B is for back to B&M

Except these were shot months before the ones we saw this morning (yesterday), being the other, larger half of the stuff in the lost folder! It's mostly this modern trend for blind-bag collectables and nothing for toy-soldier purists, but it is what it is, and we shoot this stuff so you don't . . . err . . . you know what I mean!

Rainbow unicorns . . . "Rainbowcorns"! Two types of packaging, a starter set with multiple blind egg capsules and top-up bags in a counter-display carton. Zuru, they're 'up there' with Moose on this stuff!

"Bunnycorn" . . . yeap, you guessed it! Really; it's nasty stuff, in fact, it looks like it's been designed by Douggy Pledger or Dr. Knorkles [Artistic Oddities] in AI!

 

Playmates are chucking-out these Miraculous'ly like Pokémon figures, I know nothing else about them, and probably don't need to!

 

I can see these having more mileage than the above trio, and with larger play sets, there's the whole dolls-house thing going on here, but they will turn-up in mixed lots soon, especially those colourful Charity shop bags, so, if nothing else, it will help list them accurately on evilBay!

 

Not even close to the parameters of this Blog, action figures from the pink/purple end of the spectrum, but I shot them, so they're here! Licensed to Character Options.

 

I've seen these around a few times, and they are squidgy-stretchy types, but not something I'm tripping over myself to seek out! Branded to Jakks Pacific, who I thought had folded a few years ago, Google says I was probably confusing the death of the founder with the death of the company!

 

Another Playmates product, quite a nice set of totally out of scale (with each other) figurines from one of the recent movies, but was it a Godzilla movie or was it a King Kong movie, and does anyone except a hard-core fan give a shit?

 

These 'franchises' are being thrashed to death now, aren't they? Planet of the Apes, Alien-v-Predators, there's supposed to be a new/third Bladerunner on the way . . . sigh! I want new visions, not hackneyed old ones with their arses torn-out of them.

 

Poppy Playtime figures from Phat Mojo, some sort of happy-horror-anime? Wiki' says "Poppy Playtime is a horror video game where the player plays as a former employee of Playtime Co. who returns to the abandoned toy factory of said company . . ." So now I know!

 

These Among Us are of interest both as being boarderline useable space-aliens, and because we saw the same figures without the keychains, as similar blind-bags from Poundland recently? While . . . 

 

. . . these have just been seen WITH keychains (and no bases), in Poundland? The suspicion is, both were poor sellers in whatever was the earlier guise, and are now being cleared any way the wholesaler's can come-up with, and that subsequently the 'Series 1' they both march under will prove to be the only series for either? Both are on-line, multi-player, 'party' games.

 

And it was needing to make/highlight the twin-format point (keychains/no keychains) which led me to realise there was a missing post somewhere, and find it earlier today/yesterday, now. Both from Toikido, the Gang Beasts further branded PMI as manufacturer.

 

And three more, all from the above companies, the Goo Jit Zu from Moose having a window bag rather than being blind, a far more civilised way of doing these things, while both Brawl Stars (PMI) and Pet Simulator X (Phat Mojo)are kids video-games, although why they are still called video-games now technology has moved so far from VHS/Betamax is anyone's guess!

L is for Lost Lot!

Totally lost it with this lot, I'd named the folder stupidly and mislaid it in front of my face, but found it this morning and have just shuffled the images for a quick shelfie post, these were all taken in February, so mostly post Christmas 'first quarter' stock. And I was embarking on a 14-image post when I realised the first three were TKMaxx not B&M, so I'll fire these off and do the B&M in a minute!

Nearly bought this for the astronaut, but realised it would mean filling a whole tub with memory-foam shite, because 'set', so I'll wait 'till a badly-coloured-in one turns up in a mixed lot in ten years, bleach him overnight and give him a silver-grey wash! Marked up to both TJM in the UK, and a Maxi Save Pty., in Australia.

 

ID'ing mini dinosaurs, we've seen Teamsterz before, usually (but not always) badged to HTI, and I think we might have had a stab at deciding whether they were Supreme or Pioneer figurals, plumping for the latter if anything, but I can't be arsed to check the past posts - it's all on the dongles, so it will be right when the A-Z entries get written-up!

