T is for Toy Fair '18 Reports - Schleich - Superheroes

As with Papo I've broken the Schleich (or Schleich-S as I think they are aiming to be called?) down, but not into the same number of posts as Papo, simply because there wasn't much to see! The display seemed smaller than Papo's despite the stands being of equivalent size (they were only a few yards from each-other as well!), the move seems to be toward scene-in-a-box play-sets, fantasy (of a pinky-purple type) and the dreaded licensed stuff (the target of this post), but don't be put-off be my wittering, the animals are still about the best out-there.

And they are big, some of these a four-and-a-half-inches (120mm) or taller.

Marvel superheroes, being - if anything - a DC guy, I tend to just shake my head and move on, they have Spidey and the Hulk I s'pose, but it's not enough when the enemy have . . .

. . . Superman, Batman and the babe in a basque! Now she's in an armoured-basque I may have to be more respectful! But DC has its duffers too; who the hell's Shazami? Don't all write-in at once - I don't care; he looks like a hippy dance-guru, or a cheaper Flash! Cheap flasher? Peter Stringfellow's going to a Toga Party?

It's nice that there are different generations of the Batman, although the TV one isn't shown and he's the one I like. There may be other versions at the website (link www.schleich-s.com) where we are invited to "Discover other superheroes at:...", you will find that following the link will take you to a local (US, UK etc...) hub.

It's funny; the Man Bat gets all these upgrades with each movie (as does Marvel's Iron Man really), Wonder Woman has gone all Spartan-Amazon on us, but all Superman's got out of all the Hollywood attention is slightly fancier boots!

Thought for the day - why do the comics (or the movies) never show us Superman, at the end of his adventure, sewing-up his wreaked civi's at the speed of light, presumably in the same telephone box where he left them, all torn and ripped, so that he looks like he's just been to the water-cooler when he steps back into the office?

F is for Fair Lady, Foam, Fakes, Fat Fellows and Finger Flyerz

A round-up of the other super hero stuff which has come in since the last season, even as other things were slotting into the queue, and most from Brian. We'll look at them pretty-much as they came in, and I'll tack one on the end, we're mostly looking at the 'novelty' end of the spectrum today!

I'm loving this! Brian sent this back in January and it was destined to hang around for probably a few months waiting for a 'superheroes season', little did I know how quickly it would pile-up, but . . . it's chocolate! It's coloured chocolate; in the [quite svelte] likeness of Wonder Woman; it's too cool for l'Eccole Chocolatier! It's only five dollars that side of the pond, this side we can only hope!

This was Mr. Berke's immediate response to the weird flying superman thing the other day, puking superheroes, whose spit - cleans kids! Bleargh! Oh god, why didn't we have this stuff when we were young? We got Matey bubble-bath, who dispensed from under his hat, which you had to remove first! If it's three-in-one, do the kids end-up with glowing, shiny-skin?

Almost as cool as full-colour chocolate.

Also from Brian; this seems to represent a bit of a swizz for our North American neighbours as I'm sure they are the same as the ones we've had over here for a decade or more now, which always come with small-scale 'mini-me' clones (looked at again the other day LINK), but not supplied here? It sort of makes sense, but weather you can get the little ones over there (on a very small card!) I don't know; but I doubt?

Scratch-that - no link; this is the 33 post with a 'Super Heroes' tag (that's a lot of superheroes, you'd think the world would be in a better state than it is!), but we haven't looked at the figures I was sure we had! I'll remedy that ASAP!

Mr. B recently found these, and they look like a few similar things seen at the Toy fair and called Funko (or by Funko, it wasn't clear and several stands were carrying them or similar things), basically deforms or super-deforms, they're really 'big-heads' or big-head deforms!

If you like key-rings or like super heroes, they are fun! Covered in the two shots are DC, Marvel and Disney, and I think I've seen other TV-related stuff in the new kidult pop-up in Basingrad . . . Breaking Bad, Zombies, that sort of thing.

Thanks to Brian for all the above.

