P is for Preliminary Plunder Post

One of those Bucket-list/grail items you don't really contemplate ever getting, do to its rarity, it's likely cost, and its peripheral position in the oeuvre, but nevertheless, I picked one up cheap'ish, clean'ish and complete on Saturday so let's have a look at it!

 

There wasn't the hype surrounding Superheroes over here, that there has been since at least the last War, if not earlier, over where they were invented, and indeed they were rather frowned-upon in some circles, here, but, by the 1970's they were more obvious, and more embeded in the cultural landscape, with both the comics imported (or printed here under licence?) and the various TV shows being broadcast, followed by the big movie; Superman [I] so a few UK-specific toys were created, among which was this from Charbens.

 

Interestingly, I seem to recall reading somewhere, that some comic cross-pollination occurred in earlier decades, due the use of unsold stock, crossing the Pond in either/both direction/s, as ballast in empty or lightly laden tramp-steamers or other vessels, but I'm not sure of the veracity of that particular urban myth, it may pertain more to publishers remaindered or 'pulping' overstock in general, and included or not, comics?

 

On the back we have advertising for the other set, of which we have seen Dracula courtesy of Peter Evans, and from the Dorset/Marlborough/Plastic from the Past era, in a sort of fibrous or mildly foamed polymer, so only two to find, one of which is Frankenstein's Monster, not, as stated, 'Frankenstein'!

 

Dating from 1977, one wonders if these are Prindus (Prison Industries) output, the polystyrene mouldings are a bit flashy, and the polyethylene bases could be old, surviving stock - vast qualities could have been carried/passed-on in a few small sacks/cartons, to whichever Civil Service team set-up Prindus?

 

The seller was adamant I should paint them, but I will probably keep them as they are. The paints, similar to those issued by Airifx in their Battlefront line (and other 'starter' kits), are long-dried-up! Also, a cheap brush is probably missing from one of those slots in the tray?

 

We also looked at a contemporary advert from a retailer's catalogue, of the footballers and Euro-babes from the same range! And the plastic colour, perticularly of Superman (and some of the Euro-babes) ties-in with my hardplastic Greco-Romans from 'Charbens', which I also mused might be Prindus production.

U is for Ultraman Ululators!

Well, if they're not Ultraman I'm sure someone will tell me! What can I say about these? Obviously they're not strictly ululators, except that when operated by small children, I think whistles can be classed as ululators . . . "Ululation is a howling or wailing sound"!

 

For some reason I seem to have taken three sets of images from the front, but none from the back, and as I've had a mare of a round tonight - targeted/tracked box with different bar-codes on either end, one of which was correct, but the contents weren't, then I ripped my finger open and lost my vape, so stress levels rose!

 

Anyhoows, I can't be arsed to collage anything, so you get them raw! Novelty whistles, probably from Japan rather than Hong Kong, but who knows, not me, that's for sure! I'll use both Tags.

 

Ultraman 'type' on the left and a couple of Kaiju, one more monster, the other more golem? They're not vast, with the mouthpiece, about 3½ / 4 inches, and soft, blow-moulded polyethylene.

M is for Micronauts

Not me at all, 1980, I was leaving school, wearing a denim-cut-off over a leather jacket growing my hair long, gardening and cutting trees at the weekends and going to art collage in the week, I wasn't interested, in bitty, lanky, movey, placky, Hong-Kongy and - looking at some of the vehicles - frankly, whacky, slightly tacky, large-scale figures which didn't tie-in with any frnachise I might have been interested in, but they need to go in that Tag List!

Airfix Micronauts;

And my view hasn't changed one iota since! You see them in rummage bins at toy shows, or looking forlorn and one-armless in charity shops, and I just walk on by! Sometimes one - presumably 'rare' - is sitting on a silly-money BIN-price on evilBay and I just walk on by! But, if they are your thing, I get it, youngster! I'm a man fathered by a child of the pre-Palitoy/General Mills iteration of Airfix, me!

