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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Monday, March 15, 2010

R is for Regiment by Raja

Raja were (still are?) a Portuguese Ice Cream manufacturer who gave away various premiums during the 60's and 70's which were not the usual premiums doing the rounds with Kellogg's/Ola/Nabisco/Nestle etc...Instead they concentrated on native Portuguese TV output.

The best from a Toy Soldier fans point of view was 'Regimento' or; The Regiment, a weekly (?) serial set in a US Cavalry fort. The Raja set contains 16 named characters between 25mm (standing poses) and 30mm (kneeling poses).

Top row, L to R; Tenente (Lt.), Capita'o (Capt.), Sergento (Sgt.), Comandante, Cabo and Ted.

Middle row; Tony, Nick, Bill (bugle), Filha do Comandante (Commandants daughter, short pencil skirt - one for the dad's there!), Frank and Kirk.

Bottom row; Burt & Jack (over sized kneeling poses), the original comic ad./flyer, Rod and Tom.

Common colours are the red and metallic blue, the others are not so easy to get.

Raja also produced/issued (See note at end) this set of Sci-fi figurines from another Portuguese TV series, this was a cartoon (I don't know it's name - can any Iberian readers help there?), and seems to have some similarities with the Italo-French Captain Harlock/Albator cartoon made by Toei Animation. I'm not sure if all the figures in the last two rows are part of this set?

In Peru I believe it was known as Galaxica Crononauta.

The yellow figure of the female astronaut is unmarked, slightly larger and of a harder plastic, so may be a copy, or just from another producer.

Other figurines bearing the Raja mark on their bases. Again I have no idea what they are called, or indeed what they refer to, however it seems they targeted girls as well as boys, as Montaplex did in Spain with their 'Sobres', something UK premiums rarely did.

Note: It's unlikely that Raja made these figurines themselves, food and plastic production are not happy bedfellows! Judging by the colours I'd put my money on Tito as the source, but that's not to be taken as read by any means, R&L (Rosenhain and Lipmann) in Australia also used this colour palette, as did several (Portuguese speaking) South American producers.

14 comments:

Tony said...

The figures are from a space fantasy. It´s more about the space conquest in the 60,s. The figure sin the bottom do belong to the set above. cheers

Tony said...

There are some figures from Raja that are tradicional Portuguese clothes. They belong to folk clothing and they represent A fisherman, A harvest woman from alentejo, a fish seller woman from lisbon. I had that all from several ice creams my mom used to buy me. Nice times.

Hugh Walter said...

Thaks for that Jose, I take it you are talking in the second comment about the upper left row of figures in the lower photograph? Any idea who the little boy is?

Tony said...

No... I don´t know those litle boys. I guees by the time they were issurd I didn´t play with that anymore.
That was the time for TIMPO TOYS and AIRFIX, so i can´t remenber about it. Sometimes i can find some figures in antiques fairs.
The other ones i remenber very well.
This makes me fell nostalgic.

Tony said...

About the RAJA colection there are more older items. They´re from the 60´s and represent the BEATLEMANIA. Theyr body it´s small and they´re heads are big like a caricature. They really look like those Hippies in the begging. I´ll try to find them if i can. No promises because they´re very rare.
There´s another collection with the MAGICAL ROUNDABOUT and that one it´s from RAJA too.

Hugh Walter said...

The Magic Roundabout is a bit more problematical, They were issued here in the UK by Nabisco as a biscuit premium, by Ola' ice cream in Portugal and by another brand/product in France (that I know of) they have been re-issued in South America and so on...so I will give them a separate posting one day!

Also I think I may have some of the Beatles/Hippies but they are either unmarked or they are marked Tito (who probably supplied the Magic R. figures?), so again I'll cover them with other Tito or 'Unknown' stuff one day - Vikki the Viking, Tarzan etc...

So keep watching!!!! Have a good weekend - what's left of it!

Tony said...

I remenber now. About Vickie the viking, and i also remenber about the space figures they had a space station that you could have collecting the sticks or cupons of the ice creams (can´t remenber exactly). If i find some material are you interested?...I´m more interested in trades, specially old airfix, Timpos, Britains or something like that. No promisses because they´re very rare. ChEERS

Hugh Walter said...

Yes, absolutely - I prefer swaps to money, email me with the address at the top of the page, I've always got Airfix and such to swap.

Anonymous said...

Hi. Great site you have here!
Just a detail: Portuguese is badly writen (not portugese, but portuguese)

Thanks!

Juno said...

Hi

My name is Edgar and I'm from Portugal.
Hope you don't mind if i ask you where did you got the the original comic ad./flyer ?
I've been after one of those for decades, but they are so elusive.
I have all the Rajá collections
- Regimento
- Friboms
- Ele & Ela
- Pop Palino & o seu conjunto
- Conjunto do espaço

Nice collection

Juno said...

Hi

I don't remember that magic roundabout was edited by Rajá as José said.
It was edited here by Olá ice-cream.
I even have the ad flyer of that.
The figures with big heads where named " Pop Palino & o seu conjunto " that means Pop palino and his band.
They were the only one that were unmarked "Rajá"

Compliments

Juno said...

The little boy is called " Carlyer".
Here they are also called the Hippies collection. The name of the collection is " Friboms ". I don't know what they refer too neither.

Follow this link and find more:

http://www.misteriojuvenil.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=28166

Tony said...

Well, I´m back to this subject...A few months ago I found a fugure from the Pop Palino Set( The Hippies, Beatlemania or wath you want to call it....).
the figure it´s all in withe and it´s one of the guitar players......

Hugh Walter said...

Sorry guys, I missed all your comments - I missed a load back then and keep finding them!!

Thanks for all the extra info Jose/Tony (!) I still have Airfix and such-like for swapping, if you have picked-up more! My eMail in on the blog.

H