B is for Benevolent Buys - 1 of 3

Clearing out a folder of Charity Shop purchases which seem to have escaped some of the other Charity Shop purchase posts over recent months, and nothing exciting here, but all grist to the mill!

 

Actually, from the tail-end of '24, and I can't remember where, a resin jobbie of the sort that fills and has filled window-space in high-street jewellery chains for decades now, it was in good-nick, and pennies to charity, it goes in the box of such stuff!

 

I think this and the next two were from a rare trip to Camberley, I undertook back in February, looking for something else, but it might have just got shot with the others, but be an earlier find in - probably - the Blue Cross shop in Fleet?

 

A couple of the expanded-polystyrene glider novelties, we've seen before here, and of which two more are in the queue, this pair marked-up to Henbrandt, but likely to be the same poorly printed ones we saw a while back in various packagings.

 

Three Disney Princesses, these were definitely from a large basket of such stuff, in a Charity Shop in Camberley, obviously ex-shop, or other 'stock' (NOS in feebleBay parlance), and probably from capsule dispensers of some kind, but could be off a Disney Store hook-tree?

 

While I vaguely remember these, as larger rope/string-dolls, enjoying a brief 'craze' of popularity back in the 1990's (?) As they came with the above Princesses, in a similar quantity, capsule stock, or something more independent is the likelier for both, than the Disney Stores thought, but never rule out what you can't disprove!

 

Two semi-deforms from a while ago, probably the DEBRA shop in Fleet, more Fortnite franchised stuff, and with quite a bit of dust on them, some age, a few years on a shelf at least, rather like the Skibidi Toilet stuff, a youth-culture which has grown, almost organically, away from the figure collection hobby.

 

They look like the kind of quite expensive stuff you find in those funny little t-shirt/gaming/metal 'head' shops in the quieter corners of shopping malls? But as cheap buys in a charity shop, provide 'reference samples' I'm in no hurry to add to.

 

Another Wimsey from Wade on the right, we've seen the one playing with a ball of wool before, but this one looks like it's foil, waiting a chance to grab the ball! On the left two resin, cartoon cats, with kittens, from crafty/gifty shops rather than jewellers I suspect, but maybe both sources? And I believe they are Peter Fagan sculpts from Scotland.

M is for May's Visit - Combat Troops

Sand, green and field-grey, the proper 'toy' soldiers, and there were a fair few in the bag, along with several paratroopers, who are always welcome here!

 

The blow-mould has suffered from a bit of a facial collision, but might be a new colour, the other three have probably all been seen before, but it's all grist to the mill, and there's always new colours, or new-sized copies-of-copies to be found.

 

China copies of Tim Mee's Cold War warriors, possibly a new colour in the washed-out sand, but they'll need to be compared with the existing samples before I know for certain.

 

Modern mix of Matchbox and newer sculpts.

 

Modern, and dodgy hollow-backed rack-toy rascals, but with several sizes, a few poses and severl colour-ways, it will be a while before I've got all of them, or even most!

 

Japanese infantry from Rado or Hing Fat, covered before.

 

Odds and sods, the interesting one here is the chap in the middle who would appear to be one of the Pioneer die-cast accessory figures in soft rubber, and a new pose, to his left, our right, a less common Manurba-Tallon in grey.

 

Seen on the respective Airfix Blog pages, the yellow figures are new to the collection, and that's the beauty of these lots, there's always something new! Many thanks to Peter for most of these, one of the paratroopers was a purchase, I think.

L is for Lazy Lizard Lounges in Lucky Bag!

So, I said in the shelfie-post the other day, that I'd bought a test one, and I dare say those of you who know me well enough, might guess which one it would be, farm? Unicorn? Noooooowh! Dinosaurs, of course! But it turned out to be doubly disappointing!

 

The first disappointment, it was mostly flat, paper product, and yes, I know kids love colouring, kids love stickers, kids love puzzles, but in my day it would have been a plastic or rubber dinosaur, some sweets, and something which made a noise! We buy this shit so you don't have to!

 

One small surprise was that the stated eight items, were in fact nine; they clearly think coloured-pencils and a colouring sheet count as one item? And it was also interesting to see some of the contents branded to both Playwrite (WH Cornelius, ex-WHC / Success) and Henbrandt, who are rivals in the same pocket-money, novelty field.

 

The second disappointment though, was that the otherwise, kitsch, but cool-looking inflatable dinosaur, was so cheaply made, it leaked air from a half-welded seam, and I had to try and carefully close the cap (no valve) without pushing so much air out, it wouldn't stand up! You win some, you lose some, and now we have half-an-idea what all the bags contain . . . no figures, no sweets, no whistles, rattles or blowers, except a blown blow-up!

O is for Once Upon a Time, in June! Animals

Welp, seems to be turning into the animal end of the week! Back to Whitton, back to June, back to a Sunny day among friends, and it's the animals, now; prehistoric, wild, farm and domestic, and with a couple of Vitacup to start - I detect a theme!

