The best'est thing EVER! . . . err . . .
since the last/'till the next Best'est thing [ever!].
Another Sandown purchase, also from the
Belgians, although I've put an American brand to them, they might be Spanish
(careful Hugh - you know how excited TJF gets when you mention Spain) in
origin; Hong Kong being the other obvious choice.
Scott Tracy doing some plumbing!
The American company being Xandria-Holland of New York, however,
they themselves used the tag-line '100
million sold in Europe' on their trade add (itself typical corporate
hyperbole; I doubt there were many more than 400-million people in Europe in
the 1970's and these weren't distributed on a 1-in-4 ratio), which rather
suggests they were carrying something previously popularised elsewhere first,
as importers (jobbers) or agents.
Brains with an early design-model for T1
"When
it's erect, it'll look like this!"
And while they (Xandria) also state 'Designed
and manufactured in our own factories', they don't state where those
factories are, so they could be anywhere - US companies tend to sing from the
rooftops if their products are made in the USA!
And 'our own' can hide a multitude of
corporate contracts - some people think Arco
had their 'own' factories in Hong Kong, but there's no actual evidence for more
than an office, it's all about the contract, an exclusivity clause for a
product (or a sales-territory) with a contract-manufacturer will give you the
[technical] right to use 'ours'!
Footnote - Arco were probably using Soma,
which may be why Soma is the primary
manufacturer of Hot Wheels for Mattel these days?
Paker! He's a bit tasty, he's the 'Daddy'
now!
He's got a little black box with his gun
in!
Bill (at Moonbase Central) thinks
he was told they might have originated in Spain and there are certain pointers to that
possibility; both Spain and Portugal (along with Italy) seem to have used PVC
more often than the other European figure makers, they had the TV series (and
other ThunderBird related products -
bubble-gum canisters, Comansi sets,
&etc.) and the 'build quality is good, but it's not top-notch, so HK are
still in the frame.
Lady Penelope. If the stiletto doesn't get
them...
...the pink pearls will!
My brother and I were given two of what Xandria called their 'Pixies' (another reason for eschewing
the US as origin, they were non-Disney
style fairy-tale and children's story characters) in about 1974 - possibly
later, no later than '77 though, I had the mouse on a piece of cheese, my
Brother either had the tramp dog in raincoat and straw hat, or a chef dog with
a cake? They were clearly bought in Sheffield, Retford or Doncaster, or
somewhere around there.
So while the seller thought they were
Belgian, the American Xandria state
'our', Bill has been told Spain and I know they were 'British'. I suspect they
are in fact a better quality Hong Kong (or Spanish - for the reasons above)
product, a 'jobbed' novelty, taken up by various wholesalers and popular for a
while just about anywhere in what was then referred to as First World
countries, or nations with 'disposable' wealth!
The very large rings (also seen in Xandria's press-add') may be a clue for
key-ring experts or collectors?
Virgil Tracy with a ray-gun!
I don't know if all the characters were
available, or any of the bad-guys or episodic 'walk-on' characters, but there
were 41 Pixies in Xandria's list, with the possibility of
ordering corporate logos, so I suspect the rest of the Tracy brothers should be
out there as a minimum 8-count for this set?
They are fascinating figures; part swoppet,
part over-mould, part 'stackable' by pulling from all three techniques.
The ring-chain loop is at the end of a
central core which - whether long or short (as a rod) ends in the bottom [visible]
moulding/piece or main body of the figurine. With the exception of Parker where
the legs are attached-to/formed-with a longer rod; the boots painted, these are
simpler than most of the Pixies,
having short rods attached to whole-body (one colour) mouldings, with only
head/hair as separate mouldings.
The other components are 'strung' on that
rod, like beads, shaped to fit together snugly (like over-moulding, but
without being fused together), allowing limited movement where the joint is in
one plane, waist and neck (as swoppets) the whole held in place by the loop for
the last link of the chain, which is fatter than the diameter of the
rod/threading holes (stackables) - all very clever.
Accessories are polyethylene; glued firmly
into holes in the PVC, which being a tough and flexible polymer takes a lot of
punishment. Brains' little model (has he bought the Rosenthal C21 toy?!!) seems to be polystyrene though? Parker's Gun
is PVC (integral to the body-moulding) with his violin case in ethylene, while
the two Tracy boy's sashes are die-cut, adhesive-backed, vinyl-sheet stampings
which have gone - predictably - sticky over the years, but are over-printed
nicely with the Thunderbirds logo.
Although they could take a lot of
punishment, my mouse lost his block of cheese (and feet) while I was playing in
the big barn's bale-stack (it was an additional PVC component added to the legs
with a separate heat-weld), and while not exactly as small as a needle, I was
upset enough for my Uncle Bob to mail me the found item about six months later
when the last straw-bales went off to stables - it's hard to find a needle in a
haystack, but not impossible!
Also discovered - digging for this post;
Thunderbirds' Tracy Family / Staff
Identifying / Sash Colours
Alan - Grey/off-white/cream
Brains - Bronze (Once? In Thunderbird 6)
Gordon - Orange
Jeff - Gold (but only in a commercial for Bernardo's - the Children's charity)
John - Lilac/purple/mauve
Lady Penelope - Always wears pink, or
something pink (scarf, hat, pearls etc...)
Scott - Light blue
Virgil - Yellow
Finally - I've taken all these shots with
the dying camera, so I've had to stop down shadows and pile on contrast, when
the new camera arrives I'll take a second set of images and send them to Moonbase
Central - where they really belong!