 

The full - well, a potted - history's here (Airfix/Palitoy don't get a mention - bought-in end of line?!);

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

 

The funny thing is you can see the Takara heritage in the robots and smaller vehicles, some of which design-lines would reappear in the Bluebird-Kenner-Tomy stuff a few years later, the tracked robot looking very similar to the grey Tomy version of the  Blue Sharks one-man submersible from Manta Force, or the little robots from the same line.

N is for New Name in the Tag List!

Carrington's the Jewellers of Regent Street no less! Taken from the Illustrated London News, May 1986 'Number' as posh people title their periodicals! A sliver centre-piece, for dining tables or sideboards, you can have him guarding the cheese board and grapes, or staring-down some of your dinner-guests!

 

The obvious question being, is it a Stadden piece? The horse looks a little too smooth in my humble opinion, but the figure has some of the sharpness of folds one expects from the master, and sometimes 'figure chaps' will work with an 'animal chap' (or chapess), as they often specialise in one form of physiognomy? Looks to be about four-inches in scale/size, but he could be as much as six? I'd paint him as a Horse Guard!

EMCE is for Effigy Manufacturer Confirms Events

Back in December I received a nice eMail from Joe Sena, on the subject of the little output/figure list I appended to one of the earlier EMCE posts, a subsequent back and forth of correspondence produced this pocket/potted history of the various brands I had been getting confused by, so - with Joe's permission - here it is for those who may be interested;

 

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"After a 10 year period in Los Angeles, where I helped grow the merch side of a large Star Trek convention company in the early ‘90s as designer/creative director, I moved over to the New Media Group at Universal Studios where I went from writer/producer to Creative Director in a few months – largely because in the mid 90s, anyone who could spell “Internet” was an expert (also, I was the studio’s “Official Universal Monsters” expert because I was the only nerd who made it past the gatekeepers). A few years later, Universal was bought, I saw handwriting on the wall, started a web design firm with other Uni' ex-pats which crashed and burned within a year.

Moved back to NYC with my tail between my legs and went back to what I did for a living before the internet, which was to make merch. Most was of the apparel variety, off-brand and original stuff for fans of horror movies. I made a product called the “Zombie Outbreak Survival Kit” which exploded, and made me enough money to put toward growing the business.

My business’ legal name is SphereWerx, LLC, which I named after the Unisphere, the steel globe landmark in my hometown of Flushing, Queens, near the stadium where my poor Met's attempt to play baseball. After a few years of having to re-spell or correct the pronunciation of “Spherewerx,” I registered “Fourth Castle” as a “doing business as” name. I named it such because of the influence of your fellow countrymen – as with the King Of Swamp Castle in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, this was my fourth attempt at business, and it didn’t fall into the swamp😉

Coming back to NYC reunited me with an old high school buddy named Paul Clarke, who I was stunned to discover had a business called “Dr. Mego”, in which he would hand-make replacement parts for collectors of Mego action figures. If your Captain America lost a shield or Batman his cowl, Paul hand-poured them in resin, colored them and sent them off.

Eventually, he received a cease and desist from DC and Marvel, and asked me what he should do, and I said that I would put money into trying to get licences And bring back the Mego toys of the 1970s.

 

Through several partnerships with other license-holders, we successfully brought back Marvel, DC, Star Trek and other Mego-style figures, expanding beyond mere reproductions. I created the brand EMCE toys, drawn to look like the “Mego” logo, but pronounced “EM-CEE” or “M.C”, which stood for “Mego Corporation.”

Paul and I were handshake-partners, we never had anything on paper, but we agreed that we would split EMCE branded toys. Sadly, Paul’s “Dr. Mego” work was not enough to cut it professionally, so we hired out sculptors for heads and certain body parts, but I would sculpt small accessories or adaptations (Spock’s beard for the “Mirror, Mirror” set, Spider-Man’s webshooters and belt, etc.). I am not the sculptor of any of the major parts of any of our toys.

