U is for Unknown Russian Kids Fantasy Figures?

These are fun, and if any of the Russian or Russian-speaking loyal readers from the former Soviet Bloc can fill us in on them, even a decent link to a Wikipedia page or something, I would dearly like to know more.

I can only assume they are from some Kids TV thing like The Magic Roundabout or Fabulandia, even Sesame Street, or the current In the Night Garden . . . with a fantastical setting and things which look half recognisable, and others which are wholly surreal?

We used to get some kid's stuff, from Czechoslovakia or East Germany I think, often quite scary puppet stuff (I wasn't too keen on) but also cartoons or stop-motion animations similar to The Magic Roundabout, but I don't recognise these figures.

The spanner-man (top left) even has features in common with one of Mattel's MUSCLE men, while the next is clearly an onion, followed by a figure bearing a passing resemblance to the Tin Man of Oz, and a Micky take-off completes the top row.

The bottom row has someone in a large sun-hat or halo, or is it the actual sun? The next is a wooden doll maybe (she (he?) reminds me a bit of Zeberdee), a normal'ish/human-looking fat lady with a huge nose and the most human of all, who looks a bit like Vicky the Viking.

And I use the comparisons not to suggest plagiarism, but because they are my closest cultural references - I'm sure these were all unique designs with full back-stories, fitting their Russian heritage? I believe this eight sculpts is a full set, although I may have seen some of the characters as larger blow-moulded toys, PVC figurines or soft toys, while searching for other stuff on feebleBay?

I have one set in plain scarlet and another in multiple subdued/pastel colours, again a set of eight, I didn't shoot all of them and noticed that while some have a fully-round disposition, some are semi-flat / demi-ronde, but don't know if it reflects the actual TV characters (if it's even a TV thing!), or more of a production/sculptor thing?

A few close-ups to show the subtle surface detailing, the odd noses on the 'tin man' and fat girl (her's looks like it might be a pencil-stub?), 'Mickey's' big ears (similar to the better-known Russian cartoon charcter Cheburashka but also very different) and the hat/sun/halo thing!

Like I say - they're fun, around 45/50mm and a softish soapy polyethylene, similar to the mono-block AFV's we've seen here at Small Scale World. Do you know more about them . . . character names, production name, era, even the toy-maker? Odessa's Kultbyttovarov used the same colours on their small scale ships, 'planes and AFV's?

*  **   ***    ****     *****      ******     *****    ****   ***  ** *

Later the same day - not in pink 'cos there's too much! Chris Smith got on the case before work this morning and nailed it!

". . . had sneaky look at your blog and finished down a google worm hole! This must be the onion headed one, not sure if the others are characters from the film or other popular children’s stories?"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2474800/

". . . looked further. More interesting than work! Your hunch on Cheburashka was right after all. Your description in red."

Петрушка (Parsley) Vicky the Viking (a clown puppet a bit like a Russian Punch)
Буратино (Pinocchio/Buratino) Tinman
Незнайка (Neznaika/Dunno) Sun Hat/Halo
Чебурашка (Cheburashka) Ditto*
Дюймовочка (Thumbelina) Wooden Doll
Самоделкин (Samodelkin) Spanner-Man
Карандаш (Pencil) Fat Lady Big Nose (If you look her nose is hexagonal and pointed)**
Чиполлино (Cipollino) Onion Boy

* This character is currently in talks with Disney, but now - in poplar culture -  looks more like a monkey than the above toy, which is probably why I saw a similarity with the ears, but not the body!

** I was closing-in!

So it's a Russian take on old folk/fairy-tales, mashed together under the central Cipollino (who IS an onion!), some of the characters also having been covered by Disney in different guises, it was also apparently popular in Italy and so successful behind 'the curtain' that we got a set of toys and, later, a full ballet production! And the 'Tin Man' is actually a wooden boy. It also explains why I thought I'd seen them in other sizes and materials, because I must have!

Cheers Chris! Magic!

