P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Combat

Getting near the end of Chris's latest donation to the Blog, and we come to the proper toy soldiers, the guys in green, the khaki-whiskered gentlemen the feldgrau and desert sand of actual military chaps!

 

But, first we have a ceremonial who snuck into the wrong post, by dint of being in his sentry-box, I did finally track one down, but it didn't have a hanger-cord, so this one WILL go on the tree, I'd remind you Chris's Mother used to work at Tobar, so there's a familial connection there. I think I ID'd the yellow one as being Marty/M-Toys (Maysun - May Moon), while the anti-Terminator post probably came with 3 or 4" action figures in some generic big-box, but as you can see, it helps make for a useful comparison shot, and there will be more in the future!

 

A tradition now in these posts; the parachute toys! Seen elsewhere already, and nothing new, possibly new mouldings of the small ones, but always new colour variations, and while I know that page rather ran out of steam, it's partly because I need to bring everything together and re-shoot it all to reflect all the stuff from Chris, Peter, Gareth and my own finds!

 

And here's a carded one by an importer/jobber I'd not heard of before (Anabas Products of Romford), he's the smaller one, often found in Christmas crackers, especially as the brighter-coloured varients, but here, probably a sixpenny pocket-money job, or a later 10/25p type?

 

The upper three were in Poundland (or 99p Stores?) a few years ago, and we did see them here (along with firefighters I think), but I can't remember what colour they were, and I know Brian B found different-coloured ones in the 'States. While below them is a comparison with one of the old Arco Rambo figures, converted to a generic GI, with a helmet cover, and a nice five-inch figure, probably Hong Kong.

 

There were quite a few if these, off the back of the Marx, MPC, Blue Box and Lincoln 'biggies', and while they are slowly gathering in a larger tub, I still know very little about them, their packaging doesn't seem to survive like smaller figures/animals' does, probably because they would have been in open, counter-display boxes, sold individually?

 

Toy Story figures, I've rather lost track of these since we looked at some when doing an overview of the Tim Mee GI's, a few years ago, but there are several different generations/licences of them, mostly Mattel, but also Burger King and a mobile-phone stand thing, so we will gather them in one place and look at them again one day!

Mixed Hong Kong; the stand-out is the large figure, who's a modern PVC-substitute, and seems to be a scale-up of previously seen small-scale copies of the Revell 1:72 paratroopers, but until I can do a direct comparison I'm not 100% sure of that attribution, suffice to say he's new to me, Blog and possibly hobby?

 

Kamley/KS (Kwong Shing) in blue are useful, the kneeling 8th Army is that lesser copy with the oblong base, and the Monogram clones are in an unusual sandy-khaki, while I know I'm short of those chromed 45mm piracies, so a very useful handful

 

Starlux 30mm, but when found in pairs like this, technically, probably Solido!

 

Small scale, going clockwise from the top left;, three of the Euro-premiums, found in various branding of bubble-gum, and typically referred to as 'Dunkin', an Airfix sentry-box (which should have been in the first shot really?), HK copy, three Marx soft-ethylene polymer Brit's, an Indian (Imex? Italeri? I used to instinctively know this shit - it's all on PSR!), and a minor-make/new production Prussian (Strelets*R or Orion?).
 

Which leaves the chap in the centre? Only the best thing in the whole bloody parcel! If you weren't more enamoured of the dice-shaker, that is! It appears to be a reasonably good quality (if slightly play worn), small-scale copy of the Lido French Foreign Legion standing firing pose! How cool is that? And . . . it begs the question; whothewhatthewhenthewherethehowmanyposes???!!!!

 

Definately new to me, Blog and hobby, but, somebody, somewhere, probably has a biscuit-tin full of 'em? Can anybody shed more light on the figure? Still a real find, and many thinks to Chris for it, and everything above! Marche ou crève!

F is for Follow-up - Dippy Dino' Mags

We've had fair few overview posts on these kids magazines over the years, and they are worth keeping an eye out for, because they often have useful stuff on them as part of the 'freebie' element, which is not really a freebie when you see the price of the magazine, which varies from two or three-quid for the simpler infant ones to five pounds or more for the more substantial ones such as these, although 'substantial' is a moot point, when you would learn more from two pages of World of Wonder or Look & Learn, that you get from all the info-panels in one of these.

 

These look familiar, but last time there were six & six, this time we get a pair of sevens, and having purchased a sample, I shelfied a second which serves to illustrate that the dinosaur models come in other colours.

 

The Parasaurolophus, solid and skeletal! Each of the fleshed models has a stripped version, although the anatomical correctness is probably something which would give a palaeontologist apoplexy! As last time, the 'living' dinosaurs are PVC, the bones a rigid polyethylene.

 

A few weeks later I spotted this issue, with twelve dinosaur skeletons, and a quick look at the Parasaurolophus (bottom left corner) reveals they are all new sculpts, I can't see much play value in these - and there are many of them - but I'm not six, or twelve, so what do I know? However, it seems to me they would make excellent additions to Fantasy war gaming/role-playing skeleton armies, which is one reason why I post them from time to time!

 

We looked at the 'chomper' before, years ago, and, as then, it went off to charity. These cover offers do tend to come around several times, as we found with the Dr. Who Adventures mag's before they disappeared, and I haven't seen this for a few weeks so it too, may have gone now, the 'churn' with modern kids mags is far greater than it seemed to be in my childhood.

 

The most recent one I've found, which was a while ago now, had three medium-sized vinyl types, and a pointless plastic box with a button that went straight in the recycling bin!

 

I think I've mentioned before - some supermarkets (and libraries?) now have collection bins for these carded giveaways, so if the kids show no interest, or are so young they're only being read the contents, the toys can be passed on to charity. And, there are lots of others we haven't looked at, cartoon puppies and kittens, farm and zoo, doll type stuff, Thomas, Paw Patrol &etc.

 

But the animals are perfectly reasonable, and, as I've mentioned before, when I sit down to make more sense of the many tubs and boxes of these, and all the loose ones, I'm sure we'll discover the monochrome chaps will be found to have decorated versions, under other branding, probably in a more dense material? As far as I know, these are all issued by Kennedy Enterprises.

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Sci-Fi and TV

We find ourselves looking at another favourite subsection of mine, the Sci-Fi/ & Fantasy stuff, although there's some media-related in here, there's also some in the final 'mixed' post.

 

Both seen before, I suspect, a Poundland Pterodactyl and an old novelty skeleton.

 

Ger'Nomes! A probably Euro-premium or Wundertüte, with a thick layer of paint to be removed and what I think might be the Tobar John Major jobbie in the middle, but either side is some even-more interesting fellows, if more pixy'ish! A multipart PVC one to the left which I suspect is another Xandria piece from the Netherlands, and, on the right, an ex-keyring chappie, who may have been a Leprechaun, but he's not really green enough?

 

Among the small-scale stuff were two totally new to me/Blog/Hobby astro-alien types (red and green on the left) which are probably small 1 or 2 ¢/p type gum-ball machine's capsule prizes? The 12-wheeled micro-rover is in the style of Micromachines, but from somewhere else I think (anyone know?), and the blue chap is another premium/gumball prize type, being a reduced-scale version of the old Manurba sculpts,

 

A handful of post-Giant stuff includes a red alien from the big bags issued by Novelty Headquarters Inc., and is a useful find! While we have one of the blow-moulded derivatives of them behind, the eyes are everything with these, and he has both! Strangely, despite being on the blog lots of times now, some people were struggling to ID them the other day despite being followers of-, and [occasional] commenters on- the Blog, almost . . . deliberate amnesia!

 

When they are that desperate to post the same thing days later, they are feeling threatened by you, plagiarism, even of ideas, themes or subjects is the sincerest form of flattery!

 

I know, but this was a half-full folder! Two modern takes on cavemen, and another of the small ones in polystyrene which turn up from time to time, I now believe they came as scenic accessories, with an Aurora type range of model-kits from Life-Like, which were actually inherited from Pyro, so could be either?

 

The mini blue 'superhero' came as companion pieces to larger ones on Pound Shop cards a few years ago (probably still a few out there somewhere), a Cylon Warrior from Mattel's 1978 Battlestar Galactica line, I have the Earth pilot somewhere I think, a lovely Terminator, sans arm, but possibly an unlicensed rip-off piece, and an MB Games piece courtesy of the Nottingham Mafia!

 

The Superman keyring was a very generous inclusion in the package from Chris, as I think I know guys on Podstalions who would swap an arm for something both vintage and DC! In the middle is . . . a dough/cookie cutter? Something like that, infant crafts of some kind, but figural, and apparently glowing with radiation! The Orange guy may be a racing driver, and I vaguely remember doing a show-repot on a company at Kensington Olympia who had a bunch of similar figures?

 

As well as the Giant knock-offs, there was a smattering of the Lik Be (still LB, for obvious reasons) robot/alien types, always useful, and in this early, clean/sharp state, possibly HG Buck Rogers fayre? Many thanks again, to Chris Smith, for sending these, for me to share with the rest of you.
 

D is for Dimetrodon, not Dinosaur!

I bought this the other day, as you know, my favourite, and now can't remember if I've already bought it, or if it was actually the Schleich one, I got last time? And, while I thought it had gone on the blog, on that occasion, I can't now find it, so I may have two of these and no Schleich, or one of each, but equally I may have picked one of them up, and then put it back on the shelf!

 

The Papo Dimetrodon, a synapsid, not a dinosaur, but a lost branch or clade, closer to mammals, around and about 40 million years before the first dinosaurs, and in my old dinosaur book, placed with the 'dog-like' dinosaurs! It has a moving lower jaw, like the old Britains crocodile, but much better executed, you can barely detect its joins, in any pose. And nicely decorated; they are expensive - this was about 12-quid - but worth the money, at this quality.

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Sports

The next section of Chris's wonderful parcel is the sports and pastimes, which are sometimes thrown in with the civilians in these cover-views, but there were quite a few this time, so they get their own post!

 

Three from Subbuteo, one home-painted 'fan', one unpainted goalie and a factory-painted press photographer, behind a bunch of simplistic chaps from some beg-board board-game or more interactive table game with wires and springs or even a blow-football type thing, I'm not sure, but I have ID'd lots of similar sets via feebleBay, over the years!

 

Not strictly-speaking 'sports' but cake decorations, but most of them are sporty and there weren't so many images in the folder! We looked at the skaters back at Christmas, the cowboy and footballer have been covered a few times, and another part drum-kit from Gemodels helps with a future 'Battle of the Bands'!

 

The skipping girl is from a larger set of various figures via Hong Kong, stocked over the pond by some of the minor makes I think (Grandmother Stover, Unique, Carousel et al) rather than Wilton, but may have been Culpitt over here? And the Santa' was a new pose, also made in Hong Kong, and similar to the Crescent pose, but not the same.

 

Three boarders, from three sources, all unknown to me, there is, or has been in recent years a lot of this in the proper toy-chains, which I haven't paid enough attention to, but the near one is probably a cake decoration, back left some rack-toy generic maybe, while the girl on the right should be plugged-in to a missing board, and is somewhat reminiscent of the late Britains Petite sets?

 

Obviously from North America, but whether the 'States or the never-to-be 51st State of Canadia is anyone's guess, two base-ball players with magnets in their bases, and a more modern PVC ice-hokey player. Help needed on all three?

 

The beautiful game! Another of the Hong Kong vinyl, football keyrings we've seen before here, a cereal premium we've also seen a few of the others from, but I've forgotten which set/when/where, and a novelty footballer bear which may be Kinder, or a recognised mascot, or both!

B is for Brontotherium?

I think actually I decided upon a Diplacodon last time we looked at them . . . yes, Dinocerata, as a much reduced-scale copy from Lik Be (LB, because it's Be not Pee!), although I'm getting ahead of myself, as it's the last image which is the more interesting!

 

I think Brian B may have previously sent shelfies of this or one similar, certainly he sent the vintage set he found in Blackpool, which contained what were probably Holly originals, while these may be second generation copies?

 

This post was shot in '22, and is meant to be part of a forthcoming season on the 'Gygax Monsters' (the son's interview was on the BBC's World Service again, the other night)*, but as it doesn't actually have one of the acknowledged monsters in the bag, I thought I'd post it separately as a Ja-Ru rack-toy, to thin-out that aforementioned series, which has too many posts!

Both sides of the bag, not the best pictures, I'm afraid. They are pretty much the bog-standard Holly style, but the smaller ones lack the casual bust of spray-paint which tends to ID them as Holly, still, as a subcontract for Ja-Ru, lack of paint may have been a stipulation, while the plastic colours compared to Holly are both hit-&-miss!

So, the real interest is the mega-fauna, which is a really nice sculpt, millions of years adrift, but then half the contents of the set were millions of years earlier or later than the others! The Brontotheriidae have been undergoing reclassification in recent decades, and it's not quite as simple as I think it was in my Ladybird book! But there's more here;

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontotheriidae

 

if you are genuinely interested, with the Megacerops being the more Rhino-looking ones, and the Dinocerata being the more chunky-monkey ones!

* As well as the Gygax history/interview, there was a very good hour-long (well, 58-minutes!) documentary on the history of ITC (the Incorporated Television [Programme] Company), the other night on Radio4, which covered all the staples, the detectives and the Anderson story, Lew Grade, the American connections and licensing, and dispelled a few myths along the way, well worth finding on Listen Again, or BBC Sounds or whatever it's nom-de-jour is at the moment!

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Vehicles & Accessories

Continuing with the look at Chris Smith's recent donation, and there were a number of vehicles or non-figural elements/items in the recent parcel from Chris, and they were next in the stack, so here they are!

 

The plastic armoured car is one of those really cheap rack-toy accessories from the 1970/80's, and may be missing the central pair of wheels, however I may have one in a similar condition (more chewed?) from where I can nick the missing wheels to make a whole sample!

 

The wooden one could be a wartime thing, but I suspect later, we had such things, made from off-cuts of 2x1 batten, which Dad was using on the roof of Tai-Hirion, the cottage he rebuilt from the ground, up. Ours weren't painted though, and had 5" nails as gun barrels! But I suspect that what we have here, is someone's once much-loved homemade toy, lost like ours, but saved, unlike ours!

Two guns, the one on the right probably from a big-box infant toy/play set type thing, maybe knights, maybe priates, the one on the left a similar source but more eco-friendly, being all-wood, and possibly somebody like Le Toy Van or ELC?

Vessels includes a hull for one of the Euro-premium ranges, there are tubs of them, with various hulls or superstructures waiting for their oppo', so a useful addition, likewise the two larger blow-moulds, which come in many colours with lots of plug-ins like the 1-Ton Humber truck sets, so again, all parts gratefully received, against future matching-up!

 

Two of the Christmas cracker/gum ball type micro-minis, and a possibly Hong Kong-made, demi-ronde sailing vessel, which is so similar to both some Euro-premiums, and some very early Airfix toys, which were sold in little cigarette packet type boxes, that it may be either? And being unmarked and painted in a fashion which could be 'home' or play-worn, it's not possible for me to say, with any conviction!

Three of the less-common HK copies of MPC mini-planes, in red, an Airfix spitfire, odd paper 'something flying' and more current rack-toy helicopter, are joined on the apron by several carrier Aircraft which I think are all Airfix - seven from the post-war HMS Victorious and one from the WWII HMS Ark Royal?

Micro's and mini's, we've seen similar before, and they all have bags or tubs of like-for-like matches, against better, future posts. Highlights here are a Lone Star land-rover in need of a wheel, a cereal-premium station-wagon, an early'ish Kinder jeep, in clip-together form, and another of the early board-game racing cars in some phenolic or formaldehyde polymer which leads to them always being distorted now.

Three motorcycles, two Kinder or similar, and a larger flywheel 'push-and-go' rack-toy type, useful for ID'ing another rider, of the type we always get in the unknown/minor makes, seated figures, shot!

"A place for everything, and everything in it's place", or at least it will be once I've got everything together for the final time; soon I hope! But there's a box of street furniture, a tub of telegraph poles and bags of luggage, small tools &etc.

 

The telegraph pole is very nice, and being around N-gauge compatible, and rather fine, but apparently having some age, a bit of a mystery? The suitcase will be The Lucky Toys or similar, the drum is Merit, and the water pump is probably another 'big-box' generic, but rather nice.

 

And the spinner is a cracker novelty, as may be the small hammer, but it could just as easily be an action-figure accessory, or even from one of those dime-store tow-trucks, two of which we've seen here now, I think?

There's also a huge blob of Blue-Tac somewhere with all the sand-castle flags standing in it, so these two Swedish standards will end-up there! Very useful treasure chest, to add to a growing sample of them, most ID'd but not all, and a weather vane which must be from a farm building, but who by I don't know, I don't think it's Britains or Timpo, so maybe New Ray or somebody like that? Maybe a stable-block?

Finally, a very useful sample of toy pistol ammunition, which will all be ID'd in the end, from catalogues or feeBay, and of which there will be a full post one day, as I have a whole bunch of these somewhere, including the Airfix and Lone Star SLR/FN bullets and so on.

 

The clip is quite small, and the slots would only accept the thin vinyl belts that tended to come with cheaper sets, the pricier stuff tending to leather or suede holsters/belts, however, it reminded me of 'S-Belts, or Snake-Belts (which it might fit over), belts that were ubiquitous when we were kids, but which seem to have totally disappeared? Our school uniform included one in 'claret & blue' which was useful when I ended-up supporting West Ham . . . long story for another day, and no, I don't know which league/division they are in at the moment, but they do seem to migrate regularly, like exotic ducks!

Thanks again to Chris for all this, it really is all very useful, and we will return to it all, again, in the future with fuller, subject-specific posts.

