Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Muppet Puppet #852: Rowlf (1977)

I know a lot of Muppet fans aren't all that thrilled with Fisher-Price's '70s merchandise, but I have a fondness for it. I think their best offerings were the Animal (which I never had) and Rowlf (which I did) hand puppets. Maybe if I'd had one of the original Ideal Rowlf puppets, I'd feel differently!

Rowlf is a basic hand puppet done well. It's a good likeness - mainly due to the fabric used for the 'fur', and the accuracy of the face. It's designed a little more horizontally than the real character, but the eye/nose materials used still evoke him nicely.

The biggest difference between Fisher-Price's version and the actual puppet is that the operator's hand is inserted into the back of the toy's head; while the real puppet is manipulated from underneath. It's less accurate, but I like the fact that the toy has a full body. I do wish the belly had more volume, and that one (or both) of the arms could be operated. Still, I think it's nice that Rowlf could double as a plush in a pinch.

This toy doesn't have enough volume to sit up by itself. It's a shame, but considering it was primarily designed as a puppet first, it's not a big detraction from its play value.

The packaging is simple, appealing and on-theme for the character. Most of the box is decorated with backstage scenes from the Muppet Theater, complete with 'curtains' and 'footlights'. There's also some photos of play scenes with the puppet, ostensibly to pull in toy store shoppers. There must have been some confusion in the marketing surveys, as the toy also sports a tag making it clear that Rowlf is a hand puppet. It doesn't feel like an afterthought, though - the tag design is consistent with the box.

This toy isn't old enough to make finding one difficult, but there is one thing to keep in mind. This puppet was lined with sheets of foam to help give it some body without having to completely stuff the torso. As a result, twenty-three-year-old foam will probably be a crumbly mess. Be prepared to keep it as a display piece, do major re-lining work, or avoid it altogether. If you do decide to buy, there's three eBay auctions starting at $9.99 + shipping right now. Of course, if you want to be hard-core, there's one of the original Ideal Rowlf puppets on eBay for $500 + shipping. Hop to it!

Toy OTD: Suckadelic Micronugget Suckpeg: Time Straggler (2008)

Suckadelic has been producing pop culture mash-up figures for a while now, and this one is still my favorite!

Many of the first releases were riffs on old-school Kenner Star Wars figures. For this item's inspiration, however, Suckadelic reached a little further back in toy history, combining both Fisher-Price's Little People figures and Mego's Micronauts from the mid-seventies! It's a terrific retro combination.

The Straggler takes its overall shape from one of the male Little People figures. If it's a re-sculpt, it's great - the shapes are dead-on, right down to the "Ken doll" pompadour. Of course, it's possible that it's a combination of (impressive) casting from a vintage F-P figure and painting over vintage parts. Regardless, it's nicely executed. The paint work is smooth, and the body casting looks pretty clean.

The color palette, chest plate and name are riffs on the 1976 Mego Time Traveler figure. Since the F-P Little People have printed faces, Suckadelic made the right call and sculpted the F-P face design onto the head - a little more like the Mego approach. The body is cast in translucent blue plastic, just like one of the Time Traveler bodies, and a section is carved out to hold a Traveler-like 'chest plate'. Check out the clear Traveler and compare the detail - if it isn't an actual chest plate, it's an awesome duplication!

Suckadelic packaging usually varies between a simple blister pack, or a tagged bag. I think the Time Straggler was packed in the latter, so there's not a lot to talk about there. The bag protects a figure in the shipping process, and a tag does evoke a retro-toy aesthetic, but I don't recall the tag graphics being anything exciting. The toy does the talking in this case, and I think that's fair - the fanciest box won't make me buy a toy that I'm not all that excited about.

Unfortunately, Suckadelic items are usually produced in extremely low quantities, and can be a bit pricey, depending on your sticker shock tolerance. Time Straggler was originally $60 + shipping, and only forty figures were produced - as you might guess, they're long sold out. Keep your eyes peeled on eBay, and be ready to shell out some cash. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Racing Rowboat #730 (1952)

Fisher-Price toys moved into the fifties with a shift from an illustrative look toward a bolder, more graphic approach. While the labeling became simpler, the overall forms involved in a toy's composition became somewhat more complex. The emergence of plastic as a material led to more complicated individual parts as well.