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Later still - It is originally an Italian story; Chris sent me another link I hadn't seen . . . 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipollino

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipollino_(film)

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Even later!

I don't think most of the above characters are from the movie (the apparent absence of king/mayor 'Tomato' was bugging me), I think they are from the Russian kid's books 'Expanded Universe? And it looks like Pencil is a boy!

https://flomaster.club/18407-karandash-i-samodelkin-illjustracii-ivana-semenova.html

E is for Extra Tin-Plate Post

Brian B sent me a shot of his - probably - Shilling tree-hangers, so I went-off and found a cheap MC and sidecar to make a post! It's a little one, but perfectly formed!

Lovely colours; a deep lemon-yellow and a rich tangerine orange, with sky-blue highlights. The motorcycle has a series of thin plates running round and covering the main seam to prevent nasty cuts, as does the passenger, and the sidecar is on the right-hand side for those who have adopted the Napoleonic rule of the road - sword to sword, 'cos the Europeans are always fighting!

As per his comment on one of the recent posts here are Brian's TX507 (Bus), TX513 (Loco) & TX514 (Tram), using the Hawkin-Tobar catalogue codes, I don't know if they extend to Roggaz's ^Z_Z or Schilling, but they are the same tools, same for-Germany marks and same paint-schemes. Note the eclectic stuff around them and the now finished STS Direct impish cyclopean!

H is for How They Come In - March

This is a brief one two, but I suspect it was part of a larger parcel, some of which is in the queue, some of which has been blogged, either in Rack Toy month or more recently! But there are still a few nice bits here, and we'll return to the rockets in a future post.

Peter Evans of Plastic Warrior fame was the contributor here, and we have clockwise from the top left; Toy Major handled (several other brand marks issued-) cave-men bits; a Montaplex Viking boat hull and blow-moulded water-pistol of Christmas cracker prize/gift proportions and another of those Palitoy (and others) kicking footballers.

A small bag of Airfix and other war-gaming plastics lies next to a bag of rocket projectiles and below them is something which is more amusing than interesting, given the state of plastics in the social conscience these days . . . it's plastic (Kinder I think) copies of the old Erzgebirge wooden micro/dolls-house trucks/trains, in wood-effect polymer!

Two castles from a resin chess set in the guise of siege-towers, a small bag of actual Erzgebige items and a couple of mini-pigs conclude the tour, I didn't get them out of the bags as it's mostly stuff building to bigger posts, or stuff we've seen in passing before, and they've been sorted away now, also I was pretty busy back in March, but all it's gratefully received into the archive, thanks again Peter.

H is for How They Come In - January - Mixed Lots

This is a few shots of several small lots I took together as they all came in the same post, and got unwrapped (I think of them as presents even if I've paid for them!) together . . . actually they may have been four little lots from one seller?

Two large vinyl animals from PG Tips (tea-bag premiums, taped to a box of tea-bags - for loyal readers overseas!), with their boxes in the background, two nifty ninja's, a Hong Kong for Cavendish (and others) tourist keepsake guardsman and a lovely HO-gauge compatible composition barn . . . and me' morning-coffee! Self-seal bags are ready to receive their new tenants.

Posed with Britains Lilliput farm figures and accessories, to give some idea of the scale, could be Brent or Zang or someone, but has the colour of European linseed oil-mixed composition, so may be German, Belgian or even Italian?

That design of barn is, or was; 100-years ago, pretty universal across northern/central Europe, the 17 original States of the Union and western Russia, so no guide to origin in the architecture, indeed, it could be home-made or what we now call 'garage production'? But, nevertheless; one of my favorite additions to the collection in the last 12 months.

Because Chris's lot had only come in a few weeks before, it was still half-sorted and to-hand, so I grabbed the similar figure from his donation and they had a reunion fight! I have a bunch of them somewhere and we'll look at them properly one day.

