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.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

O is for Original Generic Primogenitor?

This is a bit of fun, bi-lingual (English-Spanish (or Italian)) but with no branding or clue to branding, however it seems to be either contemporary with, or - more likely - an earlier iteration of the figures later cleared in header-carded bags by Toyway?

50mm Figures; A Frizion Lenta; A Trizion Lenta; Blue Box; Deluxe Space Set; Made in Hong Kong; Moon Car; Moon Vehicles; No. 1231; Pocketbond; Slo-Mobile; Slow-Slow Action; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Space Car; Space Toy; Space Vehicle; Space Vehicles; Toyway; Toyway Astronauts; Toyway Spacemen; Toyway TM;

It's probably a little beyond the Rack Toy classification, through contents and price-bracket, but it's still a collection of Hong Kong/Chinese plastic-tat, so in to RTM it goes! I took two sets of Photo's so have picked the best of each for this post and here it is in its entirety.

The packaging was a bit dog-eared, and while I straightened it somewhat with an iron, it was a temporary fix for the photo-shoot. Note how different the two vehicles are in the press photograph on the back of the card.

50mm Figures; A Frizion Lenta; A Trizion Lenta; Blue Box; Deluxe Space Set; Made in Hong Kong; Moon Car; Moon Vehicles; No. 1231; Pocketbond; Slo-Mobile; Slow-Slow Action; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Space Car; Space Toy; Space Vehicle; Space Vehicles; Toyway; Toyway Astronauts; Toyway Spacemen; Toyway TM;
Close-up; the figures were obviously pegged-on randomly, as there are two pairs here where all four poses could have been used, something to keep looking for, as their finish is different from the Toyway ones.

50mm Figures; A Frizion Lenta; A Trizion Lenta; Blue Box; Deluxe Space Set; Made in Hong Kong; Moon Car; Moon Vehicles; No. 1231; Pocketbond; Slo-Mobile; Slow-Slow Action; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Space Car; Space Toy; Space Vehicle; Space Vehicles; Toyway; Toyway Astronauts; Toyway Spacemen; Toyway TM;
The vehicles have a lot in common with the set of three 'fliers' from Blue Box, but here have those strange motors which if you push them too hard, slow down! So you give them a steady push and they sort of grind themselves off the kitchen counter at snail's pace using an 'inexorable momentum drive' engine!

50mm Figures; A Frizion Lenta; A Trizion Lenta; Blue Box; Deluxe Space Set; Made in Hong Kong; Moon Car; Moon Vehicles; No. 1231; Pocketbond; Slo-Mobile; Slow-Slow Action; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Space Car; Space Toy; Space Vehicle; Space Vehicles; Toyway; Toyway Astronauts; Toyway Spacemen; Toyway TM;
In the artwork they have red or sky-blue transparencies, but mine both have blue-black canopies which show little of the crew-interiors, and if there is any clue to brand it would be in the logo on the bonnet, which is a meaningless W-plus!

50mm Figures; A Frizion Lenta; A Trizion Lenta; Blue Box; Deluxe Space Set; Made in Hong Kong; Moon Car; Moon Vehicles; No. 1231; Pocketbond; Slo-Mobile; Slow-Slow Action; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Space Car; Space Toy; Space Vehicle; Space Vehicles; Toyway; Toyway Astronauts; Toyway Spacemen; Toyway TM;
Direct comparison on the left, a reminder of the Toyway's contents on the right, the two vehicles and the flag don't seem to have been carried across, but the hillock/rocky-outcrop and both items of ground-equipment have been, while Toyway always include the four poses.

The main difference is that the Toyway are plain gunmetal 'silver', while the generics have a coat of flattish or 'silk' finish silver paint. The blue / black / pink & red detailing is the same on both issues.

50mm Figures; A Frizion Lenta; A Trizion Lenta; Blue Box; Deluxe Space Set; Made in Hong Kong; Moon Car; Moon Vehicles; No. 1231; Pocketbond; Slo-Mobile; Slow-Slow Action; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Space Car; Space Toy; Space Vehicle; Space Vehicles; Toyway; Toyway Astronauts; Toyway Spacemen; Toyway TM;
On the base we have clues to both unknown firefighters and mechanics we looked at a year or two ago, plus other figures which may or may not be in the same hard polystyrene, the farmers are common is a dozen versions of softer polyethylene and I have yet to encounter hard plastic knock-offs of the Airfix US Infantry, so as always with these art-room/press images; one can't take them as evidence of anything, and with no brand it's not proving much-else!

I suspect these will be found in old 1970's catalogues; Kays, Littlewoods, Index or Argos, here in the UK, whether the Spanish had similar I don't know, they could be seaside whinging-stopper's too?

A trizion lenta seems to be with slow traction but it could be with slow friction in Italian if the 't' is a poorly printed 'f' - A frizion lenta? And was this an early Pocketbond import?

08-07-2023 - US imports (with a different sticker on the bonnet of the 'saucer') are clearly marked (C) G.L.J. Toy Co. Inc., Syosset, N.Y. and 'Made in Hong Kong'. According to the US Coastguard (the wonders of Google - and the fact GLJ seem to have been in inflatables (and bendies!)) they also had Offices at the Toy Building 200/5th Avenue.

4 comments:

nocautradio said...

I have one of these one page catalog from the late 70's and I am pretty sure i got one or two of them, a blue truck, the Slomobile logo looks like a Matcbbox Superfast style lettering, pretty interesting. They are plastic but they look like a Tonka toy.

Hugh Walter said...

Hi Nocautradio, if you click on the 'GLJ Toy Co' tag, you should find the more recent post with the loose vehicles.

H

nocautradio said...

Thankyou!!!

Hugh Walter said...

Pleasure!

H