 

A couple of nice Animal sets; wild and extinct! Also Maxi Save in the antipodes, over here they are claimed for TJ Morris's of both Liverpool and Belfast, obviously the same TJM, and chosen for one reason TJM = TJMaxx; the US meister-office!

 

I thought these might be Terra by Battat in new packaging, but they seem to be different, however they are nice sculpts in their own right, and will be supplied by someone else.

G is for Gulliver, Germany

Well, that's weird . . . I could have sworn on my own life I'd photographed, scanned and Blogged the 'other' Gulliver, but I can't find them anywhere? They're not on the Airfix Blog (Confederates or US Cavalry - they should be on one?!), they aren't on this 'home' Blog, I haven't done the A-Z entry, although it's near ready on the external hard-drive (just lacking shots) and it's not in Picasa, as far as I can tell, so I don't know what happened there?

 

I'm guessing I must have planned the above, probably more than once, to have such vivid memories of doing something I clearly haven't and decided - each time - that as they were on PSR, which they are, I didn't need to? Anyway, to get them in the Tag List next to the Brazilian one, here's something else on them . . . what could have been!

Before the accountant ran off with all the money, they had grand plans for ancient Romans & Egyptians, medieval subjects and nappies! From the original publicity mail-shot.

W is for We Buy This Shit So You Don't Have To!

I managed to get a bloody parking ticket the other day, so this little lot from Poundland has proved to be more expensive than it should have done!

 

Peter Evan's; Plastic Warrior magazine's roving reporter, told us about these garden/houseplant ornaments, on his Faceplant group a few weeks ago, so while I was in Farnborough on another mission, I popped into Poundland and grabbed a handful, at a quid each they weren't bank-breakers, and will make useful additions / accessories to or in the stash. The little tree is broken but it's the only one they had left.

These are interesting, as we saw . . . no we didn't, they're not on the Blog, so they must be in the queue somewhere, I'll hold on that for now then, and just say - these are fun! Blind Bag collectables, from Toikido (as in 'toy-kid-o'?), also responsible for the 'Amoung Us' blind bags, seen here recently.

 

And we'll have more on them later today now (as I've just found a whole 'missing' folder of shelfies I sort of knew I hadn't found . . . or had lost?!!), without chains in their heads, I can confidently predict there won't be a Series 2, as we will see later today, these are a clearance exercise!

Lucky Bags! The modern take on them, and contents are very disappointing, for figure collectors; a four-year-old would probably be very happy with a colouring thing, a bouncy-ball (always good for annoying adults) and a bunch of stickers!

 

These aren't shit! They were in Peter Evan's last parcel to the blog (just in time for Rack Toy Month!), HTI set of China animals, the Panda is similar to the AAA one we've seen twice recently, but that would be too much of a coincidence, and actually this one is a little different and smaller!

 

Neither are these shit, but interesting, manufactured by Gulliver in Brazil, they are somewhere between the 1:76th and 60mm of the Atlantic originals they're copied from, at about 40mm, but are here being handled by a Fanabri of Portugual.

 

Easily findable on eBay, or they were a year or so ago, you get 2-5 mounted and 10-15 foot in an assortment of bright/primary colours which appear to be identical to the Brazilian output, or leftover production taken in lieu of debt, apparently Gulliver (Brasil) folded with debts, as did Gulliver (Germany)!?

C is for a Constellation of Capsules

No, not gum-Ball machine capsules, but at ten cents definitely prizes! If you can handle the rest of your childhood being plagued by junk mail and further demands to subscribe to other shite! I have these in the archive; offers involving Revell kits, hoping to get kids signed-up to Science Programe, whatever that was; something American! And the collective noun for capsules SHOULD be 'constellation'!

 

The 'white heat' of technology . . . all those years ago . . . what hopes man had then (whispers - in conflict with the Soviet Union!).

