R is for Round-up - Fish and Sea Creatures

Time for the occasional look at fish and fishy things, most of a rack-toy nature, but some of more substance and two of such exquisiteness it's a joy to have them on the blog, but first a return to some we've seen before here;

A while ago, probably the last time we looked at them, we saw a bunch of these, presented to the Blog by either Peter Evans or Brain Carrick, I can't remember, but whichever of the PW-founders it was, the other then gave me some more, from the same set!

So the above is now definitely courtesy of both Brian and Peter, and represents a more complete sample of a set with an unknown sculpt-count! Thanks to both. Simpler painting on most allows (within the budget) for more careful and multi-coloured decoration on the three reef/angel-fish types - top left.

The mould-tools clearly survive and are still in production, this set was donated to the blog in the last year or two, by Brian Berke, having been acquired the other side of the pond where it's wearing Imperial's moniker (which is probably the brand under which the older ones hit the shops - they having returned to the original contractor?).

Obviously some of the contents are as above (with no, or one-colour paint highlights) which means . . .

. . . that the sculpt-total can go up a bit! Adding a shark, a dolphin, an octopus and a sea-horse. But; with not all the animals in the Peter/Brain C sample being found in the Brain B bag, and with four new sculpts in the bag, we have to assume we may still be looking for more poses in the 'whole' set?

I must confess I can't now remember which of Brian C or Peter these came from either, I suspect Brian? Some seem to be meant to be pencil-tops, but the hole is a little small, so unless they came with some narrower pencils (for colouring?) it might be part of the production process or that they once had stands of some kind, none of the possibilities account for the fact that two have no hole, however?

If you found it on its own, you'd think the seal was from a newer 'China' set, but together as a group they obviously have some age, and each has a capital-letter marking but nothing else.

Modern rack-toy, although technically only 'pocket money' toy being that most annoying of phenomena, the Blind Bag. Also, they are not cheap, but still around in Sainsbury's and McColl's (Martin's) I think, possibly on a second series now? I bought one when I was feeling flush, just over a year ago, as a sample.

The models are very good though, AND - being manufactured from a cold, clammy silicon type polymer - are very, very fish-like, lying cold and 'damp' in your hand as if you've just pulled it out of the ocean! Decoration on the other hand is on the cheap-side!

The whale (it's not a country Mr. Trump!) definitely came from Brian Carrick, and is a lot of fun, it's obviously a bath toy aimed at younger kids/infants, and is a sort of hybrid between the larger krill-feeders with a hint ('attempt' is too kind a word!) at killer whale in the markings, but for HO pirates, I can see a future for it! It's a blow-mould/squeezy toy, and may once have had a squeak, but is silent now!

The resin block may have been a charity shop purchase, or it may have come in with a mixed lot. Similar in execution to the commoner fridge magnets, it's reminded me there are a few on the side of the boiler, I'll shoot them and tack-them on at the end of this post . . . as if they were there all along!

Colouring on the fish is very clever; it's all technique (air-brush and sweeping brush-strokes) which come together very realistically.

I think the blow-fish and the yellow sea-horse are Phidal, although from which movie is anyone's guess; unless they have small children in which case they will not only know which movie, but the characters' names and songs! But with The Little Mermaid, Dory and the other one, if you don't have little kids your guess is as good as mine!

But the blow-fish is not terribly cartoony, so can go with all the other fish, even the sea-horse isn't that daft; eyes maybe? The other sea-horse is an older polyethylene one, probably from a rack-toy type set.

This set - currently being offered on Amazon under an Aneco branding - seems to pull elements (or actual models) from several other sets for a 44 piece-count (although the meta-data says 56 pieces!). You can recognise several of the sculpts seen above, and some from the next image below, but whether they are copies, or bought-in from several contract-manufacturers and offered as 'a set' is open to closer investigation of the contents.

An investigation I'm not going to do as they weren't cheap enough! Which is not to say they weren't reasonable, but priced as a birthday-present rather than a going-home or trip-to-the-dentist gift! They also do similar large bags of insets, dinosaurs and farm or zoo animals. Note; the old Britains seaweed piracy from the Mini Sets has been given a make-over!

This is from D&D Distribution's catalogue, last year, and has some animals similar to the Aneco set above and a couple similar to other sets.

As I've explained in similar posts in past RTM's (so apologies if you've read this before!), a lot of the old Hong Kong (now just 'CHINA') manufacturers have a catalogue of 'standard' products which they take round the international Toy Fairs and then contractors (shippers, importers, jobbers) or contracting brands like Hasbro, Mattel or Tomy can grab a sort of 'Pick & Mix' to make up cheaper sets, or provide a few trees, rocks or barbed-wire in a higher-end play set or whatever.

Here the D&D mix is probably from one source, in the case of the Aneco bag I suspect several manufacturers were approached?

Another one from Mr. Berke across the pond, four cetaceans and two sharks (I think, otherwise it may be 3 and 3?), the old 1970's sculpt of flat tree (or a sub-copy) and the space-occupying blow-moulded rock!

Branded to Toy Major they should be available this side of the pond too; if you look around.

Funnily-enough I was only talking about TM the other day with Peter Evans who told me that Toy Major still offer a Sale-or-Return to their sub'ies, which has otherwise all but disappeared from the industry (it used to be the norm), which gives them an advantage over the Jaru's, Henbrandt's, Imperial's, Lloyd's, PlayWrite's and Grossman's of this world as a sub-contractor/end-user knows they can get their money back if the line tanks.

These are definitely not rack-toys! Also from Brain B, these were in Scully & Scully's window, probably with a pretty price on them, but then - they are very pretty!

I think the one on the left is porcelain, but it could be enamelled silver or brass, while the one on the right looks silver too, but may be a Christmas ornament-type glass blowing? You can just see an equally exquisite sea-anemone off to the right. When I win the lottery, I shall be putting my order in, I just need to start buying lottery tickets . . . Doh!

Recent additions (Chris Smith and charity shops) include an Iwako or similar dolphin and Safari elephant seal with a generic tortoise and one half of a similar animal, who, if it had its other half, would be a novelty 'snapper' I think.

There should be a red crab here which came in the other week but I seem to have sorted it into that strangest of zones; the god-knows-where box! It can wait for next time; it can't have gone far?

As well as four fridge magnets I'd forgotten there was another full one on top of the boiler, this one being painted wood pegged into a lump of resin coral. One of them is a glossy finish and I couldn't not get a reflection, but this was the best shot! It's a ceramic or terracotta to the resin or 'polystone' of the other three.

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Thanks to Brian B, Brian C and Peter Evans for large chunks of the above, Chris Smith, Adrian Little and Jim for bits-&-bobs along with anyone else who passes odds and sods to the Blog, it's all appreciated, even if; as in the case of sea-life or insects; a bit occasional in the posting - saving now for the next round-up; two have already come-in!