I tacked this on the end of the contributions just to clear the current superhero stuff from the laptop. Sold/imported by TKC Sales and seen at the Toy Fair, they seem to be almost as mad as the foam-wing Superman 'spinner' thing we saw the other day. Probably soon to be rendered obsolete by budget, novelty-drones doing more for the same money!

B is for Better Bat Toys - Argentina Part II

They are still on the big-side and at around 6-inches would pass for Marx if they weren't equipped with purple faces and/or Playtex cross-your-heart and make-a-cone brassieres! And don't think I'm taking the piss because I don't like the figures in these posts, I'm just in Holiday mode.

This is the one which looks most Marx-like, is he based on a Marx pose, the base is very familiar looking, but the purple face suggests he should spend more time in the gym and less time crime-fighting with a heart-condition!

The rest of the gang, again there's nothing empirical to say they are Argentinian toys, but plenty to shout that they 'aint anything else! Bat Girl and what I think was once Wonder Woman have . . . ahem! . . . some unmistakable, womanly charms, although; that shape and they've usually been purchased from a Brazilian surgeon!

Meanwhile, Superman - for it is he - has had a wardrobe failure and attempted to choke himself to death with his own cape; Mk.I, shopping, originally for the bagged use of!

The Fly? Well-endowed Lobster-Fly Man? Those Argentinians, huh?!! Is he from a Japanese cannon; Atom Boy, Astro-Boy, A Straw Boy, Godzilla, something like that? See this'arvo's post for more on those!

P is for Pre- and Post-Christmas Plunder Pics

Although 'plunder' is probably too strong a word for the few odds and sods that turned-up - for the most part - in Charity shops over the festive build-up and deflation!

These were covered fully by Colin Penn in Plastic Warrior magazine (Issue 165) just before Christmas, but I thought I'd get one while I was buying similar stuff for little people in the run-up to the big day, and was lucky enough to get the most bearable of the figurines . . .

. . . the reindeer! He comes with a little blue 'ice' disc to sit in which I forgot to photograph.

He's shot with a Schleich cat I picked-up in the Toysaurus because it was in the cheapest price bracket, a foot-bouncy-ball I rescued from our cats as they are too old to play with it now, another which came from the floor of a store somewhere - in order not to steal it I 'accidently' kicked it into the mall hall and then nearly lost it as it took it's newness and freedom as a chance to go a bit spastic!

They'll both go in the Novelty box I started last autumn with the non-figural stuff from the December '15 posts, along with the inclusion balls from Xmas and the soy sauce fish bottle, which is another 'found object'.

The charity shops gave up a mixed batch on the evening of the 23rd, there are 8 in Fleet and I managed to get to 7 of them before closing as I walked back through town. A large Minion pirate, the green one from Monsters Inc (who looks like a loopy fruit pencil top!) and a resin 'wise man' (and there were probably more than three)* who looks like he may be a copy of an earlier Italian (or Spanish?) model.

* As I understand it none of the four gospels mention a total, one names the three who give gifts, another as good as suggests a whole bunch of them, I don't read the Bible; I did once, too much rape, concubines and incest, not enough sex or magic! And that God - he's always killing people, large numbers of people!

Also from a Charity Shop bin, three late Britains animals in good paint condition (10p each), but from the leery-paint era! These all go in a big bag and every now and again I sort out the best as 'main sample' and throw the rest in the rummage box for PW's show.

Save's the best for last; In an eMail following my posting of the multi-set shelfies I found before Christmas Brian Berke was saying he's seen a drop-off of the figures in the US (you may remember he brought them to the Blog's attention first) but had seen 'a few' 60mm ones.

I didn't think too deeply on the comment from what was a longer, chatty eMail, but a week or so later was checking out the sale at Basingrad's TK Max, ostensibly for the tree decoration bears (no joy) and while they had flogged 90% of their pre-Xmas display-stock and retreated to their 'other 10 months' shelf area, I found these!

60mm versions of the 'old school' DC Comics superheroes, and bendy toys! They were in a pile of yellow-tagged 'get it before it's gone' stuff, and if Brian hadn't mentioned them, I think I may have skimmed-over them without 'seeing' them if you know what I mean!

