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10/07/2006: Monster In My Pocket, and skulls too!

I’m still counting this late entry as Friday’s, so there. Joining the 2006 Halloween Countdown are four 1990 Monster In My Pocket figures. Most if not all of you should remember the line, especially because I’ve written about it sixty times before. This article deals more with the allure of the original series, before it went crazy with giant-sized 500,000 point monsters with electronic voice-boxes and firing missiles. Click here to read!


In the Halloween party favor/cheap toy department, the skull has been a point of particular interest this year. We already saw two of the best last month, including one with a bunch of bloody bugs inside it, and another that blinked various neon colors when squished. Shown above are three more, again with special action features that transform them from mere skulls into the heart and soul of any party.


One of the skulls, complete with comically undersized skeleton body, is a mere waterball. You grab it, and a mouthful of water swishes around, forever changing the shape of the skull. Unlike most waterballs, you can stretch this thing for a good ten inches without worrying about a wet explosion.


The second is from the same series as the previously reported skull-with-bugs-in-it, only this time, the bugs have been replaced with a bunch of bloody, squishy eyeballs. It’s a lot easier to make cheap, realistic-looking fake bugs than cheap, realistic-looking fake eyes, so while the other skull was cooler on that level, it’s much more absurdistly and keen to find one with a bunch of eyeballs in it. Bugs? You can attribute bugs to the decomposition process. Eyeballs? Where the fuck did those come from?


Finally, and most alarmingly, we have a skull with a twist-off top that reveals a chamber full of toy slime. The slime comes in a bunch of different colors, each with some kind of gross rubber bug (I got a stunted centipede) hiding within.

All of the skulls are in that 1-2 dollar range. They won’t break your bank. Unless you’re poor. Haha, you’re poor.

ADST leading into SNT with this one, folks.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 89 comments

First post?! I posted in the last blog judt now that there was a new entry up!

Updates: Bought Boo Berry! (Frankenberry was at Eckerd too, but I had that already)

And if my senses are right, I’ve now had all 7 Halloween Jones Sodas. My least favorite is Gruesome Grape, as I also despise anything grape-flavored, which relates back to all the grape medicine I had as a kid (this also explains my hatred of Cherry, which as a medicine made me sick!)

Ghosted by Invader Norbert @ 10/07/2006 2:13 PM EDT


I found one of those squishy skulls at the dollar store…it was full of bugs and maggots and “blood” and actually kinda made me nauseous. I’m regretting not purchasing it.

Ghosted by Ariel @ 10/07/2006 2:20 PM EDT


I like the bloody eye balls, personally I find it more disturbing than bugs.

Ghosted by IHAQ @ 10/07/2006 2:36 PM EDT


Were Puppy in My Pocket and Kitty in My Pocket made by the same company? I collected the cats and they were fully colored without a point system. Well, they did each come with a card telling their “stats”, maybe I can dig one up and tell you what they had on them.

Puppy in my pccket, they’re as cute as can be!
Now I can take them all home with meee!

Ghosted by Julie @ 10/07/2006 2:37 PM EDT


What about Creepy Crawlers?!?!?!?!

Ghosted by Rixliss @ 10/07/2006 2:38 PM EDT


Julie, I forgot about puppy and kitty in my pockets! I cant remember me or anyone I knew having them, I now remember the commercial thanks to you. :D

Ghosted by IHAQ @ 10/07/2006 2:46 PM EDT


Oh GOD!
I totally need to know where you got them!
The skull with the slime in it MUST be mine!

Ghosted by Somethin' Funny @ 10/07/2006 2:49 PM EDT


Maybe I’d need to see it in person, but those eyeballs look pretty groovy to me.

But I NEED the slime skull.

Ghosted by Spoodles @ 10/07/2006 3:11 PM EDT


Actually found the slime skull online first try.
Link is name.

Ghosted by Somethin' Funny @ 10/07/2006 3:17 PM EDT


No Bigfoot huh?: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/theimageofmyownbreast/bigfoot.jpg

He was under “humanoids”.

Ghosted by RewolfJ @ 10/07/2006 3:18 PM EDT


I had a skull when I was younger that you poured slime into its head and id ripped out of its nose with a black spider or something. I cant remember the name, but I loved that thing.