This is both sides of two direct-marketing, mail-order, insert cards from a magazine or periodical of some kind I think, and from the dates of the Gemini programme, actually flying missions, must date them to between 1964 and 1966, so around the time I was born!

This is a fascinating and quick little read, I'm glad he made it to the moon after his near death!

Anyway, finding the above caused me to dig-out that Wilton Gemini-craft we looked at the other day, and compare it to Marx's Mercury looking thing!

It's actually fascinating to see the evolution of the capsules over time, I must find a decent 1:72nd, 1:48th or larger Apollo capsule to show how it got broader still to fit a three-man crew, yet visually looks the shortest/squattest of the three. But here the Marx is definitely modelling the Mercury, with three flat windows rather than the Wilton Gemini's two 'bus-drivers' windows!

 

As you can see, the Marx return capsule is made from eye-blinding red, or flowing-lava orange, and is almost impossible to photograph! I used to think it was a reissue thing, but David Schafer showed one on a vintage card and it really is that colour!

 

Also, I'm now wondering if the Wilton cake-craft is a direct copy of the old Revell kit, as practically given-away by the Science Programme, although I should probably write 'program' so's to avoid charges of racism from you-know-who! Anyone seen the Revell kit?

E is for Ephemeral Extras

A couple of Supreme related scans, just now, one I'd forgotten I'd had, the other I thought I'd lost, and we'll start with the second first!

 

This is from the Christmas flyer from the recently defunct Wilkinson's Stores / Wilco, and was around 2001-4, they ran them several years in a row and I managed to get three, but I know I missed one, as I saw some of the vehicles in missing colourways, as part of a Santa' window display in the travel agents next door to the Wilkinson's in Farnborough (or Aldershot) in the third or fourth year!

Anyway, we've looked at two non-Command Central sets over the years (Mini Wheels) and most of the stuff loose, so I've given everything-related a 'Command Central' tag, if you click on it, you'll get everything in reverse order of posting!

The Strawberry Group's 2002-3 catalogue has these, and I've mentioned them before and fingered the Knights as Supreme, and the Wild West are supposed to be them too, and while I've only got the word of some 'Old Guard' on that, it sort of makes sense.

 

I was buying these for other people a few years earlier as I drove around the UK, and while Tiger Hobbies would take over the running of the Knights a year or two later, I don't know if they took over the Wild West, or when exactly the current pale-brown, floppy, flat-based ones replaced these Deetail-alikes? I think I now have all four cowboys, but not sure if I have any Indians, the prone-firing maybe?

On the same page, and as an importer like Strawberry might put all one supplier's products together, while we have yet to find any animals credited to Supreme, it's reasonable to assume these might be from the same stable! But that's pure conjecture/a guess, not gospel! Funnily enough, some of these horses may have come-in with the recent donations from Jon Attwood, so we may see them again soon!

P is for Petrel's Plastic Parade

Looking at one of the wannabe Blue Box sets this time, and the first photograph is almost as poor as the double-decker 77xxx series Blue Box set from yesterday, however I did take shaded-shots of each window, so this will provide a little more in the way of visual information!

 

Badged to Petrel Toys, who we've seen before, sun faded on the face, and sold in 1968 (thanks to James Opie), I suspect from some of their other toys they might have been an importer/jobber or the phantom brand of a Hong Kong based shipper/agent/exporter, but more on that in a minute.

 

The set is clearly pretending to be a Blue Box -"C¦O¦M¦B¦AT"- set (that's my attempt at the explosion logo!), which were three and four-decked, but not split-window, which might (and it's a big 'might') have some significance as it's harder to sue if there is a difference in the 'appearance' of an otherwise common or industry wide packaging type?

The tank is a nasty little thing, there are several generations or iterations of it, it seems to be a copy of an equally simplified die-cast, itself several rungs below Zee/Zylmex on the quality ladder, and is best discarded loose, unless you need them for something like this Blog! While the figures are poor copies of late Blue Box GI's.