Three quid? That's a-pound-a-figure, a good omen for the coming year? Let's hope so 'cos with Brexit, Trump and Putin leading the march of progress for the next few years there 'aint gonna be much progress, but there may be a lot of marching - if you know what I mean!

B is for Batman, super Bloke and Babe'alichious Babe one...

So bringing the DC season to a close with some more exclusive to Five Below stuff also contributed from Brian Berke up there in NY.

The Man Bat! A nice version of the classic TV Batman, but beefed-up a bit to meet the expectations of modern fans raised on the darker muscle-Batmen of the recent movies.

The Super-dooper Man. Brian reports that these figures are around 3-inches (90/100mm), and again this seems based on an older vision; the early - Christopher Reeve - movie Super Man, but also viewed after a steroid-based workout!

The Wounder'ful-come-to-rescue-you-in-Ann Summer's-kinky-nightwear-Woman! I had such a crush on Ms. Carter when I was a kid busy going through the crushes on TV stars phase of adolescence! I don't recall her having a polished steel brassier though, so I think this sculpt has more modern references, but it looks a bit like the old gold-lame one I remember.

Reverse of the packaging reveals that there are five in the series (which is the 2nd series issued), and that they lock together via their bases to make a shelf-display vignette. I wonder who was in the line-up of the first series, if such major characters are in the second.

Brian states he knows of no significance behind the 'New 52' graphics on both sides of the card, neither do I, anything to do with the Justice League? Are the two in the background bad guys, or other members of the Justice League? If they're baddies the other three shouldn't have their backs to them!

Close-ups of the three figures; probably doesn't add much to the post, but I've done the collage so it can stay!

C is for Corgi Characters

This is the least complete of all these Corgi posts and yet it was the largest area covered by Corgi who really bought into the licensing 'thing', producing a lot of adult and children's TV, comic and movie characters, or vehicles based on them.

My problem being that while often know what's what, it can take years to correct the 'unknown' boxes, especially as in recent years my stuff has been in storage twice, in three venues with 6  moves! So...most of the Sci-fi,  Marvel and DC stuff is elsewhere and a lot of the anthropomorphic cartoon stuff likewise, while the Superheroes are deliberately in another box...but here are a few to give a flavour of the oeuvre...

The yellow submarine, who (of a certain age) didn't have one of these, not because we knew what it or they were/was, but because our still slightly uptight late-Edwardian parents could attach themselves to the younger 'Hippies' vicariously, by buying us a psychedelic cartoon submarine barley large-enough for the four-man popular beat-combo occupying it!

Hey maaaan...anybody got a carrot...I know I've done that one before...I'll do it again...he was a stoner! And that F***ing snail...I hated the bloody whining whingeing moaning mollusk!

Tom and Jerry - unbeatable, when Tom gets sliced into a dozen pieces by a toaster or something falls to the ground in a heap of pieces, shake himself together and continues the pursuit! Why didn't he go and live somewhere else, dumb-ass! There was a Tom, and this toy came out 30-odd years before Small Soldiers and their roller-skate.

Pink Panther...two cool for school - period. There was another PP vehicle (the pictured one is off some kind of motorbike thing), a car with a huge fly-wheel and with a pull-strip motor, not sure it was Corgi thought, or whether it had a separate figure?

All the above are favourites with a whole new generation of infants, though the Magic Roundabout has had scene and dialogue changes/makeovers.

Buck Rogers and dribble or whatever the pet-robot was called - Yes; I could look it up but then someone might think I give an ess-aich-one-tea!

The Hardy Boys, there are a couple of three figures missing from the bands line-up here, not a big seller so the figures aren't as numerous.

The figure with a cloth-cap is from Postman Pat or Thomas the Tank Engine or Bob the Builder or....it's from the Corgi flood years...

Wonder Woman (looking like a native-American dwarve), Spider-man and the Green Lantern? Hornet (thanks M7 - see comments) There are loads missing here, other Spidy's, three sculpts of seated Batman & Robin's in two sizes, a Hulk or two, a large Batman, Superman...