Z is for Ziggurat!

Well, I wouldn't have bored you will my travails over the last few days, you don't want to tip your 'eemies' off, but suffice to say a cancer scare has been downgraded to a 'phew', with a slightly ominous "Get it checked if it doesn't go away" caveat. Anyway, to celebrate my lighter mood this evening, here's one of the odder things in the kit catalogues of the 1960's, Imai's M2000T SF Ziggurat, is it a plane . . . yes! Is it a tank . . . yes, is it a SAM-missile T.E.L., yes! Is it goddamned-barking-mad? You betcha!

I've actually been looking for it for several years, but I thought it was in one of the UPC catalogues and when I couldn't find it there, I was stumped, but it just turned-up in a smaller AHM one!

 

It seems to be a mash-up of Imai's Scud-A ('Missile tank BB3' tracks and road-wheels), some Thunderbirds elements and their own fictional SAM 5 rocket launcher parts, so probably around 1:24th scale . . . 'ish! Relatively clip-together, and you can have one for less than 2,000-quid;

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404657806927

 

I don't normally like linking to evilBay stuff, as it doesn't tend to hang-around long, after it's sold, these days, but I think this may remain a hot-link for some time, unless there's an idiot out there keen to be parted from his money! And $4.98, would be the best part $45 today, a lot of money?

Z is for Zàini

First post of 2024, let's hope it's a better year than the last four, because people have literally given-up on the funny-how-awful-this-year-is memes, as they get steadily worse, you don't want to tempt fate!

So, I bought these in Lidl while purchasing mini-stollen before Christmas, and thought to eat them and photograph them while I listened to the few fireworks, if New Year's 'Moment' said anything about the coming year, it's that poverty will bite, as hardly anyone bought fireworks this year . . . no bad thing for pets and the environment, but, Tory-sponsored hunger and evictions hover.

They had two choices, I can't remember what the other one was, but it was 1-in-3 of something 'girly', so I chose the Scoobie-Doo one as I've always been a fan of Scoobie, although you have my permission to turn Scrappy into lion-meat.

It's the same with Tom & Jerry; who's the stupid kitten, who's the idiot different-coloured mouse in a nappy? Phuq-em off, out of it, we want the old characters doing what they do, to each-other, over and over, and over again, we don't want mawkish juveniles intervening after some focus group's been talked round to liking some new characters!

 

I was on a focus group once . . . not only did they try to convince us to 'choose A', but went with A after we'd explained why it was a bad idea, and then disappeared without a trace. A toy soldier thing, I'll have all the bumf in the archive somewhere, they paid attendance for the day, London-parking and mileage, coffee and biscuits, there may even have been a buffet lunch, I can't remember, but, still, it was a good breeze!

So, we've got the cam-snail, an old novelty, which Kinder have done a bigger version of, over the years, an over-moulded pencil-clinger and a figure in 40mm polystyrene from the Train Your Dragon franchise, which was (with the exception of the figure) a bit disappointing!

 

The guide says not all surprises are shown, so while there are more figures, there are also more lame pencil decorations, but the Zàini (apparently founded in 1919) are less than half the price of Kinder, so luck dictates that if you buy enough, you should get what you are looking for.

It's the same with the Scooby-Doo stuff, the inner sheet has two 'Mr. Saunders' dressed-up as haunting monsters, so the range is worth the collecting, if you've got kids, I'll look for complete sets on evilBay in a year or two!

Z is for Zambia, Zaire, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe and . . . Zululand!

Mostly reissues, but it happens that the one pose I'm missing in the reissue set, happens to have turned up as an original, twice, is that coincidence or synergy. I never know the difference!

MPC African Warriors, colloquially referred to as the 'Zulus' and sold as/in various African jungle/safari/native sets. Eight poses, I'm not sure who handled the reissues, was it Mandrill, or did they only do the Marx reissues?

 

They are a bit tall and thin, but I like them, and with African warriors being one of the less visited corners of the figure-world by toy makers, it's nice to have them existing at all! If I ever feel rich enough, I'll try to get them all in gold, as I think they look really nice . . . Almost Rubenstein'y!