I think Racing Rowboat is another of the transitional toys - the boat artwork is still rather representational, and there's only a few plastic parts. On the other hand, the face is much more stylized than earlier pieces, and the movement - the sailor rows and the boat itself bobs - is much more complicated than a typical pull toy. It's very appealing and takes advantage of contemporary materials and techniques without going, well, overboard. It appears, too, that you could make a variant easily (a fisherman, say) with a simple change of colors and labels. This type of design versatility is clever, and was used from time to time to create additional items for the line.

Packaging for Fisher-Price was still very simple at this point. I wasn't able to find a photo of a Racing Rowboat box, but I gather that most F-P toys were packed in cartons decorated like this one - the toy's identifying text was printed on the end flaps. Graphically it's pretty sharp, and very cost-effective to do (I may do something like this for my upcoming toys, as I won't be able to print up individual box designs).

You'd probably guess that '50s Fisher-Price toys are harder to find and more expensive to buy. There's more than a couple non-auction websites out there that deal with older toys, so you may want to try thefind.com or Google (shopping) before you jump right to eBay. Unfortunately, I can't find one for sale online right now, eBay or otherwise. If you really don't mind digging, put 'fisher price rowboat' in a standard Google search, and see if any sale listings pop up. Search engines don't find everything! But if you're more of a moderate hunter, let the computer's fingers do the walking and set up a new-fangled eBay favorite search. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Merry Mousewife #662 (1965)

I love old Fisher-Price toys, especially from the days when they were made out of wood. The illustrated paper labels used to decorate them have the charm of children's books, and the movements are always clever and fun!

It's an odd experience to see a toy of a non-licensed character today - while there were plenty of things spun off from Disney, Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera and Walter Lantz characters in the sixties, there was also a sizable category of toys that were (among other things) simply animals, circus performers, or storybook characters.

This is a transition toy for Fisher-Price. The use of plastic has begun, but it's still quite limited and tasteful - the parts are only those with complex or delicate shapes. There's no paint on them, and they're all the same color, but the simplicity of the wheels (notice that they're still wooden) helps to pull everything together.

The paper decorations are nicely integrated into the simple wooden form, and there's a great solution to the choice of movement. The wheels' motion has been transformed into the sweeping function, and it's naturally accompanied by an appealing pre-chip noisemaker.

The packaging isn't complicated - most Fisher-Price toys simply came in mid-weight, decorated cardboard boxes - but the graphics on them are nicely done.

This isn't a terribly rare piece, so your main challenge will be finding one in the condition that will be satisfactory to you. The closer to mint (or perfect condition) that you want it to be, the harder it'll be to find, and the more it'll cost. Getting the toy in its original package compounds the value (and price) still further. There's a couple of auctions on eBay right now, including a nice-looking one for $55.00 + 9.70 shipping. Good luck!

PS - Remember, eBay sellers don't have to tell you everything if they don't want to. Try to find pictures of the complete toy before browsing, so you can make sure nothing's missing or snapped off. Make sure to ask if the movement and noisemaker work before bidding. Have fun!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Tick-Tock Clock #997 (1967)

This toy goes way back for me, though it isn't the original I had as a kid. It's a very simple idea - you wind it up, and it plays like a music box while the sun/moon disc rotates. Tiny scenes of a kid's day are revealed as the die-cut window on the disc rotates. Since I've heard the song since I was a tot, it's incredibly soothing, like watching an episode of Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood at any point in your life (If you're too young to remember watching it, just humor me).

Like most F-P toys of this period, it's mostly wood, with a little plastic used to its strengths (the plastic 'crystal' surrounding the clock face, for example. As with the Tooly Birds, this was made in an industry with far less licensing - there's references to Hickory Dickory Dock and Dick and Jane in the artwork, but that's basically it. The design is charming - maybe a touch bland - but it evokes storybooks from the early sixties very nicely. The only construction variation I've noticed is that some of the plastic handles are yellow and some are red, so keep an eye on that if it's important to you.

This toy is really tough - it took getting left outside in the sun and rain to ruin the one that we had, and even then the paper labeling got the worst of it!

Because the toy is so durable, it's not too difficult to track down a working one. The trickiest part is finding one with a nice-looking 'crystal', so it depends on how fussy you are, and how much you're willing to pay. There's two eBay auctions going right now, and the starting bids range from $7.50 to $14.99 + shipping. Make sure to ask if the music box works if it's not metioned in the product description - always approach eBay with a heaping spoonful of caveat emptor. Good luck!

