F is for Follow-Up - Potemkin's 'Pirates'

Chris Smith kindly sent this pair to the blog to highlight the point I mentioned in passing earlier today, and the other day in the Rasnoexport post - copies!

There's no mystery to it, as I pointed out; all countries have their copies and copyists, not excluding the Hong Kong thing, but specifically within countries, things are 'borrowed' or lent, influence or get influenced by; the difference with the Soviet Union back when it was a collective-economy was that the bulk of the copying was sanctioned, where in the west it was usually more problematical.

The one which is the same as mine is on the right, the one on the left has sharper detail, but it's a slightly smaller figure, so was probably pantograph-copied and then re-etched. It actually makes a better figure, except in the shoe department, where the wide flares of the Rasnoexport figure have been re-cut into shorter trousers and a pair of Olive Oyl's dancing pumps are worn!

While our makers copied each other purely for commercial gain - with or without each-others permission, I think that under the 'Soviet system' manufacturers were told or expected to share tools or designs; in order that toys (the same toys?) be available to kids everywhere . . . far rather that someone in Kiev made copies of something from Moscow, than 'another' truck burn fuel taking them there every few weeks or months? It's all conjecture but it will contain a kernel of truth!

No brand for the copy . . . yet!

Nor for three of these! More copies, seen before; the green one is Bulgarian Progress and one of the red ones will be Russian Progress, but the other two are other works, and which is the Russian Progress is still to be confirmed - I suspect the first on the left of each shot, but without much confidence?

V is for Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev

Also Chapaev or 'Chapi', and his soldiers: Chapayevtsi - Followers of Chapi, were a popular subject for infant toys in the Soviet Union (and it's post WWII satellites), among which were the ubiquitous flats. They are the subject of tonight's post.

Chapayev the Man

Four sets following or copied from the same original mould-tool. Three are probably Russian in origin, the forth (second row down) being Bulgarian. The fifth set (bottom row) are a separate set, with all new poses (one being similar or derivative?) and a thicker semi-flat look, but they seem to be another set of Chapayevtsi.

These seem to be the originating set, their detail is the best, the sculpting/moulding the smoothest, and while they are not really semi-flat, they are the fullest figures of the four sets of flats. Given the branding of the next set down this post: I think it's a fair bet to assume these are from the Progress factory, some other figures from which we looked at a while ago.

I think this is near the full set (of eight sculpts), but it may be that the machine gun coach (tachanka - Russian: Tача́нка), was to be purchased separately. I've seen several of these toys, each a little different (i.e., enough for each of the sets presented here), yet they never seem to accompany the sets - this blue one, while matching the sculpting style, base design and plastic type of the red cavalry (Hahah! Reds!) was a separate purchase, years after the mounted figures.

Tachanka's were designed to keep-up with cavalry, and while shown here with one horse, usually employed the famous Russian Troika or three-abreast arrangement for the draft animals, with some having four horses abreast like a Roman chariot!

Chapayevtsi - it reads! The reason for the 'Progress' assumption above is that these are 'also' from Progress, but spelt Проƨрес rather than the original Пpоrресc, the difference being down to the fact that while Bulgarian and Russian both using the Cyrillic alphabet, they are as different as English versus Danish to the users!

These are from a plant in Sophia which we can further assume was a subsidiary or branch of the parent country's company, in the puppet country? These are not exact copies, there is a loss of overall quality, with re-sculpting evident, particularly on the grass rising from the bases to help the horses with their dynamic posing. So licensed or simply a 'second set' of moulds?

Probably back to Russia (but could be another satellite country?) for these obvious copies, loss of quality of the sculpting has been matched by a loss in quality of material which is a tinier plastic.

These are the poorest of the sets, being both poor quality, and made of a dodgy plastic, which may be recycled from off-cuts of something bigger, but poses are still mirrored, and one has to assume that all 6/8 will turn-up eventually.

This set is very different, as hinted at above. The figures are semi-flat or demi-rond, and the poses are all new, although one of the figures can be matched as I have in the first image (middle of the row there, top right in this shot), it's more a coincidental similarity that any continuation of the 'series' that contains the other four sets.

Comparison photo's showing the different types of base, a comparison between flat and semi-flat and four figures in the same pose; the fact that the third set down the page has replaced the rifle with a sabre, suggests it might be the last set made, so take the order 'down the page' with a pinch of salt.

Finally: a marbled effect, probably caused by dirty plastic or an 'in production' mould-purge of a previous colour, rather than a deliberate attempt at such a finish. It could even be burning; if you let the injector-head get too hot you will get dark streaks in the plastic.

This set is also likely to be representing Chapayevtsi, but is in a different style altogether, there are lots of these silver figures with the heavier bases (in a more Polish or East German toy-soldier style) which slotted into little trays you could buy separately - to move them in blocks/units and we will look at the Napoleonics another day, but I thought I'd slip these in here for completion's sake! All new poses and a slogan on the flag I;ve not had translated yet.

The weirdest thing here is that they are flat, yet plastic...it goes back to the point I made the other day while looking at the die-cast 'slush-cast'...people using the new technology to produce toys that resemble the old technology. And it's not something we can regard with self-satisfied superiority as being a sign of a backward failing totalitarian state's industry, as we (in the Coca-Cola 'Free West') were doing the same thing with margarine figurines, Cracker-Jacks, World Dolls and 100-soldier sets! Just a daftness, but I like plastic flats and we'll come back to them!