The Unlisted - a deep dive search of lost models with forgotten names

[NSD Bashe]

So I have a little bit of a bizarre update to add to this as well; believe it or not I actually found that blue filefish on eBay a while back and mine actually had markings on it if I recall...  I think I also found that this fielfish and several others has similar brand markings and a few even had multiple brand markings indicating several of the brands I suspected were part of it were all interconnected, but just before I could post about it there was a little incident where my house was pretty much destroyed and basically everything I owned was completely buried in a huge mess.  I believe I was able to retrieve most of my collection, however that blue filefish is basically the one figure I'm not positive I found.  I'll be sorting through stuff for a while so it might be a little bit still before I know for sure if I actually have it or not. I have to be honest I was not expecting things to turn this way, and for my collection itself to basically turn into a deep dive of lost figures..       But stuff happens.  I'm actually amazed at how much I was able to save and have a new appreciation for everything that survived.  Anyway I'm glad to see the discussion continuing here, I missed talking about this stuff with you guys, back in simpler times.  I'll be posting again at some point though

[NSD Bashe]

So I'm back and I finally remembered this thread! No idea how it slipped my mind for so long...

Also just wanted to say how cool that is, I think you're the only person ever (besides whoever made the original production image) to get a photo of that mysterious jellyfish, I had honestly started to wonder if it ever even existed or was made available to the public. It might be one of the rarest figures out there...

[NSD Bashe]

UPDATE

I found my blue filefish; I was fairly convinced it was lost but it was in a small bag with some other figures and I didn't see it in there at the time I picked it up.  It has survived.  The brand markings are actually there, just hidden behind its fins and not on the stomach or tail like they would be on many figures:





One fin has the production number "NOS 408" and "MADE IN CHINA"
The other has an intricate looking symbol on it, which on close examination I have finally figured out it says Sun Wai within it.  Thus it is in fact Sun Wai brand.

Somewhere I also have a few other fish figures that seem to be in the same set and have this symbol on them, including a clownfish, lionfish and small pufferfish.  But it's a large pufferfish that also gives another bit of info to this, not just because of the Sun Wai trademark but its tag, marked with a couple other familiar brand names:







While my rubber fishes have survived the tag is a bit rough; but you can still see this pufferfish marked Sun Wai on its stomach has a tag labelled both Club Earth and Play Visions.  So it would seem, these three brands were in some way connected, at least for figures of this set.  Is it a big reveal?  I don't know, but I find it interesting anyway.

[bmathison1972]

that's an awesome filefish @NSD Bashe

[EpicRaptorMan]

Nice Filefish. Put that on the wiki

[NSD Bashe]

Anyone working on the animal toy wiki officially has my permission to use any of my photos for it   

Might be a little while before I can get images of everything but in time I hope to have images of all the obscure ones I have once they're cleaned up

[stargatedalek]

I recognize that logo! I have (or had? I'd need to check) a large stingray and a few misc fish from them (IIRC a small lionfish and flying, and a relatively large goldfish).

[NSD Bashe]

I think I know which ones you're referring to, I have the small lionfish and I've seen the large blue stingray and large goldfish available alongside the big pufferfish back when I got it.  I think I considered getting the stingray as well.  Don't know that I recall a flying fish though, that's curious.  I wonder how many species there were in total...

[NSD Bashe]

I've made yet another discovery; so I knew the Sun Wai brand has a large pufferfish as well as a smaller pufferfish (which I should also have somewhere) and a small lionfish (which I should have somewhere).  But as it turns out, just like how the small pufferfish has a larger equivalent, so too the small lionfish has a larger equivalent.  And that larger Sun Wai lionfish is none other than the very same model sold under the Accoutrements tag I mentioned at the very start of this thread, as can be seen from these two other Worthpoint pages I've found:


"Accoutrements" lionfish

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/accoutrements-lionfish-figure-nwt-2108757067


 
and "Sun Wai" lionfish (as explained in the product description)

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/large-10-heavy-vinyl-tropical-524573540


The same figure, one with the Accoutrements label and one without.  So now Accoutrements seems to be connected to Sun Wai as well as Club Earth and Play Visions in this series.  I wonder if the "Accoutrements" pufferfish was also Sun Wai brand, (and therefore a third version of a Sun Wai pufferfish) or if Accoutrements just distributed different brands of figures...

[bmathison1972]

I have that lionfish figure back at my old roomate's place in Arizona (unless he get rid of it, which I doubt; it was there in 2022).
I should have him send it to me.

[NSD Bashe]

I've also just noticed something else; a while back I posted a defunct listing of a huge bundle of old obscure fish; and one of those fish, specifically you can see it better in the second image, over toward the right side and just next to the iconic K&M hula skirt siphonophore - is a fish that strongly resembles a smaller version of the Accoutrements death puffer.  For comparison:


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ocean-sea-animals-fish-rubber-big-lot-1950412799

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/10-puffer-fish-educational-toy-rubber-3838279960


That there likely appears to exist both a large and small version of this figure, coupled with the fact that it's clearly a different puffer species than the other Sun Wai pufferfish (I'm pretty sure those are porcupinefish)  - leads me to think it's possible the Accoutrements death puffer is indeed also a Sun Wai.  The thin flappy fins also look at least somewhat similar to the other fish in the Sun Wai set.  Though it's hard to say for sure until someone can post an image clearly showing the Sun Wai logo on it.