Ghosted by Old E @ 10/07/2006 3:21 PM EDT


The Monster In My Pocket article made me remember a toy whose name I can’t remember and an hour’s worth of internet searching isn’t revealing, perhaps someone here can be of assistance.

The thusfar unidentified toy was a series of small, diecast monsters on wheels. One I remember in particular was an enormous gun with a little tiny robot fondling it. Hopefully someone can identify it, and even more hopefully, someday someone will create said giganticguncontrolledbytinyrobot full-scale, truly that is the ultimate weapon.

Ghosted by Tim @ 10/07/2006 3:26 PM EDT


MATT: hey, JoshC here, i think im a lil’ late for the “send me any halloween toys videos etc that you’d like to see an article written about”
BUT..
i have a full article’s worth of pics, of a really cool human heart thing like the gremlans water grow toy things, but unlike the gremlans the detail on this thing is really impressive, so if you want, or if you’re feeling lazy, i can send you all the pics, including the packaging, before’s, during’s and afters, plus the background story as to how i aquired such a rad hallo’ toy, email me to let me know, and theres one pic of a before on my myspace if you care to check it out, click on my name,
laters
Hoss

Ghosted by Hoss @ 10/07/2006 3:27 PM EDT


Matt,

Your work is the thing that brightens my day. Keep being a genius.

Ghosted by Cotter @ 10/07/2006 4:15 PM EDT


I was obsessed with M.I.M.P back in the day! They even made an NES game out of it, but I never played it. The rarest Monster from series 1 was Great Beast, who actually represented the Seven Headed Monster John sees in the New Testement.
It was also cool that they had Baba Yaga.

Ghosted by Joker @ 10/07/2006 4:17 PM EDT


Oh hell yeah MIMPS. I remember my brother saved up for months to buy me Monster Mountain for Xmas; what a pal. I’m /really/ fired up about them starting up again, and will definitely throw down some cash if they make it to the US. Remember the cartoon? The videogame used to appear as one of the Video Challenges on Nick Arcade all the time, too.

Ghosted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 10/07/2006 4:28 PM EDT


Joker: You can always download the MIMP for NES off a good emulator like RockNES. It pretty much sucks ass, though.

On a different note, those bloody eyeballs make me think of the toys I bought for my class “Treasure Box.” My 4th graders really dig the light up, screaming, bloody eyeballs I bought this week. They bounce really high! Sa-weet!

Ahh, Nick Arcade… I really dug ActRaiser

Ghosted by Godjilla @ 10/07/2006 4:36 PM EDT


I always liked small toys because it’s much easier to use them with non-toy items for accessories. Paper Cup? Escape Pod. Ice Cube tray? Frozen Lego Neanderthal Adventures! Touch Lamp with 3 light settings? Over Generating Power Source that’s going to blow! I guess that last one could be used with 6 inch figures but I’ll be damned if I ever did that. The point I meant to make is, I never played with M.I.M.P but I have a lot of good reasons why I should have.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/07/2006 4:48 PM EDT


For some reason, the name reminds me of the SNL skit where Piscopo was raising puppies in his pants.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 10/07/2006 5:33 PM EDT


M.I.M.P. was definitely an exciting line. I had maybe a handful of the actual figures, making occasional trades at school. But my favorite form of M.I.M.P. was the trading cards that you could get in packs of three at 7-11 when you bought a Slurpee. THOSE…were a slice of Heaven.

Ghosted by ColonelCatsup @ 10/07/2006 5:38 PM EDT


Wegmans already has their Christmas trees out, alongside the pumpkins.

Christmas has no domain within October…this is Halloween month!

Ghosted by Jeff Mack @ 10/07/2006 5:40 PM EDT


wow, those new MIMP figures are crazy! i used to have a full set of the old ones when i was a kid, good times

Ghosted by soundsurfer @ 10/07/2006 6:25 PM EDT


I wasn’t a fan of MIMP. I was too old for them by 1990. Still, they look like something I WOULD have liked; I enjoyed carrying small toys in my pockets. I liked M.U.S.C.L.E.s because my friends carried them, and we would “battle” on the play ground. Go-Bots sucked compared to TFs, but they were small enough to be carried. GI Joes were a little on the large side, but you could fit one in either front pocket. The end of the road for this was 1989’s Transformers Micromasters.

