F is for First Show of the Year - II

Continuing with the look at what came back from Sandown Park last Saturday evening, although it's always nice to meet-up with people you haven't seen since the Autumn or Christmas, the plunder's what it's all about!

These came from Gareth for a fiver, the cowboy didn't make it home in one piece, but that serves him right for stealing somebody else's country! Lone Star HO-compatible figures, a bit brittle, but they add to a small and very slowly-growing sample!

 

While this was my purchase from the terrace-stand 'car-booty' which occurs while we're waiting for the doors to open, card is a bit knackered, so I may take him off and sort it out one day, but for now my first carded Lincoln 'biggie', I have a bunch of bits in a tub somewhere, and a smaller bag - from Chris - I think, so when they all come together we'll have a proper look at them.

 

Brain Berke sent us images of this Hong Kong one, for the canoe season, and he also sent a sample to the Blog, which was shot while still in the pack as I knew I had the seperate images 'in the bag', so I will compare this with the other when they come together, and open one for another look, in a wee-while!

 

Another eclectic mix of 'singles', the early (non-geometric base) Starlux has been mucked-about with, a complete cover of green paint has all but flaked-off (I cleaned the arm after this photo-shoot with a toothpick, but the paint seems to have adhered permanently to the gaiters), while a sailor's scarf has been painted in, but looks original, which doesn't tie-in with the Para' beret, so I don't know, but it was cheap as chips!

The policeman is another die-cast or plastic vehicle accessory to join the hundreds waiting to be formally ID'd, a Blue Box cowboy (Britains Swoppet copy) and cake decoration footballer (late, polystyrene) complete the upper line-up.

The lower image seems to include a 'fire chief' for those 1-ton Humber truck fire-engines, the wheels are the same, anyway, and a soft-polyethylene copy of the Blue Box copy of a Matchbox sports car - it needs wheels, but cannibalising a tatty one will take care of that! With a penny-toy motorcyclist, from the inter-war period (think TE Lawrence), in a flat gold spray finish.

 

I think the Timpo Richard III (sold as 'King Arthur') was also a fiver, but what an addition to the Lone Star and French copies, otherwise plastic, line-up of those figures, he's a lead hollow-cast, as are the two khaki types, both from Mercator's rummage trays, Crescent on the left, not sure on the right.

 

While the rail-man is an Irish-American Comet-Gaeltacht O-gauge railway worker from Holgar Eriksson's hand, and the mechanic is the die-cast replacement for the erlier Zang-for-Timpo composition figure, probably also bought-in?

 

Finally, a few more penny-toy types, with two naval subjects above, landing party (or is he a Russo-Japanese war type?) and a rather nice Scot's piper, who I think Adrian said was either a minor-make or actually French, but I've forgotten what he said now, and it's not obvious in Joplin's big book?

What is obvious from the photographs is that he is a well-detailed and quite finely cast sculpt, particularly the drones and their connecting cord, which - level of detail/care - would tie-in with a couple of other French hollow-cast in the pile?

F is for First Show of the Year - I

And so we all trekked-off to Sandown Park for the first show of 2024, a lovely day in the end, given it seems to have rained every other day since the beginning of February! I didn't buy much, but there are some nice bits among all the make-weights!

 

How cool is this? Adrian gave me this Fairylight magnetic-novelty at the end of the show, when I asked him what he had on it? We like cats here, and there's a surprising number of mice in the stash too; rubber, cartoon, Erzgebirge/wood, I think we saw some musician mice one time, so adding one of each, in the same box - bargain!

 

These are under embargo until they appear in the ongoing Railway figure posts!

 

Two early Wiking 'planes, I think we looked at a good one a few years back, these are missing bases and the wire hanger, along with their little clear acetate 'propeller sweeps', which clip over the nose-cones and can be replaced. Both dive-bombers/ground-attack types, a German Junkers Ju 87 'Stuka' and what I suspect is a Japanese Nakajima B5N'Kate' or, because the tail's not right, a Grumman TBF 'Avenger'?

