action figure: Super Monsters: Dracula

Marvin Azrak and Erza Hamway founded Azrak-Hamway Incorporated (AHI) in the mid-1960. By 1974, the company purchased the name of Remco Toy Corporation and utilized a two-tier approach to marketing����_��Remco would produce the higher value TV advertised items and AHI would create less expensive rack toys. AHI produced everything from ����_�Lost in Space����_�_ to ����_�M*A*S*H*����_�_ to Kiss action figures, but one figure that really caught the attention of children and adult was the company����_��s line of figures based on classic Universal Monsters like Frankenstein����_��s monster, Dracula, Wolfman, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The figures proved cheap and often crude, but consumers continue to collect them today.

Bram Stoker penned ����_�Dracula����_�_ in 1897, yet, despite longevity, the image of a vampire constantly evolves. Scholars, journalists, historians, and pop culture fanatics continue to interpret the various iterations of the character. In his 2008 NPR article, Eric Nuzum looks at the evolution of the character and notes that ����_�Transylvania����_��s most famous son rarely appears the same way twice. He has evolved with the society around him. His physical traits, powers, and weaknesses have morphed to suit cultural and political climates.����_�_ From the real-life Dracula, Vlad III or ����_�Vlad the Impaler����_�_ who did horrid things in the 1490 to Bela Lugosi����_��s alluring and evil Dracula of the 1920 to Frank Langella����_��s overtly sexualized Dracula of the late 1970, the character proves malleable.