Toy OTD: Electric Tiki Teeny Weeny Mini-Maquette: Mighty Mouse (2003)

Electric Tiki just keeps those great pop-culture figurines coming! This is another spiffy one displaying the standard pluses and minuses of the company's products.

On the plus side, the character sculpt and posing really maintain the spirit of the cartoon! He's still got that oddly soft look. The only detail that I miss are the eyelashes - for some reason I associate them with Terrytoons denizens. They really stuck out to me on their characters, even though (as a design element) they were probably pretty common in that era.

The paint work is quite strong, right down to the airbrushed cheeks. Metallics and gloss paint are used sparingly, accenting details (like the eyes and nose) nicely.

The base is oddly industrial-looking, since most of the shorts were set in rural (or simple urban) environments. Still, it feels fine for the period.

The biggest minus - for me, it's a personal bugaboo - is the logo. As I've said so often before, I know who the character is (that's why I'm buying it), and I seldom like branding on my merchandise. Additionally, I think the logo could've been executed in a way to support the retro styling a little more.

The packaging is of a piece with most Electric Tiki boxes - it's got shelf presence, but the overall impact is a bit busy, swarming with text, logos and stills. I consider packaging design to be frosting (most of the time, I recycle all of it, since space is an issue), but I think there's a missed opportunity here to let the design reflect the old-school styling of the maquette. Minor in the big scheme of things, really.

This version of of Mighty Mouse is long sold out, and was popular enough to merit the production of another maquette of the character a little later on. I prefer the first version myself, but even the second statue is getting tougher to find. I can't find the first figurine for sale online at all right now, so you know what that means... eBay favorite search ahoy! Good luck...

Toy OTD: Electric Tiki Teeny Weeny Mini-Maquette: Little Lotta

By now, I'm pretty sure it's clear that I'm a Harvey Comics fan. I read tons of them as a kid, and I just can't shake my fondness for that slick Warren Kremer art. But there just hasn't been a lot of really good Harvey swag - until Electric Tiki came along. Then, the floodgates opened!

Electric Tiki has created a fairly substantial line of moderately-sized-and-priced Harveytoon figurines over the years (most being around five inches tall or more, so not really "teeny-weeny"), and they've covered most of the characters that you'd want. Little Lotta may not be Richie Rich, but she's still up there on the visibility-meter!

Tracy M. Lee is the creative force behind Electric Tiki, drawing most (if not all) of the character pose/turnaround art himself. Ruben Procopio, Rich Vanover, Tony Cipriano, Steve Schumacher, James Lopez, William Paquet, Sam Greenwell and Jim McPherson are credited with sculpting some of the products, but it's unclear who sculpted Lotta (maybe the packaging has a sculpting credit).

Regardless, it's a great sculpt! Mr. Lee did a wonderful job preserving the original character design in his pre-pro drawings, and the pose feels like it's right off one of the old covers. The colors are spot-on model as well, and the paint work is fine. The base is very simple, with no unneccessary branding or detail, and it eliminates any stability issues.

The packaging is also attractive, graphically evoking the old cover layouts of the comic books. If you're interested in variants, there's the version I have (sporting a red bow in her hair), a green bow version, and a red dress version, too!

You can still get the first two versions easily at toynk.com for $24.99 + shipping. Since it's a smaller run (fifty pieces), the red dress variant goes for $50 + shipping at dustcatchers.com. Grab your favorite now!

Toy OTD: Electric Tiki World Of Harvey Jackie Jokers (Teeny Weeny) Mini-Maquette

Now, I know what you're thinking - Who in the hell is Jackie Jokers?

Every Harvey Comics character was more or less divvied up into two camps - crossovers notwithstanding, you were either Richie Rich's friend, or Casper's. In the early '70s, Harvey introduced a new character into its kiddie pantheon - Jackie Jokers, stand-up comedian, movie actor & television personality. Jackie, ill-suited for enchanted forests, was firmly in the Richie-verse. It never occurred to me before, but Jackie does resemble a young Johnny Carson in Dick Cavett's clothing.

Remember that post where I mentioned liking toys of really, really obscure characters? I wasn't kidding.

Anyway, this is a terrific maquette! The sculpt is awesome, the pose is strong, and it's bang on-model. The paint work is nice, and its base is built-in, so there's no balance issues. The box design is cool, too, evoking the cover designs of old JJ comics.

Originally, I think these sold for thirty dollars, but you can get one now at collectorsgateway.com for 19.99 + shipping.

Toy OTD: Electric Tiki Betty Boop Figurine

Electric Tiki is wonderful at making maquettes of pop culture icons, but this one is exceptional! It's a great sculpt - tightly on-model but very appealing and in character.

The paint work - especially around the eyes, traditionally a problem area for toymakers - is superb! The base is on-theme, and has no visible labeling on it to identify the character (a touch I love). It's not all that big (just 5" tall), so it won't gobble up much shelf space.

Several versions were made - full-color paint jobs with red, black, and plum dresses; and (pictured) a monochrome variant. They both look sweet, but after seeing Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, I knew I had to get the black & white one!

You can pick up a figurine just like this one for $43.99 + shipping at dinstoys.com.