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.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

O is for Ocean's Fifteen

I've had a lot more of those 45-65mm 'PVC / Rubber' animals come in with the last few big lots, and to follow-on from the ocean board games of this morning I'm throwing these up here as a by-the-by! The 'main event' is an unknown set with a couple of question marks.

Fifteen animals and or plants! They are similar to the Henbrandt set/s we looked at here a while ago (and will revisit soon) and are a mix of reef and deep ocean wildlife. However they may well be parts of two (or even three) sets, as there are numbering clashes and one with different markings altogether?

The set breaks down as follows, each (excepting the squid) having a neat CHINA stamp, the three-arrow triangle recycling sign and a single figure; between A-to-M . . .

A - Tuna
B - Ray (Manta?)
C - Ray
D - Flying Fish
E - Marlin - and - Anemone
F - Salmon - and - Frondy Thing
G - Pink Coral
H - Seaweed or Coral
I - Crab
J - Lobster
K - Starfish (Brittlestar)
L - ?
M - Sea Horse
- Squid (marked with same recycling symbol, but no code and 'Made in China')

Undersides; I wondered if the spotted one might be a flat fish of some kind, but I think the tail says 'ray' while the other one is trying to be a manta-ray, I think; with those cheek protrusions?

The fish, I'm assuming from the far left/rear; Salmon, Marlin, Tuna and Flying fish, obviously not to scale but quite nice sculpts none the less.

With the coral-erasers from Poundworld Plus and the Henbrandt ones I'm building quite a good reef! I'm not sure if the blue-tipped one is supposed to be coral or an anemone and likewise the green one may be seaweed or a coral?

As two of them share letter codes with the fish, I wonder whether there aren't more of these for two sets, one of fish and one of reef life? I wondered the same with the initial Henbrandt purchase and it turned out there were different sets.

To a casual observer the squid is the same as the others, similar size, decoration and material in the same coloured polymer, and I've put him with them for the time-being, but in a sub-bag to remind me he's a 'question mark', as while he has the same recycling sign and is the same plastic, he's marked MADE IN CHINA rather than the plain CHINA of the other fourteen and carries no letter-code.

We will be looking at a larger set of these (land animals though) with the same recycling marks and it may be that the squid is from a different set/contract, but from the same factory/maker.

Comparison with a couple of the Henbrandt examples (on the left), they are a standard size, but not to scale and a new word is needed for them, as there are more and more of them, farm zoo, marine and dinosaurs, cats, dogs and insects - MiniMals?. I supose 'Toob' or 'Tub Toys' is the word for the time being!

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I consider the container to be a tub if the height is less than twice the width or thereabouts, a toob if the height is several multiples of the width!

In the larger samples were a few who wouldn't fit the other - apparent - sets, and three of them turned up in a generic Sea Life Toob from the D&D Distributors catalogue, I've photographed the Henbrandt penguin with the new one (who has a wonky foot - I knew it couldn't be good carrying an egg on it for three months in minus 20° or more), there was also a nice otter (who actually looks like an otter - not that cartoon 'beavoter' from the chess set this morning!) and a nice alligator - 3 down 15 to go; I love collecting polymer MiniMals!

4 comments:

Jan Ferris said...

You have a nice collection of sea creatures here.

Hugh Walter said...

Cheers Jan, I'd be happier if I knew 'what' I had, if you know what I mean!

H

Unknown said...

Loved it! Do you know where can i find it?

Hugh Walter said...

Not 'offhand' I'm afraid, Slivia, but in the US an eMail to D&D may get you a list of their agents or stockists/supplied stores, elsewhere it's good old feeble'Bay's your best bet!

H