U is for Undying Undead!

This must be year eight, maybe year ten? Our roving reporter in North America, Brian B, has managed to visit three of the 'household name' discounters, to see what they had on offer this Autumn, and he's found a darn slight more than I've managed to, over here, and we're starting with the new packaging for an old favourite.

 

They've lost their blister-cards, in favour of card-headed bottle-bags, and there seems to be the one card 'Skeleton Army', despite the fact that some of them have the Mummies, but only the two types were to be found in New England!

 

Now claiming to be made in Vietnam, and imported by the Old East Main Co., Dollar General is carrying them. Thanks to Mr. Berke for shooting them for us, like the cyclamens under the cedar, they just keep popping up every year!

W is for With Thanks at the Witching Hour!

Seem to have done it! Got up early, went over to pick the parcel up, managed to get to work on time, still tired, left work at about ten-thirty, had the shots done by the end of the eleven-PM bulletin, and by the time you read this, here they are!

 

So, plenty more in the parcel for another day! David Aaron DeSoto, dropped me a line about a month ago, saying he'd like to send me some Halloween figures, as a thanks for the Blog, which I wasn't going to turn down! And, once my head had stopped swelling, I explained that my current situation didn't really allow for trust in mail delivery, managed to get a mate to take it, and the rest is above, or in previous posts, first USPS and then US Customs returned the parcel to David twice, and it went down to the wire!

 

And, as David explained in his last eMail, it (the errant parcel) is mummified with official stickers, customs forms, postal ephemera and tape of various kinds!

 

Confirming that Brian's shelfies were this year's packaging, David has managed to track-down two sets, the Skeleton Army and Mummy Army, the recently 'new' Witches seemingly dropped already? Both sets and both lots credited to Old East Main Co., rather than the Dolgen of earlier sets a few years ago - and where David sourced these. Photo was a bit rushed, but does the job!

 

I can't remember if we've shot the Mummies out of the blister before, and haven't got the time to look if this is to publish in the next 25-minutes, but they didn't look as familiar as the skeletons which I know we have looked at, more than once, so these guys got the extra shots!

 

The skeletons, as I say, we've seen these before a few times now with comparisons, donors and derivatives, but it's always nice to see them again on the 31st!

 

I can't thank David enough. I'm always touched by these donations, and they've come from The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as closer to home, over the years, I know I can be a prickly-sod from time to time, but I'll keep posting if you're all still visiting!

 

There's lots more to look at, but the original aim was to get these out before midnight, and in that we have succeeded! Thanks David.

Spellchecker is not activating in Blogger, but I think I've found the worst of the typo's!

A is for All Sorts for All Hallows

There is a 'comedy of errors' ongoing in the background, in which a parcel from the 'States which should have been here a couple of weeks ago, has now been delivered back to the sender twice, due to perceived erroneous data on various postal and tax stickers, resulting in the sender reporting that the third time he took it to the USPS, they had to cover all the previous stickers with blank stickers, before starting again with a new set! It now has more layers of fossilised history than a shale-bed! The hope is that they will still be here to photograph before (or on?) Thursday, however, the sender indicated that some non-Halloween figures had smuggled themselves aboard the parcel, so there will be a post, even if we miss the day!

In the meantime, Brian Berke has sent me two lots of seasonal shots, two of which may represent the absent, much-travelled figures, so let's have a shufftie at 'em . . . 

 

. . . by going firstly to Scully & Scully, where Brian was a little disapointed to find only two flats, but to be fair, the Blog is testement to the fact they've never done as much on Halloween as they have at Christmas of Easter, which my be a sign that it's not big in Germany or Europe? And, while it may be growing - purley as a consumer affair - here in the UK, even here, the trick-or-treat'ing is confined to social housing areas, with the emphasis being on fancy-dress parties, for adults as often as children? Often combined with the 5th November fireworks.

Earlier Brian had found this, it's a garland, but can be broken down into skeletons which look like they could give Action Man (GI Joe) a fright, scale-wise, I've seen similar stuff over here, possibly in Asda or Morrisons, who seem to have had the better stock/displays this year?

 

Both shot at a Family Dollar store in Waterloo, New York (aquired by Dolgen in 2015), he also found these, which may be the 'this year's packaging' of the missing parcel's figure sets, but the pricing leads Brian to wonder if they are old stock. We have seen them before, as the parent's Dollar General, always courtesy of Brian, and watched the additions come, and go, and the packaging change every year!