An eclectic mix here, which, from the top left includes, a Linde premium buffalo/wisent type, a Barrat & Sons flocked cow, and an interesting use of the Impro tooling; an eraser-rubber version, with the full marking of the originals, also left on the brightly-coloured Imperial reissues.

Below them are two Vitacup animal premiums, one in a darker than normal ivory shade (which may only be a smoker's house jobbie?) and two Kellogg's premiums of Sooty characters, actually sweep and whatsit-cat . . . Googles frantically . . . Kipper! Kipper the cat.

And I'm sure most of you will recognise the Charbens circus elephant, it's easy to ID from this side!

 

A couple of cheap lots of smaller (35mm) flats, actually the upper lot are technically semi-flat, being a bit fatter, German troops painted as Fins, by the simple expedient of painting the flag Finnish! I'm not sure on the lower flats, but they do have base markings under the paint, which I shall address at some latter date, there is a fair bit of material to dig into on these.

And this was also a gift, Christian Hatley had mentioned them a while ago, and not recognising me with my Spring haircut, it took him a while to realise who I was, then gifted me this Diddy Man, who, I found when I got home, is another KT novelty figure! And there are probably at least three more to find, if they are aping the Cherilea ones?

B is for Brush & Rail, Britians Show Jumping, Bits and Bobs

I don't have the big Show Jumping boxed set from Britains, it tends to attract a pretty penny, and most of the contents are available loose, but there are a few bits which were unique to the set, not least the jumps, fortunately, Britains anticipated some wanting to extend their set to a full competition ring (circuit?), and made most of the bits available separately, so by way of introducing a short season on jumpers and jumping, here are a few bits from the Britains line, which I have here - we will return to them and look at the whole range of riders another day, as they are in (back-in!) storage.

The add-on Brush & Rail fence as sold separately, you get three units of fence, basically wooden boxes with faggots of brushwood, or twiggy-twigs, stuffed into them. While the boxed area underneath the backing-card, contains a standard Post & Rail fence, two marker-flags and a spare stand for the horses which were only, otherwise available in the big set, the riders when sold separately coming with/attached to a five-bar gate, to jump over.

How they all go together, and the various components, the brush is made from horsehair, which was curled (probably under heat, a hot water dip maybe, or hot-air?), then dipped in a rubber-solution or latex before being compressed into sheets or 'bisquits' (Yes, I like to use that incorrect spelling, it's fun Panda Bear talk), and cut to shape. It was a forerunner of modern foam packing, and had been around, commercially, for some time.

 

The extra stand, replacing the gate the seperate riders came with, which could also be added to your show-jumping display, this enabled them to face-off against the various other jumps in the set/line. Some place it the other way round, with the base to the rear, but it balances either way.

 

Early and late versions of the 'Captain Mark Philips' character, he also came with as the gate jumper, but is here on a different horse, as either an early Herald/Eyes Right/Swoppet era figure (white horse) or in a Deetail iteration, black horse, rubber-band reins.

 

There were actually several riders who performed in uniform back then, a German (whom I think is behind the mind of this figure's sculptor), an Argentinian (I think?) and maybe a couple of Spaniards, among others, I well remember watching Show Jumping (and tennis, and the tedium of 1960/70's Test Cricket), because with two, latterly three TV-channels, there was often bugger-all else on, especially in the mid-afternoons! Phillips usually performed in the No.1 Dress uniform, a blue-black affair, known as 'Blues'.

 

12-03-2022 - It was the Italians I was thinking of (see FitzjamesHorse comment below), and I remembered I'd scanned this from the 13th October 1973 issue of World of Wonder magazine, expressly to add to this post, back in March '22! Honestly, the filing system is breaking down under the weight of stuff! Given when the Britains figure first came out, it was probably these guys behind the Military rider?

M is for Masudaya's Multi-Material Minis

An old-school name who's predominantly tin-plate stuff fills the books on such things, not least Tashen's 1000 Robots, Space Ships & Other Tin Toys, New Cavendish's Future Toys (from the past!) and probably Chronicle Book's Yesterday's Toys, but they don't credit many of the makers in that one!

