Magilla Gorilla Gets Twisted

 In 1961, the toy company Marx released a line of toys called "Twistables." Based on Disney characters, they were figurines that featured noodle-like arms and legs that made them easy to pose, bend, and twist, hence the name. A couple of years later, Ideal Toys got the idea to do their own version of this line. And what better set of characters to base them around then the Hanna-Barbera ones?

As Ideal Toys were sponsors on shows like Magilla Gorilla, this was a no-brainer on their part. Unfortunately, these toys aren't quite as memorable as Marx's Disney offerings. That's not to say these are bad toys, but if you've seen the Disney ones, it's clear that their line was superior. That being said, these must've sold well enough, as they made around a dozen or so of them. Below are the Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus twistables, which I feel are the best in the line. 

Now here's one in the packaging. Interestingly, the initial figures in this series were sold in just a plastic bag, rather than a cardboard box. This package also highlights some of the other characters sold in the line. They covered pretty much all of the essential characters across the segments of both Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus. If you have a particular favorite from any of those, they probably were included in the line. I must also say it's pretty surprising to see Sneezly show up here. How many Sneezly toys can you genuinely say you've seen before?