Toy OTD: Wendy's Mighty Mouse - The New Adventures Premiums (1988)

Since I worked on Ralph Bakshi's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse (and being my first job in animation), I was very excited about any merchandising tie-ins related with the show! Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to be had (especially by today's standards), and most of it wasn't very good. The best of the lot - and the closest thing to action figures the show got - were the Wendy's kid's meal premiums.

I'm not sure I understand the play concept behind this line. Maybe the suction cups were simply intended to be bases - but it's not really used consistently, as you'll see. They're not exactly action figures, nor are they really window clings (like the enormously popular Garfield items were in the '80s), so the functionality of the toys is somewhat awkwardly conceived.

The character choices for the line make a lot of sense - since it was probably cooked up during the first season, all the toys are first season characters. Fortunately, they're all pretty prominent and popular. I wonder what Wendy's got to see from the show while creating the figures... partial episodes? Model sheets?

The sculpts are decent for a fast food premium. The characters are reasonably on-model, and some of the poses are asymmetrical. Unfortunately, the scale is all over the place: The Cow (the biggest character in the cartoon) is the smallest toy, and Scrappy's scale in the hierarchy is reversed, too. It's a shame, because individually the toys aren't too bad.

The paint work is pretty good, too - the colors are accurate and emphasize the sculpts' details well. The facial paint is reasonably clean and sharp. Mighty Mouse's eyelashes are fairly crisp, and bonus points for the highlight on Bat-Bat's sidekick, Tick.

There's no articulation at all, being the size the toys are, but at least the figures balance okay. I should say the standing figures balance well - which brings us to the bigger flaws.

All of the toys have a suction cup molded onto their feet, ostensibly to stick onto a surface like a dashboard or a window pane. The problem is that some of the figures are sculpted standing upright, while others are horizontal, in a flying pose. As a result, they don't display together well at all. Additionally, the suction cups don't stick very firmly, especially after prolonged use.

Like most fast-food premiums, the packaging is minimal and not all that compelling to look at. It's exactly what you'd expect - clear plastic bags decorated with some single-pass graphics. Inexpensive and practical, which makes sense for giveaways. Each toy did include a trading card of the character, which added a little more color.

Since these figures are over twenty years old, it may take a little while to get the whole set. You can get three of them (Bat-Bat, Pearl & Petey Pate still bagged) on eBay for $4.99 + shipping, and Mighty Mouse sells for $1.29 + shipping on eBid. At the moment, Scrappy isn't for sale online at all - odd, as I'd guess that he's the least popular of the characters. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders Premium

I picked this up at one of the San Jose toys shows (maybe back when it was called "The Humdinger") - I don't think it cost more than five dollars or so. I thought it was from Singapore originally, but the eBay auctions for these sets are based in the Philippines. There was a whole series of costumed Colonels, but I liked the closest-to-the-traditional outfit the best.

I'm a sucker for the chibi/Hello Kitty style, so this was a gimme! The sculpt and paint work aren't staggering, but it's still a really appealing figure. Not a lot of articulation - just the neck and both arms - but more joins would weaken the design more than it would strengthen the play value.

You can buy this figure as part of a small set on eBay.ph for 250 PHP (Phillipine Pesos), or about $5.80 USD + shipping.

Toy OTD: McDonald's Happy Meal Premium: Chibi-Style Jack Sparrow

It's interesting how fast-food premiums can manifest themselves. Of course, it's not at all surprising that the Pirates of the Caribbean films had tie-in items; but it is intriguing to see how the toys themselves sort out.

One idea that one would think was a 'gimme' would be to make Jack Sparrow action figures to sail the Happy Meal armada throughout America. If you'll forgive the oversimplification, a Jack action figure for the boys; and a cutesy Elizabeth Swan doll for the girls.

The surprise, then, is that the only Jack Sparrow toy in the line is a cute, Hello-Kitty-style plush doll. It's not as blatantly made for girls as many McDonald's toys, but it's not blatantly for boys, either. I realize that Cap'n Jack has a lot of appeal for young (and not-so-young) ladies, but it's unusual for Happy Meal toys to be (relatively) genderless.

All that aside, it's just a nice little toy. The design is really appealing, and it's a great simplification of the character (though the likeness to Depp has pretty much evaporated). I'm sure it's not the most durable item, but it seems solidly constructed for a free premium.

I suppose it's really not fair to expect stand-alone support from a free plush, but the biggest minus is that it can't stand up (and I don't think doll stands come that small). The only other fault is that there isn't a corresponding Elizabeth, Will Turner, or Barbossa toy. I would've loved to have seen how those characters would've been designed!

Even though this line of toys is long sold out, this toy isn't terribly hard to find. You can buy one on eBay (along with four other toys from different promotions) right now for $3.99 + 5.00 shipping. Good luck!

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: Burger King "Toy Story" Premium: The Robot

Don't worry if you don't remember this character from Toy Story - he's a pretty obscure background toy, and only has one spoken line: "Mr. Lightyear needs more tape!" He helps Buzz fix his spaceship, pals around with the toy snake in Andy's room, and that's about it. The only reason I remember him is because I did his voice.

Needless to say, I was really happy when Burger King made a toy of him as part of the Toy Story kid's meal line (or was it for Toy Story 2? I'm not positive). He's never been merchandised in any other way, and while I guess that makes sense, I've always liked Bob Pauley's design a lot, and hey, you can never have too many good robot toys. It's really nicely made for a item this inexpensive, and pretty on-model, too!

I can't imagine this toy being all that valuable, even though though this line sold out twelve years ago. You can get two of them, plus a lot of the other fast food toys, on eBay starting at $2.00 + $7.65 shipping.