Aren’t there also some clever variations of the toy that let you uncollapse only part of the figure, or all at once? Or, is it that in time the mechanism loosens up enough to make such things possible? I can remember playing with a toy dog that let you stand it up from tailtip to nose or vice versa, or all at once. It had just one button, it was just the way you put pressure on the button that did the trick IIRC. They have a name other than “press button toy” but I’m coming up blank atm. If it surfaces I’ll come here and post it for you. You might have to go back as far as Victorian/Edwardian times to find the name of it though I’m thinking, if not WAY earlier. (I’m thinking books written in that time, or with that era as a setting might mention by the correct name.) Maybe a site dedicated to antique toys might know? I may be way off base, but I’m thinking there might even be examples found in a collection of such toys that has toys dating back to the Colonial Era. I’m not sure if the toys in question go back that far, but I also think it possible they could.
As Dusty notes, the better-made (i.e. usually the older ones) are more playable than the cheaper plastic ones; I suspect it has a lot to do with the way the beads are strung and the way they are attached to the push plate.