T is for Two - Boxed Dinosaurs

Except that there are three boxes with seven animals so the 'T is for . . . ' trope doesn't really stack-up but you'll see what I mean! A big box from TXMaxx the other day, and two from 2017 and the now defunct Poundworld-Plus.

I also shot this shelfie in TKMaxx, about twice the size (of this morning's Poundland set) and five for a tenner they work out as less of a bargain, but still cheap and also reasonably sculpted and decorated, although a bit gapey-mouthed 'Chinasaur'! They're branded to NBC Apparel, which I think is also an in-house, phantom brand?

Top left to bottom right we seem to have; velociraptor, stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, spinosaur and triceratops. That last one's a tad too babyish-looking!

We may have seen these, certainly we've seen other examples from the same multi-branded set of six models, and we saw some of the Poundworld-packed ones, but I don't know if I showed any from this sequence which I found in Picasa. Dated to the end of June (right) and beginning of July (left) 2017, so they may have been left out of other posts?

Triceratops and spiky-bastard-a-saur, they have been carried in two color-ways by at least four brands and in five or six packaging types(both sides of the pond) including pairs and trios, and would here (packaging has long gone) be branded to Toy Bank.

Other brands and known outlets are/were Henbrandt (singles in counter dispensers), Lollipop/LP (carded), Pounland/Funtastic (separately boxed) Out of the Blue (singles) all in the other - common -colour way, then TXMaxx (pairs and triples, brand-mark unknown) and these - both in the later paint-scheme.

U is for Universal, Super-powerful, Superhero Heroes!

I don't normally carry Action figures here, but when we have them, and especially when they are contributions, they will find a place on Small Scale World as they have a place in the small-scale world. Sometimes that will be on the A-Z Blogs (which I've been working on in the background), and that was where these chaps - from Brian Berke - were headed until it seemed there was enough in the Spandex Leotards folder for a small season!

Also I can't be too snobbish about one aspect of the hobby 'tree' when I'm as likely to Blog Christmas-tree decorations or bubble-gum premiums the next day! Different strokes for different folks!

We have seen one of these before, in the Firefighter 'mini-season' back near the start of the year, but along with the firefighter was these Universal Hero figures, all of which could double for both Ninja warriors (with a can of black spray-paint) or Mexican Wrestlers!

Larger sets come with three figures and a helmet/mask, no prize for guessing who that's supposed to represent! Ten accessories include cats-claws, a kebab sword (?) a Katanga, three throwing stars, two odd-looking helmets and a truncheon with Arab-blade at one end and knuckle-duster at the other, which must be the oriental martial-arts equivalent of a Johnny Seven 'One Man Army'!

These two were donated to the Blog by Brian earlier in 2016, the fire fighter was mentioned above, but he came with another take on Captain Red-White-&-Blue! He gets to chose from a pair of swords or throwing stars.

Close-up of the same figure, there's not a lot to add, these are branded to OKK Trading and imported into the 'States by JPW International, I have seen them in the cheapie shops here, but not studied them closely.

LP/Lollipop Toys (who imported the Silvercorn sets) has upgraded theirs to 'Super Powerful' while having them made in a more Ninja-like colour of plastic! With those sandy breast 'plates' it's like they are trying to be heroes in a half-shell too!

That's because half of all brand-recognition is visual familiarity, the colouring of TMNT's being as distinctive a brand-mark as the name, or the shells! You'll notice from the box-art that these are available with a range of familiar-looking eye-masks and come in other shades of green (like TMN Turtles!).

A busy parent will see the colouring, the whacky bike, the two 'bad guys' on the other side of the card and buy these; then, when Junior kicks-off that they're not TMNT's, the parent (thinking on the hoof and lying like a banker) will tell them that maybe the Turtles were busy and recruited some humans to help!

You may have noticed that the first figure had light-up eyes? Well, so does this one and with the same card imagery is clearly from the same place, but is now a Samurai . . . yet looks like a Ninja! He also comes with a full set of accessories, a shield and two helmets - greedy!

