Parachute Toys & Novelties

This is a new page (Jan. 2020) which will be added to over the next few weeks or months, one section at a time, each section appearing at the top of the page (so you don't have to scroll through familiar stuff each time) until it's relatively complete, then it will be further added to, occasionally, over time as new items/information comes to light.

Aifix Copies & Affiliates

(Candy Brokers
 'Fun Toys'

Henbrandt
Iverden

MTC - Multi Toy Corp.

Play Write / WH Cornelius

'Toys Fun'

Unique

&etc., Still TBA)

These seem to have been around all my life (as have several other designs on this page!), but probably date from the early/mid-1970's, through to the present, although the newer, shinier ones are sub-sub-copies, and not all of them are taken from Airfix poses, from time to time one manufacturer or another 'mixes it up' with different, non-Airfix originating poses, there are two poses that I'm aware of.

Starting with a few carded sets; The one on the left is an old generic from the internet (and a few years ago now - Feb. 2020), but I'm sure I've seen the same card in party-stores with Unique's logo so it may be an earlier iteration of the one in the middle, while the one on the far right was purchased this January and is a total generic. there were other colours but each card has only one colour and I wasn't buying more than one at that price, this is 99p stuff for crud's sake!

Note the figure in the bottom, left-hand corner of the new card is one of the non-Airfix poses, being a hybrid of the old hollow-backed chap and the weapon across the chest pose, both have been around separately for sixty-plus years. The other non-Airfix pose is the chap with his hand-up and pistol out.

These two from MTC are both courtesy of Brian Berke in New York who shelfied the one on the left and then later donated the one on the right - when you (as a toy seller) have a 'bread & butter' item which runs and runs, you just change the packaging occasionally to keep up with cultural/societal trends (as according to your 'art people' that is!), or keep it 'fresh' (to the retail buyers at the big industry Toy Fairs as much as anyone) but you can see the blister is the same, so the people in the packing shed don't lose their rhythm!

The counter-display/dispensing-box was another internet image, branded/attributed to Toys Fun? Similar packaging (or the same carton) will have been used to dispense the Henbrant (top left and bottom right) and Play Write figures (top right and bottom left)

Erwin Rommel floating gracefully to earth and already scanning the horizon for a troublesome Montgomery and his Desert Rats! This pose taken from the Airfix Afrika Korps, originally in 1:32nd scale, but down-scaled to the HO-OO range as the '2nd version' in that diminutive size

You can see with just the one pose; how size, etched-detail and shroud-line ring-design can all vary between makers. At some point in the future I'll try to ascribe them all (below) but for now this is just an idea of the variety to be found.

These two poses are both snitched from the 1:32nd scale, '2nd version' British Paratroopers from Airfix, and again great variety between samples can be see, along with the switch to generic helmets - probably about the time of the switch from majority 'Hong Kong' marks to majority 'China' marks - in the mid 1990's.

The other non-Airfix pose; I don't know if this guy has a donor or not, he looks vaguely familiar, but that may be just seeing lots of these over the years? If he has hopefully someone will ID him, but he commonly appears with these sets and nowhere else. Note how the - current - Play Write's are the smallest, being the latest in a line of sub-piracy stretching back decades, well; the best-part of fifty years.

These came together in a cleanish sample, so stay together in the hope that they will all belong together still, once they have all been attributed to brands! They look like the Unique's but their rings are much bigger.

The above seven images were taken/collated in December '19, and collaged on the 29th Jan., but in the meantime another big lot of them were donated to the blog by Chris Smith over Christmas, so this shows the lose-figure situation as of Feb. 2020!

I use 4x5½ self-seal bags for all small samples in the collection which is the bulk of it; 90% of the small scale's samples will go in one of these and all small samples of large-scale (up to about ten figures of this type won't strain the bag).

Each bag is lined with an index card, which has to be cut from the larger ones; take about 8mm off the end of a large-sized index card and cut the remains in half, gets two bags done. This keeps them upright in the storage boxes so they can be riffled-through as if they are 'only' index cards!

You can see the green one (middle, far right) probably goes with the Play Write figures, but with no parachute and a missing ring, I play safe with a separate bag. Likewise the two green ones - either end of the bottom row - probably go together (or came from the same source) but have different parachutes, which may tie them to different end-users one day, so for now they are kept separate. The whole bottom row are soft PVC rubber figurines and probably among the earlier samples in this line-up.

