Saturday, January 12, 2008

Monster In My Pocket (M.I.M.P.) | Generation One

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

Name of Toy Line: Monster In My Pocket (M.I.M.P.)

Production Company: Morrison Entertainment Group (MEG)

Distributors: Matchbox | Nintendo | Big Boy Restaurant | Nabisco | Decipher Ltd | Kellogg's | Grand V | Panini

Characters and Elements: Morrison Entertainment Group (MEG)

Years of Production: 1990-1995

Countries/Regions Available: USA, Canada, Europe (France), and possibly China

Size/Scale: 1.5"

Figure Trade Markings: (c) MEG / CHINA / NBR # / a, b, c, and possibly f

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Approximate # of Figures: Thousands

Details: The "In My Pocket" range is one of the largest toy ranges in the toy world. There's monsters, dinosaurs, ninjas, space aliens (not to be confused with illegal aliens), wrestlers, kittens, puppies, etc! This Toypedia entry will focus on the first several incarnations of the "In My Pocket" range which were all distributed by Matchbox, save a few figures here and there available as premiums through a variety of means. As with most Toypedia entries, this entry is meant to serve only as a brief, introductory overview of this wonderfully extensive toy line.

M.I.M.P. stand approximately 1.5" tall, are made of a soft, flexible plastic (with the exception of the series 6 & 7 figures which are made of a hard rubber material), and come in a plethora of colors including yellow, red, blue, green, orange, and pink. The earliest series released, as you'll see below, came only in solid mono-colors with the series to follow having minimal paint applications and the even later series being fully painted.

It's an incredibly fun toy line consisting of one unique series after another with lots of variation across the board, including the various premium figures that continue to be an "enjoyable" challenge for collectors to track down and add to their collections.

Let's take a look at some figures!

Series 1: Monsters
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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

A closer look at a series one monster.

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Furthermore, Dark Clown tells us that there are 2 glow-in-the-dark series one figures and 4 GITD series two figures that were produced in the UK. They are harder to come by than other series one and two figures. These figures can be seen at Wolgang's MIMP page. Additionally, Dark Clown tells us that two of these figures can also be found with black paint applications on the face and seem to be slightly harder to come by than the other GITD figures.

A look at one of the GITD series one figures.

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Series 2: Monsters
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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.


Series 3: Monsters
Middle Figure Only
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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

Left to right above: Series 1 Nabisco premium, Series 3 Nintendo premium, & Series 1 M.I.M.P. board game figure released by Decipher Ltd

Series 4: Super Scary
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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

Series 5: Super Creepy
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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

Series 6: Dinosaurs

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

There was also a M.I.M.P. Secret Skeleton Dinosaur set released in the UK that used the same sculpts with new, temperature sensitive skeletal paint schemes.

Series 7: Space Aliens
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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

M.I.M.P. Space Aliens were most likely only available in the UK.

Monster Wrestlers In My Pocket

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

The M.W.I.M.P. were available as premiums in UK Kellogg's Frosties & released retail in the UK. They appear to be the last "In My Pocket" range distributed by Matchbox, but certainly not the last of the "In My Pocket" toy ranges.


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Also released with the series one Monsters was the M.I.M.P. Mountain display, one of the coolest toy line accessories ever!

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

And here's a look at some series 1 packaging: a 4-pack and a 12-pack.

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

And here's a look at a curious M.I.M.P. pack that appears to have Chinese writing on it. Interestingly, in my travels around the internets researching this toy line, I've seen a picture of one of these packs with a 7 Eleven sales sticker on it...

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Image courtesy asator of the LRG forums.

A 1st series 4-pack released in France by Grand V.

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Image courtesy trumanshower of the LRG forums.

Single packs released in France by Panini.

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Image courtesy trumanshower of the LRG forums.

Related Web Sites:

Though I recommend checking out all the Web sites Fitz and I link to in this section of each entry, in the case of M.I.M.P., I highly recommend checking out the following sites to get even more and better information regarding this extensive toy line!

M.I.M.P. Archive

M.I.M.P. @ Wolfgang's Little Rubber Guys Archive

M.I.M.P. @ Yowie Maggi Toy Indices

M.I.M.P. entry @ Wikipedia

Special thanks to asator for supplying all the great images!

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