wendy's mighty mouse - the new adventures premium: petey pate (1988)

            Since I worked on Ralph Bakshi's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse (and being my first job in animation), I was very excited about any merchandising tie-ins related with the show! Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to be had (especially by today's standards), and most of it wasn't very good. The best of the lot - and the closest thing to action figures the show got - were the Wendy's kid's meal premiums.

I'm not sure I understand the play concept behind this line. Maybe the suction cups were simply intended to be bases - but it's not really used consistently, as you'll see. They're not exactly action figures, nor are they really window clings (like the enormously popular Garfield items were in the '80s), so the functionality of the toys is somewhat awkwardly conceived.

The character choices for the line make a lot of sense - since it was probably cooked up during the first season, all the toys are first season characters. Fortunately, they're all pretty prominent and popular. I wonder what Wendy's got to see from the show while creating the figures... partial episodes? Model sheets?

The sculpts are decent for a fast food premium. The characters are reasonably on-model, and some of the poses are asymmetrical. Unfortunately, the scale is all over the place: The Cow (the biggest character in the cartoon) is the smallest toy, and Scrappy's scale in the hierarchy is reversed, too. It's a shame, because individually the toys aren't too bad.

The paint work is pretty good, too - the colors are accurate and emphasize the sculpts' details well. The facial paint is reasonably clean and sharp. Mighty Mouse's eyelashes are fairly crisp, and bonus points for the highlight on Bat-Bat's sidekick, Tick.

There's no articulation at all, being the size the toys are, but at least the figures balance okay. I should say the standing figures balance well - which brings us to the bigger flaws.

All of the toys have a suction cup molded onto their feet, ostensibly to stick onto a surface like a dashboard or a window pane. The problem is that some of the figures are sculpted standing upright, while others are horizontal, in a flying pose. As a result, they don't display together well at all. Additionally, the suction cups don't stick very firmly, especially after prolonged use.

Like most fast-food premiums, the packaging is minimal and not all that compelling to look at. It's exactly what you'd expect - clear plastic bags decorated with some single-pass graphics. Inexpensive and practical, which makes sense for giveaways. Each toy did include a trading card of the character, which added a little more color.

Since these figures are over twenty years old, it may take a little while to get the whole set. You can get three of them (Bat-Bat, Pearl & Petey Pate still bagged) on eBay for $4.99 + shipping, and Mighty Mouse sells for $1.29 + shipping on eBid. At the moment, Scrappy isn't for sale online at all - odd, as I'd guess that he's the least popular of the characters. Good luck!

Taken on: June 21, 2009

Tags:

80s toy

80s television

fast food premium

wendy's

mighty mouse the new adventures

john kricfalusi

mighty mouse

ralph bakshi

toy OTD

petey pate « less

Sets appears in: • happy meal toys • toy of the day archive

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