#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)

#958 GUISVAL - TALBOT HORIZON (Nr. 26 and 52) (1980)

The Talbot Horizon has, like most Guisval cars, several versions, colours and decorations. From these there is one which is very common, while all the others are very difficult to find.

The model was released in 1980, directly in three different variants:

• Nr.26 Talbot Horizon (golden version, no decals), later replaced by (red version, no decals)
  
• Nr.40 Surf acuático (red car with blue plastic surf boards on roof, no decals)
• Nr.52 Raid Oasis (white with roof rack and rallye decals), later replaced by a similar version with alternative decals, different roof rack and no front plastic bumper), and even later with plastic base versions with rally decals but no roof rack.
  

We start with the Raid Oasis version, which is the rarest I own. It is not in perfect shape, but keeps its roof rack, and this piece is very hard to find. They are extremely fragile, and most of the times are only available with boxed items, not with played-with toys, as it is the case. Because of the decal in the bonnet, this model is often referred as "Rey Racing" instead of the official name "Raid Oasis"

It was common at the time that the same cast was offered in very different versions, so the "artificially" increased the number of references in the catalogue.

In 1983, the "Surf acuático" reference is replaced by a Renault 9, but keeps the surf boards on the roof. Also this model is very rare, as all ones carrying stuff in the roof are.

That same year of 1983, the B70x series (car+trailer) was launched. There were several Talbots Horizon packed with different trailers. Some of these packs included a blue Talbot, and others a white one with Red Cross stickers on the doors. In these packs the cars were sometimes chosen randomly, so the blue model might be offered with a horse box or a trailer carrying an F1, just to name two examples.

The models continued in the Campeon series (or Campeon Rallye, if stickers were applied to it) for a few years more, probably until 1990 or so. These two series had plain colours, like blue, red, orange, yellow... that were sharedwith all the other miniatures in the series and were applied randomly. There are also models with different types of wheels, as they were evolving as the time passed. The car survived on the selves until relatively late (mid 90s), although it can be that it was removed from the the series, and then introduced again, as it happened with other models.

Note that this Campeon model has a modified cast, as you can see on the back part, where the license plate is. This is due to the fact that the base (made of plastic) attachs to the body of the car in a different way and does not have suspension. Note that the doors are still practicable, some cars that were recasted lost that feature in the process. 

Cool! Not many Talbot die-cast out there!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: TALBOT HORIZON (Nr. 26), TALBOT HORIZON "RAID-OASIS (Nr. 52) and TALBOT HORIZON CAMPEÓN RALLYE (No Nr.)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1980, 1980, 1984
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#957 PIATNIK – AUTOS, EXOTISCHE TIERE & TIERBABIES (HYPO BANK PROMOTIONAL) (Around 1993)

 

Here a set of promotional card sets given by an Austrian Bank in the mid 80s. Bank giveaways are very common, they were made by millions and given to children in the International Savings Day (31st October) or some other occasion. However what is interesting for me is that the banks gave card sets on old coins, an adult hobby, although back in the days, some children were also brought into collecting coins by their parents. Today it is a rare hobby among young people.

Apart from that rare coin set, the most popular references were usually chosen by the banks: animals, cars... sometimes they chose a country-specific set, like animals from the Alps. Not a big variety in these.

The three sets shown in this entry have the same back design and the same boxes, but the title card from “Autos” has a different desing than the other two. Maybe this deck was older and Piatnik made a better offer for it, maybe they just got rid of some title cards on stock for this order, we will never know.

The year of the promotion is calculated after the cars in the Autos deck, I think the deck must be from 1991, maybe 1992, I think the newest cars depicted were released in 1990.

AUTOS + 2 Mini Puzzles

EXOTISCHE TIERE (This set was also presente in its "TIGER" version, see #337) + Zaubertrick

TIERBABIES:

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: AUTOS, EXOTISCHE TIERE & TIERBABIES (HYPO BANK PROMOTIONAL)
• Year: Around 1991
• Company: Piatnik (Austria)