Toy OTD: Quaker Cereal Mail-Order Premium: Cap'n Crunch Bank

Cap'n Crunch was the source of many cool ads, in-box prizes and mail-order premiums. This bank is one of my favorites!

I think this offer was from the late sixties or early seventies - for money and box tops, you could get either a bank in the shape of the Cap'n or his main nemesis, Jean La Foote. It's a simply made item, but it's fun and appealing.

The colors are accurate when you compare it to the cartoon character. Granted, the proportions are extremely tweaked in order to make the character work as a bank. There's not much of a pose here, either, but I think the original design still comes through and rescues the execution. The paint work is rather sketchy too, and to some degree the bank looks like an unauthorized bootleg. It really depends on how appealing you find early manufacturing and design - you either buy into its primitive vibe, or you don't.

These bank aren't terribly rare, so finding one shouldn't be all that difficult. In fact, there's a really nice-looking one up for auction on eBay starting at $24.99 + shipping. Enjoy!

Toy OTD: Jello Mail-Order Premium: Mr. Wiggle Puppet (1966)

I didn't actually see Mr. Wiggle ads when I was a kid (I was a year old when this promotion took place), but I love the design work! The graphics are nice and simple, and as a result the animation is quite good.

Mr. Wiggle was a spin-off brand of Jell-O - apparently it had no sugar, so the ads reminded kids that they could eat all they liked! Mr. Wiggle fed the cathode urchins plenty of gelatin while Sweet-Tooth Sam (Wiggle's Snidely-Whiplash-style arch-nemesis) would try to get some for himself.

General Foods had a mail-away premium offer - for fifty cents and two box tops, you could order a vinyl Mr. Wiggle puppet, a Sweet-Tooth Sam puppet (a vinyl head with the more traditional cloth body), or both!

This is a very cute toy - the proportions of the sculpt are squatter than the animated character, but I'm sure part of this is to create a better fit for a child's hand (plus, he changes shape constantly anyway). The paint work is nice and simple, just like the character's three-color design. It's made out of a good vinyl too, as they've held up really well over forty-three years!

I don't know if this toy ever had any packaging beyond a cardboard shipping box, so I can't really talk about that.

I'm assuming a lot of these puppets were made, because they aren't difficult to find at all - some puppets have warped, but it's still not too hard to get one that's in good shape. There's one for sale right now on eBay for about $60 + shipping, but the auction will have ended by the time you read this. There's also a Sweet Tooth Sam puppet (that I'm considering) on eBay as well for $80 + shipping (I'm assuming he's a little rarer). Good luck!

Toy OTD: Funko McDonaldland Wacky Wobbler: Mayor McCheese

Here's another character from Funko's sprawling, nostalgia-soaked Wacky Wobbler line! Like the other McDonaldland character nodders, Mayor McCheese is very appealing - in some ways, more on-model than the Remco or Huckleberry action figures.

It's not perfect - the paint work is a little rough, and the sculpt is a little rigid. The biggest minus for me is the font on the base, or maybe the fact that the base has text on it at all. It seems unnecessary, and the base design could reflect the era (or the aesthetic) in a stronger way. Still, the color work is nice and there is some good asymmetry in the pose itself. It's a good bit of pop culture for Funko's traditionally low price.

You can still get this bobblehead very easily, and probably for less than when it was first released. It costs $9.99 + shipping at thumbsatplay.com. Snap it up!

Toy OTD: Funko Wacky Wobbler: Bazooka Joe

Funko always treats us to dozens of pop-culture bobbleheads, ranging from very high-profile characters to quite obscure ones. It's great for a couple of reasons - we get to have toys of ad mascots that have rarely seen the light of merchandising day, and we get to enjoy them they way they were when 'we' (i.e, forty-somethings and older) were kids!

Take Bazooka Joe, for example - he hasn't looked like the nodder in quite a while. Almost every advertising character you can think of has gotten a makeover in the eighties, the nineties, or both. Joe's all but disappeared from the Bazooka website, even though it's named after him. He's been utterly eclipsed by Tha Heights, a bubble-rap group singing an admittedly catchy jingle. But I digress.

Funko's Joe may not be spot-on - the proportions of a bobblehead makes that pretty much impossible - but it's still an appealing sculpt that sufficiently captures the spirit of old-school Joe. The paint job supports the comic-strip simplicity of his design. Ideally, I'd like the pose to be a little less symmetrical, but it's a minor quibble. For the most part, I'm just happy there's an affordable Bazooka Joe figure out in the world!

This nodder isn't very old, so it's very easy to get. You can buy one for $14.95 + shipping at collectorsparadisetoys.com, or bargain hunters can get a 'nick and dent' version for $5.99 + shipping at tfaw.com. Bubble gum! Ba-zooka-zooka bubble gum! Ba-zooka-zooka...

