by: -RoG-

Monstickers are awesome. Released in 1979 by the Topps company, these are among my all-time favorite puffy stickers, featuring the brilliant artwork of Norman Saunders and Wally Wood. They're actually a re-release of the original Topps "Ugly Stickers" set from 1965, only they added some more monsters to the bunch... and made them puffy. If you grew up in the eighties, there's simply no way you didn't own puffy stickers, and these are easily some of the best. Incredibly creative monster creations - some hideous, some hilarious - you couldn't help but want to add all of them to your Halloween collection.

Problem is, they only came out in packs of three, so you had to buy a lot of them to complete the full 68 sticker set. Naturally, you got a lot of doubles and/or color variants along the way, but it was never a problem finding a place to stick an extra monster. Of course, back then that wasn't too much of a problem since they only cost 25 cent per pack - a price any kid who bought toys and stickers from grocery store vending machines was very comfortable with.

Another problem was that most kids (myself included) stuck them on their books, cabinets, Trapper Keepers, cabinets, and just about any other location we deemed to be Monsticker-worthy. Hell, the box itself even encouraged us to stick them on our bikes!

As you can imagine, since these weren't technically trading cards and we stuck them everywhere, many Monstickers were lost over the years, so now they're a bit harder to find and some auctioneers have been trying to sell single packs for outrageous prices. Well, completing a set isn't something I've accomplished yet, but I'm working on it and keeping my eyes peeled for the Monstickers I'm missing. I have 39 so far, so I'm more than halfway there. While it'll still probably take me quite a while to complete my set, I thought I would scan in of all the Monstickers that I do have for your viewing pleasure.

So without further delay, I present you with close-up scans of my Monstickers collection:

Number 3 - Lynn

Number 4 - Tom

Number 5 - Carol

Number 6 - Cathy

Number 7 - Charlie

Number 8 - Bill

Number 9 - Vicki

Number 10 - Jessica

Number 11 - Don

Number 12 - Justin

Number 13 - Amanda

Number 14 - Jerry

Number 15 - Susan

Number 16 - John

Number 17 - Scott

Number 18 - Betty

Number 19 - Shaun

Number 20 - Derek

Number 21 - Michael

Number 22 - Sally

Number 23 - Chris

Number 27 - Ronnie

Number 29 - Richard

Number 30 - Beth

Number 31 - Sarah

Number 32 - Jason

Number 33 - Bob

Number 34 - Karen

Number 36 - David

Number 37 - Joanne

Number 39 - Nancy

Number 41 - Jack

Number 42 - Len

Number 44 - Kathy

Number 60 - Kim

Number 62 - Jim

Number 63 - Anne

Number 65 - Lisa

Number 67 - Mary

Given their "puffy" nature, they don't always scan perfectly, so I'm also including a photograph
of all my stickers attached to their original strips since some of these scans don't do them justice.
Click below for a high-res photograph of my current Monstickers collection so you can see what the sticker strips look like:

[click to view full size]

And that pretty much does it for my Monstickers. I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at them, because the artwork is truly great and only rivaled by Monster Initials stickers if you ask me. As I said before, I'm still trying to complete my collection, but I'm not about to spend a ton of money in order to do so. Just as the monsters on these puffy stickers wait to bathe in your blood or eat your eyeballs or do something equally gross, I'll wait for the right price on the remaining stickers. Whenever I track down some more, I'll be sure to add them to this page so you can check 'em out. In the meantime, be sure to drop a comment below and share your thoughts on the fantastic artwork seen in Monstickers and lemme know if any creatures in particular are your favorite. Personally, I'm leaning towards Shaun (#19) since he's discovered a way to play ping-pong with himself, and that's pretty damn impressive considering he's a twisted mutation. Justin (#12) comes in a close second for figuring out the absolute best use for a toilet plunger.

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