You can see in the background I also unified the three 60mm 'Cavendish's, and saw a pair of ginger cats migrate to the table between shoots!

The fact that two of the guards are damaged is no problem as this is a hard to find figure with the bayonet intact, but all three are different plastic colours (red, smoky salmon and greyish-white), so when we next look at the 60mm's in detail (I need to find more household cavalry!) the three will produce an excellent base-underside shot!

And I took a very similar shot to the one the other day - in fact I probably took them at the same time! The swoppet ninja is from the purchase, the other four were from Chris Smith - Kinder, vintage Japanese celluloid, Award International, MTC and a European premium after Fontanini.

B is for Bisque Basket-Bearing Bounty-Bringers from Bari

One of the towns associated with Saint Nicholas, who I think may be the central figure in these shots! Held over from last year, this is a quickie, the lights are up in town now, the crimbo stories are starting to creep into the news, and, heay, what the hell; let's get festive.

Bisque figures around 4½ inches, so a bit big for cake decoration, but also not the thing for a nativity, so I guess fairground fairings with a seasonal twist. Charity shop purchase and they had a whole box of them, the sort of box traveling showmen might have under the hoopla counter to replace those won, or damaged in the trying to win!

As I said, the chap in the middle has more the look of a Bishop, and while not a medieval one, certainly a historical one, so I guess it's meant to be St. Nick the Real, rather than the four minion santa's he's flanked by, each of whom has a basket full of gifts and are obviously St. Nick the Sintered Fictional!

They're nice, mint (I went through the whole box to make sure I had one of each available and that they were good) and were not many pennies!

GUTS! is for a Massacred Abbreviation!

Ground Troops . . . it's awful isn't it! But the strangulated MUSCLE and CUTIES weren't much better, however, Mattel obviously thought they'd found the magical formula for flogging polymer tat to kids via-TV advertising; with abbreviated group-names! These Guts being issued in 1986, so now sliding into a true 'vintage', they are nevertheless still quite 'modern' and easy enough to find.

Although you may recall I had one 'unknown' and someone had to ID it for me, but I've now tracked down the full set of Laser Fighters, so let's have a look . . .

. . . at what are a fun set of figures. We looked at a couple - which turned-out to be smaller piracies, a while ago from one of Chris's parcels, and - as I said - someone at the time told me they were Mattel GUTS!, but I can't find the comment, so it might have been a private eMail, meaning I can't credit them unless they remind me, but thank you however you were!

Each of the ten sculpts gets a name, they were clearly thought-up in a coffee break before the artwork was "OK'd" back to the printers/art-room and are consequently less than memorable, but they are nice figures, albeit with a real 1980's vibe as far as space-figures go.

They are rocking Cylon Warriors and straight-to-video, post-apocalypse B-movies, imagine some scrambler-bikes with rusty armour and fishing nets, the [Nevada] sky always behind a salmon-pink filter and an old crone with a broken-back who turns into a sexy space-babe after a camera-wobble and flash of white screen, only to seduce our intrepid laser-fighters and suck their brains out!

The weirdest thing is that not one of them is identically uniformed, with every helmet slightly different, every weapon very different and varying paint details are applied - half have painted boots (in three colours) half don't.

Two have black visors, but only the one black helmet - normally you would expect the sculptor to make a matching head or two and reproduce them first; for use on all ten masters, but here; each was separately done.

Packaging of the larger set; poorer kids could save-up for sets of five and as we saw in the above link, someone copied them and issued them undecorated as metallic PVC's, the same material as these originals.

Full set here in a slightly crushed box; not that pricey, for N. America, but if in the UK, you can get them cheaper on feeBay, to account for the postage, if you're patient!

W is for When the Logistics-chain Breaks Down

H is for How They Come In - December 2020 - II Chris - Military

Obviously, a lot of you are Toy Soldier collectors, only deigning to touch other genres if they happen to fit your collection's parameters, vis-à-vis scale, maker, period or whatever! So this portion of Chris's donation is probably the best one for you!

