#963 SIMPLE WISHES – SEVERAL PHAT BOYZ MODELS (2003)

The Phat Boyz are sometimes mixed with Micro Machines or with other 3 inches cars, since they have a size that does not match either of them. We could say they are approximately as long as a Micro Machine, but as wide as a 3 inches model. All are marked PB CHINA in the base, but, in any case, they are nearly unmistakable.

I knew them from sites like puremicros.com, where there is a nice and almost complete gallery of Phat Boyz toys. Everytime I saw them there, I thought they were ugly, (maybe you have the same thoughts right now while reading these lines), but as soon as I got this little lot in my hands, I changed my opinion. They are beautifully casted, you can absolutely recognize which model is being represented, and the selection is also quite remarkable; where can you otherwise find a Ford Focus or a Ford Ka (from around the year 2000)?

I have 5 models, from which 4 of them are Fords, so I guess maybe they came in a set, as I got all of them from the same person. Some of them are European sets that differ in the colour from the American issues.

The models are:

• Ford T-Bird (1957) - purple

       

• Ford Mustang (1990) - yellow

        

• Ford Focus (2003) - gold

  

• Ford Ka (2003) - green

• Toyota Celica (2002) – light blue

 

They were advertised as “Phlat, Phat and Phast!” and sold mostly in two-packs. There were also three-packs, five-packs, carrying cases and playsets available. They were available at Walmart, and I tried to find an old website for these cars, but the only url stated in the blister card is Walmart.com; “Marketed by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville AR 72716 shop at Walmart.com.

I’ve seen some for sale on eBay, but they are rare and tend to appear in foreign countries, so most of the times it is not worth paying the shipping costs.

UPDATE (2023/Oct): Two more for the road!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SEVERAL PHAT BOYZ MODELS
• Scale: unknown
• Year: 2003
• Company: Simple Wishes (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 3 cm long

#962 WESEMANN & CO VIENNA - PROMOTIONAL “MILCH” FIGURES (Around 2002)

These figures are often spotted in Austrian flea markets in great quantities. I guess there were many millions of them made and given for free in supermarkets. Thanks to a nice reader of this blog, we now know that this figures are actually older than initially guessed, around 2002, and that they were given in schools to children taped to a daily bottle of milk. This action is still carried out in Austrian schools (although now without any give-aways), and it is a great way to incentivize the consumption of milk among children and support the local cattle farms.

There are at least 15 different mice characters (from which I show here 10), but none is marked other than with the CE seal at the back and with the word “Milch” (Milk) in the chest or other part of the body. That is why it has been difficult to find out the manufacturer of these mice. Fortunately, I also found a picture of a "sealed" figure and I can now say that they were made for Wesemann & Co. Vienna/Austria, a marketing and publicity company from Vienna that is still in the business.

There is no information on the Internet so far about them, but my guess here is that they must be from 2006, maybe from 2007, as in that year there was some crisis in the milk production sector all over Europe, and most countries had an oversupply that lead many producers to even dispose the milk in order to avoid some fines from their respective governments and the European Community. I cannot explain this, since I don’t know exactly what happened at the time, and I only vaguely recall many demonstrations and many discussions around the milk quotas that each country had to stick to.

In this context, prices were very low, especially for the smaller companies and milk producers, so many were forced to dispose many liters of milk. It made sense to support some advertising campaign in order to increase the national consumption of milk and dairy products, so less milk had to be disposed and the fine, if any, would be lower. That is why I think these figures are probably an assignment of the Austrian Ministery of Agriculture or maybe some big association of milk producers. Another guess is that you got these figures when buying a certain amount of liters of milk.

The figures are all representing virtues like intelligence, beauty, longevity, vitality, strength, endurance… as well as different cool characters like a skateboarder, a scientist, a surfer, a guitarist… all positive associations with milk and its consumption, so, in my humble opinion, the figure designers did a good job creating these nice figures.

I know these figures are quite new compared to the other toys I usually show in my blog, but since nobody seems to know where they come from (and there is no information on the Internet), I decided to write here my thoughts about them, just in case somebody is curious about them and wants to know more about. If you have some facts about them, I’d be very pleased to hear them. Feel free to leave a message in the comments section, thank you!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Names: „MILCH“ FIGURES, „MILCHMÄUSE“ FIGUREN
• Toy Line: Unknown
• Year: Around 2002
• Company: Wesemann & Co Vienna (Probably China, distributed in Austria)
• Size: Around 5 cm

#961 DARDA - VOLKSWAGEN CORRADO (1411-040) and FERRARI GTO (1625-040 and 1625-045) (Around 1987)

Here are two/three recent additions to my Darda collection:

The first model is a red VW Corrado, which is a car that was not represented at scale by many vintage manufacturers, so it is a good addition to any die-cast collection. This version is the red one with white text, reference number 1411-040.

The second model is a Ferrari GTO, from which I got two in a row. They are basically identical, except for the GTO logo on both sides and the colour of the windows.

The first model is reference number 1625-040, has Ferrari and GTO logos on both sides and its windows are green.

The second model, without logos of any kind on the sides and brown windows is reference number 1625-040.

