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.