About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

M is for Miniature Menagerie

Which may be a title we've had before, but I'm stuffed if I can remember, so I shall press-on regardless! Continuing with the recent purchase of Novelty toys from the party shop up at Clapham Junction, we find more Henbrandt single packet 'party favour' stuff.

Now, with the definite exception of the caterpillar (more on whom latter!) and one or two others; these are scale-downs of the larger ones we saw a while ago, found by Brian in the US in two packagings, both branded to Greenbriar/DTSC. The truth being that the Greenbrair/DTSC 'Backyard Travels' are actually scale-ups of these, lacking the finer detail, even at the larger size.

They also seem to be part of a larger wholesale set, some of which have been carried elswhere/else-when by Innovative Kids and/or Toy Major, but there are enough differences in line-ups and details to raise the possibility of several sets all copying elements off each-other!

The spider was not copied by Greenbriar's scale-ups but the others were, and while the caterpillar is in the greater 'whole' elsewhere, here it actually has a different code, with the other seven being coded T02 970, while the butterfly's larvae is T02 683.

The 'Bad Guys', we know they are bad guys because they are marked PSTSM . . . only joking . . . because they are red and black and yellow and spikey!

The 'Good Guys' are all green and 'eco'-looking! Even if one of them is an insecticidal, murderously killing, ambush-machine!

As I was putting them them away I found the correct 'Number 8' as far as coding seems to go - on the floor! A rather vile-looking fly, also copied-up by Greenbrier/DTSC.

So; it would appear that Henbrandt have taken the Innovative kids/Toy Major set (or very similar clones of the same) and split it, with bees, beetles and things still to find, probably with the 683 code, and a possible eight-count for the 970 code.

While I shot the dragonfly upside down to show the bog-standard 'CHINA' mark and the white PVC-like polymer they are all made of - like yesterday's dogs.

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