My Best Friend

New-Ray Toys Co "New-Ray" are known for producing several lines of realistic automobile figures and themed playsets aimed towards young boys. Their line-up includes motorcycles, farm vehicles, long-haul trucks, and expands into miltary vechiles and life-based luxury cars, notable for their realistic molds. New-Ray, established in 1987, state their commitment to "providing sophisticated toys with excellent play value in first-class quality", and do so by using die-cast molds. These molds are often based around real, licensed car and automobile brands, downscaled to various sizes in order to appeal both to young children and adult collectors. Much of their lineup is geared towards either the adult male collector demographic or young boys, with their playsets themes contiuning this trend. Their playsets are less plentiful then their line up of automobiles -New-Rays is dedicated to "always giving choices" to their costumers, which includes acquiring a contiunally expanding collection of licensing rights. However, the sets that they do have cater nearly exclusively to the same demographic, including themes such as western, ranching, and hunting, most of which feature cars or farming equiptment alongside small, less-detailed molds of people and animals. Despite their staunch dedication to the little boy population, they ocassionaly detour into plastering pink hearts onto their products, as showcased in their most important line -released on January 17th, 2019, their "My Best Friends" line.

This "pet figurine and play set" as described on the New-Ray website, features six sets, each of which includes at least three dogs and two accessories. Breeds included are Golden Retrievers, Border Collies, Brown Labradors, miscellaneous puppies, and, of course, Dalmatians. Most of these sets include one adult and two puppies (seen in the Dalmatian, German Shepherd, Brown Labrador, and Golden Retriever), aside from the Border Collie set (including two adults and one puppy) and the puppy set (includes 6 puppies of different breeds).

The Dalmatian set features three Dalmatians; a standing adult, a sitting puppy, and a standing puppy. The accessories sold alongside them may vary: three times out of four, they come with a green kennel with an openable door, a clear dispensing water bowl, and a yellow dog bowl with brown kibble. However, there is an alternative package that includes a blue dog kennel and a dog bed instead of the water bowl. All of the packaging comes with the yellow dog bowl. New-Rays prides themselves on "Creative" packaging, using screenprinting to create detailed backdrops. "My Best Friends" have a scene of a fenced in yard with mowed grass and a tree, with a sky above and a residentual neighborhood beyond the fence. Typically, the house is blue. However, New-Rays attempts to appeal to a previously untapped market for them by selling an alternative packaging branded as "My Heart Dogs", which gives prominencse to a bright pink color palette, hearts, and a pink house as a backdrop. The package, which on any other packaging bares no slogan, writes "All dogs are cute!" alongside a pink-and-white, heart-studded doghouse. The products inside remain the same. Below are photos of the various dalmatian packages.

Dalmatians in question are made of a white plastic with black spot markings with few fine details. The plastic has a ‘brushed’ effect to resemble fur, and small details such as individual toes with claws, muscle texture on the adult, and gentaila on the adult. The seams within the molding are visible on all three models, connecting along the spine, across the bregma of the head, and along the stomach/chest. Quality-wise, these guys are not the best: along the seams, jagged pieces of plastic stick out where it wasn't cleanly cut, and the fine details are blurry around the eyes, nose, and toes, particularly on the puppies. However, the percision isn't too bad, with the adults red collar having virtually no spill. They're pretty sturdy, as confirmed by dropping the fuck outta them multiple times with no repercussion. I got them for $9.99 at Buc-ees, and considering that I got six items, the value is all there. I like the textured fur and the additional detail of muscultature to the adult. The puppies are comparatively dull to the adult, but in fairness they had less room to work with.

The adult dalmatian in surpirsingly in line with the offical AKC breed standards for a dalmatian. It reminds me of the imagery assumingly meant to be ilicted by Erin Hunter's description of "rippling muscles" in an animal -certainly, this adult dalmatian is a show dog or perhaps even an active coach dog. I personally think his legs are a little wide-set, which may dock him some points for being 'barrel-chested', and his tail may a bit low-set, straying from the desired standard of being "A natural extension of the top-line", which, in fairness, this dal does have a lovely topline: his tail rests squarely between his hindquarters. It may cost him a fault, but I apprechiate the slight lift at the tailtip. Seeing as the ol' boy sports his very own penis, I assume that the lack of gentalia on his pups may indicate either the avoidance of a pedo-zoophilia label or maybe that these two are his daughters, with the latter being my supposition. BF-02-24 rests in a sitting position, but even then, I feel like she has the potential to be a showdog; her legs are similarly wideset like her father, but she does have the proportions judges are looking for, particularly in her very-cute face. Her sister, BF-03-24, in a standing position may have an oversized tail; flagging, it notably stands over her head-line. However, her topline is top-notch, although with a slight lift at the rump -this could potentionally be corrected after she learns a proper stack, though. Overall, I think they're cute, worth the price, and, assuming they're appropriately decked out in hearts and butterflies, suitable for any girl.

Below are photos of their packaging, accessories, and display photos.

Water bowl