1998 Horse Toob

I couldn't find this set on TAW, am I looking in the wrong place? It's just called Horse Toob and is dated 1998. The horses themselves are only marked China.

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I personally like them a lot because several of them very obviously have the same color template as several Funrise horses, making them like little miniatures.

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I think you're just opening a very old chest full of hopes and dreams.
Safari Ltd is the biggest brand on TAW, it is by far the brand with a bigger number of entries and we still have many broken links. Besides of that, I am absolutely convinced some series are missing several entries, namely the Incredible Creatures and TOOBS pages.
The oldest tube listed is from 2002, we called it Horses TOOB 1
Now you're showing a different tube from 1998, it means much probably that there is a small series of early tubes we still don't know. 1998 was when several important Safari series started, they expanded a lot their range during these last years of the XX century.
I remember how it was exciting and surprising to list all the earlier Farm Horses, most of them were virtually unknown, now these mini ones.
I am absolutely impressed with the way the layout of the painting is basically the same of the Funrise horses. It is not a coincidence, it might be the same factory behind both lines. Some are really impressive.
I can't see a product number, do you know it? I also am not sure I know how to list these, maybe following the same way as the 2002 tube?
Thanks a lot for sharing, these horse themed sets are all the same for collectors like me, I guess. I believe that if I see it for sale, I won't be able of distinguish it from other similar sets.

The likeness between models really is remarkable! I don't have any of these early tube horses, only a couple of the more recent ones (both customs which came to me second hand, so no use for comparison or TAW)

Do a lot of brands call tubes of models toobs with that spelling, or is it just a Safari thing?
I wonder if it's an American English pun, cos t doesn't work in my English-accented English! Over here we don't really pronounce the word 'tube' with a 'too' sound, it's tyube or chube, depending on regional/poshness differences - although maybe British kids and teens do say it 'toob' these days, if they watch a lot of international videos!

Congrats

Very interesting toob. Does the toob itself look similar to the later Safari toobs?

This is really really interesting and I'm sure a very rare find!!
Such lovely little horses, and I see how they are similar! As Roger says I think there seem to be quite a few mystery Safari toobs/ models from the 90s, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] has some really interesting dogs from then and an unknown Safari Afghan. I've also seen a farm toob that I never saw before from that time, I think 1998, with figures in a similar style to this! So many mysteries but it's so nice to see that this set is uncovered!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the item number is 6956-04. These particular horses would be very easy to miss without being in package, I think, and I'm glad to have found them this way. With no identifying marks, it would have been impossible for me to guess that they belonged together and were Safari. Here is a photo of the item number part of the tube:

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As for how to list them, maybe by color? It's hard to guess any kind of breed, nor do I think any were intended. But Black, Bay, Paint, Palomino, Black with socks . . . that might work?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] It's definitely an American pun on the word tube, though personally I don't know if Safari is the only one that uses it. We do pronounce it exactly like that - toob.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Here is what the tube looks like - it's square like the current ones, and has the half globe on the top:

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WOW !  So that is the FIRST one

They are absolutely fantastic, and it is so much fun that they fit to the large models

I have two sets, the first ( second) I suppose is from +/- 2002  till 2004:

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In 2004 this one was launched :

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I have a catalogue from 1990, and the mini models in it are the Schleich-minis , which makes me sure that there were no Toobs back then.The next one I have is from 1994, and still no toobs.

And the a large leap to my next catalogue : 2003, with lots of wonderful models, but they show no toobs

Both have item no 695604

Ohh, and I need to add, that in the 1990s they sold models from Schleich, AAA, Invicta, and many more , as you can see here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I must find a way to sort those, it will also force me to change a few things on the other most recent tubes. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], please compile the info about those early Dogs and farm animals, maybe you can open a topic to see if people can find the rest of the figures.

Just for reference, here is an official picture of a Plastoy horse tube. Plastoy was closely connected with Safari Ltd.
These colors are different from the Safari 2004 Horses Susanne introduced on TAW.

Plastoy
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Safari 2004
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The sculpts look quite a bit like the Funrise models to me also. I wonder if the were getting them from the same factory and creators as them?

This is really fun

Jill wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] It's definitely an American pun on the word tube, though personally I don't know if Safari is the only one that uses it. We do pronounce it exactly like that - toob.

Every time I read it, it forces me to pronounce the word wrong in my head, which is kind of frustrating but also amusing.

I suspect there's similar things in many other languages and accents, especially round here as it's such an international forum - I bet there's a lot of us having to use words which in our native language just sound silly

pipsxlch wrote:

The sculpts look quite a bit like the Funrise models to me also. I wonder if the were getting them from the same factory and creators as them?

