Hanna Barbera revolutionized animated cartoons when the company began producing cartoons for Saturday mornings and primetime series such as The Flintstones and Jonny Quest.
Back in the early 2000s McFarlane Toys secured the rights to produce collectible and articulated figures and playsets based on Hanna Barbera cartoons.
While less than twenty were produced they are sought after by both McFarlane Toys and Hanna Barbera collectors.
It’s not really clear why McFarlane Toys produced such a small number of Hanna Barbera figures considering the animation studios was responsible for literally hundreds of characters.
Despite that the figures McFarlane Toys did produce are some of the best cartoon figures ever made faithfully recreating the characters in 3D.
The Fred Flintstone With Chopper was one of The Flinstones figures McFarlane Toys produced.
The Flinstones were ‘the modern Stone Age family’ copied from the Jackie Gleason The Honeymooners series from the 1950s.
The main cast consisted of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble. Later in the series the Flinstones had a little girl called Pebbles and the Rubbles a little boy Bam Bam.
The Flintstones pet was Dino The Dinosaur and the Rubbles' pet was Happy The Hopperoo.
The Fred Flintstone figure (as is his Chopper) is painted in matte finish paint. This gives the figures a much more cartoonish look as befits their origin.
The packaging is a standard bubble pack hanger/shelf container. It is clear with The Flintstones logo predominant on its front and a large photo of Fred on the side flap.
On its back is a gallery of other Hanna Barbera toys. The Hong Kong Fooey figure packaging is similar.
Fred sits straddled on his chopper. He wears no helmet although one is include hanging for the extended seat back made of two tusks. The helmet is a turtle shell in light green and brown with a leather strap.
Fred wears his distinctive orange and black spot outfit. He also wears two leather wristbands with studs and a black leather vest that really sets off his aqua tie.
The figure looks identical to the Fred Flintstone animated figure right down to his large bulbous nose, large slit mouth, tousled top notch of black hair and large four finger hands and four toe feet.
The Chopper featured a stegosaurus skull head front mount, off which the two prominent horns are handlebars which Fred holds.
Extending out of the skull nostrils holes are two shafts of wood held midway by a horizontal wooden support and ending in a rough-hewn stone wheel.
A similar contraption holds the larger stone wheel in the back.
The gas tank is of stone as is the Fossil Fuel Engine with removable side panel.
Twin open-end horns are the exhaust which beltch twin flames of orange and yellow. The footrest and stabilizer kickstand is made of bone.
The base for the Chopper looks like sandy soil with the rocks scattered about. Two of the rocks hold the Chopper in place for display.
The Chopper pivots for wheel-poppin’ action.
Hone Kong Fooey rode the wave of popularity of Kung Fu and martial arts movies and TV shows prevalent in the 1970s.
The action figure wears his characteristic bright orange with white stripes outfit that ends at Hong Kong’s knees and elbows and is tied at the waist with a yellow rope.
The figure wears a black eye mask and is posed in a typical attack mode with its right arm extended to deliver a blow, it’s left arm pulled back at its side and both feet in the air in a striking pose. The figure is mounted on a pole as if in mid-flight.
Included with the figure is a thief with black mask, blue hat, black vest, horizontal black and white stripe shirt, blue pants and brown shoes. He has a tab on his right shoe toe that when clipped into the base spring allows the figure to spring back.
Also included is Hong Kong Fooey’s companion. Solid yellow with two horizontal gray strips on its torso the figure mimics Hong Kong’s move.
Included with the three figures is a base that looks like a sidewalk section that includes a separate snap n section for the cat to clip on.
Both figure sets are nicely painted with no sloppy edges or bleed-overs. Sculpting is superb mimicking the animated figures perfectly in 3D.
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