What's old is new!  Atlantis Models is re-releasing a number of Aurora monster models with the same box art you know and love.

From there, I followed up with Wolfman and The Mummy.  Wolfman came in brown plastic but it still required a lot of paint to make him look decent.  The Mummy, on the other hand, was built as-is with the gray plastic left unadorned.  For the first time (and last, since I did not like the headache-causing odor nor the aggressive plastic melting ability) I used Testor’s liquid cement in lieu of the standard messy tube glue.  Immediately, The Mummy conjured up a lot of scary thoughts in my vivid imagination as I slept alone in our downstairs with an aversion to the dark and a tendency toward nasty nightmares.  ​

"Boys love dogs!!"  One can imagine the enthusiastic acceptance of this pitch by ITC (Ideal Toy Company) executives to produce this forgotten "Dog Champions" line.  Model kit companies tried some interesting experiments in the early 1960s.  Aurora's monster kit line was equally risky but succeeded beyond anybody's expectations.

"Dog Champions" just didn't resonate with young modelers in the 1960's and they don't particularly excite collectors today.  This kit, unbuilt with box (at left) was less than ten bucks on eBay.  Aurora's monsters are much more plentiful--and much more expensive!

Soon, I'd had enough of his glaring at me from his menacing perch on a shelf overlooking my bed.  Ultimately The Mummy met a sudden demise from the business end of my friend’s BB gun.  I ended my monster building efforts right then and there.  But kitmaker Aurora was just getting going with them.
 
How did Aurora even come up with the notion in the first place to manufacture classic monster models?  There is more than one version, depending on whom you wish to believe.  According to Tom Graham’s book Aurora Model Kits published by Schiffer Books and still available, three molds for knights in armor were the impetus in 1956 for Aurora to create a long line of figure kits ranging from these early knights and the Three Musketeers to Indians and Guys and Gals.  None of these types sold near as well as the classic movie monsters.  
 
Aurora’s advertising and idea employee Bill Silverstein thought that boys would buy and build movie monster kits such as Frankenstein and Dracula if they became available.  It took Silverstein a couple of years to convince Aurora’s decision making Board to go for it.  The first Frankenstein mold pattern was displayed at the Hobby Industry Association of America (HIAA) annual convention in 1962.  The reaction of excitement by some boys who had been let into the show on the last day convinced two previously skeptical and initially indifferent California distributors that Aurora might have a winner.  Kits were ordered and the rest was history.  ​

Aurora used the blessing of Universal Studios and advertisements in Famous Monsters magazine and the backs of DC comic books to build the monster line into unprecedented success.  Various customizing contests sponsored by Aurora also fed their monster frenzy.  In fact, Aurora’s development costs for these monster kits were relatively low so by early 1964, the company had sold over seven million monster kits with Dracula, Wolfman and the Creature following Frankenstein in late 1962 and early 1963, just in time to pique my own early interest.
 
Why were these models so attractive to youngsters of the era when the movies on which they were based were decades old?  Quite simply, television largely introduced the classic monster movies to a new, young audience. The original Universal monster movies were not deemed suitable for TV broadcast during prime-time.  Mostly, they were shown after the 10:00 news at night by local stations, often on weekends, and it was usually an effort to get mom and/or dad on board for approval to stay up that late to see them.  Of course the movies were quite scary (but rather mild by today's standards), and indulging them went into the midnight hours.  The sun had long gone and our imaginations knew it was the time when the monsters lurking there would begin their terrorizing rounds.  So one had to be a bit brave to watch these movies in the first place.

A classic bottle of Testors enamel paint in a color that could be slathered on your Aurora monster as "blood."  The fact that parents and sociologists were squeamish about these products perhaps emboldened youngsters to want them.  Well, things quieted down and such backlash towards authority waned as the 60's proceeded--NOT!

The younger you were, the bigger bragging rights you'd have with your friends later on as you regaled them not only with plot points of the movies, but how you pulled off getting to see them in the first place.  Likewise, you had to be tough to have a model of these scary monsters in your bedroom—especially at night when you were sleeping!  So an adrenaline factor and some bravado may have at least partially fueled their popularity.

Aurora cropped the box art and turned it backwards for the later "Square Box" kits that included the glow-parts.

Compare the original art on the long-Box.

The monster craze triggered by Aurora boosted new television shows such as The Munsters and The Addams Family in the 1964 Fall TV Season.  Of course the Monster-Mania generated production of AMT’s 1/25 scale Munster Coach, which was one of my early car models, long lost after I originally built it, but now recreated in my own Mad-Doctor workshop to modern contest quality standards.  But that one is another story.  
 

Aurora designed and molded additional subjects and variations to go with the original iconic four already described and these original Aurora Monster molds persist to this day.  Circa 1969, after the monster models had been on the market for a few years, Aurora gave them "new life" by including a few key glow-in-the-dark pieces, included on a separate sprue.  For example, Frankenstein could be built with a glow-in-the-dark head, hands, and boots.  To distinguish this innovation, the kits were packed in square boxes starting in the early 1970's.

