O is for Ornamental . . . Forts, Palaces and Shrines

The same funny-little four page AHM catalogue/trade update, also had the first shot here, showing five of the initial six Ornamental Shrines from Funimimokei (better known as just Fujimi), which reminded me I had some more somewhere, so another lazy-post was born!

 

 

I think the AHM is about 1968, the loose-leaf trade catalogue from Fujimi is the 1970/71 one, and the last page, mostly forts/palaces is from the 1985 (or 1995?) retail catalogue, but the beauty of them is the nature of the architecture means they can be used as war-gaming accessories, even if the scale's off! Or the parts can be used to make smaller structures in figure scales?

I also love the quirk of a Japanese model-kit company making a replica of the Coronation crown! Question is, would it fool the Yeoman Warders long enough to get the original melted-down and fenced to 'Fast Eddie'?

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.

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!

Ah-soh! is for Grasshopper!

I always try to sneak some of  the former-Soviet Union's equivalent of Rack Toys into RTM, however, this time it's a current set, but one of the more affordable sets from Biplant, as opposed to some of the incredibly expensive (for no real reason) sets emanating from the former Bloc.

Unlike the combat sets we saw, which come in a standard header-carded 'bottle bag', these historical sets come in wonderful display 'cabinets', which here gives us a lovely Imperial Chinese style building/roof reflecting the original Shaolin Monastery in Dengfeng,Henan Province, China.

Six of the floatiest flying Ninja David Carradines' you'll ever see! The plastic colour makes photography hard, but they are nicely done figures, all clean shaven heads and lethal weaponry! You can see also how they seem to pair-up if you were to be minded to paint and base them as mini-vignettes or a single larger diorama.

While this guy has the air of a master about him, maybe a trainer/instructor or older monk, with a heavier sword (for whacking students with the flat-side of?), bulky shield and substantial cloak. He also lacks the dynamism of the other six, but is still a nice figure. He'd also paint-up nicely as any 'biblical' era man-at-arms, albeit a bald one!

Packaging scans; the others sets get variations of a castle/fortress look which is not quite as ornate as this one, so this one might be the one to go for first! They're currently available from several dealers on evilBay (which is getting very evil these days!).

F is for From the Sublime to the Ridiculous!

Just a quickie in case I don't get anything else up in time for Monday!

The figure in the center is that crappy China-via-Russia-to-Germany thing I bought at Plastic Warrior's show back in May (hey, I'm nothing if not an esoteric completist!), either side of him is a probably Japanese-made (from one of those scallop-shell, mini-diorama, touristy things) South Asian warrior of the contemporaneous era (depicted), but ten times nicer!

He's also interesting in being a solid, rather than the usual hollow vac-form or blow-mould, despite being the same celluloid or cellulose acetate.

As to the red one; when I said back in June/July "We won't see them again here very soon or very often!" I clearly lied! Issued/packed by Smart Toys Creative of Yiwu, China, imported into Russia by Trading House Mirika.

That's it, something for Monday morning!

S is for Squat Squidgy Squadies and Safe Samurai 'Sassins

You may remember a while ago, Brian Berke sent some shelfies to the Blog of these delightful little weirdoes, well; he only went and sent the Blog some in his autumn parcel - didn't he!

 

Imported into the 'States by those new-old favourites Greenbriar/DTSC, but apparently on behalf of Imperial to whom the figures are also branded, and they are a soft, hollow silicon rubber, a bit like squeaky-toys but sans squeak, or; sans squeaker!

Ninjas; too cool for martial-arts school and the colours are lovely; the camera's flash has reddened one, who - to the eye - is a pinky-heliotrope sort of colour, while the purple one has reproduced quite accurately. Style is slightly 'deform', or cartoonish with big heads, hands and feet.

The cool colours extend to the generic (but vaguely 'Fritz' helmeted) combat infantry, with butterscotch, mint and blueberry, fairy-cake, icing hues! I have no idea how many colours there are in ether line, nor - indeed - whether the rich colours of the Ninjas carry over to the soldiers or the pastels vise-versa?