But these are modern, Masudaya (Modern Toys), harking back to their past, and surviving where most of their contemporaries (not just in Japan, but the big US and German Tin-plate names have all gone), these smaller-scale space toys were very tempting, but I only photographed them!

 

The general shape of the ship is very recognisable if you've caught old tin-plate space toys in passing, but I think the periscope 'technician' is rather daft, not only would a periscope in space be about as much use as star-drive on a submarine, but the operator would be shredded by space-dust? The 1950's was a different planet!

 

However . . . there's a figure! And a spaceman in near-NASA garb, so there's that!

 

Described as 'Adult Collectors Items' NOT toys and NOT for children under 14, I think they'd make the best Christmas-stocking toys, it's exactly what you want to find Santa's left you at 4am!

 

This was with the above, and again, the 'racing' spaceships were an old trope, with an exposed pilot taking everything space has to offer; radiation, space-dust and extreme temperatures! I actually saw a third at Sandown (these were shot on Adrian's stall), and it was on a mate's stand, but I didn't think to shoot it.

 

Google reveals there's at least half-a-dozen in the line, and they are about one-quarter the size of the vintage originals they are referencing? Tin and plastic, the whole underside of this rocket racer is plastic, where it was tin on the originals. Fun things!

Phfffff! is for Whatever!

I thought I ought to have a post before midnight, just to get the ton up before the end of February, and looking around I can't see anything jumping out at me which doesn't require more effort than the few minutes available, so against the fact I might not beat the midnight news after work, here's a shot from the 'seen elsewhere' folder as I listen to Lady Muck (Sarah Montague) on the Lunchtime news, whittering-on about Hairy Bikers, Police Rapists and anything else which doesn't require looking in depth at either of our, or the US's, two main political parties or anything happening in Gaza, while Putler threatens nuclear-annihilation . . . Again!!

 

The Blue Box WWII Russians, complete, and completed, I think I'm right in saying, by a donation from Chris Smith, a while ago, as they've gone to storage in the meantime, seen elsewhere, awhile back too!

Also, and for no particular reason - other than it needed doing, of course (hee-hee) - I've edited, rearranged, and added some catalogue/archive stuff to the Airfix Tarzan page which some of you may remember, can be found here!

G is for Grendon Underwood . . .

. . . a place I actually know quite well, and it's a half-horse hamlet, which in the 1960's would have quite literally been in the middle of nowhere, like all those villages in the greenery between London and Birmingham!

 

I'm absolutely positive this set, or one very similar from the same maker has been shown on the blog already, as an 'unknown', but I just can't find it anywhere, but neither is it waiting to go, in Picasa, so I don't know?

Grendon Valley Toys from Ornamental Alloys, sounds grand, and it gets two new entries in the Tag List, but I suspect it was a bloke in a shed, with his mate who had a mate who could print stuff?!! I may be totally wrong, but I have a vision of pots of lead going soft over a camping stove, while the wife spends her Sunday afternoons painting tigers!

 

I've definitely shot a similar set (it might have been five animals and no natives, though?), and I'm sure I blurbed it with the usual 'probably from Schneider moulds, or those supplied by Agasee, or someone like that, commercially sold as a sideline, maybe at Christmastime?

 

Anyway, the whole point was to ID the previous set, which I can't find, so it is what it is; a minor-make, producing a commercial product from home-casting moulds, in the years immediately after WWII, I would imagine? Thanks to Mercator Trading for letting me shoot it (the original, and missing one).

 

Added 12-03-2024 - While thanks are due to David Fisher, who let me shoot this one on his stall the other day.

R is for Railway Station, Passengers & Servicemen

But not those servicemen! Here's a coincidence, Jon Attwood sent this in his last lot of images, so it might have been later in the queue, but then John Rafferty (who I know dips into the blog now and again) happened, the other day, to mention 'Toy Shop', by Peter Blake, the well-known artist, famous for all sorts of things, but especially, among the younger of us, for his Beatles' album cover 'St Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which happened to have the same set!

