Not the greatest shots, but I managed to get these shots of the last 'Harvest Moon' through the light-pollution of the M2/M4 corridor last night!
About Me

- Hugh Walter
- No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
- I’m a 58-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”. 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.
Sunday, October 1, 2023
H is for Harvest Moon
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
C is for Contributions to Charity Coffers!
Clockwise from the top left; A bag of Britains in various states from very play-worn (tiger) to quite mint (baby hippo), then that lump of resin mud-lover, a nice group of Chinasaurs, including two gape-mouths, and a new version of my favourite childhood rubber Dimetrodon, but in a more ridged PVC-alike, than the usual silicon-rubber of the originals, but nice to know the tool is still out there and in use!
While the larger bag was a whole bunch of MEG Kitty in my Pocket toys, which gave a whole shot each of gingers, black & white and/or or floofy types, smudgers and a more oriental looking group of greys! I have a few in with the cats, but always knew they'd turn up cheap eventually, so nice sample for pennies!
The biggies from DEBRA UK; I can't remember now which was which, but there were a Papo, Schleiech and Triple-A among these, and I think this is a Schleich rhino and generic elephant? It'll all come out in the wash, when we look at them again in more thematic posts, another day!
The other bag was a right-old mix, with farm and zoo, branded and unbranded, for some reason the pig-shot snuck into the collage twice, so you can see what they look like, before I sort the contrast! Doh!
The sea-life are all equipped with pencil-topping holes, the dragon is another capsule/Christmas cracker looking type and the two Fairies are, I think, from the Flower Fairies (Interplay - IP) which we looked at in a London Toy Fair revue a few years ago, and which, again, I suspected would, if successful, end up in mixed/charity lots, so more samples procured against future thematic posts!
Monday, September 25, 2023
W is for We Do This Shit . . .
Sunday, September 24, 2023
T is for ♫♪♪ "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines . . . " ♪♫♫
Brian's above mine below, all marked COPYR for copyright, across the shoulders. The base colour is a known variant, and Joplin doesn't state it, but I suspect the green bases are earlier, the uniform-matching colour later, as a cost measure? And if you think my mechanic is looking thinner than Brian's . . .
. . . it's because he is! If I'm right about the bases, then we can further deduce/assume, there was a re-jig/re-sculpt of the mechanic toward the end of the run? He could be a copy, of course? Those hollow-cast chaps did a lot of plagiarism! As well as a thinner head, he's looking forwards while the [earlier?] figure is looking up and to the left - toward 'his' pilot?
B is for Brenner?
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
M is for Matters Arising!
Ah'haaarrrrr mee arrty felloows! Until next yearrr, may the wind get behind yerrr sails and yerrr mast stay up! Ooo-urrh missus!
A is for Additional Adventurers
Bit of an odd one this; I'm used to these modern 'toob'/tub guys issuing a replacement set occasionally, we saw it with one of the Egyptian sets (Safari or K&M?), but this being only five figures is not a replacement set, unless shrinkflation is getting serious, but rather a sister set?
C is for Cap'n Pugwash!
Brian Berke, pirate fan from New York, sent these just after ITLAPD last year, so they have been waiting a while to shine in the spotlight, and we have seen Captain Pugwash before, but I don't think you can have too much of the scourge of the High Teas, as he sailed his way through early-evening children's TV programming in our childhood!
Then Brian sent these the other day (I suspect as a subtle reminder of the forthcoming day, had I forgot - which I have some years!), and I've dramatised the borders! Hing Fat's finest crew, painted-up.
To be fair, if I recall correctly, there was usually more good than harm committed during the 4-and-a-half-minutes of Pugwash's adventures, and any harm which did occur was usually to the Captain's pride!
Cheers Brian! For those who don't know; you need to know!
S is for Seen Eleswhere - Piratey Pirates!
Pirates is for Crazy Comic Piraten Serie Piratas Bucaneros Filibusteros Corsarios Berberiscos . . . and Then Some!
En realidad son figuras de unos 5 cm, 20 piratas que venían en el detergente Ariel en 1971-1972 mas o menos. 4 colores mates preciosos (para mi los mejores del mundo, los europeos son mas brillantes y en america el plastico demasiado duro...) en plastico blando (lo que hace mas dificil encontrarlas sin defecntos) amarillo, verde, rojo y azul.
In reality they are figures of about 5 cm, 20 pirates that came in the Ariel detergent in 1971-1972 or so. 4 beautiful matte colors (for me the best in the world, the European ones are brighter and in America the plastic is too hard...) in soft plastic (which makes it more difficult to find them without defects) yellow, green, red and blue.
