K is for Kinder

Following on from digging out some archive images for the boys at Moonbase Central reminded me that I have yet to cover Kinder figures in any depth. In order to redress the situation, here are some of the more sought after and/or common figures available over the years from Kinder/Ferrero.

Almost cirtainly from 1979 and in commemoration of the American Bicentennial celebration of internal terrorist insurgency (it's a joke!), this figure is one of, if not THE most desirable Kinder toy ever made.

Bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Blue Box Cowboys & Indians, and based on a 70mm figurine by Hausser/Elastolin but in 25mm, this is Paul Revere running-off to tell tales - Bloody Silversmiths!

Joking aside, I owe a major debt of gratitude to the German collector Andreas Dittmann for this figure, as he had had his eye on it for some time, when the dealer (who stalled next to Andreas and had been seeking quite a bit for it, for some time) let me have it for a few Euros. Although, when I realized the situation, I offered to let him have it, he not only very graciously insisted I keep it, but then sent me a spare horse a year or so later, which I currently have one of the Culpitt's copies of the Airfix AWI Grenadier officer sat upon.

Res Plastics (RP) supplied a lot of the figures Kinder included in their solidified Nuttela balls during the late 1970's and on through to the mid-80's, among which were these Superheros in two sizes, 54mm and 30mm, so far I've only tracked down Batman and Superman, but these sets usually contain at least 4 figures so who am I missing? I suspect Robin the Boy Wonder and Superwoman, or is it Supergirl? [The apparent moulding variation in the 30mm Bat...'men' is due to the angle of lean on the green one!]

My favorites, but suffering from a very real frangibility of the plastic from day one, the Arabs/Colonials are compatible with both the Airfix and Italeri figures and with a possible 9 different configurations of camel, can really enhance the low pose rate in both those sets. Two Arab poses, one with a FFL style kepi-blanc and the other with a solar topee/Pith helmet, these are non-combatant in execution. There is a 5th pose, an Arab with his arm up, I haven't tracked down yet.

The guy in the kepi has a swagger-stick or fly-swat, but sadly it's nearly always broken, these and the figures below are in some sort of dense plastic I tend to refer to as 'nylon' but it's probably some more modern polypropylene? Anyway - all the small sticky-out bits were subject to failure from the moment they left the factory door.

Occasionally the two 'European' poses in the above set came with a horse instead of a camel, again the horses come in two halves but this time four of each giving a possible 16 configurations.

Bottom; The far less common Wellingtonian era figures come on garish coloured mounts, and these have some subtle differences in moulding, compare the saddle and base of the mane on these two otherwise identical horses.

The other RP figures in this series of sets. The Romans and Musketeers seem to be far more common than the Wellingtonians, Knights and Barbarians, but all things come to those who wait, and in the meantime I have another million figures to find!

Most come in the metallic colours, with the Romans (I think I have 4 of 4) in various golden hues, the Musketeers (showing 4 of 5) having the addition of silver and gunmetal, while the Barbarians (1 of ? 3?) were in greys and the Wellingtonians (4 poses?) in bright primary colours, the Knights(1 of 5 figures) stuck to silver as far as I know.

A 'spruelette' I've been holding on to for years without knowing which figure/set it comes from!