Strap in, y'all. This is gonna be long. Unless you're not interested in tiny monsters and you won't be reading it. Totally okay.
In 1990, I lived in a suburb of Orlando and I saw a dark purple box in...I believe it was KMart. There behind a plastic window was a bright-colored little monster. These were the original Series 1 Monster in My Pocket 12-packs. Only one monster was visible. The rest were in a loose jumble inside the box. They were also sold in 4-packs which were completely visible but I think those were mostly common characters. There was also a huge 24-pack but I never got that, as I already had almost all of them. I think I bought the 12-packs mostly if not exclusively and it was because that was how you got the rarer monsters.
Orlando was not my greatest life experience. I liked the area and there was good shopping, including a flea market where I got some great 80s treasures, but I was sexually harassed and bullied in school and on the bus, so I became even more attached to my toy collection. I would actually carry around one of the little monsters in my pocket when I went various places. So this line has always held a special place in my heart, as something I was excited about in times that weren't so great otherwise.
I need to note that MIMPs would not fly on today's shelves. There are some characters here that come from extant religions and should never have been labelled as monsters.
I did sell a lot of my childhood collection, the ones that I never really got attached to. So I don't have anything close to the full set of Series 1, which was the one I bought the most of. I'll explain about accessibility as we move along.
Anyway, the three characters in the picture wayyyy up there at this point were three of my favorites. The original S1 came in 4 colors: purple, yellow, red and a yellow-green which I'll refer to as green to save time. The purple guy on the left is Tengu, a character from Japanese mythology. I loved this guy. I thought he was adorable. (My idea of cute is very, very broad.) Actual tengu in art are shown a variety of ways, including with a very long nose and as birdlike. In the middle is the Roc, the enormous bird of Middle Eastern myth. On the right is Karnak. Karnak was a bit of a mystery. He's Egyptian obviously, but Karnak is the name of a temple complex, not a deity or a demon. His power is in the skulls in his hands, which he can use to create storms or control minds. Yeah, they just made all that up, but he's cool-looking.
All these first ones are Series 1. I'll note when we switch to Series 2.
Starting on the right, we've got Winged Panther, which is self-explanatory. Not sure where they got the idea for him but he's cool.
Next is Griffin. Love him.
This guy is just called Tyrannosaurus Rex. Yeah, they couldn't say Godzilla or something, so it's just a T-Rex with pecs and fists. Good ol' MIMP.
Catoblepas is one of the ones I hadn't known about before MIMP. I've always loved reading about folklore, mythology and cryptids, so I went into collecting these already knowing a lot. According to MIMP, Catoblepas is a slow-moving composite monster with a hog head, buffalo body and dragon wings. He's not dangerous...unless you look at him. Like Medusa, his gaze can turn you to stone. Mythologically, the catoblepas is a creature from Africa and was written about by the Roman naturalist Pliny. It's thought that it was inspired by the gnu.
Next to him is Cockatrice AKA: Basilisk. Before Harry Potter, he basilisk was a winged serpent with a rooster head with a deadly look and/or breath.
Finally, that's Haniver on the end, based on the Jenny Haniver. Jenny Haniver's are dried rays/skates cut and positioned to resemble mythical critters. I loved this figure.
Now let's get into the mythology ones.
On the left is Behemoth, one of the Biblical chaos monsters. Christianity was not safe from being included in MIMPs but they chose the actual monster characters.
Next to him is the Great Beast from Revelation, another Biblical guy.
And then...sigh...we've got Kali. Yep, Kali from the very much still practiced Hindu religion. Not a monster. I was annoyed she was included for that reason but I was also thrilled to have a toy of Kali, since I read a lot of mythology and liked her.
The red one next to her is Coatlicue from Aztec myth. She was pretty badass, too.
Then we've got the first ancient Greek contingent: Cerberus, Hydra, Chimera and sexy Medusa. It was nice to see Medusa as a woman with snake hair, which is how I tend to picture her. I'm not sure where movies got the snake body from for her.
