S is for Stretch Stretchy Scrunchems

Following the large stretchies in a post the other day, Brian Berke sent some shelfies from the States, the same day I'd found a few in the Garden Centre shop near Borden, and, not knowing I already had a few in the queue, however, while I intended to get it all out before the end of Rack Toy Month, that hurdle blew over before I got to it! So, we're looking at them all now . . .

 

I can't remember where I got these, but it might have been TKMaxx or possibly Flying Tiger (who I think are just Tiger again?), but it was a few weeks ago, and therefore they are out there, to be found. Very similar to the Henbrandt ones we saw over ten years ago now, both in size and material (stretchy metallic polymer), they are slightly different sculpts, and not sold as pencil-rubbers (erasers) like the similar robots we also saw some time ago now.

 

 

I then found these, in a branch of Waterstones, the booksellers, these are both stretchy, and they're made of that type of material which rolls down smooth, flat surfaces like windows or gloss coated things like doors, shower curtains, or kitchen cabinets, and they are near, or a 'vague' HO-OO size, so what's not to like!

I can't tell if it's one pose with lots of distortion, or two, or more, but they are vaguely NASA types, and come approximately 50/50 silver and white, so a game could be generated with target scoring, or last one hanging.

 

The material has been around for years and is what we used to call rubber jigglers, although we made little distinction between the actual jigglers (usually on a elastic string or sucker) and these true stretches, which tended to leech some vile oily material after some time or if stored in plastic containers, I don't know if this is exactly the same stuff, or, more likely, a modern replacement which may prove more stable?

The full gamut of modern 'rubber jigglers' (if you limit "full gamut" to reptiles and amphibians!), and stretchy! Courtesy of Brian in New York, with a Club Earth brand-mark, and we have the same metallic 'brights', looking larger that the Dinosaurs above, these are the sort of thing we chased the 'girly' girls with when we were small brats, but ours tended to be black, muddy-orange or some shade of dark green/khaki, and old school PVC without much stretch!

 

These are in The Works, and while I'd bought them a few days earlier, they didn't get shot until I shot the purchases the same day as Brian's eMail arrived, so they are here due to the chronological nature of the images!

Obviously for Halloween, which is rapidly heading toward us, albeit still nearly two months away, but over the last week or two the Halloween stuff has gone out, and I noticed tonight that The Range is putting out the Christmas stuff!

 

The beauty of them from our point of view is that they are a perfect size for 54mm figures/displays, being a little shorter than the fleshed-out bodies! And at 25p each, pretty-much a bloody bargain!

The same day as Brian's lot arrived I'd literally been finding a motherlode of stuff at that farm shop among which was this Dimetrodon, indeed it was the only one, so end-of-line? He's the newest style of stretchy, with the poly-beads in a soft case (as the Brian shelfies may be?). He's also by Keycraft Global, who issue the set at the top of this article, and is posed in the lower shot with one of Keycraft's solid dino's, they are both classic 'gape-mouth' Chinasaurs!.

I also took shelfies, and while we have three different brands here, I suspect - from the packaging -  that they are all coming from the same place as the Scrunchems astronauts, and are all the same crawlers. Toy Hub are relatively new to me, but this is their second outing, while HTI we've seen before both under this moniker and the older, last century, Halsall/Haswell brands.

More thanks to Brian for the shelfies, and that's the current state of the figural stretchy market!

L is for Late Show Report - Wild West

So, into the meat-and-two-veg of the show plunder from May just gone, and we're starting with the Wild West stuff, which is a pretty eclectic bunch with a bit of everything, including ACW, various polymers and most common sizes.

Replicants had these, which are old sculpts, some of them being reduced in size for Marksmen's 1:76 issue, many years ago now, well over a decade since, probably two, but they were new in this colour, as Irish Brigade, I think, for those who wargame without painting?

Wagons and wagoners, a damaged Matchbox 'prairie schooner', a Hong Kong copy of Manurba mail-coach, which was a better pink than it's apparently faded to, and a large, probably Tudor Rose or Poplar chap, with his plug-in bench-seat, who may prove a useful spare, going forwards.

 

More of the individually named French premiums which have been turning up in recent years, except the fact they've been turning up in mixed lots suggests being that - in this soft 'ethylene - they are probably bazaar/rack-toys from the - 'styrene - premium moulds, rather than actual premiums, of which I have one or two in metallic polystyrene. Seemingly adding mounted figures (sans names) this time, there may be more in the 'unknown' portion of the main stash, but a horse, or horses still need/s to be ID'd?

 

Mostly broken, these Minimodels (or, as here Triang) smallies from the unmistakable hand of Stadden, will go with all the rest, one of the yellow-shirts is complete, and finding good Indians involves finding mint sets/games.

 

These being from the Wild West Checkers (clearly aimed at export across The Pond?), where the damage is easily explained by the fact that they get so wedged in the counters, you would damage them trying to get them out to 'make King'? More common in black & white, these counters are unusual in red/blue I think, are they from the Wagon Train boardgame?