PS - If you're a huge F-P nerd, you can buy a print of this toy's patent here.

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Barky Pull Toy #462 (1960)

Here's another great old-school Fisher-Price toy! This type of toy construction was used a few times to create different characters (see Gran'pa Frog), but each of them is a clever variation on the same overall design.

It's hard to beat the killer combination of richly rendered labels, wooden construction, and the charm of a mechanical ratchet noisemaker. Even with the traditionally styled illustrations, the toy feels very stylized, but very appealing!

This is an older F-P toy, so it's a little more expensive than its later counterparts. I can't find it on eBay or anywhere else online, but some patient hunting should turn one up. I'd expect to pay between fifty and a hundred dollars for one, probably on the higher side. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price #444: Queen Busy/Buzzy Bee (1962-1985)

This isn't one of Fisher-Price's best toys necessarily, but I had one as a kid, so nostalgia demanded that I get a spiffy replacement from eBay!

Queen Busy Bee is nice and simple, with a cute noisemaker and plenty of charm. The designers get a lot of play value out of their simple materials, accenting the spinning wheels and wings with bouncing spring antennae. I wonder if the illustrator knew what the artwork was for - there's wings painted onto the 'thorax', even though the toy has wings as separate parts! It's very cute, regardless.

This toy was made for so long, there's tons and tons of them out there - it'd almost be harder not to own one! Needless to say, there's some variations in the construction, but basically no one version is much more expensive to get than another (well, the '59 model will cost you, but in general it's not a pricey toy). A quick search on eBay revealed thirty-seven different auctions, so this is kind of a fish in a barrel unless you're looking for the box, or want to the toy to be in ultra-mint condition. Have fun!

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Spin-Offs Hit Stores

Since Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is about a living toy store, there probably won't be a lot of custom toy merchandise, but a fair number of retro-style toys are popping up as tie-ins. Target has some replicas of old-school Fisher-price toys, including this Snoop 'n' Sniff which you can get for only $24.99!

I haven't been able to look any of these over in person yet - I'm assuming they'll be all plastic, and not wooden like the older versions. Still, it's a great way to get your kids (or yourself) classic toy replicas for a fraction of what the originals would go for on eBay!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price Lacing Shoe Music Box #991 (1966)

This toy may not be a gold medlaist in the Fisher-Price olympics, but nevertheless it's got charm to spare! There's tons of play value too, in spite of it being a teaching toy - tiny passengers that ride in the cockpit/toe of the shoe, and there's a tumbler scrolling sweet drawings as it plays music. So cute! This type of stylization is getting rare these days - I think it helps kids learn how to be imaginative through toy representations of the world that are more abstract, more symbolic than literal.

The increasing amount of plastic is used very well - for the carrying loop (upper left), the opening toe, the scroll-viewing panel, and the high-wear wheels. Of course, it teaches kids how to tie their shoes, too! I wonder if this works for left-handers - it look me a long time to learn how to tie my shoes because of that.

This is a more recent toy from the F-P line, so it's not all that tough to find. If you don't mind tracking down the figures separately (though it does have the original box), there's an eBay auction for this toy starting at $14.99 + shipping. Also, here's more information about this item than you'd ever want or need - enjoy! Happy hunting!

Toy OTD: Fisher-Price #464 - Gran'pa Frog (1958)

I love this era of Fisher-price toys - made with simple wooden shapes, but the paper labelling is well drawn and tastefully rendered in a storybook style. Plastic parts are just starting to creep into the equation, but it's only used for the parts that would be too fragile if they were made of wood. And of course, the noise-maker is totally analog - serrated wheels, offset axles and a paper and wood resonator make an appealing 'croaking' sound when the toy is pulled.

Your best bet to find one of these is either at a toy show, or on eBay (that's where I've scored most of my F-P collection). Make sure to ask a lot of questions before you bid - a lot of people sell 'display pieces' that won't roll or move properly, or have a broken noisemaker. Sometimes the item descriptions don't exactly lie - but they're not always very forthcoming, either.

Here's an auction for a reproduction that's starting at $9.99 + $8.45 postage. I haven't seen this one up close, so I can't say if it's inferior to the original toy. Sometimes I buy repros if the originals are prohibitively expensive - be warned, when you start getting into '50s F-P toys (and older), things get pricey.