M is for May Visit - TV, Fantasy and Sci-Fi

So, to the last of the plunder I picked-up in May, and it's all the less than realistic or historical stuff, with a little bit of everything!

 

Another Weetos cereal premium, I seem - over the last few years - to have gone from waiting for the full set in any colour to how many do I have in all colours?! A knock-off MPC and a rocket which might be a missile from a big-box set?

 

Four Phidal 'Busy Book' superheroes, or villains, I already have the second from the left, but without the freezy-fronds, and it was the Archer which kicked that particular odyssey off, back in 2017!

 

Christmas cracker angel, I have quite the orchestra now! Unicorn's were Unique or The Works I think? A Battle Beast sans weapons, often the way, but I do have spares bags of odd action-figure sized accessories, so there will be a mating-up session one day. And a Gem putti/Eros/Cupid cake decoration.

 

Those generic superheroes again, I did find their post the other day, with help from Brian we'd ID'd them one side of The Pond at least as both 'Aircraft Warrior' (JPW I think), or Warrior Super Fighters (as a generic), but - in both cases - sans these little companion figures (here missing the blue one),

 

A vinyl-rubber modern Santa, and an older styrene one, the latter sold as a cake decoration, the newer, probably as part of an eraser set? Soon be Christmas . . . again!

 

Elves or children? Obviously from a board game, and they seem to be moving on tippy-toe, and shushing, with their finger, so maybe they are night-caps, and it's a bedtime game?

 

I thought this was one of the Gormity figures from Ideal we saw, in some shelfies a year or two ago, but they were gunmetal and different poses, so he's still a mystery, and a chunky one!

 

Ben 10 on the left, prbably the green one too, and maybe the chap with a red shirt, I think the last one is Star Wars? While the gezzer in the middle looks like a Disney Princess type knock-off, some kind of price or suitor?

 

Two Mighty Morphin's, Micro Machine on the left, unknown mini on the right.

 

Two of the Hing Fat 'Galaxy Cowboys'. 

 

A mixed lot, with a rack-toy Ninja, Iwako eraser bear, Toy Story's 'Combat Carl' from Phidal, slightly damaged, poured-resin ceremonial bear (needs it's pole-crown replaced), a Munch Bunch banana, and what is, I think, Jess the cat from Postman Pat?

 

UFO with little Aliens, I actually saw these in the store on a more recent visit to Peter, and I can't, for the life of me, recall if they were drowning in slime, or surrounded with candies, but it was one or 'tother? Green or purple, and they are in that stiff but softish synthetic rubber/PVC replacement elastomer, while the saucer is a bog-standard 'styrene. Note they have charm-loops but no chains.

 

Many thanks as always to Peter for most of these, I got the Phidal's and the game pieces from the Toy project I think, he found everything else.

H is for How They Come In - Week 18 - 4 Sci-fi, Fantasy and TV/Movie-related

We'll start with the Robots in deference to the recent passing of Florian Schneider (we are not the Robots, but you were!) and because I listed Sci-fi first!

They are in many respects (colour, plastic type, sculpting style etc . . .) similar to the Arco Robots, but are clearly NOT the Arco Robots! They have a cavity in their backs which has what appears to be a mounting spigot for something, but no 'somethings' came with them, which in a sample of such numbers you'd expect; if only one, so it may have something to do with the way they were sold, a secondary function (attached to a bigger 'thing' or part of the production process?

Also, as is always the case with these autograndizedmecha's I have no idea if they represent any known license, or which set of characters they might be if they do?

 

Now known to be Bi-Tron rack-toys, issued by Pikit in the UK and probably Gordy International in the USA, they come with a 'space' helicopter/lifting body thing and various micro-armour multi-wheeled AFV's, who's turrets probably go in the holes on the backs of the Mecha's/giant battle-suits, there's also an articulated recovery platform which seems to be lifted from Takara-Tomy's Votom range, seen here at Small Scale World passim.

These are the best! Believe it or not, they are bendies! I have a small bendy bear which I thought was as small as they could get, but these are teeny-tiny bendy! All given three blobs of black paint they cover quite a range with another autograndizedmecha, a more conventional R2BenD robot microwave and home-entertainment system, and a clown! Bargain! Absolute, total, bloody-bargain!

