Monster in my Peru

Monster in My Pocket was an incredible little line of keshi that made every day feel a little like Halloween. I'm pretty amazed by this commercial from Peru advertising a chocolate candy promotion. Not just for the stickers (that I love), but for the production itself. More like Monster Movie in My Pocket!

Fortress of Necros

 

Nekurosu No Yousai was a very neat keshi line by Lotte sold in the late 80's and early 90's. Translated into English, the name of the line is technically Necros Fortress, but often called Neclos Fortress. Neclos is printed on the lines cards as l and r are often confused in translation. Necros/Neclos being the main villain character. Each figure would come in a box with a card and piece of chocolate. Readers know this is the exact kind of thing I go crazy for.

The line was a fantasy based with cool monsters and warriors intended to be used in a rpg game. The cards would be used for the figures stats as well as items and spells. There was a total of 320 figures released in 8 parts. The figures were in multiple colors and would often come in color change or metallic plastic depending on the release. Some with plastic jewels. I can see a fun evening spent with these. If you noticed that they resemble Monsters in my Pocket, you're not alone. It's only natural for keshi lines to look alike, especially ones based on monsters. Necros Fortress and Monsters in my Pocket do share a lot of the same monsters. Both even have video games. NES for one, PC Engine the other. A crossover would have been perfect.

Unfortunately, Necros Fortress figures are not easy to get. The line was exclusive to Japan in a per-internet time. Candy toys are no problem now, but the older ones can be a challenge. I don't have any myself but can still enjoy them through various pictures on the internet. They have great sculpts and I like the variety of monsters. I love the art. It's exactly the style and era that's a steady favorite of mine. I'm pretty jealous of those who got to experience them first hand. I could see myself in a local convenience store buying these up.

Do you have a Monster in your Pocket?

 

As an adult, the need for Monsters in my Pocket is bigger than ever. Fortunately there is plenty of monster toys in the absence of the original, but what a great little series the original was. I'm a little envious of these stickers featured in the South African commercial. Stickers make everything better and I'd love to have some of these on my Trapper Keeper. I was listening to some paranormal podcasts while working (as usual) and realized how I got my introduction to Spring Heeled Jack thanks to this cool little line. It's not often that a little monster toy line can be educational.

A Monster in every Pocket

One of the better keshi lines to celebrate Halloween with is Monster in my Pocket. If you've never checked the line out before, I highly suggest you do. A mix of monsters based on mythology, folklore, and cryptozoology with a dash of famous fictional monsters makes for one AWESOME set of figures. There's a wide variety of colors and sculpts in the various series. Personally I prefer the Super Scary series, though I'd love to pick up some of the wrestlers and neon figures. 

M.U.S.C.L.E MAYHEM

It was sometime in college that I learned more about M.U.S.C.L.E figures origins. I had bought quite a ton of the little guys as a kid, which lead me to being interested in other similar figures. Monsters in my Pocket, Transformers Decoys, random little rubber figures in vending machines and ticket redemption booths at the arcade (hey, this one's He-Man!). Turns out they were a type of figure called keshi with roots in Japan (it's by absolute coincidence that so many things I like come from there). M.U.S.C.L.E was based on a series called Kinnikuman but here in America was given a sort of Garbage Pail Kids treatment (larger packs of the toys even came in garbage cans).

Kinnikuman is kinda similar to Dragon Ball in ways (light comparison, don't come at me) while M.U.S.C.L.E just gave the figures a basic story of weirdo creatures (Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere) that just happened to be wrestlers who fought a lot. Even though the early 2000's U.S reintroduction of the series (Ultimate MUSCLE) was a pretty direct adaption of Kinnikuman (boy I bought a ton of those), I'll admit to preferring the M.U.S.C.L.E setting. No real reason I suppose, it's just a fun light setting for these little weird dudes to exist in. Not to mention, whenever I get newer M.U.S.C.L.E figures, it's cool to see Ric Flair to enter the wrestling anarchy.