 

I feel an idiot with these, as I think I should know who they're by (Marlborough/Dorset test shots?), but I'm not sure, nor do I know if the other two poses were similarly copied, or who copied them first time round, equally I may already have them, but someone had a bunch so I got one of each?!! Obviously ex-Britains Herald sculps, and the cavity in the base is a bit Hilco/late Cherilea?

A couple of spare horses, common Hong Kong sculpt on the right, what appears to be a re-issue of something better (Lone Star?) on the left, a bit of a mystery, but all useful, given the number of mounted figures looking for mounts, and as the spare horse tub is quite large, and the riders many, I might do a series of matching-up articles in a year or so, when they finally all come together?

 

A nice bunch of small-scale, with pre- and post-Giant knock-offs, cracker-toy Lone Star clones, one of those Hong Kong wagon 'mexicans' (they have gihuge plug-on hats), taken from European premiums/giveaways and a teeny cracker-Indian.

 

Larger odd & sods; I'm surmising that the large confederate has been removed from a base with a sharp-edged tool, and is probably Italian in origin? He's new to the collection, so, whatever! The rest is grist to the mill, with the white chap at the back an interesting addition to the early British knock-off collection, Speedwell or Trojan?

 

Smaller odds & sods; again nothing terribly exciting, with two cake decorations and a couple of mounted, I think the yellow cowbindian (chaps, lasso and feathered headdress!) might be a mounted Texas/Isas figure? Civil/Sports next time!

 

Many thanks to Adrian Little, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Chris Smith, Michael Mordant-Smith, Paul Stadinger, Peter Evans and Trevor Rudkin, for contributions to this year's plunder-pile.

F is for Follow-up - Space Cars

Except they are more future-past cars, which look nothing like what we are driving now, nor will ever drive, being firmly locked into the 1950's aesthetic they were born out of! And while we're revisiting what were badged-up to Tallon, last time we looked at them, without any packaging, they are really 'just' Manurba!

 

I bought these from a mate on Saturday, although we haven't agreed an amount yet, and I won't actually pay for them until the BP Sandown Park toy fair next Saturday (put it in your diary now), but they are here and photographed, which is most of the battle won!

Blue instead of yellow, this time, and it's beginning to look like there's just the three sculpts? However, it is still up in the air and the canopy note last time - which was only musing - can probably be corrected to coloured canopies = Manurba/Tallon, and clear canopies = Hong Kong clones? As you can clearly see there are three different colours of canopy in this sample, which is what I was 'remembering' the HK ones to have had!

DC 77

RS 17

ZA 567

 

That's it really, it was mostly said last time, they all have a moniker/code name, and impossible speed stat's on their undersides, and we will revisit them again when the HK ones come out of storage, and we can look at them all together. In the meantime, here's a few bubble-canopy concept cars from that there Interweb;

 

1955 Ford Beatnik Bubbletop

1956 Buick Centurion Concept 1

1961 Ford Thunderbird 'Thunderflite' Bubbletop

Fictional car from a boy's annual or illustrated magazine . . . 1975, heehee!

(Don't know)

Ian Roussel's Thunder Bubble

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/01/outer-limits-ive-also-read-it-was-named.html

 

None are particularly close matches for these toys, but the influence is undeniable, and they may be more closely based on other designs of the era, Dark Roasted Blend is a good source of images for this kind of stuff. There are many more, including more double-bubble canopies, of which the most famous is . . . 

 

. . . the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car . . .

 

. . . upon which Batman's original 'Batmobile' car was based.

Citroën Karin concept car - 1980

L is for Late Show Report - Introduction

So, the PW show plunder posts, a bit late this year, but things have happened! We had a couple of earlier posts on the ephemera and the lovely spinning top, from Michael, but I'll be going through the rest over the next few days, and we're starting with the sorting, and some items I shot at the show but didn't bring home with me!

This was how I got it home, and actually very little was show-purchases in the room, but some money changed hands for some of the stuff in the named piles, and because all those named either give me stuff or let me have stuff well below market rates/for nominal amounts/swaps, that's how I shot it!

 

And this year's posts will carry the same message as last year, but thanking, alphabetically; Adrian Little, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Chris Smith, Michael Mordant-Smith, Paul Stadinger, Peter Evans and Trevor Rudkin, with the Replicants stuff (Peter Cole/Weston's) also shot separately!

 

Once it has been sorted into themes, which was the Sunday job I think, it was a week or two before I got round to properly sorting it all out, but here we have (clockwise from top left) the scenics, ancient & medieval, combat, historical & ceremonial, Wild West, sci-fi/fantasy TV & movie-related, 'planes/trains/automobiles & vessels, farm & zoo, odds & sods and civilians (bottom left).