En el paquete recuerdo que venia un dibujo de los piratas agrupados en 5 series de 4, Piratas, Bucaneros, Filibusteros, Corsarios y Berberiscos. Si reunias una serie te daban un premio en metálico y si conseguias los 20 supongo que te darian otro mejor.....
In the package I remember that there was a drawing of the pirates grouped into 5 series of 4, Pirates, Buccaneers, Filibusters, Corsairs and Berbers. If you collected a series they gave you a cash prize and if you got the 20 I guess they would give you a better one.....
Debajo os pongo un scan del trozo de carton donde venian los piratas Dibujados, Aunque no pone el nombre de cada grupo yo si recuerdo cuales eran, El jefe de cada grupo es el primero por la izquierda del dibujo. Como veis, el orden en que los puse segun los recordaba no era el mismo del cartón, pero iba bien encaminado ¿no?
Below I put a scan of the piece of cardboard where the Drawn pirates came. Although it doesn't say the name of each group, I do remember what they were. The leader of each group is the first one on the left of the drawing. As you can see, the order in which I put them as I remembered them was not the same as on the cardboard, but I was on the right track, right?
This is my Peruvian sample as they arrived, they are of mixed parentage however, or might be, so these are the notes I made when they arrived, I've listed them alphabetically for now;
- Arrigon (the only figure marked on the feet)
- Al Epacha (Tito mark on trouser cuff, name down cloak)*
- Barbarrója 'Red Beard'
- Cara Cortada 'Scar Face' (letter 'A' is visible, might be bootleg)
- Cascanueces 'Nutcracker'
- Corsario Azul 'Blue Corsair'
- El Arana 'Spider'
- El Bisco 'Biscuit' (no Tito mark, reversed letter 'F' is visible, might be bootleg)
- El Jorobado 'The Hunchbacked' (no Tito mark, might be bootleg)
- El Manco 'The Lame' [hand not foot]
- El Pecas 'Freckles'
- El Pupas 'The Baby'
- El Tuerto 'One-eye'
- Ivan
- Jack el Negro 'The Black'**
- Morgan (no Tito mark, might be bootleg)
- Mustafa
- Papatalo ('The Unbeaten, Unconquered'?)
- Sebastian
- Taric (no Tito mark, letter 'E' is visible, might be bootleg)
* *Not apparently a racist epithet, the features being clear and of European or 'everyman' appearance, with long straight hair, so; black-hearted, or up to no good!
At around the same time, some company in the USA, Rubenstein International Inc. (1977) started shipping these fellows in from Mexico, bags have multiple pose duplicates and what appears to be a limited number of poses, but that remains to be confirmed by multiple samples, and I suspect all 20 poses might eventually turn-up.
14 Piraten gibt es von Linde. Von links nach rechts heißen sie: El Bisco, Patapalo, El Arana, El Pecas, Corsario Azul, Tarik, Mustafa, Jack el Negro, El Jorobado, Morgan, El Tuerto, El Manco, Arrigon und Cara Cortada. Der Name ist am Rücken oder an den Beinen zu lesen, daneben sind die Linde-Piraten natürlich immer geprägt. Die zarte Kennung kann leicht übersehen werden. Am häufigsten ist die Farbe blau.
There are 14 pirates from Linde. From left to right they are: El Bisco, Patapalo, El Arana, El Pecas, Corsario Azul, Tarik, Mustafa, Jack el Negro, El Jorobado, Morgan, El Tuerto, El Manco, Arrigon and Cara Cortada. The name can be read on the back or on the legs, and of course the Linde Pirates are always embossed next to them. The delicate identifier can be easily overlooked. The most common color is blue.
Wesentlich seltener sind sie in den Farben gelb, grün und rot.
They are much rarer in color yellow, green and red.
20 Piraten wurden von der spanischen Firma TITO produziert. Nur 14 davon gibt es mit Linde-Kennung. Ob es Al Jepacha, Sebastian, Ivan, Cascanjeces, El Pupas und Barbar Roja (siehe Abbildung) auch von Linde und auch in weiß gibt, bezweifle ich. Die Tito-Piraten wurden in Tüten verkauft. Tito produzierte auch die bekannten Dargaud-Figuren. Die Linde-Piraten waren natürlich im Kaffee.
20 pirates were produced by the Spanish company TITO. Only 14 of them are available with Linde identification. I doubt whether Al Jepacha, Sebastian, Ivan, Cascanjeces, El Pupas and Barbar Roja (see picture) are also available from Linde and in white. The Tito Pirates were sold in bags. Tito also produced the well-known Dargaud figures. The Linde Pirates were of course in the coffee.
And if you're wondering why some of my Rubenstein images are the same as his, it's becasue we took them from the same seller about a year ago!