 

In 2008, the recession cratered sales, so even though Paul was a Mego fundamentalist, I said we had to do something to make a cheaper product. Megos were expensive to produce, so I focused on another old-school toy format: little green army men.

After a while, Paul stopped being involved in the toys brand, focusing more on his Dr. Mego business and coming back together with me for the occasional elaborate Marvel Megos we did with Diamond Select Toys.

 

I kept on with the army men and dubbed them “Nanoforce”, so I had a trademarkable name. Initially, the clunky sculpts were done by hand in the factory in China – we left them that way because a) they looked about as clunky as classic army men and b) it came free with the price of the production 😉

You pretty much know the rest, but I hope when my aforementioned presentation is complete and has made the rounds, I will send it to you as it does contain a pretty complete look at the Nano's we made from Day One. However, it’s so similar to your list as to be almost identical."

 

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So, to paraphrase the above, SphereWerx (legal), Forth Castle (trading as) and EMCE ('em-cee', line/range brand-mark) are the company name/s in the order they were acquired, Nanoforce is the brand-mark for the small 'army men' figures, and all the other names on the various sets or packaging generations are either the license-holders to the subjects depicted, or the contracting end-user (Diamond Select, Previews Exclusive/PX), even though EMCE's own branding is usually retained alongside as one or more marks. Toynk are the current distributor of the more commercial sets.

 

This is an updated/re-edited version of that original list, alphabetical;

• Aliens in Glowing Slime (figures from the below set, but glow in the dark polymer with a unique, oversized (in scale) 'Facehugger' sculpt. One figure per egg of slime, out of production and getting hard to find, old stock has now-solid, rubbery slime) - Diamond Select Toys / PX Previews Exclusive  / designed by Nanoforce by EMCE Toys) Licensor - 20th Century Fox.
• Aliens -vs- Colonial Marines (35 figures, out of production, but findable, getting a bit pricey - Diamond Select Toys / PX Previews Exclusive  / designed by Nanoforce by EMCE Toys) Licensor - 20th Century Fox.
• Fallout 76 [bags, see also You Will Emerge - below] (12 or 24 figures per bag, 3 sets, still around, affordable - Bethesda / Toynk / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Forth castle) Licensors - Bethesda Softworks a Zenimax Media Co.
• Fallout 76 [boxes] (13 figures per box, 4 boxed sets include a 4" figure and extra [blind pack] poses, still around, affordable - Bethesda / Toynk / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Forth castle) Licensors - Bethesda Softworks a Zenimax Media Co.
  
• Gears 5 (Gears of War), (5-figures + droid, bag, glow in the dark variation, still around, affordable - Nanoforce by EMCE Toys (a brand of) Forth Castle Macromedia) Licensors - The Coalition / XBox Games / Microsoft, UK retailer Toynk (?)
•  John Carpenter's Halloween (8 figures + 4 accessories and 1x 4" figure, very rare, limited edition of 2500 units, very expensive when found - Fright Rags / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys) Licensor - Compass International Pictures
• Night of the Living Dead (12 figures + 1x 4" figure, very rare, limited edition, very expensive when found - Fright Rags / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Image Ten)
• Star Trek - TNG (12 figures + micro-ship model, 'The Next Generation' boxed-set, newest, affordable, easier to find in UK - PX Previews Exclusive / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Fanwares a division of Fanwraps) Licensor - CBS Studios
• Star Trek - TOS (12 figures + micro-ship model, 'The Original (TV) Series' boxed-set, newest, affordable, harder to find in UK - PX Previews Exclusive / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Fanwares a division of Fanwraps) Licensor - CBS Studios
• Universal Monsters (planned/cancelled/next? EMCE / Mego?)
• You Will Emerge (24 figure 'Army Builder' bag of Fallout expansion, 23 common figures in 9 poses (twos or threes) with exclusive Jersey Devil flying monster, still around, affordable - Bethesda / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Forth castle, no Toynk) Licensors - Bethesda Softworks a Zenimax Media Co.
• Vault Tech Convention Exclusives (six figures from Fallout, in blind-bags, one per-bag, limited-edition yellow polymer, still findable/affordable - Bethesda / Toynk / Nanoforce by EMCE Toys / Forth castle) Licensors - Bethesda Softworks a Zenimax Media Co.
•  Zombies at War (35 figures, out of production, but findable, getting a bit pricey - PX Previews Exclusive / Brilliant Novelty Co. / Diamond Comic Distributors / EMCE Toys (a brand of) Forth Castle Macromedia, no 'Nanoforce')
• Zombies in Glowing Slime (as per above, but blind-bag model, in a tub of slime modelled as an oil drum, one figure per unit, glow-in-the-dark polymer, getting harder to track-down - PX Previews Exclusive  /  EMCE Toys) 
•  Zombies -vs- Zombie Hunters (35 figures, 10 poses, 3-each survivors, 4-each zombies, out of production, but findable, getting a bit pricey - PX Previews Exclusive / Brilliant Novelty Co. / Diamond Comic Distributors / EMCE Toys (a brand of) Forth Castle Macromedia, no 'Nanoforce')

