M is for Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Neither had I, but it's all here;

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculous:_Tales_of_Ladybug_%26_Cat_Noir

 

And I'll quote the first paragraph for the lazier among you!

 

"Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (French: Miraculous, les aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir) is a French, animated superhero television series created by Thomas Astruc and developed by Jeremy Zag. The series is produced by the French company Miraculous Corp. (a joint venture of Mediawan and ZAG Entertainment), and co-produced with Japanese studio Toei Animation's European division, as well as several international companies."

 

Totally passed me by, yet seems eminently preferable to Paw Patrol or Bluey! It's an age thing, I know, but it's funny how some toy lines sink, and others swim? These were sent to me by Peter Evans about eighteen months ago, and PMI are known for cheapo' toys and sell though, so I'm guessing they were clearance, in one of the Poundland type store chains, or a North London independent discount store?

 

Ladybug ('Ladybird' en anglais, although technically it should be 'coccinelle' in French!) is the red lady, Cat Noir the black, and other characters are beyond the time I'm willing to spend researching this now!

 

The full range? If a toy doesn't 'fly' on first release, it doesn't get a second chance these days, so this is probably all there is; ten human characters and six anthropomorphic blobs of an insecty or feline nature?

 

Very much in the style of the more successful, but also sold-though Poundland (and The Works) on reductions, or as clearance, Fortnite stampers and/or keyrings, so probably sourced from a similar producer in China.

Many thanks to Peter for bringing these to a wider attention, by sharing them with us!

B is for Big Box of Bounty - Ancient, Medieval, Historical & Ceremonial

Another interesting assortment of figures from Chris Smith's latest parcel, and it's all the other 'Toy Soldier' periods. I keep meaning to do a post on the classification of these things, as it's never an exact science, do you put Huns with ancient, or medieval periods, what about Aztecs, or Ninja/Samurai, when are ceremonials also soldiers (1850's say), or further afield; the whole sorting of civilians, is a nightmare!

 

So, I'll put the Asians first! The Budda votive statuette is a nice piece of scenery for HO/OO type figures, it can even be an objective for your ANZAC's on the war games table! The large figure is actually marked Marx, with the full Hong Kong disc-mark, and is from a set of tea premiums.

 

The guy carrying the straw bundles is from a Hong Kong rack toy called 'Villagers', which we have looked at here, and another of the Kinder Samurai archers, this one complete, will get the base off one of the damaged/painted ones, in my determination to have one of each, in all three (?) colours!

 

Three Ninja's, two from Hasbro, one painted, one in a clear, blue polymer, and the other, smaller one in the middle, from the Panosh set of Lucky Bag giveaways, and other sources? I have tried finding the Hasbro's, but with little success, and suspect they aren't actually Ninja or Samurai, but from something else entirely, Star Wars semi-deforms? Anyone know?

 

Two Crong medieval horses, sans riders, and there's a post in the queue on developments there, courtesy of a Loyal Reader, a Kinder musketeer, Hong Kong copy of Britain's Robin Hood, probably sold as a cake decoration, colours tie-in with things like the Britains arctic explorer piracies, and a contender for 'best in box'. A Hong Kong clone of the MPC small scale medieval knights, and one of the little Blue Box 'Hidden Adventures' castle figures.

 

The little blob in front, is the jester-puppet, from the tip of a jester's wand, as there are very few such figures in the entire canon of toy figures, I guess it must be Starlux, Mokarex or Café Storm? As they often break-off, it may prove to be a very useful spare, one day?

 

Two lead chaps who've lost their armies, on the right looks like he's probably Minifigs, the one on the left looks to be 'a cut above', and might be someone like Stadden or Suren? But I may just be being over-enamoured of his helmet! Equally, he has an interesting detail in the tin-can sword-fist thing, is he a known character from history?

 

Giant-like but no Giant, the reason I didn't attach two of the towers to the wall ends, is because the wall is from a different issuer and the locating studs don't match up with the holes in the towers! We looked at the different types here (https://butisitgiant.blogspot.com/2021/08/golden-trojans-non-giant-gold-plastic.html), but I didn't think to measure the holes/studs; next Time!

 

Three Euro-chaps, the one on the left, I think, is by the maker located in Monaco, and is a Crescent knock-off, the other two probably premiums, and possibly in JC Peiffret's book on the subject - Les Figurines Publicitaires.

