Universal Mini-Monsters Glow-In-The-Dark Figures (Remco, 1980)

A few years back, we took an in-depth look at the line of Remco Universal Monsters 3.75-inch action figures that were released in 1980.  In fact, you can see the whole bloody story at this post!

If you don't have time to revisit that deep dive: they look like this!

They are super-cool figures with lots of personality (somebody please tell me you put the Wolfman in your Star Wars Cantina)! What lots of folks don't know, though, is that there were actually GLOW-IN-THE-DARK variants of all six! Some people say these were produced the following year, and some say they were concurrent with the original line.  What's interesting is, many sellers don't even seem to know of their existence, or even check to see which version they have--so if you are looking for one, never assume! Sometimes an innocuous Dracula figure on Ebay turns out to be the glow version!

This verisimilude has two important exceptions, which you can see below (the glow variants are in front of their non-glow counterparts):

As you can see, both The Mummy and The Creature From The Black Lagoon are obviously different in appearance, and this is because their bodies are made purely of glow-in-the-dark-infused plastic, rather than simply topically painted.  You will see what I mean in a moment! With the other four, though, you literally have to "charge them up" and get into the bathroom to close the door, to see which version you have!

And not only do they glow, but for 46-year-old action figures, they shine pretty brightly! I left the display case lights on for a few minutes the other night, then saw this when I turned them off:

You can really see the difference in the ones treated with glow-in-the-dark paint, and how it tends to rub off a bit from play.  Also, the poor Wolfman only even had it applied to his face, which isn't that much real estate!  Too bad. The non-painted ones, though, are basically radioactive! It lasts a long time, too.  I know as a kid I used to charge up the 9-inch, Mego-type monsters that Remco made (which you can see glowing in the background), then go to bed and play with them in the dark! It was pretty awesome.

Also, as a word of warning, there's one professional collecting tip I can give you.  Do NOT decide, in the month of October, that you need to complete your Universal Monsters action figure collection.  Wait until about....April.

Happy Halloween!