In December, Joe was hopeful that more figures would come out this year, but I haven't seen/heard anything yet? Halloween was the last set issued, last autumn.

AFV is for Absolutely Feckin' Vast!

Well, they're not THAT big, but pretty-much the next size-up is Action Man/GI Joe, so they are about as big as I'm ever going to go! We're talking Tudor Rose here, although we've previously seen one of them marked-up as Kleeware, and I'm pretty sure I've seen the same SPG (an M55) under Ideal branding in the 'States?

 

There was a lot of Tudor Rose showing at PW's show a fortnight or so ago, and some of it got a second outing at Sandown Park the following weekend, and I did buy some, but that was all civilian and will be seen in those forthcoming show-reports, in the meantime, this truck came in a while ago now . . .

 

. . . and I shot this quick shot; at an odd angle, seen elsewhere I think, to show off the Blue Box box of Blue Box BB boxes, which Chris had sent in one of his lots, along with a Blue Box four-inch figure, or just under, he's actually 95mm. Well, you'd need a military escort for that load, it's almost a cupboard-full of Blue Box toys!

 

Then these big babies came-in, not that long ago, and while they did go through to storage at the time, I found them the other day while looking for something else, and knowing the truck was still in the flat thought "Well, OK, we can cobble something together here I think!" As you can see they are almost as grubby as the truck, so cleaning as well as photographing was the order of the day.

The M55 got a spray with TFR (traffic film remover) watered-down at about 50/50, and then a drying with kitchen-paper, and I took the opportunity to strip it down to its constituent parts . . . I meant to do a 'parts-shot' for all of them, but kept getting too-keen to reassemble them after I had a pile of dry parts, so forgot to do the others!

 

Apart from the wear to the 'fighting compartment' deck, it came up pretty mint, but I knew it would as the underside looked like it was made yesterday, so it was mostly surface dust. I also re-cut the tab of the firing 'pin' and the furred edges of its receiving slot, as they had had enough play, in the past, to round-off slightly, making it hard to fire without a two-handed faff!

All back together and it's looking like the beast it was, briefly in the 1950'60's, The shells which just sit in the rack on the engine deck were mostly missing; there was only one! And it may be missing stickers (see below), but it's a 1950's beach/garden toy survivor, so I think it's looking good!

The 25lbr, as it's described when you see it in its box (there's one on feebleBay as I write), doesn't look much like a 25lbr! And is a very different beast altogether, not least that while the SPG is 100% soft polyethylene, this is mostly hard 'kit' polystyrene, this to hold a more powerful firing mechanism with metal trigger, securely in the moulding, by having it sealed round the trigger and spring. Wheels are 'ethylene though, with steel axles. It's actually a breach-loader, with a pull-back slotted-tray to take the shell, as the trigger is cocked.

