Mummies Alive lasted just one season and 42 episodes back in 1997. The animated series suffered from low ratings and complaints that it was little more than a Gargoyles ripoff, which was not too far off, since the head writers of Mummies Alive also wrote season 3 of Gargoyles. That surprising fact comes from RetroDaze, whose third annual episode on forgotten Halloween and horror toys put the show and its merchandise in the spotlight.

The cartoon did not stop the merchandising train. Various items showed up in 1998, including a pair of running shoes, a ball cap, slippers and coloring books. Then came the action figures.

Here is the toy shelf the channel dug up, from a goofy pumpkin to a stretchy screamer.

The Mummies Alive Toys

Kenner released the first set in 1997. It included figures such as Hunter Jakal, fighting Armon and the evil sorcerer Scarab. Even better, RetroDaze says, were the Fright Sight figures, which are reminiscent of Ghostbusters toys. Push down an arm, and their eyes pop out and their jaws drop open.

There were also vehicles, including the Hot Ra, the Annihilator, the Jet Cycle and the Skyophagus. A second set of toys came out in the summer of 1998, but it was released only in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The Rest of the Halloween Toy Box

The episode begins with the Topstone Pumpkin Monster. Topstone Rubber Toy Company, later renamed Topstone Industries, made inexpensive Halloween masks and novelty items from the 1940s through the mid-1990s, first in latex and rubber and later in more plastic. The pumpkin has wheels so it can zoom across a flat surface, and one of three monsters, a witch, a ghost or a ghoul, pops up from under the lid. The eyes light up, and so does a third light under the lid. The box says you can snap the wheelbase off to use the pumpkin as a stationary display. RetroDaze calls it a little cheap, kind of goofy and perfectly of its time.

Next come horror hand banks. You place a coin to activate the mechanism, and a hand creeps out from a hidden compartment to snatch the money. The two most popular are Frankenstein’s Hand and The Thing from the Addams Family. The host would choose the Frankenstein version, which was also released as the Mystery Bank, but notes the Thing bank rocks back and forth before the hand emerges. Newer versions with themes such as Godzilla and dinosaurs are widely available and cheaper than vintage ones.

Remco Mini Monsters earned their place even though the channel usually leaves Universal Monster toys off the list. RetroDaze says Remco was an American toy company founded in the 1940s by Saul Robbins and Ike Heller, and its name came from remote control, because the early products were electric submarines and cars kids could steer. In the 1970s the company was taken over by Azrak-Hamway International, which had a deal with Universal. That led to the official World Famous Super Monsters, 8-inch figures of Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy, Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

After the 1979 merger, the first Universal monsters Remco released were 9 inches tall. They came with an iron-on patch and sometimes a glow-in-the-dark skull ring, and they had a grabbing action. There was also an accessory called the Monsterizer. In 1980, the company released the monsters in a 3.75-inch size called Mini Monsters. They lasted only a couple of years and are expensive to buy secondhand, though newer versions exist from companies like Super7.

Mighty Max, Creature Crawlers and Screamers

Mighty Max began as a series of miniature action horror toys created by Bluebird Toys in 1992. It was designed as a boy-oriented counterpart to Polly Pocket. Instead of opening pastel compacts, children opened cases shaped like skulls, insect heads and monster lairs to reveal tiny hidden playsets. Though people mostly remember the horror heads, the whole range was built from horror elements. The larger Doom Zones had themes like Mighty Max trapped by Arachnoid and Mighty Max escapes from Skull Dungeon. The line lasted for a while, spawning three horror heads series and three Doom Zone series, plus two seasons of a cartoon and an NES video game.

Something truly obscure follows in Buddy L’s Creature Crawlers. RetroDaze says it could barely find any information at all, and the single catalog image describes three super squiggly scary insects. You attach them to a wall with a suction cup web, pull the crawler down, let go and watch it climb. They are not to be confused with Cosmic Crawlers, the transforming robot insects Buddy L released in late 1984. The host figures the one gimmick got old fast.

Last come Electronic Stretch Screamers, which Manley Toys released in the early 2000s. When pulled or squeezed, the creatures screamed. The main line was popular enough to expand into mini stretch screamers, blister beasts, splat bugs and Oozers, and it even reached a McDonald’s Happy Meal in 2003. Secondhand, the big ones are not cheap, but the smaller McDonald’s sets can be had cheaply.

Why These Toys Still Matter

RetroDaze admits that researching Halloween toys makes it hard not to spiral into a frenzy of seasonal purchases on eBay. The charm is easy to understand. Wandering the toy aisles in the corner stores in October was always a creepy good time. For that month, everything started oozing blood, bugs, bats and ghosts took up precious shelf space, and ordinary toys came out in glowing variants.

For collectors, the lesson is that the forgotten toys are often the most fun to find. A one-season cartoon like Mummies Alive can leave behind figures, vehicles and shoes. A corner-store pumpkin can outlast the shop that sold it. And plenty of kids who grew up in October with these toys still remember them fondly.

More Stories You May Like

• 55% Of Americans Say They Would Rather Unwrap A Vintage Or Hard To Find Secondhand Gift In Excellent Condition Than A Brand New Mass Produced One This Holiday Season
• Leaving Vintage Records In A Hot Car Can Warp Them For Good And Heat Is Also A Problem When Shipping Them
• Sterling Stamps And Gold Filled Marks Fool Jewelry Buyers So Learn What 925 GF RGP And 10K Really Mean Before You Pay