We saw my card a while ago, when it finally surfaced from storage, before retuning thence, and I thought it might be missing a bit, well, it was missing the title 'bar' for some odd reason? In fact, it had had most of the picture cut off! So here it is in it's entirety, thanks Jon!

 

While the same set has been on display at the Tate, on and off since 1970! Left-of-centre in the upper-middle pane, with the Hong Kong knock-off cereal-premium racing cars below it! John had actually spotted the ABC copies of Britains Swoppet knights in the pane below, while an odd Marx Disney set is to be seen top right,  with three ducks (Donald, Daisy and one of the cousins?), the Red Queen and Captain Hook on the far right? Cheers to John!

L is for Lego's Dirty Little Secret

One of the drums I keep beating, one of the windmills I will continue to tilt-at, is the theft by Lego of the Hilary Page design of the Kiddycraft Mini Bricks, a scaled down version of his pre-war self-locking bricks.

So - as we shall see in a second - when I saw this German language version of one of the first sets we had as kids, the stand-alone 'pre-fab' garage, I had to get it up here.

 

One of the 'excuses' Lego have used for the similarity of their product in recent years has been that they 'improved' the product with the addition of the rods and tubes at the centre-points between the studs, to 'jam' the bricks together, and as those huge propagandist tomes from Dorling Kindersly have had to address the plagiarism, that's the line that's been taken, to explain the fact that the one is a copy of the other!

But here we have a set, admittedly early, and European, yet manufactured some time after the brand had become popular outside Denmark, and sometime before they lost the court-case brought by Kiddycraft in the UK, in which the rods between the studs are absent. These are a direct copy of the UK bricks, with the exception of the weight-balanced door, and the two specialist receiving bricks, but by then Airfix had similar bricks in their Betta Builder!

 

So, when Jørgen Vig Knudstorp said in 2009 "On January 28, 1958 the LEGO (R) Group patented the LEGO (R) brick with its now well-known tubes inside..." He was being a bit disingenuous, as the Kiddycraft design was the one which had gone International in '56! What we have here, are Hilary Page's self-locking 'Kiddybricks', stolen by Ole Kirk Christensen and exploited by his son, Godtfred.

And the thing is, the later tubes/rods were an innovation, or 'novel addition', they did not change the outward appearance, nor the function of the bricks, very important in Patent Law. The very patents Lego would use for years against all-comers including Tyco, and it was not until the courts protected Mega Bloks, after these facts started to gain wider recognition, that things changed and some began to realise Lego are just another 'evil empire'!

The early products were made from cellulose-acetate, which tends to warp over time, and while you can use hot water or a hair-dryer to restore shape, there's often associated shrinkage, so the bricks and components no longer interact with others, or the modern product. Not a problem on Kiddycraft's original urea-formaldehyde bricks, nor Airfix's polystyrene or Blue Box's polyethylene ones.

 

Other Points

Apparently 'Award-winning' journalist Erin Blakemore writes "LEGO says Kiddicraft told the company it was fine to use the design, but in 1981 they formally bought the rights to Kiddicraft bricks from their inventor’s descendants.", and while the "but" is telling, she fails to mention that they had already, by that point, lost a UK court case and been fined a large amount of money (for the day), neither a fine nor a subsequent IP purchase would have been necessary, if they had that permission.

 

And they bought from Hestair-Kiddycraft (to save their arses), not the 'decendents', his widow had, by then, sold her stake in the Kiddycraft company to Hestair.

 

On the Brick Fetish (and other) website/s, the story is told that "Although Hilary and Oreline visited Ole and Godtfred in 1949, and perhaps, even left drawings and samples, Page was never aware that Lego produced a version of his brick.", yet while it is true Hilary (who would commit suicide a few years later) never knew the depth of the deception, not even Lego have ever claimed that there was a meeting. Indeed, with their mawkishly-sentimental animated history of the product (which you can find on YouTube), they claim he found the bricks (made - in the video - to resemble the much later Tri-Ang 'Pennybricks') at a trade fair.

The idea seems to come from a Daily Wail article by Adrian Lithgow, back in 1987, and the truth is likely that the trade-fair exhibitor, from which the bricks were stolen by Ole, was probably Hilary or someone from Kiddycraft?

