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, September 19, 2018

TP is for Tiny Pirates from Thomas-Poplar

I think we looked at the 'other' 40mm's from Thomas-Poplar last year, but I picked these - first Three - up in the course of the last 12-monthes, then got the grubby, rubber one (at PW's show I think) a while back, only to find a bunch in storage! So I retook the photo's and Bob's your pirate-uncle!

40mm Figures; 40mm Pirates; International Talk Like A Pirate Day; ITLAPD; Pirate Day; Pirate Toy; Pirates; Polyethylene Toy Figures; Poplar Pirate Figures; Poplar Pirates; Poplar Plastics; Poplar Playthings; Poplar Products; PVC Rubber Pirates; PVC Vinyl Rubber; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Talk Like A Pirate; Thomas Toys; Thomas Toys Pirates; Vinyl Plastic Pirates;
The three additions, There are shades of other makers work in there, Marx for instance have contributed to the middle figure from two of their leter HK 54mm's. Colours are the same as for the Romans and Spacemen from the same maker/s; it's increasingly obvious that the only real difference between Thomas and Poplar in the UK is the packaging, so I tend to lump them together nowadays.

40mm Figures; 40mm Pirates; International Talk Like A Pirate Day; ITLAPD; Pirate Day; Pirate Toy; Pirates; Polyethylene Toy Figures; Poplar Pirate Figures; Poplar Pirates; Poplar Plastics; Poplar Playthings; Poplar Products; PVC Rubber Pirates; PVC Vinyl Rubber; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Talk Like A Pirate; Thomas Toys; Thomas Toys Pirates; Vinyl Plastic Pirates;
These turned up at some point (in the past) and appear to be either copies (the peg-leg is larger and detail seems poorer than on the T-P originals) or a later issue. PVC rubber and a basic paint-job, you'll recognise two of the poses from the Ideal/Glencoe figures . . . 'pirate pirates'?

40mm Figures; 40mm Pirates; International Talk Like A Pirate Day; ITLAPD; Pirate Day; Pirate Toy; Pirates; Polyethylene Toy Figures; Poplar Pirate Figures; Poplar Pirates; Poplar Plastics; Poplar Playthings; Poplar Products; PVC Rubber Pirates; PVC Vinyl Rubber; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Talk Like A Pirate; Thomas Toys; Thomas Toys Pirates; Vinyl Plastic Pirates;
A comparison between the three, I believe the chap in the middle is a T-P moulding, the size difference with the green ethylene one being excused by the shrinkage of the more elastic polymer (elastomer) as it cools.

You can see how the third figure - as well as the fatter peg-leg - seems to have poorer detail to the fingers of both hands, but it's a moot point and they both have the little button visible on their chest; there may have been more than one cavity per pose on the tool? I wouldn't want to create a variant which isn't really there!

40mm Figures; 40mm Pirates; International Talk Like A Pirate Day; ITLAPD; Pirate Day; Pirate Toy; Pirates; Polyethylene Toy Figures; Poplar Pirate Figures; Poplar Pirates; Poplar Plastics; Poplar Playthings; Poplar Products; PVC Rubber Pirates; PVC Vinyl Rubber; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Talk Like A Pirate; Thomas Toys; Thomas Toys Pirates; Vinyl Plastic Pirates;
All mine together, six poses in total - there are three taken from the Ideal set, the two swordsmen and the 'gunslinger', the hat and bare-heads of the Ideal poses here replaced by scarves. Although, given the ages of all these things and the seminal role of Iselin Thomas in early plastic playthings, it's more likely that Ideal were the plagiarists, not Thomas Toys?

Two other points - these have been described as being '...only sold in England for a short period.', yet were clearly on sale/in production long enough to produce two or three generations in two materials, so perhaps they were available for a while, in actual fact?

Incedently;  It is almost impossible to 'Google search' these as all the search-engines insist on assuming you're looking for Thomas [the Tank Engine]'s Pop[u]lar toys, and my tagging-up this and the next post won't make a happeth' of difference!

Finally, they take a while to amass, and turn-up in small quantities so I wonder  (now we know from Plastic Warrior's piece on Space Premiums a while ago) if they were supplied to Tom Smith for use as cracker-prize inserts?

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