F is for Fanssi

Another Toy Fair piece from Kensington Olympia, these waxed aggregate toys were something I think we covered first in One Inch Warrior, about 25 years ago, but it may have been PW itself? Anyway after that launch (Magic Sand I think?), there have been several lookie-likes, and now this 'magic snow', which I have to say felt really weird, it's basically crumbs of foamed rubber, and it's clammy, but fun!

 

Obviously the attraction - as far as the Blog's concerned - is that there are two sets of arctic animals; one lot on foot, with an igloo, and an Asian tiger! And a set of penguins, with a polar bear. Imported by Teleview Limited, and out there now, try Zoo and Wildlife Park gift shops?

The Fanssi website doesn't seem to be working, but Teleview are here;

https://televiewmarketing.com/gb/

H is for How They Come In - Charity Shop, November

To be honest, while sorting all these out I couldn't remember when or where I'd got these, but I remembered picking the four Timpo 'Action Pack' Arabs out of a bin of mostly shite, and with all the shots dated together, they must have been a charity-shop round-up, I didn't shoot the bags of?

 

They came with a medium-sized Supreme/SP horse, I think it was 20p each or something, so I just grabbed a quid's-worth, I know I have the Timpo Arabs somewhere, but it's a mixed tub of painted, Action Pack and later re-issues in beige, by Marlborough or Dorset, but I thought it would be nice to tick the box here with a matching set of the mauve ones, whether I already have them all, or not!

 

I suspect a mix of Kinder, Phidal and someone else here, all grist to the mill, and it'll all come out in the wash! God knows what's happening with the Pirate parrot, or the chaps either side of him, anyone recognise any of them? The pink t-Shirt is probably a 'Shopkin' or similar blind-bag, pocket-money collectable.

 

This guy was with the above, beyond the fact that he's some sort of robo-alien, in around 45/50mm, with a very, very big sword, I have nothing else!??

 

While these are Phidal, we've seen the two on the left, before, but the greenish-guy with the claw is new to me, however, a few have come in, not from the sets I've tracked down, so I know I'm missing a a few figures from some of the early Superhero issues.

O is for Outset's Ordure Outflow Operative

Spotted this at the Toy Fair back in January, and took a few shots against the figures turning-up in mixed lots a few years hence? It's an . . . nay, it's 'The' Intergalactic Plumber from an outfit called Outset Games!

 

"You are an Inter-Galactic Plumber tasked with plunging away the build-up of space crap. The more you plunge, the more money you make!" Need I add more? Looks like fun, brak out the Marigolds!

 

Link;

https://outsetmedia.com/collections/game-type_science-nature

H is for Half Moon Bay

One of the trends I noticed at the Spring Gift Fair in Birmingham a fortnight ago, was the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, most of it way outside the scope of this blog, even allowing for the nostalgia element, but at least three stalls had related products on display, and this grouping of stuff from Half Moon Bay, did include a couple of pieces which might tempt some loyal readers into parting with their hard-earned!

 

Specifically the snow-shaker, but the pencil top is close to acceptable as a micro-flat and the ceramic 'thing' could qualify as a super-deform! You can also see the corner of a set of place-mats with all the characters, Blue Meanies, Apple Droppers etc.

 

Website - there's a shaped mug too!

https://www.halfmoonbayshop.co.uk/

K is for Kennedy Space Centre - Figures

I shot them twice! Again, I had up to four of most poses, with a few pairs and some threes, so the figures of two sets had been left in the tin, I think you should have two of each, but some of the sets on sale seem to have one of each, so I'm not sure, and maybe the numbers were reduced for budgetary reasons as the 1960's gave way to the 1970's?

 

Fuellers or firefighters?

 

Ground-crew and mechanics.

 

The people who get paid the proper money!

