G is for the Great Grey-Green Greasy Limpopo River

? . . . I know!

I couldn't find an alliterative title/heading, and I thought it needed one, or should have one (mental block #1), I tried Tupperware Toys T... and Building Blocks B... and Great Green G... but couldn't get any further with any of them (mental block #2).

In the course of trying 'G' I arrived at the above (a favourite poem when I was a kid - How the Elephant got his trunk) and thought "Who says a title HAS to reflect the contents of an article" (mental block #3, or just mental conditioning)? Some English Professor I'll bet! So I though "Fuckitt, I'll go with an odd quote"; totally unrelated to the post!

But the mental blocks link us to today's post, which is the Tupperware Busy-Blocks and NOT the Limpopo River.

Tupperware by Dart Industries Inc.  - a range of predominantly plastic household goods, gimmicks and novelties, for the kitchen, bathroom, garden or (in this case ) toy box, was sold through a system of agents and 'parties' where someone (usually - it has to be said - a woman) would organise a Tupperware Party at her own or a friend's house, and people would order products from the catalogue, or take away any purchased stock the organiser had brought on the day.

Similar sales models were employed by Avon (perfume), Betterware (similar polymer and household products) and latterly the Adult-toy, marital-aid and kinky-costumier - Ann Summers! I also believe (and stand to be corrected as I've no evidence) that in the 'States (from whence Tupperware came) they were head-to-head with Rubbermaid?

Dart and their Tupperware  both still seem to be going; I'm not so sure about the parties?

These aren't that uncommon, Tupperware parties were big in the 1970's and while I have a bunch (incomplete) in storage I had none here until quite recently, when several lots came in, giving me an almost complete samples, the first three (1) came in a mixed lot a few months ago, maybe longer? Then the other day I got the bag-full (2) for a pound of your human money in a Charity shop, only to pick up 'I for Indian' (3) a few days later - more on that as we progress.

They fall into a basic classification of four groups, people (3), inanimate objects (7), animals (15) and fantasy - One! You can go further with wheeled vehicles, vessels, bird (singular!), mammals, marine mammals, musical instruments (2!) &etc.

I have highlighted the fantasy element here to make the collage . . . a 'U for Unicorn', they could have had 'unicycle' (done like the 'V for Violin' or with a rider) and kept the whole set in the real world?

A few days after I found the toys in their little bag, the same shop had the blocks, with the rather tatty remains of their original box, it was a state, but I trimmed-off all the shite, in order to scan the images in, and they will pepper the rest of this post.

And these were they; the blocks. There was one missing, 'G for Giraffe', I have cheated to get the total by opening one of the yellow ones and propping it either side to give the impression of two!

The funny thing was, although they came from the same shop, they were offered for sale a few days after the toy-bag, and when I bought them (after umm'ing and arr'ing for a day) I found the missing Indian in his block!

I was also missing the giraffe (still short) and 'D for Dog', which I had in the odd three.

You get eight-each yellow and blue blocks and ten red for the required 26-count. The picture sides reveal the contents of each block and are shown here with back-light to try and show them, it's not that successful and they are missing the giraffe, nor are they in alphabetical order and I seem to have left a couple of yellow ones (Indian and nurse) out! I think because I've used three photos' I didn't think would be - usable!

Working this out as I write it . . . I realise the 'Q for Queen' block is also missing from the above, that's because I shot these at a mates house after I'd bought them intending to keep the three figure blocks with the toys and chuck the rest in the recycling, shot the ones that were going to be chucked intending to then shoot ('legally held' firearm of course!) the close-ups with the three figure ones.

In the end I rescued all the above blocks from the bin the next day - they'll be no trouble in the attic - until I find the 'G for Giraffe' toy and block, do a follow-up post (which may be years away) and then they can all go to recycling or evilBay?!! As a result the 'K for Kangaroo' got chosen at random for the close-ups!

When you get nerdy and break them down, you find a repeat pattern, but one broken with two yellow's out of sequence in the middle of the alphabet and it's a repeat from 'A' rather than a mirror from Nurse - if that makes sense?!

Each block has two fluted-sides (which do interlock, albeit with a 4/5-mil offset) a letter-side, the letter concerned being shown in both capital and lower case type, with serifs, a picture-side depicting the toy enclosed and finally; two sides with a geometric pattern/design of smooth and stippled plastic; this can be built-up to make larger patterns or track-ways for the toys to follow.

