A is for Another 'Lucky Bag', and Some Seasonal Stuff!

A few other purchases in the last few weeks, and after the blind surprise 'Lucky bags' we saw from The Works earlier in the year (October), I noticed similar bags in Poundland the other day, and again got the Dinosaur themed one as the best chance of a figural, and as a comparison with the disappointing inflatable of the last example.

 

A task made slightly easier by the fact that the contents are illustrated on the outside of the bag! Stickers, puzzle, skeleton, collector cards and a 'bonus' key-ring . . . if it's listed, pictured and included in every bag, it's not a bonus, it's a priced element of the contents!

 

A few minutes later I popped into the aforementioned The Works, and bought these, as apart from the fact I thought they would make nice additions to the wooden-trees subsection, they might also prove useful as photo-shoot accessories in the future?

 

To that end, here they are, both artfully arranged (!) in the fashion of an interiors' magazine shoot! You have to imagine they are on an immaculately-polished, white piano, with a recognisable supermodel, just out of focus and staring intently at a Hockney, on the wall!

 

Mostly duplications of one sort, or another, I also picked these up on my day's shopping in Farnham a few weeks ago, they sort of complete what Opie calls a cameo, in that we have previously seen the Santa's in individual bags the same as those the snowmen are in, here.

 

We have also seen the snowmen in the red and green scarves, along with a mauve version, so this blue one is new. And we saw a copy set of the Deer, red-Santa sleigh, snowman (red scarf) and tree, also from The Works, so that's pretty much all known versions of originals and copies, now, in several variations of packaging!

T is for the Third Time of Asking!

I post steam, he shows . . . err, was it steam? It was far, far away! I post books, he posts books, I show football game figures, he mentions football game figures, I show a Pirate's mountain top, he does . . . Dinosaur poo? I mention Casdon, he namecheck's Casdon, it's childish! Invicta (original copy) for Invicta (feeBay scrapings!), you get the picture, well he does, usually from somewhere/someone else!

 

23,000 toy companies, millions of toys, but he seems glued to my Blog. Is he really that insecure, or does he think he's being funny, is this what passes for comedy up there on the Wirral? They do like to refer to themselves as Scallies, the little Wags! I must be missing something, but it's a game which can be played both ways, especially if you're going to copy me umpteen times a fortnight, or should that be Fortnite! He did Fortnite, so I'll do Fortnite!

 

Of the six Tagged visits to stampers, two of the most recent three, have featured the Fortnite stampers, and I did mention a while ago there was Fortnite stuff in the queue, so shall we get these out of the way, and do the key-rings over Christmas? See, that's a heads-up for him to go and scrape some key-ring shit off of evilBay!

 

The broken blind-bags (which aren't blind - it was a poor joke, the first time!)

Contents - predominately female.

 

Outer.

 

Flyer.

 

Comparison between the stampers and the keyrings.

65mm (75 with base). 

 

Three loose ones which came in a charity-shop, something else he seems to have picked-up from this Blog, where I was showing you the shit I took home, even if it is 'shit', from early-on, while he didn't use to do charity shops, and now shows us the shelves of shit he left behind! How many crushed boxes of Connect-4 or Operation do you need to be shown in a given period?

 

 Group shot!

 

When they were in The Works, back in 2019 (I guess stupid people have poor memories, or was he concentrating too hard on not recognising Buck Rogers erasers!), we saw the blind bags, five-figure 'pack' cards and two-figure boxes, and to be honest I can't remember where this four-figure set came from (in 2023), possibly Peter?

While my not-so Blind Bags, came from Poundland (store-closure program expanding), in 2021, so they've done the rounds for several years, if you've kept your eyes open, and had several formats of retail presentation! Note also, how both types seen here, state '36 to collect', yet we have a 37th?

 

The guy on the left is not in any of the artworks? 

 

Again, females are central to the gender-mix, so I was guessing Fortnite is a game played by both sexes, divided relatively equally, but AI (who we've discovered can't be trusted) says, no, mostly males, so I guess they must like dressing as 'Tank Girls', don't tell The Donald, he'll have it banned, and them, arrested and deported, for un-American, gender-bending, 'woke' activity!

 

You'll also notice, there are similarities with the clothing of the two women, this is even more noticeable with the key-rings (whenever I get round to them), and is probably a result of characters 'skins' being chosen from a menu, and populism, the default of the majority of humanity, dictating people keep choosing the same gear!

