E is for Eclectic!

Around the same time as Chris Smith's parcel, i.e., a few weeks before the Plastic Warrior show, the third 'spring break' was a parcel from Peter Evans, which has been in the queue for ages, and I'm happy to thank him now and share the contents with the rest of you.

I think we've since seen this BJ Toys set, because either Peter gave me another or I grabbed one, out and about, but either way it got Blogged, but that means I can open one and inspect the two Matchbox-clone figures more closely another day!

 

A pull-back-and-go, slightly 'deform' T62 type with a whacky paint-job, possibly from a larger set, but could equally be an open-carton shelf-pick type of thing, you do still find them occasionally in general/discount stores or on market stalls?

 

I think we've seen these before in a set of four, but nice to be reminded than even in the modern derth of decent rack-toy war toys, there are still a few gems to be uncovered, and a Tiger and StuG (albeit with identical running gear) are a nice diversion.

 

Green-eyed monster! There is a plan, one day, for a decent overview of 'King Kong's; we have seen a few here over the years, but there's probably over a dozen in the pile,. This very-male one is particularly mentionable, being neither the common 'Rubber Jiggler' silicone or latex, nor the semi-rigid PVC, you might otherwise expect, but is actually a rather solid lump of polyethylene . . . "You could 'av someone's eye out with that!"

 

Impro Dinosaurs, I have a tub of these and have meant to Blog them, but I think I'm still waiting on the rarest moulding, or only got one as they were going back into storage (?), but no matter, there's plenty about them on the Wibbly Wobbly Way, and the duck-bill here is another of the less common sculpts I think?

 

Paint variations of Pterodactyl, I used to kind-of ignore them, but in the last year or so, particularly with the donations from Jon Attwood, and a few Charity Shop buys, there have been quite a few come in, with copies and variations like these, so there may be an overview-post in the Blog's future as they are almost more amazing than normal dinosaurs . . . the world had flying lizards bigger that fridges, or even family cars, which could swoop down and pierce your spine with a four, six or eight-foot beak!

 

Potato, Onion, Apple

Carrot, Cucumber, Aubergine-Brinjal-Zuccini

 

Blackberry, Apple, Pineapple

Two Bananas and an Orange

A pair of Apples and a Pear

 

These have been given several names over the years, now collectively known as 'Munch Bunch', they were also sold as 'Mr. Fruity', 'Fruit & Veg' etc. Pencil tops, there are several versions, variants, piracies and issues, with examples of several seen above, you sometimes found them with plug-in cowboy hats (which unethical sellers would/will happily use on swoppet figures), plug-in greenery, painted, integral greenery or no 'top knot' decoration, even some with small charm-loops, and as you can see above, larger and smaller versions.

They are another thing destined to get a proper in-depth treatment here one day, and of which, again, there is plenty to read about them, online already. I think we got ours one year in a Christmas stocking, maybe three each, and we called them Pineapple Pol (and his mates), but I think that may have come from Mum, and be referencing the famous musical, which was big when she was younger? Note, the pear has lost its [her?] legs.

They are always waving with one hand, with the other arm down, often wearing clown shoes, Cuban heels or Dutch clogs and always wearing gloves. Some are clearly female (long lashes!), and the Banana is always top-knot'less, unless he has a loop, due to his starting to peel! And once you have a big collection, there are a couple which are hard to name as being obvious fruits or vegetables!

 

The difference between an apple and a tomato is a moot-point, but the tomato tends to full roundness. And please note, there are millions of them out there, so they are mostly hideously overpriced on evilBay!

A bunch of bits, they all have their place, with tubs of assorted traffic cones, road signs, general signs, two boxes of tentage and etcetera! Likewise, the tree zone has been growing for about 47-years! I think the above fir is a cake decoration, and the gun is from early rack-toys.

I think we've now seen the set the middle chap is taken from, or it's in the queue, but a loose sample is always useful, and the set of mechanics may have been ID'd in a shelfie, or, again, be in the queue, all good stuff!

Vinyl! Two Smurfs, an astronaut, a Gormiti Egyptian (?) and a Kinder Santa, join a little lady in a princess suit, who I did find on that there Interweb the other day, but I've lost the reference, she's a current kid's TV character.

Post-Giant mouldings of Wild West foot figures, an Airfix kit figure of an RAF ground crew firefighter, who - unlike the refueling set figures - was not later issued in the soft polyethylene figure set, and two piggy-wiggies! The smaller from Hong Kong, the larger, an early Britains with a damaged tail.

A box of Airfix HO-OO, painted and with some damage, because everything was going to storage by that point, they will be cleaned and sorted another day, a little project on the back-burner! Thanks to Peter for all these, it's all grist to the mill, always something useful, or Blogable, and there's a bit of everything above!

P is for Peter's Perfect Post-Christmas Parcel! 1 of 2

Back at the start of January I got a suprise in the post, a donantion to the Blog from Peter Evans, roving-reporter for Plastic Warrior magazine and keeper of the knowlage! And we're going through it's contents in the next two posts!

The opening of these parcels, whoever from, is always the best-bit, as everything is fresh and unknown, even if it's grubby and duplicate, if you know what I mean, and it's all in a jumble, prior to any sorting, so you spot stuff among stuff, under stuff, next to stuff!

