M is for Mammals, Mostly Horseflesh!

In Brian's parcel were a couple of bags of useful animals, which happen to be mostly horses, although one or two other animals were present, including one of my all-time favourites - “Ruh-roh–RAGGY!!!”!

Four horses, the one at the back left is probably an Empire Toys Grand Champion, with brushable hair, they came with such accessories (brushes, curry-combs, bows, rosettes etc....), while the white foal is a common enough Hong Kong sculpt, originally copied from Britains Herald by Blue Box, but subsequently copied by many others. Blue Box also used it as a Zebra foal, with the necessary stripes! As a horse; less common in white, usually brown, tan or black plastic.

 

The other two are more interesting, for being unknown to me, but A) good quality models, and B) the probably domestic American product which gave rise to other Hong Kong copies, even though one looks to be a copy of the Cherilea grazing horse, any info on either/both gratefully received.

Scooby-dooby-Doo! He's a pencil top, how cool is that, it's a pencil-topper of Scooby-Doo! The black dog is looking quite menacing and a hard polystyrene plastic, so may well be from a model-kit by Pyro or Aurora or someone like that, the Hound of the Baskerville's, something prehistoric, or a monster's companion? [the next day: GI Joe's 'Junkyard', see comments]  

 

While the cow is a generic cartoonish 'funimal' aiming for the same market as the Lik Be (LB) Farm Friends or Holly Toy's similar Funny Animals, both hawked to many other brands/jobbers.

 

These are definitely Grand Champions from Empire, but from the Micro-Mini's line, a nearer 40/45mm range, and you can see the GC 'brands' in silver or gold on the rumps. They tended to re-use the sculpts with different sets, so the horse's title depends upon the horse's decoration, but I think we have an Arab in the white one, and two quarter-horses from an earlier wave . . . However, don't quote me!

 

The History of Grand Champions took a very odd turn in 2000'ish, when they were bought by Alpha International, an outfit best summed-up by this US bankruptcy judge's summing-up of an interim hearing, of a battle-royal, with Super Wings, one of three rulings I found, spread over half a decade!

 

The whole thing is rather hilarious, with wives, ex-wives and sisters in Grand Rapids, Hong Kong and mainland China, holding each other's shares, companies, moulds and tooling (specified and unspecified), internal loans, subsidiaries, serial bankruptcies, past histories of wrongdoing and the IRS apparently far too busy on another planet to pay any attention, while none of the judges seem to care a jot for neither the word nor case-validity of either party!

 

I don't know what happened in the end but J.Lloyd now seems to be connected to Tim Mee (also claimed by BMC ? Some more digging to be done there?) and Alpha International's websites are dead from 2013, and only to be found on the Waybackmachine! That Mr. Keener sounds like a charmer, he should run for President!

 

Finally, some lovely old hollow-polyethylene farm animals from one of the early US makers, Lido I think, and among a few of this hollow-type from over there, I have. All useful stuff, and thanks again to Brian for sending them.