 

The stampers (red, blue and indigo ink on mine, so far, I've also seen yellow-orange), only give you the head of the character (like the Nina Turtle set), which when other stampers seen here (Thundercats, Action Man and bug-eyed Alien) have had whole figures - albeit, very small - seems a bit of a swizz!

 

Spare shot, slightly better colours!

Now, when you find this stuff going cheap in either The Works or Poundland, you tend to think 'end of line', but in fact, with these, I think now, it was more an exercise in clearance to make room for the 'Battle Royal' Series Two wave (red cards), and to get as many people as possible hooked on them by making them so available? They are now up to series three - purple cards.

 

And, as well as two or three series of key-rings, there are some mild 'deform' figures, a pair of whom will be seen here shortly, not scraped off the internet, but in the collection!

 

And, yeah, anyone can post anything on their Blog, and if you want to turn what was once the best space toy Blog on this planet, into a pile of shit internet scrapping, fine, fill yer' boots, after all, you were doing a fair-bit of that from day one, but we sort of ignored it, for the - in context - space toys, however, if you want to continue this constant niggling, point-for-point copying, I'll give it back in spades.

S is for Season's Shelfie Summery

Recently shot shelfies, nothing exceptional, just a few things shot over the spring/summer, which either missed other shelfie posts, or have only been taken recently, and typically after a couple of weeks of behaving itself, Blogger just unloaded them in reverse-order, so the less interesting ones are at the end now!

 

Shot in Poundland about a week ago, as with all similar shots, it's against future ID's, although they look familiar, and are probably under several brands already going back a decade or so, here 'Gear Box' with a Maisto/Jada style 'die-cast' cartouche!

 

I don't think I've had the Peppa Pig 'Busy Book' from Phidal here yet, but knowing these Tattle Tales are only half a set or less, I wasn't about to start now. Interestingly, I think this was in Morrisons, up at Elvetham Heath, near the DVD's!

 

The Works, thematic Lucky Bags, I did get a test purchase, which will get a post, but it was disappointing, as these things always are these days, human progress disappeared in a miasma of disinterest and rip-offery, years ago!

 

Currently, or still (I shot this in April) in B&M, and again, it's to ID insects in mixed lots years form now, and not something which came home with me, although, it's nice to see old favourites like fake poo, whoopee-cushions and snapping-gum are still of interest to modern kids!

 

Also April, TKMaxx, and it's a bunch of hares and rabbits (arbitrary ear-length!) in ceramic, got shot in passing, and should have been in one of the Easter posts, really!

 

The rest, all figurals, were shot with the cats we saw the other day, all in TKMaxx, all in the catering section, with bag-clips, bag-ties, tea-diffusers, a banana-tree and a fun potato-peeler!

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Combat

Getting near the end of Chris's latest donation to the Blog, and we come to the proper toy soldiers, the guys in green, the khaki-whiskered gentlemen the feldgrau and desert sand of actual military chaps!

 

But, first we have a ceremonial who snuck into the wrong post, by dint of being in his sentry-box, I did finally track one down, but it didn't have a hanger-cord, so this one WILL go on the tree, I'd remind you Chris's Mother used to work at Tobar, so there's a familial connection there. I think I ID'd the yellow one as being Marty/M-Toys (Maysun - May Moon), while the anti-Terminator post probably came with 3 or 4" action figures in some generic big-box, but as you can see, it helps make for a useful comparison shot, and there will be more in the future!

 

A tradition now in these posts; the parachute toys! Seen elsewhere already, and nothing new, possibly new mouldings of the small ones, but always new colour variations, and while I know that page rather ran out of steam, it's partly because I need to bring everything together and re-shoot it all to reflect all the stuff from Chris, Peter, Gareth and my own finds!

 

And here's a carded one by an importer/jobber I'd not heard of before (Anabas Products of Romford), he's the smaller one, often found in Christmas crackers, especially as the brighter-coloured varients, but here, probably a sixpenny pocket-money job, or a later 10/25p type?

 

The upper three were in Poundland (or 99p Stores?) a few years ago, and we did see them here (along with firefighters I think), but I can't remember what colour they were, and I know Brian B found different-coloured ones in the 'States. While below them is a comparison with one of the old Arco Rambo figures, converted to a generic GI, with a helmet cover, and a nice five-inch figure, probably Hong Kong.