The two, together with their ammunition, there's a bagful for the 25lbr, but only the one for the M55 . . . sniff! However, I can report - after extensive testing against the end of the bed - that both will take each other's rounds, the 25lbr's are snug in the SPG's barrel but fire efficiently, while the smaller rounds of the M55 roll-about a bit in the breach tray of the howitzer which could affect accuracy over garden ranges!

The Jeep completed the trio, and we're back to all-polystyrene, with the exception of two steel axles. Not the best rendition of a jeep, but not the worst either, it gets the 'look' right, but is a bit boxy or square, and lacks the rear quarter-bumpers/fenders/foot-steps, which help with the distinctive lines of a Jeep.

 

Mine is missing it's spare, and like an idiot, in order to shoot one in situ, I took the back one, instead of a front one, so had to prop it up with my fingers! Yes, I could have quickly sorted it out and re-shot it, but what fun is there in such sensible conformity?

Then it was go fetch the truck, and give it the same treatment, with this I didn't remove the rear cargo-bed from the frame, as it looked like I might damage it if I forced the six clips, but the cab came off and the seats came out, while tail-gate and headlight bar both popped-off.

 

It's not a recognisable mark, but more of a generic . . . Bedford? And scale-wise, sits between the larger Jeep and smaller M55. It has a towing hook, but isn't as happy taking the 25lbr as the Jeep is (tighter space), so I may be looking for a smaller gun, or trailer for it?

 

The other obvious difference is the two-tone colouring and I think I've seen civilian versions with red, yellow or blue superstructures as 'tipper-trucks', was there a builder's/road worker's generator trailer or cement-mixer, maybe?

You can see the PVC door stickers didn't survive cleaning, one is lost forever (down the plughole I fear), the other fell off while drying, they were both time expired, the stars however (being a separate contract/print run) survived much better, and leave the question, should they all have/did they all have stickers, or were they added from other toys/models, to this truck? Stickers aren't normally a feature of Tudor Rose, nor did the Kleeware version M55 have any.

Still cleaned-up nicely. It's slightly bent, which is more of a construction thing than an age thing; as the frame gets heavier (as in a heavier moulding) under the cab, where the front wheel-arches begin, the frame has curved slightly and could do with a bit of hot water on the long spars with a press-down at the cab-end of the bed to get it all parallel with the road surface, but it's not bad enough to worry about really!

 

Interestingly, there seems to be a missing steering-wheel, well, that's not interesting, that's annoying, but there are two receiving holes (that's the interesting bit!), so an export version must have been sold with left-hand-drive? Across the Channel or across The Pond?

All cleaned and reassembled, if I had to scale them off the top of my head I'd say about 1:20 for the Jeep, 1:24/25 for the truck and 1:30/32 for the M55, it's about the same size as the Airfix Abbot SPG.

 

Hopefully if I find a cheap, maybe knackered Jeep (perhaps missing its windscreen, or chewed-up), I'll be able to take a wheel as spare for mine, and use the steering wheel for the truck - it looks like it would fit? Trouble is, one knackered-enough to be cheap is likely to be missing its steering wheel too!

The marking is clear on all four items, with 'Tudor Rose' repeated on some, if you recall (or followed the link just now) the Kleeware 'Howitzer Tank' retains the central 'Made in England' disc, but looses the other two, having a heavy KLEEWARE raised on the underside of the deck floor/rear step, aft of the bulkhead.

 

Which conforms to the fact that after they had taken them over and as Tudor Rose concentrated on more trade-related matters (raw materials and machine tools), they handed production of some of their old models to their [Tudor Rose's] new Kleeware 'brand mark/division'.

Last minute checks before setting-off, a runner is sent up from the back to speak to the convoy packet-commander, who looks ready to shoot him, if he says anything too stupid!