I suspect each block has one straight and one X, Y or corner tracked side, but I didn't check; there comes a moment when the subject starts to be tedious and you can stop obsessing and move on to the next item of interest, the next post, the next whatever!

The blocks also interlock with a pair of simple shelf-like 'male' clips down one of the open sides, the other having similar 'female' receiving slots allowing for larger structures or firmer 'piles' to be formed, and for colour patterns to be created within those constructions.

Second from the left on the bottom row shows how smaller constructs can also be stacked.

The limits of my photographic skill meant it was almost impossible to show the track-ways/patterns in their best light, so I'll leave it to the original publicity material, but I'm sure you can see how it works, and anyway we're more interested in the toys!

I wish my mum had gone to a Tupperware party and got us a set, we had lots of wooden one we were fond-of, and some blow-moulded HK ones (probably piracies of these - he wonders), but these are really very good - almost what plastic was invented for (along with handles and buttons on WWII weapon systems!) - and you can see that unlike so many of the 'posed kid' images on 1960-70's packaging (and up to the present; witness the kids playing with 3D stuff in News, Views... the other day) these guys are really enjoying the product.

If you had a set of these; you must have had a lot of fun!

Here's the manufacturers explanation, that's just for completeness, but the image on the right which is an old (2007) evilBay crop-out is interesting for showing the headless 'N for Nurse' (back right), who has a small penny-base, and - along with her head - is missing the medical cabinet we see . . .

. . . here. The three people; all with large cruciform bases, the nurse having had a little first-aid cabinet (or overnight/flight bag - they had been invented by 1973 I think?) with red-cross . . .or at least 'a cross' on it!

'Q for Queen' is probably the most useful, all three are in that difficult 35mm'ish bracket, but it makes her perfect for the old-school war gaming scale of Suren, Stadden and Eriksson's stuff, much of which pertains to the Marlburian period, to which she can be painted-up, despite the medieval long-sleeves!

'I for Indian' being available to join Merten/Elastolin 40mm Wild West outfits, leaving 'N for Nurse' to O-gauge railway layouts! Between the people I've sandwiched the two marine mammals and the only bird; 'O for Owl'.

The people are all realistic, while the animals are all a bit cartoony or caricature-like - the pig especially.

Here again we see the small penny bases, with my storage sample (which had a few of the figures as I would pick them out of lager samples when I was a small-scale only collector, before I knew the significance of the 'whole', so have a few now) and the new acquisitions I have no penny based ones, so they can be considered rarer than the chunky-based versions.

As the penny-based versions do turn-up occasionally and were clearly available for all the pre-launch publicity and packaging imagery, I think it's fair to conclude that several of the models (and all three figures) were identified as choking hazards, and later given bases which don't even encourage sucking, some being very sharp 3 or 4-pointed stars!

The queen I had in the odd-three has been converted by de-crowning into a mere lady-in-waiting! You can also see the remains of the penny-bases in the centre of the - almost - Maltese-cross. The Indian also shows the remains of his penny-base, and both would have been easy to accidentally swallow while sucking, but large enough to trigger the gag-response, causing them to get stuck and lead to suffocation, although there's no findable history of it ever happening?

It may even be that the change happened so early in the set's run, you can only find them in the USA, or Canada?

There is a slight colour variation between batches, but it's of no significance and I've never seen them in another colour, as it was the obvious choice after already choosing the three primaries for the blocks.

Mammals - the funny thing is; the missing giraffe is probably the least cartoony of the lot! While 'E for Elephant' hasn't been down to the Great Grey-Green Greasy Limpopo River to talk to the crocodile yet! Method in the madness! Does that mean I made-up the first three paragraphs as I went along? I'm not telling!

Looking at the pig and the elephant - is it fair to suggest that the easier the animal is to swallow, the larger the base?

The inanimate objects/vehicles, the yacht is a poor model I feel, I would call it a pleasure cruiser and it's too similar to the 'B for Boat' they should have had a sailed- 'Y for Yacht', a big 'S for Ship' and a 'B for Bolrog'; to eat . . . err . . . play with the 'U for Unicorn' - of course!

Finally - I identified these about 12 years ago thanks to Kent Specher's website, where - in his study of the bases - he identifies two different bases for the 'S for Seal' (should have been 'Ship'!) sculpt/s; this appears to be a third! The base being not as small as the one with the ball (also visible in one of the packaging scans), but having a longer or sharper nose to the corner/angle of the base-front than Kent's other example - so it would seem there are interim designs of at least some of the changed toys.

Link to Kent's post  - it's easier to go to the bottom and scroll up, but if you scroll down you pass all sorts of other interesting stuff on the way!

A - Aeroplane

B - Boat

C - Camel

D - Dog

E - Elephant

F - Fox

G - Giraffe

H - Horse

I - Indian

J - Jeep

K - Kangaroo

L - Lion

M - Monkey

N - Nurse

O - Owl

P - Pig

Q - Queen

R - Rabbit

S - Seal

T - Train

U - Unicorn

V - Violin

W - Wale

X - Xylophone

Y - Yacht

Z - Zebra

And this is the 2000th visible post on smallscaleworld!

==========================

Added on the 14th November 2018 - The Giraffe turned-up in the storage lot and as I had suggested above, they (the storage lot) are all the late version larger or prickly bases, and increasingly it looks like the small (swallow'able) bases were a US only thing back at the start of the toy's run.

The camel showing quite a distinct colour variation, and note also that the paler one has a narrower base; the suspicion therefore would be that it's an earlier version. While I'm making assumptions - I have a note in the archives that these figures were [also] issued with a 'Dryfoods Breakfast Cereals', possibly as 'Boys Toys'?

While there is a current Dryfoods (working with pet food), it's a recent (1993) concern and there is no other trace of a cereal-miller or issuer under that title in the 1960/70's. Therefore - although it's my note - I'd suggest you treat it as complete bollocks until something more empirical comes along!

I know - but it would be equally remiss of me not to mention it!

L is for Lady Pen

Not a euphemism for the contents of Donald Trump's codpiece, and now known as "Pen Lady", due to the fact she is no longer a pen-  after conversion below; this charming 19th Miss, was one of the more esoteric items in a recent parcel from Peter Evans.

You can see she would happily pass muster at any ball from the Wellintonian age to the late 1800's, taking the Crimea, ACW, Scarlet O’Hara and Wild West saloons in her stride. She's just over 70mm, so a bit on the tall side and she has 'Disney' eyes, but they can be reduced with some fine brush-work.

Hardly a 'conversion' but rather; the removal of the pen's barrel and the adding of a suitable base. I wasn't sure of the plastic type of the novelty pen, and while it was certainly heavy enough to be resin, while sawing it though, there was a distinct smell of polystyrene? I cut from both sides due to the nature of the skirts' sculpting; it also left me with a slight hollow in the middle for the gluing phase.

Equally, while I had a nice piece of opalescent 'turf' - courtesy of my tubs of old game counters, gambling chips and tiddlywinks for just such jobs - I'm not too sure what its polymer is either! It's very likely to be tumble-polished, and either a Bakelite, an early phenolic resin or even a urea-formaldehyde compound of some kind?

So they get the mixture; a couple of drops of styrene-cement on the base, some plumbers-sealant dollopped onto the cut area of the figure, then two drops of super-glue over the styrene-cement and another two over the sealant, then both halves squished together and twisted a few part-turns to get the mix mixed!

A two-part epoxy would do the job just as well, but it's a faff and where's the fun in that? The beauty of the mix is that as it 'goes off' the sealant pulls everything tight and the combination seems to prevent the frosting you'd otherwise get with that quantity of cyanoacrylate.

Not looking too shabby! A useful addition to any collection, and I bet there are a few different designs to look out for, one day I may re-paint her, but for now she'll do - Thanks Peter, I hope you don't mind the vandalism required to obtain the stand-alone figurine!

News, Views Etc . . . Stop the presses again!

Paul sent me a reminder to my reminder of his Blog's reminder and I forgot to add it to today's News, Views . . . , so it can have its own post!

News, Views Etc . . . More Stuff!

MPC Mini Ships

Donald D. Hood got in touch from the US of A with loads of fascinating minutiae on the MPC mini-ships, he has real life stuff going-on at the moment, but I'm hopeful that at some point he will flesh out his revelations for the Blog.