 

The Imperial Guardsman has a furry plume, caused by the fraying of a layer of plastic, which cooled quicker than the core (cold tool?), and has lifted and frayed! I could probably restore it with a pass though a lighter flame, but think I'll leave it as it is, as a fortuity?

 

In a similar vein, these plug-ins are part of a series of similar French and Italian types, from the better known Texas, through to several premium issues, each with different bases, but many figures in common, one day I'll cover them properly, but I haven't the time to try and tie-down these, or the previous ones, right now!

 

A lovely Napoleon, possibly made of casein, and a real treat, as I know Chris has a sub-collection of such things, so this must be a duplicate he's kindly sent us, it did feature here in a question-time, and I think Chris is still looking for a formal ID on the figure.

 

The larger figure I think we've seen before and is a . . . no, it's gone, I'm sure he's been ID'd here, or had his ID told to me, by someone, at some point, but it's escaped me now! I thought he might be Tringa, but he's not in my flyer?

 

The big one is almost certainly missing a sand-timer, off the right-hand spigot, and utilises a Deetail figure, unusual as it's more often seen with Hong Kong Herald figures, but he's meant to be in there, he has a large hole in his posterior for the plastic spigot seen in the second image, which is pushed through from the back of the chalkware sentry-box.

 

To the left, one of the sucker blokes, he's in a bit of a state, but rather a sample, than no sample! The little chap looks like he was made yesterday, and is polystyrene, so he may be, as he's absolutely mint, possibly an accessory for a tourist die-cast vehicle set which has avoided me, or is he a doll's house toy, as in from the playroom of a doll's house? A lovely little chap in any event, but ID needed!

 

Uncivil war, with a marked ABC figure fighting slavery, and a small lead figure (Hinchliffe?) fighting the Norman landed-class for a smidgen of democracy - they went a bit over the top on protestant dourness though, they sort of banned Christmas for several years!

Crescent conversion OBE, and a figure which could be home-made, or one of those 'Oojah-Cum-Pivvy' figures imported by Shamus Wade from India, between them is what I believe is an ocean-washed, sand-ground, or smoothed, Deetail Arab horse rider!

 

Many thanks again to Chris, some interesting stuff here, and still at least three posts to come. 

C is for Carded Combat Crew

More minters from Sandwon, or, at least near minters, nothing 60+years old is ever that 'mint', bags fog with a million invisible folds, cards fade or discolour from sunlight or bleaches in the paper itself, but these two have held up pretty well;

 

No brand and a blank back to the card, so no clue to producer/issuer, and 43p (maybe around 50¢ US, at the time?), if only such things were still 43p! It looks like it might be the same quality as the Rosebud one seen here before, but I couldn't manipulate it enough to see whether there was anything in the parachute cavity? But still a nice item to add to the collection

 

I think these might be by Hugonnet/Féral, but it is by no means certain, they come in several different generic header-cards, but always unmarked/unbranded, so they could be another operation?

 

A site crediting them to Hugonnet pointed out that they are Starlux copies with the heads turned, usually through around 90º, and you can see for yourselves, they have been given oblong bases.

T is for Two - Far West Frenchies!

The last Sandown Park show was quite good for Wild West stuff, and in addition to the sets in the opener, and some Dulcop in a future post, I managed to pick this French production up, with established sellers Steve Vickers and John Begg , both stalled-out in the main/first hall, extracting not-many of my shekels, for this pair.

 

Starlux boxed stage coach; the trouble with boxed items like these, is that they are only ever box-tickers, by which I mean they sit there looking pretty, but can't be played with either in a child-like fashion, or something more formal and war-gamey! They can't be handled like loose figures, or compared closely with others, or not without getting them out of their packaging which can often lead to damage to the inserts, mounting cards, trays etc.

 

I believe I read somewhere that the coach itself was bought in from someone else, Manurba (?), or someone like that, and given Starlux horses and outrider, but I, or the person who said it, may be making that up, because the slip-in trays for the horses, are similar to other makers systems, like my own Cofalu set?

 

I also picked up this bag of 'bazaar' figures from France, as close to a generic as you can get, with graphics only for some child-safety outfit, which may or may not be official, and the contents, cowboys only, so assume bags of Indians too somewhere, being copies of Elastolin 70mm stuff from Germany.

