On TheFwoosh, Themanintheanthill has a detailed remembrance of Tomy's Mighty Men and Monster-Maker kits, which John at Super Punch calls "the toy from my childhood I most regret not keeping." I'm with John. I loved these things — you assembled templates for monsters/superheros in a frame, inserted a sheet of paper overtop, did a "brass rubbing" of the outlines, and got a custom line-drawing to color in. My set got a second life when I fell in love with Villains and Vigilantes, a superhero RPG, and made the world's greatest character sheets.
The tiles represent heroic and monstrous archetypes of the 20th century. You've got both Marvel- and DC-style heroes, a Flash Gordon/Buck Rodgers-type spaceman, a Frankenstein Monster and Mummy, as well as some truly interesting "alien" designs that look like something out of Barlow's Guide to Extraterrestrials. The art is terrific, top-notch spot illos by Dave Stevens, who later went on to create a little comic called The Rocketeer.
TOMY's MIGHTY MEN and MONSTER MAKER KIT!
(via Super Punch)