Toy OTD: Medicom Toucan Sam Vinyl Figure (2004)

I can't exactly remember where I got this toy from - I think it was Hobby Link Japan - but it was before Dark Horse began to distribute them (at a much lower price) to comic shops. D'oh!

Regardless, this is a great figure through and through! The idea to make vinyl toys of '60s Kellogg cereal mascots is terrific, the sculpt is wonderful and the construction is subtle but solid. Last but not least, the paint apps - not trivial on this toy - are (for the most part) accurate and crisp. It's just a joy to behold!

Toucan Sam was one of three cereal characters in this line - Medicom also made Sugar Pops Pete and Cornelius the (Corn Flakes) Rooster. They're cool too, but Sam is the best of them if you're on a budget, and have to prioritize.

Since the only difference between the Japanese (I think I paid around thirty or forty dollars originally) and domestic releases is the packaging, the latter is still easily available. In fact, it's on sale over at Things From Another World for $5.99 + shipping! Wow - snap it up!

Toy OTD: Toy Tokyo, Medicom Monster Cereal Kubrick Figures: Count Chocula, Frankenberry

Many designer toy retailers make their own toys as well, and Toy Tokyo is no exception. One of their projects was to make the monster cereal mascots into Kubrick figures! I'm a sucker for almost anything made of these guys, so I snapped them up at Comic-Con this past summer.

Some characters emerge from the Kubrick template with a little awkwardness, but two out the three monsters look fine (sorry fans, no Fruit Brute or Yummy Mummy). Personally, I thought Boo Berry looked chunky and stiff, so even though he was my favorite as a kid, I passed on the Kubrick version. The Count looks especially good!

You can get Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Boo Berry at panikstoybox.com for $14.99 + shipping (each). If you're interested, there's glow-in-the-dark variants of each of them, too, and they cost $19.99 + shipping (each).

Toy OTD: Playmates Toys 14" Talking Li'l Penny (Hardaway) Figure (1997)

The Nike ads featuring Li'l Penny didn't really register with me when they aired. But when Chris Rock (who performed the character) appeared on my comedy radar, I got a lot more interested in getting this toy. The sculpt and the paint work are quite good, and it was reasonably priced when it came out (though I forget exactly how much it was).

Considering that the ad campaign wasn't a huge success, and wasn't followed up with short films or a series, this mascot got a fair number of items. Along with the pictured version, there were two non-talking, nine-inch figures - one in a white jersey and trunks, the other in a smoking jacket and slacks (with a cell phone in the bargain).

Penny's phrases are either custom-recorded or lifted from the ads - I can't tell, but they sound good. Playmates wisely added a stand, and one of the hands has a peg so the figure can be set in a shooting pose. Nice! The articulation is moderate, so don't expect to be able to set it up like an Alfrex figure or something. An interesting addition is a movable mouth, like a ventriloquist dummy.

I bought mine on eBay, and I don't remember how much I paid for it. If you don't mind the toy not having its basketball, you can snap one up right now for 99¢ + $8.00 shipping. Hurry, though - the auction ends in fifteen hours!

Toy OTD: Foster's Freeze Premium: Little Foster Wind-Up

I don't have much to say about this little fellow, except that it's another example of a good, cheap toy. The design's been maintained in an appealing way, and there's only three paint passes on one color of plastic. The sculpt's a little stiff, but still cute, especially considering the mechanical nature of the toy. The biggest downside is the same of every wind-up - the winding mechanism is flimsy. Mine was broken when I bought it!

I have no idea how old this is, or how it was sold. I'm assuming it was given away at Foster's Freeze as a premium along with a specific food purchase. I picked this one up at a toy show for just a dollar or two, so if you can find one, I doubt it'll be all that expensive. There's nothing on eBay right now, so keep your eyes peeled!

Toy OTD: Funko Sugar Bear Wacky Wobbler

Funko's primary lure (at least for me) has been their Hanna-Barbera and cereal character licenses. They're great at picking characters that few have merchandised, or at least haven't been for a good twenty-five or thirty years! Not surprisingly, Sugar Bear - the mascot for Super Sugar Crisp (now Post Honey Crisp, even though it's the same cereal) - is one of them.

Even though the cereal has undergone a name change, Funko still printed "Sugar Bear" on his sweater, a nice retro touch. The pose is a little symmetrical, but overall it's a good sculpt, nicely on-model. The paint work is fine, though quality can be a little inconsistent, so you may want to look at the toy in person (or peruse several if you can still find them in a store) to make sure you get a good paint job. The proportions are good for a nodder, so you probably won't have to worry about the head sagging or listing in a few months.

It's still easy to get this toy - in fact, it's been marked down, so you can get it reduced at cherrygames.com for $8.99 + shipping.

