T is for Two - Follow-up to Fingers of Fictional Fun

This is a follow-up to a rather bitty Sci-Fipost from January, but I said at the time there were more ET's in the post, while there were also developments on the Remco diver front - they are also spacemen!

Increasingly, it's hard to know with some things whether what you're buying is all original, in matters Corgi-Dinky-Lesney - for instance - there is a lot of reproduction stuff around, especially the accessories, while Tri-Ang Battle Space has repro' parts for all the little jigets, and some of the larger pieces; track-side and wagon-underside triggers, missiles etc . . . sometimes they are obvious (white-metal castings), sometimes not so, poured resin . . . painted . . . while 3D printing is only adding to the confusion/plethora of stuff offered.

One chap on eBay has an enterprising line in replacement figures for the Remco 3D board game 'Lost in Space', which uses the spear-gun figure from the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea sets (even further apart than my suggested one of 20,000 Leagues!), I think they are 3D printed but they don't have the tell-tale striations of deposit/extrusion printers so they may be the sintered liquid type; equally they could be cold-cast resin?

But they are fun, and given what the original games go for, I grabbed a set purely to tick the box, as far as four new figures goes! This is the least close to the originals, being semi-transparent, but also my favourite! The blue and yellow are a bit off from the Remco playing pieces too. Lost in Space with an underwater dart-gun!

Meanwhile, the other ET figures had arrived, so I took a few shots, I thought I'd only taken the comparison shots below, so took another line-up last night, consequently there are two good shots! These are the LJN ones, and a total of six is the whole of series 1, six more (series 2) are obviously harder to find!

Clearly different tranches have lead to marked differences in decoration, although I couldn't tell you which came first, the rule-of-thumb is usually they start better and get poorer, which would probably make the left-hand one the earlier issue? He's reading an ABC!

F is for Four Fingers of Fictional Fun

A few Sci-Fi bits and bobs which were kicking around various corners of the Laptop, and which might as well be shoehorned into one post to clear the decks a bit!

Star Wars key-rings; We've seen a few before now, but I thought a comparison was in order, and we have - from the left - an LED torch, Lego 'maxi' Darth Vader, followed by three normal 'minifig' sized rings, then an Applause young Anakin/Vader, which I think is part of the avalanche of merchandise which accompanied the fourth/first movie.

I don't know how many there were in the Applause set, so the gap is for the missing Vader in an otherwise complete set of the capsule key-ring figures, cleared through The Works a few years ago, then to Pound-Plus, branded TPF Toys for shipping-in by STL.

ET's, a planetoid's worth of ET's! The three to the right are licensed LJN, and from a set of six (or eight?), while the chap on the left is marked J.A.R. Sales, and may be more of a knock-off than an official product, but both lines are dated 1982, so may both be legitimate?

I have no idea how many of the JAR ones there were and scale on them is 'big' as he fitted in a bikes shopping basket I seem to recall (never seen it, have no intention of seeing it!), so about 1:18^th or larger? I guess there was half-an-idea for them to be compatible with dolls, for playing-out the movie scenes?

Ignore the Greek, he's been joined by three of his compatriots recently and will be Blogged separately at some point. I managed to pick up both the Remco divers from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea last year, but they have been separated already, one here, one in storage - funny story; TJF managed to score a brownie-point with this one when I posted it elsewhere, but really, Journey to the Centre of the Earth / The Land that Time Forgot / 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea / 10,000 BC and a dozen other movies of the time were basically variations on a theme!

The metal-detector/mine-sweeper one is missing the base-stud, but as it's only used to lock them onto the floor of their retail carton, it's more a question of Do I remove the other one?

The chap to the right is supposed to be Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, but the head's all wrong, so I'll leave it to a jury, preferably a Bristolian one! He's a soft polyethylene and Argentinian.

Picked this up cheap a while back, as a sort of follow-up to the other day's Lunar Rover post; it's Dinky France selling-off the Zygon War Chariot crew figures as 'astronauts' in their spare-parts program! Daft in'it . . . got tub full's of orphaned seated figures and I go and get three more, but it's always about the packaging!

The funny thing is I know I have a metal Gort somewhere but can't find him, and there are more ET's in the post, so we will be returning to both those subjects in the not too far future!

News, Views Etc . . . Vectis - Early December

 Next two Vectis auctions are later today and tomorrow; nice things in both . . .