In the meantime; it appears many of the MPC vessels are in fact copies of models from other manufacturers, for instance - the Varicella was previously issued as a die-cast by Tri-Ang Minic (along with one of the tugs), several of the battleships seem to be copies of earlier Renwal mini's and the tramp steamer may be from a Lindberg (Pyro) set, along with both ACW 'Ironclad' vessels?

Anyway - hopefully more to come on this one. He also confirmed that there was a retail issue, but of smaller-quantity sets than the comic offers.

Other Ships . . . and cats!

While we're on ships, I found these decorating pedestrian underpasses in Basingrad the other day.

 I don't know the connection (I'll Google it)** between square-rigged, three-decked warships and landlocked Basingstoke, but I'm guessing that if the floods allow either of these to hove into view, you'll be beyond the help of the flooding-helpline!

**Nothing on Google, but it seems one of them is looking like HMS Victory?

The cat is a running gag in Basingrad between one or more graffiti artists and the local authority; which seems to tolerate the understated and artistic stencils! I photographed the other three in a separate set of underpasses some distance from the mosaic ship murals, a couple of years ago for my - then more-active - Faceplant page.

Bible Stories

This chap has been sat in Brain Berke's Folder for too long, he sent it soon after I Blogged the others, shelfie of David (of Goliath fame) from Beverly Hills Teddy Bear (via Greenbriar/DTSC)

Maxxi Toys

Peter Evans has sent another Apache Clan Collection set to the Blog, this one with the 'trotting' cowboy horse, and two new figures, there was the same bag of candy drops, along with another two pieces of fence (so I can now make a four-sided mini-corral) and palm.

While the figures are a bit semi-flat or demi-ronde both would look very acceptable with a re-paint and the cowboy has a plug-in bag of swag, which would make a useful piece of Stagecoach luggage!

I should also point out the cowboy has suffered the same pants-failure as Mr. I. Wraite's Indian and further; that Stuart Asquith had found the same figures in Funtastic branded packaging in Poundland stores; as reported in Plastic Warrior magazine No. 159 a few years ago (20 months odd?), a full report in that issue's letters (back issues available) shows four different foot figures and six foot Indians not seen here - yet!

The pirate set Brian B found

Artwork's apparently stolen for DVD's or Game packaging!

29-05-2018 - Now known to be being carried by Aliki on the continent and Liberty Imports in the 'States.

Smyths Christmas Stock

I was over in Farnborough checking out the almost empty aircraft-hanger that is Smyths new superstore, looking for Halloween stuff (they had none!) the other day, and picked up a catalogue, I also took the above shelfie of the only thing on their half-mile+ of shelves which caught my eye. It's the same Street machine stuff we saw back in Rack Toy Month (and a recent News, Views . . . it's the bottom-row which really interests), but without the Pioneer branding, nor the Pro Engine Series stuff.

Of more interest are these four sets in the Christmas catalogue; I'm sure there's more around if you Google them, but while some 3D printing stuff is taking a while to get fully off the ground, it is interesting to see really quite cheap aids to modelling (as these are) in the kids stores. I might try 6 or 7? And if you've got kids, you've got an excuse for buying!

They seem to be UV light-activation systems with a reactive polymer-gel or paste, rather than liquid-deposition or powder-based laser-sintering systems, but I can see applications there for war gamers and modellers?

Building armatures, or building onto wire-armatures for instance, scenic efforts, trees, barb-wire entanglements maybe? And with the moulds on the magic maker looking to be flimsy styrene vac-forms, you could develop your own moulds for repeat items, small bunkers, sand-bag emplacements, conversion turrets, wheel/tyre halves etc...

Blog

Several records/near-records have been broken in the last few days, with most posts in a year, 2nd best month ever and definitely still on track for the 3-millionth hit inside 11 months - ten to go! And I will post the 2,000th (visible) post here, any day now, if indeed this isn't it, I've been busy away from the Blog this last week and got behind with 'housekeeping'!

News

Not much since the last News, Views . . . ; all the quarterly results (which generate the toy-related headlines) have been posted and caught by the previous few posts. I think there was another Lego plug in the 'i' and there was more on the Toysaurus (US-side) but I haven't done the cuttings this week yet.