PCs Piss Off Santa Claus

Here's a cute new stop-motion Apple spot, with characters designed by Shane Prigmore and directed by Drew Lightfoot. I love the fact that there's so many Rankin-Bass nerds out there eager to make this stuff!

I hope Apple makes dolls of these characters - especially the PC guy. Wouldn't that be the best - making money from merchandising your dig at the competition? Come to think of it, though, I guess South Park does that every week!

Tootsie Pop Vinyl Toys!

Sweet! Someone (the aptly named Super Rad Toys) is whipping up a line of vinyl toys from that Tootsie Pop commercial (yes, that one)! Mr. Turtle, Mr. Owl and The Boy will all be available next year! From the looks of the article, they'll be pretty affordable.

Thanks to Vinyl Pulse for the scoop!

Toy OTD: '70s Tony The Tiger Vinyl Figure

I'm assuming that this figure was a mail-order premium that you could buy with either cash, or a combination of money and box tops. Regardless, it's a great-looking toy - definitely stockier than the animated character, but appealingly sculpted and painted to preserve its cool graphic design. My travel agent back in Vermont had one of these on her desk, and of course I coveted it, trying to get her to sell it to me, but to no avail. I picked up my first Tony figure from eBay, then upgraded to this one (it had a better paint job) later on.

I don't remember how much I paid for the figure, but being fairly common, I think they fall into the $40-$60 range. Got2haveit.com has one for $49.99 + shipping, and there's an auction on eBay right now currently at $2.99 + shipping! Maybe there's a bargain there...

Toy OTD: Messemaennchen "Convention Man" Figure (1964)

It's been a while since I picked this up, so I don't remember where I bought it (maybe at the San Mateo toy show) - I think it cost me about $40. I knew nothing about it then, but an internet friend doughyboy did some digging and found this guy's back story:

It's called Messemaennchen, and it's an East German mascot for the Leipzig Convention in the early sixties. The phrase Leipziger Messe refers to a convention center/area in Germany (Leizpig), that has been around forever - since before World War I. They host a famous book convention, games convention, car convention and a few others. The double M on the character head is the logo for the convention center itself (the logo was designed in 1917).

I'll bet William Joyce has one of these figures in his collection, don't you think? It's very much the aesthetic that he's fond of.

I thought these figures would be harder to dig up, but if you can read German, it looks like you can buy a similar figure here for six Euros, or about $8.27 USD + shipping.

Toy OTD: Charlie The Tuna Telephone (1987)

A friend of mine was cleaning out his house, so he sold this phone to me - I think I paid about $15 or $20 for it. It's about ten inches tall - one of the older phones that's contained all in one piece. It hangs up when you set it down, so I can see why this style of phone didn't really catch on! At least it looks like you can switch it from touch-tone to pulse-tone and back again.

The sculpt and paint work on it are quite good, nicely on-model. There's the strange touch of the light bulbs in the glasses (I assume that they blink when someone calls), but it doesn't detract from the overall design.

I don't know who manufactured this, so maybe it was a mail-order premium. At any rate, it's not terribly rare or expensive - there's an eBay auction for one right now starting at $9.99 + shipping.

Cool '60s Japanese TV Spot

This ad is for Tory's Whiskey, designed by Ryohei Yanagihara. The animation isn't very good, but I love the design! Here's more about the "Uncle Tory" mascot, and Ryohei himself from this website:

[Uncle Torys was] an advertising character created in 1958 for Japan's Suntory whiskey. [He] became a popular figure in print ads, TV commercials, collectible figures, and all that kinda jazz. Creator Ryohei Yanagihara started working for Suntory in 1954 and also became editor of their hipster magazine, Yoshu Mame Tengoku (roughly translates as "a little bit of liquor heaven"), which was standard reading at the Tokyo Torys Bar. Like Tony the Tiger or other great advertising characters, Uncle Torys transcended his commercial origin and became one of the most widely recognized icons in postwar Japan. By 1959, Ryo left Suntory to be a freelance artist, although the Uncle Torys campaigns continued into the 60s. In 1960 he co-founded the Animation Sannin No Kai ("Three People in Animation") with Youji Kuri and Hiroshi Manabe, and they started an animation festival, each contributing experimental handmade animated films influenced by opening title sequences from western films. Ryo's animations were characterized by the same bright graphic style as his illustrations, and he continued making short films up until 1966. Apparently Ryo himself created title sequences for over 40 films, including the Japanese version of the American film "Around The World In 80 Days".

Later, Ryo gravitated toward his true love since childhood, ships and vessels of the sea, and was able to combine his interests when he started doing illustrations for Japanese shipping lines, notably the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines which made him an honorary Captain in 1969. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has a great website called the Ryohei Yanagihara Museum which gives some interesting biographical information in the Library, along with Exhibition Rooms with a huge assortment of his illustrations / paintings of ships, in a wide sprinkling of exotic settings.