We'll start with 'the rest' as I tried to alternate the green and pale backgrounds, needed to separate the medievals and wanted to finish with the Trojan, and for no other reason!

Top left we have five kit-figures, some ex-Monogram and a chap who looks a lot like some of the larger R/C tank crew in the master collection, he also has a locating spigot between his knee and foot, and may-well have been attached to such an item?

The grey figure below him looks a bit like some Portuguese premium Jap's I recently got, but he's not as deeply sculpted and while they are unique sculpts, he's ex-Monogram and a bit Hong Kong'y in execution, but a first in the collection (very heavy base?), as is the damaged turquoise figure, one-place to his left?

Center of the bottom row are two more Special Forces types, these are becoming common, I guess because of their prevalence on both current affairs/news programs and their position in popular culture/gaming?

The white Timpo (et al) copy is interesting; I forgot to check his base, so while he may be HK/China, if unmarked he might be a French bazaar figure? below him, next to the SF figures is a figure which ought to be a Speedwell copy of a Timpo swoppet, but looks glossy enough to be a HK copy of Speedwell! And not a Star Toys pose?

The big boy (bottom right) is a Mattel 'Hero in Action' and I seem to be building a bag-of-bits of these, so one day I might try to get a couple of whole ones and cover them here, they are technically action-figures, but articulation is limited and if you like the Vietnamese summer 'Rambo' esthetic of them (flak-jacket, trousers, boots, helmet and not much else), then they are a fun thing, although they came out when I was a kid, so long before John Rambo started shooting-up his neighbourhood!

Three perennials in four sizes; Pioneer (for Realtoy et al), Smart Toys (new poses), and Soma (with ATV), the two Pioneer/Realtoy are hard to find undamaged, The Smart sample is getting a little lopsided with many more green than sand!

Chris sent me two of his new, probably first, unknown-brand versions of the ABC figures, I have Blogged them now, but here they are again!

Medievals, from the left; these are fun (and a bit funny) they came in various branded and more generic sets (so maybe handled by Toy Major?), and at first glance - or, depending on which ones you find first; closer inspection - appear to be US construction workers, but they are in fact medievals and this one is sneakily hiding his axe behind his back.

Then the All The King's Men board-game piece bowman, if I'd Blogged him earlier he would have come before March's 'reveal'! he's next to a Roman who we had also looked at, but he's definitely a darker shade than the shiny set I found - in liaison with Chris, at the time, I think?

One of the unpainted, mono-coloured Cherilea 50-mils, I wonder if they had a Lucky-Bag or ice cream premium contract for these, as they do turn-up quite often? Penultimate figure in the line-up is a Hong Kong copy of MPC's little 45mm figures and next to him on the end is an MPC original of one of the mounted ones!

I thought I'd put them on the Blog, back at the start but I'll be darned if I can find the images?

Don't know what this is, I'm guessing some kind of wall or gatehouse decoration from a larger-scale action-figure play-set? Pig's head visor, ornate crest and the reverse image is out of focus - sorry!

Chris is as intrigued by this as I am! He thought King, I thought Beefeater, and it clearly plugs into something? It is flat, and has some of the design elements you might find on a lollypop- or cocktail swizzle-stick?

I wonder if it's a long gone and pretty forgotten company logo, perhaps a steak-chain or a smaller chain of restaurants like (but not) London's Old Kentucky where we had several treat-trips as kids in the one opposite the Duke of York's barracks in Chelsea - which google informs me was at 54 King's Road from 1968, there was another in Tottenham Court Road. Beefeater Restaurants themselves did (do?) have a Beefeater mascot, but a bearded one in the current ceremonial uniform, this is an older style.

It's one of those things where if you know you know, so does anyone recognise him, or is he just one of a line of ice cream sticks or something? AND . . . he could be an Elizabethan jester?