 

The figures used are all about 95mm, or just short of the full four-inches, and are an earlier painted Blue Box, a later unpainted Blue Box, both with the same mark as the soft ethylene issue of the 25mm GI's, and the third, unmarked is almost certainly a Rado Industries (Ri-Toys) issue, from the same ex-Blue Box (or ex-Tai Sang!) mould tool.

"Gentlemen! Start. Your. Engines!"

T is for Two - Paint Your Own Catalogue Images

These are both 'seen elsewhere's, and it was pure coincidence that I happened to find, or isolate two different 'Pain Your Own' ad's from two different catalogues, which were both branded to classic British plastics manufacturers.

This was from the 1975 Crescent catalogue, and shows the cake-decoration vignette and an incomplete circus set as paint-your-own's or Paint & Play, but I suspect they never made it to the shops? Or if they did it can't have been in large numbers, as pure white or home-painted white versions of either are not something I have found.

There is a large number of the horses from the circus set in white who turn-up, but they are missing their holes (for the acrobat lady) and seem to have been supplied by Crescent for another job? I remember having a debate with the late Dave Scrivener on the subject and neither of us were convinced as to the possible reasons for them!

While the - usually - cake decoration Santa' is always factory-painted (or tatty!) when found, and most unpainted circus figures are in the multi-colours of the Kellogg's iteration, although a few white ones were issued in that promotion, but only in proportion to the red, orange, yellow and two blues?

Note also, the lower 'useful piece' count of the Santa set, compared to the nine-piece (? the weight-lifter and hula-hoop clown seem to have been omitted?) circus set, is bulked out with a couple of standard green 'monkey puzzle' trees.

These - new for 1993 - are from [a] Charbens (the original was bought out and renamed Charpack a decade earleir!) and WERE issued, as I've seen them on feebleBay, or at least I've seen the European Heritage ladies, I think the 'Soccer' footballers were in Plastic Warrior magazine; probably at or around the time of the ad'? As you can see from the hand, these were 3½ or 4" figures and I think they are polystyrene, against the polyethylene of the Crescent sets.

I would add that these Paint & Display sets aren't from a Charbens catalogue, but rather a retail catalogue or flyer (I've lost the reference now, it's around here somewhere, Rainbow or Lion?), so it could well be a Charpack thing (the trays the figures are presented in?), or even a Prindus (Prison Industries) effort, but they wouldn't have had the rights to the Charbens brand mark, however they could have licensed it?

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!

F is for Follow-up - Belgian Footballers

This is following-up on this post, but these aren't marked Pak-Me-Mee, and are a pinkish-flesh off-white, rather than the creamy off-white of the aforementioned pudding-mix premiums.

Luckily, with eight to find (in any variation) I managed to score two more, so that's five in the bag now; an instep-pass and a flicky back-kick.

I shot them against an 1898 atlas I found, I don't think the boarders have changed much, even after two World Wars, but I recall a Belgian farmer helping himself to a piece of France a while back - top lad!

Not much to add really, they are what they are; unknown maker, simple but nice sculpts (although the back-kicker is the daftest pose so far) in hard polystyrene and around the 4-5" / 100-130mm mark - that back-kicker again, he's much taller than the others! I tagged them 4" and 110mm last time, so that'll do, and I've included the Pak-Me-Mee/Dumortier tags as they were the same tool-production.

W is for Who You Gonna' Call? Ghostbusters!

This is a late addition, there were going to be only six posts this year but these turned-up along with the MEG premium figures, but we've seen them once and while I've added a handful (including a nice purple witch), to those we've seen in the past, I know there's a whole tub of them in storage somewhere, and when I've brought them together we'll return to them. In the meantime, these are more fun!

From the difference in the date-marks I assume (and yes Erwin - it's a real guess!) they were timed/issued to coincide with the movie release and the VHS/video-disc release? Video-discs were the future, back in the past (!) and I well-remember a small selection of them in Berlin's NAAFI for those stupid-enough to have bought a machine from the PX, not realising the Philips Laserdisc was already failing back in UK!