Lot 183

'Go Home' 

Thursday 3rd December 2020 10:00am
TV and Movie Related Sale - starts 10:00hrs

"The TV and Film related sale to be held on the 3rd of December features an interesting collection from a Hasbro employee, items include standard samples and prototypes, from Transformers, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and Star Wars. Further items in the sale include Action Man vintage equipment, accessories, outfits, vehicles and figures. Star Wars carded and loose vintage figures, Legacy Collection and 30th Anniversary collection; Planet of the Apes carded figures, Dr Who, Austin Powers, Lord of the Rings, He-Man Masters of the Universe, Star Trek and Superhero figures. The sale will also include My Little Pony, Mezco Studiocraft Enchantica figurines, Cherlilea Military vehicles, books, magazines, annuals, Lego, signed photographs and displays, and games."

Catalogue and download

Lot 1265
(see also 1266 and 1271)

Friday 4th December 2020
James Bond '007' and Specialist Die Cast Sale - starts 10:00hrs

"The James Bond and Specialist diecast sale to be held on the 4th of December starts with The Buckinghamshire Collection which features vehicles from Autoart, Minichamps, Kyosho, Corgi and Johnny Lightning, plus slot cars from Carrera and Scalextric. James Bond figures also feature, from Corgi, Action Man, Sideshow and Exclusive Toy productions, and the collection includes gift sets, props, books, memorabilia, and promotional items. The Sussex Collection features Corgi Gift sets promotional sets and posters, and The 50 Years of Bond Collection includes further Corgi vehicles and gift sets, Limited Edition Gift Sets, Autoart, Kyosho, Little Soldiers James Bond sets, figures, guns and pistols, Corgi Icon Figures, original and replica props, DVDs/VHS, advertising material, posters, and signed framed pictures. The sale will also include Part 2 of The Kempshott Collection, featuring Dinky buses and coaches, pre-war train sets and French Dinky; The Ian Townell Lotus Collection, a Mechanical Horse Collection and further items."

Catalogue and download

*************************************

The ongoing global health scare means various special instructions are still in place . . .

COVID - 19 RESTRICTIONS
 
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Absentee bids can be emailed to admin@vectis.co.uk, or placed via the Vectis or Invaluable website, up until 2 hrs prior to the auction commencing.
 
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Please be aware there is still a slight delay with our current despatch times.

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We thank you for your understanding and patience in these unprecedented times. 

COLLECTION   

If you wish to collect items, we would ask customers to first call and pay for their purchases. Ask for a collection appointment date and time. This will allow the packing team to prepare your items and have them ready for you, reducing waiting times.  

PLEASE ENSURE YOU WEAR A MASK WHEN COLLECTING LOTS (UNLESS EXEMPT)

Please note we will be closing for the Christmas break on Thursday 24th December

and will reopen Monday 4th of January 2021.

 

If you would like to collect your Lots before we close, please contact the office

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And Vectis can - as always - be contacted here;

Vectis Auctions
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Tel - +44 (0) 1642 750616
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Sales [currently] commence at 10:30hrs 10:00hrs

Sothern Office
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Tel - +44 (0)1993 709 424

T is for Thundercats

Something I totally missed at the time, which might explain why I only have the two examples, more likely though is that they are not that numerous, and would seem to have held a value which I think is beyond what they are - recent vinyl product from the age of mass production - more numerous, younger collectors?

Apparently this chap is called Mumm-Ra, he's about 60/70mm (attic!) and made by Galoob, I'm guessing here from standard kids cartoon tropes that he's a 'bad guy' - bad teeth, green skin, hood, links to Egyptian mythology, chunky wristbands...?

A 'good guy' from LJN (Lewis J. Norman, the reverse of Norman J. Lewis; founder), the chap's called Wily (or Willy) Cat, and is a titular 'Thundercat', we know it's a 'he' because there was a more svelte-looking Wily Kit! He came carded with a larger, jointed action figure.

I was planning another subject for this post, but by some act of serendipity I discovered an arcade in Reading on Thursday I didn't know was there, despite passing it countless times. Looking for something else I found two collectors shops next to each other, the one being all trains and die-cast I avoided due to finances, but fatally went into t'other and found Wily Cat, not cheap but couldn't not have him join the collection.

I had the picture of Mumm-Ra in the Galoob photo-set I've been picking from, so after a quick Google had this brief post, which adds to the tag-list with some esoteric - if modern - stuff!

The shop is Reading Collectors Centre and it's in the Harris Arcade just out of the train station, as you walk up to the town centre, on the left-hand side opposite where the buses stop...

Reading Collectors Centre

I think I was in No.14, which is mostly comics, records and a few action figures, the private display cabinets have some lovely bits and pieces in though, the whole set of R&L Crater Critters, the Thunderbird cereal premiums..I'll be back to look at No.15!