W is for Who's Got The Shoot'ahs?!

I have! A couple of thematically linked purchases on the 5th of the month, and I think they came from two tables next to each other, in that Isaak had one, which he brought over to me, and his friend at the next table had the other when I managed to get over the other side of the hall!

 

Parashoot . . . geddit! Already added to the parachute page, this is one of the common blow-mould parachutists, given a bit of a prosthetic, up the jacksie! There was already a shot there, and this is a bit sun-faded, but it'll help with future comparisons or overviews elsewhere!

 

While this has no parachute, but neither does it have targets or an obvious scoring system, so it sits halfway between the other shooting sets. The tip of the blow-moulded rocket comes off, but there was no obvious place for "harmless caps", so I'm guessing the cap goes at the other end, and is fired by the launching plunger, but I didn't think to look, and it's now up an the storage unit.

 

The polystyrene gun is damaged and will need glueing one day, but it perfectly illustrates how frangible, and ephemeral some of this stuff was, and why Mum banned us from having it . . . 'No, why don't you get some more Airfix soldiers, not that rubbish!'

A is for Autumn Assortment - Gift Fair

Peter Evans, roving reporter in London, roved to Birmingham for the Autumn Gift fair, which I had hoped to attend, but Space, Time and Nathaniel waits for no man, and it wasn't going to happen, still, we do have these from Peter;

 

Possibly a bit big for war gaming, but in the garden the rules can change, they're only counters, when all's said and done! No figures though!

Variation on a theme, I don't think we've seen the packaging before, but we have seen the figures now, the ones with 'vignette' bases.

 

Kawong is a new name, so a new Tag! The stuff looks similar to the New Ray stuff (next shot), so fans of modern farm equipemnt can have a field day . . . field? Geddit? I'll get me coat . . . 

 

Just mentioned.

 

Dinosaurs, it seems you get a window-visible realistic dinosaur, and a dig-for-it skeleton, to match whichever Dino' is in the specific bag?

 

I think we've seen these before, but you can't have too many images of things!

All the above look to be from Padgett Brothers (A-to-Z) 

 

Definitely seen these before, I think several times, Tobar, House of Marbles and others, but we like a bit of paratrooper action here at Small Scale World!

 

Gotta get me one of these, preferably a Hugh? You don't always find a Hugh in these pre-personalised sets, but any company which does Anna and Annabelle, Ben and Benjamin, must surely do a Hugh? Also, note one of each colour are supplied with a blank lable (top of display), so you can write what you like - "Kiss my shiny metal arse"!

 

A Japanese merchandise store had a full range of Gashapon, including those which can be presented as Christmas baubles for placing on a tree (lower shot), although Peter noted "unfortunately, no Samurai". And many thanks to Peter for sending these over to the Blog.

A is for Autumn Assortment - Local

A few shelfies which were meant for Rack Toy Month, but missed it, as I had other stuff to post and ran out of month! And it's off to B&M for the first two, shot in June and July respectively, so availability may be dodgy now, they have quite a quick turnover on some stuff.

 

Somewhere between 25 and 54mm compatible, but I thought they’d be of interest to some, maybe for garden war-gaming, or as 'Market Garden' OP's! Shot at the end of June, this year.

 

A month later and I left these on the shelves, they were twelve-quid plus, for not a lot, and most of it slime or plaster? The skeletons will appear in mixed lots over time, and if they were in the 'dig' eggs, what was in the slime . . . four instantly rejectable novelty lumps of something?

 

These next four were shot the other week, in two garden centres and all should still be out there? These look like they come from the same factory as those glasslike resin Kodama we saw a few years ago;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2024/02/l-is-for-lets-ave-some-more.html

 

And, while 'mere' mini rubber ducks, a definite sub-branch of collecting!

 

In the same garden centre I saw these figural lip-balm tops, sadly the shot didn't take, but I failed to realise at the time! Again, not something I'm going to fill my pockets with, but nevertheless, they may well turn-up in mixed lots of figures in the years to come?

 

Legami are becoming  a regular here, and these seem to me to be a complete waste of human endeavour and resource. They 'protect' a couple of centimetres of a much longer cable, so protect nothing, and if fitted as shown, will only pull on the connection between USB and device?

 

Also Legami, and while I think we've seen several Sloths or Pandas as shelfies or actual collection entrants, I don't know if Koalas have featured yet? Both the last two were shot in Haskins near Alice Holt, not sure about the other two . . . possibly a Squires garden centre?

 

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PS - My reading list hasn't updated for at least 72-hours, and my link-list on the visible Blog, hasn't updated for over 24-hours, so you may have posted really interesting stuff, but I haven't a clue, something which has been getting worse for a few weeks now?! And with problems uploading images, recognised on the forums (reduce the size of the edit window, and drag-&-drop), it's clear Google is tinkering in the background, not in a nice way, and telling us fuck-all about it!

C is for Colección de Indios y Cow Boys Humorísticos

This is a weird one? Firstly, it was intended to be the fourth post in the sequence when we looked at the Lik Be / Gordy sets of Wild West kids and knock-off cake decorations, back in June (although I don't think these have any connection with LB, beyond the humerous and Wild West subject matter), and secondly, because I don't seem to have shown my trio on the blog, when they only came in recently, and were intended for this post, whenever I got round to posting it?

 

I've checked the recent show report posts, I've checked the donation stuff from Chris and Peter, and can't find them, so I suspect they may have been a private purchase, which got sorted into the collection, in the normal rhythm of things, and while I would have intended to shoot them, I must have sorted them into the 4x5½ bags I use, and sent them off to storage without shooting them?

 

Anyway, I found them last night, looking for something else, over at the storage site, and brought them back here, thinking maybe I'd posted it all, but 'just in case', and sure enough, no sign of them on the Blog, and the specific post, still in Picasa! So shots taken and we'll look at them and the Jecsan catalogue first, then a bunch of Internet scrapings found over the years.

 

Jecsan catalogue scan, the full set of figures goes to six foot and three mounted each for the two lots of protagonists, with one horse pose each; bareback for the Indians, and saddled for the Westerners. The card for the separate Tipi seems to be designed to make a lithographed 'paper flat' totem pole?

 

The toymen of Hong Kong took two of the foot Indians and one of the mounted cowboys for some revenue generation, probably at the request of a Western buyer, that's how it worked there, but gave the mounted cowboy the Indian horse - presumably because that's what the sample they were given, to pirate, contained?

 

A decent rear-shot

The hat of my cowboy is lacking the mark seen further down the page, he being marked on his back, instead, suggesting at least two lots/tranches of these, with either changes to the tool, or separate tools, a quandary not made easier by them all sticking to the same paint-scheme . . . multiple cavities maybe?

 

Paint, and markings have some similarities with Blue Box production of the era, think either set of Knights or the Jean-cloned Wild West, so these (or 'some' of these) may have come from one of the Tai Sang factories, but we'll probably never know?

 

Looking at these 'Comic Coyboy' cale decorations, from Carrousel, but not owning them, I can only suspect that A) they may be hard polystyrene, against the soft Polyethylene of all the others seen here, and B) might be smaller sub-piracies - a second/third lot/set.

 

The painting is simpler, and indeed, it appears one mounted cowboy/horse combo' is undecorated, but big may/mights here? They also look similar in general execution, to the HK copies of Ajax base-ballers, American footballers and other cake decorations in the same vein?

 

 

There seems to have been one of the many copies of the Britains Herald totem pole also associated with them, but paint differences and plastic colour might point to them just being 'chucked in' to online auction images?

 

A pair of Indians, presumably a similar card has the cowboy and horse in a different blister? The "Cowboy [singular] and Indians [plural] in that heliotrope/carmine-red 'ink stamp' effect font, is found on other Wild West rack toys, and may be another clue to producer, or more likely wholesale agent? But again we're unlikely to ever know!

 

Another pair.

 

The different mark of the possible second lot, I mentioned above. A separate tool or later change to the existing tool? Sadly the pictures in this auction lot (final five images), didn't include a decent rear-shot - as they hardly ever do!

 

The only paint variation with the commoner set, is this cowboy with a red shirt, suggesting a larger set, although a horse is absent, but it makes for a more balanced 2:2 fight in the icing around a chocolate-finger 'log' fort!

 

They aren't really compatible with the Lik Be sets, being more obviously caricature adults, than the cubby-cheeked kids of the LB set, but are cartoony enough to compliment a display of them, should someone want a display of infant-oriented cake decorations! And there's the Lucky Luke figures from Comansi and similar figures from Exin (which may have been sourced from Comansi too), to consider in this genre.

F is for Fattypuff, T is for Thinifer

The last of the First Wave stuff from Mattel on the subject of the sequel/prequel/spin-off/arse-tear which seems to have been the movie Lightyear. I didn’t get all of them, there was a 'dogfight double' with Zurg's ship (see below and Buzz's XL-15, it came with rocket firers which could apparently be fixed to the locating divots under the four smaller, single pack vessels, which we've seen in the last few days.

 

Zurg's fighter, as far as I can tell, Zurg is some counter-Buzz from a paralell or alternate universe, but as Buzz is a toy, it's all in his head really!

 

There was another, bigger Zurg-related toy in the First Wave, which is called the Mothership, and comes with another Zurg figure, and - I think - a couple more Zyclops, to even up the score a bit, with five vessels in Buzz's available fleet, and four from Zurg's faction, two ships, two pods, and six figurines apiece, if you get all bar the twin-set?

 

It too was remaindered, a year later, over Christmas 24/25 (the fighters were, before their reappearance in Home Bargains last week, cleared in the autumn of '23), in TKMaxx, but because TKMaxx is never as cheap as it should be for a supposed 'clearance' model, they started them at something really silly like 70-quid? It came down to about £35 within a fortnight, and was further reduced to about 25 Pounds, in the after-Christmas sale, but for something which originally retailed at about 17-23 squids, I wasn't biting, and let them go!

