TP is for Tiny Pirates from Thomas-Poplar

I think we looked at the 'other' 40mm's from Thomas-Poplar last year, but I picked these - first Three - up in the course of the last 12-monthes, then got the grubby, rubber one (at PW's show I think) a while back, only to find a bunch in storage! So I retook the photo's and Bob's your pirate-uncle!

The three additions, There are shades of other makers work in there, Marx for instance have contributed to the middle figure from two of their leter HK 54mm's. Colours are the same as for the Romans and Spacemen from the same maker/s; it's increasingly obvious that the only real difference between Thomas and Poplar in the UK is the packaging, so I tend to lump them together nowadays.

These turned up at some point (in the past) and appear to be either copies (the peg-leg is larger and detail seems poorer than on the T-P originals) or a later issue. PVC rubber and a basic paint-job, you'll recognise two of the poses from the Ideal/Glencoe figures . . . 'pirate pirates'?

A comparison between the three, I believe the chap in the middle is a T-P moulding, the size difference with the green ethylene one being excused by the shrinkage of the more elastic polymer (elastomer) as it cools.

You can see how the third figure - as well as the fatter peg-leg - seems to have poorer detail to the fingers of both hands, but it's a moot point and they both have the little button visible on their chest; there may have been more than one cavity per pose on the tool? I wouldn't want to create a variant which isn't really there!

All mine together, six poses in total - there are three taken from the Ideal set, the two swordsmen and the 'gunslinger', the hat and bare-heads of the Ideal poses here replaced by scarves. Although, given the ages of all these things and the seminal role of Iselin Thomas in early plastic playthings, it's more likely that Ideal were the plagiarists, not Thomas Toys?

Two other points - these have been described as being '...only sold in England for a short period.', yet were clearly on sale/in production long enough to produce two or three generations in two materials, so perhaps they were available for a while, in actual fact?

Incedently;  It is almost impossible to 'Google search' these as all the search-engines insist on assuming you're looking for Thomas [the Tank Engine]'s Pop[u]lar toys, and my tagging-up this and the next post won't make a happeth' of difference!

Finally, they take a while to amass, and turn-up in small quantities so I wonder  (now we know from Plastic Warrior's piece on Space Premiums a while ago) if they were supplied to Tom Smith for use as cracker-prize inserts?