A is for Another Retro-Rocketeer!

This one's courtesy of Peter Evans, I said we'd probably see more, before the end of the year, and this is current, PMS carried, and a slightly different take on the pull-back motor/white-button oeuvre, but again following the trend this year, for deformed NASA astronauts, and/or cartoon spaceships.

 

You push down on the Rocket racer's head, and an energy storage spring is set to fire, a quick release and off he whizzes, release slowly though, and you get a limp phutt! It's a bit of fun which will probably get passed-on to charity, but imagine getting this in your Christmas stocking, as a kid!

R is for Retro Moon Man

If you have a theme - stick to it! This is actually the last one in the queue for now, but that's not to say I won't find another in the next few weeks, or certainly over the next few months. We're back to Legami, with another retro/deform/NASA astronaut, and this one is a pencil sharpener, with a shavings-collecting back-pack/life-support unit!

 

 

  

He also has one of those movement-triggered LED lights, hidden behind his opaque visor, so when you pick him up or shake/move him, he lights up, like some near-critical loon, about to go nuclear!

L is for Late Layabouts Languishing in Limbo!

As well as lots of old Charity shop stuff, there's also a lot of toy show/toy fair stuff, which will probably be broken-down into box-tickers, or thematic posts now, and a few Shelfies which seem to have missed previous round-ups, including these, most of which are from the Autumn/Christmas just-gone, despite the fact we did have several 'shelfie' posts from both my Camera and Brian Berke's? But there you are, they hide from me!

This is actually from 2021, so a real hider! It was, then, the latest iteration of the rather generic and poorly-detailed/sculpted 30mm'ish figures Mark, the Man of Tin, has such success, and apparent delight with, in turning them into spacemen, monsters, Napoleonics and colonial thin-red-lines, among other things!

 

We've had various shelfies of these, over the years, since they started appearing, not long after this Blog was born, and Poundland, Poundstreatcher, the defuct Poundworld Plus and 99P Stores (along with others), have all carried them, often in more than one packaging, while Amazon has carried dozens of generics and phantom-branded stuff, tubbed, carded, bagged, blistered and clam-shelled!

 

Which is why I only shelfie them, I have samples of various sizes, in dozens of colours, and they will be findable, mint, on evilBay for decades to come, as ex-stock, if you really need them in packaging! 

I hate this shite, I phuqing hate it with a vengeance, and to be fair to my sensibilities, I hated the big-head/bobble-head/nodding crap of our childhoods, and I hated the Corinthian cricketers and footballers of the 1990/2000's, it's awful stuff. I think it's an extension of clown-phobia?

 

I even hate the 'Nutty Mads' from Marx . . . "Let's apply teenage, 50's surf-culture to World War Two murderers, shall we? Make them look silly! The Butchers of Nanking will look harmless after we've given them some racially-profiled extremities!", said no sane person, ever. Garbage!

"Yeah, but the kids like them", go the supine, brain-dead, left-of-bell-curve parents! Because unethical, immoral, capitalist Toymen, who have a greater love of money than the future mental well-being of the human race, have sold them the concept, while you were getting drunk and watching porn, to blot-out current-affairs and drown the misery of your existence, you dullards!

Deep breath Hugh, take a moment, and then see if you can find some nice dinosaurs . . .

Self-branded/in-house from B&M, I think these are the latest from HGL (Grossman) or HTI (Halsall), repacked for B&M, and at less than the price of a single larger Schleich or Papo, a bloody bargain! Who wouldn't like this under the Tree on Christmas morning?

 

These - Wenno - might be a phantom brand (also for B&M) or an actual brand mark for a China toy maker (I haven't seen them at the trade-fairs?), but they seem to be newish sculpts (albeit, maybe copies of other makers) and relatively well done for the price-point, which, again, beats the big-names hands down, and I thought the giraffe was particularly well done, compared to the rack-toy giraffes of our youth!

 

 

 

We're on safer ground with Teamsters, having seen them several times before, an imported sub-branding of HTI, covering a variety of die-cast or 'toy car' lines, and I wouldn't buy any of these, new, but they will help ID loose dinosaurs at some point in the future! Also shot in B&M.

And finally a similar set, in B&M packaging, really a generic, but helping to pinpoint an origin for some of the many teeny dinosaurs, if no better candidate comes forward in the future.

W is for We Do This Stuff So You Don't Have To

If you go down to your local toy shop or super store, head-shop, gift shop, gaming, alturnate-culture, t-shirt or 'metal-head' shop today you will find Funko, it's like a rash; in 18-months it's gone stratospheric. I don't suppose it will last long, as crazes never do (except skateboarding, but even that settled to a level not matched by the heights of the '77-80 bubble), maybe another five years of wall-to-wall Funko and people will wake-up to the fact they are ugly and over-hyped!

In the meantime, where there is a craze, there will be a knock-off and I shot these shelfies from MGA Entertainment . . .

. . . in Poundland a year ago, they are 'Army Men' (well "Awesome Little Green Men"!) so slightly more deserving of a place here at Small Scale World than most of that Funko output, but it's a marginal thing!

These is only the one design (all four sides shown) of 'Blind Box' and with '100+ to collect' I make that £100+, hardly the ethos of a cheap shop, but then they've been selling 60p or 85p RRP-items for a whole-pound for years, so don't ever think there's any altruism behind discount stores, there 'aint, it's a 'business model' . . . a revenue vehicle, hard-steeped in capitalism and aiming its sights at the poorest in society!

Then Peter Evans gave me this! So we can look at them in all their glory! As you can see the blind box contains two blind bags, a dog tag (you'd be well pleased with 100+ dog-tags in a pile huh!) and a recruitment poster (think identical check-list) in one and a random figure in the other.

Apart from the actual figure (who you can see - comes set in his own vacuum-formed blister/holder) it's all garbage; it's all straight to recyc., planet-destroying, ocean-bobbing, world-ending, ephemeral, worthless, pointless, shite.

Put the figures in blind bags, put the bags in the counter-top display, have the check-list poster as a download and bin the tags! And if you think I'm being ridiculous, this stuff is coming, we have to end the way we currently live our lives, or our lives will end.

He's Ok for a laugh, but note that the expressive faces on the box are replaced by a much plainer affair in the box? Keeps the unit-cost down!

Still 100+ figures, think about it - Airfix used to have from 7 poses in their 54mm sets and issued an average of 3 sets a year over ten-odd years (32 sets '69-80?), or 21+ poses per year, if these go to a second series they will be arguably as, or more successful (by some parameters) than Airfix's 1:32nd scale figures.

Something to think about when you read some of the nonsense some people [in the hobby] opine about the hobby . . . it's not about 'the hobby', it's about the industry and with the likes of Kinder, Phidal, Funko, Jada . . . Schleich, Papo, et al, all producing figures, the industry is doing OK, it's just not issuing many 54mm cowboys these days!

S is for Shelfies - Fortnite

Drawing the curtains to a close on Shelfie weekend we have a couple of long-shots I took in Smyths in Farnborough the other-day, after the clearance Fortnite in The Works a while back (at not-clearance prices - why I shelfied them too!), it seems there are several other lines/ranges of Fortnite stuff out there at the moment, a lot of it aimed at younger users as the game appeals to younger gamers.

Epic Games have issued these, they are action figures, but in a smaller 60/70mm (?) compatible size like some of the Lord of the Rings sets or the smaller Zizzle pirates (although they weren't articulated - but you know what I mean!), each has a separate weapon and while definitely not 'my thing' they may be 'a bit of you' sufficiently to be worth a look?

These are also Epic and are semi-deforms, but they are 'solids' so may be of some use to fantasy/sci-fi fans? I'm sure I've seen (and not/forgot to shelfie) some Mattel branded Fortnite stuff, and due to its being the current 'big thing' in gaming, I would expect more toys to appear.

T is for Toy Fair 2019 Reports - Bandai - Bits & Bobs

As well as the Anderson stuff I sent to Moonbase, I took a few other hurried shots while gabbling enthusiastically; having blagged my way in to get the Thunderbirds stuff I managed to grab these on the way out.

Bandi are one of the companies who run a closed stand at Toy Fairs, which you have to book-in to, then be escorted round, and preferably you need to be a toy-buyer, -shipper or -agent, or a member of an accredited journalistic outlet, not a blagging Blogger!

SD (super deform) Godzilla characters, I really was rushing the shots, and was taken with the triple-headed dragon, but you can see bits of two others in the background, deforms aren't 'my thing' at all, but they do come in occasionally with mixed stuff and some people will love them!

More Realistic Godzilla figures in two sizes, including the triple-head again in a more realistic form, if anything fantasy can be realistic, but you know what I mean . . . more accurate to the movie version.

Godzilla himself, this is the size where gaming him in 1:76/72nd becomes a reasonable proposition! The funny thing is, even though he's all modernised and professionally finished as a toy, he still looks like a man in a rubber suit!

All kinds of Gundam; from teeny SD's to what I think was a 12--inch monster, with plastic model kits for basher's to have a go at. I didn't get a good look at the 'weapon-sprue' runners, but suspect they are not multi-shot 'overmoulds' but rather slot-or-clip-jointed at the colour demarcations?

Close-up of the super deform, I saw some of these from the 1970's or '80's a few years ago, and you could see why they are so collectable, lots of fine detail, in brittle polystyrene or something similar and lots of metallic stickers, starting to lift at the corners,. To get a whole one in good condition must be quite hard; this modern issue is a more robust propylene type polymer and sans stickers!

Again, the more realistic lines of accurately scaled models, and I think - deliberately - all five display models are of the same character (the AILE Strike Gundam), for comparison purposes. If the HG and RG models are 1:144 (as seems to be the case?) that would make the other two eminently compatible with 1:76/72nd (MG) and 1:35/32nd scales (giant one).

Not much - but a few snatched shots from the 'inner sanctum' of Bandai's stand!

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.

B is for Blind-Box Buccaneers

Peter Evans either sent me these in January, or put them in the big-bags at PW in may, I can't remember, but either way; kind of him, and while deforms are even less of a 'my thing' than resin [ . . . used to be!], they are toys, they are figures and they are pirates, so Spin Master - Blind Boxes!

Like blind-bags, except they are in a box! I'm not sure if they are still in the shops but there are always a few on feebleBay, blind or opened. Obviously tied directly into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise from Disney.

I'm guessing the gold one is a less common / limited edition thing? But the Skullopus Squidington is brilliant, he would make an excellent additional piece for fantasy role-play gaming, as a daemon of some sort, and while I'm sure the Nottingham Mafia would hate it, I think he could slide (or slither?) into a Tyranid Genestealer army effortlessly?

Can't say much else about them, if deforms are your thing you probably already know more than I ever will! Cheers Peter - loving ol' purple eyes!

A is for Also, Apparently [Collectable]

Two more of these Corinthian hideousnesses (apparently 'hideosities' isn't a word!) have come in since I last wrote disparagingly of them! [the rest of this post is for those following current events and no innocent Germans or Carrick's should take offence, those who need to, know to]

One marked Carrick the other Heinze. Older British readers will remember that Heinze came a close second to Fritz as the generic form of address for German 'baddies' or prisoners in the war comics of the 1950's, '60's and '70's, with Hans, Otto and Günter as fall backs.

Seeming to be in the Manchester United strip, I believe they are all currently playing for PSV Eindhoven, oh . . . no; sorry . . . not PSV Eindhoven - TJF Allentown; they're all beating their me . . . sorry; batting for TJF Allentown now! I think Small Scale World will survive . . . and prosper - freed of certain shackles of conformity!

Did I say they were big-heads?

F is for Fair Lady, Foam, Fakes, Fat Fellows and Finger Flyerz

A round-up of the other super hero stuff which has come in since the last season, even as other things were slotting into the queue, and most from Brian. We'll look at them pretty-much as they came in, and I'll tack one on the end, we're mostly looking at the 'novelty' end of the spectrum today!

I'm loving this! Brian sent this back in January and it was destined to hang around for probably a few months waiting for a 'superheroes season', little did I know how quickly it would pile-up, but . . . it's chocolate! It's coloured chocolate; in the [quite svelte] likeness of Wonder Woman; it's too cool for l'Eccole Chocolatier! It's only five dollars that side of the pond, this side we can only hope!

This was Mr. Berke's immediate response to the weird flying superman thing the other day, puking superheroes, whose spit - cleans kids! Bleargh! Oh god, why didn't we have this stuff when we were young? We got Matey bubble-bath, who dispensed from under his hat, which you had to remove first! If it's three-in-one, do the kids end-up with glowing, shiny-skin?

Almost as cool as full-colour chocolate.

Also from Brian; this seems to represent a bit of a swizz for our North American neighbours as I'm sure they are the same as the ones we've had over here for a decade or more now, which always come with small-scale 'mini-me' clones (looked at again the other day LINK), but not supplied here? It sort of makes sense, but weather you can get the little ones over there (on a very small card!) I don't know; but I doubt?

Scratch-that - no link; this is the 33 post with a 'Super Heroes' tag (that's a lot of superheroes, you'd think the world would be in a better state than it is!), but we haven't looked at the figures I was sure we had! I'll remedy that ASAP!

Mr. B recently found these, and they look like a few similar things seen at the Toy fair and called Funko (or by Funko, it wasn't clear and several stands were carrying them or similar things), basically deforms or super-deforms, they're really 'big-heads' or big-head deforms!

If you like key-rings or like super heroes, they are fun! Covered in the two shots are DC, Marvel and Disney, and I think I've seen other TV-related stuff in the new kidult pop-up in Basingrad . . . Breaking Bad, Zombies, that sort of thing.

Thanks to Brian for all the above.

I tacked this on the end of the contributions just to clear the current superhero stuff from the laptop. Sold/imported by TKC Sales and seen at the Toy Fair, they seem to be almost as mad as the foam-wing Superman 'spinner' thing we saw the other day. Probably soon to be rendered obsolete by budget, novelty-drones doing more for the same money!

T is for Toy Fair '18 Reports - Jada

Another company being handled in the UK by Amerang is Jada, a Hong Kong based Chinese toy manufacturer, clearly with some clout as they are in the business of buying into licenses for franchises like Harry Potter and . . . The Bat Man!

A set of 1:24th scale Batmobiles, from the original TV series and running through the movies of recent years. Each model comes with a figure which technically should be around 75mm for 1:24th, but they didn't look that tall to me, closer to 60mm maybe (1:30th), but I'm very bad a judging size away from a measuring stick. Still, the catalogue states 2.75-inches, which is about 71-and-a-bit millimeters by my measuring stick, when I'm near it.

The TV Batmobile is a nice little model, and - unlike the NJCroce one, does run, as a freewheeler. The boy wonder who is fixed in a sitting position seems to be on the [orange] Batphone!

There is also, as can be seen; a smaller version, as there seem to be for all (five?) of them. I can't remember if a scale was given but it looks to be half-size, so around the 1:48th mark and there don't seem to be figures with the diminutive models.

The back of the box suggests five man-bats to collect at the moment, and note that while they don't have the bases of the Harry Potter figures we looked at earlier; there does appear to be one on the pre-production figure used for the box-art!

'Hollywood Rides' suggests that if not Batman's enemies, there will be further extensions of the range into other film franchise characters. I think it's about time we had Clint Eastwood and 'pal'with a Confederate Wagon-team! "Three-cheers for the Confederacy!" . . . Pat . . . pat . . . pat .

Or . . . how about "The Laaast of the vee-ate inn'tercep'tuz", now - that's a toy I'd like to see!

Meanwhile, the catalogue has photographed them better than I did, but their snappers are probably paid well for the task, so they should be better! And it's another version of Batman.

Jada are also marketing these . . . sort of super deforms; in die-cast? Let's be honest here, this stuff is purely for kidult's man-caves, I mean; who wouldn't want 4-inches (that's half a small foot!) of deformed Halo Space Marine die-cast metal falling on their glass-topped coffee-table, during cleaning or because they caught the sideboard with an elbow in passing! If you drop that Hulkbuster on your foot; you're off to A&E!

However - my cynicism aside, any move away from polymers is a good thing, no matter how much we might like our vintage plastic figures . . . let's get them all to that position - vintage.

And that's four-more licenses! If there was one stand-out point being made at the Toy Fair it was that licensing is everything and everything can be licensed. For instance Monopoly (as we will see in a future post) is no longer just a board game from Hasbro-Parker (or even Parker-Hasbro!), it's a licensable brand-mark to be hired, with conditions, for specific periods, to third parties, hence the literally hundreds of versions out there, some of which don't even use the original play-mechanisms . . . but many of which have nice figures!