The company. Funrise was founded in 1987 in Van Nuys, California, by Arnie Rubin, who had co-founded Imperial Toy Corporation back in 1969 and left to start his own venture. Funrise was later sold to Matrix Holdings — the Hong Kong-based owner of Shelcore — in 2007, and today the company is better known for Gazillion Bubbles, the Tonka license, Cat construction toys and TMNT vehicles than for anything it did in the eighties.

The micro-car line. The line most collectors mean is Micro Action, launched 1988 — essentially the same year Micro Machines went from soft launch to mass-market phenomenon. Among the dozens of manufacturers that jumped into micro-vehicles, Funrise was the most serious competitor to Galoob: it had the largest number of vehicle castings and even secured licensed series, notably a "Back to the Future" range. Funrise's products undercut Galoob's on price, which was the core of its competitive strategy. Sub-brand names you'll see on packaging include Micro Action Magnifiers (blister cards with a magnifying lens element, 1988–1990), Color Changers / Two-Tone, Big Rig Trucks, 4x4 Series, Speedway Sprinters, and playsets such as an Air Base. The line ran roughly 1988–1991, appeared mainly through discount and drugstore channels rather than dedicated toy retail.

Model selection. Broader and more Euro/Japanese-leaning than people expect. Documented castings include Ferrari, Lamborghini Countach, Porsche 959, Mercedes 450SLC, MG, Datsun 240Z, Toyota MR2, De Tomaso, Aston Martin — alongside the American staples (Corvette, Mustang, Firebird Trans Am, Dodge, Jeep, Willys) and heavy stuff (Kenworth, Peterbilt, Caterpillar, John Deere, Allis-Chalmers). Plus a large military range: jets, ground vehicles and tanks, in which the colour largely came from the injected plastic itself with only sparse painted detailing. The 1989 Back to the Future Part II "Micro Action Super Cars" set, No. 10810, contained the modified DeLorean, the hover police car, and the Luxor Cab Co. taxi.

Where it fell short. Funrise could not match Galoob's gimmick series — light-up vehicles, colour-change paint, battery-operated models — which functioned as de facto anti-copying features, nor could it match Galoob's advertising spend (the John Moschitta fast-talking TV campaign was a genuine moat).

Re-branding. It seems like other toy companies used Funrise / Micro Action models and distributed them under their own brand name. Below is an example of Funrise cars in a blister branded "Micro World by Gegu" for the German market. Re-brandings of this kind are not well catalogued and largely undocumented. Funrise cars have circulated under half a dozen brand names in Europe.

How to recognize Funrise:

🔧 This Website is still under construction and work in progress. Come back regularly to check for updates.

Last update: July 14, 2026

📦 Recent changes: 

• Micro Machines images added (Jeep category and others)
• added Funrise car and blister images
• added McToy brand and Micro Color Magic
• added Matchbox Worlds Smallest and added more Micro Machines and Phat Boyz
• imported a database of 1000+ images mainly about Speedeez and Charm Max.
• refined Phat Boyz categories and added new cars
• layout update, title image and few Micro Machines additions
• image and category refining plus added 100+ Micro Machines
• begin image quality update and category refining, mostly for Micro Machines - more to come
• added hundreds of Micro Machines images - more to come

Micro Car Collector is meant to be a resource for collectors of micro model cars mainly from the 80s to 2000s. The iconic Micro Machines brand started this wave around 1987 and became part of pop culture of the era and many peoples child hood memories who were kids at that time. The popularity of Micro Machines sparked a lot of copycats that jumped the band wagon and released a large variety of micro toy cars into the market. This site wants to be a home for especially these so called offbrands that are not original Micro Machines made by Galoob or Hasbro and are often neglected and underrepresented in the collector world.   

Microcarcollector is a hobby project that started in December 2024. The backstory that lead me here began in the pandemic winter in 2020/2021. Around Christmas at my parent's house I rediscovered my child hood collection of Micro Machines. While many toys of my child hood got forgotten or sold I thought "these are still cool lets keep them and see what they're worth now". That was my entrance into the rabbit hole of collecting Micro Machines and the like. Over the years I connected with collectors from all over the world and found facebook groups with ten thousands of members - all dedicated to collecting Micro Machines. One day I met Timo, a collector from Germany, whose focus was to collect all the micro toy car brands except the original Micro Machines. Through him I learned how much variety in the micro toy car world there actually is. In early 2024 Timo gave up collecting for personal reasons and also deleted the facebook group that was host to most of his knowledge about the topic. While my collector focus is still Micro Machines and to some limited extend Phat Boyz, Funrise and Speedeez, I felt that his knowledge and collection should be documented - and so microcarcollector was born. Making Timo's vast collection accessible to collectors is still an ongoing process. Many models that get documented here will also be available for sale. Checkout my ebay account regularly to not miss some rare items.

Phat Boyz - The Quirky Phenomenon

In the early 2000s, Simple Wishes Inc. introduced a unique line of model toy cars that would captivate collectors across two continents - Phat Boyz. These distinctive models stood out in the toy car market with their unconventional proportions, featuring vehicles that were almost as wide as they were long, giving them their characteristic chunky appearance.

What truly set Phat Boyz apart was their eclectic mix of vehicle choices. While many model toy manufacturers focused solely on dream cars and classics, Phat Boyz took a different approach. Their lineup ranged from beloved American classics like various Chevrolet Corvette generations to surprisingly ordinary contemporary vehicles like the Opel Meriva. This unexpected inclusion of everyday cars added a unique charm to the collection.

The brand maintained a fascinating pattern in their model selection. While American cars in the lineup spanned both classic and contemporary vehicles, their European and Japanese selections focused primarily on modern vehicles of the 2000s. Adding to this diverse mix was an extensive range of fantasy cars, showcasing the brand's creative spirit.

The collector community has particularly interesting stories to tell about Phat Boyz. European exclusive releases have become highly sought-after items among collectors worldwide. Some color variants are so rare that they've achieved almost mythical status among enthusiasts. Adding to the mystique, discoveries in China have suggested the existence of prototype models that never made it to market production, fueling speculation and excitement among collectors about what other undiscovered treasures might exist. It seems like the Phat Boyz cars were sold in Europe under the "Majorette" brand for some time.

Phat Boyz's legacy continues to intrigue collectors today, with their unique combination of quirky proportions, unexpected model choices, and mysterious rare variants making them a fascinating chapter in model toy car history.

How to recognize Phat Boyz:

Despite their unique flat and wide shape the base plate of Phat Boyz model cars contains "PB CHINA" and sometimes a copyright mark of the car brand they licensed for the model: