About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.
Showing posts with label Ancient Rome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ancient Rome. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2026

A is for Ancient Archaic Antagonists of Antiquity!

Into the final furlong as far as the 2026 Plastic Warrior Toy Soldier Show plunder and loot is concerned, and I've split this lot into ancient and medieval posts, with the older soldiers first!
 

So, we'll go back 3000-odd years, to the siege of Troy, a probably real event, heavily fictionalised, the facts lost to national and region mythology, and the demented whitterings of priests, or bards, or priest's bards, no doubt, and thanks to Matt at Hobby Bunker, who brought these over.
 
I'd actually bought three other sets from him, either at last years show, or at the London Show in December (?), either way, I forgot to shoot them, and knowing these two were still to be found, never got around to it, but in all there are five sets of 'Troy' era figures, these two, and the sets:
  • LOD 015 - The Amazons
  • Figure Set #1 - The War at Troy - Commemorative Set, Ten Years of LOD
  • Figure Set #19 - Amazons, Aeneas and Ajax
And the aim now is to open them all, and have a decent photo-shoot of all the pre-classical Greek sets from LOD, my first by them, and probably my last, just because I'm not doing the post 1990 stuff in the larger scales, there is tons of it, other people are collecting it, other sources are annotating it, and I haven't got the room, or budget for it, with so much vintage still to be found, but I do like ancient Greeks!
 

Similar point of discussion with these Supreme sets, I buy them as box-tickers when I see them cheap, we've done the Knights - of all types - to death, here at Small Scale World, and looked at the Romans, Crusaders, and was it the Vikings? I think we've seen three of these now, and while I haven't tracked down the Arabs/Saracens, one of their camels is in the Egyptian set above, and these both have one each of the two common horse poses.
 
Interestingly, the Greek looking commander figure and archer sculpts, usually smaller, from some of the medieval sets, aren't actually included in the pose-count for the Alexander set! But with their segmented-armour, knee-pads they'd look a bit silly, or even sillier than normal!
 
Unknown, probably still on Amazon if I look hard enough, and marked 'CHINA', I'm not sure if they are supposed to be cavemen, predating Troy by about 500,000-years (give or take a few 100,000), or 19th-20th century Zulu warriors, but they are fun, and were in one of the donations I think, so basically free, to share with you and tick the box! AND . . . they're not that bad, as sculpts, but the axe is a bit OTT, and the lady isn't going to be doing much damage with that hand-trident!
 
Two lovely sculpts, both purchases, the Athena is probably not that rare, being a tourist souvenir, but he joins a foot one we saw years ago, while the Nardi is quite a bit less common, and you can tell I really like them - multiple shots; gotta' do them justice!
 
Despite being late to the larger scales, as far as collecting goes, there aren't many massive holes or gaps in the UK collection, but this is one, and while I have the Cleopatra somewhere I think, on her chaise-longue/daybed thing, and, you may remember, I picked-up the Sphinx a year or so ago, I don't have many of this double set, half tan-plastic Egyptians, half brown Nubian slaves/captives.
 
And, yes, I know the Nubians were in charge under the Kushite kings, but Cherilea decided to sculpt them in chains, holding fans or cowering! Also, I've really got to get the cheetah and handler. But in the meantime these are a useful addition to a couple of play-worns, and maybe some reissues? I'd forgotten how colourful the series is, too!
 
Roman Gladiators as issued by Quaker Sugar Puffs and Tom Smith Christmas crackers.
 
Lucky Clover and other non-Giant Romano-Greek stuff.
 
Non-Giant Vikings.
 
The small scale stuff, as sorted mostly from Trevor's bag, and the similar early-purchase bag of hollow Hong Kong horse stuff, The Quaker have been done here, the Vikings, gold 'Trojans' and black forts have been covered on the But is it Giant Blog, the rest are pending, but some are covered on the HK Romans page above.!
 
Thanking Adrian Little, Brian Carrick, Colin Penn, Isaac, Matt Murphy, Martin Fahie, Michael Mordant-Smith, Paul, Peter Evans and Trevor Rudkin again, there's a fair bit of their stuff above. 

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

D is for Donation - Peter - Historicals and Ceremonials

Always the sub-heading full of interesting things, the three lots here having the emphasis on ancient and medieval figures, the middle lot, of three tranches, have poor colour I'm afraid, I'm struggling with the setting on this strangely expensive (compared to the previous half dozen) camera!
 
An interesting bunch of contemporary medievals, in that Russo-Livonian style, of slightly oriental armour, and copies of other figures on the market, we're looking at them below, so just enjoy the rich colours of these pocket-money rack-toys!
 
Three very clean examples of the vintage 'Romanised' piracies of Crescent's knights in polystyrene, odd, as Crescent also did their own Romans, who were copied - in polyethylene - by another Hong Kong jobber! I've not given it much thought, but the anachronisms would help, if they were repainted as fantasy figures for 54mm role-play gaming!
 