 

Brian also sent a couple of Autumn colour shots he took on the journey 'upstate', and as it my favourite time of year, I thought I'd share them with the rest of you!

To which I'll add this one, which I shot the other day, it's actually not doing the subject justice, as it had a weirdly metallic-pink sheen to many of the leaves, which has been washed-out by the camera? I thought I'd shot more trees, but I must have just admired them?

Many thanks to Brian for the shots, and I have a couple more to get out before the day, whether the parcel gets here in time or not!

H is for How They Come In - Peter - October

Hot off the postal van, this is Peter's third parcel recently, and very recent, like last week! Another nice group of his chuck-outs, but I want to address the Hing Fat thing hinted at in the previous post first . . . 

. . . . this is the publicity shot from Hing Fat's Faceplant page (not regularly updated), and you can see all the poses (except the prone figure) have the oblong bases, including the two poses we saw with ovoid bases in the previous post . . . 

 

. . . while this is another lot from Peter, and you can see we now have three different figures sporting the ovoid bases? I don't know if it's multiple cavities (per pose) in the one large tool, or more than one tool? They [ovoid bases] don't seem to be as common (maybe 1-in-4?), so I suspect a few extra, duplicate cavities tacked on the end of a larger tool, but I don't know, and now wonder how many poses have the two versions?

 

Lovely elephants and a box-ticking hollow-cast cow who's seen better days, two hollow, two-part animals in a fetching orange polymer, I think they may be Red Deer, some of their other stuff has the same construction values? Flocked bear key-ring and a cake decoration dove, marked-up to Anniversary House, but a copy of a much older model.

 

And another hollow, two-part jobbie, which is obviously a gargoyle, and possibly a touristy thing, or a Harry Potter thing? If the former: it might represent an actual, real-world gargoyle, if the latter: purely fictional?

Papo pirates, in the small size; Papo have promised to send me these about three years running (with lockdown - over the last four years), but never do! But I'm really happy to have the chap firing a cannon from his shoulder with a cross-belt for a satchel full of cannon-balls!

 

Kinder and Phiadal bits and a Superman key-ring in a soft, foamy, rubberised polymer, or elastomer! I'm loving the 'pink section' (of the toy shop!) walking-out/church on Sunday cart, some kind of Polly Pocket thing?

We saw the parachuting skeleton and the three mummies on the 31st, lovely things to get in the post without warning! But equally interesting is the diver, who seems to be a recent/current model and new to blog/collection. The Ninja is a capsule toy, and seems to be from the same people who produce the footballing/skating aliens, another footballer cake decoration and a Hawkin's Bazaar ger'nome make up the shot.

All much appreciated here at Small Scale World, and thanks to Peter for sending them, and having missed the pirates, at least I got those last four out in time for Halloween!

A is for All Hallow's Eve

So All Hallow's Day must be the 1st of November? Which makes sense as the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is traditionally the 1st/2nd of November, although, apparently - depending on the church calendar (?) - the 31st of October can fill in, as can the 6th of Nov., or any other day between the two . . . a bit like Easter then!

 

But in America, the sweet, chocolate and toy fest chose a more rigid 31st, and that's what is slowly ingraining itself into the UK, courtesy of godless marketeers! I just wish we'd get more figures, and less straight-to-landfill-on-the-first nylon and rayon, LED-wired crap!

Although all the above is a bit of a legal technicality, as it's only just gone midnight, I'd suggest All Hallows Eve is a good twelve to eighteen hours away!

This was shot back in February, and may have been a purchase from the Clapham Junction shop I visit every Toy Fair evening, on the way home, but it might have been a donation or in a  mixed lot, I really can't remember, just a [-nother] stretchy skeleton!

 

The recent parcels from Jon Attwood had several Halloweeny things in them, among which were these superb novelty jumpers! Technically I should only collect full-figure jumpers, but once you have a few, they get a momentum (and zone within the archive) of their own, so gratefully received, and the bat is a whole bat, if hideously over-fed! One feels there's probably a pumpkin somewhere?

 

We looked at the left-hand one on ITLAPD, but I thought it also belonged here, and if I don't include the crown it will probably never be seen, and, well, Halloween is for dressing-up, why not a barbie princess! Jon repoted these were from Rinco.

 

These might also have been Rinco, Jon got them at the same time/from the same place, horror-themed erasers and/or halloweeny subjects. Although, I don't consider black cats to be anything other than normal!