One story which did grab me, although not really affecting the hobby directly was the one about evilBay, Amazon and Co. profiteering from overseas sellers not charging VAT, this is not about second-hand toys or cack like that, but rather new goods, electronics and higher-end consumer-stuff, which are offered at below high street prices by sellers over the Channel or Irish Sea, and which should include VAT, to be taken by the platform and handed to HMRC.

It's not an immediate threat to us, but - as a bit of a scam - it'll become a stick for governments to beat the silicon-valley people with, especially when old-media, establishment paper's like the Daily Wail decide to crusade on the issue.

Link

The Scythian exhibition at the British Museum now has a Blog-post.

T is for Two - Hollow-cast Wild West

Picasa clearer - shot at Sandown Park toy fair - I think - in 2014 and both interesting in the own way, they also illustrate how far we've come in toy soldier [figure] design.

Cowboys, no arguing with that, Made in Occupied Japan so probably aiming at the US market and possibly AHI or Shackman or someone like that? Copies of a Johillco foot cowboy - four of them! - and a mounted figure which bears a passing resemblance to a Hill figure too.

The contents of this set are arguably poorer, with more scenic accessories than figures and two guys surrendering! It's called Timpo Ranch Set . . . who do you need to surrender to on a ranch . . . big, bad, beef barons!

The set however has a thin veneer of fame, having previously been seen in Norman Joplin's Big Book of Hollow Cast - pp.241, fig.475. In which it is explained that the contents are a mixture of Stoddart and Timpo items although the mounted and armed poses also bear a marked resemblance to Hill's output.

Apologies are due - as I think we've seen it before here at Small Scale World; clearly I was so impressed by its provenance I photographed it both times I saw it!

M is for Moggie Traveller

A bit of pure nostalgia today, we had two of these, a second-hand grey one made in the 1960's which was a good runner, and a factory-fresh, dark 'Trafalgar Blue' one made under the union troubles of the 1970's which never quite lived-up to expectations and helped explain how we handed the British motor-trade to Japan and Germany - rather as Trump is currently surrendering US global influence to Russia and China!

Basically a Morris Minor with a box on the back, whenever our parents went to a dinner party, drinkie 'do' or whatever (what happened to all that formal socialising, it seems to have died a death! I blame Aynge!), my brother and I would be taken along; with our sleeping bags and left out in the car . . . saved a fortune in babysitter fees!

The weird thing is I can still remember the number plate - POT 698G - over most of the vehicles . . . err . . . all the vehicle's I've ever owned!

Vanguards from Lledo, box is a bit sun-faded! If I recall correctly - our radiator-grill bars were colour matched to the car bodywork, rather than having a big wide cream or white grin, like some models, that was the height of sophistication through factory customisation or 'optional extras' in Post War Britain!

Also while the date given on the enclosed papers suggest this is meant to show an earlier model, they had saluting 'wing' indicators recessed into the side-pillars which later vehicles like our second one and the depicted model didn't have.

We also used to get left in it while mum went shopping, and once in the no-horse village of Hartley Wintney's high street (the A30!), we got into trouble after getting bored, opening the sliding side window and shouting "Bloody-bugger-shit-bloody-bugger-shit-bloody..." at passing traffic - until some offended old lady called the police!

The Rozzer's found mum, she told dad, we sat-down very gingerly for a day or two, those where the day huh? A bit of casual violence toward children - begat half-sensible adults! Kids - "Banana-car!" is a safer game.

O is for Other Edibles

We leave the string of bendies - for a while - but stick with edibles for another day with a post that's been over a year in the cooking . . . or should that be fermenting?

We'll start with a whingey-rant or a paean against modernity as exemplified by the Thatcherite-Raganomic free marketers!

On the left is the wrapping from a Terry's Chocolate Orange, circa 1980-something, possibly 1970-something, it matters not; on the right is the current design. The earlier version is making a good attempt at trying to look like a navel-orange with shading toward the bottom (edge of the wrapper) and the little plant-jiggit at the top (centre), while the one on the right is a random stamping from a continuous sheet and resembles one of those awful deep-pile carpet, fire-hazards in 1960's flats.

For a cost saving of nought-point-zero-zero-something per unit, quality is thrown to the wolves; progress may be progress, but it's not necessarily an improvement on what went before, and as such a failure to strive for excellence is a common thread through the modern world, it bodes ill for the future of everything!

Brain Berke sent these Coris Whistle Candy images to the Blog back in the spring, and while it's not of much interest to the toy soldier purists, it is of interest to the wider study of toys, or student of novelty items!