 

Stupidly, I failed to do the comparison shot with the other Marx 50mm space and the Deluxe Reading chaps, despite buying a handful of the former, in metallic blue, and one of the latter, specifically to do so! They are all in storage now, with this set. In the meantime I thought "Oh, Brian sent us some?", but I can't find them in the folders, so I think they did get blogged? It means we'll have a good comparison post another day, as there are lots to compare, what with the re-issues, Thomas orange ones and two base-types for the Marx!

 

The pointing astronaut is also made in 54mm, and with the Mystery Space Ship in 35mm

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2014/04/n-is-for-no-mystery.html

K is for Kennedy Space Centre - Rocketry

As well as the larger rocket seen in the truck and gantry posts of this Carry All Action Cape Kennedy Play Set, there were a bunch of smaller ones which seem to slip over identical metallic-blue finned launcher-bodies with matching two part launchers, but there's a twist-and-fire mechanism, which requires springs, which are definitely missing, but easily replaced I think, they are quite wide and open springs, which just slip over the tops!

 

There were three missiles and the parts of six launchers, but only enough for the three needed, however, looking at the artwork on the tin, I think there should be three designs of these, two similar 'tube' ones, with one having a thinner probe-end? So I may need one of those, although there's a set on Etsy with two of the finned-ones, and another on evilBay with the same ones I've got, so Marx may have had given them a more random issuing? And most of the stickers are long-gone!

K is for Kennedy Space Centre - Trucks

A brief look at the trucks in my Carry All Action Cape Kennedy Play Set, there were four cab-units and five trailers, I think there should be three different trailers and three identical cabs, so obviously the contents of more than one set, plus a piece which is a bit of a mystery!

 

High-pressure liquid something?

It can't be 'rocket fuel' because that's the next one down!

"Honest Kev's Scaffolding Co."?

 

The rocket-fuel tanker, it's marked 'ROCKET FUEL'!

 

The rocket transporter, the rocket just sort of sits there, it's not held-in firmly, and you get the feeling it (the trailer) was a bit of a rush-job, or afterthought? Cab is similar to my Aurora tanker kit (although 'kit' is doing the simplified, almost clip-together too much justice!), so a future comparison with other similar types is on the cards! Scale is about 1:70, or bigger, and they are simple 'readymade' style models; right up my street!

 

This was also in the tin? I don't think it belongs in the tin, I don't think it's even Marx, in fact, I think it might be a ladder from a carpet/beach-toy fire engine, but I don't know, and any clues will be gratefully received, but it is the same colour and type of polypropylene, that the vehicles are made of; which is the same plastic as the return-module, so it could be another, contemporaneous, Marx piece?

K is for Kennedy Space Centre - Rocket Gantry

Continuing to look at the contents of the Carry All Action Cape Kennedy Play Set, from the mighty Louis Marx Toy Co., we get to the important bit, the launch tower, there were the bits of two towers, in the tin, but only enough pieces for one working tower, and by 'working' I mean the gantry slides back and forth, the spring-mechanism for firing the missiles is missing, and will have to be searched for.

 

First, though, the flag! Did Marx ever issue a play set without a flag (or flags!)? The Cavemen sets, maybe, the Troll villages, Disney . . . OK, there were lots of sets with no flag! But it was a feature of many and there are variations, this is the common one, two-part plastic, the base an earth-pile, with a slip-on tin-plate National Standard.

 

The full construction with the main gantry pushed back to its start position.

 

The main components of the tower and base.

 

The launching spigot, which is clearly missing a spring or something?

 

Rocket in-situ, with the gantry slid forward.

 

For a toy, under the tree at Christmas, this is a fine thing, isn't it? More representative of what NASA was doing on the TV news night-in, night-out as the Apollo launches drew near, and more realistic than the earlier sets from MPC, Deluxe/Topper, or Marx themselves?

K is for Kennedy Space Centre - Helicopter

I think it's fair to say this helicopter is a bit fictional, looking more like a deformed Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw from the 1950's, rather than the famous Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King '66' of the Apollo programme, but then this set probably predates the Apollo missions by a year - my cursory investigations suggest these sets date from 1968, the set was renamed the Johnny Apollo Moon Launch in 1970?