On both the left and right end is Bigfoot. I'm not sure how I got two of them. If I have doubles of any figures, I might part with them, so let me know if you'd like one.
Similarly, the orange figure and red figure next to both Bigfoots are The Beast. The red is my childhood one. I can't remember when I got the orange. Series 1 comes in a LOT of colors that were released with different games, in different countries, etc. The Beast is from Beauty and the Beast.
The green one next to the orange Beast is Werewolf, which is probably pretty obvious.
The orange one next to him is actually a lot more neon in person. That is Hobgoblin.
That wraps up my Series 1 collection, but there are 48 of these guys. The ones I don't have are some of the bigger names: Cyclops, Triton, Kraken, Frankenstein (called The Monster), Baba Yaga, Harpy, Windigo (another problematic one), Red Cap, Goblin, Zombie, Ghost, Ogre, Vampire, Gremlin, Vampiress, Ghoul, The Phantom (of the Opera), Mad Scientist (Dr. Jekyll), Mummy, Charon, Witch, Spring-Heeled Jack, Invisible Man, Skeleton, and Hunchback. The two lesser-known names are Jotun Troll and Manticore, I need to get the manticore figure. I love manticores. I don't know if I ever had him. He's one you need in a darker color so you can see the details better.
Series 2 was available to me only through Spaghettios. You had to send in 3 labels and then you got a set of 3 Series 2 MIMPs in bright neon colors. There were 4 sets to collect. Series 3 also came in sets of 12 and 24, but I never saw those.
I honestly don't know which ones I had as a kid. I remember 10 of them so I must have had 3 sets but I can't remember who the other 2 were!
Series 2 comes in neon green, orange, pink and blue.
Starting on the left, we have Swamp Beast. Self-explanatory.
Then I have two Gargoyles.
The orange one is Ectoplasmic Phantom. I actually only just got him a couple days ago. I finally added another Series 2 to my collection that I don't remember ever having and he came in the lot.
On the end is Undine. I had her in blue from childhood but must have sold her and ended up with a green one. An undine is a water elemental.
Nessie! Two Nessies. The pink one is my childhood Nessie.
The next pink one is Bishop Fish. My childhood one was orange. They're an unusual sea monster.
Then comes Merrow. I love Merrow. He's one of my big faves. Merrows are Irish mercreatures. The females are like typical mermaids, but the males are "ugly." I don't think he's ugly at all. I don't think I had him in childhood but bought him as an adult collector.
On the end are two Nuckelavee. I love this guy, too, but because he's scary. The nuckelavee is a Scottish sea monster that looks like a horse without skin when it comes on land. Even scarier, a man's torso grows out of its back and it has long arms that drag on the ground and a huge lolling head. Creepy! I think he's easily the scariest monster in the entire line.
Back to the religious monsters and not at all monsters.
On the left is the Golem from Jewish folklore.
Then come two of the Scorpion Man figure. These guys are Aqrabuamelu and they guard Shamash, who's a positive deity. While they do have some scary abilities, like a death gaze, they seem overall positive and this depiction comes straight from ancient art, making these guys some of my faves.
And then we're back to problematic territory. That's Ganesha on the end. You know, one of the most well-known and worshipped Hindu deities. Good job, Matchbox. WTF. As with Kali, young me was just happy to have a figure of him. I had an orange one in childhood. I think I've actually had him in all four colors at one point. But I loved reading whatever I could on Hindu mythology so I was pleased to have these toys, even if they weren't appropriate for the line.
This group and the next are both mixes.
On the left is Tarasque, which is a bizarre composite monster. It had a lion head but a turtle shell on its back, six legs with clawed feet, and a scaly tail. I think this is my childhood one.
And I know the pink Dragon next to him is my childhood guy. Love that one.