 

While Miniland states "Along with the new [injection moulding] machine, Ole received several sample parts showing its capabilities. Among these were samples of a toy brick made by Injection Moulders, Ltd, of London. It was Hilary Fisher Page’s Kiddicraft brick. Interlego A.G. v. Tyco Industries [1989] 1 A.C. 217. During cross-examination, Godtfred indicated that He and Ole had received Kiddicraft samples, which served as the basis of the original Automatic Binding Brick.", ie, no trade fair, let alone no meeting?

 

However it happened, it was theft, straight-up, pure & simple thievery, piracy, plagiarism. 

Without the Star Wars franchise (which can't have been cheap), Lego would have gone under in 2004, and in producing figures with lightsabres and ray guns, not to mention 'star fighters', they broke their own golden 'no war toys' rule, except . . . they had already broken it with the knights & castles, the Wild West and the pirates & Red/Blue-coat soldiers, so, even within their own mythos, Lego are a bit crap!

And the above all matters; had they paid for a licence, Hilary Page may not have felt the need to kill himself (over something else), and yet, without a licence fee payable, they remain the most expensive bricks on the market, by a country mile!

J is for Jet-O-Car!

Bit of a rarity here, it is mentioned in the multi-authored 'Blast Off' (ISBN 1-56971-576-9, 2001, pp.117; and the index in that - otherwise excellent - book is shite, I think they added some pages and never updated the index!), and only shot at the show, it was way outside my budget, and it sold before I had a chance to photograph it (about an hour before the doors opened!), but fortunately the new owner let me fire of a few quick shots.

The Poplar Plastics via Thomas Toys, pulp-era, dime-store type Jet-O-Car, a sprung-loaded beast, ready to spill shards of shattered polystyrene down all the skirting-boards in three colours of brittle polymer! Which is probably why it's so rare now!

 

Loosely similar to the Pyro Rocket Car, but with the addition of a clear-plastic canopy and the aerodynamic rear wheel-well/fairings, the mechanism is similar to the Airfix racing car we saw here (well, if we didn't, it's in the queue!) a while back.

 

It's unmarked, which calls into question a few of the 'Kleeware/Tudor Rose?' items, as this metallic blue plastic keeps cropping up, and with both widespread mould-sharing, and copying, it's never as clear as some would like? It's very much a case of if you don't have a maker's mark, or the box, it's unknown, even if you're pretty sure?

P is for Preliminary Plunder Post

One of those Bucket-list/grail items you don't really contemplate ever getting, do to its rarity, it's likely cost, and its peripheral position in the oeuvre, but nevertheless, I picked one up cheap'ish, clean'ish and complete on Saturday so let's have a look at it!

 

There wasn't the hype surrounding Superheroes over here, that there has been since at least the last War, if not earlier, over where they were invented, and indeed they were rather frowned-upon in some circles, here, but, by the 1970's they were more obvious, and more embeded in the cultural landscape, with both the comics imported (or printed here under licence?) and the various TV shows being broadcast, followed by the big movie; Superman [I] so a few UK-specific toys were created, among which was this from Charbens.

 

Interestingly, I seem to recall reading somewhere, that some comic cross-pollination occurred in earlier decades, due the use of unsold stock, crossing the Pond in either/both direction/s, as ballast in empty or lightly laden tramp-steamers or other vessels, but I'm not sure of the veracity of that particular urban myth, it may pertain more to publishers remaindered or 'pulping' overstock in general, and included or not, comics?

 

On the back we have advertising for the other set, of which we have seen Dracula courtesy of Peter Evans, and from the Dorset/Marlborough/Plastic from the Past era, in a sort of fibrous or mildly foamed polymer, so only two to find, one of which is Frankenstein's Monster, not, as stated, 'Frankenstein'!

 

Dating from 1977, one wonders if these are Prindus (Prison Industries) output, the polystyrene mouldings are a bit flashy, and the polyethylene bases could be old, surviving stock - vast qualities could have been carried/passed-on in a few small sacks/cartons, to whichever Civil Service team set-up Prindus?

