C is for Ceremonial Christmas Cracker Cloned Copy Chaps

Finishing a brief look at the novelty end of the figure market as it pertains to British (or other) guards in bearskins with these Airfix clones, which we have seen before, and which I still need to put properly on the Airfix Figures Blog, but I only had one figure to-hand for the comparisons so these can go here and I'll re-shoot, pose-for-pose comparisons for the other Blog another day!

These are the better copies, and come with sharp-edged, smooth bases, also they copy both Airfix sets; Guards Band, and here; Guards Colour Party. Only the two poses have turned up so far as seen here - officer and ensign colour-bearer!

The band however (upper shot) seem to have been copied almost in their entirity, the exception being the drummers where both bass- and side- are replaced by a guy with a half-moon stuck in his tummy! In the top image the red sax-player on the far right is the Airfix original.

These are the lesser quality lot, they have both drummers, so while copying the same originating set, are otherwise unconnected to the other lot. Marked Hong Kong diagonally across the bases they are easy to separate into their respective 'groups', these also having chamfered or ogee edges to their bases. Airfix still to the far right - Guard's division; they're all a bit up themselves!

The second lot also appear in the Interesting Toys packaging, but both types seem to have been issued in Gum-ball machine capsules, 'Lucky Bags' and Christmas crackers, I'm sure they managed a window-chuck in Malta at some point and may have found their way into Piñata too?

W is for Well . . . these are Interesting!

Back to the very lowest price bracket for rack toys with these, which are - without doubt - Interesting Toys. A shilling (1-) was 12 old pence, which became 10 New Pence - I think! Heay, I'm a child of post-decimalization, no good asking me about florins and shit, init!

It seems that these were a 'brand'; for as I find more of them, the evolution of the card art through the 1960-70's is clear and the contents are pretty consistent on colour/style, with a slight improvement in value for money in the later 1970's multi-blister versions.

On the left is the missing set from the Monogram post the other day! The middle is a mix of real low-budget, cake-dec, novelty cack isn't it? Two sports cars, a yacht without a sail, a railway passenger coach and a bottom-voiding ore-carrier! The one on the right is a low-res from feebleBay and is presented as it seems to have a logo, but a bit blurry to fully make out.

I'd like it to be a large 'G' with the lower line being an artistic PMS as that would be the Gardener's firm; a stalwart of the colony's toy industry before 1973, but I know it's just wishful thinking, it seems to be some kind of sea serpent, or maybe a graphical realisation of a Chinese character/pictogram?

These two we've seen before; both two- and three-blister cards with slightly better contents. Airfix guardsmen copies, ex-Giant poses of Trojan/Greco-Roman types (mixed with ex-Woolbro pose Cowboys & Indians! And the MPC mini-plane piracies we've seen before.

A quick look at the figures in the right-hand card might lead you to think they are Britains copies, a closer look will reveal Airfix in the mix, but a study of the figures shows that actually they are copies of the EKO copies of the aforementioned firm's figures, the Airfix poses having the egg-shaped bases of the EKO, rather than the usual square ones of Airfix, and with the crawling figure EKO also copied being present.