 

There were quite a few if these, off the back of the Marx, MPC, Blue Box and Lincoln 'biggies', and while they are slowly gathering in a larger tub, I still know very little about them, their packaging doesn't seem to survive like smaller figures/animals' does, probably because they would have been in open, counter-display boxes, sold individually?

 

Toy Story figures, I've rather lost track of these since we looked at some when doing an overview of the Tim Mee GI's, a few years ago, but there are several different generations/licences of them, mostly Mattel, but also Burger King and a mobile-phone stand thing, so we will gather them in one place and look at them again one day!

Mixed Hong Kong; the stand-out is the large figure, who's a modern PVC-substitute, and seems to be a scale-up of previously seen small-scale copies of the Revell 1:72 paratroopers, but until I can do a direct comparison I'm not 100% sure of that attribution, suffice to say he's new to me, Blog and possibly hobby?

 

Kamley/KS (Kwong Shing) in blue are useful, the kneeling 8th Army is that lesser copy with the oblong base, and the Monogram clones are in an unusual sandy-khaki, while I know I'm short of those chromed 45mm piracies, so a very useful handful

 

Starlux 30mm, but when found in pairs like this, technically, probably Solido!

 

Small scale, going clockwise from the top left;, three of the Euro-premiums, found in various branding of bubble-gum, and typically referred to as 'Dunkin', an Airfix sentry-box (which should have been in the first shot really?), HK copy, three Marx soft-ethylene polymer Brit's, an Indian (Imex? Italeri? I used to instinctively know this shit - it's all on PSR!), and a minor-make/new production Prussian (Strelets*R or Orion?).
 

Which leaves the chap in the centre? Only the best thing in the whole bloody parcel! If you weren't more enamoured of the dice-shaker, that is! It appears to be a reasonably good quality (if slightly play worn), small-scale copy of the Lido French Foreign Legion standing firing pose! How cool is that? And . . . it begs the question; whothewhatthewhenthewherethehowmanyposes???!!!!

 

Definately new to me, Blog and hobby, but, somebody, somewhere, probably has a biscuit-tin full of 'em? Can anybody shed more light on the figure? Still a real find, and many thinks to Chris for it, and everything above! Marche ou crève!

T is for Two - Roarsome Rack-Toys

A couple of quickies here, as - for now - they both remain sealed, so it's the home-shot equivalent of shefies! And snuck between the Chris donation posts as I mentioned yesterday, the civilian element of his lot later today, or after work tonight?

BJ Toys, and yes, you can snigger each time, they've been a constant now for a few years, and seem to have about half the corner-shop market round Surrey Hills and Hampshire Villages. These are the same hollow, thin-walled clip/plug-together polyethylene lightweights we've seen a few times now, rather basic, but they would paint-up well.

 

While this was in Peter Evans's latest parcel, and is interesting to me for two reasons, firstly, it's the more fantastical element of the set of five, which I sort of didn't buy deliberately last time (it was budgetary, but one had to stay on the hook), and secondly, it's a new branding of that earlier set which, when we looked at it here at Small Scale World was Poundland, and is now a Generic under Gem Imports stickers - second customer here? Thanks to Peter for spotting and saving this.

G is for Guardians of the Galaxy

Really it's a bit of a follow-up to Jada and some recent developments in their range of Nano Metalfigs 40mm, die-cast figures. Namely, that one range has been cleared though Poundland, and another is now in that annoying vehicle; the blind bag!

I found these back in June, in the aforementioned Poundland, on each occasion there was only the one sculpt, in multiples, which I took to be a clue that it was wholesaler stock being cleared, but at a quid each they were pretty much half-price on the supermarket stuff we've looked at previously, so I grabbed one of each.

 

Close-ups of the two generations of Groot (a portmanteau word from 'Guardian' and 'Root'?) in the opposite order to how we were introduced to them! As you may have discerned, I'm not a great fan of the Marvel/DC universes, all far too formulaic, repetitive and convenient for me, but I love Guardians of the Galaxy, because it is a stand-alone sci-fi movie, with the tongue-in-cheek humour of Star Wars or the Good-Bad-Ugly trilogy, and while I have now got both sequels on DVD I haven't watched them yet, so I don't know if there are any crossover appearances from other Marvel characters, but I hope not?

