#1086 FOREST FAMILIES – MOUSE & RABBIT FAMILIES (Around 1989)

I presented this collection some years ago in entry #1035, where I explained everything I knew and could find about the manufacturer MC Toy and the line itself, while I showed already some figures from my collection.

 

This time, I will limit the extent of this contribution to show two more families: Rabbits and Rats, but first, let´s take a closer look to the leaflets above. It is practical to have at least one of these (they come in several formats) to check if the clothes actually match the figure or not. Maybe these were swapped with those of another figure, and, since I am a completist collector, I want the figures to be complete with all their accesories.

In the leaflet above the second scen shows the Mouse Family, while the fifth and last show the Rabbit Family. Note that the background of the image is different, so I assume the mice were made a bit earlier than the rabbits. The background corresponds to the one used in the Bear family, while the blue background images are probably the extension of the line, as they saw the first figures were selling well. These include some of the "exotic" species, mentioned in the previous entry.

And now, let´s go for the toys!

 

Rabbit family / Familie Hasi

 

Mouse family / Familie Maus

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOUSE and RABBIT FAMILIES
• Toy Line: FOREST FAMILIES / BÄRENLAND
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: MC Toy (Macau/ China)
  
• Size of the figures: Around 7-8 cm

#1035 FOREST FAMILIES – CAT and TIGER FAMILIES (Around 1989)

 

 

Forest Families was the cheap knock-off to Sylvanian Families or Maple Town (La aldea del Arce in Spanish, Les petits Malins in French, a powerful license of the late 80s.) made by MC Toy (May Cheong) from Hong-Kong. At the time this company had already some major success with cheap, but qualitative die-cast cars that were sold worldwide. With the time, this company would change its name to Maisto, and would later purchase Bburago and Polistil among others (just the names, as the production sites in Italy were shut down completely).

In order to diversify their offer, they decided to release these nice-looking anthropomorphic animals with clothes, accessories and even some bigger playsets in the style of the brands mentioned above. They were widely available, and they had good sales in many countries all over the world. In some places they are known by alternative names, such as "Peach Fuzz Village" in the United States (distributed by Mel Appel), or "Bärenwald" in Germany (distributed by Simba). If my memory does not deceive me, I saw these for sale in El Corte Inglés (Spain) in the early 90s.

The collection included mainly boxes of 4 figures (mother, father plus 2 children), but also smaller blisterpacks of 2 or even 1 figure, including some grandparents. The construction of the figures was simpler that those from the competition. What strikes me the most, is that, while Epoch for Sylvanian Families and Bandai/Tonka for Maple Town made animals that live in the forests of Europe or America, M.C. Toy designed and manufactured many exotic (and even dangerous) animals from Asia and Africa too: Tigers, Hippos, Frogs, Elephants, Crocodiles! mixed with the "ordinary" rabbits, bears, cows and so. This eclectic bunch of characters made the line more fantastic and maybe even more attractive for little boys. Today I will show my tiger and cat families, out of a big bunch of figures I bought a few years ago.

Today, Forest Families are very sought-after, more or less as much as the figures in which they were based. There are still some to be found in their original packages, I guess the prices will start rising after these have been sold, as the rarity and scarcity increase. If you are interested in them, always pay attention to the clothes. All figures should wear some kind of clothes and these should be in good shape. The figures have flocked hair, which, at certain spots, may be a bit (or a lot) worn out. This defect completely degrades the figure.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CAT and TIGER FAMILIES
• Toy Line: FOREST FAMILIES / BÄRENLAND
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: MC Toy (Macau/ China)
  
• Size of the figures: Around 7-8 cm

#996 MC TOY - TURBO FEEZERS (KEY CARS) (Around 1984)

APRIL IS THE MONTH OF BOOTLEGS AND KNOCK-OFFS AT TOYS FROM THE PAST!

These key cars were bought in Austria around two years ago, as I found it curious that they used the image of Niki Lauda in the box and also on the keyrings that hold the keys to the cars. Because it was made around 1984, it was probably already a Chinese or East-Asian manufacturer that made them. The box doesn´t look so well, the design is not very good.

 

Unfortunately the box is almost empty and included only three cars with around ten keys, but no brand or any information whatsoever. Later I found that these cars are probably manufactured by MC Toy in Macau at a time were they preferred to hid their name to avoid possible lawsuits. Just a few entries ago I was talking about the Key-Cars from Kidco/Matchbox  from 1983, these are maybe from 1984 and probably started the series using just two different casts in different basic colours.

The manufacturer of these toys was confirmed a few months ago by Steven (from motorcade.weebly.com), who also sent me this yellow corvette below, which is marked Macau on the base. This model has some wear, and it is the same that was already in the box, but it is a nice addition.