 

A couple of Vitacup boxed animals, who seem to have been sold separately to any jar of bedtime cocoa-powder, but, two shillings & sixpence wasn't cheap in the early 1960's! So it may be that the price label is for animal AND drink?

 

And, further to the two previous posts, if both sets were twelve, that leaves a 24-count, which, with the other mostly domestic or woodland animals, means probably not enough room for three fallow deer, but there must have been three sets for a 36-coumt? Note their spelling of 'Ivorene'.

 

Already seen, they snuck into a Rack Toy Month box-ticking exercise!

 

A bunch of 'unknown' dinosaurs, the T-Rex is a particularly good sculpt.

 

Mixed, small animals, the blue monkey seems to have had a plug-on hat? While I forget if the ostrich premium flat had a branding or not. The crocodile is a 'rubber jiggler' type, while the monitor lizers may be Kinder?

 

Marking on the base elicited nothing from Google or evilBay, but it looks recent, and is KFS a subsidiary of Kentucky Fried? I don't think so, nothing about Animal premiums in searches ether, but?

 

Three polar bears, the left-hand one, despite not being the best quality copy of Timpo, you're likely to find, may be Blue Box, while the right-hand one is a more generic Britains copy, while in the middle, a modern vinyl-PVC jobbie!

I was sure these were Charbens, but now I'm not so sure! Early British plastic for sure, and very clean for their age, if not Charbens, who, Hill, Cherilea?

 

Mixed small farm, some Hong Kong, some better, hen & chick are PVC rubber.

 

Probably from a bagged rack-toy set?

 

Chambourcy nodder premium, the ring may have been for a cord or ribbon to hold the animal on to the 'petit-suisse' cheese product, or possibly for a keyring, a bit of a survivor, by the looks of it?

 

Mini-animals for future sorting, with a quite well painted OBE of the Airfix draft-horse, a Merit pony to it's right, and a bunch of piggy-wiggies!

 

Modern'ish sheep-dog, which I may already have, and might have ID'd somewhere, a fox who looks like he's from some larger scale action-figure, or doll type play set, and a - probably - premium peke, but he could be a better quality Hong Kong rack-toy?

E is for Eye Candy - Wild Minimals!

E is for . . . will be a new trope here, a single shot of interest, or a couple of shots, with a bit of blurb, maybe maximising Tags, illustrating a particular feature or specific point, or just showing a nice image!

 

Today it's some of the many sets of 'Minimals' as I call them, the smallest size of commonly commercial plastic animals, approximately 30/40mm-figure compatible, but actually 'unit sized', so never to true scale with smaller animals in real life rendered larger, and larger animals in real life rendered smaller.

 

Two bags of loose, but clean samples (bottom left), probably complete or near-complete (all these sets tend to a content count of between 8-16 items), and then clockwise from the top left; Ackerman Group tub, 'Play Works' from The Works bag, Kandytoys blister-card, Boland BV of the Netherlands and Henbrandt (second set I think - newer card, we looked at both passim), both header-carded bottle-bags.

 

The contents of these sets are always fun, with an almost guaranteed Elephant, Giraffe and Lion, with Tiger and/or Leopard/Cheetah/Jaguar type (occasionally a black panther), then a Hippo and/or Rhino. Most sets will have some kind of Monkey or Gorilla, some have both, and a Zebra is almost as guaranteed as the three standards.

 

Then it gets a little less predictable with Camels or Kangaroo's to the fore and some kind of ruminant, either a North American / European Deer/Moose/Elk, Bison/Wisent or an African / Asian Gazelle/Antelope type or Buffalo/Wildebeest, better sets have a Bear, but it can be black, brown or 'polar', and usually only one, if present!

 

More off-the-wall items in bigger sets might include an Alligator/Crocodile type, an oversized Turtle or an equally enlarged Penguin! There have also been several insectivore/Ant-eater types over the years, and occasionally a - usually poorly sculpted - Hyena thing, or Wild Boar/Warthog! And these mini-sets are never usually more than two-fifty or three-quid - proper pocket-money toys!

M is for Mostly Stretchies!

I thought, given what else is there, that there would be some Henbrandt in the archive of previous show visits, but there isn't, it seems we covered it all at the time, but when they have stuff to shoot, it's usually stuff of interest, and while ephemeral or novelty in nature, this is true for what I shot this year up at the NEC.

 

Finger Monsters = finger fun!

 

Some nice figural Halloween stuff here, I never seem to find it out there in stores, the UK being very bad at this kind of stuff, which makes much better 'treats' than more tooth-acid, but it must be out there somewhere, if you have a better party-shop than my locals, check them out in October?

 

More by accident than design, we've covered both version of their small animal sets over the years, quite thoroughly! But here's another shot, 'cos you can't have too many!

 

? Sort of figural shots, I fired-off, but really just novelty rings.

