The graphics printed on the bag are of
those blow-moulded cartoon animals any of you who have searched for ex-Soviet
figures on feebleBay will have encountered in the search results. Note also how
the bag is simply sealed with a vicious little tin-plate stamping which grabs
the folded bag!
While the packing slip translates as;
All-[Soviet]-union
Export-Import-
Corporation
(or; 'Unit'?)
"Rasnoexport"
Moscow
B-140, 15 Krasnosels'kaya
Street
__________________________________________
Pirates
Article no: 3207 (or; 'Item)
Control
OTK
51 (stamp)
Date 1-80 (handwritten) [January
1980?]
Made in USSR
Where OTK = QA/QC (quality assurance/control)
and thanks to Mimi for the translation. They may be from another factory
though, this mob seems to be a 'Party' mechanism for soft power with a shipper/jobber office in central Moscow, rather
than one of the actual manufacturers, and with some dodgy history and several lost law-suits in Western commercial courts!
I have no idea why they are called pirates
when they are clearly Russian naval personnel, but suspect it has something to
do with the politics surrounding the 1917 Revolution; maybe the Navy went-over
to the Bolsheviks or People's Parliament first and earned the ire of the eventually
all-conquering communists? Or is it a proud nickname for the Potemkin's crew? Mutineer and pirate probably translate the same.
Only four figures, semi-flat-to-flatish and
quite big at around 65mm, and the same four poses in both my samples, a marine infantry
or naval landing party, not sure they had automatic SMG's in 1917, so better
for WWII, but that only re-raises the 'Pirates' question-mark. I like the
stripy-shirt on the rifleman, and there's a hint of Tom in those tight-waist, bell-bottomed
trousers!
Ghosts in the machine!
2 comments:
Don't think I ever had any bagged ones but think i sold you some loose ones. I've still got a few, there is a few slight variations (HMG and the ammo box) I think from different moulds. Older examples are darker navy blue plastic.
It may well have been the other way round Chris . . . it was a long time ago . . . relatively speaking!
H
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