Each card is marked with the maker, marque, brand or brand-mark on the top line, the set or stock code/s and description on the second line and any other notes on the third or subsequent lines . . . and that's true for large and small scale, farm and zoo, components - everything lose which isn't either in a larger thematic tub or box, or located with carded, bagged or boxed originals.

Here - due to the nature of the figures - they are in a thematic box, but still get the carded self-seal archive treatment! and you can see that if a bunch come in from a mixed lot or from Chris or Jim or Peter, they can quickly be matched-up and stored, or given a new bag, a job which gets easier the more there are in each sample.

Sometimes a cleanish sample may come-in which actually 'closes-down' a bag or two as it becomes obvious that - say; the single-dark green and single-yellow (middle row) both match figures in the new [clean] sample, so they all go in one bag! [They won't match - it's an example!]

Finally (and I hadn't planned a lecture on archiving!) where figures like the Henbrandt pair or one of the Play Write's have been removed from smaller packaging, it is slipped down the back of the card which keeps it flat and safe from wear, even small header cards will sometime go there and their bottle-bag can be folded once or twice

This came from Chris Smith and will be the third iteration of Unique card-art, so nothing terribly unique about any of them! It's how they keep getting mum to buy them; she's not paying the same level of attention you or I might, and thinks - new-look = new toy!

These seem to be all over at the moment, and despite the retro-artwork are reasonably modern, being - for the most part - 'CHINA' marked. Theo van der Weerden sent these and the next two and I suspect these are the larger size seen above and the newer polyethylene.

There is no branding visible, but I've also seen them overprinted Iverden, and overprinted with French or German translations as extra (one colour) graphics, nor do they come with sweets, however . . .

. . . 'Down Under' they do! Branded to Candy Brokers Pty. Ltd., and sporting a blue-stripped parachute, this sky diver is bright orange, but otherwise these are the same. Presumably, away from the publicity shot, the bag of sweets is attached to the figure with the same rubber-band that's normally holding the parachute on?

Civilian Sports Sky-Divers

(D&D Distribution

Fizz Creations - Fun Express

Halsall's / HTI

Keycraft - Marshall's

Play Write / WH Cornelius

Top Toys / 99p Stores

&etc., Still TBA)

Even though some are described as 'soldiers'! This 'set' contains the same basic figures in - I think - five poses, but two distinct 'groups' and a whole bunch of issues/generations from several sources. They are all equipped as civilian sky-divers with fibre-glass reinforced plastic 'motorcycle' helmets, goggles and soft-soled boots

The main differentiator between the two groups being that the older group have standard, flimsy, polyethylene 'placky-bag' parachutes, the newer group have faux-silk parachutes with a mirroring, air-permeable net hanging below the true parachute, but we'll get on to them in a minute.

Plastic Parachutes

Fizz Creations on the left and Play Write, formally Success (W.H.Cornelius) on the right, the pink bloke may be slightly earlier and is the donor-sculpt for two of the slightly smaller Fizz's, while the Play Write's are a sub-piracy of the other pose.

The pink chap is larger than the others at 90mm foot-sole to top of helmet, while the rest are approximately 80mm, but in the latter case there is variation between the figure poses while the loop/rings attached for the shroud lines take upper measurements from 95mm for the various current figures to 105mm+ for the pink guy.

The upper row is from the Fun Express catalogue and seems to be a third generation of the smaller chaps, introducing another pose - hands on hips.

This is a sizer between plastic 'chute guys and the red 'chutist, who's from the next lot, you can see size is pretty-much the same, although the figure is a next-generation sub-piracy, and the plastic is more like 'propylene than the 'ethylene of the others.

Another Play Write, this one a camel-dung yellow, along with a generic in plain packaging from a Party Superstore shop up in Laahndon Taahn, where I did venture! 79p? Cheap as chips!

Fabric Parachutes

From the left; Marshall's (now ceased trading), Key Craft (who have a logo similar to current Kinder but without the accompanying cloud) and D&D Distributers, all carrying the basic product, albeit in different packaging and both the fourth and fifth poses can be seen, one holding a ring above the head, the other with the arms raised but parted.