Completely OT, but of interest to at least some of the denizens of X-E, Battlestar Galactica started season 3 last night. I thought it was spectacular. The writing was top-notch, although I could have done without a few of the thinly veiled political statements. Even so, the fatalistic attitude of the show, the utter hopelessness of it, really sucked me in. If you haven’t started watching the new BSG because of how campy the original was, you’re making a huge mistake. I can’t recommend picking up the series in the middle, but I can recommend renting the first two seasons. It’s great drama, and great sci-fi, which is a rare combination.

Ghosted by spaz307 @ 10/07/2006 6:38 PM EDT


It’s funny how once you get to a certain age nothing that you could easily shoplift is remotely worth it anymore.
ADST! Hope everybody’s having a grand weekend.
Saw Jackass Two last night. I’d been putting it off, but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at a movie. Even more exciting though was the trailer for Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny…At home I’ve been watching spooky movies to create the mood the weather isn’t exactly matching yet. So far I’ve watched Ghostbusters, Batman (bats are Halloweeney!), Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Wererabbit and Addam’s Family, plus that Master’s of Horror that Joe Dante did. Haven’t been able to find any AMC horror movies on my cable’s on demand like someone had posted about, but the premium channels have some good stuff. Everybody remember to check out Dexter (it’s a Showtime free preview weekend, no excuses)!

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 10/07/2006 6:55 PM EDT


I never got into Monster in my Pocket, other than playing the NES game that shares the same name…but dayum!! Those new ones are AWESOME. I am freakin in love with that winged panther. That plays on two of my childhood loves… big cats and stuff with wings, and combines the two into this awesome purplish critter of coolness. Some of the others are too cool too. wow, wish I could get my hands on a few of these. Yah Im pathetic, being in my mid 20s and wanting to buy toys. Poof. Like I REALLY care. heh.

Ghosted by kittycatgirl2k @ 10/07/2006 7:07 PM EDT


Okay everyone you can stop hiding now.

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/07/2006 8:23 PM EDT


Im still trying to decide on a Halloween costume. I was thinking oof going with this one from Target. (click name for link) Its the goth fairy princess… Im fair skinned, pixie-ish and have dark hair so it kinda fits and I wouldnt need a wig or anything…Hot Topic has a goth fairy dress too but I still cant decide. blegh.

Anyone else planning on dressing up for Halloween?? This will be my first time in like six years…but have been invited to a Halloween dance, a party and to help some friends give out candy on The Day too so I figure I need something to wear. Still sick but planning on being cured by the 31st anyway. *optimistic* :D

Ghosted by kittycatgirl2k @ 10/07/2006 8:33 PM EDT


I like how they put that little “open” sticker on the skull with the slime in it. I’m imagining that they other side as a sticker that says “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” on it. And one of those height-measuring stickers, so you know how tall the guy that robbed your slime-filled-centipede-infested-skull is.

Ghosted by Roadblock @ 10/07/2006 8:34 PM EDT


Don’t know if this has been done as a survey already, but what is the worst and/or best costume you have worn on Halloween?
Best Costume: Batman
Worst Costume: Aladdin (home-made, and I don’t even remember wanting to be Aladdin)

Ghosted by Thomas @ 10/07/2006 8:44 PM EDT


Best costume: My mom made me a bat costume one year. the arms had wings attached when I spread my arms open wide I had a wicked cool wingspan… I wore cat ears to complete the look. I remember this one the fondest. Was like 7 and 8. Liked it so much wore it two years in a row. Everyone thought I was a tailless (manx) cat til I showed them my wings. I was also a witch one year (yah original) with a big huge cape and everything. Won a Halloween contest with that one…

Worst costume: I went as one of the wuzzles one year… the moose one I think… it was one of those cheapie costumes you get at walmart with the plastic masks.

Sad thing is, my mom had custom made me a bunny costume and for some reason i refused to wear it. I was very little at the time and always regretted not wearing it a few years later… she spent alot of time on it. It was a very nice costume. :( I feel bad just thinking about it.

Other store boughts that were OK cool were a plush Godzilla (dinosaur) costume with a huge tail… and a ghost costume I reused multiple times. Got that one at Toys R us. Was an angel one year too.. never a cat or a fairy. Will have to fix that.

Ghosted by kittycatgirl2k @ 10/07/2006 9:20 PM EDT


Best Costume: Rocky from 3 Ninjas (my younger brother was Colt and youngest was Tum Tum)

Worst: Bugs Bunny plastic costume with the mouth slit that you knew would cut your tongue, but you still stick your tongue in there and the crying never seemed to end.