My first purchase this year was a few weeks ago, it's Claire's, who have their own chain of stores for women's accessories, but this was in a supermarket, only I can't remember which one, Morrison's I think? Glow-in-the-dark skeleton earrings, too cool for seminary school!

These only came in a few days ago, courtesy of Peter Evans, about 40/45mm, and I don't know anything else about them, semi-rubbery and they would go well with the based ones Dolgen and others have been issuing these last few years at this time, but they are better sculpts, both a higher level of detailing and more realistic.

 

Peter also sent this peachy little undead parachutist fellah! Brilliant!

 

These were in The Range, and appear on the receipt as 80 Toy Spiders which is a commendable level of accuracy! We looked at some similar ones a few years ago and on that occasion all but two went to charity, this year I kept two of each, and the rest have gone to Blue Cross.

 

They have the type of bread-bag closure I used to use as Thunderbird 2 when I was a kid! Like last time, I'll cut the rings off and add them to the spider master-collection. I think the previous lot were in two colours, while these were 20-each of four.

P is for Putrid Pirates Pal-up with Perennial Packs of Plastic Playthings

Brain again! Sent me these a couple of weeks ago, as it happened I had sourced a set on feebleBay, but didn't know if they'd get here in time (they did - just), so we'll run with Brian's for this year, and then next year maybe look at them all again, as we've had four or five iterations of these now, in four or five years.

Previously branded to Dolgen Corp. (Dollar General), this year they are credited to an Old East Main Co., but still found in Dollar General, and while for the last few years it's been two sets (mummies and skeletons), this year we have a new set, Zombie Pirate Army!

Like the other two sets a bit cartoony, but they can be used to fill the ranks of the Blue Box mob from a few years ago, being the same size and a very similar plastic colour! Eight figures in eight poses, again as the other sets, although I seem to recall one of them was ten-figures for the first couple of years . . . skeletons?

Skeleton army; seen before, so just confirmation of the new packaging variant!

Mine, like I say there have been three or four card variations now, figure-count anomalies, and this third set, so in a year or two, when there's less to post on the day, I'll try to return to them for a more comprehensive pulling-together/overview, yet we may see them again next year, as we've seen them for five-years on-the-trot now!

Many thanks to Brian for the images, I'll try to remember to open my Pirate set for next year whatever else happens!

100 is for Monsters . . . Not . . . quite!

With any luck I'll have this up before midnight and we're back where we started, with SCS Direct, this time it's the Horror set, now listed as Horror Set I on the back of the Fantasy box, but still Monsters on the toob.

Having the same contents and carrier as the one which confused me back in 20218 on Shaun's site, but not the same as the ones Peter Evans sent me the same year, missing here are all the zombies bar the one eating an arm! Although between the two I don't think I'm missing any now, but there must have been a Zombie mix at some point?

So a briefer visit than this morning's as we are reprising a previous post - with the packaging as the 'new information' - and Shaun's already there! This time you're getting around seven-boxes equivalent of Airfix for the money, but the contents are a lot shakeir than this morning's with little consistency and another short-count!

I've highlighted the more obvious anomalies in red, the only real pain is the spider; only two and neither of them in light grey, one gets the feeling there should be four? The gravestone also gets an odd mix, while with the Mummy and the man-bat, it's just overload!

It was the 'Mothma' (for Godzilla to play with!) and everything on the bottom row we didn't see last time, although - obviously - apart from the spider, I now have all of them in both colours. Comments last time apply equally here but the moth is not very good, I mean they are all a bit cartoony-harmless, but the moth is too cuddly by half!

From the backs/undersides, really I'm a bit pissed-off with the spider situation and will have words on my Amazon feedback! There's more too it! So, that's Halloween; coming-in over-budget but on time!

H is for Halloween - Odd's and Sod's!

This is a bitty post, with everything else! Some of it came in a few days ago (thank's to Brain), some has been in Picasa since last year (and may have been seen before, some came from Peter, some from Chris (which has all got mixed-up) and I've got so confused waiting for the day I took some duplicate shots, then had to take some more a few minutes ago 'cos I hadn't done the finger puppet, so it's all a bit muddled, anyway, we'll meander through a eclectic collection of Halloween novelties:

The one we may have seen before? A couple of old header cards from the archive and branded to 'Funworld' they seems to have contained something similar to the following . . .

. . . which managed to be forgotten in the pair's post this morning (I'd accidently put them in the 'done' folder with the six images from the three collages . . . doh!) which otherwise would have T is for 8 and Four! New shelfies from Brian Berke and fortuitous I had the cards above as they made me think Where's those screamers Brian sent?! They also look like those bendies we saw a while ago, maybe the same design team?

