M is for Maxxi Toys

Or D is for "Design is not stand for original product"! One of several odd bits of English syntax on this small set (donated to the Blog by Peter Evans) and the larger-set shelfie at the end of the post; also contributed by Peter.

I also have a feeling these may have a connection with the submission of a Mr I. Wraite to the most recent issue (No.167) of Plastic Warrior magazine, who was rightly "shocked and appalled" by the loin-cloth wearing methods of some Native Americans! At least mine has trousers and is presented with a strategically-placed arm! They also appeared on the PW friends Faceplant page a while ago.

Apache Clan Collection, it has a 99p graphic so must have been sold for that amount, whether it was one of the 'pound shop' chains such as the now defunct 99p Stores or one of its rivals or a more general store or supermarket I don't know, but for said amount I think it represents value for money; yes it's poor grade polymer tat from China, but it also a whole story in a box with all the props for a scenario or two

If you're wondering what the pack of rocks is for - they are the one serving of halal-foodstuff requiring a full nutrition panel!

So many toy horses have been made in the last 150-years they all now look like you've seen them before somewhere, it's a bit like marching guardsmen! This one is however probably reasonably unique, if anything it looks a bit like a rocking-horse or fairground ride horse with the quite carved mane and tippy-toe stance - but a rather nice sculpt nevertheless?

Coming in two halves clipped together and with an arrangement of five holes for either/both riders and/or wagons there is a cowboy saddle version and other poses (see last image below). Simple paint but two colours and no worse than more expensive figures, this is shaping-up to be a bargain at 99p!

First points against: The figures are only painted on the front side and are a little two-dimensional or semi-flat, while the quiver is oversized, but can be attached to the wagon-pole hole in the horses flank.

Palm tree and picket fence, Indian versus Indian; well OK, but we're still only talking 99p here and it's all about the imagination, or it should be!

The palm-fronds are a softish polyethylene, the horse are a hard material close to polystyrene, but I suspect something else; a hybrid or propylene, while the figures, fence and tree-trunk are a denser ethylene polymer.

The sweets are that same saccharine-sweet but otherwise flowery, flavourless sugar-candy you get in those large plastic capsule-eggs with no chocolate outer and the shite prizes, I know because I've tasted both!

"Completely new to come into the market", "convulsion enter" and "Wild the best West" are further examples of mangled syntax which tie these larger sets into the small one despite the lack of a Maxxi Toys logo being visible - and yes - I know they mean The Best Wild West Convulsion Enter, but that's hardly an improvement.

I was saving the small set's post for closer to Christmas, but looking around for something to run as a foil to the Countdown to Halloween posts (which I know some of you won't be so happy with, either due to their sparseness or their subject matter) I alighted upon the number of potential pocket-sized Wild West post stuff hanging around in Picasa or on the Laptop's desktop, when Peter sent me this shelfie as a follow-up to the mini-set.

You can see it has the same horses but with new horse poses, and cowboys . . . and wagons, I said to Peter that I vaguely recognise the covered-wagon with green woodwork, and have been racking my brain since as to where I may have seen them. I suspect it was the Toysaurus, about a year ago, where it was priced beyond my budget on the visit? Maybe TK Maxx a couple of Christmases ago?

The point is - while the construction is a bit clumsy with obvious screws, screw cavities and such-like, they are bloody nice-looking, original wagon designs with the covered wagon having the lines of a more task-specific wagon - a tradesman's or cook's wagon; something like that. While the Stage Coach looks nicely-different in the plain wood, rather than the glossy red (or other primary coloured-) ones a lot of people make, and probably far more realistic for the 'Wild' west, the glossy, painted ones being for the more gentile rides between the developed cities of the original North Eastern colonies. Both are probably the same polymer as the horses but I can't confirm that until I handle one!

Obviously these larger sets (the Faceplant page showed others) won't be 99p, but I bet they are only about seven or eight quid in some places; Peter's shelfie seems to show one (8 horses, 8 figures, two vehicles) for nine Euros?

And if you are a modeller, painter or lawn war-gamer these are definitely something to be looking out for - I know I'll grab the wagons if I see them again! Thanks Peter!

29-05-2018 - Now known to be being carried by Aliki on the continent and Liberty Imports in the 'States.