Boglins made an appearance on here last year in the form of this large hand-puppet Boglin. When I was puzzling over what to cover on this years Halloween Countdown, I received a package off a friend which contained an array of interesting things (some of which I shall be looking at in future). Most notable though was the inclusion of Mini Boglins!

Mini Boglins were released in 1991 by Ideal, perhaps to compete with Matchbox’s Monster in my Pocket toyline, of which Boglins are very similar. Whereas MIMP were  based on a variety of different monsters from myths, legends and popular fiction, Mini Boglins were small slug-like creatures that were often doing revolting, tasteless or dangerous things, not too different to the artwork on Garbage Pail Kids cards. Like MIMP, Boglins came in an array of different fluorescent colours and could be bought in random packets. Here in the UK, we even had some special Boglins come as free gifts in cereal. It’s just dawned on me, despite my moaning before, we ACTUALLY got something decent in our cereal that other countries didn’t!  I even remember buying a Boglin that came in a plastic toy toilet filled with slime as a kid. Well, I’ve talked about ’em enough now, so here is my collection of Boglins dumped out into a massive multicoloured pile that only a ’90s (or ’80s) kid could truly appreciate.

 

 

Unlike MIMP, Boglins feel quite a bit heavier so you feel like you’re getting more bang for your buck. There were different levels of rarity for Mini Boglins, though I’m still not sure which of mine are rare. No other kid that I knew collected Boglins, so it wasn’t like I could brag or trade or anything. In fact, I think all of my Boglins were bought around ’94 or ’95, as my Mum used to go a local market. One trader sold a few toys, and always seemed to have new Mini Boglins every week for about 20p each, so I would race out of school on whatever day that was to see of I had been bought new ones. It was very exciting, and receiving new Boglins in the post really took me back to that time as a kid.

One of my newly acquired Boglins is the purple middle one in the picture below. It GLOWS IN THE DARK! I didn’t even know you could get Mini Boglins that did that. So thank you James, I’m really glad to have him in my collection!

 

 

As a kid, I was pretty surprised that some of the Boglins got made. Especially this one on the right that is holding a pistol to his head. I doubt they’d make anything like that in this day and age.

 

 

I also remember being surprised they made a Mini Boglin that was vomiting. For real. He was one of my favourite Boglins as a kid, just because it was weird and different to own a toy that was clearly throwing it’s guts up.

 

 

 

The real problem with Boglins it’s quite hard to appreciate the detail on them because of their bright colours. I found a website called Mikes Painted Miniatures, which feature some Boglins that have had a bit of paint put on them, which really brings out the details, although mainly because of nostalgia I think I will always prefer the garish colours of the original. Though these are pretty neat!

 

 

I don’t think I really have much more to say about Boglins. I freakin’ love ’em. They’re gross, creepy, and very bright coloured. Although I don’t really associate them just with Halloween, they deserve to be here on this list because they were inspired by the torrent of ’80s creature movies like Gremlins and Critters.

I’m also glad to see that Tim Clarke, the original creator of Boglins is still making Boglins to this day, which can be bought here. I just had a look on the site and couldn’t help but add a Boglin to my basket but was almost put off by the postage costs to the UK, but being able to own a brand new Boglin in a wee crate was something that I just couldn’t pass up. I will introduce him to you when he arrives anyway.

And that’s another day over in the Halloween Countdown. Come back tomorrow for more!