Ghosted by Anthony @ 10/07/2006 9:22 PM EDT


I went out to a Halloween parade tonight. Shriners, zombie dancers, costumed bands playing the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, kids dancing in the streets to Thriller and diving for candy being tossed of various floats… and Pikachu.

Good times.

Ghosted by Mystie @ 10/07/2006 9:40 PM EDT


The only thing better would be Pikachu wearing a shriner hat and riding around on one of those little scooters. Incidentally, I saw someone on a Rascal in line at the McDonald’s drive-through today.

Ghosted by Bludge @ 10/07/2006 9:55 PM EDT


I was at a yard sale in the sticks today, and I found a snoopy sno-cone machine, still in it’s box with a Children’s Palace price sticker and all. I remembered the article Matt wrote on it and I also had one as a kid, so I bought it for my son. He loves it. They also had Chuggles (two of them) in their origonal boxes, but Ihave never heard of Chuggles. The date on the boxes was 1985, so I figured someone here may have heard of them.
I also decided on going as Holly Go lightly from breakfast at Tiffany’s for Halloween. Has anyone else decided?

Ghosted by kb @ 10/07/2006 10:03 PM EDT


If you ever need a costume in a pinch, just buy some kitchen sponges and safety pin them all over your clothes. You can go as “Self-Absorbed.” Very esoteric. I think one person got it when I wore it 2 years ago. Fun, though. Last year I was a murdered Victorian chambermaid (complete with garrot) and this year I plan to go as a vampire hooker- incorporates my 2 favorite themes.

Ghosted by Godjilla @ 10/07/2006 10:08 PM EDT


Awesome! While I was typing my last post, a Steak ‘n Shake commercial came on advertising their Halloween S’mores milkshake. The waitress did a double-take ’cause the milkshake had no reflection in the mirror. Then it turned into a really cheesy bat with clearly visible strings while creepy music played. Love it! :)

Ghosted by Godjilla @ 10/07/2006 10:12 PM EDT


just spooked up the front lawn big time. went with a spider theme. spider webs on all the bushes, giant spiders and skeletons in spider web on the windows, black lights around the door, and electric pumpkins with orange light. looks pretty intense! now to kick back with pokemon on boomerang.

Ghosted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 10/07/2006 10:29 PM EDT


Went to Target. No Pitch Black ICEE. :( I saw the sign for it, but red goop in one side and WHITE on the other no make Pitch Black. *sigh* By the time I got through the checkout line, the food court was already closed. Damn them.

I did see a pack of 4 clear coffins with different colored slime in them, and each had a black spider in. They were the same size as “$1 Skeleton with Blue Slime”

Got my nephew a little Halloween cup with floaty bats, ghosts, and glitter inside of it. Oh yeah – finally found the MLP Halloween editions! :D I was sooo frickin’ happy!

Anyone else that works retail here feel the Christmas rush already bombarding you WAY sooner than it should?? I was at work today and I was 5 seconds from being claustraphobic. Too many God damn people in there.

Ghosted by Ryane @ 10/07/2006 10:47 PM EDT


Ugh, Ryane, the grocery store where I work was crazy right up until about an hour until I finished, and I worked a rare seven hours today. And there were a lot of grumpy customers, too. One jerk kept yelling at me to get a bagger when we were at full tilt…and then yelled at the poor bagger (a newbie) when she tried to hand him his soda! I think I’ll agree with a far more cheerful customer and blame the full moon.

Deciding on a best or worst Halloween costume is close to impossible, since we always had well-made costumes thanks to my mother being a seamstress. I prefer my costumes simple and reletively comfortable. I’ve been a cowgirl (twice – as a kid and two years ago), a bride, a butterfly, a fairy, a queen, Alice In Wonderland, a princess (yes, it was a different costume than the queen one), a gypsy, a black cat, and a pirate.

I think I’m going to be a fairy or an angel this year. I bought wings, a wand, and a halo from the thrift shop where I volunteer, but the halo is sorta small and looks silly, and the glitter on the wings are shedding like cat hair. I think I’ll just shake the glitter off as much as possible, re-do it or go without, and see if I can add marabou to the cheap sequined tiara I already have.