I am quite convinced it is Toy Major manufacturing all these models. TM gained among us a kind of reputation of being a knockoff brand but I think it is the other way round. Toy Major manufactures to many companies this kind of models. It is good to pay atention to the old TM horses, we have this example of Toy Major models that are the same as Funrise.
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It was [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] who found it, it is not easy for a collector of wildlife models like me to see a random horse figure and recognize the mould. They look all the same to me. Thus, it is very important what Jill is doing, sorting all these models in their own topics and that's the only way to get things sorted.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Will see what I can do about compiling a topic for the farm animals/ dogs!

I have to add information here about all similar toobs or I will never be able of listing these figures correctly.
I shared the Plastoy version and now the Safari 2004 official names. Notice the names of some horses like the Appaloosa, (chestnut) Frisian (flaxen chestnut) White Horse - what a confusion!!!
Apparently these molds have a name...

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I recognize some of those molds from the first set as used by Empire for their Grand Champion micro minis as well.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Oh wow, they really discarded any meaning behind the mold name, didn't they? I like the "bay horse" and the chestnut/Friesian color switch especially, haha.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] To be fair, "toob" is pretty ridiculous looking (if not always sounding) pretty much anywhere.

Jill wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Oh wow, they really discarded any meaning behind the mold name, didn't they? I like the "bay horse" and the chestnut/Friesian color switch especially, haha.

 the White Stallion is another good one.

Technically, those horses should be listed on TAW as
- Safari TOOB 695604 Friesian
- Safari TOOB 695604 White Stallion
- etc.

When two moulds use different color, we can put the different color with or without parenthesis just after it.
It helps finding that the figures are the same.
So with these two it is supposed to be listed as:
- Safari TOOB 695604 Friesian (chestnut)
- Safari TOOB 695604 White Stallion (flaxen chestnut)?

This is all so silly that I have no idea how to start.

It's an unsolvable problem. Your suggestion makes sense. A note pointing out the issue would make clear that it is a mistake by Safari, not by TAW.

Well, before redesigning the most recent toobs, let's see if I can sort the first one from 1998.
I tried to group @Jill's pictures, fromm the first post, in moulds.
I'm counting 13 figures instead of 12, the third mold here pictured, that looks somewhat like a mule, has 3 figures, is it really like that or is one of them twice.
Maybe I can give names to each mould based on sculpt, type of horse and pose more the color.
Is the 2nd horse supposed to be a pony?

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I love the green horse 

Roger wrote:

Well, before redesigning the most recent toobs, let's see if I can sort the first one from 1998.
I tried to group @Jill's pictures, fromm the first post, in moulds.
I'm counting 13 figures instead of 12, the third mold here pictured, that looks somewhat like a mule, has 3 figures, is it really like that or is one of them twice.

I realize I accidentally posted the green one twice! I was in a haze of a stomach virus and didn't even realize the molds were used twice until yesterday, actually, haha. Here is how they divide based on close inspection - so six molds:

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If I had to name them, I'd maybe name them based on the Funrise horse one of each pair mimics? So as follows:

- Top Left: "Palomino" or "Morgan" mold (Bay and Palomino)
- Bottom Left: "Pinto" or "Knabstrupper" mold (Black pinto and Leopard appaloosa)
- Top Middle: "Brumby" mold (Gold and Red, and Gray/Green and Red - neither are a real horse color)
- Bottom Middle: "Thoroughbred" mold (Bay and Black)
- Top Right: "Shire" mold (Black and White)
- Bottom Right: "Mustang" mold (Orange paint and Gold and Red paint)

There's nothing definite about any of those, and certainly not how Safari defined them, but that's how I've been thinking of them just because of how they resemble the larger horses.

Better news - I took a look at them closer this morning and each mold has a number:

1. Black and white pinto/red and white appaloosa standing (bottom left)
2. Black/Bay standing (bottom middle)
3. Orange and white pinto/Gold and red pinto walking (bottom right)
4. Black/White draft walking (top right)
5. Bay/Palomino standing (top left)
6. Red and green/Red and gold standing (top middle)

Hopefully numbers will give them a more specific and accurate calssification than randomly assigning them breeds.

Finally they are listed on TAW. I hope it is correct, I can't find a better way and since some colors are unrealistic, I followed Jill's descriptions.

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Kikimalou wrote:

I love the green horse 

You're a TAW editor, you should know how serious is to list a green horse.