G is for Giant and Relatives

Moving not in a specific direction, neither older nor younger, first or last, but rather rambling toward a conclusion, we have arrived at the father of the forts we've looked at in two of the previous three posts on the subject, the 'Giant' of New York commissioned/marketed design.

Being a UK/European release, this does not have the Giant branding on the card, however both the fort and the figures are Giant marked examples, the fort is in quite sensible colours and the knights are those we (Arlin Tawser and myself) sort of agreed to term type 2/3 (or) 'late/last' production in the pages of 1 Inch Warrior magazine a few years ago (NINE!!! Where does it go?...have I already said that tonight?!!!), and which have been re-issued by others in recent years (better make that the last decade or so...Where does...!), but more on them in the next part of the forts.

To the right is the other facade design, for the Mongol sets, again a sensible/realistic colour.

This one looks the same doesn't it? You're thinking he's uploaded two similar images, he doesn't usually do something like that? No, this is that old HK chestnut; When kissin'cousins go bad; The family down the street doing a strait copy, fort, figures and artwork/layout; All - bar the horses - poorer quality and unmarked. It's a fact though; Mix the horses up and you can't tell them apart.

The two cards, Giant supplier on top, copyist behind, it's good, it's very good, but a rather wasted effort, parents like mine wouldn't let me have either, "Not that rubbish, look here's some Airfix RAF Personnel, I remember when I was on Blackheath in 1940..." (I Love you Mum, but I REALLY wanted that big bag of Romans, and I still haven't found it, they had a whole rack in Webb's, Einco I think, I just KEEP finding the Indian Village!!!). While the corner shops didn't care where their cheap rack-toys came from?

Speaking of cheap rack toys this is the 3rd or 4th? (I'll work it out when I pull all the posts together in a few days) generation of Giant copy, with the poorer of the gold figures we looked at the other day, these are the ones with smooth bases.

Note the Woolbro overprint on the left hand one, this would normally have been found in Woolworth's, but some did end up with independents, as we saw when I did a Woolbro overview a year or so ago.