N is for New (Production)

Who'd have thought 'N' would be as difficult as 'X' or 'Q' (Z's easy!), nothing in Picasa I could easily hang the N hook on, checked the dongle for archive stuff; nothing there...not many N's in the total master-list either! So, bit of a cop-out with 'New'! But they are new, new but not nice maybe...

I photographed these 65/70mm figures on the store's rack, as although I have a side collection of paratroopers, they had plenty, so I'll grab one next time I'm passing! they are what they are, multi-generation sub-piracies vis-a-vis poses, but 'new' sculpts, that is - a bit thin and lacking the detail of the parents, but 're-cut' if you know what I mean!

These two 'toobs' were among the last and with these discount stores there tends to be a 'when it's gone it's gone' system of stock control, so I thought I'd better get them before they disappeared altogether. Indeed the military one had been raided through the bottom of the tube and may well be incomplete?

Marked-up to 'Top Toys', as are the paratroops, one suspects this is the store's (99p Stores) own branding for a generic toy and the true maker will - like most Far Eastern production - remain unknown.

These poses are quite common, and can be found in various sizes and materials from soft PVC's through to this hard polymer, probably propylene, or a dense ethylene? Bachmann carried several of these poses in a set about 15 years ago in HO, and the figures have turned-up in Italy, unpainted 'on-the-sprue' (Majorette?), while these are about 50mm and I've seen them at 60mil. Note the release-pin holes which mar most figures in both sets.

My ruling with these modern equivalents of the old rack-card toys, is to keep one of each figure pose in each colour, marked up with all the brands or importer 'marques' they are found in, with the photographs of the packaging cross-referenced (in the case of more than one source) in the archives.

Thought for the day; Course (with an s) and Source (with a c)...what's that all about? Bloody English!