Now the other two on the right are actually from the very hard to find Series 3. These were premiums from Shreddies in Canada, as well as possibly Big Boy, according to the site I'm using as a resource. Colors for these were a blue and pink similar to Series 2 and a yellow-green more like Series 1, as well as an orange. I don't think I ever had an orange one so I can't describe it. But the two I have here are both dragons so they had to go along with the others. (Tarasque is considered a type of dragon, I believe.) The blue one is the Biblical Leviathan to finally go with Behemoth from Series 1, and the green is the Amphisbaena, which is basically a teo-legged dragon with a head on both ends. Sometimes it's depicted with wings. I never had any Series 3 as a kid. These were all bought on ebay as an adult many, many years ago.
I'll actually get the Series 3 out of the way first. He's Orobas, all the way over on the right end. He's one of the great demons of hell and this sculpt came directly from art of him.
Back to Series 2, on the left we have Dryad. Pretty sure that's my childhood one.
Then comes Minotaur. Mine original was orange.
Third is the one I bought recently that I wanted to add to my collection. It's Ancient Gorgon. She's pretty awesome. I love the gonna getcha pose.
Then we have Herne the Hunter from English ghost stories.
Back to ancient Egypt for the first time since Series 1, here is Sobek, the crocodile-headed god. Sobek wasn't a scary deity but Egyptians were known to take creatures they feared and turn them into deities they respected. I also have a green Sobek that hangs out in my shrine space.
So I'm only missing a few from Series 2: Warlock, Ymir, Elbow Witch, Spectre, and Bloody Bones. I looked into getting Spectre, who's like a grim reaper, but I didn't like his prices. Maybe eventually.
There is one not pictured here though. I have Jabberwock but when I lived in Florida, he was hanging out with Maddie Hatter, so he is not with the other monsters and I need to find him. I'm going to check a couple spots where I have EAH stuff but he might actually be in the giant bin of dolls where my EAH collection is. I'll find him. Or I'll buy a new one. I love that guy.
As far as Series 3 goes, the ones I don't have are: Abominable Snowman, Anubis, Centaur, Siren, and Jimmy Squarefoot. I used to have them but I sold them. I think I must have sold Anubis because otherwise he'd be in my shrine and I didn't see him there. I was thrilled they made Anubis but his designer must have been a bit drunk when he sculpted. The figure is extremely blocky with these giant shoulders and arms that look like Hulk Anubis.
There is one more figure in Series 3 that came with the video game. I should have bought the damn game to get the toy because he's worth several hundred now and he's cool-looking. He's a Blemmyae, which is basically a man-like creature but his face is in his chest and there's no head.
Series 4 were called Super Scary. These were large figures with actual paint details but they somehow missed the mark and weren't nearly as cool as the originals. I only have four though I used to have a few more.
Back to the questionable, we've got Hanuman the Hindu monkey god and Yama the Hindu god of death. Sigh.
The yellow guy with the green head is Umi Bozu, a Japanese ocean spirit.
Then comes Fachen, a Scottish monster that has a single eye, single hand and single leg. The designers went with insect for him. I have no idea why.
At the end is the Jersey Devil. Yay, a cryptid we all know. Except they left off his hooves. Ah, well. He's still neat.
I'm going to refrain from listing the ones I don't have because it's a long list and I don't care. Heh. Series 4 was my least fave by far.
Series 5 would be bugs, Series 6 dinosaurs, and Series 7 aliens. The monsters had come to an end. I actually have the dinos but I'm saving them til the end.
Instead I'm going to jump ahead to 2006, when MEG released a revamped MIMP line. These looked more like painted miniatures with loads of detail. They had interesting sculpts but the paint jobs weren't the greatest on toys that small. Still pretty cool though.
Starting with mythology, we've got Cerberus and Cyclops, then the Hydra, which is really neat. Then a centaur. On the right end, we can see that they still haven't learned anything, even though it's a new company. That is the 6-Armed Sorceress. Sigh. At least they're not using names anymore, I guess?
Nessie is looking way more badass this time. Then comes Jimmy Squarefoot, Gremlin, Windigo (who looks like Bigfoot), Haniver (definite badass upgrade here), Cockatrice, and Catoblepas.
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