had 2 incomplete ones hoping that I could get at least one complete one between the two, but the pieces didn't line up the same way.  Moral of the story, if you're going to buy an imcomplete puzzle, only pay what the box/can is worth to you.

Rob

I had one that was incomplete and did the same thing....  bought another incomplete one and the pieces didn't line up.  Undaunted, I took the back of a yellow legal tablet and traced the missing piece onto it from the almost-complete puzzle.  Then I assembled the area that was missing from the other puzzle, and scanned it.  A little photoshop work to blend the area where there were lines, and I color copied the replaced area, pasted it to the cardboard that I traced and cut out carefully with an exacto blade, straight edge, and French curve, and then applied a light glaze to give it an equivalent sheen.  Not perfect, but close!  The cardboard is a different color and it cannot  be mistaken for an original piece, but it sure fits in well.  I doubt I'll spend that much time on completing a puzzle again, but it was fun to do~!

[Dr.Terror]

Same here.  I have multiple Creepy Creature puzzles and almost all of them vary in color.   So completing one without a sore thumb spot is tough.