Anyway . . . these were (I think) 'box companions' with larger (4") action-figure/dolls from Kenner?! I did read-up on them once, but it's all gone, I believe they are all based on ghosts actually seen in the movie, but mostly those seen briefly, just flitting about during the major infestation?

Also dated 1987, like his red counterpart, I don't know if this was a latter issue or a limited edition version, but he glows in the dark which is very ghost-like and pretty-cool!

The trouble with glow-in the dark toys is that the molecules which provide the glow, are quite nervous (it's their movement which is exploited to produce the glow, by exciting them [the particles] with light beams [waves]; it's quantum stuff), and over time they bugger-off (migrate), like free radicals in ethylene (leading to brittleness) or thalates in PVC (leading to sticky messes), and it gets harder and harder to produce a glow, and even when you do - by holding them against a light-bulb - they dim very quickly (because the remaining particles are too far apart to excite each-other for long), but I managed a half-decent image after about ten tries!

T is for Two - B is for Big Boys & Blow-Moulds

The first of these came in from Chris Smith a while ago and have been languishing in the 'Follow-Ups' folder, an odd folder with most of Chris's-, some of Brian's- and the odd bit of my- stuff and a few screen-caps or scans! But they are worth a stand-alone post . . . 'cos they're lovely!

Chris thinks they may be Spanish, which might make them single purchase kiosk items (but not 'sobres' as they'd be hard to hide in a paper envelope!), and I think they are superb. Slightly generic, slightly GI, blow-moulded combat infantry types ready for beach, bath or garden!

Shared with everyone - cheers Chris!

These aren't blow-moulds, but they are big! From Mr. Berke; the US-packaging version of the figures we initially saw here at Small Scale World from - the now defunct - 99p Stores under the PMSlabel (firefighters as well) a couple of years ago.  4" clone-conversions of Tim Mee and Matchbox GI's, although the hidden 4th-one was a bit Airfix German, running, I seem to recall!

No brand but look for the distinctive card if you're in the 'States - cheers Brain!

T is for Toy Fair 2019 Reports - Amerang - NJCroce Bendables

I think there will be four Amerang posts before the season's done, but as we haven't looked at NJCroce's bendable figures for a while (and they were becoming a regular here!), I thought I'd kick-off with a quick overview of what Amerang's shipping in from the 'States at the moment.

Top left is the 'original' (actually second [TV]) Batman who was also the Blog's introduction to NJCroce when Brain Berke donated him over a couple of years ago (nearly a 'few' years ago!), he's still available, but now as a key-ring.

Next to him is the TV-version four-inch Joker. Far left gives us a box set of the 'Classic TV Series' figures with card variations on the self in front of them and a little Batmobile I got no details on!

Animated Series Joker and a Green lantern also on the pegs, but the star of this year's line is an 80th Anniversary original comic Batman in five-inch, bendy-form!

Down the bottom are a set of 'deforms' including a generic 'Armyman' I'll look out for!

I think this is the one I shelfied in TKMaxx just before Christmas, it's a static vehicle (wheels are fixed) aimed at adult collectors who - presumably - have been found (by some focus group?) to only want to display mint-boxed! You can just see a TV version behind it.

This is one of the Movie beasts and again a static display model but the bendy is sculpted to a high standard. Obviously these NJCroce items will appear in TKMaxx through the year, but Amerang - as agents - will be looking for other buyers and so they should also be found in other places?

H is for Heliotrope Hunter

Here's a quick addition to the growing bendy-toy sub-collection/trope and/or the growing Pink Panther sub-collection, or even a bit of a follow-up to a recent Blog-post on the Jolly Jaguar.

A modern (marked 2006) bendy from the - now - superhero experts NJ Croce! Tail's a bit chewed! But he's a happy looking chap, and quite like the TV/Movie original, now credited to MGM rather the the United Artists of older Pink Panther toys.

Ol' Rinky-Dink's gotta' tramp-stamp!