 

 Some close-ups.

Hugonnet, Feral, LSP, 'PIH'? . . . Someone else?

 

1980 catalogue page.

 

The guy running with loot bag, shooting behind him, seems to be not only a late addition to the Elastolin line-up, but to bear a remarkable resemblance to the pre-existing Britians swoppet and/or Herald Hong Kong bank-robbers, not that it matters when the French rack-toy guys were copying everyone, including the other French producers, by the mid-80's!

P is for Papo's Pot of 40mm Plastics

Picked this up, reduced, at a garden centre a while back, I visited a couple this afternoon and picked-up some useful tree decorations, but nothing Halloween, nor any new toys, or novelties, but I like to keep an eye on them!

 

I think we saw these when they were first released at the London Toy Fair at Kensington Olympia, but that particular lot of shots may still be in the long queue . . . Doh! Anyway, we've seen the 40mm Pirates, probably not all of them yet, but most now? These are the farm!

 

Horse rider and horse, I think we've had her come-in with a mixed lot at some point, so she can go in the swaps pile, once I've everything together and sorted, the poultry, however are a tad big in my opinion, they could chase that calf 'till its heart gives out!

 

Heavy horses.

 

Everybody else! That's it box, or Toob, ticked!

D is for Dimetrodon, not Dinosaur!

I bought this the other day, as you know, my favourite, and now can't remember if I've already bought it, or if it was actually the Schleich one, I got last time? And, while I thought it had gone on the blog, on that occasion, I can't now find it, so I may have two of these and no Schleich, or one of each, but equally I may have picked one of them up, and then put it back on the shelf!

 

The Papo Dimetrodon, a synapsid, not a dinosaur, but a lost branch or clade, closer to mammals, around and about 40 million years before the first dinosaurs, and in my old dinosaur book, placed with the 'dog-like' dinosaurs! It has a moving lower jaw, like the old Britains crocodile, but much better executed, you can barely detect its joins, in any pose. And nicely decorated; they are expensive - this was about 12-quid - but worth the money, at this quality.

F is for Follow-up - Noreda and Injectaplastic

I mentioned in a comment the other day that I try to avoid 'khaki' subjects in December, and that's true, especially the more war'y stuff, but the odd bit gets through, and these ready-made AFV's are a perennial favourite of mine, with two purchases in recent months, both European brands.

 

I think this is the Injectaplastic Jeep, with a gun that's new to the collection, the owner has added waterslide transfers which some of you may recognise from plastic kits (Airfix and Esci - I think?), and which completes the line-up with their Munga and Kubelwagen, both seen here passim. It's darker green than my existing sample of these, though.

This was in the same purchase and is the Noreda one, which I seem to already have, but the trouble with show-purchases is that you are pressed for time, and have to make split-decisions on whether or not to buy something, based on what you can remember having, what you think you may have, and/or what you've seen and/or posted from elsewhere!

A comparison shot with the Triang Minic tin-plate in clean state, but missing it's key, hopefully I'll have one in the spare key zone! All a similar kid's handful size, and two of them needing a comparison shot on the Airfix Jeep page!

 

Also with the two jeeps and gun, came this truck with yet another take on that 1950/60's staple, the twin AA 'pom-pom' gun, now euphemistically referred to as a 'technical'! Again this seems to be Injectaplastic, from the wheels, and is new to the existing sample, but needs paint-removal, before I take better shots.

 

Then I picked these up last Saturday, from Tony Herrington, long time 'plastic warrior' who was stalled-out at the London Toy Solder Show, these are the Noreda truck we've seen before with canvas tilt and GS trailer, but now, also, as a tanker version, with tanker trailer and an additional 'goulash cannon' field kitchen.

 

The kitchen, while simplified for production in one shot as a pocket-money toy, follows the basic design very well, we had similar trailers on field exercises in the 1980's, four hot-plate/bain-maries over an oven and grill with the chimney long-enough to take the gas fumes (wood smoke or burnt oil in earlier times) away from the faces of the troops operating the equipment, or queuing-up for 'range-stew' - baked-beans, tinned potatoes and tinned mixed-vegetables cubed, with cheap sausages, diced in a thick gravy!

