Who says monsters have to be scary? The Munsters are back to tickle the funny bones of a whole new generation in a new line of figures from Diamond Select Toys! These specialty-market-exclusive “Select” versions not only come in more deluxe display packaging than their Toys R Us-exclusive counterparts, they also come with bonus pieces in addition to their regular accessories. Buy all three figures, and you get all the parts you need to build Grandpa’s electric chair! Check out the packaged shots below, then look for them at online retailers, specialty stores and in your local comic shop in October!

Get regular DST updates on Facebook and Twitter! And pre-order Munsters Select here!

Halloween is fast approaching, and we wanted to do something special to celebrate. (Well, something more special than release a ton of awesome monster-themed action figures — we’re already doing that!) Then it hit us — we want to see your Halloween costumes! Specifically, we want to see you dress up like your favorite Diamond Select Toys action figure! We’re going to have four categories to enter, and four big prizes for the winnners!

Category 1: Universal Monsters
Dress up like any Universal Monsters character who has (or has been announced as getting) a 7″ action figure from DST: The Wolfman, the Mummy, the Creature, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Bride, the Invisible Man, the Phantom and the Metaluna Mutant. Re-create the look and costume of any version of the character we’ve shown or made.
PRIZE: The winner will get a set of the Toys R Us AND Select versions of Universal Monsters Series 2 in preliminary packaging, plus a set of the Universal Monster Series 2 Retro figures!

Category 2: The Munsters
Dress up like any of the five Munsters family members: Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie or Marilyn.
PRIZE: The winner will get a set of Herman and Lily unpainted prototype figures in preliminary Toys R Us packaging, plus a painted set of Munsters Select Series 1, also in preliminary packaging.

Category 3: Femme Fatales
Dress up AND pose like any character from our Femme Fatales statue line: Dawn, Alice, Tarot, Little Red, Darkchylde, Snow White, Lady Death, Anne Bonny, Medusa or Bo Peep. (Remember, the goal is to re-create the appearance of the statue, so the outfit and pose must match. See examples here.)
PRIZE: A sold-out Alice Femme Fatale statue, an unpainted Anne Bonny prototype, and our limited NYCC 2011-exclusive variant of Anne Bonny.

Category 4: Minimates
Dress up like a Minimate — ANY Minimate. It can be a blank Minimate, or a re-creation of any Minimate character we make, as long as your head and arms are cylindrical and your chest and legs are boxy. You should clearly be a Minimate, or the Minimate version of whatever character you do.
PRIZE: The winner will get a set of all four Universal Monsters Minimates Box Sets, the first two Ghostbusters Minimates Box Sets, all eight SDCC giveaway figures, a Battle Beast, a Minimates carrying case and an original Minimate design sheet.

OFFICIAL RULES:

- Enter as many costumes in as many categories as you like, but only one photo of each entry is allowed, so make it a good one.

- The photo should show the full costume, from head to toe.

- Entries will be judged on the costume, not the photo, but the photo should be in focus and well-lit.

- Photos can be indoors or outdoors, but no really busy backgrounds. You should be able to tell where the costume begins and ends.

- No photoshopping of photos is allowed. This includes text.

- By submitting the photograph to the contest, you give us permission to publish them on our Website.

- Post your photos on the Diamond Select Toys Facebook wall at http://www.facebook.com/diamondselecttoys between now and October 7 at 9 AM EST.

Start sewing, gluing, stapling, etc.!

Just when you thought you were safe from fictional creatures from movies made long ago, Universal Monsters Minimates Series 2 is here to scare the bejeezeus out of you! That’s right, the tiniest, most adorable monsters ever are back just in time for the spookiest time of the year! This time around, Frankenstein’s monster, Dr. Henry Frankenstein, Dracula, Van Helsing, the Bride of Frankenstein, a Villager, and Toys R Us-exclusive black-and-white versions of Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster are here to scare and/or smile your face clear off! Check out pictures of the two-packs in packaging below, and look for them at a Toys R Us near you in October!

See the figures in action here, and get regular Minimate updates on Facebook and Twitter! And pick up the four-packs with exclusive female characters here!

Being a monster can be a little rough, especially when you’re trying to live a low-key life in the suburbs. It does have it’s advantages, though — they never seem to age! They look as fresh as they did back in 1966! Series 1 of The Munsters from Diamond Select Toys features good-natured funeral home worker Herman, his lovely wife Lily, and her cantankerous inventor father Grandpa! Hop in your Dragula, roar on down to your local Toys “R” Us this October and check ‘em out! Or pre-order the specialty-store “Select” versions here, and you’ll get the extra parts to build your own electric chair!

Because our Minimates photo contest was so successful, Diamond Select decided to spread the love and invite collectors to participate in a photo contest of a… different scale. Instead of two-inch Minimates, you were now shooting 7-inch-and-up Select figures, and while it was originally pitched as a Marvel AND Universal Select photo contest on our Facebook page, the overwhelming ratio of Marvel Select figures to Universal Select figures was reflected in the entries. (There were a couple of Universal entries, and they were good, so we’re going to throw a purely Universal-themed contest in time for Halloween.) Check out the gallery of entries here (not all of them, but some of the best) and congrats to Ogun Ryu for winning with his blacklight shot of Gambit, as well as runners-up True Believer (for Captain America), Ryan Dickinson (for Iron Man) and The One Cam (for Juggernaut)!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the next contest, and pick up some of the winning Marvel Select models in our web store!

