Cooey's Toy Box

Noel Cruz, a good friend and fellow art director, is exhibiting some of his custom Munny toys. Munny vinyl dolls are made by Kidrobot, a popular maker of designer toys. Munnies have become popular "do-it-yourself" canvasses for urban graffiti and street art expression. Noel's toys are well designed, extremely well made and whimsically imaginative. If you're in Manila this December, check out the group exhibit of custom vinyl toys.

Here are the adult and chick versions of the Goose that layed the golden egg. The toys are well-sculpted  and the paint apps are very neat and tidy. The toys themselves don't do much though. The goose is a squeeze toy and the honk isn't even that loud. More like a carefully squeezed out dainty fart. The chick is mounted on the nest and a push of the button ejects her off to reveal the golden egg. Not much and pretty stqndard Happy meal toys.

The 2011 Batman: The Brave and the Bold Joker Mobile is one of the four promo toys from McDonald's Happy Meal in this set. The toy comes with stickers and just features an animated siren that pops up with a push of the Joker head.

 The Hot Wheels Corvette Stingray is based off of the actual Chevrolet production model. A third generation Corvette patterned after the Mako Shark II concept car, the Stingray was introduced for the 1968 model year and lasted until 1982. This model is the last Corvette to use the Stingray nameplate, ending 13 model years where the names Corvette, Sting Ray, and Stingray were synonymous. This casting was released in 1996 in white with a small blue Hot Wheels logo on the right rear fender. The model features a blue tinted windshield and a 3 spoke wheel which was introduced in 1995 and is still currently being used.

The Matchbox '57 Chevy Convertible was released in 1998 as part of the Classic Decades series being #36 in a set of 75 models. This release is in turquoise with white interiors, magenta & white graphics, 5 spoke wheels and a clear windshield.

  The '71 Plymouth GTX from Hotwheels is part of the Muscle Mania series. Released in 2005, the model is in enamel yellow, has black hood stripes and badges in silver & black "GTX" as well as black "440+6".  The windshield is in dark tint and is outfitted with the FTE " Faster Than Ever" wheels. Cars with this wheel had special nickel-plated axles, reducing friction and increasing the car's speed. Always a "bronze" color. FTE Wheels are essentially the same as the OH5 but differ in color and axle.

I haven't been able to identify these toys but they came with a castle playset and a ship. I think this could be from Supreme  or at least Michigan Toy Soldier labels it as such but I'm not sure. The helmets are removable and so are the weapons. They kinda remind me of cheaper Playmobil klickies but a wee bit smaller.   Here's the link to their sale page. The set sells for $44.99.  UPDATE! I just verified these as being made by Kai Jal Industrial Limited but also sold by Sun-Mate. What their relationship with Sun-Mate is something I'll have to look into more.

Another neat fast food promo toy! McDonalds Happy meal featured the 2011 BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Toys. I’m not a completist and I just picked up whatever caught my fancy. And a shiny red and black bat-gyro certainly got my attention! The Bat-gyro – or bat-copter -- is a  small single-person flying device made and used by the Golden Age Batman. In the cartoon BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD , Batman used the highly maneuverable one-seater to observe the battle between Black Manta, Gorilla Grodd, Clock King, Black Canary, Aquaman, and Green Arrow. To save them from Music Meister's marching orders, Batman ensnared them in the copter's net. The rotors spin around and a hidden button behind the toy shoots the bathead a few inches away.

Young Humpty Dumpty is a walking wind-up toy. Nothing too special but quite a neat toy. Looks like an old classmate too:) And I just realized after reading the packaging material that for every purchase of a Puss in Boots Happy Meal, 50 centavos will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), the charity of choice of McDonald’s and its programs Bright Minds Read (BMR) and Bahay Bulilit. ‘Yun lang. And would you imagine that unopened packs of this toy are already on sale on ebay for $9 ? Sheesh…

The second version of Kitty Softpaws from the McDonald's Happy Meal Puss in Boots series features a neatly painted figure that can be attached to a moving base. When the base is rolled across a surface, the figure animates into a pirouette. The pose looks quite awkward when static but looks reasonably good when moving.

Presenting the swashbuckling feline Lothario in plastic! I managed to buy one of these before the nearest McDonald's ran out. Twist his tail and his sword arm animates. Nice, clean sculpt with a crisp, neat paint job. Nice enough to play with for a while. :)

Had another happy meal and got Kitty Softpaws with sword. This feline femme fatale wields a nasty rapier which she swings around with a twist of her tail. The paint apps are quite neat and the moveable parts seem sturdy, even with my fumbling big fingers tinkering around with the toy. I can see my nephew playing with this and amusing himself with the sword swinging you get by pushing her tail.  Cute:)