By JAMES BURRELL
Like big bowls of popcorn and horror film marathons, Halloween and classic movie monsters go hand in hand. The folks at toy manufacturer Super7 must think so as well because they’ve just released a new Halloween-themed wave of their retro-styled Universal Monsters “Super Soapies” bubble wand collectibles. Featuring a classic Halloween colour scheme (vivid orange, green, and black), this wave takes inspiration from vintage Halloween and monster collectibles of decades past.
I’ve talked about Super7’s line of Universal Monsters Super Soapies before, but here’s a quick recap: Standing approximately 10 inches tall, the figural bottles are a fantastic new take on a set of bubble bath containers originally issued in the 1960s by Colgate Palmolive. But instead of being filled with bubble bath soap, these new releases contain both a liquid solution and a bubble wand attachment on the underside of the figure’s head that, when unscrewed from the body, allows you to blow bubbles. Like their vintage predecessors, the hollow plastic containers can be used as toys (or displayed on your collectibles shelf) after the soap solution has been used.
Six Universal characters have been released: the Frankenstein Monster, the Bride, the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon’s Gill-Man. Along for the ride is the (now non-Universal character), the fearsome Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth. With the new, striking paint applications, they are reminiscent of vintage Halloween plastic blow mold decorations of the 1960s as well as other groovy ‘60s classic monster collectibles like the orange and green Frankenstein Monster candy bucket released by Clinton Plastics and orange plastic figurines from Louis Marx. Instead of being green, the Gill-Man has been rendered here predominantly in a vibrant orange; Likewise, the Mummy’s bandages and Bride’s gown and face are also a jack-o-lantern-coloured orange. In addition to green and orange, there are black paint apps to the Wolf Man’s shirt, Invisible Man’s smoking jacket and Frankenstein Monster’s hair, shirt and boots.
The containers are packaged in cardboard trays with vintage ’60s-styled art and are shrink-wrapped in plastic wrap. Fans of classic cinematic creeps and old-school Halloween collectibles will love these fun and nostalgic tributes to creepy collectibles of the past.
SRP for the “Halloween Orange” Super Soapies is $20 USD each, and they can be purchased directly from Super7’s “Boodega” of Halloween-themed products.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Thank you to Super7 for providing samples for this piece.