B is for Boney Boustrapa Blownapart!

Oh, get over yourselves! As with the Martial Artists, this is a combination of an archive shot, actually seen elsewhere a while back, and a new purchase, and I'll start with the new purchase, as I had to look him up!

 

He was obviously French, however, I felt the base was a little thin for Starlux, and he's unmarked, but a quick Google search revealed his Toy Soldier Company commissioned reissue in a paler grey greatcoat, with braided cuff and different tricolour, so Starlux 8000 series, but original issue!

 

And he will join these guys who have all come in over the last few years, and one or two which I had already found, and just to confuse, I've already posted a better image with two additional nappy's, Blue Box and Kresge, so  this is more of a Picasa-clearer , than a box-ticker!

Q is for Quiralux

I have to go out before work today, so here's a quick 'L is for Lazy Post'! Seen elsewhere, it's a scan of a not oft-seen Quiralux flyer, it got me thinking I've probably mixed-up Quiralux and Cofalu in the past and probably need to check both Tags, to make sure they are pertaining to the right maker!

If you click on it, then left-click again it should blow-up to a useable image, and if printed on A3 or larger, will be a useful addition to a paper archive. 60mm modern infantry and Wild West, 54mm mediaevals and farm, I think, mixed plastics.

RF is for Rene Fisher

I'm on a long-run at work, which tends to build fatigue, so last night, instead of posting something here, I watched old clips of '8-out-of-10-cats...' on Faceplant, then went to bed! And this is only really a quickie, and seen elsewhere a while ago, but interesting nevertheless!

Pretty sure this is Rene Fisher or RF, from France, and some kind of touristy/keepsake thing, which would have had a waterslide transfer with a town or navel port (Marseilles?)'s name on it, it's all 'styrene except the little aluminium tags which keep the figures on the thing, and, from the number of holes, it's fair to assume there were other contents/layouts, and probably, originally, different towns depicted/named?

 

It's missing a couple of bars to the gate, but I have an old pack of Slater's window-bars somewhere, which I'm hoping with provide a nice, neat mend at some point? And - of course - it's another sentry box!

I believe the chap in the front left corner is also RF, but, like the two late'ish Starlux next to him, is apparently an French Alpine soldier, not a sailor! They are joined by three lead hollow-casts and the Argentinian ALB rubber chap, we've since seen cleaned-up here at Small Scale World, for an all-blue line-up!

 

Those alpine troops again!

B is for Bachmann, Busch and Other Blister Cards

Box ticking some more of the smaller railway figure issuers, it doesn't look like they actually made them, and because they are both blistered I've added a couple of other blister shots including one from Jon Attwood, as we are near the end of these posts for now.

These are the sets I hid in the Sandown Park plunder post the other day, a seller had a mass of N-gauge stuff, obviously an estate-clearing lot, and among them were several sets of figures, of which I grabbed four samples, one each of the two Bachmann's, the Busch and a Hachette (below).

 

A couple of points to note are that Bachmann admit to getting them in Hong Kong, while Busch, not known for figures, being primarily a tree/scenic maker, obviously got hold of some too, but give the impression - by subtle omission - that they are German products! The other point is that while graphics are similar, there is a year or two between the two Bachmann sets, with the green 'Accessories' line one being probably the newer, the blue 'Trains & Buildings' one probably older.

 

The usual scans (of the HO range) from various Walther's catalogues. In recent years Bachmann Europe and/or Bachmann UK have used various figures in HO/OO - also in sets of six - bought-in from Preiser, or even commissioned from them, but by "Recent Years" I realise I am talking about twenty-odd years, and there have been various changes in ownership of different arms of the brand in that time which are not for here, now, but can be looked at another day.

 

The same seller had these HO figures in tow, from Hachette the French-based part-work issuer, and (from the talk of 'Craft knife and scissors' in the instructions) possibly part of a larger building kit, and I think it was from the 'Little Benton Village' part-work? I suspect they are whitemetal, but short of getting them out and scratching one, I can't call it for sure!

 

While Jon sent these shots as part of the wider contributions, a bit too big for HO/OO-gauge related models, we have looked at them before, and this is the one with the bin-man which confused me a few years ago, as a similar chap came with a bit lorry!