One of the great tales of evolution is the whales. That tiny, tree living creatures would become gigantic, secondarily aquatic mammals is fascinating, and fills the oceans with many fine forms of cetaceans. Though whaling and ocean pollution threatens them, there are still efforts to teach the youth of today to protect and learn about them. Even fast food chains have been involved, such as the Big Miracle line by Burger King. Here, we look at their take on the 49-foot grey whale (Eschrictius robustus).
As a mass-produced figure for a kids meal set, this is made with a cheap-feeling grey plastic, with the details of the whale moulded in. It is nicely done, but the plastic means that you may miss features if you don’t get the light on it just right. It measures 6″ long and 3.9″ wide, meaning it would scale well with most other mass-produced whale figures.
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed something through the transparent plastic. This line does have a gimmick: you can separate the main body “shell” and reveal the skeleton of the whale within. While this is a neat feature, the execution is definitely more toy than accurate model, as a bony tail fluke was moulded in, something no whale has, as the fluke is flesh extending from the end of the tail bone. Otherwise, it’s an OK, if simplified, version of the skeleton.
This figure is definitely intended towards small children, as, while there are some nice features, it is too cheap feeling to be a major collectible (outside of being a Burger King meal toy, that is). I think kids would love playing with this in the bath (as it is light enough to float easily), so may be worth getting for a toy box. The toy line this was included in ended in 2012, so eBay is your best bet, where they can appear at very cheap prices. Up to you if you want them.
I am really happy to see reviews like this on the Blog! It is important to remember that not every review needs to be a museum-quality replica by a major manufacturer! Thanks for the contribution!
Always happy to do my bit.
I always liked the approach of skeletons within an openable skin as a hull. But one should think that the moulding and casting technique should have increased vastly in quality since the 1980´s, so that this interesting toy would have had the chance to look much better than it does.
Nevertheless, thanks very much for introducing this model, do you know if this was released in Burger Kings worldwide?
Can’t say with complete certainty. It was promoting the film “Big Miracle”, so I’d like to say yes, at least in the U.K. and America.