Z is for Zoo Animals

Continuing to look at Pikit Toys carded sets here;

Another Pikit Toys import, probably shared with Gordy International, and - from the unpainted nature of the contents - possibly from Rado / Ri-Toys, I've added close-ups of the bright-pink Airfix clones to their posts;

Airfix Zoo Animals Set 1
Airfix Zoo Animals Set 2

These are the unused shots from that compartment.

A Rado Industrial Co. / Ri-Toys zoo set (isolated from a larger image in Bill B's catalogue), the similarities lead to the above comment, but, while it's not clear, the elephant is a different sculpt to the one in the Pikit import, so the Pikit set may have product of more than one maker and Rado can't be 'called', definitively, even though they may well have had more than one elephant in their inventory?

Z is for Zip O'Daly!

Apart from further appearances by Swift Morgan, who gets two outings, The New Spaceways Comic Annual also introduces another character, Zip O'Daly, which I suspect is meant to rhyme with O'Maly rather than Daily? And do you get it . . . Zip, Swift? Not sure about Dick Hardy though (first of this sequence of posts), that is more than accidental, I fear!

There's not much of interest in the strip beyond the Johillco/Cherilea ship again, looking more off-pat, then the one with the added wings the other day, while the 'prison ship' looks like two of Marx's clamshells glued together and placed on end!

Z is for Zoo Quest

Just a quick box-ticker really - not enough to photograph, not enough to say! I looked at Trek from Spear's Games the other day and a similar set with an animal buying/bagging mechanism rather than the stores-accruing of the former marks the main difference with this set from Ariel Games.

Zoo Quest was a BBC TV series most notable for giving David Attenborough his start in presenting natural history programming, and this licensed tie-in game will date from the same time, between 1954/5-1963 I guess?

The 25mm soft polyethylene explorers are the most useful thing here and the reason it's in the collection, they are a tad larger than the Airfix Tarzan figures and while technically semi-flats, th nature of the pose and the depth of the sculpting means they could paint-up quite well with 25/28mm role-playing figures.

I got to thinking about Ariel's title with this game being TV related as was the Gillette Cup televised by the BBC for many years (cricket game we've seen here passim), and it struck me they might have been named for the aerials (different spelling) down-which TV signals were sent?

It turns out that while there's no evidence for such (they were a division of Philmar Publishing, eventually bought by Gibson's), they did produce a large number of mostly children's television program related card games (snap, happy families etc), featuring both ITV and BBC staples of the late 1950's and the 1960's, so it may be the reason . . . I like the idea it might be!

Z is for Zoological . . .

God! That was obvious; could have used that years ago! Anyway, when we looked at Peter Evans' donation the other day I said we'd look at the Poundland (for that is who they are!) animal pairs again properly as I had myself grabbed a sample . . . while keeping an eye out for the supposed 'series 2' dinosaurs one assumes will - at some point - follow the series 1's we looked at a while ago!

The two sets together, they did have a set of dogs a while ago, but firstly they were really big and secondly they seemed to only send a few to each store, so getting a whole set or even knowing how many were in the set wasn't easy, so I thought "Well . . . they'll come in loose some time"!

But these are more straightforward for several reasons, first they're smaller and in pairs so you can pick them up quicker (I may try to get all of them now my 'sample' has become a fledgling 'collection'!) and they are on the back (we'll look at it below) so you know what you're looking for - the dog-packs had no such 'check-list'.

I think she's supposed to be a lioness (see card back below) but the sculpt appears to be far more textured than the press-photo's presumed master or early test-shot and the darker colour of the cheap paint-job (Heay, they’re 50p-each we can't be too judgemental!) takes her further still from lionid'ness! I think a repaint as a leopard could prove quite successful?

The ape is lovely, I think someone has confused him by doing the cup-&-ball trick with three buckets and a banana!

Again the rhinoceros looks quite different from the shot below, while the polar bear is looking the other was - which might be down to an image mix-up, but the days of upside-down negatives in art studios is long gone, replaced by digital imagery; where you'd have to chose to invert an image? But both nice for the money.

Four more pairs? If I track them down we'll return to look at the rest, but for now, thanks to Peter Evans for doubling the 'sample' and they're in Poundland now if you're passing.

Z is for Stumps!

Another board-game, but this one has some age, as it seems from the box-lid blurb to pre-date the whole National/International Team Competition era, mentioning the Australian 'Test Team' as being a separate entity to 'English Teams' (isn't one of them from Wales? No Mr. President; no; not the big 'fish'!) without mentioning any other national country?

The contents consist of a playing board, rule-set, score-book, arrowy-thing, various cards for the batsman (who doesn't seem to get a representative figure which is a bit odd) and the nub of the set as far as we're concerned; a set of 23/25mm (HO'ish) figures in lead. De la Rue now - of course - famous for making a high proportion of the world's paper (and increasingly - Polymer) currencies, and based down the road, just outside Basingrad.

Of particular interest is the playing surface, which despite the lack of batsmen, bowling or batting apparatus (that's what all the cards are about) or balls, has been given a flocked surface in three colours, each immaculately printed with no fuzzy boundaries or colour-bleed. But then if this was made between the wars, in the Edwardian period, flocked wallpaper had taken flocking 'tech' to heights it has only retreated from ever since!

Close-up of the playing pieces, they can - with exceptions - be moved between balls or overs, and the reason there is a bowler when there are no batsmen, is that the fielding-player can vary the run-up and ball toss.

The figures are semi-flat and probably full of lead, with four poses, standing and squatting fielders, wicket-keepers and the bowler. A lovely set and many thanks to Adrain who let me shoot it at the recent Sandown Park toy fair.

Z is for Zombie Men . . . Women, Dogs and Mummies!

We've managed black cats, skeletons, a possible yeti, assorted monsters and a bunch of ghosts, there's only one trope left really, the undead! The risen from the dead and the rising from the dead! Let's tick those boxes for the finale!

Again, we saw these last year as shelfies (or sent images) I think, but Brian B then kindly sent some to the Blog so here they are in close-up, issued by Greenbrier in the 'States and DTSC in Canada.

It's a fact that all the best of these Halloween/Horror figures come from (or via/due to the efforts of-) North America. Apart from the odd thing like 99p Store's re-issue of Dolgen or the odd Amazon offer (see below), I've looked hard this year and the mountains of plastic tat available for Halloween are of such shite quality and ephemeral robustness they constitute an excuse for banning Halloween here altogether!

It's also a fact I'll get this whinge into one of the posts every year!

Both sides of the card for those who archive this kind of stuff - I do!

A comparison with the other set (SCS Direct in the 'States) which Peter Evans had sent to the blog in time for last year's posts.

Now, I mentioned Amazon, and I did find these on Amazon UK from Fun Express (aping that other firm's packaging again, Amscan . . . or Unique?) and they were quite cheap so, despite the imagery being less than helpful or hopeful, I ordered a set, and this is it, but it wasn't much fun!

What you get is 12 figures, which seem to be split 6 each of the two colours, one a drying-blood red, the other looking to be glow-in-the-dark, but not; just a greenish-white - interior decorators would call it apple-snow or some pretentious crap like that, think - raw tripe!

But when it comes to poses the pack disappoints. Totally random contents with four of some and one of others, I ended up with three poses, one in both colours. now they were cheap, and I did intend to get a couple more sets to see if there were other poses, or just to get all (?) three in both colours, but I kept putting it off as there's no guarantee (from my first sample) that even two more sets would achieve that?

If you try, good luck, they are sized to fit others and as army-builders are a useful addition to the canon, but with most rack-toy issuers getting quite good at packing balanced lots these days it is disappointing to see these, especially as they seem to go to the effort of counting colours? Just pick from 'pose-bins' . . . some firms have automated it so you get a whole or part-runner in each bag!

You can see how he goes well with the WWII set (far right - EMCE Toys 'Previews Exclusive, Zombies At War') we looked at a year or two ago, and he's not much smaller than the two grey zombie sets (far left), so they are useful, but you may need four or five bags to get a good sample?

The big mummy is marked similarly to Phidal stuff but is a softer material than they are currently using and seems to be from 2009, so he may be an early issue from this increasingly prolific (55 sets in the 2019 catalogue?) figure source, he's also another candidate for a Scooby-Doo related-set?

While I don't know anything about the other chap, I'd guess a 1980's rack-toy . . . possibly a He-Man/MotU rip-off? He's a very dense polyethylene or some type of nylon?

Finally Mr. Berke has sent a shelfie of the same black carded version of Dolgen's Mummy Army, and how come they keep getting ten poses while the skeletons have always been limited to eight? Some Pharaoh's-curse rubbish I'll bet . . . fussa-russa!

Thanks again Brian, thanks again Peter, see what turns-up in twelve-month's time!

Z is for Zizzle's Zombies from Zanzibar!

No They're not, they're from the Caribbean, or Disney's excuse for the Caribbean and they were cursed rather than specifically undead - we all know that, but it was a title crying-out for a post which was never going to happen, so in an act of piracy on English as we understand it, I went with my heart!

Such is the way of things that I bought these just after last year's ITLAPD, I can't remember what I shelled-out for them, but they would have been going for a song, or I wouldn't have jumped at them so soon after clearing the decks of the previous 12-month's stuff!

Although they look like the action figures, they are roughly 54mm, and are a continuation of the earlier, more simple or 'bog-standard' based series we've looked at in ITLAPD's passim (2018 I think, under Zizzle in the tag-list they will be below this post if you jump the tag), but now with landscaped bases, which actually limits their use in some imaginations!

Two of Davy Jones' crew; the man himself and one of the seaweed men, this Davy is much of an improvement over the one in the previous series, but if he didn't exist, there'd be nothing wrong with the old one, if that makes sense! They both have seabed/coral pod-bases which can pass for ground or beach.

Two of the Chinese vessels crew (third or fourth movie?); The boss-man's base is also quite generic, it's the fat bloke's which is so specific, but I remember looking at these in the shops at the time they were released and thinking several of them had bases which limit their scope, so it's pure chance three of mine are quite generic and match the others better than this last chap; he also has a separate loop-over cross-belt.

The seller had sent the wrong captain, and was quick to get the correct one in the next post with an apologetic eMail. While I had them both in front of me I shot them together with a sizer (the trusty berserker), before returning the 100mm action figure to the seller.

Z is for Zip-it-up; You Animal!

It's funny, I thought I'd posted this minor HK maker when the blog first started - I coudln't remember if it was the first 'Z' or the second, I had a feeling the first was Zizzle pirate ships and Zip were on the rebound after we'd climbed back down the alphabet - with a paltry pig (there may have been a sheep too?), but it turns out I never blogged it at all!

In the meantime I discovered Ludo's old website page on them - as premiums for Colonil - which added three more animals to the list, I had by then picked-up a turkey (in storage), while a few years later the Vichy started a thread and added another animal, and so it goes . . . Ludo's new Forum has added a Jersey cow and chicken family for instance. I had only done a listing on the defunckt a-z blog, and that not until 2011!

Today we'll add some more to the listing.

I had decided on the title and taken the shots before the rest turned-up, so I'm carrying-on for the moment as if the other four images aren't there!

A horse; here posed with the Timpo horse, to which it is similar, but by no means a direct copy; there are only so many ways to sculpt a bog-standard thoroughbred standing still, and the musculature on the two is very different. Zip copied several Timpo's though, but they also cloned Britains and others?

But what struck-me and led to the title, is that while the Timpo example has an anatomically-correct tuft of hair, strategically placed to hide the gelding-work of the veterinary surgeon, the Zip horse is rather Priapically advertising the fact that he's definitely a sire, and about to do some sire'ing!

I was so happy to have a 'new' animal, I had taken the shots before the foal turned-up, I shot him then thought I'd better check the rest, and well . . . quite a menagerie, and that's not the end of it, but I've now got another eepie-deep, other piggy-wigggy and the horse & foal for starters!

Anyway they are all marked - so there's no question as to their provenance! The foal is - of course - a Britains pose, but the sheep taken is from Friedel (probably via Italian nativity figures) so they cast their net wide at Zip Towers! But all of them are - if you ignore the marks for a second -  pretty generic Hong Kong fare.

As I mentioned above, I'm sure I'd got a turkey before everything went into storage, but this one came in a while back in another of these mixed charity-shop lots (most of this post is last Tuesday's purchase), he's marked on the underside of his base with the ZIP-mark and as pointed out elsewhere is taken from the Timpo original.