I was also too old for the “Monster In My Pocket” bandwagon by 1990 and only vaguely remember it. Wasn’t into M.U.S.C.L.E or the spin-off girl line C.U.T.I.E, either.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 10/07/2006 11:07 PM EDT


I had a few MIMP’s but I was reeeeeealy into M.U.S.C.L.E. Being that I was the only girl in my neighborhood, a great deal of my childhood was spent trading the little guys and having them get into wrestling matches. On an odd note, I remember playing with my girlie toys alone in my room, pretending that my Barbie’s were giving birth to M.U.S.C.L.E.’s.

Sigh, I did nothing today. Just baby-sat again. I’m wanting to kick back with friends and drink a few beers…we’ll see what pans out.

Ghosted by MissJess @ 10/07/2006 11:40 PM EDT


Matt, the real reason for the point system was this: A bunch of people set up M.I.M.P. figures (about 30-40) at the far end of a long table, like a cafeteria table, and then a person from each “team” would flick a M.I.M.P. figure at the other team’s army. Normally, the points from every M.I.M.P. figure taken out from the flick would be calculated, but we usually didn’t give a rat’s ass about the points. We just played for the carnage of M.I.M.P. figures knocking over other M.I.M.P. figures. However, there were a few occasions that we used the point system for ruling, and that is why I KNOW that the points had a purpose. You stupid goob, how could you NOT know this?! Haha…Cheers!

Ghosted by sonancetralucent @ 10/07/2006 11:49 PM EDT


“Monster in my Pocket” was one of those sets of toys that my mom would buy for my brother and not for me even though I liked them more! Damn sexist double standards…

I want to have a cool costume this year as well, but I am stuck for ideas. I was thinking of going to the used clothing store and buying an old wedding dress and being a dead bride. we’ll see.

So far, Best Costume: I was a tube of CREST toothpaste one year
Worst costume: One of those cheap Rainbow Brite costumes with the mask that costs a dollar and basically a plastic tablecloth over my clothes

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 10/07/2006 11:55 PM EDT


Oh, I forgot to mention that the Hydra was/is a most effective weapon for destroying the other team, and THAT is a fact.

Ghosted by sonancetralucent @ 10/07/2006 11:56 PM EDT


I must know where to acquire the skull with the comically small body.

Ghosted by Mara @ 10/08/2006 12:10 AM EDT


Best Costume: I’d have to go with the many years that I was Indiana Jones. Or maybe a Ninja turtle.

Worst costume: A t-shirt that had a glow in the dark skeleton on it. BORING.

Whoo! SNT!

Ghosted by Cameron T. @ 10/08/2006 12:11 AM EDT


Eyes inside an eye socket…makes sense to me.

Ghosted by TB Tabby @ 10/08/2006 12:11 AM EDT


It would appear that I missed the quiz of the night.

Best costume: Hmm…I made my own from scratch a lot, and I think my favorite was when I went as Mother Nature. I cut a black shirt so the sleeves kind of swirled around my arms, attached lots of ivy to it. Then I glued seashells to a short khaki skirt and put blue fabric to make it longer as water. I also had the most awesome walking stick ever.

Worst Costume: Probably one of the in-between years when my mom no longer had time to make costumes and I couldn’t really sew yet. I think I was a stupid store bought princess or something along those lines one year.

Ghosted by Mara @ 10/08/2006 12:14 AM EDT


My favorite costume was a fairy with heart-shaped, marabou-trimmed wings and my worst would have to be the array of cheap smocks/masks I wore throughout my childhood.
There was a “zombie walk” in Hollywood tonight I thought about checking out but I didn’t have a costume so I skipped it. Sounded interesting though.
kb, that sounds fun, did you have a specific outfit/look in mind?

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 10/08/2006 12:15 AM EDT


Best costume? Ghostbuster. Worst costume? Pirate. Pirate isn’t bad except I think I was a pirate every year except for the time I was a ghostbuster.

I just found a whole in my favorite pair of boxers and it’s got me pretty upset. My favorite chair has finally broke to the point that it’s got no where to look forward to but the side of the road. There’s nothing on TV. I haven’t been awake for more than 8 hours and I’m nodding off asleep. That’s been my night.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/08/2006 12:36 AM EDT


I guess I should also mention that the Dracula in the heart sticker on top of the blog has a facial structure resemblence of my grandmother.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/08/2006 12:40 AM EDT


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