Kikimalou's Indian rhinoceros collection updated May 8 2024

I truly enjoy the way these little gifts of Washing polder and other products are still part of our culture. OMO has been quite popular in my country but I believe Bonux was not even sold here. Though, my favorite vernacular expression is:
- "Idiot, you must have gotten your driver's license at Farinha Amparo."
It is what a driver says to the other when he thinks the other did something wrong while driving. Farinha Amparo is a kind of wheat flour which used to offer little figures, card or other gifts. Sorry for telling this again.
About the Old Mother Owl, I enjoy the way they designed the OMO acronym to make it to ressemble an owl face.
Thanks for sharing a few more characters of your Rhinodrome.

We have practically the same expression in France: "Tu as eu ton permis dans une boite de lessive" ("You got your driving licence in a box of washing powder").

Kikimalou wrote:

I think both companies asked the same manufacturer and I don't know which began first but I can tell the OMO series is bigger than the Bonux one.

Because the OMO figures are less detailed than the Bonux figures, I thought OMO might have used a company that copied the Bonux figures. But usually, copied figures are smaller than their originals, so that doesn't fit with my hypothesis.

I'm almost certain that Bonux and Omo were supplied by the same manufacturer, no one copied anyone.

Interesting that they didn't use exactly the same moulds for both washing powder companies.

Tonight I’m happy to present you Mr. 59 and 60. We leave Europe and washing powders behind and head for Japan to discover two articulated Rhinoceros.

I spent my childhood in the pre-playmobil era, I guess that's why I'm not a fan of articulated figures. Nevertheless, temptations are there to tempt us and rules are there to be broken from time to time.
N°59 is a Happinet, a Japanese company founded in 1969 and incorporated into Bandai in 1994. This enterprise produced series of articulated animals and dinosaurs at the turn of the millennium. In particular, they made a series of wild animals in 2005, including my rhinoceros.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


The four legs and the head are articulated
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


N°60 is more recent, and is currently produced by Takara Tomy. It is n°18 in the Ania AS Series. More detailed than the Happinet, it is also less articulated, in fact only the head can move.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


The Happinet is at least 15 years older than the Takara, and is also much larger.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

These two articulated models are pretty good. Their moving parts aren't too disturbing because you can see them as part of their skinfolds. Although I am only slightly younger than you, I played with Playmobil a lot in my childhood. Still, I am not so fond of articulated animal models either. With the exception of the articulated Britains of course .

It didn't come down to much, I was 11 when Playmobil first appeared in France. It was too late for me but I'd bought a few for my little sister.
I also have to say that I prefer non-articulated Britains.

Sometimes it is like articulated models are not part of our hobby but that's not right, of course. It was a surpise for me when I was told here about articulated Britains and I do remember Torben, our founder Admin, liking every kind of animal figure except Playmobil.
I received during my pre-teenager years a Playmobil western set with a cowboy, a fort and a horse. I never liked it and I don't even remember who gave it to me, fortunately, my sister enjoyed it a lot and she gave use to it. In Portugal we were flooded in Spanish toys, even the German Playmobil were sold by the Spanish brand Famosa under the Famobil name. I have a few Playmobil foxes, but the animal figures of the brand improved a lot since then. Considering how abrangent is your collection of rhinos, seeing these being included makes all sense to me. You continue telling the story of this hobby with your monocornius.

Kikimalou wrote:

The Happinet is at least 15 years older than the Takara, and is also much larger.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I like these both very much, I really do love the Ania models but out of these 2 rhinos I prefer the Happinet one, though the Ania one is very very cute.

And what a surprise to see their size difference!

I'm always amazed and delighted to come here and discover the size differences in these rhino models - that's part of the fun for me! studying the photos first to see all their details, and then the fun surprise when they are grouped together Love it!!

Thanks again Christophe for delighting me with these amazing figures

As wrote Taylor, indian rhinos can easily bear articulation thanks to their skinfolds! These two models look rather good!

Beautiful! These work quite well as articulated figures with all the skin folds

Articulated models are part of our hobby even if they aren't very visible on STS. Mattel, Creative Beasts, Bandai, K&M, Takara and of course Playmobil offer complete series of more or less realistic articulated animals. Torben indeed wasn't a big fan of Playmobil but Tim aka Tiermann, founder of TAW, is a big Playmobil animals collector.
If Playmobil had produced an Indian rhino, it would probably be in my collection.  