Obviously the pirate attracted Brain, who had one eye on TLAPD, unfortunately, the operative word is treasure, unlike the Choco/Candy Treasure we saw yesterday, this pirate being only atmospheric 'window dressing'!

The treasure actually being a transparent, doll's-house size, cooking pot! The size of the box however suggests that like Christmas cracker gifts or gum-ball capsule prizes; the novelties vary considerably in size, and if you were a young girl, with a doll's house . . . or doll; you'd be as happy with this treasure, as I might with a toy figure, or Captain Scarlet knock-off!

Imported by Hadson (Toko) Trading Co. Ltd., of New York, the whistling Polo-clones are apparently Cola flavoured . . . nom-nom-nomnivore!

The reason this post is titled 'edibles' rather than capsule toys! We saw an empty one in the Christmas novelty-fest a few years ago, now here’s a full one, common in the gutters of Britain's high streets where they skitter down the drains and try to find their way out to the sea, a sea they don't belong in, and damage by their presence!

We had some shelfies of this chap from Brian Berke  a while ago, he then sent a sample to the Blog and these are the constituent parts in close-up; he's in a rigid PVC.

Four views; I used to have a 70's or early 80's Kenner Imperial Stormtrooper, not a rare one, just the 'army-builder' and while I'm not sure if I still have him, or where he is, I think there's a fair chance you could produce a decent cut'n'shut with the Kenner legs and this torso, for a new pose . . . size wise?

Just in case you've never assembled a four-part, action-figure sized, Star Wars, model Stormtrooper Galerie provide clear and easy to follow illustrated instructions! Six to collect. 

I keep trying these plastic BIP (or Bon-Bon Buddies) eggs with their dire candies, in the hope of finding something worth adding to the collection, and keep being disappointed! There are several new ones around at the moment including Paw Patrol and Pepper Pig (all the 'P's!), I buy this shite so you don't have to!

Mentioned in passing yesterday, these Toto's from Turkey used to be a 99p Stores standard, since the Poundland takeover they have appeared sporadically in the new owner's shops, but they also have a Kinder thing going on at the same time. These were actually in Poundworld Plus, and are firmly piggy-backing the Emoji movie!

Eggs do rather lend themselves to Emoji-related graphics! Unlike yesterdays who have the same two-headed (two-emoji'ed?!!) wrapping, these all have a single-Emoji, foil wrapper.

The three toys; not one of which is Emoji-related. I can't work out the cat/bear 'Hello Miffy' thing at all, it has two red sprung-loaded widgets which may be feet, may be a collar, don't move far or with any good reason that I can tell . . . perplexing!

The mini-transformer is fun, a sort of rocket-firing/bin-lorry/Jeep-thing that unfolds into the least convincing wo'manzinger-tron you ever saw! Finally a Thunderbirds knock-off/clone of the Mole, but a cabriolet-mole! Take strong goggles, a titanium helmet and keep your shoulders low in the seat s'my advice to you Mr. Tracy!

E is for Emoticons or Emojis

I'm not terribly enamoured of the direction popular culture is going these days so I'm pleased to see the Emoji movie sunk without trace, losing money on the way, sometimes lessons need to be expensive!

Anyway, as a result various people have leapt on the Emoji bandwagon - however creaking it may be - not least the Turkish chocolate capsule-egg maker Toto, these are also Turkish, also chocolate capsule eggs and also contain recognisable Emojis, however they're not mentioned anywhere on the packaging as such, but only on the insert as 'bendy men' or 'figurines' etc...

The conclusion being that while Toto have sought and obtained a license, Choco Treasure probably have not!

Back in March or thereabouts there was an edibles post, and these were for a follow-up which got so delayed you're reading it now! Brian Berke sent these images and has eaten his way to a reasonable sample of the prizes with two of the figurines and a bendy toy, to witt - one pirate who nearly got Blogged on TLAPD, but Brian had sent another egg (uneaten - the chocolate all for me!) to the Blog, and the delayed post (which had other stuff, and was already growing) grew some more and got delayed again.

The box gives some idea as to the contents, including the poop; now - I know to some I will start to sound like my parents; but - who decided a poop was needed in 'social' media messages, who decided to design one, who coded it up, why is it still with us, who decided it would be a good idea to put it in a movie aimed at kids . . . parochial reactionary rant! Parochial reactionary rant!

Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude, and the Turd Salahi Family in Southpark are very funny, but they are a parody of American society, a poor immigrant, 'coloured' family, satire, while this one is just shit . . . and a Southpark clone!

To the egg . . .

. . . and it's teasing me with a very colorful wrap, Brians got a pirate, will I get a pirate? There's a pirate on the wrap . . . "com'mon sucker, unwrap me, you know you want to, will I have a pirate toooo?"

We have looked at Choco Treasure before I think? Non-emoji? Imported by Candy Treasure LLC of Lebanon, New Jersey and - like the Toto eggs - there is no sickly white-chocolate layer, so they are to my taste - nicer chocolate!

And while the design is slightly different with the capsule having a shelf running pole-to-pole, this would seem to have more to do with placing the egg halves than any swallowing hazard, so the question-mark about how these get in [to the 'States] while Kinder don't - still stands?

Awwww! I didn't get a Pirate, but if I was to get any other it would have to be the devil figurine, or 'Mr. Angry' and I got Mr. Angry, how very apt! But the real point of the post is that this Mr. Angry is a bendy angry.

I must say though that he's also very hard to manipulate, whether this is due to the short length of the arms, or because he's made with a heavy-gauge armature I don't know (without cutting him open), but I'd bet a week's ages on the later!

Other items available, I had a 1:34 chance of getting the one I did . . . and a 2-in-34 chance of being gifted a poop . . . just call me Lucky! Thanks Brian!

R is for Round-up - Bendy Toys

The reason I finished-off on both of the last two days with bendys is because we're already into a short 'season' of bendy toy posts - intermingled with the Halloween thing - of which this is the third of four!

Here's a thing, about 18 months ago I posted some plant-ties and pointed out that they were in every aspect the same as the old bendy-toys of my youth, a few weeks (months?) later I posted some oldies, some of which had come-in, some of which I had upstairs; then Brian Berke sent us some shelfies, then I spotted some, then some more, suddenly Bendy Toys are hot again.

In point of fact - bendy toys are all over the place! This is a quick run-through a bunch of shelfies taken by both me and Brain B over the last 12 months or so, showing bendy toys from at least 3 companies, possibly 4?

I shot this about two  months ago, TK Maxx end-of-summer clearance from NJCroce, I actually went back for it but it had gone, careful reading of the shelfied packaging reveals the wheels may not be carpet-running, so I'm not so disappointed to have missed it, but . . . the original-shape car, in huge-scale, with bendy crew . . . does it get much better . . . these days?

"Battling brake-peddles Batman! Go easy with the lead-foot; why don't you!"

Another from NJCroce, a small key-ring man bat (yes - I know there was an actual Manbat at some point, if you read every American comic ever written there have been everything-men and most-things women over the years . . . and decades!) and another of the larger figures; I suspect the same company but it's not clear.

I then went back to TK Maxx on the trail of Halloween stuff and they'd got more of the NJCroce five-figure sets both Brian and I shelfied around this time last year, this set of cartoon characters, which I don't like at all really and . . .

. . . a set which I struggled to shoot without creating a toy-landslide (TK Maxx's toy area always looks as if Barbarians have just been through it, on the way back from the pub!), so only the heads - to give you a heads-up! Design-wise they look to be the original 1950/60's types which I prefer - in fact; as I write I wonder if it isn't one of the sets we saw a year ago?.

They (TK Maxx) haven't got the single-figures in yet, but I suspect they will in time for Christmas.

Then I found monkeys in Tiger, most tiger's call that 'breakfast'! These monkeys have been skandie'fied to abecat! Grey and brown with separately heat-welded, wired-tails, they are two-quid a'piece, and going on Tiger's usual stock-runs, they should be available for the next 6-18 months.

And then I found this sitting in Brain's folder (it's still very full!), where I fear it's been languishing long enough to have missed a couple of bendy-posts; my bad.

Although; obviously he's been accidently miss-named (he's Wally in the UK!), and at $5 dollars he's very-much at the top of the price range for these as single figures, you can get 5 plant-ties for £4 at the other end of the scale . . . contents and construction; by weight, the PVC and wire being exactly the same, so must be - the unit cost, so should be - the unit price!