 

The Armadillo, I assume this is from the third-act too, if Buzz flies fifteen vessels, at four years per trip, the whole search for a working 'Hyperspeed' must have taken around 60 years (Wikipedia says 66)? So, the other character here. Izzy, must have only been alive for the last five or so experimental vessels, and only be barely old-enough for starship fighting!

 

Mattel's sister brand, Hot Wheels, did an Armadillo in grey, as a small die-cast, I don't know which is the more accurate colour, because, as stated before, I haven't seen the movie!

 

With four more ships and a reissue of the Zyclops pods (to maintain the balance, of a sort) in the smaller Second Wave, a nice little range, but to me, of more importance for their compatibility to the Star Wars Action Fleet stuff from Galoob and Hasbro.

 

The figures being better than the Star Wars (and similar Star Trek figures from Playmates), in having separate articulation for each arm/leg, while the others were joined pairs, although they're still pretty wooden!

 

And having mentioned the Playmates, while the figures fit the other two universes, the vessels are not to scale with the figures. Of course, Galoob also gave us Alien/s and others in the same format, while similar sci-fi, fantasy or TV/movie stuff from Bluebird, Hasbro and Mattel, means you can get a really weird Cantina scene set up, with a little imagination!

 

"Where’d he come from Obi Wan?"

 

"Infinity and beyond apparently, and those two belong to some 'Federation' in a galaxy far, far away, but not so long ago, while the red being in the corner, is rumoured to have got those scars from a kid younger than you, called Max; the Mighty Max, supposedly?

T is for Two - Tinplate Tuk-Tuks!

About as far from plastic toy soldiers and/or model figures as possible, but the collection has extended it remit over the years, and micro-mini's has been one of those extensions, through such things as the mini 1-ton Humber trucks, and somewhere there is a small tub of mini tin-plate novelty vehicles, so this pair from Peter Evans are gratefully received additions.

 

Both imported by a Mechato, of the Netherlands, the single Tin Treasures sports car in a faux matchbox is made in India, and while the set of five racers says Made in Japan, I think it might be a facsimile reproduction of a 1960's or 70's card, and actually be from the same Indian source? I'll tag both though.

 

Note how the No.5 driver has been given an element of eccentricity, by riding roughshod over the rules established with cars 1-4, having rings round his tail numbers, a more pointed arrowhead graphic and a pair of feet motifs on the nose of his car - my kind of driver, I'm off down the bookies to put a fiver on him, each-way!

B is for Back to Hyperspeed!

So, these are the other three issues in the set we looked at the other day, and these have not been de-boxed, as they're in storage and have been there since these shots were taken in 2023. They were remaindered in The Entertainer, I would never have bought them new, far too pricey!

 

And I suppose it's worth mentioning, for overseas loyal readers, the Brits probably all know, that The Entertainer is a slightly weird chain of otherwise standard mid-range, mostly 'big-brand', toy shops, and only weird because it's owned by a god-botherer, so they won't stock any Harry Potter toys (it's the Devil's work!), although they seem happy with the equally numerous lines of Tolkien stuff, and they don't open on Sunday, an important day in modern retail, as it's one of the few days the modern family can be found together, with a bit of spare time!

 

I don't know why I didn't twig I was missing two ships, but the card back may have been different to the two I got the other day, but I don't think so, I think I just wasn't paying attention!

 

XL-01, the ship which started it all (whatever it is, I haven't seen the movie (I may have the DVD in the watching queue somewhere?)), and upon the return from the flight of, Buzz discovers his crew-mates are all four years older.

 

XL-15, the final ship, the one that finds the full hyperspeed. Buzz is now wearing a spacesuit close to the one we all know and love, although at this size, there's no clear dome over his head!

 

Note how the tripod landing gear on all these, follows the pattern of the Galoob Micromachine's 'Action Fleet' ships, particularly the X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters, and these will all be going in my Action Fleet tub, as background/freelancer ships!

 

Zyclops Pods, appearing it the third act of the movie, the dénouement, the showdown, the final battle of good verses evil, as - presumably - Buzz defeats anti-matter Buzz, or whatever the excuse for his giant purpleness's existence is, in the script?

 

You get two Zyclops robots (I think they are robots?) and two pods, the pods differ, with one having a push button trigger, to open it upon dropping, with red paint 'landing lights', the other has signs of damage, both moulded in and painted on, no red tips, and needs to be opened manually, I'm guessing there is some reference to a scene in the movie, represented by the distinction between the two versions?

 

Wave Two contained models of XL-03, 09, 12, and XL-14, along with a re-issue of this pod-set, hitting stores in 2022, I suspect only the US got them, as over here Wave One was still on clearance a year later? And we still have two to look at!