Halsall's HTI were issued in packets with a window, while the blistered ones from 99p Stores (also now defunct) in Top Toys branding may have had an outing in the Funtastic colours of Poundland's in-store thing, as the latter (Poundland) bought the rump of the former (99p Stores).

On the right here is a shelfie taken in Toy Fair 2020 at London's Kensington Olympia on Keycraft's stand, where you can see the stock is the same as the one two shots above; i.e. red plastic figure, same pose, dark sections to the 'chute.

On the left is the catalogue image from the same company where two poses in various colours are shown along with a very military-looking parachute variation I have yet to track down.

A couple of phantom-brands (Comius and Foryee; is there a name-generating 'app.' for these?!) on Amazon, there are quite a few on both Amazon (retail) and Ali Baba (tend to be wholesalers) and I just grabbed a couple for sample's-sake. Note each has a different pose in the respective press release shots; but there's no guarantee that's what would arrive, and likewise a parachute variation may or may not be the one you get?

The two left-hand shots here were photographed the other day by Brian Berke of New York, in Florida! Showing the Schyling 'Retro' packaging, he (Mr. B) told me he was sending the shots, but hadn't managed to shoot the contents, so I went on Schylling's website to see if I could ID the contents, only to find different [newer?] packaging (right-hand shots), which (apart from the Schylling logo's) matched the Retro range issued here by House of Marbles, although they cleared them through Help The Aged / Age Concern charity-shops a year or two ago and are carrying a new paratrooper which I shot in London the other day (Jan 2020).

You can see the artwork has been reused between packaging and I suspect the Floridian-shelfie is the older design, also they have gone military with artwork and parachute colour. Note also how fancy 'retro' packaging, pushes the item to five dollars! The House of Marbles one was about £3∙99 here! Intrinsic value; . . . $0∙50¢/£0∙50p?

It's also interesting for illustrating the tangled webs woven by these rack-toy importers (jobbers), with Schylling working with Tobar on ZZ's tin-plate, with Ackerman, Tiger and Titan (among others) on Supreme's rubber figures and with HoM on this paratrooper, who's carried by all the other brands & brand-marks above!

Modern HALO / Special Forces

(DS Ltd.
 Funtastic / Poundland

Hawkin / Tobar

Hunson / OKK Trading

Marshall's - Toyrific

&etc., Still TBA)

So; what will become the last section (and I'll edit this line out in a year or so!) at the bottom of the page gets to go first. I think we have looked at these on the main blog in dribs and drabs, but recent incomers have made a more comprehensive overview possible.

These came first (to Small Scale World's collection)* being about ten years old and as I mentioned last time being brand-marked to Hawkin's Bazaar rather than the then parent (?) Tobar, and are the largest of the three types so far discovered in this 'group'.

*Hold on? Am I now referring to myself in the third person . . . as a different entity? In addition to talking to myself! That'll sort-circuit Erwin Sell's brain-cells - won't it?!!

Quoting from the original post here; titled 13109 PBF Parachute Soldier, the five-figure stock code matching Tobar's [then] current coding, as does the manufacturer code (038728) but while the postcode given is Norwich, it’s different to the current Tobar postcode, however; there was a solvency problem with Hawkin's a few years ago reported here at the time and it'll all be connected to that.

The 'Max Headroom' guy with sunglasses (far left) was screen-cap'd from the Tobar website recently, so they both handled them in any-case!

I can't remember if Brian Berke shelfied these first (as Hunson, middle) or if I shelfied the Funtastic (Poundland, left) earlier, but it would have been months apart in any event and wouldn't be significant of anything in perticular. The Toyrific-branded set (right) was on their website.

Based on the earlier set, so far none of them are exactly the same, although 'Max Headroom' and Balaklava-face are similar, baseball-cap man is not and they are smaller than the possible influencing set.

Again; derivative, again; not exact copies ('Max Headroom's found a biggly-big gun folks!), again; a size reduction, but the - rather wacky - paint-schemes have been dropped. I have no brand for these, but they must be pretty current (so hopefully one of the first 'new' additions forthcoming, once it's come to light!) as they have all turned-up in the last year or so.

