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The world of vintage toy collecting is full of grails, but few are as obscure or as improbable as one that sold for more than $8,000 on eBay. Rather than being from a huge movie or TV franchise, the oddity comes from a cheap-and-cheerful monster line from the late 1970s that most collectors have never heard of, let alone seen.
That would be a two-inch plastic Morlock from Tomland’s Famous Monsters of Legend. The fact that this micro-sized figure from a toy line that has been lost to time and memory can command the same price as some prized Star Wars figures is remarkable in itself, but this figure is even more bizarre for being one that no one seemed to believe this chunky little piece of plastic even existed until recently.
Famous Monsters of Legend is a Lost Toy Line of the 1970s
Tomland was never a household name. The company spent most of the 1970s producing largely unlicensed figures that attempted to piggyback the success of trending franchises, from space aliens to its own take on the Six Million Dollar Man. Famous Monsters of Legend was its attempt to make money from popular monster movies. Clearly not that keen on paying the usual license fees for Universal monsters or other existing franchises, Tomland made their own versions of public domain monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy, as well as The Fly, Snowman, Cyclops, and Morlock. As well as creating full-sized action figures, they also produced tiny two-inch versions, which had very little detail but unusually came with several points of articulation.
Morlock was one of the line’s odd creations, a whip-wielding creature inspired by the creatures of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine that came with a green jacket and tie for reasons that even those who have documented the range cannot fathom. The Morlock’s “mini monster” counterpart, the version that was sold in this recent auction, isn’t much to look at, but became such a rarity that it practically vanished from existence.
That is precisely what makes this sale unique. The figure is now catalogued as a genuine 1979 Tomland release that is a real part of the line’s monster subseries, complete with photographs front and back, confirming that this figure did make it off the production line in small quantities. That kind of low-level volume and scarcity instantly adds a couple of zeroes to the end of a valuation, and this Morlock’s lack of real documentation and record only made it more coveted than other items in the same Tomland range.
Would you pay more money for an almost non-existent brand over a big IP? Your answer probably defines the type of collector you are. Some want unopened boxes; some want the biggest and best figures from a nostalgic piece of their childhood. Others want to own the rarest items out there. Forgotten figures are some of the most sought-after collectibles out there and are only available to those with deep pockets.
Paying $8,000 for an item like this Morlock figure is something that will leave many people scratching their heads. For those who have spent years chasing this particular spook of the collectors’ world, one suddenly surfacing on eBay was an opportunity that may not come up again for a substantial amount of time, if at all. For that one person needing this figure to complete their entire collection, the price was probably more than reasonable for such an obscure piece.
Have you ever heard of the Famous Monsters of Legend? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the Forum!
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