B is for Big Box of Bounty - Sci-Fi, Cartoon, TV & Movie

And, so, sadly, we reach the end of the Chris's parcel plunder posts, with some very interesting or useful stuff, and some oddities, along with best in box, which might surprise some, but not those who 'get' me! It's all the fictional or funny stuff today!

 

Power Rangers - I think the two micro-vehicles are Micromachines, along with the Putty Patroller, while the smaller articulated chap (in the style of Polly Pocket or Action Fleet) is still unknown to me, although there are some in the bags we didn't look at in this past post, possibly Playmates, or someone like that? While the Black Ranger is from those key-ring capsule toys.

 

These are fascinating, probably from a generic rack-toy, they are somewhere between the Gordy-Pikit rack-toy Bi-Trons and more formal toy transformer types, two points of articulation at the shoulders, and frontal tampo-printing in silver and gold, I'll be looking out for their set on evilBay!

 

Similar fayre; a larger PVC-alike, marked-up to DIC Productions, Playmates and Tsurubaya, so 'Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad', and again articulated only at the shoulders, and a smaller robot, missing a foot (could have one in the spares somewhere, from non-branded versions, or a similar Kinder type plug-together?).

 

The 'Free Comic Day' over-print is referencing an extant 'thing', the next date, is this coming May (2026), so I guess this was a promotional or freebie associated with that event, in the past. The event seems to be active in the UK, but the outfit behind it is based in the USA.

 

A fine selection of Manzingers, Grandizers, Transformers and/or Decepticons . . . or other things entirely! On the left is a stamper, with the design on it's base underside, at the back are two of the pencil-tops, which may form the follow-up to this post, while in front are two of the little mini's issued in the US by Ace Acme, but probably found over here as either capsule toys in gum-ball machines, or Christmas cracker prizes?

 

While the pair to the right are more traditional Keshi, with one 'proper' marked one (in the flesh-pink polymer), fully deformed, and one bootleg, almost certainly from gum-ball capsules, in blue.

 

OK, so, best in box! But first, the others . . . Three at the back may be from a short-lived toy line called Battle of the Planets (?) or something similar, each fold-open planet came with a handful of aliens associated with it, then we have two role-playing war games figures, one marked Grenadier (on the left) and numbered A 588, which I just cannot find on the Lost Mini's Wiki? The other, half-painted, looking like Minifigs? To their right are two marked Mega Bloks, from a line which has escaped me; I know of the little submariner figures, but these are fully-based stand-alone space/alien types?

 

Which leaves the two little 18/20mm blobs! BEST IN BOX! Against all the other contenders (the four sailors, the putty-coloured guy with the charm-loop, the lovely Napoleon on horseback, the two kneeling khaki infantry . . . ), and the reason is this;

 

I have two already, although I didn't realise it. I have one similar to the red one here, which is in the unknown GI's, as a presumed 1 or 2 cent/pence gum-ball prize, and I have a more obvious female space figure in pink, which is halfway down this page, and kept in the unknown space zone, now I know they go together, and there's more to find!

 

With a robot type and another GI 'space marine' here, I now have four in three or four poses (my blue one may be the same as this red one?)! Does anyone else know anything about them, have you got a bigger sample? They are all very clean, so maybe not that old, but I've had mine for over thirty years? Again, possibly cracker novelties over here, and maybe the small tree-crackers, at that?

 

I thought the finger-puppet was a new, fourth pose, but it's a duplicate, so may be a candidate for future painting, and I had hoped to have a fourth pose in the follow-up, as I found one in gold-paint, days before Chris's parcel arrived, but can I find it again? Can I hell, I'm sure it's in Picasa somewhere, and I've poured over the dozen or so folders it should be in, but I can't find it again, so it'll have to wait!

 

The dull yellow one is a Pokémon I think, and was found towing the French wagon when I opened the box, I have no idea on the bright yellow chap, who's been rather washed-out by the flash (Ben 10?), and the other has been seen before, here at Small Scale World, and is a rubber-jiggler, best described as a duck-billed platterpenguin! He wouldn't stand up!

 

Marked Bandai, I know nothing else about the gold winged chap, the robot is from the Buck Rogers eraser set, through which, upon Blogging here a while ago, we realised Bushy the Coppice really had started his counter-blogging nonsense!

 

The tall guy, looking a little like Moorcock's hero Elric of Melniboné (in a blazer!)  is probably a relatively recent Gashapon figure of some Japanese TV 'anime'? While the figure on the ground is . . . 

 

. . . looking like a Star Wars knock-off of Princess Leia? She's either a poorly-moulded short-shot, or another of the sand-washed beach finds, I think that Deetail Arab, in an earlier post, was, and she may go with that set of green knock-offs which were posted around the Internet about 15-years ago; were they South American, or Japanese?

 

Cartoony bits include a Jolly Jumper, faithful mount of Lucky Luke, most of a Gantoy knock-off of Muffin the Mule, missing his nodding head, he's a first sample, so stays! The weird doll-thing is looked-at below, while the pig is from one of those pre-Kinder, Hong Kong, novelty animal families.

 

We've looked at the rabbit as a teaching aid, and the orange-red blob is a Mini Bogglin, there's actually a huge bag of them in the stash somewhere, so they will get a proper post one day, but it's not a priority here!

 

This 'doll', I've seen before, that chap who was doing the beach-combing displays of polymer-shite washed up in the West Country had one, less this weird one-piece, clip-over, romper-suit, like this one his was missing its head, so your guess is as good as mine, but numerous enough to be known by some - are you one of them?

 

Manta Force from Bluebird Toys, figures and robots, I think these are the 'bots attached to the sides of one of the larger toys in the range, as they are mostly missing their bottoms (tracked units), as they were interchangeable, in that larger set.

 

Two seasonal house-burglars and a Kinder gnome, I think the one on the left is all new to me/collection, not sure on the gnome, it was a multi-issue line which ran for several years (most of a decade?), so there are a lot to find, and I do have lots about the place, but I haven't brought them all together, or compared them to the Sammler Katalog's, yet!

 

Two Matchbox, late production (Universal) on the left, a Bluebird Havok needing a base on the right, and one of those odd rack-toy 'Walker' pilots we've seen here, along with a Dr. Who viral robot 'Cybermat', actually in a much larger scale, but useful!

 

Two characters from Pif Gadget, the French kid's comic, here manufactured by Brabo, but similar figures were issued by others including Yolanda, a Micky Mouse pencil top and a Donald who looks to be almost certainly Xandria from the Netherlands? He's seen better days and all four could use a clean, but a sample is a sample!

 

Many, many thanks to Chris for all this autumn's fine plunder, he doens't have to do this, and it does all provide answers (the 'Best in Box' for instance) as well as new questions, and with so much to find, it's only the help I get from Chris, Peter, Trevor, John, Adrian, Gareth and co., which helps us all, to get to that ultimate bigger picture.

L is for Lots of London Loot - Sandown February - Space & Pop Culture

So, I would seem to be catching up with the stuff that's come in over the last ten months or so, and the Sandown Park show, just gone, produced quite a collection of bits and bobs across scales, types and genres for the stash, this post is what I'd normally call the Space and TV, but they weren't TV first, being corporate mascot and comic characters!

 

I have quite a few Bibendums, and we have seen him here before, but this is far more animated than the usual standing types. Quite large and a modern PVC-substitute, I'm sure it's a pretty contemporary promotional piece?

 

Slightly futuristic lines to these dime-store pieces, the car and caravan being more conventional, and marked ACME, one of the trading names of Thomas Toys in the US, I think the truck is unmarked, but I'm sure it'll be in Bill Hanlon's book? Looks like a simplified copy of Archer's 'Future Cars' sculpt?

 

Adrian had saved these two Cherilea / Hilco's for me, the standing guy has a damaged weapon, but they both have their correct helmets and put my squad, much enhanced with superglue up to about ten, with most complete, but all short on helmets!

 

Bully Lucky Luke figures, the eponymous hero, his horse Jolly Jumper and his dog, Ratanplan, these are soft PVC and scale well with the Comansi/bubble-gum premium ones seen here before.

 

The Dalton Brothers, from the left; Averell, Jack, William and Joe, also Lucky Luke characters, these are in a hard, possibly phenolic plastic, or early 'styrene, from JIM in France, and are in a larger scale.

 

Brabo bendy toy! Larger again, and manufactured in that slightly sweaty PVC, some Hong Kong makers used/favoured at times, but only to a slight shininess, not the full-on weeping stickiness of some old toys from the colony!

 

Mixed, larger-scale space figures with two of the Marx metallic blue ones, a Tudor Rose (marked) licensed copy/mould swap of Premier's pulp spaceman waving pistol and a - probably - 1970's PVC gum-ball, capsule-machine robot.

 

Three of the LB (for Lik Be) copies, I couldn't remember which ones I already had, so just grabbed all three against the possibility I might still need some poses, which may be among this trio, and because paint was quite good, except the bases!

 

We've seen them before, and now attributed them to two names, Toyway and the original GLJ, with packaging, so I thought we should see them from the back! I got excited as I thought I'd 'found' a fourth pose, but we've actually seen them all before!

 

These have been a steady stream-in, over the last few years, Italy's sub-scale copies, titled Space Legion (Legione Epaziale), from little pocket-money cards, again copied, but from Archer as well as the Premier biggies. I like the marbling, it gives each figure a certain character or uniqueness!

 

These are the Giant sub-copies I called 'Copy 2' here, and while the most common of the four types so far found, this particular batch is a late-production run, with a lot of heat-shrinkage dwarfism! They are also, mostly, in a darker gunmetal than the usual samples? You can spot the three more common silvery ones among them, and they are guarding two valuable dome-helmets (Archer / Glenco and Britains?) for the spares box!

A is for AaaaHaaa! Once you know what you're looking for . . . .

Someone in France has a shed-load of these, but there was one in the UK with a fiver on it, and I was paid on Friday, and the parcel was at the old house when I dropped off the recycling, on my way to work, so I've just shot/scanned this little beauty!

These are boxed and have a B prefix to their codes, so I suspect the others had a W prefix for 'window pack', and another look at the logo reveals it's probably CWT or WTC?, these lack the painted details of the others, so may have been later, or a budget line, and I think are the sort of thing you might have found as fair-ground side-show prizes - hook-the-duck, hoopla or the coconut shy?

 

Properly set up, and in fact both her hands were blocked with PVC-paint, so you have to force them, but it was an easy job. Accessories in white this time, but the drumsticks are green as last time. The French lot were mostly white too.

 

Box art and codes, still only the six instruments/one pose, but we now have more colours hinted at, while the French lots include the mustard yellow, we're still looking for red and pink, and a darker blue than the lot the other day.

 

To fill the post, I think we've seen these all before, but these are the bendies which have come in over the last few months, including the Brabo-marked soldier, and possibly the first bendy ever, the 'Little Rubber Man' who's clearly a Witch? The smoking dog came from Chris Smith and is one of a series of smoking dogs! The two littlies I can't remember, one's a Mickey Mouse knock-off, the other a small, daft-looking dragon type.

H is for How They Come In - June 2021 - 3 - Chris

I bought something off Chris in June, possibly one of the items in the previous post, and although he'd sent me a big parcel a few weeks earlier, also included these with the purchace.

All sorts, of which the highlight is probably the three Wild West (top of picture) which look Polish (bases) but are probably French 'bazaar' figures, but not common ones? The flocked donkey next to them is cool, he's a mini blow-mould under the fur! The pale-jade French firefighter is probably another bazaar figure, while we had two paratroopers and a . . . in a minute on that one!

A small group of margarine premiums (top left) balance a similar sample of Commonwealth 'world dolls' except these are the later sub-piracies. And speaking of pirates; the big brown fellah is a Brabo 'Parafool' missing his chute-loop and waving a short-short cutlass! Various cake decorations and mini's can also be seen, along with an oversized copy of one of  Arco's smaller sized Rambo figures and a nice pile of Kinder bits (bottom right).

That other figure - he might be a parachute toy, but I suspect - from the locating studs on his hands - that he is a swinger, spinner or revolver! He's some kind of superhero, with a possible sun-motif on his chest, but it could just be a runner gate-mark or release-pin blemish.

I asked the chaps and chapesses on Brian Heiler's Faceplant group if anyone knew, but apart from a suggestion he might be a "...Palmer Scuba Diver figure or VooDoo", both of which drew a blank, there cameth-forth an answer none, so if you can help? He's also a bit 1950's pulp, rather than '70's Marvel/DC?

Cheers, as always to Chris Smith, for the bag of bits, all really appreciated.

T is for Two - Sandy Whiskered Gentlemen!

Anthropomorphic cartoon foxes to be exact; courtesy of Peter Evans recent parcel, both new to me, neither from Miss Potter and both PVC, one Euro-squidgy soft PVC, the other a denser Hong Kong type.