Knackered flat, Hilco-Phoenix Conquistador, Worlds Apart Egyptian from their Horrible Histories experiment, and a home-coloured (felt tip marker-pen, I think!) Crescent Arab, all toy soldiers, all very different styles/treatments!
 
A couple of Pirate types, the one on the left clearly channelling The Pirates of the Caribbean, and specifically the anthropomorphic crew of Davy Jones ship, he's one of the 'other' pair available with a still extant pirate ship, we saw a pair a few years ago, when I got one of the ships, but some ships (presumably half of them!?) come with another pair, and he's one of them, hopefully the other will turn-up in one of these mixed lots one day - I'm not buying another ship! The other figure, in a nutcracker/toybox style, of semi-Napoleonic, will be from a similar ship, but aimed more at infants/younger kids.
 
Copies of Supreme/Strawberry Group/Tiger Hobbies medievals, we looked at them all in a mini-season on Supreme and associated knights a few years ago (2022's Rack Toy Month), and they are what they are, probably coming via Toy Major.
 
Nice group of the 40mm Landsknechts from Elastolin, not sure how 'original' they are, there are signs of home paint, and some of the same 'kit' parts, we saw with the ACW a couple of days ago, but equally some of it is factory-finish, so some home 'enhancement' going on, a bit of mix and match?
 
An eclectic trio here, with a Crescent for Kellogg's tromboneist, a Christmas tree hanger of a nutcracker, who is small enough to remain in the collection, it's funny I had avoided them, but after the giant ones were hidden in plain sight round Fleet, as part of a local business drive a fair few years ago, the Blogging of which resulted in a few posts on the subject and submissions from New York's Brian B, I started to take the odd small one home with me, and while they are in the pile, rather than the tree decorations, I should probably transfer them from the one to the other, but not before we've collected them all up and done a comparison post!
 
A 60mm Cherilea is the third figure, missing a weapon, his shield will make a useful spare, for my larger sample of these quirky figures, who are an odd favourite of mine, I think it's the charm of their toy-like execution.
 
Resin tourist keepsake, plays Harryhausen's Talos, to a bunch of post-Giant finds and a Quaker mounted gladiator! All very much grist-to-the-mill, and the damaged gold figure is interesting for being an apparent mould-purge between the gold and a dark green.
 
Also, probably Toy Major in origin/supply, and also contemporary (on eBay, Amazon and Alibaba), these are the better quality figures, pirated by those in the first shot, and while 'only' rack-toys, if you don't have good samples of them all in a tub somewhere, you've a missing brick in the wall!
 
Atlantic's nominally HO (closer to OO's 1:72nd scale) Romans, with the Infantry (and marines!) on the runners, and a loose sample of the cavalry, which the Romans rarely employed, and when they did, they didn't look anything like these! Very useful as I purchased a number of empty boxes from the estate of a late friend a while ago, and will be able to marry these up!
 
Thanks again to Peter for several useful loads, of our small plastic friends!

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

I is for It's That Horse Again!

The best thing in the recent pick-up from Peter Evans is this Hong Kong Roman chariot, it's the third iteration, I think, on the Thomas/Poplar theme, but it has very different horses!
 



And they are puke-green! Arranged in the Western Wagon configuration, the figure is the only real connection with the others, seen here previously, although the other HK copy uses the same horses, but the artwork and shape of this chariot is very different.
 
Is it based on one of the earlier lead ones, both the British and the French have some nice slush-cast chariots in the archive? One of the draw-bar connectors is broken, but I think I may have a set of these horses in the unknown horses tub!
 

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

P is for Perfect Plastic!

I don't, as a rule, 'rate' Timpo, Britains, Airfix, Marx, MPC, Starlux or Elastolin, nor the tranche of smaller companies immediately at their heels, simply because they were huge, popular and ran for a while, churning out millions of figures, from, often, ever-changing line-ups.
 
This is not to say I don't enjoy them, or appreciate them, just that it's box-ticking stuff which is all over the internet, in all the books, and the first things to be waded-through on Blogs or forums! Tables often groan under the weight of them at shows!
 
But, I do have a soft spot for the smaller-scale output of Elastolin, Merten and Starlux, so it's always nice to add a few to the master 'samples', and I bought this little lot at Sandown Park the other week, all Elastolin, and all 'clean', with no damage, little or no play-wear, and the correct weapons.
 
Romans
 
Huns versus Rus!
 
 Normans / Anglo-Saxons
 
Medieval

The sculpting of the plastics was a high-point of toy soldier production, although the price of Elastolin was always at a point where the use of the word 'toy' was a moot point! I do have a reasonable sample, indeed, a Journalist, sent to my home many years ago, went through it, and talked me out of one of the better Normans! But they are regularly added to, and one day they'll probably be used to illustrate the A-Z blog-entry, when I get round to it?

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

N is for Not Serious!

A few more toy or figure related funnies, and a couple of cats!
 
I believe this is genuine? But not necessarily a retail thing?
 
Ours were old, fat, bald and tattooed, with their brassy tarts holding the ladders!
 
Sigh!
 
Heehee!
 
Rubber jigglers!
 
Let's make death fun! And phallic!

AI from a couple of years ago - it was poor!
Check-out the white lines, crushed cars and dwarf in a pram! 
 
Real, but I don't know which model village?

F is for Follow-up - Marx Romans

As a follow-up to this original post;
 
 
Reader Patrick Connolly from Canada, got in touch, first to reminisce, then with pictures! And among them is the one still missing from my sample, they are a bit bashed, but they have survived two owners and the best part of nearly seventy years, and it's the personal connection which makes all the difference! So let's have a look . . . 




"Here are pictures of Romans and Vikings. I think there were also Civil War figures. I remember the red shield and plumed guy was called Tiberius - maybe not the emperor."
 


"I remembered the guy with the leather arm and gold and red shield - one that you do not have pictured [on the right in each image, a gladiator?] - but he was not there - so on my last day in Edmonton I looked on the floor behind the shelf and there he was! - so these really were mine at one time."
 
We looked at the Vikings too, here;
 
 
And many thanks to Patrick for this trip down memory lane! Patrick has a web presence, check it out;
 

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

P is for Perfect Polymer Propine - Military

Apparently it's Scottish for 'sacrifice'! Theo, long-time friend of the Blog, has had personal tragedies recently, putting my own firmly into context, as a result of which he divested himself of his collection, but saved a few items of interest for the Blog, which arrived a while ago and have been sat on the laptop waiting for me to get a grip and post them, and, while I'd describe my grip as only tenuous, with many thanks to Theo, I'll try to get them posted over the next few days, interspersing them with a few new-purchase rack toys, to mix it up!
 
These were a real surprise, as they often turn up, but scruffy and weaponless, and usually only two poses, so to get three poses, with weapons and good-to-new paint was a real treat, and they were on top of the parcel, so got shot first!
 
And, these were with them, four different mounted figures in a similar state of near-new! Again, I may have seen the bowman, tatty, a few times but not the others, and like the foot figures, all are based on the Britains Swoppets, but you feel, probably hand-copied rather than anything as accurate as a pantograph?
 
9th Aug. - Peter Evan has suggested ABC for these, they are unmarked but could be, and I've posted a marked one on foot, ages ago, he also pointed out that the mounted legs are from the Herald Agamemnon, and you can see the sandals and greaves!
 
This may be the horse for the above, the other likely candidate would be the Timpo-copy with caparison (as found in the 'States in Ideal playsets), but I think they only have Timpo-copy riders. This one is a scale-down of the big Thomas/Poplar sculpt.
 
These are a useful addition to the Crescent Roman piracies, especially the chap far left and far right, who is one of the three Gladiator poses, and was missing when we looked at them last time, although I have an all-blue HK copy of the pose. It struck me that he would go well with the Charbens ancient set!
 
Marx 'swoppet' GI's, a real treat! I do have one somewhere, and a bag of bits, but there are three complete, here, sans one weapon, a B.A.R. I think, but at some point in the future it's going to enable a single photo of all the possible combinations!
 
An actual Crescent Roman! A damaged Cherilea knight, who may be the basis of a future conversion, he only needs a weapon to replace the missing lance, and one of many French 'bazaar' figures, or at least I think he's French (Koho, thanks to Theo - https://www.lastdodo.nl/nl/areas/4866119-koch-hofmockel-koho), and a bazaar issue, and he'll be sorted into the rest when they all come together, soon I hope, but I've been saying that since 2021!

Nardi and Lone Star, paint is good on both of them, and finding the Lone Star figure with complete spear is getting rarer, one of mine broke after the last photo-shoot, so being sent one and having him survive the postal services of Europe is another treat!
 
Three Cherilea; 54mm, 60mm and, err, gi'huge!
 
Two Tim Mee European issue, a nice Cherilea 60mm swoppet, first version with the separate boots, and four more of the smaller Monogram copies from Hong Kong, which will be filtered into a larger sample of them, for a definitive article one day, we had an interim look at them here;
 
 
with another set looked at here;
 
 
And, it's the large number of variants of these Hong Kong knock-off figures, which makes all samples so useful, toward finding the full story of them, one day!
 
I can never remember who these are by (and I've been told often enough!), with scabards and base markings they are Timpo 1st version, but with plain belts and smooth bases they are . . . Charbens, Speedwell . . . someone like that?
 


Finishing off with a lovely, clean sample of the CMV-marked Hong Kong copies of 'khaki infantry' from old Britains Herald, Lone Star and Crescent sculpts, so clean they look like they were made this morning! Thank you, Theo, sorry it's taken so long to get them posted!