But . . . these may not be parachute toys at all. However, if they turn-out not to be, I won't be editing them out (a quick note will be added here, on what they actually are) as they are so clearly related to the two previous lots/sets. They have the cavity in their backs common with the others but nowhere to attach or control the shroud-lines, so they may be cheapo rack-toys with reduced-cost/material-weight sculpting!

Various scale comparisons, the figures are approximately 70/75, 90 and 100mm with variation within each set, and all have the same 'army gear' panoply of belt-order, cross-belts, more belts, grenades, knives, stuffed pockets, stuffed pouches and non-regulation kit worn and draped about them like a bunch of Black Magic men (and women!) delivering chocolates to Skynet!

One is reminded of the humanoid faction in the movie Small Soldiers, but elements of characters seen from Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Dam and the other one (diesel-rock, vine-stone?) in our cinemas, have to be taken into consideration, along with various comic-book creations and PC/Platform gaming characters such as Laura Croft.

Another scaler, with a new polymer-colour for the mid-range, multi-brand set and a second brand for the larger figures with a low-res' screen-capcha from the - now defunct - Marshall's catalogue, which; given things stay in the importers' catalogues for a few years and it's now several since they went under, puts them contemporary with the Hawkin's Bazarr un-carded lot.

Note also; that unlike the single-packed Hawkin's, the Marshall's get a flicky-launching handle with elastic-band like the mid-size set.

Thanks to Brian Berke, Chris Smith and Peter Evans, who have all sent some of the stuff in the above-seen, five images, and all in the last few years.

Courtesy of Peter Evans, this medium sized 'Max Headroom', dropping in with the 'Small Soldiers' is branded to DS (Direct Sales?) Ltd., of Fleetwood (an address shared with HTI among others because it's a service address!)  and is the same set as that seen above, being carried by Marshall's before their demise. He comes with a flicky-stick for high (or 'higher') altitude drops!

Hard Polystyrene

(or Polypropylene)

Plastic Novelty Paratroopers

(Generics

Hawkins Bazaar - Tobar

House of Marbles

Imperial

Ja-Ru &etc.)

I've put these down the bottom as most of my samples/shots are either current (2020) or recent (last eight-years) while the vintage stuff is limited to a few evilBay shots. We're looking are large chunks of hard (and sometimes brittle) polystyrene plastic, used here in a typically thick form which takes a bit of garden-play!

I haven't taken him off the card, but seem to keep photographing him! The middle shot is from the website but I can't remember if it was Tobar's own, or the Hawkin's site, or even the on-line-only subsidiary; stocking-fillers.co.uk?

These started appearing about 2014, and have now been phased-out in the above-mentioned group, but the item has been picked-up by the rival novelty/pocket-money toy distributor . . .

. . . House of Marbles, who were showing a two-colour selection (orange-red and blue) at this year's London Toy Fair (Toy Fair 2020) at Kensington Olympia., although they have a green one on the box, so it may be down to tray/batch as to which/what colours are out there?

On display; we can see they have pretty colourful parachutes (which match the earlier catalogue image from Tobar's group), and it makes me think I'll have to shoot some more posed 'in-situ' for this page at some point!

Courtesy of Brian Berke, our roving reporter on the Eastern seaboard of the 'States, came these similar chaps from Jaru, I suspect they may be a polypropylene, if truth be told, therefore more robust. Might there have been a blue one; they have a blue-patterned parachute?

Vintage samples gathered from the internet; I don't know if the other Imperial ('Chubby' is seen here) is a different design. The middle one is a Transformer/Grandizer/Autobot/Dino-Robo-Zoid rip-off and the one on the right has a card which suggests it may be a cross-over from WH Cornelius's old Success label to the new Play Write, but that's pure conjecture on my part from the 'sun-ray' design, rather than anything empirical!

This is a real oddity; who jumps out of a plane with a casualty, on a stretcher, under a blanket? Clearly something terminal's happened to a medi-vac flight! Also, was one parachute attached to both bearers, or did they have two? And what was to prevent the stretcher coming loose and falling tragically to earth at terminal-velocity? The only marking is a large 'A' under the stretcher.

This was also a Tobar piece, a bit of a Christmas novelty, dated to 2015, and it exists because penguins are well known for their desire to fly again, even if it's only straight-down! Not.