Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Prepare for the Wolf Man: Wolfman from Universal Pictures Classic Movie Monsters by Imperial Toy Corporation

 

   Prepare for the Wolf Man? Well, the 2025 Wolf Man film has been released and I had the chance to go and watch it with my dad on Friday, January 17th. My wife and I originally planned on taking my daughter and a friend of hers to a showing of the film on Friday evening but Thursday night I learned the movie was rated R. I actually had missed that and really thought it was PG-13. It turns out that it was a very mild R (honestly not sure why it wasn't PG-13) and I'll probably take her another time, but  by that point we'd already made alternate plans and took her and her friend to see Sonic the Hedgehog 3. That was excellent, by the way, and as someone who grew up with Jim Carrey being such a big deal it was definitely his film. It was fun, charming, and I loved it. The Wolf Man? Eh...it was OK. Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man was excellent and I thought it managed to do a lot with it's premise, plus Elizabeth Moss was excellent. Wolf Man tried. It's a decent movie with some cool new ideas, though it doesn't realize it's full potential and some of the decisions to "ground" the film really end up defanging it. I'll probably end up writing a review of the film at the end of the month but today's focus isn't on the film Wolf Man at all; It's actually on the 1986 Wolfman toy from the Imperial Toy Corporation's Universal Pictures Classic Movie Monsters toyline. 

   This (along with a couple of the other Universal Pictures Classic Movie Monsters) are currently the oldest Universal Monsters items in my collection. I don't want to say that 1986 is that old (I turned two in 1986), but it is close to 40 years old. Of course, the 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. film is 84 years old, so the distance between the original film and this toy is comparable between the distance between this toy and now. Crazy, right? I'm planning to start getting into some of the Remco Universal Monsters at some point soon, but these were much easier to acquire. And much less expensive. I haven't had these since childhood but only acquired them last year. Ready to take a look at Imperial's Wolfman? And, yes, they called him Wolfman with no space between Wolf and Man. Let's see how he howls after the break...



The Facts:

Height: 7 and 5/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel shoulders and swivel neck.

Accessories: None:

Year of Release: 1986 

Original Retail Price: $4 dollars









The Positives:

* These don't feel like soft vinyl figures but they definitely seem to be hollow, mostly one piece with separate arms and a head. Imperial only released four figures in this line (the Wolf Man, Dracula, the Mummy, and Frankenstein), though they also put out some punching bags/ bop bags. I've owned some of Imperial's True Replicas dinosaurs since childhood and the feel and weight of the figures reminds me a lot of those. They're quite large figures as well. For the Wolf Man (or Wolfman as they call him on the packaging) Imperial went with tan pants that match Larry Talbot's fur and a red button up shirt. I wonder why they went with red instead of the classic green shirt? Maybe to make him brighter and stand out more from the rest of the figures? While the figure is made from molded plastic, the detail and paint aren't too bad at all. Mine has been through a lot from previous owners but you can still see that there was some effort put into the sculpt. The Wolf Man's proportions are much better than other figures in the line, too.



* The headsculpt is instantly recognizable, too. Unfortunately, mine has taken a bit of a beating over the years, but you can still see the detail work on the face, teeth, and hair. That hair? It's perfect! The paint work is worn, sure, but the sculpt is good and captures the unique loom of Jack Pierce's makeup from the film.


* While this guy was originally around $4 dollars (for comparison, a Masters of the Universe figure would have ran between $3 and $5 dollars in 1986), he definitely has "budget" articulation. He only moves at the shoulders and head. Imperial really did make a lot of budget toylines, though the size of this guy stood him apart from many other toylines. He's almost like the large rubbery wrestlers LJN 


* His paws are furry and clawed. Mine looks like he's wore his claws down a bit. That white paint seems like it was easy to wear down. Considering the size of these guys, I wonder if these Classic Move Monsters got involved in any wrestling matches with LJN's Wrestling Superstars?









* Check out those claws! The fingers are really long and creepy. Some of the figures have tremendously oversized in this line but the Wolf Man's aren't too bad. He probably wants them longer for more slashing coverage. 





* Just for fun, here's a look at the stamp on the back of the figure. It has the Imperial logo and the copyright data for the Wolf Man.
The Negatives:


* I'm clearly not being too hard on this guy as he's a vintage toy, not something being sold now to collectors. That being said, it's clear that the eyes on mine aren't stamped right. It looks like they're stamped on his eyelids! Once you see it you can't un-see it.


   While I love these classic depictions of the Universal Monsters and certainly have a lot of nostalgia for toys of this era, I never owned any of these as a kid. I don't remember them from childhood, either. Still, they're interesting toys. These were definitely budget items, I think, offering a larger toy as a fairly reasonable price, though the lack of articulation and other features like accessories certainly kept the cost down. I think the Wolf Man is the best of the pack, though  maybe I'm biased. He's a Good and a 1/2 figure, though if you had one as a kid and are nostalgic for the guy you might think he's the best toy ever. I still think the red shirt's weird, though. 

   

   For more of Lawrence/ Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, I've also reviewed NECA's Wolf Man and the Wolf Man from Crypt Club 4-Pack, the Toony Terrors Wolf Man, the Funko ReAction Wolf Man, Jada Toys' The Wolf Man, the Real Ghostbusters Wolfman Monster, NECA's Raphael as the Wolfman, the McFarlane's Monsters Werewolf Playset, the Imaginext Wolfman, the Werewolf from Mezco's Tower of Fear, Mezco's 2010 WolfmanLuke Talbot (the Wolfman) from Monster Force, and the Wolf Man dog toy from Fetch for Pets.

2 comments:

  1. Imperial! I really enjoy Imperial's line of toys. They had some toys that were adjacent to the major figures of the day (similar to Remco). There Lasers Robots and Galaxies line of figures was awesome! I remember the weapons packs they made for old MOTU figures. Did not know they had the license to Universal Monsters. Thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are very welcome! I remember in the early 90s, maybe even in the late 80s, Imperial had a line of pirate action figures, a line of Wild West characters, and a line of famous Native Americans. They really released a pretty diverse range of product!

      Delete

What'chu talkin' 'bout?