This is quite useful, and was re-issued a few years ago (I say that glibly, forgetting how fast time is going these days . . . it was reissued back in the 1990's!), lacking the silly blind/remote-controlled, bomber's turret of Marx, Blue Box, early Airfix and other toy landing craft of the time, it makes for a more realistic infantry/troop landing craft, with a coat of paint! The re-issues were a shiny-grey polypropylene.

I've cut the helicopter from this window so we can look at it below.

These seem to be poor copies of the bi-coloured vessels from Emson / 'Empire' (E), with the larger vessel behind being a copy of an old Pyro or Aurora 'box-scale' kit maybe? While the one in front is the old Tri-Ang Minic's being ripped-off again!

More of the figures and a couple of cheap Jeeps, they're not that bad for small-scale, but their lines are more Mahindra than Willy's if you know what I mean, a bit boxy at the front! And the wheel/axle sets look familiar from one of the many generations of the 1-Ton Hunber truck rack-toys.

Two helicopters which I'll return to in a mo', but suffice to say the silver one on the left looks mightily like the one in the Blue Box garage set!

This on the other hand is rather lovely and pretty unique! A proper submarine! It comes with two 1d/1¢ capsule-dispenser/Christmas cracker type, relief-flat crustaceans and, you can just see behind, his head poking-out, one of the Manurba Mini-Sub piracies!

The two similar helicopters (a more Soviet than NATO/US design) has two different plug-ins, one wearing skids, the other floats, but while that's interesting, the important bit . . . 

 

 . . . is that the Sikorsky H-34/Westland Wessex seems to be the actual Blue Box one, both in the Petrel set, and in these two unbranded generics (note the different plastic colour of each helicopter moulding), both of which have better-quality figures. Indeed, were it not for the paint, you'd mistake these for late Blue Box polyethylene versions, which they may be?

 

It's why I think Petrel are a phantom-brand or importer of some kind, their set's contents seem to be bought-in from more than one source, while the other two sets might be actual Tai Sang generics, manufactured for a contract (maybe with Cecil Colman, Codeg or someone like that; Cornelius?) or aiming at a price-point below the similar Blue Box sets.

And the fact that a 'Blue Box' helicopter ended-up in a rival product, aping their own, will be down to the fact they might not have known where the helicopters were going when they fulfilled the order for one of the middle-men, down at the docks, where Tong Wai-ki would have taken his suitcases of samples each morning, between trips to New York.

 

Branded Pyragric on the continent.

S is for Shelfies - B&M

Shot these the other day, there are some TKMaxx ones somewhere, but I've temporarily lost them? Hopefully they'll turn up, in the meantime these are all/both currently at B&M stores, the slayer of Wilkinsons/Wilco (the slayer of Woolworth's), now waiting to be slayed by the next undercutter!

A 'Big Box' set of dino'huntin' action figure fun, which I was never going to take off the shelf, but I will look out for the loose dinosaurs in the future, or at least this shot will help ID them at some point, however, I thought it was worth taking note of . . . 

 

. . . the mini-Chinasaur runner and camouflaged eggs, as they will tune-up in mixed lots needing identification! The set was in-store branded to B&M.

 

The latest tubs of animals are of a larger scale than we saw last time I was shelfie'ing in B&M, and no farm set which was odd, but maybe they sold-out first, there was room for three or four more tubs on the shelf?

 

Close-ups of the animals, again branded to B&M, the lion looks a bit like the AAA one we saw earlier today, but it's unmarked and smaller.

D is for Double-Deckers! 1 - Blue Box

Not the best images I'm afraid, so I'll chuck them up here with a few nots and post something else later tonight or close-after midnight, so this can begin its slide down the page, with slight embarrassment at its paucity!

Yeah! Bright sunlight! Great!

 

Useful information for some!

 

Welp! It's better than the shot I took! This is a 'large scale' set, as far as the figures go, and there's still no room for 'that' artillery piece!

R is for Rack Toy Shelfies

There's a few of these posts in the queue now, so we'll get some of the current stuff up here! Brian Berke, our roving toy-spotter in New York, sent me a bunch of shelfies the other week, in time for RTM, and while some have gone off to the near eternal Coventry of the long queue as being not figural enough for this Blog (they will eventually be used on the A-Z pages or in more thematic stuff), here are a few which hit the spot perfectly!