At some point last autumn Chris and I either discussed an evilBay lot, or ended up bidding on the same lot, anyway at some point I dropped out before the under bidder, or never bid (I can't remember now) and Chris won it, kindly sending me the one figure I'd really been after as he already had a better one, which puts my Trojan Jap's up to five in four poses I think . . . slowly, slowly, catchee' raree!

I was chatting to someone today round at another toy soldier mate's house, and we were looking at his Wants List . . . now, I currently have five from friends on the laptop's desk-top and have only managed to fulfill one item so far - a bunch of Brent composition to one of the Russian supporters of the Blog, because - as I said in the conversation earlier today, all the wants lists have pretty much the same figures/makers on them, because the harder to find things are the same for everyone! But keep looking and you'll find them in the end - because they were all mass-produced!

The real rarities are all the more ephemeral things like flat Beefeater hangers, that went to landfill years ago, and it's thanks to supporters like Chris that I can get to share them with you. Thank you Chris, we'll be looking at the equally interesting April lot soon!

H is for How They Come In - December 2020 - II Chris - Space & Sci-Fi

I should have added the TV/Movie image to this post to balance them better, but sometimes I lose the wood for the trees with the number of Toy Soldier posts currently in Picasa!

So a swifter read than the others, but heay-ho; there's a shot in the next post which probably should have gone with the cartoon stuff in the previous post (which was the TV/Movie image!), that's how it shakes down!

Smaller scales/sizes - from the left; an interesting figure who looks capsul'ey to me? A Putty from Galoob; another capsule-toy type I think (is he a character anyone recognises?); possibly another Galoob Micromachine, a character from Marvel or DC, which might make him late Kenner; a nice mini-Keshi of a sort of lobster-man, and a figure who looks like one of Hasbro's Air Raiders, but doesn't actually appear to be one?

A small group of space vehicles - fact and fiction; with two Bruder/Giodi/Kinder types, an Apollo Eagle Lander cake decoration (issued by Blue Shield in the 'States) and the lower half of Airfix's funny little Bell Aeronautics LFV.

This is nice, I haven't ID'd it yet (probably a die-cast or play-set accessory), about 30mm and PVC, I can't make my mind-up whether the visor is meant, or a home enhancement with a marker pen - I suspect the later.

I have apologised to Chris for not crediting him the first time I blogged this, but it was obviously because having shot it for these posts in December last, I then sorted it away, and found it again months later, with some surprise! A pop-up knock-off of an LB astronaut/spaceman! Cheers Chris!

H is for How They Come In - December 2020 - II Chris - Civilian Life

Civi's this time, and Chris's parcels always have a fair few as I don't think he collects them much - like many of you (?) - and because there are many, many civilian figures out there as supporting actors in other dramas like Christmas, Easter and Halloween, and as added-value in die-cast sets, model kits, board games and novelty toys.

Starting with the sports figures and we have an unpainted version of the 'kicker', sans kick, as a kit, I believe these were handled by Palitoy at one point, but were also a game-piece and possibly a cereal premium? To his right are two more of the early Hong Kong 'styrene footballers, both tatty but they add to the size of the sample.

The diver is also damaged, she will be matched to the correct sample by plastic colour and/or size (I suspect she goes with the other two - bottom right!), as there are about 12 versions of these (in the smaller sizes). A soft PVC copy of Britains cyclist is next, with a cake-dec' footballer next to him.

The two blow-football figures are from different sources and I'm building ['putting together'!] a folder of evilBay images of blow-football games, just to ID the dozen or so I now have in ones or twos - along with a few full sets myself, so I can do an ID parade on them all one day.

Finally a duck-hunter who is - I think - stolen from someone like New Ray, by someone like Pioneer! And similar to the old Matchbox pose!

Infants and cakes! The upper shot are a few loose items from Lik Be (LB, formally LP!), and I have a couple of sets from this range which I must Blog at some point. Their fence is quite distinct with its 'outriggers' and the barn would make excellent 'old school' war-gaming scenery.

