#1084 FIGURAS EN ACCIÓN (F.E.A.) Nr. 33 + RACK TOYS. CHEAP CRAZED PLAYTHINGS

Another year comes to its end and the newest issue of Figuras en Acción is out for everybody to enjoy it. This time, the articles deal mainly with toys from the 70s, with some bits of 80s and 90s toys as well.

The cover article deals with the figures of Hercules The Legendary Journeys by ToyBiz. In it, we  review all released figures including variants plus some other related toys. This article is followed by a shorter one dealing with the 80s bootleg crossover between Masters of the Universe and the Ninja Turtles called Amicable Herculeans.

Spanish Toys are also present this time with an extensive article on the history of Juguetes Rico and his most iconic toy: the Mini-Sanson truck, which is based on the Tiny Tonkas made by Tonka. But was it licensed or a mere knock-off? We discuss this issue as well.

The following article is another superextensive one dealing with the egg-shaped children figures Weebles, with a focus on the Spanish Weebles (made by Brekar), but commenting as well those from Hasbro, Airfix.

Finally, we analyse the Transtech concept of Transformers, what should have been in the early 2000s but it finally wasn´t. 

There are lots of other smaller pieces and sections that you will also enjoy. And remember that the magazine can be downloaded for free, as usual, as all the previous issues in our blog.

figurasenaccion.blogspot.com

Rack Toys is a book published by the Plaidstallions website and the Nacelle Company. The object of the book are cheap rack toys from the 70s and early 80s, and most pictures come from the collection of Brian Heiler, whose father used to be toy merchant at that time and made business distributing this particular type of toys.

The book is divided in several chapters, such as superheroes, monsters, TV shows... but the toys shown are so different from each other, that it is a pleasure to pass the pages and let you surprise for whatever comes next. Most of the brands that made these toys were unknown to me, I had only heard about Imperial, AHI, Lincoln or Fleetwood Toys before, and not much about each of them. 

The book has almost no text (just the introduction by Brian Heiler and a prologue), and the toys are commented in short captions. This is not very annoying, as the pictures are descriptive enough and there is not much to say about them, but there is something I disliked about the book, and it is that they only focus on very popular themes, leaving out everything else: for example cars and vehicles of any kind (except Batmobiles and co.), starships that do not belong any TV series or dinosaurs. I guess they just wanted to attract the broadest group of toy collectors and chose the most mainstream topics, probably also leaving many other pictures for a second publication.

#1083 PLAYLAND/WELLY – SEVERAL PULLBACK CARS IN 1:36 SCALE (Around 1993)

These kind of cars at a scale around 1:36 were relatively common in the early 90s. Somehow the 1:43s of the previous decade “grew” and became available in many places, including pound-shops, one dollar stores and their equivalents in each country. Some of the first “big” models I recall were some MC Toy cars with pull-back motor, such as the Porsche 959 or the 911 Cabrio. 

They also had the “standard” 1:64 series, but MC Toy came with this bigger series of sport cars that looked so nice and were so cheap. I guess many other brands followed, since MC Toy was the company that was doing best during these first years of the 90s decade.

PORSCHE 959 / OPEL OMEGA '88 “FEUERWEHR” / CHEVROLET CORVETTE '83 in dark blue

I have collected many over the last years. But today I will present only those which were marketed under the Playland – Mini Flitzer series in Germany. The identification is difficult since all the models are unmarked, and it is required to look for boxed models in order to be sure. Playland seems to be the brand used by the importer, which was AHG Wachsmuth & Krogmann from Hamburg. The logo depicts a cartoonish crocodile with a baseball cap. There were two designs for the box: a classic one in blue, and another more modern in purple, pink and green, very representative of the early 90s.

 

 

 

Several Boxed Items. The "Mini-Flitzer" with the Playland Logo, the other "Super Racer" with or without the Welly logo. All from ebay

 

These two pictures show the different styles of Playland boxes.

I found the firs four cars in on of those boxes on the Internet (mainly in German sites like ebay.de), but not the Ferrari, which I include here anyway, because it is so similar. This may belong to another, similar series.

CHEVROLET CORVETTE '83 in yellow

FERRARI TESTAROSSA

I suspect that the maker behind these cars might be Welly, although I am not 100% sure. Welly had their own lines like Super Racer or Old Timer in the same scale and also with a pullback motor feature. The models look in fact very similar, and so do the boxes, but one can never be sure. I include some picture of Welly Boxes for comparison. The same Chevrolet has been spoted in a Welly box, although that model was a cabrio and not a hardtop.

FACTS AND FIGURES: 

• Name: SEVERAL PULLBACK CARS IN 1:36 SCALE
• Scale: 1:36
• Year: Around 1993
• Company: Welly / Playland (China/Germany)
• Size: approx. 12 cm