Danelectro re-emerged from a decades-long slumber when I was working in a music store (I think that was around 1998 or so), and I never had any use for them: their launch pedals (Cool Cat chorus, Daddy-O overdrive, Dan-Echo, and Fab-Tone distortion) were decent, fairly heavy, but never seemed like anything special to me-- standard entries into the market, with plastic board-mounted jacks and flimsy mini-pots for control. The launch that followed the initial releases was the much-reviled Mini's, completely plastic and usually running between $20 and $30 dollars, they seemed like cheap knock-offs of the Guyatone micro-effects line, but... even if the build quality was worse than their first pedals, the effects themselves were at least memorable.
I picked up the French Toast on a whim for almost no money and was blown away-- a rich, smooth fuzz with an octave option, it was a copy of the famous (and hard to find) Foxx Tone Machine. For all the ire these mini pedals currently raise, I know of more than one boutique FX forum alight with people re-boxing this effect into metal enclosures, modding a stomp switch to activate the octave, making them true-bypass, etc... I wonder if the current availability of Tone Machine clones in the boutique market isn't due to this little gem.
But that's part of the charm of the mini's-- they cost nothing, so there was no risk in trying them, and no loss in modifying them. If they were a low-cost push by the company, at least Danelectro was willing to get a little crazy with these things, and that's something I always value in an effects company.