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avatar_KaraWildsong42

My surviving Funrise figures!

Started by KaraWildsong42, April 09, 2014, 07:14:16 PM

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KaraWildsong42

Here are the only surviving members I have of the Funrise line of plastic animals. They did also make a handful of dinosaurs, which I had most of, but none of those survived childhood since my little brother played with those as well.... They're dirty, scuffed, and some are even broken in places, but they've been with me all but one year of my life, so I guess a few 'love marks' are expected eh?

First up are the horses which were the most abundant of the line. I also have my donkey thrown in there; along with the brown horse/mule on the far left of the first row; which actually is one of the only Funrise animals I own that is not named, so I don't know for sure what it is initially supposed to be.



Next are the farm animals. All the birds feet were extremely short lived since they were attached by super thin legs, as you can see by the points that are left. The black and white goat and brown ram used to have horns.



And last up are the wild animals. The elephant used to have a pretty good trunk pose, but it's broken off about halfway through. And this ram managed to keep his horns!  ;D



So does anyone else have any of these guys in their collection? Or do any other eighties/nineties kids at least remember them?  :o
'O bliss of the collector, bliss of the man of leisure!  [...] – and I mean a real collector, a collector as he ought to be – ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.' - Walter Benjamin


AnimalToyForum

I only had some Funrise dinosaurs but the animals look really nice too!

Thanks for the photos, looks like it was a lovely day when you took them!  ^-^


KaraWildsong42

It was the first sunny day in weeks! It was so nice to be outside with the birds all active and happy!
'O bliss of the collector, bliss of the man of leisure!  [...] – and I mean a real collector, a collector as he ought to be – ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.' - Walter Benjamin

FreshSphere

Fantastic collection. The wild animals are my favorites. I love your elephant, despite his shortcoming, and tiger best.

brontodocus

Lovely vintage figures! :) I know virtually nothing about Funrise, though, but I may have seen the bear before.

KaraWildsong42

Quote from: FreshSphere on April 10, 2014, 04:25:23 AM
Fantastic collection. The wild animals are my favorites. I love your elephant, despite his shortcoming, and tiger best.

Thank you! The tiger is my favorite too, his pose is better than some modern tiger figures I've seen and his tail is quite flexible, so he was quite fun to play with!  ;D
'O bliss of the collector, bliss of the man of leisure!  [...] – and I mean a real collector, a collector as he ought to be – ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.' - Walter Benjamin

KaraWildsong42

Quote from: brontodocus on April 10, 2014, 10:45:43 AM
Lovely vintage figures! :) I know virtually nothing about Funrise, though, but I may have seen the bear before.

Thank you so much! :) It is surprising how little is out there about them. I've even been doing searches on the internet trying to figure out what happened to the company and why they didn't continue making figures. My only guess is because the other, more established companies, like Schleich and Safari, were making better selling figures...obviously. ;)
'O bliss of the collector, bliss of the man of leisure!  [...] – and I mean a real collector, a collector as he ought to be – ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.' - Walter Benjamin

farmerguy

I remember begging for these when I was little. At one point I had all but 2 of the horses from the collection, but being young and dumb I got rid of most them. I still have a few animals from the farm set though. :)


Hercules beetle

Pretty sure i had the elephant and maybe the tiger.

sauroid

i have the black and white cow and one of the horses (arabian)

stargatedalek

I have the turkey (with feet but it doesn't stand up)
I had no idea of what it was

farmerguy

Quote from: KaraWildsong42 on April 11, 2014, 02:15:30 AM
Quote from: brontodocus on April 10, 2014, 10:45:43 AM
Lovely vintage figures! :) I know virtually nothing about Funrise, though, but I may have seen the bear before.

Thank you so much! :) It is surprising how little is out there about them. I've even been doing searches on the internet trying to figure out what happened to the company and why they didn't continue making figures. My only guess is because the other, more established companies, like Schleich and Safari, were making better selling figures...obviously. ;)


I think funrise went under and sold off it's molds etc like Marx did back in the day. I have not seen the wild animals but I was shopping a few weeks ago and I saw a horse (it was the same as the funrise Clydesdale) but the paint wasn't as good and it looked a little rough but that could have been because they used a different plastic. If I think of it I might grab one next time I'm out and post a pic. I do remember all the funrise toys themselves made before 1993 were all made of a stiffer plastic. The newer ones took much more abuse than the older ones. It may take me a while, but after talking about funrise I'm going to hunt for all of the ones I have left down for a picture later. :) I wish I could find the sow from the farm set, but all in good time right? :)

Hercules beetle


widukind

Very interesting,  especially the wild sheep:)

WiseWolf

I used to have those horses as a kid, I remember I was especially fond of the Percheron. I don't know what happened to them. Didn't they also do a line of dog breeds? Or am I thinking of a different company?

A.Garcia

Oh! I hadn't seen this topic. Figures from this brand were mainstays of my childhood collection! I still have all of my Funrise figures. There is so little about them online. I have been intending (I keep telling myself ::)) to photograph parts of my collection in a more systematic way- prioritizing Funrise because they need more representation. :))

I remember wild animals (two series), farm animals, and dinosaurs. These came in sets of two backed on a cardboard (I still have the cards, too, somewhere). There were also small insects/arthropods  (I think they were mentioned here on ATF?) My horses came in a "show horse" set with a plastic stable w/ opening gates.

Many of the animals have anatomical quirks, but some are quite charming; for the time, I think they rivaled or surpassed many figures from brands like Schleich or Safari Ltd. The arthropods in particular remain some of the best, I think.

To finish my long-yet-pictureless comment, I'm recalling (in addition to those pictured)... a polar bear, panda bear, rhino (could pass for a Javan? :o), hippo, zebra, lion, leopard, jaguar, seal, otter, kangaroo, koala, turkeys, chickens, llama, ram, bison... I was quite fond of a rather sleek grey Allosaurus... arthropods included a tick, carpenter or bumble bee, wasp, ants, water beetle, spiders, mantis, scorpion, termite... well, I will find and photograph them all at some point, I promise.  ;)