TOYOLOGY Toyology-The Action Men of the batteries not included industry
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Since we first saw this new range earlier this year we’ve been telling anyone who would listen about how their shelf space is just yelling out for one of their figurines. From small sturdy tough-plastic toys to the same characters in plush that will always lead to an utterance of “Whats that you have there then”?. Conversation starters for Kidults and creative role-playing for children, the Randimals have a wide appeal.
The inspiration for these two-creature creations cam from one of the co-founders, Nick. The owner of a named Ollie, who was part basset hound and part lab, which made him a little quirky looking. This led Harman to create a number of unique animals, including a duck and horse combo named Huck, a gorilla-elephant combo named Elorilla, a zebra-kangaroo combo named Zangaroo, a dog-seal combo and a number of other quirky creatures.
Getting them from brain to production took a crack team enlisted by Nick including an artist from Armenia, a website designer from Pakistan, a graphic designer from Nepal, a TikTok creator from Colombia and two toy builders from China, and so the menagerie started to manifest.
Then Harman wrote an accompanying book about a little girl named Sydney whose dog Ollie chews on her toys while she’s asleep, tearing them apart. Her despair spurs invention as she sews the torn animals together, creating Hork out of a horse and shark, so many stories to be told and if this doesn’t get an animated series then shame on you production people.
The underlying message that is driven by these toys is clear, when traditional toys make fun of the new creations in the book, Elorilla the Gorilla tells her comrades not to hang their heads—“What makes us different makes all the difference in the world.”
The world which they inhabit needs a name, we’re not smart enough to have thought of a place name from where they all come, perhaps they were here all the time and have only just decided it is time to make their presence known, either way we’re glad they did and we expect them to do big things in 2025.
