G is for Guards

The fine fellows in Hong Kong produced a lot of absolute rubbish over the years, but some collectors - me included - have a soft spot for it none-the-less. If I have a favourite it's the various Guards they've set upon the toy-buying public.

The commonest are the 40/50mm copies of early British 54mm's or the little 'Swap-it' type figures in 20mm. Others are the Airfix piracies or multi-coloured musicians from Christmas-crackers and bubble-gum machines. Most of these will be covered again in the fullness of time, but for today I want to share the two less common types, first are these 30mm swap-it figures with movable heads and arms.

These were imported into the UK by W.H.Cornelius, and will be found with their 'Success' brand over-printed in red. Others are found without the WHC branding, which means other people carried them and therefore they may be found in other parts of the world with other Brands over-printed?

Loosely based on the Crescent range of 60mm ceremonials, you can make more poses than the Crescent originals (a set of six) by swapping heads and legs. They are also a larger version of the last set pictured;

These are much closer to the Crescent figures and are the same as the more common 20mm swap-it's but have the additional bonus of the pull-off head (the others only swivel at the waist), which can be a Life Guard's rather than a Guardsman's meaning you can (if you get both sets) make yet more additional poses.

To date I only have lose examples of the 20mm Life Guards, so will look at them in greater detail another day, as to the 30mm figs above, I've never seen them with owt'but Guards Bearskins.