Below is a bunch of mixed cake decorations, some probably from Cullpitts, some maybe from Wilton (sometimes a full crossover/duplication on those two!), while the Chinese-looking infant in blue shorts is a current 'baby shower' thing. The driver might be a more conventional vehicle accessory, or a sledder/tobogganist?

TV-Movie (these days we should probably say 'mixed media' or pop-culture) figures, I think the Woody is a Tomy capsule toy, the Hulk key-ring was Kinder a year or two ago, so Jerry probably is as well?

The mini Topo Gigio (The Italian Mickey!) is the third now, all in different colours, and at less than 20mm; almost too small for a board-game, but I have no other ideas, more on him here, where we learn he made it to the Ed Sullivan show in the 'States and went global (I totally missed him?), which must have produced some steam in already steamy Florida!

Corgi batbiker, Kellogg's Golly, Mr Somebody who looks like a minion but probably pre-dates them by a decade or two (nothing new under the sun) and who might be a product mascot? A baseless Sam Gamgee (? Hobbit!) and others make up an eclectic line-up which highlights the words in the opening paragraph.

Seated figures; as I think I've said and like parachute-toy figures, these are so numerous it's untrue, but some come-up all the time, others are nicely new! Second blue one from the left might be a bus-driver, the green one could be from a milkman board-game - several versions with nice 'Dime Store' milk trucks.

Firefighters from various sources including the old Airfix kit (top right) who seem to have provided the influence for Matchbox's (reversed later by Jack Odell for his own Lledo line!) and a bunch of racing-car drivers add to at least two Tudor Rose figures (middle red and bright yellow) for the whole.

Mostly die-cast accessories; the dancer/snow babe flats are the European versions of the US 100 Doll comic mailaway, themselves partly copied from a better Euro-set, and which are not the soft 'ethylene Betterware dancers. the blue 'clippy' lady - bottom right - probably goes with the bus driver as his conductress; someone broke-up a plastic bus from Hong Kong?

I didn't look properly at the miniature doll (who is now in storage), but Chris mentioned the other day that she is marked Wales? Well that could make her Thomas/Poplar, or - more likely - an earlier minor make? Obviously for Doll's houses, she is very different, anyone know her origins? For Croyden-based Bartons? Tri-ang Toys had a plant in Merthyr Tydfil, their sister Mettoy in Swansea, but neither known for marking 'Wales'. However - she's a 'solid' so welcome in the collection!

I like the modern-looking girl/woman next to her too! Yellow-lady is usually found feeding dolphins on the back of a Corgi circus truck, the rubber police-man was a key-ring (another!) and top left appears to be Steve Erwin, the famous Aussie one, so, a board game?

The guy in-line with handbag-girl, to her right, looks very interesting, quite old and to be missing a wheelbarrow (nice find Chris), with commoner figures from HK (Shepherd), Matchbox (fireman and Edwardian 'bobby'), Corgi (milkman) and Mini Models (policeman) completing the parade!

These are the Hong Kong Kentoys (we've seen their 'Wheelers' here as emergency sets and military), and the mini rubber animals from two posts back came with the farm (if only I'd Googled them earlier, I would have looked knowledgeable!), you can see the modular construction of the scenery, although it was the trees which had me try Kentoy in the search-bar!

These don't look as if they go with the Kentoys, and you can't see any in the search results, but they may be hidden in a bag behind the packaging, and the drivers look similar in material to those animals, so it's a 50/50 question mark whether they are the same line or a different maker altogether!

But . . . you know . . . Wagons! Although if you were to utilise their given 1:72 scale (if they are Kentoys) for a model railway layout, I think you'd be wanting to incorporate them in a  fairground-ride on the village green rather than busying the station forecourt!

Again, Thanks to Chris for these, they all add to the whole, and make a fun and interesting post!

H is for How They Come In - December 2020 - II Chris - Ceremonial, Historical & Wild West

On to 'Toy Soldiers' proper, except most of these are technically civilians, but civilians with guns! Although some ceremonials at the end of the post get us back on military ground.

