When I was about 6 or 7 ('87 or '88) I was in Sydney at a massive shopping mall and there was a toy we all got to play with in the kids section. I am not sure if the toy was actually for sale or if it was some sort of display, but to this day, I have never found any information on it. I'll list the things I remember:
(sorry it's long, but there is no succinct way to put this).
- a green plastic mountain (no, not the Kenner playset one, but possibly same size)
- there is a grey mill sitting on top, or some sort of plastic 'stone' building.
- there is a blue plastic pond, at the bottom of the hill, maybe some trees too and a bridge over the pond.
- all features molded into the plastic I think, not loose.
- about 6 or 8 tiny plastic silver-coloured or grey fish are in the pond
- there is a conveyor belt leading from the pond, up to the mill
- somehow, you get the fish onto the belt and it moves up to the mill. I think this is done manually by turning a handle (I dont think it was motorised in anyway).
- the fish end up on a water-wheel, and move through the building, out the other side, and end up back into the pond.
This toy may have been primarily a water-mill or fishing toy but I have always called it the 'fish mill'. It didn't look like it was designed for the bath and the fish were TINY. It didn't require water to run either. No one knows what I am on about.
Who came up with this concept for a toy? Honestly. I mean, what toy-making team actually sat around the boardroom table and said 'I have an idea...' and came up with this? Why would you have a conveyor belt to carry fish around and through an empty building just to drop them back in the pond is beyond me *cuckoo*....but I played with it and it was fun for a few minutes. Weird. A fish re-cycling toy.
Now, a long time ago, I posted this query on the 'Do You Remember?' forum, and someone suggested that it was called 'Mr Fishy Wishy's Marvellous Contraption', but I think they were joking around as I cannot find anything on this, lol.
This toy sounds like a strange dream, doesn't it? But no, it actually existed at some point! I will absolutely die in disbelief if anyone out there knows what toy this was.