Monster of the Day #3187

Updated on March 22, 2021 By Ken Begg 13 Comments

For the “Monster Kid” generation, raised on Famous Monsters of Filmland and watching (or trying to watch) scratchy, edited prints of old monster movies our on teeny black and white sets, desperately manipulating the rabbit ears to get the signal to stop dropping out, few things were more iconic than the Aurora monster model kits. (The big question facing each kid; use the glow in the dark heads and hands or not.) There were so few monster-related things you could buy, or at least actual licenced ones. I was no dab hand with model building, but luckily these were truly beginner kits, so I had several of them back in the day.

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  • Beckoning Chasm

    Really nice detail work. I think that one bat is past the legal limit, though.

  • Gamera977

    Oddly, never had any as a kid. I only built military stuff. Since then I’ve picked up the Morbius Creature From the Black Lagoon carrying Julie Adams. And a paint set for doing figures in black and white, I’m hoping to replicate the movie look.
    And the Tsukuda figures of Millennium Gammy, Gyros, and Iris. Plus a recast of Legion. And a Bandai kit of Millennium Mechagodzilla.

    I hope you do a whole week of these Ken, they’re such cool kits. If I ever get any of mine built I’d like to pick up some recasts of these. And I hope you get to ‘The Victim’. One of the most odd choices for a company ever, put out a screaming young woman wearing a tied-off flannel shirt and Daisy Dukes to go with the monsters. And they were surprised that parents were upset?!?!

  • Rock Baker

    In the movies, there’s always a girl, so including one in monster kits seemed a logical move to me. I remember playing with a G.I.Joe and a monster doll, having to pretend there was a girl that wasn’t there for the scenes to really work.

  • They never turned up where I lived (maybe because Jerry Sr.’s Lynchburg was the proverbial Buckle of the Bible Belt) so I never really saw the originals and very few of the re-releases later as an adult. I was really shit at model airplanes and cars though, so maybe it’s for the better.

  • zombiewhacker

    I seem to remember owning the Wolfman, the Hunchback, and something I believe was called The Forgotten Prisoner. Not sure about Dracula.

    Those, and Aurora’s sister series, the Dinosaur/Prehistoric model sets, dominated the real estate in my room when I was a kid.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I had a King Ghidorah model, don’t know if it was from Aurora or not. I bought it at the Dinosaur Land in Virginia. How I loved that place as a boy!

  • Acethepug

    The Aurora dinos?! THAT takes me back. My all-time favorite dinosaur, the Triceratops, had a kit that I made as a wee lad, complete with pointed teeth! Thanks for helping me remember those glorious days :)

  • Gamera977

    I can see your point if there were a ‘hero’ or ‘monster hunter’ figure in the line. But I don’t remember one. Just ‘The Victim’ and ‘The Torture Chamber’. If they’d named her ‘Damsel in Distress’ and had a ‘Hero’ figure I’d think they’d have been a lot less complaining.

  • Rock Baker

    I once plotted out a line of action figures in a similar theme. My intent was to include The Hero as well as The Girl and various monsters.

  • They have the best gift shop too!

  • Eric Hinkle

    I loved the books and models they had on monsters. It was Heaven for horror and monster-happy kids like me!

  • zombiewhacker

    Always wanted the Triceratops but every store I checked it was sold out. I had to “settle” for a Styracosaurus — also way cool, but still no substitute for my beloved Tri.

  • Gamera977

    I do have a figure of Peter Cushing as van Helsing. It’s a resin kit though and not the Aurora line. I guess he’d work quite well as a hero or monster hunter.

    Only female figure I have in the same scale is Chiana from ‘Farscape’ and she’d be more likely to beat the stuffing out of the monster than be a victim though…