 

The vehicular component was sorted the same evening, and here from the left are; 'planes/aircraft, trains, road transport, vessels, motorcycles/bicycles and some component of unknown origin - bottom right!

While the things I shot the day before, at the Plastic Warrior show, included this fascinating piece, which is a 'cheapo' generic rack-toy with stapled blister, the animals obviously being Cherilea, but, also managing to ascribe - by association - some fence pieces, which may be in your 'unknown' zone, and which are taken from the hollow-cast/lead moulds, I believe?

 

Meractor Trading (Adrian) had a bunch of Blue Box/Tai Sang boxed sets from the home farm line which consisting of most of the commoner vehicular pieces, including tractors in two colours and with various attachments, the cart and a combine-harvester. Note also: the nice ID'ing of the Blue Box dog!

 

We've looked at these sets before, late Miniature Masterpiece window-boxes from Marx, with mostly polyethylene pieces, rather than the polystyrene that had run for years beforehand, this was missing a rider and had a tatty box, but you don't often see them so it was worth a shot. It differs from my Knights sets in having ten figures, as protagonists, rather than the three or four in my samples, seen here before, I think.

Ah, well; if you follow things in the hobby, these should now be familiar to you, seen in the PW mag, and on Stad's Stuff recently; coming soon from a new maker, based in the UK/Mauritius, and courtesy of Michael Mordant-Smith, these are re-issues of old sculpts (from the original tools) of a French company Cody March,.

 

Not common in the original, they will make a nice addition to the medieval oeuvre, still in development, the ready for production (back at the show's time) will be looked at again in the relevant thematic post in a day or two, while these two shots include those poses which were still needing tweaks and adjustments to the tooling - 'test shots'.

I thought I'd bought this, but I think I just shot it, as Brain Berke, our roving reporter in New York sent the Blog one a while back, and I wondered at the cavity on his back, then, so decided I didn't need a second one!

 

Welp, here is what fills it, a slip-in reservoir for baking soda! Marked - U.S. PAT. (for 'patent') 293291C FLIPPY MADE IN ENGLAND - which isn't coming up on the patent searches, but has a number near the smaller Kellogg's patent, we have looked at more than once here, so probably contemporaneous.

 

Over here it may have been an import (from the 'States) by someone like Fairylite, or an export which got a US Patent first, by someone like Poplar, Tudor Rose or Lipkin? We'll need to find a carded/boxed one as the next step in this particular mystery solving!

 

The Wendan/Timpo ape would have been here, but I tacked him onto the earlier 'ephemera' post a couple of months ago, and so it's many thanks to everyone named above, for another pile of plunder, and to Paul Morehead who, with two of the forenamed, puts the show on, every year.

P is for . . . No! Absolutely Not! W is for Wenno!

I shot all these in Smyths and wondered if Wenno was an in-house or phantom brand for Smyths, but a quick Google revealed they are a 2014-founded anglicised subsidiary of Shing Hing who's SH marked Matchbox copy 'Army man' tub we saw here a few years ago, also found in Smyths, so there's that! And we've seen two of them before, in another store.

These are not the same as the ones in the tub (next, below), and may have been around for a while, as I know I've had some come in, in mixed lots/donations, the larger pigs for certain, and it's a traditional cheapie in sense that there's quite a bot of duplication in the bag, but not many sculpts; 5 or 6, 6 or seven 7? But reasonably decorated compared to the old rack-toy farm stuff of yesteryear!

 

These are larger, and more like the Peterkin's we looked at the other day, with the larger scale poultry and rabbits etc. Of interest, and another similarity with Peterkin, is the use of smaller unpainted animals in with the larger one.

I'm sure I'm not the only one, who, on glancing at something on eBay or at a show, and deciding it's needed for the collection, have got it home,/had it delivered, only to find it's a piece of shite, and that I already have a better one? Well, that's because when you're scrolling dozens of tables at a show or hundreds of eBay or auction lots, you are visually overloading your brain, and snap decisions are made without the full facts.

It would seem the latest thing going round the cheapo-toy factories of China is to fill the tubs, buckets and header-carded bags with a few big animals/dinosaurs and a bunch of small ones, to overload the casual browser, in order to get them to think the contents are better than they might be, and take them to the till!

 

Obviously a tropical farm with those palm-trees!

The above two sets were seen in B&M over last Christmas and posted in another lot of shelfies, back in February, but here they are again, further proving the independence of the brand (mused upon then, too), and still looking reasonable, if not decorated to the same standard as the Schliech they were placed near! But then, at 12-quid, you'd be lucky to get two of Schleich's!

 

A couple of aisles over, and in the same line as the farm tub, was this set of dinosaurs, also looking quite similar in contents to the Peterkin set the other day, and other's we've seen shelfied here in the past, Tesco supermarkets carried a tub like this a few years ago, if I recall well? It has one huge dino', several middle-sized ones and more undecorated 'mini' fillers.