The sitting figure here is an odd one, I have him in two sizes (I may even have a missing drum somewhere, but I don't know which sized figure it goes with) and I think the larger (here) may be RP (Res Plastics) from Italy although unmarked, and if not; any one of several others, while the smaller version is probably the Kinder variant, the knees having to fit in the egg-capsule? if the missing drum is right, it's a thin disc more like a tambourine! 

July 2022 - A similar but glossy, yellow one is now known to be by Locati from Italy; similar capsule toys.

The cowboy with lasso is one of several I have now, both cowboys and Indians, all smallish (45mm), all glossy brown (different shades) and only a few poses (two of each?), so probably Christmas crackers or something like that? I love the yellow flat in soft plastic, probably a copy of a Euro-premium! We've seen the cake-figure before and the damaged Herald Copy is a lovely plastic colour, so definitely worth keeping.

There should be a totem-pole with this, but it was shown earlier in the year and them went away with the others! Comansi, late production in semi-indestructible PVC vinyl rubber from Spain, it was previously issued in polyethylene and there are small scale versions I really should have Blogged by now, but they have actually gone away into storage . . . again!

We've seen these before more than once and another contributor - Brain Berke - managed to ID them as Lucky Bag gifts over here, but you can never have too many I suspect, due to the number of poses and colours coupled with the frangibility of them making whole ones that much harder to obtain!

Ah yes! Winners of the worst figures ever, in my book (after some editor nicked the obvious Cherilea first spot when he launched the 'competition . . . no, not bitter at all, press corruption is what Brwreakshit was all about, wasn't it!); the MTC Ninjas, although space-ice-hockey-jockey-Ninjas does them more justice!

A Kinder push-together, two-part Samurai archer in the middle, I'd like to think I'm building a set of these (there are only two poses in two or three colours I think?) but the bows are always broken, so I have a full set of legs with one good body!

Bottom row is a Japanese-made 1950's celluloid peasant, he should be walking next to a cart with a rake or broom over his shoulder I suspect, then another Euro-premium copy of a Fontanini oriental statuette and finally a swoppet practitioner of Kung-fu from Hong Kong via Ward International and others.

This was a real surprise, we've seen the Texan/Alamo cowboys (and cannon) and the dancers, but this is another set of European margarine flats, taken by Betterwear and reproduced in soft polyethylene, clearly a nativity set, it was new on me - and as far as I know the rest if the hobby? There's gonna' be at least ten to find? Lovely.

A lovely bisque cake decoration with drum and another Guardsman key-ring! The latter is in rubber and to stand him up I had to prop him against the cake dec', so you can't see his rifle well, but it is all there!

Three military musicians on the left; a very nice copy of a Crescent/Kellogg's drummer, reduced in size a tad, the Highlander now credited to Scottish International Gift and a European figure, which I think might come from Layla, or one of the other 'minor' German makers?

We saw the Pirates on ITLAPD, but here they are again, Lone Star 'Metallions', or copies thereof, or licensed production, there are about five-names associated with these sculpts in die cast and a few plastic knock-offs. Quite a few!

******     *****    ****   ***  ** * **   ***    ****     *****      ******

This should have published at 9.30 this morning, but the laptop went phutt last night with one line to do! I spent all day running round Berkshire and Hampshire trying to get it fixed, and then after a nice chap in a techie-shop showed me a cheat while he orders a part, it righted itself! Don't know how long-for though, so, fix will go ahead, and new laptop seems to be my Christmas present to myself . . . they are all Win.10 or II and none of them have a disc-drive - WTF!

H is for How They Come In - December 2020 - II Chris - Animals

So, to the interesting, odd or novelty items among the many Chris sent to the Blog, and I hope I've picked the right ones as I know Chris follows what I pick-up on for these posts!