This model has been made dozens of times by all die-cast manufacturers, and, in my opinion, this one doesn't have very accurate proportions. Pity, but still a very cool car. Interestingly, Darda made this car only in red.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VOLKSWAGEN CORRADO (1411-040) and FERRARI GTO (1625-040 and 1625-045) (Numbering according to www.dardamania.de)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1987
• Company: Darda (Germany)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#960 CORGI JUNIORS - AIR BUS HELICOPTER (Nr. 35-B) and ARMY RED CROSS HELICOPTER (Nr. 40-B) (1975 and 1977)



Among the Corgi Juniors, this helicopter model is one of the most fragile ones. The blades are made of plastic and can be broken or bent in some models. It also has 4 very small wheels that are part of the base and that can also be broken.

The helicopter represents an helicopter similar to the Boeing CH-47 Chinook. Despite being named "Airbus" or "Air Bus", I am not aware of any double-engine helicopter by the European aircraft manufacturer. Maybe the name is just referring to an aircraft for transporting people by air, and therefore Air-Bus.

Corgi, like all the other die-cast manufacturers, released several versions of each model, and in this case, the Airbus came in a military and a civil version.

The civil model is painted orange and has "Airbus" stickers. The "A" logo is slightly similar to the real Airbus (the company) logo, but it is not related. It was available from 1975 to 1979. There is a colour variant in blue with the same stickers as the orange model, but this one is way rarer than the two showed in this entry, and I do not have it.

The military model was made in dark green and had stickers with the word "Army" and the Red Cross. It was available in 1977.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: AIR BUS HELICOPTER (Nr. 35-B) and ARMY RED CROSS HELICOPTER (Nr. 40-B)
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: 1975 and 1977
• Company: Corgi Juniors (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#959 TOY BIZ – THE UNCANNY X-MEN WOLVERINE AND SABRETOOTH DELUXE EDITION (10 INCHES) (1995)

 

I am not into superheros. I barely know the names of the main characters and their abilities, but that is all. I only like a few old toy lines that could be classified into this category: Airgam Comics, Secret Wars, maybe some Batman, but that’s all.

I recently got these figures in a big lot of mixed stuff, and they are actually quite cool. Astounding 10 inches high figures, not very well articulated, but as a decoration article they are something absolutely great. They are marked Toy Biz 1995, and with this information it was easy to identify them as “The Uncanny X-Men” toyline. I am not sure of this, but Toy Biz made many similar superhero figures, all of them from the Marvel universe with different boxes. Some are marked Spiderman, other Marvel Universe, other Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Ghost Rider... among the X-Men, we find the "ordinary series" together with other subseries like  X-Force or Metallic Mutants. They are all compatible, and can be mixed up to play an extended multiverse, maybe the different boxes are just a way to highlight the series for parents, so they get the right figure.

The series altogether have several dozens of Marvel superheroes, most of them very well known. Sabretooth is maybe among the less known of them all.

Some figures came with accessories, as in the case of Sabretooth. Wolverine came with a gun, that I think I have somewhere else.

The figures should not be confused with similar figures made also by Toy Biz in around 4 inches size. At first sight, they might look identical, but take a look at the following picture for a size comparison. I like the smaller figures much better, I will probably sell these big ones as soon as I have the chance... they take so much space.
Toy Biz is an toy company with a long history behind. It is best known for this toyline and all its Marvel superheroes, although it also had some other famous licenses. Something many people does not know is that ToyBiz is closely related to Marvel Comics and it was even at some point renamed Marvel Toys.

The history of the company in a few words:

• Late XIXth century: Chantex, Inc. founded in Canada (Montreal) by the Zuckerman family.
• 1980: Chantex grew until 1980, when it merged with Earl Takefman´s Randim Marketing Inc. a school supplier manufacturer and wholesaler, becoming Charan Industries.
• Charan Toys is a subsidiary of Charan Industries. Charan Toys was one of the leading licensing toy company by the mid-80s.
• 1990: Charan and its subsidiary ToyBiz was purchased by Ike Perlmutter
• 1993: ToyBiz exchanges with Marvel "exclusive and perpetual, royalty-free licenses" of Marvel characters for 46% of the firm. Avi Arad joins the toy company from Marvel.
• Mid 90s: licenses from Hercules and Xena, Gerber, NASCAR...
• 1995: ToyBiz acquires Spectra Star, Inc. and Quest Aerospace Education, Inc., two toy companies.
• 1996: Classic Heroes candy division started. Licensing agreement with Apple Computer to enter the electronic learning aids segment of the toy industry.
• Late 90s: Marvel Entertainment Group files bankruptcy, and ToyBiz partially acquires it.
• 1997 Marvel Entertainment Group is salvaged.
• 1998:  Marvel Entertainment Group is merged with Toy Biz, becoming Marvel Enterprises, being Toy Biz a division of the new toy company (now written with a space between Toy and Biz).
• 1999 license of the WCW (World Championships Wrestling), expires when the WCW was purchased by the WWF in 2001.
• 2001 Marvel passes the rights fo a Hong Kong toy manufacturer that is then allowed to produce toys under the Toy Biz Worldwide Ltd. brand, getting most of the workload for the manufacturing of toys.
• 2006 Marvel sells the license rights to Hasbro and Toy Biz is compensated with several millions of dollars, and the Toy Biz brand won't be used anymore by Marvel. The company is renamed Marvel Toys.
• Late 2007 Marvel closes the division after the poor sales of several series of figures not related to Marvel Comics characters (as they had sold license to Hasbro).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: WOLVERINE AND SABRETOOTH [DELUXE EDITION] (10 INCHES)
• Toy Line: THE UNCANNY X-MEN
• Year: 1995
• Company: Toy Biz (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 25 cm (10 inches)