Equally I don't know how many poses there are in either line, although they are numbered sequentially; so this may be 'it'. While the packaging carries the details of Greenbrier and DTSC (for Canada) it carries the logo of Imperial, however the figures are all marked Greenbrier International.

You can also see here just how squidgy they are and - courtesy of the 'Berserker' that they are around the 100mm mark. Many thanks to Brian for sending them.

N is for Ninjamites!

Giveaway premiums across Europe, blind-bagged in Italy I think (ours are in a soft PVC polymer), they were also available in the US in a rigid-plastic as boxed-tray and blister-card sets (see link at end) with glow-in-the-dark paint-highlights.

A small sample, but they are near-deforms, with scale a bit 'loose' (30/35mm) so it's as many as I need, given that the box is now ticked and a few-more will come in with mixed lots in the years to come!

Originating in 1985; I think most of mine were from Mr. Lucky bags in the mid-late 1990's?

Soupie nailed the pose-count and US-side of things here, he also has more links to various other relevant sites.

And no! I have no idea why one of them has six arms! I'll have a guess that it's a bed-bug 'mite' in-joke!

N is for Ninja Fighters

These came in the day after the start of Rack-toy month, courtesy of Peter Evans, made by Tai Sang's RedBox and brought to the UK via those consummate rack-toy importers Grossman - or HGL as they are now branded - and I photographed them the next day; since when they have been stuck in the queue!

A 12th figure is out there somewhere; eleven is an odd set-count! Diminutive at around the 40mm mark, they match a set of similar pirates we looked at last year on TLAPD in silver, which helps ID them in the question-mark department. As RedBox they came originally in a lovely little play-set with atmospheric scenery pieces you can see here about halfway down the post.

Simple, clear China mark; the detail is there under/behind the difficult to discern glossy-black or red plastic and they would paint-up well, if  a little child-like, which is more due to the loose, baggy clothing than any fault with the anatomy . . . arms a bit short; maybe?

Generic card suggests they should be available elsewhere - look for them near you if your 'thing' is ninja fighters!

N is also for Nippon and Nunchuck!

So to a few other Ninja types; most sent to the blog by Mr Burke, many thanks to him and the first lot are the interesting set vis-à-vis this morning's post . . .

. . . as they are 'not quite' copies of the small gum-ball capsule ninjas we saw earlier, only in a larger scale and with adjusted or new poses and as they're being imported by Amscan - a similar company to A&A Global - might possibly be from the same source as the diminutive ones.

It's not terribly clear but they are definitely larger and not quite the same, although colours are similar, material looks to be the same (PVC or its modern equivalent) and the childlike, slightly 'deform' sculpting is in the same style as the small ones in the preceding post.

'Terranova' also sent these shots back in February, of resin Kung Fu practitioners, for sale in a gift shop and clearly based on the inimitable Brice Lee and in three sizes - the larger as 'paint-your owns' (like Bendy Toys; another new but recurring trope here on Small Scale World!); the smaller two sizes seeming to be 54- and around 60mm's?

The smallest - titled 'Kung Fu Man' - also appearing to have a wider range of poses and to be the better painted, although the painted version of the large figures (hiding behind the two unpainted ones) is a second pose in that scale, so there should be more?

Mr B also took a couple of close-ups of the nicer figures and you can't complain at three-dollars-fifty can you? These resin figures need to be purchased (or shelfied!) as soon as you see them as they are nearly always limited quantity production runs, due to the rapid degradation of the air-setting rubber, silicon or latex moulds, and with no obvious maker (WCP?) on the price label; they're off for a - probably - long stay on the 'Unknown' dongle!

Brian also sent these - carried by the 'usual suspects'; Greenbrier/DTSC - they would appear to be a continuation of the large Firefighters and GI's I bought a couple of years ago from - the now defunct - 99p Stores under - I think - PMS International's label? Brian's sent shelfies of those giant soldiers too - in new packaging - but they're for another day. These will be 4-inch, polyethylene figures, and one expects all four to turn-up in both colours.