The original Aurora Plastics Company met its unfortunate demise in the late 1970's, but competitor Monogram acquired the monster kit molds.  They released the original four described earlier in 1983 and then in fluorescent “Luminators” plastic in 1991 along with King Kong and the Phantom of the Opera following in 1992. ​

The extent of the early 1960s Monster Craze and its effect on the overall culture of the period is illustrated by this iconic cover on Mad Magazine in September, 1964.  It must be noted that Aurora Models actually produced a model kit of Alfred E. Neuman, Mad's cover boy.

Regular standard plastic re-issues from the original molds came out in 1994 exclusive to Wal-Mart and in 1999 exclusive to Toys-R-Us (ouch!!  To think our favorite classic models are considered to be toys???!?).  Interestingly, these exclusive sets had the original “Aurora” logo on the box courtesy of CineModels.
 
In 1995, Playing Mantis reissued these beloved monster models from new molds created through copies of the original Aurora kit parts.  These kits were boxed under the Polar Lights moniker with the original Aurora artwork through 2004.  Of course, since the mid-2000s, one of the the latest companies on the scene to market a line of these original, lovable and venerable monster kits is Moebius Models.   At the 2006 IPMS Nationals in Kansas City there was an excellent Diorama built by Chuck Collins, “Aurora Tribute,” with the original Aurora Monster models in all of their glory and mayhem illustrating their availability and continued appeal.  Space prevents a complete dissertation of the entire Aurora line but if you want more information about your favorite old Aurora kits, you must obtain Thomas Graham’s excellent book, simply titled Aurora Model Kits.  It can be found on Amazon.  Tom has made presentations at the IPMS Nationals and the book was originally copyrighted in 2004.  I can highly recommend it to any Aurora aficionados and any of you with an interest in your old classic Aurora kits.

The book covers the history of all Aurora subjects and has a collector’s price guide at the end. And it is fun to read about the hue and cry raised by upset parents and psychologists during the advent and progression of the monster kits, especially at the debut of “The Forgotten Prisoner."  Even more information can be obtained by  Googling Aurora Models, or visiting the Moebius Models website.  The original monster models can be found in various vintages and conditions on eBay.

2020/2021 UPDATE:  The Aurora Monster Models Story Gets a New Chapter

"IT'S ALIVE!  IT'S ALIVE!"  Aurora monster models are not dead (at least not in the traditional sense).  A relative newcomer to the model kit world is Atlantis Models.  In 2018, they acquired a large amount of tooling for legacy model kits, including many Aurora classics. 

The year 2020 quickly became The Year of the Mask, thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Atlantis Models started out the year in style by bring back the Phantom of the Opera.  He even features the same mask he wore back in the 1960's!  This kit, sporting a vintage-style long-box, was so popular, it sold out on their website by summer.

The Atlantis Long-Box Phantom was released in early 2020.

It's the same Phantom kit you know and love.  Check out our review of Long-Box and Square Box versions!

In late 2020, Atlantis began shipping the Glow-in-the-Dark Phantom kit in a square-box format!

In addition to the standard Phantom plastic, an additional set of selected glow-parts (such as hands, mask, and faces) are included!

Atlantis also re-released The Forgotten Prisoner of Castel-Mare (check out our review!)  This kit drove parents nuts in the 1960's.  If yours wouldn't let you have it back then, here's your chance, because Atlantis  has brought it back as well!  In addition, a glow-version of Godzilla has returned too!  CHECK OUT OUR REVIEW OF GODZILLA HERE!  This article includes a bonus section on the spooky science of glow-in-the-dark stuff.

It's now hip to be square at Atlantis Models.  Forgotten Prisoner and Godzilla feature square boxes.

One of the biggest challenges to re-releasing the Aurora Monsters is the licensing.  It's more difficult for model companies to get fair licensing agreements than in the past.  The expense adds to the price of a kit and in some cases can be prohibitive to a release even if other aspects of a re-release might be simple.   On February 20, 2021, Atlantis Models announced pre-orders on King Kong after securing licensing via the Kong of Skull Island brand owned by DiVito Artworks!  This is another one we were excited to wrap our claws around and we have a King Kong review live now!

Will we see Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, Mummy, The Creature  and others again as model kits???  Circa The 2020's, licensing from Universal is the big hurdle.  Dealing with lawyers and the expense of such a license are all that is currently holding back a re-release of these subjects.  We wish Atlantis Models all the best as they negotiate these hurdles!  If you haven't already, subscribe to their newsletter in order to receive updates on their monster kits and all the other cool kits they're releasing!

Check out our Atlantis King Kong review!

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​CRAZY DEM BRUDDERS TRIVIA FACT:  Atlantis Models is about as close as you can get to the old Aurora Models (their Deer Park headquarters on Long Island, NY is about 30 miles away from where the old Aurora Models used to be)!  Atlantis Models are made in the USA.

Check out our page about the Weird-oh/Roth Fink craze.  Keep your own nostalgia "un-dead" by rebuilding one of your favorite old kits from the 1960s!

The whole gamut of original Aurora Monster models presented in an amazing diorama entitled “Aurora Tribute” from the 2006 IPMS Nationals in Kansas City.  The entry was built by Chuck Collins and won him a third place award in the Miscellaneous Dioramas category.

Scroll down a bit to see what else is new at DemBrudders.com!