B is for a Bit of Fun!

 Well . . .

. . . that's got that sorted!

I've no idea who did this, it's a meme which has been going round the Internet for some time in various forms, but it's an inspired piece of comedy, perhaps not quite up there with Werfing Nebels but not far off!

F is for Further Fluff on Flexible Femmes and Funny Fellow!

Well, I can't keep having 'follow-ups', but that is what it is rather, the recurring theme which hadn't  been on the blog until a year or so ago, but which now keeps cropping-up!

This chap came in the other day with a mixed lot, he looks to be a classic 1970's type, a bit grubby, a bit sticky with leeching phthalates, and the paired holes on the rear in line with the wire armature, but he's marked 'CHINA' so - like the garden-ties which started all the 'bendy posts'; probably quite modern.

Also he looks familiar, but I can't place him; is he a non-police character from Space Precinct? Some of them were a little lobster/mantid-looking, although I stress that I'm thinking out loud as I don't recall the antennae  . . . Woohbwha-Woohbwha-Woohbwha-Woohbwha! - that's my Dr. Zoidberg impersonation, be thankful you're only reading it, it's a worse listen!

If it's Space Precinct that would definitely shove the date back to the earlier uses of China as a marking in the run-up to and after 1997's hand-back, funnily enough - I've just got an ethylene gorilla which looks totally HK but is marked CHIN!

12-04-18 - See comments; Dr Cockroach from Monsters V Aliens - DreamWorks tag added

A shelfie I took just after Christmas - more of the NJ Croce range first brought to our attention by Brian two years ago - DC 'babes' although it would be more of a fight-out than a night out with that quintuplet in the same hostelry!

I think one or two were in another line up a year ago, but with about five versions of the Batman now seen, they may all be costumed from different sections of the 'expanded' DC-verse?

S is for Small Soldiers

As Galoob faltered and Hasbro hung around waiting to pounce, other toy companies had a punt with mirco-play sets, with limited success it must be said, Bluebird here in the UK did a Batman range, Playmates had a go and Mattel seem to have talked to Galoob at one point, while Kenner tried their had with a movie tie-in...Small Soldiers, itself a Toy Story clone!

What can I say? One vehicle to Galoob's three or more, two figures where Galoob whould have had half a dozen (if they went with one vehicle), it's a not very appertising toy for a not very successful movie...it didn't last long!

The figures seem to appear in different versions, so the initial production-run must have been quite big (look what that did to DK over the 4th Star Wars film!) and can be found with no base, a flat base or a lipped, marked base and decorated with various paint jobs.

Box Ticked!

T is for Thar'be Dragons!

Train failures today forced me into a toy-shop in Reading (The Entertainer) and a quick perusal left me with  a tub of shite; I mean - of course - quality vinyl shite!

Previously Blogged by Shaun at Fantasy Toy Soldiers as a movie tie-in; How to Train Your Dragon, these have been reissued to tie-in with the TV animated series.

Note that it says "1 SET". Otherwise very little on the packaging; Spin Master licensed from DreamWorks, as per the 2010 sets on Shaun's Blog. A change of title and a silver lid instead of a gold one.

Because of the three large stickers on the tub and the two card baffles within, it was not terribly easy to see the contents except insofar as there were vinyl monsters of some sort! Not being even vaguely familiar with the films (there's two now - Oscar nominated - with a third on the way!) I was none the wiser and nearly put them back on the shelf with a mental note or a quick mobile-phone photo' for the archive...

...and it was only the obvious green figure that clinched the purchase.

Once I'd got it home and open this evening, I found a descent enough pile of figures (the advertised 25), and a lid which I can see being useful in some sort of Games Workshop thing, floor, altar, shrine?

The entire contents of the tub; Shaun has a figure in his 'Movie' set I don't, but I have two copies (in two colours) of a figure not in his set? As everything else seems to tie-up, with five dragon poses in three's or four's of two colours, I'm wondering if this is due to the difference between movie and TV versions/characters?

Now that I'm familiar with the contents of one set, I'll have another look at others in different branches and see if there's an obvious variation in colours/pose numbers, or the human figure contents...but I suspect there won't be and I would have to track-down a 2010 set to get the other figure and some dark green or bright mid-blue dragons &etc...?

Top, on the left, both sides of all figures with more than one example. On the right, some of the figures are clearly marked on the bases, others aren't, even the same pose, and while the numbers are similar with the same suffix; there's no apparent sequence.

Below; Minor rant...all these companies are 'partners' with Dreamworks on this franchise...not one of them is offering figures or figural premiums with their 'tie-ins', indeed, apart from the Michaels' craft stuff, none of them is even offering playable merchandise of any kind, it's all quizzes, free cinema tickets (mail away or presentable codes) and the like...now 20/30 years ago, only one or two companies would have 'bandwagoned' something like this and they would have had physical 'toys' involved...flats, figures, badges... something! I think that's sad, it's a triumph of marketing (admittedly very successful) over service to the consumer you want to buy into this stuff.