Annette, out of these 2 rhinos I prefer the Ania one, though the Happinet one is very nice.    Showing the size differences at the last pics is also part of the fun for me!  

Articulations are still a bit too visible on the Happinet but that doesn't stop me from being affectionate towards him.

After the articulated Rhinoceros from Japan, this week I invite you to meet two other bizaroids from my collection. One is American and the other most likely Spanish.
What they have in common is that they both date from the 20th century, are made of hollow plastic and consist of two parts that have to be assembled.

The American is an Illinois-based Structo Toys Co that produced toys until 1974, when the toy patents were bought out by ERTL, an Iowa toy manufacturer.

Here is our pink Indian rhino
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

What ? I forgot to mention that our friend is part of a series of nesting animals that includes an elephant, a rhino, a bison and a fox.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So here it is in solo
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


The second is less monochromatic and comes to us from Spain. I don't know if the manufacturer is Spanish but it's always in Spain that I've come across one of these.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Both are of a comparable size, not far off the latest Schleich.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Interesting take on Russian dolls! Did Structo Toys make any other animal figures?

A great thing about collecting one particular species is that you get a lot of variety in the kinds of models you get. It's something I also see in Rogério's fox collection. While this doesn't always give you the very best or most beautiful models, it does make the collection very interesting.

A animal matroyshka

Russian zoological dolls are fascinating... In this set, between the bison and the fox there is a bear and after the fox there is a rabbit. What I don't know is if more sets were made with different animals.

Regarding the rhinoceros, I would not rule out that it is a Made a HK figure

Very original production!

Wow, this Structo Toys set is really something else! How cool! And they are well sculpted too, I like them

And looking a few posts back, I love the articulated Takara Tomy rhino, so cute  

Thanks for showing us these gems, Kikimalou!

Thank you everybody

As Ricardo said, Structo toys made at least a bear and a rabbit I don't know much more about the brand.
In fact, Rogério's collection of foxes has a different history to my collection of Indian rhinos.
If I remember correctly, Rogério was looking for an animal to collect in an exhaustive way, and after much thought he chose foxes.
I never consciously chose to build up a collection of Indian rhinos, it's a collection that finally imposed itself on me after growing up in secret. Today it has become official by its own will.
That said, it's an interesting way of travelling through manufacturers, styles, eras and continents.

Regarding the second rhinoceros, there is no indication of the manufacturer or country. Maybe it's Hong Kong, but that's just a guess. What I'm sure of is that I've come across it several times and always on Spanish sites.

I agree Anna, theTakara Tomy rhino is very nice

I love that nesting set! It's been on my wishlist for a while, so great to see it in detail here Christophe.

Funny how the 2 rhinos look so compatible together - very similar expressions and features. They are a nice match.

here's some more images of them (not mine)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The Russian dolls concept is ingenious. Good to see that there are more. Amazing how neatly the fox fits into the bear.

 A day late on my goal of presenting a few Indian rhinoceros every Tuesday evening...  

N°63 and 64 are American and were created by Louis Marx and Company.
From the 1950s to 1978, Marx produced several plastic Indian rhinos of all sizes.

Born in 1957, N°63 is the largest of them all, made by gluing together two pieces of hard plastic to produce a hollow toy. It was part of a series of 11 animals sold as a set or individually. At the time, they were also sold as part of a Safari target shooting game.  

This rhinoceros will inspire all the other Indian Rhinoceros Marx, with one exception. It will also be copied regularly by HK manufacturers.
Unfortunately mine has a broken tail tip, which is quite common with this model.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


N°64 was produced in 1971 for the Endangered Animals series. It is made of solid, soft plastic. It's the only Marx not inspired by the 1957 ancestor.
This one holds a special place for me, it's been on my wishlist for ages and I had little hope of ever owning it. Then one day it arrived from the Netherlands, a gift from our friend Sandor aka Dutch bear.    Ain't life great?  
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


The two are neither from the same period, nor the same size.  
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The next examples for very good looking old figures.