We've seen firefighters, GI's and superhero types of these before too; mostly also from the Blog's New York agent and like those, these are that odd thing; Action Figure types which aren't really action figures due to the limited number of points of articulation, more like the old knock-off Action Men/GI Joes'.

These are also from Terranova, but have been sat in the older folder for a while now (over a year!) waiting for a suitable post; such as this one! But they ARE Ninjas! They will be in a dense polystyrene or polypropylene and come with rather over-decorated Ninja-type weapons/accessories.

Rounding-off the day with a dice-rattling lump of styrene; I've had two more lots of those Gogo Crazy Bones come in recently and so two posts are in the pipeline, but one of them is Ninja-like enough to close today's look at Ninjas! He may be more 'Kamikaze' than true 'Ninja' though?

And that's covered most of the main scales, several figure-types and all the major polymers in one post - Thanks Brain/Terra!

N is for Ninja and New Game

Brian B (Terranova) sent me a bunch of images the other day and I thought; "Ooh, I know what they are, I'll dig mine out and put them together in a post", however, when I dug mine out . . . they were different! Hey Ho! So we will see Terra's later today, after first looking at what would appear to be the donor-sculpts!

These are they. This commercial image is from an old Amazon sales site which I tried to take advantage of, only to find they didn't ship outside the 'States; which makes you wonder A) what's the point of an 'Internet' if it's not actually integrated? And B) what's the point of all these clever algorithms if they can't tell when not to show an ad' or search-result in a zone where it's invalid?

Anyway; as I remember it - it was a year or three ago now - they were basically selling a gum-ball restock bag of them (about 25/30 or maybe 50/60 I can't recall?) or shop-stock box (the packaging wasn't shown) as 'party favours', bulk, for less than the price of a coffee at Starbucks! Lesson - if it's too good to be true - it usually is!

They are more commonly found associated with importer's A&A Global International who import rack toys and supply vendors with gum-ball machine refills.

My 'current sample' (as at January 2016) is not the largest, I'm missing the guy with the short sword and have a limited colour-set - I hope I have a few more in storage (I think, or I should have - they may be too modern?) with some of the other colours &etc.

There are six poses in total and they come in a wide range of colours, in what seems to have been at least two major production tranches, the above two images are the most recent issue and may still be current in a party or joke shop near you . . . or your local gum-ball capsule machine!

Quick comparison shot - Redbox on the left and an unknown probably also a capsule/gum-ball 'thingy' in the middle (similar to but not Panosh; possibly carried - undecorated - by Toy Smith?), with one of the A&A Global's on the right.

These - heavily cropped images from feebleBay - are from gum-ball machine insert/window cards and are all marked A&A Global. In the middle you can see the earlier tranche was in more 'girly' or pastel colour-ways. However - recently, they have been copied in a size better suited to large scale collectors, and it is those Brian sent to the Blog and which I will post this afternoon, with other Ninja-related stuff.

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I have a new time-wasting game! Two of the above images were loaded on the blog two years ago (in the big January 'up-at-the-library' posting I mentioned at the time) and I never got round to editing the text, needing to find them on the dongles to sort this post out I searched for them and it turns out the camera recycles the four figures codes; well, it would have to with a four-digit limit, wouldn't it! But it's not something I'd ever needed to give any thought to! And it appears I have taken (or 'kept' - around 2/3rds of every photo-shoot get deleted) no less than four 7012's!

And - random as they are - they manage to cover almost everything plastic;

Large and small scale; ethylene, polystyrene and PVC; civilian and military; figures and vehicles; historical, modern, and sports; big toys, rack toys, capsule toys and cake decorations; friction-motorised; painted, unpainted and transfers; branded and unbranded, there's even a hint of accessory/scenery with the goal posts . . . but weirdly - they are all Hong Kong/China!

A Number picked at random - New Game!