We showed you the Toys “R” Us exclusive assortment of Universal Monsters Series 2 figures, but here are their specialty-store counterparts! Frankenstein has a different paint scheme and comes with his lab table as an accessory, while Dracula has a new head sculpt and comes with a wolf and a new base! They’ll both come in the larger Select packaging to accommodate their new pack-ins, but will hit around the same time as their non-Select friends — October! Just in time for Halloween!

Pre-order them here, and get regular DST updates on Facebook and Twitter!

They’ve risen from their graves, but we’ve entombed them in a coffin of another kind: the plastic bubble of an action figure blister card! Dracula, Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein are riding their cursed ship across the sea to our shores, and should arrive at Toys “R” Us just in time for Halloween. Be on the lookout for these three 7-inch figures in October, and check out the deluxe Select versions of Drac and Frank here!

By now, many of you are undoubtedly looking forward to our second series of Universal Monsters Minimates, starring Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and their supporting casts. But if you’re not, then you clearly haven’t gotten your hands on UM Series 1. Focusing on the twin terrors of the Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Series 1’s two four-packs are available in comic shops right now, with exclusive figures of Gwen Conliffe and Kay Lawrence, respectively. The rest of the figures are also available in two-pack form at Toys R Us, along with an exclusive black-and-white two-pack of the Wolfman and the Creature. Check out our new pics of the toys in action in our Universal Monsters gallery and pick them up now, before their undead brethren arrive to steal all the glory — and shelf space!

See the new photos here, then order your Wolfman box set (and pre-order the Frankenstein and Dracula sets) here! And get regular Minimate updates on Facebook and Twitter!

The Universal Monsters have given us a lot of scares over the years… but they’ve also given us a lot of laughs! And not just chasing Abbott and Costello on the big screen, either, but on TV as well. For decades, the world has enjoyed the suburban antics of the Munster family, composed of two Draculas, a Frankenstein and a wolf-boy, and now Diamond Select Toys is proud to bring you the finest action figures of the Munsters ever made. Done in our famous 7-inch scale, Herman, Lily and Grandpa will look right at home alongside your other Universal Monsters, and each will be available in two different versions: one version at Toys R Us with their signature accessories (listed below), and a Select version at specialty stores that comes with a bonus accessory — a piece of the family electric chair! Collect all three Select versions to build it! Look for both versions in October, and check out solo pictures below!

Herman Munster
Clocking in at 350 pounds and 7 feet 3 inches tall, Herman Munster was built in 1850 by Dr. Victor Frankenstein, but is nothing like Frankenstein’s monster of legend. A good-natured, soft-spoken funeral home employee, Herman is a World War II veteran, a good husband to his vampire wife Lilly and a loving father to his werewolf son Eddie. This 7-inch scale figure perfectly captures the likeness of actor Fred Gwynne, and also comes with Herman’s massive lunchbox.

Lily Munster
Born Lily Dracula of Transylvania, the matriarch of the Munster family is the daughter of a vampire, but werewolf blood also runs in her family, as both her brother and her son bear the curse. Loving dust and decay, she keeps the Munster household nice and messy, and is also an adoptive mother and confidante to her niece Marilyn. This 7-inch scale figure is a perfect likeness of Yvonne DeCarlo and comes with the Munsters’ raven-inhabited cuckoo/grandfather clock.

Grandpa Munster
Sam Dracula, the famous Count Dracula of legend, was married 166 times, and even though his wives are all dead, he still keeps in touch. Over 600 years old, he personally knew King Arthur and Jack the Ripper, and can still turn into a wolf or a bat, if he takes his pills. Played by Al Lewis, Sam is also a persistent inventor, having modified his own coffin into a race car, and this 7-inch scale figure comes with his laboratory table, as well as his pet bat Igor.

The Minimates fans have had their shot, now Select fans get to take theirs! The official Diamond Select Toys Marvel and Universal Select photo contest starts today, and goes until next Thursday, August 18! The grand prize winner gets a set of Captain America and Red Skull Marvel Select movie figures, and three runners-up will also get a rare Marvel or Universal Select figure. Here’s the rules:

- Take a photo in which one or more Marvel Select or Universal Select figures is the central character. You can mix them up or stick with one property, and you may use other Diamond Select toy lines in the background, but all of the figures and accessories in the photo should be from Diamond Select Toys. No toys or accessories from other toy companies will be allowed.

- Shots can be indoors, outdoors, on miniature sets, on human-sized sets, whatever. But they should be in focus, and you should be able to tell what’s going on in them.

- Photoshop is allowed for touch-ups or to duplicate a character, but not to alter the character extensively. Word balloons are allowed, but the photo will be primarily judged on its visuals, not any spoken dialogue.

- Photos should be at least 4 by 6 inches at 72 dpi (288×432 pixels). They can be vertical or horizontal.

- Post your photo on the Diamond Select Toys Facebook wall at http://www.facebook.com/diamondselecttoys between now and August 18th at 9 AM EST.

- Only one entry is allowed per person, so make sure your best shot is on the wall come Thursday morning.

- The winner will get a set of Captain America and Red Skull movie-based Marvel Select action figures. Three runners-up will also be chosen to receive special/rare Marvel or Universal Select figures or figure prototypes.

- By submitting the photograph to the contest, you give us permission to publish them on our Website.

Start shooting!