M is for Mostly Stretchies!

I thought, given what else is there, that there would be some Henbrandt in the archive of previous show visits, but there isn't, it seems we covered it all at the time, but when they have stuff to shoot, it's usually stuff of interest, and while ephemeral or novelty in nature, this is true for what I shot this year up at the NEC.

 

Finger Monsters = finger fun!

 

Some nice figural Halloween stuff here, I never seem to find it out there in stores, the UK being very bad at this kind of stuff, which makes much better 'treats' than more tooth-acid, but it must be out there somewhere, if you have a better party-shop than my locals, check them out in October?

 

More by accident than design, we've covered both version of their small animal sets over the years, quite thoroughly! But here's another shot, 'cos you can't have too many!

 

? Sort of figural shots, I fired-off, but really just novelty rings.

 

Snakes & Skeletons

 

Lizards & Smileys

 

Skeleton box, but they are Mummies

I think we saw the flicky Superheroes in Hawkin's Bazaar?

 

Frogs & Dinosaurs

 

Mixed jungle animals I'll be looking out for,

and black & white Rats

 

I wonder how many colour-change items there are in the stash, not having a habit of giving everthing a hot bath when it comes in to the collection, I wouldn't know unless someone told me?! All-in-all, a few bits of interest, one way or another.

A-Z is for Padgett Brothers - 2025

So back to Birmingham for this year's Spring Gift Fair, and Padgett had most of the stuff from '23, and most of the stuff previously seen in London, and a bunch of new space stuff, and some other stuff, so I took lots of pictures of their stuff!

 

The dogs have new A-Z branded cards.

 

And, as a range, are joined by more cartoony domestic animal sets.

 

Joke shop staples!

 

All-new Dinosaur sets, it's the same twelve animals to find/collect, but there are various assortments, and as people like me will be getting them over some time from charity shop bags, this is the image guide!

 

Not the best shot, but a larger tub of bigger beasts!

 

The insects are now on parade!

 

There's always one! Two years ago I managed to shoot the very bottom of the tub by accident, this year I wasn't in focus, but didn't realise, maybe next year or in two years time, if it's still on display!

 

Better shot's of the two window-boxes!

 

But I did get the 'new' (ish?) tubs in focus! Farm & Zoo.

 

All sorts of new NASA/Realistic-themed space toys, most of the figures are probably outside the parameters of even my collection, but there's a lot of useful stuff in there anyway, ground vehicles, satellites etc . . .

 

The guys sitting on moons and asteroids in the first shot are all over evilBay as hard, poured-resin versions, I suspect these are softer PVC-alike, and may be the originals, while there are [larger?] night-light versions, so a new 'thing' which will be around for a while, I don't know if it's one maker or several involved?

 

New 'army men', following the trend of having a piece of scenery integrally-attached to the sculpt/base, but not the figures we've seen here a couple of times, these are older sculpts repurposed/nth-generation pirated!

 

We've seen these before here, and in a subsequent follow-up post, which both produced a few comments sending me down a rabbit hole, and which also led to further purchases. Meaning, for several years there has been a follow-up in the queue, probably two or three posts-worth, or one very long post? Which I'd better bump-up the queue, now I've mentioned them!

I think the three above are the better ones with accurate chassis and detailed superstructures, while the lower set of eight are the poorer ones with generic running-gear and simplified, one-colour air-brush weathered bodies?

A-Z is for Padgett Brothers - 2023

I don't have as much Padgett as other brands in the archive pile, as their stuff is always interesting enough to post nearer the time of taking, certainly all the London Toy Fair stuff has gone-up in the past, but with everything else going on recently, I did leave 2023's Gift Fair shots in Picasa, so this is they, and then we'll have this year's efforts later.

 

Paint your own Dinosaurs

I think we've seen these elsewhere, possibly in different packaging

 

Lots of other Dinosaur stuff, some, like the silly (not if you're a kid, I know!) vehicles, have smaller 'companion' dinosaurs. Some of this is branded to A-Z, some of it more generic, and as such harder to ascribe, especially if you've seen it somewhere else first!

 

Farm, zoo, sea-life and more Dinosaurs, in sets. I'm pretty sure I recognise the larger bears; Panda and Polar, and I'm sure that the odd-coloured sheep is in the pile somewhere, so I suspect a fair amount of this is already in the stash, among the unsorted stuff of the last few years.

 

A range of domestic dogs with what looks to be three sizes of card, six small, three-each mediums and larger, or is it a trick-of the eye, due to how they have been hung?. They are very reasonable sculpts, and well decorated in what is several colours for most of them.

 

The Insects clearly weren't ready, so get a colour print of the catalogue/online artwork! And another set/size of Dinosaurs!

 

More retail counter-display boxes - farm, wild animals and leery lizards!

 

Pretty sure these cows were in a donation from Jon Attwood or Peter Evans?

 

Likewise, I've already put one or two of these chaps in the stash, I think?

 

A BTR60pb/VAB hybrid? Nice-looking model for 54mm figures, though.

 

Another farm set, with different animals to the previous one, above. These have the look of those thin-walled, hollow dinosaurs we've seen here on previous occasions, but they might be solids, it's hard to tell from looks alone!