I shot this bear seconds after opening the parcel, and them shot it again a few days later! I thought it was from one of the Hong Kong circus sets (and it may be) but realised it made an excellent cocktail-glass hanger! It is a variation of the skiing bear seen here previously, but without the receiving-holes for poles or skis.

The glass in the middle is a particular favorite of mine; now inherited, it's very thin glass (there are only four left, I think there were eight when we were kids?) and has been decorated with copper-wheel cutting, so quite old school, and they've always come-out at Christmas-time for the mulled gluhwein, a job they will retain until I cease to breathe; I like a hot-toddy by the fire on a cold day!

But that bear, though - brilliant!

Farm; The two vignettes on the left are New Ray I think, I didn't check, but of more interest are the 20mm'ish (sheep's over-scale) animals to the right, they are made of a very soft silicon rubber, possibly railway accessories, possibly something like a Polly Pocket - or knock-off of such, and I think three came from Chris and I already had the B&W cow hanging around from another origin (even a previous lot from Chris or Peter evans?).

When that happens (a 'new' thing happening multiple times close together) it's often a sign they are recent (last 10 or 15-years) and starting to come on to the secondary market, anyone know where they came from? The two lots are totally out of scale, mind, the New Ray's are a big 54mm - the four little animals wouldn't make-up one of the foals!

Later the same day - They are probably Kentoys (HK/China. 1990's) should have guessed from the bases!

Dinosaurs and monsters; the Stegi' (new to collection) and kerthunkasaurus (chewed!) are from my favourite range of childhood silicon-rubber dino's, while I think the trio of hatchlings are a recent/currentKinder thing? I don't know anything about the dragon who may have been marked (but has gone to storage) while the other two 'Gygax' Monsters are probably Holly Toys, but I haven't checked them yet and others made/issued them; LB/Lik Be, Agglo etc. . . read here first!

There is a post coming on them but not for a while now given circumstances at present, suffice to say they've been over-mythologised, over-rated and over-priced, but it's very kind of Chris to send them to us, and this isn't the first time he's done so.

From Chris - "The three dinosaurs on a base I think are from the “Ice Age” franchise of films, Sid the sloth hatches them and becomes their foster mother" Cheers, totally missed Ice Age and most of the Madagascar franchise!

A fine 'Disney'eque' fawn cake-decoration on the left, and the rest of the animals on the right. The purple elephant's head might be from a Duplo knock-off, but that might just be the coincidental shape/size of the locating stud? The blow-mould fawn looks even more Disney, and was probably flocked originally?

The RAE horse has been seen here before and I now think they were the Arco Noah's Ark animals, but from before Arco were handling them, I'm not sure but a few eBay listings of boxed examples would seem to be showing the same animals as later included in the petrol-station premium set, I'm not 100% sure, but confident it's the answer, read here first!

The little blue bear is also interesting as he's a scaled-down HK copy of the Merit Noah/circus-train animals who were - I think -  copies of a US makers animals! The white duck could be modern China or 1970's Macau via Portugal, he's very good! And the large rat boar/wild pig [I shot it at an awkward angle!] (top left) is a nice example of a fake Japanese Netsuke, while the vulture may be from a Wild West thing?

An eclectic bunch; the damaged cicada is interesting for being a copy of an older tin-plate clicker/penny-toy, although - in plastic - it doesn't click! One of the frogs will need cleaning, I don't think that black paint is original, the whale is different in brown polyethylene and they all have their place!

While saving the best for last - that is my finger in the background! This exquisitely decorated gecko or chameleon is no more than 5-milimeters long? About a quarter of the size of the similarly rubber Schleich-Mini's, I can only guess or ponder that it might be a 'companion' animal from a larger doll or action figure set? Does anyone know anything about it, are there others, are they all this small? It has a babyish or cartoon look to it, is it a character from film or print media, I've missed?

Thanks again to Mr Smith for donating such a bunch of interesting things, love the hanging bear, quite stunned by this tiny blob of green silicon.