[sbell]

I've also just noticed something else; a while back I posted a defunct listing of a huge bundle of old obscure fish; and one of those fish, specifically you can see it better in the second image, over toward the right side and just next to the iconic K&M hula skirt siphonophore - is a fish that strongly resembles a smaller version of the Accoutrements death puffer.  For comparison:


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ocean-sea-animals-fish-rubber-big-lot-1950412799

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/10-puffer-fish-educational-toy-rubber-3838279960


That there likely appears to exist both a large and small version of this figure, coupled with the fact that it's clearly a different puffer species than the other Sun Wai pufferfish (I'm pretty sure those are porcupinefish)  - leads me to think it's possible the Accoutrements death puffer is indeed also a Sun Wai.  The thin flappy fins also look at least somewhat similar to the other fish in the Sun Wai set.  Though it's hard to say for sure until someone can post an image clearly showing the Sun Wai logo on it.

That large lot is amazing -- no idea what it sold for, but that Safari Ltd Mudpuppy usually sells for a lot on its own

[NSD Bashe]

So a few more Worthoint finds.
First there's a listing for that same Sun Wai/Club Earth porcupine fish I showed earlier, only this one has an Accoutrements tag:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/porcupine-fish-rubber-squirt-toy-1721702706

I believe these are really Sun Wai brand at the core, since that is the logo imprinted into the figures themselves, and various interchangeable brands of Club Earth/Play Visions/Accoutrements distributed these particular figures.


Next I've come across an "unknown brand" of sailfish (listed as a marlin) which looks to me very much like it could be in the same set as the other Sun Wai fish (something about the thin shape of the fins, the similar Made in China followed by a product number, even similar aspect of having little bumps patterned across the skin) - I imagine it's very possible the Sun Wai logo could be hidden behind one of its fins unnoticed by the seller:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/unknown-rubber-plastic-marlin-fish-1997078776


Lastly but not least, I have come across a rather beautifully detailed Club Earth spotted boxfish, albeit as a plastic coin bank.  It is still an outstanding looking figure, one of my favorite of the weird things I've stumbled across since the Sun Wai filefish and cowfish:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-90s-club-earth-1999-molded-4694293586

While clearly not in the same set as the "squirting fish", there is one other thing which presumably sets it apart from those.  Judging by the numerous other Worthpoint listings for a similar type of Club Earth frog bank, and even a currently active listing on eBay for a Club Earth beetle bank, "Club Earth" is in fact stamped into the bottom of these figures.  Thus Club Earth is themself the actual producer of this figure, not just a distributor.

[MudpupWaterdog]

@NSD Bashe I'm so sad to hear of the fire, I'm glad you're okay and that you were able to recover most of your figures.

So the filefish is settled! Interesting that Sun Wai has a connection with Club Earth and Play Visions. Maybe at some point we can find an old catalog somewhere detailing the whole list of hollow rubber fish that they made.

And the K&M jellyfish...I never knew it was that rare. I also give my permission for the Wiki to use my photos.

[NSD Bashe]

@MudpupWaterdog thanks, it's good to hear from you again   

Yeah, so looking up Club Earth the first thing that comes up is the Play Visions website, which it seems Club Earth is like a subsection of it:
https://www.playvisions.com/cat-67-1-150/club-earth.htm

I'm supposing they were probably the western distributors for Sun Wai at least for some of their figures, along with apparently Accoutrements for at least a couple of them.

[NSD Bashe]

So I finally obtained this guy - one of the very first figures to inspire this thread.







Just wanna add how much I appreciate the seller was so careful with the packaging they even added a whole extra padding around the cardboard tag   

But now, the moment of truth...

This model, as I had begun to suspect, is indeed:





...marked with the Sun Wai logo.  This pufferfish is from the same set as the Sun Wai/Club Earth filefish, triggerfish, porcupine fish and yellow box fish (longhorn cowfish) all previously discussed here.  All one big family of coral reef fish.

[bmathison1972]

Wow, that's cool and I love the warning on the tag.

[NSD Bashe]

Yeah the tag is a simple but great little touch honestly, it reminds me of going into an old gift shop or book store type of place

[bmathison1972]

Yeah the tag is a simple but great little touch honestly, it reminds me of going into an old gift shop or book store type of place

I wish you'd consider reviewing it, even briefly, for the Blog for October in our Halloween/creepy critters theme!

[NSD Bashe]

Yeah the tag is a simple but great little touch honestly, it reminds me of going into an old gift shop or book store type of place

I wish you'd consider reviewing it, even briefly, for the Blog for October in our Halloween/creepy critters theme!

honestly I've been thinking about it, I just worry if my assessment wouldn't be as in depth or expertly done as everyone else, y'all go into so much amazing detail about them.  But I might try, especially as some of these figures seem obscure enough I don't know if anyone else would be likely reviewing them