 

Snakes & Skeletons

 

Lizards & Smileys

 

Skeleton box, but they are Mummies

I think we saw the flicky Superheroes in Hawkin's Bazaar?

 

Frogs & Dinosaurs

 

Mixed jungle animals I'll be looking out for,

and black & white Rats

 

I wonder how many colour-change items there are in the stash, not having a habit of giving everthing a hot bath when it comes in to the collection, I wouldn't know unless someone told me?! All-in-all, a few bits of interest, one way or another.

L is for Lots of London Loot - Peter, January

This is the bag Peter brought to the London Toy Fair for me, which due to the nature of the 'everything else' happening on the day, I don't get to look at until I get home, and Peter gets a rather cursory "Oh, thanks mate" when he hands it over, and then I carry it around in my catalogue stash-bag, all day, without looking at it again!

 

Smaller bag of bits, in the bigger bag! A nice mix of Army men who will have to be further sorted at some later date, there are tubs of this stuff waiting to be matched to both my own collection of rack-toys and those images I've downloaded from evilBay over what must be nearly two decades now.

 

A nice selection of icing-spiked cake decorations, which might be a set or near complete set, and a couple from another source/maker. A - probably - part set of Disney princesses, who are smaller than Phidal, but similar, so could be from one of the earlier sets, or  a capsule/blind-bag thing?

 

The robo-morphin in a bag, is a cheapo party-favour from Henbrandt, and a non-articulated novelty solid, while the Dino' is probably an eraser? Other bits you can spot.

 

Disney Rava, from Hasbro, I haven't even googled it, now they are also a streaming service, buying rivals as fast as they can raise the cash, they are churning this stuff out, and a lot of it gets limited, or no cinema release and remains strange to whichever generation it's not aimed at, I guess this is one of them, and I am that generation!

 

It's fun, but it's an 'action figure' so rather outside the scope of the collection, blind tubs, I guess maybe a pound-shop type clearance item, but they didn't make it down to Hampshire?

 

Similar Pinocchio thing from Giochi Preziosi, I didn't even open them as you can see what they look like from the box-art, and I thought they'd be better laid-down like fine wine, against future sale, so any earnings can be invested in other things for the Blogs! But that's not to say I'm not grateful to Peter for saving them, it's literally all grist to the mill!

 

Lovely little white-button UFO from HANS, whom we've seen before here, they seem to be one of the main suppliers of the mechanisms, if not the finished items, and I think we've also seen these on the shelves of one of the toy/gift fair exhibitors?

 

Another 'big head' astronaut, we've seen several in the Toy Fair posts, with more to come I think, so definitely a current trend, and as always . . . I blame Funko! This one as an unbranded key-ring, and it has a strangely pixelated quarter (front left), as if it's melting back into the digital ether! It may have been a sales sample on the day, rather than from Peter's bag, my memory is fuzzy on the subject?

 

This was lovely; there are lots of these Hong Kong piracies in the stash, some clean samples, some bags of bits, what we have here, is a sample of figures from several sources, but each seems to be 'clean' or complete in itself, rather than mucked-about with, so very useful for later sorting of all the others!

 

Is that Cherilea Tarzan on the left? Similar but not substantial enough I fear, but I will check with the old Plastic Warrior article next time they are in front of me. Generic in the middle, and something probably from a sea-life, bagged, rack-toy set on the right, all more grist to the mill!

 

Erzgebirge hens and a diminutive feeder join a modern, but well-executed China foul down on the farm! The wooden trio may be from quite a well-known (in its day) set, as they do turn-up quite regularly, and I may have matching chicks or ducklings somewhere?

 

Phidal's and similar modern soft plastics (the wrestler is from Poundland, I think), along with two much older rubber-jiggler finger 'frights', and a polyethylene key-ring fright, who seems to be quite new? He also seems to have the same lenticular eyes as those blow-moulded space-aliens, some people missed on this Blog about five-times!

Close-ups!

 

A rather fuzzy shot, but one which would take days to arrange a re-shoot of, now everything's been sorted and half of it already put away in storage. Highlights/points of note include the hard'ish plastic dinosaur, who's similar to the two-halves Dino's we've seen before, but seems to be one piece, and the Fox and Panda front/centre who are probably both Kinder or similar, having contractional elements.

 

Almost as fuzzy, but bits and bobs for the spares zone, with cake decoration golfer and one of these oversized KT Beefeaters, who will go in the 'styrene modelling spares zone, as he's already been glued to something, and is incomplete. The paint-brush is an eraser, the pencil is a cake-shop novelty in rubber/PVC.

 

This was one of two sets of party favour animals Henbrandt were carrying at the same time a few years ago, we looked at one in detail here, and saw a catalogue scan/online image of the other, not sure which this is, but it's the older 'Harlequin' card!

 

Many thanks to Peter for another bunch of useful bits, interesting examples and other things which will prove useful to the Blog/s going forwards, and we've box-ticked two sets of action figures!