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.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Z is for Zombie Men . . . Women, Dogs and Mummies!

We've managed black cats, skeletons, a possible yeti, assorted monsters and a bunch of ghosts, there's only one trope left really, the undead! The risen from the dead and the rising from the dead! Let's tick those boxes for the finale!

062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
Again, we saw these last year as shelfies (or sent images) I think, but Brian B then kindly sent some to the Blog so here they are in close-up, issued by Greenbrier in the 'States and DTSC in Canada.

It's a fact that all the best of these Halloween/Horror figures come from (or via/due to the efforts of-) North America. Apart from the odd thing like 99p Store's re-issue of Dolgen or the odd Amazon offer (see below), I've looked hard this year and the mountains of plastic tat available for Halloween are of such shite quality and ephemeral robustness they constitute an excuse for banning Halloween here altogether!

It's also a fact I'll get this whinge into one of the posts every year!



062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
Both sides of the card for those who archive this kind of stuff - I do!

062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
A comparison with the other set (SCS Direct in the 'States) which Peter Evans had sent to the blog in time for last year's posts.

062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
Now, I mentioned Amazon, and I did find these on Amazon UK from Fun Express (aping that other firm's packaging again, Amscan . . . or Unique?) and they were quite cheap so, despite the imagery being less than helpful or hopeful, I ordered a set, and this is it, but it wasn't much fun!

What you get is 12 figures, which seem to be split 6 each of the two colours, one a drying-blood red, the other looking to be glow-in-the-dark, but not; just a greenish-white - interior decorators would call it apple-snow or some pretentious crap like that, think - raw tripe!

062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
But when it comes to poses the pack disappoints. Totally random contents with four of some and one of others, I ended up with three poses, one in both colours. now they were cheap, and I did intend to get a couple more sets to see if there were other poses, or just to get all (?) three in both colours, but I kept putting it off as there's no guarantee (from my first sample) that even two more sets would achieve that?

If you try, good luck, they are sized to fit others and as army-builders are a useful addition to the canon, but with most rack-toy issuers getting quite good at packing balanced lots these days it is disappointing to see these, especially as they seem to go to the effort of counting colours? Just pick from 'pose-bins' . . . some firms have automated it so you get a whole or part-runner in each bag!

062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
You can see how he goes well with the WWII set (far right - EMCE Toys 'Previews Exclusive, Zombies At War') we looked at a year or two ago, and he's not much smaller than the two grey zombie sets (far left), so they are useful, but you may need four or five bags to get a good sample?

The big mummy is marked similarly to Phidal stuff but is a softer material than they are currently using and seems to be from 2009, so he may be an early issue from this increasingly prolific (55 sets in the 2019 catalogue?) figure source, he's also another candidate for a Scooby-Doo related-set?

While I don't know anything about the other chap, I'd guess a 1980's rack-toy . . . possibly a He-Man/MotU rip-off? He's a very dense polyethylene or some type of nylon?

062417; 06695; 11175; 22587601F19; 252329; 30001; 37072-2170; 518; Amscan; Dolgen Corp; Dolgencorp for Dollar General; Dolgencorp Imported; DTSC Toys Canada; EMCE Toys; F19; Fun Express; Graves; Graveyard; Greenbrier Internetional; Greenbrier Toy Importers; Halloween Novelty Toys; He-Man; Masters of the Universe; MotU; Mummies; Mummy Army; Phidal; Previews Exclusive; Scooby Doo; SCS Direct; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Zombie Figurines; Zombie Men; Zombie Novelties; Zombie Toys; Zombies; Zombies At War;
Finally Mr. Berke has sent a shelfie of the same black carded version of Dolgen's Mummy Army, and how come they keep getting ten poses while the skeletons have always been limited to eight? Some Pharaoh's-curse rubbish I'll bet . . . fussa-russa!

Thanks again Brian, thanks again Peter, see what turns-up in twelve-month's time!

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