S is for Seen Elsewhere - Ephemera

As I posted some of this back in lockdown and as the lockdowns are all a couple of years ago, they might as well go here too! A rather eclectic collection, but the 'Seen Elsewhere' folder is one I have managed to migrate, find and get to grips with.

 

From the Hong Kong firm Star Toys' catalogue, their range of Timpo/Britains (and other makes?) wagon/coach clones. Amusing to see both Stage Coaches ripped-off, and Britains horses on Timpo bases.

This is from the retailer Josef Kober of Vienna's catalogue, from the mid 1970's. We see Timpo Indians attacking a Timpo cavalry/union-manned fort, while Elastolin cowboys get up to all sorts down in the town, including laying in wait for a Timpo stage! Wooden buildings exclusive to Kober.

I believe the shop only closed in the last few years, and when I posted it previously Gubányi István of Hungary recalled the shop was popular with Eastern European visitors during the Cold War, presumably due to Austria's NATO/Warpac neutrality.

This went on Brain Heiler's facebook group, where they like a bit of early evening, older kids, TV serial-related stuff, preferably Canadian, but this is British and another retailer (or actually; wholeseller)'s catalogue, Dekkertoys. I might even have a couple of those fake medal/badge 'Bling' items somewhere! Childhood Fun!

Not intending to park my tanks on Moonbase's lawn, it just happens there's a few white-button/wind-up, giant insects down the bottom of this collection of plastic kits from Bandai's 1975 catalogue, all of which have the clockwork 'walking action', I previously posted this on the STS Animal Forum over a year ago.

At the same time as I posted this image of the Marx prehistoric playset by Burbank Toys, presumably - by then - a Dunby-Combex sales vehicle (also marketing some Mattel), although originally formed in 1957. They also sold the last version of the Guns of Navarone playset, both in contents-photo' box-art, along with a third which I think was a Wild West set, with fort? It'll go on the A-Z listing in the end, with lots of other stuff!

T is for Toppers; Pencil Toppers

So to something completely different - Pencil Toppers! I originally started 'collecting' so that I could get as many poses as possible for painting-up and adding to my armies and or vehicle models. Knowing about the Blue Box and other HK figures 'cos they were already in the big tin (ex-army bulk biscuit tin with very sharp edges!), I moved on to tracking down the - then new - Atlantic and - short-lived - Rospacks, minor kit-figures from Fujimi, Hasegawa and Esci and such like, from there I started to find other bits and bobs and thought I waas getting somewhere only to find in Fleet toys ( months before I left home!) the new range of Esci ethylene figure sets.

After about six years faffing around in the Channel Islands and Infantry, I took-up where I left off, getting into shows and swap-meets and the then pretty new phenomena of Car Boot Sales, and realised that to get small scale usually meant either 50p bags or - increasingly - at shows £5 bags of all sorts. Buying like this brings in a plethora of weird and wonderful figures and other bits, among which has been over the years a fair few pencil toppers, so here are a few...Heroes and Super Heroes;

These are based on the Japanese character Ultraman I think (lower row), as are the little inset heads, done like the Munch-Bunch 'foodstuff' toppers. I'm don't know if the robots are Manzinger, Transformer or actually from Ultraman...and I don't care...although I'd be interested purely for identification purposes!

These turn-up quite often and I think I'm right in thinking that the one with the lightning-strike on his chest is 'The Flash'? [No - he's Captain Marvel, see; comments] If there are two Batman poses, there may be other poses of the other characters still to find? The brown Flash is in a softer PVC, the others in a harder, less flexible type.

BA Baracus (Bad Attitude); Whadyameen Foool! I 'aint gowin-in no-'plane...[Later] Whadyameen we're in'Hondurass...Foool - I'm gona'kilim!...From the TV series The 'A' Team, there are - I believe - 4 poses in the set and the other characters were never done as pencil tops?

Also from TV are two versions of Worzel Gummage (spell that again please?), staring one ex-Dr. Who (Jon Pertwee) and Postman Pat with his Black & White cat...Jess was it?