I remember painting the figures as a kid, using the woefully inadequate brush and paint that was provided with the mail-away set. It was not a success, but the figures were still fun; particularly since they included characters that were from the book series, not just the MGM film.
The figures are an odd mix, because the imagery comes from various sources. The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion are based on W. W. Denslow, while Glinda, Mombi, the Sawhorse and the Soldier are based on John R. Neill. Dorothy, Toto and the Wizard are based on the characters from the Chuck Jones Off to See the Wizard cartoon series, which these toys were promoting. Proportions vary from one to the next, and overall it's a very strange assortment!
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Also, that Scarecrow has six fingers on each hand. Apparently they were paying TOO close attention to the picture on the table of contents, where you see all five fingers of his left hand. So naturally there had to have been a sixth to successfully hold up that piece of paper...
I had not noticed that - that's too funny!
It was the late great Rob Roy MacVeigh who noticed this, and told me his theory of where the extra finger came from.
Kind of an odd mix, but very cool!
The Soldier might be Denslow as well. Hard to tell without looking closer.
On the original package, Mombi was incidentally named "The Wicked Witch of the East".
I guess the marketer for the box mistakenly thought that since there was no room to add the Wicked Witch of the West, they decided to have Mombi become the Wicked Witch of the East. Unless they didn't read the books and they just didn't care which witch was which and said, "Let's put it on the market, people won't tell the difference."
Well for any respectable Oz fan, they did. Mombi is known to be the Wicked Witch of the North not the East (and definitely not the West).
Or maybe it was just for fun. To give audiences an idea of what the Wicked Witch of the East (Nessarose) could've looked like before Dorothy's house fell on her.
So there you have it. Mombi, The Wicked Witch of the East! Or so we think...hint-hint "Wicked Witch of the North".
I often wondered what the Wicked Witch of the South would look like. LOL!
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