Thursday, October 5, 2023

Figuras Dunkin

Dunkin is a brand of bubble gum from Spain that seems to have been sold from the 1950s to the early 1990s. The Dunkin name has become synonymous among [Spanish] collectors with toy premiums provided with candy, food, and sundries that seem to have been popular in Europe and Latin America.


A subclass called Dargaud figures is used to refer to Dunkin figures of characters from Dargaud comics.

The figures were manufactured by companies such as TITO in Spain, or Disvenda in Portugal. Various official and bootleg versions were also produced in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.

The typical Dunkin figures are in the >30mm range, so were not really on my radar, but I recently obtained a bag of figures from Mexico of the Atlantic At The Pharaoh's Court set, that were said to be Dunkin figures.

I'm unsure if they are official Atlantic figures because of the generic packaging and the colors of the figures. All of the Atlantic Pharaoh's Court figures I've seen have been orange (except for green figures in 1/32 scale).


The figures came in a sealed bag containing ~100 pieces in three different colors. I've seen other types of Atlantic figures in the brown and cream colored plastic, but I don't think I've ever seen any in the tomato red plastic. Some of the figures were short shot, and several were broken.


Because the figures are a random assortment, not all the figures and accessories match up with respect to number or color. A full quarter of the figures were mummies; enough to fill the coal tender of a 1/72 steam locomotive.


I think the figures are quite old since many of them seem to have had much of the plasticizer leeched out of them, leaving them without much flexibility and a bit brittle.



Here are some of the figures compared to actual Atlantic branded figures (in orange).



I don't know how accurate the description of these figures as Dunkin are, or even if they are official or bootleg productions for that matter, but it's interesting to think that at one time you could have bought some cans of Knorr soup and received a bag of 1/72 scale figures as a premium.


No comments: