The Frankenstein Monster, simply called "Frankenstein" here is largely reminiscent of the Universal Monsters makeup without infringing. The head is just shy of being a flat top, bolts are in the forehead as opposed to the neck (Mego did this too with their Frankenstein doll) and the skin is scarred and a ghoulish green..
The hard to find solid boxed example has a wonderful typo, as the figure's name is "Frankensten", which shows that somebody wasn't proofing at Lincoln that day. The art on the box clearly mimicking the wonderful Mego Mad Monsters Gray Morrow packaging, although done in a more childlike fashion. This gives a clear timeline for these as being released in 1975. To the best of my knowledge, the solid boxes were released solely in the United Kingdom.
There are a couple of distinct variations of the Frankenstein packaging and figure as we'll explore below.
Above is a UK carded Frankenstein, the figure is one of the bigger indicators it represents a later product time. His head is a solid green colour not flesh painted green unlike the earlier version seen below.
Above is a loose example of an earlier Lincoln Frankenstein, this one culled from the solid box.
Note the bad green "makeup".
Tomlands Variations
The history is sketchy but sometime after Lincoln produced the Monsters, Tomland reused the headsculpts for a series of four action figures as well as some mini monster figures. The colour schemes had changed but the figures kept that same kooky style they always had. Below is the Tomland Mini Monsters Frankenstein, who know looks a bit like Cosmo Kramer:
Above a comparison shot of Lincoln Frankenstein along with the Tomland Mini Monster and the 8" FMOL Frankenstein, neat-o!
For more on Tomland frankenstein, please visit the Famous Monsters of Legend Archive
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Our book "Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings" is a love letter to the Lincoln Monsters.