 

The seller was adamant I should paint them, but I will probably keep them as they are. The paints, similar to those issued by Airifx in their Battlefront line (and other 'starter' kits), are long-dried-up! Also, a cheap brush is probably missing from one of those slots in the tray?

 

We also looked at a contemporary advert from a retailer's catalogue, of the footballers and Euro-babes from the same range! And the plastic colour, perticularly of Superman (and some of the Euro-babes) ties-in with my hardplastic Greco-Romans from 'Charbens', which I also mused might be Prindus production.

News Views etc . . . Sandown Park!

Almost forgot, and probably won’t post for a day or two, as a result, but it's the first Sandown Park toy fair of the season tomorrow, so shake-out the cobwebs and get yourself down to the UK's best show, and see if you can find a 'grail item' or a bargain!

"They're going Ape for toys over at Esher, Surrey, tomorrow!"

(MPC PotA 60mm 'styrene playset figures)

D is for Driving Test

Not sure how a couple of these images will show, but you'll get the gist if you're not already familiar with the set, which I thought we'd looked at here at Small Scale World, but we haven't, or I can't find it, it may have been in One Inch Warrior magazine, and it may not have been my penmanship or photography on that occasion, while today Jon Atwood has helped with images!

This was me a couple of years ago, combining some loose bits with the stuff that had been accruing in the attic (card box) and the master collection from storage in a Really Usefull Box Co's 35litre 'Euro-Box' which takes A4 suspension files one way and foolscap the other, a brilliant design, which accounts for them going from a little company, you could ring up and order factory-seconds from, delivered to your door from the Midlands, to a multinational with a second factory in the US, who now tell you your nearest stockist on the phone and explain politely that they no longer do deliveries, and no longer do factory seconds!

The railway stuff is all in the little 4x5½" self-sealing bags, upon which the Driving Test game sits, with everything else Jenga'd on top! You can see how the 'Banner/Bell' artillery are about to be brought together at '1' and the ark/circus animals at '2', but it's the Driving Test we're looking at today, and I'm just going to load the rest of the images and text them up as they land?

 

1970's catalogue image, and we have cool dudes with longish hair and polo necked jumpers! The game is fun, and it does work, there's a hidden pantograph underneath, the two sectioned, sprung arms of which manipulate a magnet in response to physical commands given through the 'gear stick'. With practice, you can even get the car or motorcycle to point forwards (or in the 'direction of travel') at all times.

Late 1950's or - more likely 1960's box, and she's ready to go to the nunnery, he's dressed for a day at the office . . . it was a different world, and I was there! I think my most embarrassing sartorial experience of that era, was the pink velvet cummerbund I had to wear as a page-boy at Aunty Christine's wedding, it hung around in my chest of drawers for years, although I don't know what happened to it, it sort of disappeared around 1980!

This is from feeBay and I have a feeling that while the motorcycles and cars are plastic (with small staple/paperclip type wire inserts of ferrous metal, to give the magnet a 'hook'), the rest may actually be bought-in from Mastermodels (BJ Ward/Wardie, seen earlier in this series, and who will be in the round-up at the end too), which would go a little further to explaining some of the cross-fertilization?

 

Particularly if the ideas-men and buyers from the 'toy division' weren't aware of what the railway guys were doing, or if they hadn't been told about Collis Plastics likely efforts for both companies, in the railway sizes? Conjecture, not gospel! None of these figure-sculpts were carried-over to the model railway range.

The board, over the years they have been issued painted and unpainted and, apart from the possibly part-metal set above (the metal items would have been non-magnetic Zamac/Mazak, so wouldn't get picked-up by the magnet), they were - commonly - all plastic components, and are simpler copies of Mastermodels, again suggesting a 'firewall' on information exchange between the toy guys and the railway guys at Randall's?

I used to think these were also Merit, I have a few, but this faux-Blue Box set turned-up on evilBay, sans cars, and proved me wrong! A Hong Kong copy, was there anything between the war and 1970 they didn't have a stab at reproducing?