 

In the simple style of a dime-store 'readymade' but in a soft, polyethylene plastic, like the T.Cohn/Airfix vehicles in the shops at the same time, rather than the more frangible polystyrene of the true 'dimestores'.

 

The hook and string are missing, usually a sturdy length of button-thread, I'll have to hope one turns up on a damaged model, going cheap! There was only one helicopter in the set, one of the few pieces not duplicated.

 

The bulges seem to be an attempt at the flotation wheel-housings of the Sea King, but placed up on the top of the helicopter? It's a 'space helicopter' isn't it? For a space station! It's certainly in 'space toy' metallic blue plastic!

K is for Kennedy Space Centre - Case

I picked this up in September, and while it's not complete, there's enough for a few posts, and I guess you start with the biscuit tin! The Marx 50mm figures; Carry All Action Cape Kennedy Play Set, of which there are several versions (this is 4625), and I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on any of them!

 

I'm guessing from the full colour, photo-artwork that it was a later set, and if the entire contents are in the picture, then I seem to have got most of the contents of two sets, less one or two important bits, which I'll mention as we go through them, but I also got an extra piece?

 

One item which was missing from the box, was the return-module, but we saw one here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2023/08/c-is-for-constellation-of-capsules.html

 

And, it's the correct red-hot steel colour, so that box is ticked!

 

 It's basically a colourful kid's briefcase!

 

I suspect this is a highlight, an undamaged vacform of the NASA 'Guided Missile Centre' offices, riveted into one end of the case. Assuming they can get damaged with age and play wear, but it's not like these sets are particularly rare, there were several on feeBay, when I was trying to work out my contents.

 

The two hinged sections which allow for the closing of the case are printed-up as double wire-gates, and connected with a roadway, which makes-up the spine of the case. I need to re-wire one of the hinges, as the piece is loose, and will need a new wire-rod, run down the hinge-loops.

 

The whole base, with plenty of room for the activities of the contents!

 

Ed's is complete!

https://toyconnect.blogspot.com/2012/06/marx-4625-action-cape-kennedy-carry-all.html

1 is for 1st Rack Toy of the New Year!

Just a quickie, picked this up on my rounds the other day, it's BJ Toys again, and a new one on me, sadly the four main figures are a disappointment, but I have been noticing more and more Paint Your Own sets, a trend spotted here a few years ago, with the cheapo'sets in The Works one Christmas, and which have since featured several times a year!

 

And, of course, the real interest here is not the handful of 45mm Matchbox GI copies, but the four 90mm Chinese Army figures, original sculpts, although, sadly hollowed-out behind, so after painting - for display only!

 

But they are dressed as they would have been through the war with Japan (second Sino-Japanese War) and the Civil Wars, in total from 1927-49, and which ultimately brought the Communists to power. A bit different, and hopefully, a sign of interesting things to come, from the Toymen of the Far East?

Y is for You'll Have to Google it!

Without a shadow of a doubt, the weirdest thing Brian Berke sent the Blog in his image packages last year was the following three items, which we'll look at before I explain, as once you've looked at them, you'll realise an explanation is the least you can expect!

 

 

Yes, those are people with domestic appliances for heads! They are the bad-guys. Yes, there are heads living in lavatories! They are the good guys! I think? And they don't live in the bowls, they are toilets - you'll have to Google it! In a nutshell, a race of the eponymous Skibidi Toilet people are engaged in a war, with Grand Theft Auto styling, against a race of appliance-headed people - the Multiverse!

 

This is the most extraordinary phenomena, for several reasons, firstly Skibidi Toilet, is a purely amateur, one-man, AI-assisted, CGI-generated cartoon series, made by one YouTube content creator from Georgia (the country) on his own PC, you'll have to Google it! Second, it's entirely an online, 'Gen-Alpha' fan-driven phenomena, which has exploded in a singular section of youth society.