I'm guessing, nay; 'assuming' (for the second time today!) these are a French kids TV thing from . . . probably the 1970's? Le (or is it La) Renard Something . . . Something Renard? If it wasn't for the tail you'd be excused for thinking he was supposed to be one of the Three Little Pigs! Editions de Vaileant is presumably the TV production company or IP-rights holder? Is he an early PiF character?

And Brabo rang a bell . . . we looked at modern capsule toys from a Brabo coming out of Belgium, working with a/as CBG, importing trolls and stretchy smiley's, so a Henbrandt type novelty importer/jobber who have - clearly - been around for a while; if it’s the same Brabo? They'll share a tag until I know different!

There's another Brabo in the Archive, which I now suspect is the same 'novelty' specialising outfit, credited with the above bendy toy footballer, soldier, dragon and Native American with bow in the style of my older Pink Panther - really long arms and legs.

Upon loading the article - It's all the same company all-right! Funnily enough I have that mini-French (Belgian?) sailor somewhere! And . . . still going!

Richard Scarry, a name I know from my childhood, we didn't have any but a friend of ours with US relatives had several books by him/about the animals 'world', a sort of anthropomorphic Seattle with nearby/attendant rural stuff, so I guess it's a US thing pre-dating or running alongside Sesame Street?

If I remember rightly (and I have fond if vague memories of them - lots of ginger-&-white cats in overalls?) one of the works was a simple alphabet primer with predominantly pictures, while the other was larger with more text and done more like a fairy-tale book, with proper stories? There may have been smaller, sort-form books too, like Mr. Men/Little Miss books?

This is a much better fox and the joke - of course - is that he's in a 'hunting pink' jacket! Don't mess with the Mayor; he might have rabies! The figurine is manufactured for Playskool out of Hong Kong. Mayor Fox . . . Fox Mayor?

Two excellent foxes to chat with the Phidal Beatrix Potter chap we saw recently here and the large-scale Tinykins-likey I think we've also seen here - thank you Mr Evans, both charming, even if one of them does look a bit like a piggy-wig!

Google Confirms!

G is for Gift Eggs and Capsule Toys - Part II - Current or Recent

This would have been 'the last three weeks if I hadn't just lost two weeks to real life crap AND tonsillitis? At fifty-effing-one...what's that all about? The UN's 2011-declared planet-wide carcinogenic atmosphere, that's what!

Anyway penicillin's kicked-in and these are from late May-early June now, so all still findable!

£1 gum-ball machines (no chocolate!) at the moment, from Tarco International and of the choice, I got the one I'd have most wanted, first shot! It's (robots don't have a sex...not even sex-robots!) around 54mm compatible so I might try and get another for a UNIT dio/vignette with some Deetail or Airfix para's, although; with only 6 in the set it would be worth trying to get the set, I don't know how the maths works out on a random pull, but it'll be maybe as few as 11 purchases?

The others look to be more 30mm size wise, and the Tardis would join a growing collection of small-scale police telephone boxes! From the fact that the K-9 is 'exclusive' suggests the other five have been available previously or elsewhere, it's a very nice little model anyway.

Mimi is slowly collecting these and the first 6 had no duplicates (a baby Rottweiler has been added since the photo-shoot), they are also in sans-chocolate £1 machines, but it states they are series III and I haven't noticed series's one and two anywhere?

Imported by Idea Vending, an outfit called A&A Global Industries seems to be the master behind the throne, and they go quite well with the current Schleich puppies, size-wise.

Back to Zàini and chocolate; these are available about the place (One-stop convenience-store for this actual one) and again I was lucky to get one of the more useful figures, as again there are half-heads looped as charms and some less useful figures!

I feel this is my reward for getting through a Christmas day round my Brother's where small relatives had a doll which played the Frozen theme on an eight-second loop endlessly...and if you tried to sabotage the thing it switched to Spanish until the little ones used tech-magic to 'reduce' the torture back to English!

We looked at the Fravend Alien in a new production round-up a while ago, and I've since found a traditional yellow 'smiley' and this blue one and stuck them in the archive without testing them to destruction like the first green one!

And from the same machines we have that old 1960's perennial; Trolls, the licence is held by Russ Berrie, I suspect these via Brabo-CBG of Belgium are not sending many royalties back to East Rutherford, Nujoisey! Both these are in 40p machines (definitely no chocolate!), or were they 20p? I'll check next time I do the rounds!