ITLAPD is for It's Take a Leisurely Approach to Pirate Day

I'm not in the mood for comedy text this year, so while it is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and I would urge you to do so; at least once, I'll be a bit drier than previous years, although my late assistant would - I feel sure - want the show to go on.

Starting with the odds and sods post again, and this first image shows the high-lid A4 'Really Useful Box' which this year replaced the other two tubs, several takeaway containers and stiff card box also in the picture as the repository of the main Pirate collection, the East European 'smalls' being the only absentees.

It looks quite comprehensive, but having been allowed to see Peter Evan's pirate tub about a year ago, I can assure you I still have a long way to go . . . so there will be ITLAPD posts with 'new to Blog' stuff for years to come!

Having mentioned him; these two both came from Peter earlier in the year, on the left a reissue of the Cane after Fontanini pirates, originally from Italy, by American Dimestore (from the plastic colour?), but more interesting is the figure on the right; who is in a soft foamed-rubber (probably as a pencil rubber/eraser) and clearly a copy, being quite a bit smaller. Neither has been manufactured in a colour that works well with a camera!

You can see just how 'rubber' the rubber pirate is, and he may be quite recent, if reissues were kicking around, getting their hands on a set and pantographing them wouldn't have been a problem for some Chinese producer.

Especially as - at that cheapo level - it's often the Western clients who bring/take the items to be copied, to the Chinese facilitators . . . in this case the pirating pirate pirates! Yes, we've had that one before, yes, we'll have it again in future ITLAPD's! Even more so [easy to pirate] if American Dimestore have had the moulds sent to China for running by a contractor there?

Also from Mr. Evans I think, a colour variation of the Supreme figure, we've seen them several times, so he needs no expansive blurb, but can be found on the tag ('supreme' or 'pirate') if you missed them

This one came from Chris Smith in the 'specially for Autumn' parcel, and while most action figures tend to go on to Charity, Chris correctly reckoned I'd want to retain this chap in the master collection, as he is a perfect 54mm.

Simply marked 'CHINA' I don't know anything else about him, although I suspect one of the dozen or so big-box, generic, pirate-ship play-sets in recent years, but he's a lovely sculpt of a slightly menacing brigand, who's clearly seen some adventures - leaving the odd body-part behind on-route to where he is!

Chris also sent some novelty coinage . . . in case I need to pay Davy Jones?

And an eye-patch of timeless toy-design - in case I need to pull the wool over Davy Jones' eyes!

While these 'piratey' things also came in over the last year, both from Playmobil, I won't be collecting that range (you need a bigger house and a bigger income!) although I will probably hang on to the parrot, if only until I can take a comparison shot with the yellow/blue varient I found Googling that particular Rabbit Hole! Actually . . . I should dig-out the Lego parrots and do that comparison-shot too - see; we're already preparing for next year's ITLAPD!