MinifiguresXD:

Toy Line: MIMP Series Two (Not to be confused with MIMP Generation Two.)

Sculpt Name: Tarasque

Color: Neon Magenta

Collector's Note: Seeing as MIMP is probably the second most recognizable "Western Keshi" toy line behind MUSCLE, I probably don't give it nearly enough attention here at MXD. The sculpts are detailed and dynamic; they're cast in a high quality, pleasingly-soft, nice-textured plastic; there are dozens of unique figures most of which are fairly easy to acquire, but also a few hard-to-find figures that add to the fun of collecting the line; and finally, the sculpts are of all manner of amazing, fantastic creatures. The line has a lot to offer.

For whatever reason, I have never collected this line.

Once when I was a kid and really into Star Wars figures, my sister got me a few Christmas presents. Even at my young, oblivious age, I could tell she was very excited to see my reaction when I opened them. I knew immediately that they were action figures. But when I opened them, to my utter horror, I saw that they were Buck Rogers figures. (Even though I loved Buck Rogers and had the hots for Princess Ardala, the figures soon found their way to the bottom of my toy box.) If I recall correctly, I was able to throw on a weak smile and give my sister a stiff hug. It was all I could muster due to the shock of it all.

Anyhow, my point is, when I was little and doing my best to acquire an army of pink MUSCLE men, everything else took second place; that includes colored MUSCLE men (if you can really consider them true MUSCLE men) and, of course, MIMP. MUSCLE was my mini figure Star Wars, and MIMP was its Buck Rogers.

Now, as an older and wiser mini figure collector, I recognize the true quality of MIMP. XD

Name of Toy Line: Monster In My Pocket (Generation 2)/Galeria de Monstros
Production Company: MEG - Distributed by Corinthian (UK), MEG(Australia), DTC (Brazil)
Characters and Elements: MEG
Years of Production: 2006/2007
Countries/Regions Available: UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil
Size/Scale: Approximately 2"
Figure Trade Markings: (c) MEG 2006
Approximate # of Figures: 48

Details: Sometime in mid-2006 news broke on Corinthianplc.com:

"The In My Pocket brand was a global success story historically worth over $200,000,000. During the 1990's the 'In my Pocket' brand was licensed internationally to over 110 different companies in 40 countries, including comic books, trading cards, video games, etc. and was a featured partner in over 50 major consumer promotions. The 'In my Pocket' concept had many variants covering both boys and girls collectible appeal including: Puppy, Monster, Teddy, Kitty, Pony etc. Monster in my Pocket, originally the largest boys range variant, will return in July 2006 backed by a Major TV campaign directed at 4 to 8 year old boys. The Toy range line up will consist of blister packs, games and playsets. A confectionery line is due for launch in August 2006, which in its initial series will include a further 36 different Monsters. In all, around 60 different monsters will be available from launch. Retail prices will be keen, starting as low as £1.19 for the single confectionery pack. The 'In my Pocket' brand is owned by MEG, a California-based product development, manufacturing and licensing company specializing in children's character lines, toys and licenses. MEG is an offshoot of Morrison Entertainment Group, founded by Joe Morrison and partner John Weems in 1989. Since 1989, MEG have developed, introduced and licensed a number of well known toy brands."

Accompanied by the following image, it was exciting times for mini-figure collectors.

The actual items released in the UK were:

6 different 4 Packs
4 different 3 Packs plus a UV Light
4 different 1 Packs plus a UV Light
Showdown Game with 2 exclusive figures
Skull Carrier with 1 exclusive figure
Haunted Mountain with 2 exclusive figures

Each figure came with it's own game card:

Credit Mimp.co.uk for several of the below images.

Here's a selection of the UK packaging. Note that there is no randomness and all figure selections are predetermined.

The game-play is similar to that of the original M.I.M.P.

Full instructions

The Eyeball UV Light in action

Sadly the "confectionery line due for launch in August 2006, which in its initial series would include a further 36 different Monsters" never came to fruition in the UK. The monsters that were released more than made up for it though, here's the images of figures taken from the official M.I.M.P. Website.

The Humaniods | Bigfoot, Werewolf, Hobgoblin, Red Cap, The Monster, Vampire

The Beasts | Centaur, Cyclops, The Beast, Ogre, Cerberus, Gremlin

The Winged | Roc, Cockatrice, Griffin, Catoblepas, Harpy, Winged Panther

The Ancients | Six Armed Sorceress, Haniver, Charon, Tengu, Hydra, Manticore

The Ghosts | Boogieman, Invisible Man, Poltergiest, Siren, Ghost, Phantom

The Dead | Grim Reaper, Zombie, Grim Watcher, Mummy, Headless Man, Skeleton

The Sea Monsters Loch Ness Monster, Kraken, Bishop Fish, Leviathan, Swamp Beast, Triton

The Maniacs | Vampiress, Jimmy Squarefoot, Mad Gasser, Mad Scientist, Monkeyman, Windigo

For more information and artwork of all the monsters shown above visit Mimp.co.uk.

Two of the figures shown were not actually released in the UK: Phantom & Ghost. Back in 2006, we sent Corinthian an email to see what the deal was, the response we got was:

"Hi Matt,

I can assure you that customer questions of any type are welcomed and not seen as trivial.

You are absolutely correct. 48 Monsters are listed with only 46 being released. The remaining 2 were going to find their way into another product but this has since been deleted for the range. The likelihood is that these Monsters were now not be released.

The confectionery line has been placed on hold for the foreseeable future.

Kind Regards

Simon Shaw"

We will be left to wonder what the deleted product was....

In another strange twist of events, Trumanshower noted that two of the figures shown on the Corinthian announcement in 2006 do not appear in the 48 figures planned for release! One of them has obvious similarities to the released Griffin so maybe these were just prototypes that never made it to the stores.

The Australian release was slightly different than the UK release, it was split into two Series.

Australian Series 1 packaging

Australian Series 1 packaging

As you can see, Series 1 had some slight changes to the packaging and consisted of The Beasts, The Humanoids, The Ancients, and The Winged.

Australian Series 1 packaging (reverse)

Things got a bit more exciting when the Australian Series 2 was released, new logo, new packaging, and even new accessories!

Australian Series 2 packaging

Australian Series 2 packaging (reverse)

And even more exciting than new packaging and accessories was that Australia got the 2 figures (Ghost & Phantom) missing from the UK release! Although Series 2 saw a much more limited release at least it allows collectors to get the whole set.

Brazil got packaging much similar to Australia but the name was changed to "Galeria de Monstros":

And Brazil got the single figure packs (although not confectionery) planned but unreleased in the UK!

And here's some shots from DTC's stand at a 2007 Brazilian toy fair run each year by ABRINQ (Brazilian Association of Manufacturers of Toys), images borrowed from Loucoporbonecos.com.br.

One thing of note from this stand is the strange creature on the left of this image.

Perhaps another prototype or a planned monster that was never released...

Finally, for all the old skool M.I.M.P. fans out there, here's some shots of the old favorites with their 2nd Generation of Monsters in My Pocket counterparts.

Gremlin

The Beast

The Monster

Winged Panther

Catoblepas

Bigfoot

Griffin

Tengu

Hydra

Ogre

Related Web sites:

Mimp.co.uk