 

I know that these models would later be released in other colours and with tampographies instead of paper stickers, I have one of each model with some neon (in the 90s fashion) tampographies, which are also completely unmarked and two more racers (F1 racer and Indy Racer, according to their original naming) which (surprise, surprise) are marked MC Toy on the base. These were acquired as a lot some time later.

 

The key cars by MC Toy made their way to the Maisto era, when they were sold in blister 2-packs with one key (also with the denomination Burnin' Key Cars). Unlike the ones made by Kidco, these are die-cast and do not have any protective plastic bumpers, so I guess most of the played models today are in very bad conditions, or have been disposed already. They came with soft plastic tires for a better grip which also can be lost and, in general, the detail and the quality of the toy is low (poor casting and dark windows), so early units even misspells "Tubro" for "Turbo" in the stickers, but still the models chosen (Chevrolet Corvette C3 from 1978, Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am from 1979) are nice sport cars, very representative of the early 80s.

By the way, the name on the Niki Lauda box is Turbo Feezers and the German slogan is "Schneller als die Formel 1!", which translates as: "Faster than Formula 1!" I wonder if the image of Niki Lauda was used with or without permission (I guess without), but this makes the box item even more interesting for collectors. The box shows a picture of him wearing the Brabham-Parmalat team cap, team for which Lauda drove between 1978 and 1979.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CHEVROLET CORVETTE C3 and PONTIAC FIREBIRD (TURBO FEEZEERS), F1 RACER, INDY RACER
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1984
• Company: MC Toy (Macau)
• Size: Around 7 cm long

#773 MC TOY – CHEVROLET CORVETTE and PONTIAC FIREBIRD (1984)

 

These two are great American sportcars from the beginning of the 80s. The Pontiac Firebird (3rd Generation) was released in 1982 and the Chevrolet Corvette in 1983 after 3 previous generations. So, both are well established and beloved models from two great American carmakers. The were also kind of competitors to each other, so I guess they fit perfectly for a blog entry.

MC Toy made both in 3 inches size. The Corvette is the convertible version, which is quite nice, and good-looking, but that windshield is quite fragile. Careful with it. The Pontiac came in black with a “firebird” in golden on the bonnet.

The downside on this miniatures is that we have seen them hundreds of times. Many manufacturers made the same models in the same scale with more or less fortune. The models by MC Toy are over the average, I would say, although the tampographies could be better or the suspension a bit harder (this is for all MC Toys).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Chevrolet Corevtte and Pontiac Firebird (Ref. 8443 for Pontiac, unknown reference for Chevrolet)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: The two first digits in the reference number indicates the year of design and manufacture, so: 1984
• Company: MC Toy (U.S.A./ Macau/ China),
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#713 MC TOY – BMW M1 and 750iL (1984 and 1987)

These two MC Toys models are very impressive.

On one side there is the M1, which (I think I have mentioned it before) it is one of my favorite sports cars ever. It is also one of the first MC Toys I ever bought. Maybe I have dreamt this, but I recall that it came with stickers… that I finally removed. Strange, no other MC Toys model came with stickers. I like the sport lines tampographed on the car, but I think another colour would have fit better.

The second model is a 750iL, a somewhat rare choice in 1:64 scale. I don’t know of any other manufacturer who released this model in this scale. The color choice is great, it fits perfectly to a high-end sedan like this one.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: BMW M1 (Ref. 8448) and BMW 750iL (Ref. 8742)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: The two first digits in the reference number indicates the year of design and manufacture, so: 1984 and 1987.
• Company: MC Toy (U.S.A./ Macau)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#669 MC TOY – MICRO CARS (LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH, FERRARI 250 GTO and OTHERS) (Around 1990)

MC Toy is a brand that copied and knocked off (not sure if this verb exists) many famous collections. I recently learnt that MC Toy made the Forest Families, which are a pretty obvious knock-off of Sylvanian Families.

In this case, we are going to talk about MC Toy knockoff of Micro Machines. The mini cars, that became popular by the latest 80s, probably came out in 1990. They are slightly larger than genuine Micro Machines, and have a metal body (not plastic). The car is not reproduced accurately, but in the “toon” style of Micro Machines. However, the metallic body, and mostly it’s thermopaint resemble the “Mini Color Racers” by Hot Wheels! (see #281). These are bigger in scale, and were released in 1990.

By that same year, MC Toy had a series of 1:64 models also with thermal paint, so they quickly adapted the idea for their “Micros” (see for example: #582).

UPDATE 1 (May/2017) Ferrari 250 GTO

UPDATE1 (Dec/2021): I got a big lot of mint/near-mint cars from this series. Other models apart from the two above are: Citroen 2CV,  Baja Buggy, Porsche 959, Kenworth-style truck, Pick-up van and another sport car (any ideas?)

        

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH, FERRARI 250 GTO and others
  
• Year: Around 1990
• Company: MC Toy (U.S.A./ Macau/ China)
• Size: Around 2,5 cm.
• Scale: Unknown