Here is another release from Placo's line of Universal Monsters...

This is the second toy from this line that I've managed to acquire recently. I'm not a big fan of any of them, but I got them all in trade for stuff I would have been just as happy to throw away. The Mummy stands just shy of 10" tall and is articulated at the waist, shoulders, neck, ankles and wrists. Made entirely out of soft vinyl, the sculpt and paint job can be described as crude at best.

The seam along the waist joint is really ugly, as you can see. It doesn't line up well and you can see daylight along the edges. The sculpt of the face is particularly bad. I know the Mummy is thousands of years old, but here he looks like he's taken his dentures out.

And being thousands of years old, you would think his wrappings would no longer be pure white. The paint application must be to show it's age, but honestly it just looks like someone spilled a cup of coffee on it. On top of that, the purple of the cardboard insert has rubbed off on several areas, like the back and the feet.

The box is different from the Dracula and Frankenstein that I have. The printing on the side is dual-layered. It looks almost as though it is meant to be in 3D.

You can see at a glance why this line was not a success. It just looks like there was no love put into making them. I don't mind having them as a way to expand my monster collection, but as I said, I got them for basically nothing. Because they're not worth much more than that.

A cartoonish Frankenstein from Placo Toys.

Placo Toys' Frankenstein is a pretty cartoonish looking version of the character. He looks more like something based on a Scooby Doo episode than the classic Universal Studios movie. And I consider that something of a redeeming quality. It's not a good Frankenstein, but it does have a certain charm.

This one seems to be made out of three different plastics. A squishy soft vinyl for the torso, head and hands and a harder vinyl for the arms. The legs and feet (which are one piece) is a cheap polyethylene. I have no idea why it was made in this fashion while the others in the line were not.

10" tall with articulation at the neck, shoulders, wrists and waist. The sculpt on the face is probably the best in the series, although for a dead guy, he sure seems to have a rosy complexion.

Another thing that stood out to me is that his hands are huge. And check out the back. I have no idea why, but there is a huge circle molded into it!

A cheap rendition of Dracula, for die-hard monster fans only.

1991 was the 60th anniversary of two of Universal Studios most famous monster characters, Dracula and Frankenstein. To celebrate the occasion, Placo Toys released both characters (as well as The Mummy and The Wolf Man) in 10" soft vinyl renditions. Plans were made to release The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Bride of Frankenstein if this first series sold well, but apparently it did not because those figures never came to fruition.

It's kind of easy to see why these did not go over so well. Frankly, these figures are just "ok" at best. They tend to bear only a broad sort of resemblance to the characters they are based on. Dracula in particular not only does not look at all like Bela Lugosi, he really doesn't even look that much like a vampire. Outside of the pointed ears, there's not much to differentiate him from the average Joe who walks around in a tux and a cape.

At least, that's true of my version. Evidently this toy came in two versions. Mine is the "60th Anniversary Limited Edition". The regular version has fangs protruding from the mouth, red eyes and slanted eyebrows. Much more menacing!! It also has a different box featuring some flying bats in the top right corner and the other potential monster releases in the artwork. A much better presentation overall. The back of the box has some pretty cool artwork at least.

Dracula has 6 points of articulation. You can turn his head, waist and wrists as well as raising and lowering his arms. I guess this toy would look ok within a much larger monster display, but overall the lack of attention to detail on it dooms it to mediocrity.