A is for Astronauta Spaziale Dall'Italia

Sticking with Kinder, but going vintage, I didn't know whether to run through these in a vague chronological order of issue, but in the end the comparison shot rather dictated that we go by size, from the largest on the left below, to the smallest, and adding an intermediate size I found in an older folder!

So, that comparison, from the left we have RP (or Giodi?)'s 54mm'ish, semi-swoppet / swivel figures, then a more robotic figure around 50mm, the 40-mil' cartoony one (also RP I think?), two vintage 1970's polystyrene figures filling the 30mm slot, another 'styrene figure from 1988/89 in 25mm/1:72nd and a slightly later/more recent 20mm/1:76th scale figure, probably in polypropylene, as the grey figure is; the larger blue and the cartoon chap both being polyethylene.

So, back to the swivels, who are plug-together with interchangeable boots, helmets and belts. I only have a small sample, although there may be a few in storage, helmets came in black, grey or silver, with belt/backpack and boots only found in the former two colors so far, no silver? While bodies were in sky-blue, an 'aqua' shade (not clear in the lower shot due to camera flash) or white.

I don't know how many versions there were (the reference books are also in storage!), but the insert sheet will have had the 'official' configurations, which can thenn be multiplied by swapping boots, belts or helmets - notice also the suits differ too!

Again, my sample doesn't do them justice, they came with about four different vehicles of frankly rather Heath Robinson'eque perambulation! They have face-visors, suggesting humans (or humanoids) but have a rigidity to their suits which also gives them the appearance of robots. usually white or silver, there are other colours which may be from the originator factory.

The cartoon ones were part of a larger range which included cowboys and Indians, sportsman, firefighter, chef, bull-fighter etc. Apart from the swapping of headdresses (for no real benefit or reason) the swoppet element here is just to get them to fit in the capsule!

Like the robotic ones above, these come with a variety of vehicles, but all more conventional moon-rover or swamp-buggy designs. The robots - and I think these are robots - come in silver or white (I've swapped the audience around), while the vehicles come in silver or off-white/pale grey. Size-wise. they are between the next lot and the last lot at around 35mm.

These used to have a ridiculous valuation in the O-Ei-A guides, but they do turn up, and I think Peter or Chris included one in a donation a while ago, which may not be in this pair? Painting was a stab-and-hope in seven colours!

Stop me if I'm boring you with a duplicate story . . . oh, it's a Blog, you can't; sorry! I can't remember if I've told this story before or not. My first proper job after leaving the army (I'd had a few months temping) was as a tractor driver for the Parks department over at Rushmoor, and one day I'd got back to the depot with ten minutes or so to 'finish' and there was no way Henry (my 'chargehand') would let me go early.

So I was kicking back in the little staff-room they had there, probably drawing on a Camel, next to the greenhouses when I noticed the blue satellite/radar dish on the table, a quick check revealed one of the solar-panels in the ashtray and the game was on, the astronaut was next, at which point I knew I had a winner, and after about five minutes I had assembled all the parts! I think I even had the capsule and paper slip, long-gone now!

Someone had obviously had a Kinder Egg in his lunch box and had made a big thing of poo-poo'ing the toy and destroying it by chucking it about the staff-room, so the rest of the crew didn't take the piss (I took my lunches in the cab - on the job/site), you see - toxic masculinity, it's a real thing, if 'the wife' put it there, in his lunch-box; they probably had kids - take it home for them?

Anyway, that's how I can date this with the reference books in storage to 1988/89! Took me about twenty years to find the other satellite, and both have the same figure whose right hand extends to a spigot which locates in a hole in either vehicle (space ship?), so they can float on a moon-walk if you hang them from a ceiling! There were only the two in the set (on the insert sheet) they are both quite fictional I think, and don't join to each other.

While I think this chap is from the 1990's or early 2000's, but I can't remember what he went with! He's a dense polythene or polypropylene, like nylon anyway!