About Me

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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.

Friday, November 2, 2012

T is for Toro, Toro (Taxi)




So we are looking today at one of the less tasteful subjects in the world of toy figures (as if celebrating war and soldiery isn't itself already too far for some!!), Bullfighting, the slow and tortuous demise of otherwise healthy animals for the enjoyment of the braying masses of Rome and their hideous Emperors...er...except this is here, today, 'post modern', civilised, 21st century, now...

I spent some time on Google trying to identify these, and while once or twice I thought Reamsa was 'in the frame', I think these are actually all Jecsan, I'm not sure on the bull though, and the guy far top-right has a slightly different base?

The three to the left in this one all seem to be Comansi, while the forth figure - on the far right (you have to be pretty far right to torture animals for pleasure!) would seem to be more of a tourist piece, or that quintessential of Spanish toys a 'kiosk toy'. The guy with both arms raised may be missing two swords or 'estoque'.

For some reason which totally escapes me - given we have no bull rings - the Brits got in on the toy bullfighting act, not once but twice? In the upper shot we see two of the Charbens Bullfighting set with their characteristic semi-flatness, while the lower shot shows a couple of pieces from the even less common Cherilea offering...the bull standing in a life-draining puddle of its own blood seeming to sum-up the nature of the subject and my opinion of it.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi , you're not so far ... in the first pictures , a part of the figures are comansi .... on second picture , the 3 figures on left are reamsa 60mm , this maker produced a nicer bullfighting set with bull in 54mm scale (with similar positions) . regards

Hugh Walter said...

Thanks Annon! And thanks for pssing...Hugh

Jaime Pla Soler said...

Reamsa never produced 60 mm bullfighters

Hugh Walter said...

That's why I didn't update the post! I'm was pretty confident of my attributions (after much Googling!) but there's still a question mark over that first bull?

Thanks
Hugh

Hugh Walter said...

The top bull is probably Jecsan and seems to be a copy/homage to the Texido/Texidor sculpt.

H

Hugh Walter said...

Teixido/Teixidor!