I think these were all from Peter Evans and we'll look at the outside two in a minute, the other three are interesting, similar to the 4-4½-inch figures from Charbens, but modern and slimmer, they have quite pinched waists which suggest they may have been gripped by something or pick-up-able somehow? Anyone know what they are/where they come from?

And - more Egypt in what is definitely Egypt-year here at Small Scale World! The mummy is obvious for Halloween, the other two are more 'God & Man', and could have been blogged on another occasion, but the three definitely go together.

So, 'Bluey'; I suspect a Macdonald's or similar premium? he's a dense polypropylene and when you press down on his head his arms pop-up and he has limited articulation at the waist . . . another mummy! But still 'unknown' and clues welcome?

The other one which I think was from Peter's mixed lot, he could just be a 'phone or luggage 'dangler' who has been cut-off and knotted-back to the purple swivel, or he may have had a more significant part? He's a modern PVC substitute with articulation at the waist and shoulders only (through the neck, like Galoob Action Fleet figures), but closer to 54mm - otherwise unknown - clues welcome!

Other novelty skeletons who have come-in over the last 12 months, and this is where the order breaks down, as these would have come from all over - Chris, Peter, charity lots, possibly even one from Adrian, and I don't know where the little green skull came from, but it's a flanged-swivel, so probably from an action-figure around 3 or 3½, maybe 4-inches?

The chap with the yellow 'thing', seems to have either been attached to two sticks, or intended for one or two pencils, clearly he is supposed to do tricks, but without an instruction sheet I could only guess at the nature of the missing apparatus and or hint at the mechanism by posing him? However you can see how he should be flick'able in some fashion to maybe catch a bead in the cup or dance between two . . . something's?

Taken in the last hour to make more sense fo the next few images, these were both from the 'Interim Parcel' Chris Smith sent for ITLAPD and today! A ghost and a sort of imp/pixy finger puppet. I suspect there's a pink 'half' missing from the front of the ghost, but it's not clear and it would have needed to locate in his eye holes?

The cut-out in the 'cape' suggests a pencil top, but it's not clear, two other ghosts which I think were both from Chris include the little movie one (Casper?) on the left, and the green one which clips onto a larger toy and swivels/hinges.

A novelty ring and further comparison with some of the previous to give a sense of size across the lot! it all gets archived, it all has a place and hopefully, one day will all be properly itemised and ID'd? If you can help brand or otherwise ID any of the above you'd be helping with that 'one day'!

Brain also sent what little he found in Scully & Scully's window this holiday season and while not a lot, they are both rather nice, this is the 'box-ticker' pumpkin; there's everything in that fine etching except Dracula and a bowl of candies! A Full Moon, bats, owl, crow, good fairy, black cat, spider's web (?), witch/crone, skeleton, living tree/Ent, ghost, evil (Bavarian?) gingerbread-man and a pile of pumpkins!

Finally; another witch and her - rather sweet-looking - cat; a cottage which is probably hers and home to several ghosts; and an absolutely lovely tree, just on the turn to its autumn colours.

Many thanks to Adrian, Brian, Chris, Peter and all who send this stuff to the Blog as actual objects or images, it will all appear here in the end, even if I lose track of it on the way here!

N is for Novelty Nonsense!

Just a bit of fun peeps, on no account should you use this post as a judge of my character or collecting philosophy, whatsoever, no, no, no; not at all and perish the thought!

I'm a member of a Faceplant group affiliated to Plaid Stallions (new Blog site here) and the other day someone put some vintage add's up for - among other things - some Halloween cutlery, figural cutlery mind, none of your non-figural but probably more efficient cutlery, but yer; actual, figural stuff! I went off to feebleBay to see what was available today, and found these!

I bought them immediately, only for four sets (12 items) to turn-up a week later, direct from Hong Kong, for what appears to have been less than the postage, on which level I can only say There isn't enough planet left for this shit! But it's done now and it's a Halloween post!

The are actually hollow-backed so only novelty items, and I took the other three sets up to the Blue Cross animal charity shop the next day - I was in there yesterday and they had gone, so hopefully, someone younger than me is getting more enjoyment from them this evening!!

But these three will go in the collection for perpetuity, along with the photos' and stuff to on the archive dongles.That's it - unbranded novelty Halloween cutlery from China, polystyrene, gloss paint, hollow-backed, box ticked!