 

Superhero types, clearly aping the Power Rangers, and similar to the ones in our (UK's) pound shops a few years ago, but lacking the five minis that came with ours, and having some level of articulation - at the arms only I fancy?

 

Nice bunch of Dinosaurs, one day I'll put all the dinosaur bags and cards we've looked at on one page, so they can be more easily sorted and grouped, and so we can see easily which lots are in more than one branding/packaging! There's about fourteen in the bag, it's hard to see them all, and they look to about the same size as the next lot, so that's plenty of bang for your ten-bucks?

These are particularly nice for what they are - cheap rack toy animals - as I thought the paint was particularly good for the type? They are also on the large side, and I think that Panda (and possibly one or two others) are in the queue, loose, so a UK issue (probably in different packaging) is a certainty on this one! . . . No, we saw it here the other day, in the charity-shop round-up - I think it's triple-A or AAA under the generic card?!

 

I shot this in The Works the other day, I think we may have seen it before, so, if we have; ho-hum! But if we haven't, I think we've seen other items in this line, graphical-speaking? What I call medium-sized; 6/8-inches, and quite well modelled, but paint is a little uninspiring.

From the metadata on the shot, this was inches away from the previous set, but the price label was not a standard 'Works one, so I managed to confuse myself, medium smalls at about 4/6-inches, and paint/detailing pretty much matches the others so the same source in China? I rather like the Plesiosaur arching across the top!
 

And . . . that's three sets of dinosaurs, with no Dimetrodon? WT very actual F! You used to get a Dimetrodon in every set, line, range or bunch of dinosaur toys, now you hardley ever see them? It's discrimination, that's what it is, I'm joining the Far Left to militantly campaign against this injustice, 'caus the woke middle are ignoring this obvious slight against Dimbo!

Many thanks, as always, to Brian, for everything he does for the Blog.

F is for First Line Troop Set

Back to Blue Box, and one of the earliest sets they did, this may actually date from the late 1950's, but I suspect the early 1960's, also it's not that rare, I've seen several over the years and got a second one last year, contents shot, but better box than mine!

 

 

It came with a play-mat and is obviously competing directly with the Marx Miniature Masterpiece sets, and you may recall my comments on that previously, with specific regard to the two company's German Infantry, it's as if they came from the same factory, or the same figure sculptor?

 

 You get two identical 'armies', one in green (Allies, good!) and one in grey (Axis, bad!), two tents and the play-mat, so obviously the grey stuff is the excitement, as while the green-stuff was reconfigured in dozens of sets through the 1960's, 1970's and even, maybe, the early 1980's, the gray seems only to have been in one or two sets back at the start, while the Bedford trucks - not in this set - were continued in grey with the German infantry, in the later single vehicle sets and the odd multi-decker window-box.

 

My grey trailer is broken, and propped-up in the previous shot! Indeed, a grey trailer is the only Blue Box military vehicle I still need a good example of, but it's not a priority. I would however be interested to know if the trailer has a donor-sculpt, and if so who it was, as it's quite distinctive, but predates the Hasegawa one buy a decade or so, could it be Fujimi or Tamiya? Someone earlier, Monogram or Revell?

 

These are fun! Filler to keep the play-mat flat in the bottom of the box, themselves weighed down by the vehicles above them, they are following the old pattern of hollow-cast lead 'Big Box' sets, with cotton, glued to a card base, and raised by a wire prop. Set-up on the left, packed flat on the right.

 

Flags are just paper price-label stickers, folded round the top of the wire, serving to prevent the wire falling-back through the hole in the cotton fabric.!

In the upper shot you can see how the sides of the marquee are glued to the underside of the card, which is then covered with a sheet of paper, while in the lower shot you can see how the wire works.

These are from that lock-down photo-shoot I did in bright sunlight, which I thought would be a good idea, but in fact, it was not a success, with the light too bright really, anyway; gets it out of Picasa and into the public domain!