Now, this is where it gets complicated; both the right-hand animals are unmarked, but I would bet a shed-load of money on them being Zip, however, there were in the same lot many others which could have been too, but I'm not showing them to you as they have to remain question-marks, these two pairs are plastic-colour matched and - in the case of the foals - paint-matched.

If things this big are unmarked (the piglet actually has the remains of an entirely spurious MADE IN.... on his base), while things as small as the turkey have a clear ZIP, it's obvious that the marking wasn't consistent.

Likewise, because they are all poses copied dozens of times by dozens of HK manufacturers over several decades, in thousands of colours or slightly different shades of plastic (including Zip) it's clear that everyone collecting and adding to the listing of these over the last ten years (including me?) have probably sorted some genuine Zip out of their sample; Doh!

For instance, the lot I picked up the other day from which all these (bar the turkey) come, had a variety of old British, HK, modern 'CHINA' marked, some Safari vinyl and 'all else', some mint/near-mint, some clean, some aged and playworn . . . among which were some bog-standard 'generic' copies of Britains poultry; the duck family, hen family, separate hens, cockerel, goose and ducks, the old Blue Box versions probably providing the donors.

They were all unmarked, and the plastic/paint - condition was as good as the four Zip's, does this mean they are also Zip? Probably, but without a marked one to match them too - as I was luckily able to do with the other two (and a marked chicken family has turned-up elsewhere), or a carded/bagged set to turn-to for direct comparison; I can't say they are, and certainly can't present them as such - so a note's added to their bag, and if the 'coincidence' occurs again - I'll run with it!

I should add that I don't actively collect farm and zoo animals, I just 'encounter' and 'accrue' them! These mixed lots leave more questions than they solve, but that's a piglet, two foals and a horse added to the Zip/Colonil oeuvre, with second pig and sheep to join the turkey.

Although - as far as the Colonil connection goes - I think the link is less firm these days (?) and I also suppose they must have been sold in the UK as toys; carded or in bags, but were they marked or generic? Or were they in one of the many 'Home Farm' sets? If only the horse would 'put it away' and tell us!

Listing

Farm 
Animal - Donor

- Pig - Timpo

- Piglet - Blue Box?

- Jersey Cow (Britains?)*

- Horse Standing - ?

- Foal Scratching - Britains

- Foal Standing - Britains

- Turkey - Timpo

- Sheep - Friedel (or Italian Precepi?)

- Chicken Family - Britains

Zoo

- Giraffe - Timpo

- Zebra - Timpo

* Other sandy-orange/brown cow breeds are (or were) available, including Guernsey and [the probably extinct] Alderney, which we once tried to track down in Texas and . . . Nebraska I think, a bit of a goose-chase in the end, and most picture show red-white colouring; all three - Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney being linked to the French Normand (a white with red or black splotching) can be other colours or have white bits.

Z is for Zombie Toy Soldiers!

These came out a couple of years ago; EMCE Toys 'Previews Exclusive, Zombies At War', and come three each of five poses in two colors for a full 30-count, medium hardness PVC and a tad on the small size at around 45/50mm

This was originally going to be it, as far as imagery goes - along with the captioned one at the end - but I was never too happy with it, it enlarges OK but it's a bit grainy and the contrast is all wonky but it shows all the figures, and can stay, as I hate chucking every image from a shoot!

The GI's, placed somewhere between WWII and Vietnam (one's got a M16-alike), they're not heavily equipped and the chap with a pack has one that defies ID'ing as a piece of service kit!

What's more  of a mystery is that two of the figures; 3rd and 5th from the left, appear to have been designed to interact with accessories - which are not present - both having almost 'grippy' hands and poses that need a support of some kind?

The Germans are clearly WWII, with no's 2 and 3 from the left also seeming to need-/be designed for- missing props or scenic items. That second one is also equipped with a similar main pack and utility 'bat-belt' as the GI!

The guy with the Luger/Mauser/Captain Scarlet blaster is doing a good job of balancing on one leg, and while the commander (middle figure) is holding someone else's leg; number five is holding his own arm in a rather macabre fashion!

Kelly's Zero's

As always with this horror/fantasy stuff; Shaun was way ahead of the wave, so there's more here.