 

Keeping my eye out for them after the initial finds I picked up two more, Rocket racoon (my favourite!) and Thanos, branded-up to The Avengers, who IS a crossover-character seen in the Galaxy movie, but so long as none of the spandex-clad, flying, transforming, super-powered loons' turn-up, I can bear his being in the background driving the plot!

 

The 'promotion' seems to have ended, I haven't seen any in Poundland for a couple of months now, so if I ever get the need to finish the set, it'll be me off to evilBay, or keeping my eye out at Sandown Park (where the Poundland-visiting scalpers will be wanting 4 or 5-quid each for them, I have no doubt!), but as a sample they'll do for now!

Meanwhile, on my recent trip to London, Peter Evans gave me this pair for the Blog, we have seen the Jada take on the Harry Potter franchise before with contributions from Brian Berke and show-reports/catalogue images, but as you can see they are now being sold somewhere in blind-bags, a most annoying trend!

L is for Late Layabouts Languishing in Limbo!

As well as lots of old Charity shop stuff, there's also a lot of toy show/toy fair stuff, which will probably be broken-down into box-tickers, or thematic posts now, and a few Shelfies which seem to have missed previous round-ups, including these, most of which are from the Autumn/Christmas just-gone, despite the fact we did have several 'shelfie' posts from both my Camera and Brian Berke's? But there you are, they hide from me!

This is actually from 2021, so a real hider! It was, then, the latest iteration of the rather generic and poorly-detailed/sculpted 30mm'ish figures Mark, the Man of Tin, has such success, and apparent delight with, in turning them into spacemen, monsters, Napoleonics and colonial thin-red-lines, among other things!

 

We've had various shelfies of these, over the years, since they started appearing, not long after this Blog was born, and Poundland, Poundstreatcher, the defuct Poundworld Plus and 99P Stores (along with others), have all carried them, often in more than one packaging, while Amazon has carried dozens of generics and phantom-branded stuff, tubbed, carded, bagged, blistered and clam-shelled!

 

Which is why I only shelfie them, I have samples of various sizes, in dozens of colours, and they will be findable, mint, on evilBay for decades to come, as ex-stock, if you really need them in packaging! 

I hate this shite, I phuqing hate it with a vengeance, and to be fair to my sensibilities, I hated the big-head/bobble-head/nodding crap of our childhoods, and I hated the Corinthian cricketers and footballers of the 1990/2000's, it's awful stuff. I think it's an extension of clown-phobia?

 

I even hate the 'Nutty Mads' from Marx . . . "Let's apply teenage, 50's surf-culture to World War Two murderers, shall we? Make them look silly! The Butchers of Nanking will look harmless after we've given them some racially-profiled extremities!", said no sane person, ever. Garbage!

"Yeah, but the kids like them", go the supine, brain-dead, left-of-bell-curve parents! Because unethical, immoral, capitalist Toymen, who have a greater love of money than the future mental well-being of the human race, have sold them the concept, while you were getting drunk and watching porn, to blot-out current-affairs and drown the misery of your existence, you dullards!

Deep breath Hugh, take a moment, and then see if you can find some nice dinosaurs . . .

Self-branded/in-house from B&M, I think these are the latest from HGL (Grossman) or HTI (Halsall), repacked for B&M, and at less than the price of a single larger Schleich or Papo, a bloody bargain! Who wouldn't like this under the Tree on Christmas morning?

 

These - Wenno - might be a phantom brand (also for B&M) or an actual brand mark for a China toy maker (I haven't seen them at the trade-fairs?), but they seem to be newish sculpts (albeit, maybe copies of other makers) and relatively well done for the price-point, which, again, beats the big-names hands down, and I thought the giraffe was particularly well done, compared to the rack-toy giraffes of our youth!

 

 

 

We're on safer ground with Teamsters, having seen them several times before, an imported sub-branding of HTI, covering a variety of die-cast or 'toy car' lines, and I wouldn't buy any of these, new, but they will help ID loose dinosaurs at some point in the future! Also shot in B&M.

And finally a similar set, in B&M packaging, really a generic, but helping to pinpoint an origin for some of the many teeny dinosaurs, if no better candidate comes forward in the future.