Monster In My Pocket: G2

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