 

But, thirdly, as far as I can tell (you'll have to google it), the guy (Alexey Gerasimov) responsible has only produced the material on YouTube, which suggests that these toys (you'll have to google them) are entirely unlicensed, hence the lack of branding beyond the title-graphics, nicked from YouTube.

 

And your Googling will rapidly reveal tons of these toys on Amazon, evilBay and Alibaba, among other platforms, so a factory, almost certainly in China is making an absolute fortune out of one guy's weird Gen-Alpha flex on YouTube . . . You'll have to Google it, but the whole Skibidi Toilet story is amazing, these Gen-Alpha's will not fight in Trump's, Netanyahu's or Putin's coming wars, they are as alien to us, as we are to the Romans.

 

You can see the figures are toy-soldier'y, in not being articulated 'action figures' and my own Googling suggests many of them have been issued, and I thank Brian for shooting them on his Italian holiday, and sending them to the Blog, where I've had a crash-course in what's really happening out there! Weird, but you'll have to Google it!

 

*********************************

 

I've just Googled them again, and in a few months, the picture has changed greatly, with many more figural products, including deforms, action figures and larger statuettes, when Brian sent the images (last June), these (roughly 60-mil I think) were pretty-much all there were, but many of them. Maybe some of the products are now licensed from the originator?

T is for Two - Keycraft Novelties

While I was up at the Spring Gift Fair in Birmingham last week, I had a very useful chat with a rep' from Keycraft (among others), and while there are show reports to come, he actually gave me a couple of samples, both of which were figural and fun, so here they are, with a Brucey Bonus for a three count!

 

The first thing was this bendy-toy, astronaut, too cool for moon-shot flight school! To be honest, because NASA's spacemen have what equates to a fat-suit, by the time you've modelled it accurately, there is too much rubber compressing to allow the wires to move far, so he's probably the least bendy of all the bendy toys we've seen here, poses rather limited to Dr. Frankenstein's Monster in a flight-suit, but he's still fun!

 

He has the same twin air holes at various points in the back, as have all bendy toys since the year dot . . . Maybe it's to do with how they keep the wires spaced correctly, in the mould, for the surrounding substrate to be equally distributed, with the 'maquette' wires in the dead-centre of the cross-sections, if you know what I mean?

 

Well, well, well, really? Is he just using me for ideas now? That's tragic!

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-world-of-bendables-space-alien.html

 

The Keycraft chap also gave me this fun item, and as you can see, because both the cheese and the mice are made of stretchy silicone, you can stuff the meeces in one hole, and pull them out of another! This will provide hours of entertainment for little people of a certain age, or even excitable Aspergics of an embarrassing age!

 

I then found this, unlabelled, in the new toy superstore in Basingrad (Toytown), and a quick google suggested it may also be Keycraft, however the same Google results further suggest an outfit called The Senmsory Place issues them with grey, white or dun-brown mice, while Keycraft's issue are typically only the grey one, so this may be a Sensory Place one?

 

The purchase code, the only clue I have was KS, which could be Keycraft-something, or have a completely different meaning! You can see, however, it's almost the same size as the holey one, and there's another, similar novelty, in forthcoming posts!

 

I've since - this week - seen both the bendy astronaut and the holy mice for sale in Redfields, Fleet, so very-much out there now!

T is for Two - Peterkin

When we looked at the Peterkin's I both purchased and shelfied in a garden centre near Borden, back in the autumn, I mused that there must be cats, if - as there were - they had a set of dogs, and sure enough, in another garden centre I found the 'missing' cats, and a set of birds, so grabbed both!

 

Cats on the left, birds on the right!

 

The birds can stay in their bag, they look OK and it's reminded me I should pop-up to Birdworld and see what they've got in their gift shop, it must be 50-plus years since I was last there! 

 

The cats are a bit disappointing to be fair, a bit lacklustre, particularly the tabby-cats, although half an effort has gone into the grey, but the two gingers are very poor, while I'm not sure what species the one in the top left corner is supposed to be, but, still, cats is cats!, and under the poor decoration (the Calico is the best, I think), they are characterful sculpts!