This is interesting; it appears to be a modern dense polyethylene/polypropylene re-issue of one of the old Post cereal-premium bird-men, themselves downsized from the Lido captain video figures we've looked at before?

Given the way old novelty and premium moulds seem to have migrated to South- or Spanish America over the years, I'm guessing it's from there, but it could be French . . . maybe, or a China-made gum-ball machine capsule-prize? Lovely thing to receive in the post, for free!

More conventional territory here, with two bug-eyed 'Martians' and a couple of astronauts, the three to the left being Matchbox Mega-Rigs, the chap to the right being the unknown, like Wing Mau but smaller chap we've seen before, he differs from that example in having a numeral '1' on his base suggesting cavity codes, not pose numbers?

I first sorted this into the animal pile as a nice-looking humming-bird, but a closer look revealed saddlery! When I raised it with Chris, he managed to find some on feeBay and ten minutes later we had this link and the knowledge that they were McDonald's 'Happy Meal' premiums for Epic.

Seems to have been a good film, but swallowed-up by a couple of other blockbusters that summer (2013) and rather forgotten, I'd never heard of it; but I'm gonna' find it on DVD!

Three bits of fun; a Crater Critter from R&L, a gum-ball lion with charm/key-ring loop, I had a loopless one, so that's a useful upgrade and a flocked rabbit, blowing a raspberry, who can stand-up or up-stand! I love this stuff!

A mix of  . . . probably . . . Pokemon and/or Gormiti and/or Exogini and/or Ben10 &etc? It's impossible to follow all these with everything else going on, but there are plenty of sites carrying the information/data, for when it does all need to be sorted for 'proper'! Obviously; a robot dog with a kukri for a tail . . . IS a bit special!

Again, thanks to Chris for all we've seen in the last four posts, there is one item to come in a separate post, but there was plenty more than we've seen just-now, and it will all be sorted away and come back as full sets or in thematic posts months or even years from now as the Blog's still only a few % into the total of 'all-everything' figural!

P is for Premiums

There have never been so many premiums around as there are now, they fill the gap left by the old 1960’s Hong Kong rack toys, or 1970’s Lucky Bags, so here is not so much a round-up, as just a quick over-view of some of the toys currently available.


Corinthian are responsible for several of the current crop, as well as Ben10 (which has totally escaped me, something on TV I think…shows my age!) and the Gormiti (Below) they are producing Zoo’s, Pets, Marine Animals and other “…in my pocket” toys, the brand-name originally produced/issued by a MEG/Kellogg’s/Matchbox consortium in the mid-late 1980’s as larger single colour or ‘dab-painted figurines around 40mm in a rubberized vinyl material.

These are around 50mm, in harder vinyl and follow the trend started by Galoob and Co. in the 90’s. The packaging talks of larger sets with more figures per box, I haven’t seen any so I’m guessing Toy Chains like The Entertainer or the ubiquitous Toys’R’Us?

The Gormiti have the added ‘bonus’ figures in unpainted gold or silver and being smaller (25mm – ideal for role-playing) come two per the smallest container. Like the Ben10 you get a small bag of cheap, undersized jelly-beans and a leaflet with some of the others in the range.

Zeta (Barcelona), Zàini (Milan) and a third company beginning with Z which I can’t find right now (all from Spain and probably all the same firm) have aimed at the Kinder market, with cheap toys from China in the Christmas Cracker mould, sometimes rip-off or direct copies of Giodi or Res Plastics (both Italy) or Bruder (Germany) products.

The subject of the egg (or other object, the ‘other Z’ did hollow-chocolate Bears a few years ago) has no relationship to the contents as you can see from the jet-fighter that came from this ‘Flintstones’ egg! Pink Princess gift-eggs were in Poundstreacher a year or so ago, probably the same set-up?

The current set of Lego point-of-sale collectables, in the style of trading cards, Character Options are fighting back with a Dr. Who set, the Dalek for which I have added to the ever-lengthening Dalek post, while an overview of construction-block figures has gone on the Other Collectables blog. And I mean ‘Fighting Back’, there’s been a ‘Free-Figure!’ war in the red-tops for a week or a few now!

Not illustrated here today are a set of Superhero eggs with 30mm hard styrene figures currently doing the rounds of local shops, and the endless out-put of Tomy in their shopping-mall dispensers…no chocolate with those but they’re the cheapest at a pound a shot!