 

Obviously, the original idea is to get round a set course and/or park in the plastic garage (fixed to the board), without knocking into any pedestrians or street-furniture, or leaving the marked roadways! Many thanks to Jon for images, and Ed Burg has, coincidentally, been showing the contents of a similar-concept, but table/carpet Marx set on his Blog over the last week or so.

E is for Eye-Candy - Best of the Rest

After I'd done the first two posts/shots (posts below this one) I had a sort-out, and this is the rest of the odd's and stand-alone's, here at the moment, and an eclectic bunch they are too, but mostly bigger than the previous 'mini' Bots.

The large red one, to the left, is a huge blow-moulded, thick-walled, hollow PVC lump, possibly Japanese rather than Hong Kong, and probably 1970's, but unmarked, with plug-in PVC arms and ariels/helmet-guns. The other one, to the right, is one of the Arco-Mattel bendies, with plug-in 'ethylene weapons and a Hong Kong sticker on one foot. The other red one, between them, is unmarked apart from a 'C1' on one foot, and probably quite modern?

Four eraser-types (x2 silver, orange and yellow) which may have missed previous posts on the subject are front centre, while the right hand green one is another M.U.S.C.L.E. (also Mattel), giving us a scaler with the previous post's image. The other green one is actually more of an action-figure, in polystyrene, with a self-tapping screw in his back holding all the moving parts together.

The other articulated droid also has a screw in his back and moving components, and is a Manta Force Karnoid from Bluebird Toys, some - probably not this one - via Tomy.  While the yellow individual on the far left is more humanoid, but his head is all 'mecha', so if it's not a robot, it's an android of some kind. The best reason AI will have for keeping some of us alive, is to provide them with headless, locomotive bodies!

 

As a Brucey-bonus, and apart from the green one above, the only other 'styrene ones I have here at the moment, these are modern, marked China and obviously come in different colour-schemes, I don't know how many sculpts there are, but they are more like the previous 'minis' in size.

E is for Eye-Candy - Fantastic Plastic

These are the other bag, all rigid polyethylene, 'propylene or nylon/rayon low-friction bearing type plastics, and like the previous lot, novelty items, of the Christmas cracker/capsule-prize variety. The pink Dinobot is a Power Rangers knock-off.

 

Apparently, approximately twice as common as the soft, squidgy ones, it's NOT scientific! The large green one bears a resemblance to the Voltron ones we've seen here once or twice, he . . . it's also a parachute toy, as is the fat, dumpy, green one, front left. The green one front middle is marked Rigo China.

 

The two oxide red ones are similar to the Arco ones, but a bit smaller and different sculpts, but could well be from the same factory/sculptor/team of sculptors? While the blue one back left is a plug-together 'swoppet', missing an arm and marked ANT with a pictogram of an ant! The orange one with a base was known to be Ace Acme in the 'States.

E is for Eye-Candy - Rubber Suits

Just a quickie, having a sort the other night and photographed all the minor-sample, droid-mecha-auto-tranformer-battle suit, small bots which have come in over the last few months, these are all soft, PVC-like or eraser-rubber, technically - mixed elastomers!

The three larger erasers we've seen before here, while the two taller blue ones are interesting for being my First marked 'Korea'. The sucker-bot is about half the size of the Lik Be (LB, because it can't realistically be anything else) ones, and the checked-chap in pale blue is a M.U.S.C.L.E from Mattel via-Japan, and the small blue one with the big exposed brain is another Japanese Kaiju type mini.

 

The rest (green, silver, orange and sucker) are Hong Kong's finest, with the green one being an apparent conversion, from the straight pantographing of a parachute toy licensed from He Man, I think, by removing the shroud-line hooks.

 

Added within the hour; the sucker-bot has a full set of M.K. and T-in-a-circle marks for Mei Kee, (also and since around 2016/17 credited to one of two Tai Hing's on Moonbase, I can't remember why) and is actually about 2/3rds of the size of the LB ones, not 1/2 as I said above - I'm shit at judging by eye!

 

There's loads of this mini-stuff in the stash, and one day I'll try to make more sense of it all!