NEWS: Diamond Select Developing Mad Monster Party Toy Line

Diamond Select Toys has announced its to produce a series of toys based around the 1967 stop-motion animated classic, Mad Monster Party.

The Art Asylum Blog explains:

Diamond Select Toys knows monsters — after all, the Maryland-based collectibles company has been making toys and statues of vampires, aliens and werewolves for almost 13 years. But they are especially proud to announce the latest property to join their horror line-up: Mad Monster Party, the classic film by Rankin/Bass, animators of Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Using the same stop-motion animation style they used for their Christmas specials, Rankin/Bass brought all of pop culture’s most famous monsters to the big screen in 1967, and now Diamond Select Toys will bring them to the toy aisle as a line of fully poseable action figures.

“The Rankin/Bass Christmas specials have gotten a lot of merchandise over the last decade, but there have been almost zero collectibles made for Mad Monster Party,” said Chuck Terceira, director of Diamond Select Toys. “Now that the movie has been released on DVD and seen by a whole new audience for the first time, it feels like the right time to give fans new and old the toys they deserve. The film combines all of the classic monster archetypes with the timeless appeal of Rankin/Bass animation, and we want our toy line to represent the figures you see on the screen as closely as possible. ”

Mad Monster Party hit theaters in the spring of 1967, and featured the vocal talents of legendary horror actor Boris Karloff and comedienne Phyllis Diller, as well as parodies of many of the famous monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Hunchback, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Bride of Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. First released on DVD in 2003 and receiving a special edition in 2009, the film has only added to its already sizable group of dedicated fans.