 

Three more of the smaller cake-decoration footballers, I've been looking out for them, but so far I haven't seen a retail set, and both Hobbycraft and my Clapham Junction haunt still stock the larger ones! The other guy is a rubber/PVC chap we have seen before, but possibly not attributed and without the base, he's been ID'd but is another of those I keep forgetting the maker of, similar figures are found on springs as more generic 'table football' games.

 

A couple of cave men, we've looked at similar, we may have looked at these and there is a folder of sets from evilBay and sucklike waiting for the great sorting out session! While the Hong Kong version of Cavendish's policeman will be a useful addition, as they are always different when you find one, different pain usually, but sometimes different plastic.

 

Three khaki infantry (Britains and Lone Star - actually a Para') and that pesky naval-gunner/MTB crew-looking chap again, really starting to bug me now, I now have about four here, and several in storage, so whatever toy he came with, must have been quite common, but what the hell was it?

 

China-farmer, as found in the Padgett Brothers (A-Z) sets, and others, a Britains lamb and Barrett & Sons (B&S) calf, along with a larger calf, which may be modern or a clean earlier example, unknown to me.

 

Nice polyethylene Hong Kong swoppet Confederate who's stolen a Unionists hat, he'll need ID'ing against the folder of such things, and one of the PVC Toyway Indians sans plug-in disc-base.

Love this! Semi-relief flat of Santa Claus and his sleigh, obviously meant to be laid on the icing, I managed to stand it up in a moulding detail on the lid of the scanner! Santa looks like one of the Elf on shelves!

 

Firefighter from a large carpet/garden/beach toy, and a bunch of the Lucky (et al) figures form the large-scale plastic copies of Western road vehicles, they will all need to be checked against the 'master collection' for variation, new base-marks etc.

 

The usual gaggle of seated figures and road-workers, the red chap on the right is a marked Buddy L figure, the left-hand one is a short shot, while the three in the front look modernish.

 

Two Hasbro Star Wars Command figures, I'll have to have a go at painting some up, one day! And a novelty 'Munch bunch' style, or actual, pencil-top, who will join all the others in another 'To Be Sorted' project, he's missing a hat or greenery frond, and there are many generations of sub-piracy!

Thanks to Peter for this pile of treats, more to come in the next post.

T is for Tops...on Pencils!

I know! But now that I've combined this page with the 'Other Collectables' page you'll just have to bare with it on the odd piece-of-shite posting!! They do after all have their place in the cultural history of toys and things...what '70's child didn't have at least one Munch Bunch?

The Kellogg's super-hero Snap, Crackle and Pop are actually more recent, being mid-80's of thereabouts (I don't have my 'Cluck' at the moment), and I'm missing one pose of Crackle, they only came in the four colours shown and seem to be Ashford Mouldings products, there were other sets in the same style - but not Pencil Tops - involving both these guys and other characters from the Kellogg's universe (Coco monkey, Tony tiger etc...).

Next to them are two sets of Paddington Bear figurines, the top row being a soft silicon rubber with red or blue plug-in hats (the black one was stolen from a spare hard vinyl one for the photo-shoot!) and below them the harder/more rigid PVC figures with red or black hats just mentioned.

Odds and sods. the Wonder Woman is - again - a more recent product, I think it came from Tesco's about ten years ago, and is technically a 'Dangler' not a 'Top'. The big silver monster (Minator?) is the only one with a mark; CH.

Danger Mouse sort of completes the Super-heroes, while how many Highland Pipers based on the Zang/Herald/Britains figure can a man have in a collection?! I must have a couple of dozen now from the Zang original through various Herald and HK-for-Herald,to other UK company's copies, Hong Kong pirates, key-rings, whiskey mascots, and this topper.

Like the upper row of Paddingtons, the two figures bottom left are made from a silicon rubber and bare more than a passing resemblance to the Poopa-Troopers that used to come with little parachutes.

The last shot is just a few odds, I'd like to find a Jerry to go with my Tom, the dinosaur is flocked, and the green parrot/penguin will give succour to 'Folgor' the idiot Italian who once accused me of "...Collecting little ducks and things..." on a forum!

The Munch Bunch...or are they Fruit Salads...or Mr Fruity? They are all three (and probably more beside?) I don't know how many of these there were altogether, I remember as a kid having a purple blackberry, red strawberry and tomato and a rather sickly creamy-white onion, while among others not shown here there was a black something (version of the green pepper above?) and another corn - with the leaves as a jacket? Green apples, oranges and orange pears, a yellow gourd...

Shown here are at least six types;

*Plug-in hat - long legs
*Moulded-on hat - short legs
*Plug-in 'greenery' - long legs
*Moulded-on greenery - short legs
*Moulded-on greenery with key-ring/charm bracelet loop - short legs
*Nothing on the top, nor hole for anything - long legs

I'm guessing the blue 'Pineapple Pol' (the only one who's name I can remember) is a more modern/recent version in a non-realistic colour...and I hope the brown one is a sausage of some kind?

Someone with limited space and limited budget, looking for a hobby could do worse than to collect these alone, it would take a year or two to track down a good example of every version and you'd need a side-collection of pencils to display them!!