M is for Megasaurs!

Quite small 'Megasaus' actually! I've had a bit of a mini-adventure getting to the Sparing Fair at the NEC and back again, but it was mostly my own fault (the adventure bits) and proved a successful trip, although I slept for ten hours straight when I got back! Hence, a slight hiatus on posting the Chris/Dinosaur series!

Also note, the late Michael Hyde's collection is live, under the hammer now at Wessex Auctions with interesting religious and ecclesiastical subjects to the fore.

 

https://www.easyliveauction.com/auctions/?ah=115a7542f7992a40b2c6366ef3bea500

This is a quickie, looking at some small pocket-money bagged rack-toys from HGL which Peter Evans donated to the blog the other day. I was actually challenged to a game of football yesterday, in the aisles of Hall 5, by an HGL sales rep' who was clearly going stir-crazy at the end of day-three! I politely declined and continued shooting their quite extensive Dino' range!

Four bags, three different content assortments.

Those contents, shot as best I could!

The duplicate bag got opened, and as you can see, for one of the lowest price-points, they are really quite good, with nice detailing, and a reasonably dog-like Dimetrodon, although his sail's a bit small, maybe a juvenile, there'd be no room in an egg for all those spines, so they must grow in 'childhood'? The Carnosaur's a bit generic, the Kerthunkersaurus looks particularly leathery, and the Stegasaur could happily join any herd. Many thanks again to Peter for spotting and saving these.

P is for Polymer Plunder Package - Wild West

We've reached the Wild West, and while there's not so much, it's got some useful bits included it the sample, and raised the possibility of a theory or two! And with figures/accessories from 15mm to 6"!

A fine, if wingless, Totem Pole, which both Chris and I though might be 'Playmobil, or similar', but which a quick Google, or actually a quick evilBay search, revealed to be a Spanish Madleman (like Action Man/GI Joe, but half-scaled to 6-inches) piece, apparently modelled after a surviving Alaskan one?

 

Around the base are a few interesting figures, another of the early 'by everybody' polystyrene, ex-Crescent cowboys, but with a touch of what looks like factory paint, a Blue Box cowboy/hunter/farmer (he filled all three roles, depending on the set), another metallic Euro-premium and two of the knock-off Hong Kong copies of early British plastics.

Some more odds, with other early hard-plastic one, I can't remember of the legs were Timpo or Cherilea, but they are from one of the wagons? While the painted missy is interesting, she has something of the Panini Premium/Collectable Cavalry and Indians out of Italy about 25 years ago, but isn't - as far as I know from them, but an ID would be well received?

 

So, to the theory/ies . . . These keep turning up, five of the six Crescent poses, rendered as semi-flats, and I have begun to think they may be replacements for the earlier, hard plastic, frangible pod-feet ones, Brian Berke ID'd as having come from Lucky Bags, or maybe a similar product from a rival source?

 

Which also got me to thinking maybe the endless stream of racehorse & riders in 20-somthing mm, which we saw again the other day, are a similar item? In addition to probably being Cracker prizes? Note the guy with flaming brands (2nd from the left standing up) is actually a rarer, darker red, washed out by the flash.

Small scale included a bag of mounted for further sorting, a bunch of post-Giant foot figures from the old Giant tools and some of the novelty mini's; 3 of the 15-mil ones with two of the 20mm Lone Star copies behind.

 

The other smallies include a larger Britains copy, three more horses for the bag, a tee-pee/tipi, which I have found in red and pink previously, but from which - probably rack-toy - set I don't yet know the origin of. Blue Box Indian and the coach-driver from the Morestone Essem stage.

D is for Deinos Sauros

Three quickies tonight, long day and I need a shower!

 

I shelfied this back in August and I can't remember where, but it might have been the big farm-shop up at Borden? I was tempted as I have a couple of 'dinosaur' vehicles in the stash, from the die-cast dino' collection from Matchbox back in the 1990/2000's, but I didn't, although Maisto's idea that a Honda Acty is the best thing for carrying a 22-ton dinosaur is rather amusing!

These were in The Range around the same time, and were so cheap I bought one of each, but left them on the cards, as they went straight to storage, a week or so later! A bit cartoony, but in that small bracket, where there are so many to ID one day, I thought it expedient to tick a box while I could!

While I paid too much for these, the other day! They are firmly glued-on, so not really designed for play, or at least, designed not to be pickpocketed from display-cups! Also, I don't think either would actually stand free, the raptor looks front-heavy, while the rather cow-like triceratops has uneven feet. Branded to Depesche, and out there now, as are the others.