M is for Military Case

As far as the figures go it's a bit of a box ticker for Silvercorn really, other people have Blogged/posted them so the best thing to do is go and look at PSR's post, but a couple of points arise, so to get them on the Blog . . .

. . . several sources, including the above link mention tan figures? I have two sets in storage and the above set (imported into the 'States by Lollipop/L.P.) donated to the Blog by Brian Berke, and not a tan figure seen by me yet. Nor have any of the sources mentioning them shown any.

I believe (until some come to light!) that there is a cross-pollination of visual memory going on here; these sets came out around the same time as the Hornby Railways 'Battle Zone' model railway set, which contained similar (but ethylene) figures in both colours, those figures were also issued by Dollar Tree in the 'States and Toy Masters over here.

Additionally Smart Toys were issuing small PVC figures, again very similar (but painted), which (the Smart Toys) harked back to the Galoob Micro-Machines figures which also had green and tan issues (among other colours). I suspect the common trope of two colours have led people to 'imagine' a tan issue for these . . . but stand to be corrected!

To argue against myself, I have some clip-together 'micro-vehicles' around the 1:285 or 1:300 mark, which may well be from the Land Vehicles, Terrestrial War Games set. They do come in tan and green, but firstly, the bodies are one colour, the tiny wheels another, and secondly they are styrene like the vessels (below). I also have some darker green figures from this set, but no tan . . . yet?

There's also the small matter of the two brownish-grey road-signs, which seem incongruous as there are better sculpted ones on the accessory frames, but they were in my UK bought sets as well as Brian's US purchase, so must have been added for 'value'.

The real reason for this post: Uncle Brian (different Brian) a few weeks ago, mentioned that the 'unknown' vessels in a few past posts were also Silvercorn, and as it happened Brian (Berke) had sent the confirming images a few days earlier, so as I was in the midst of Rack Toy Month, I said I'd post them in September - it's now September!

There are four different frame-runners, each with parts for three vessels (strictly speaking, one has 'parts' for only two vessels as the civil cargo looking-vessel is a single piece), and I suspect - from the duplicates in Brain's sample, that maybe six frames were in the box?

Scale is not constant, with the 'Flat-Top' being much reduced, while I think the cargo type and the submarines are a larger scale, with the warships between the two. The 'carrier looks to be a US nuclear type, and the three different subs follow recognisable shapes for Nuclear Attack (flat deck aft of tower, on the sheet), Patrol (right, above?) and Hunter Killer (left, above), but I'm guessing the other surface vessels may be of Chinese outline?

A few close-ups.

Returning to the 'unknown micro-AFV's' (which are in storage), they are of similar material and construction, hull and belly-pan clipping-together, trapping the wheel/axle mouldings in channels for free-rolling movement. I only have a small bag of them, but they consist of a 6x6 truck, various LAV/Piranha types (6x6 and 8x8 - I think?) with separate turrets and something like an Sd.Kfz.222 if I'm recalling them correctly, I don't remember having any tracked vehicles?

If they are what I think they are, then the fourth set (Air Machines, Aerial War Games) will probably prove to be an assortment of around a dozen modern combat types, probably in this neutral grey plastic, possibly as two halves or with plug-in wings?

I'll keep a look-out for them, and we can return to Silvercorn in a few years! Thanks to the Brian's U for dropping the ID into the blog and B for sending images and samples!

H is for Hangin' on the Hook!

Returning to the 'meat and two veg' of rack toys if you are a toy soldier collector: toy soldiers, or as I call most of them: Chinatroops! And a mix of stuff from Brian Berke, the £1 shops, both Peter Evans' and Brian Carrick's bags from May's Plastic Warrior show and a couple from further afield.

Brian sent me the Bely set (pronounced Belly or Beelee? Or even Beelay?) Warrior - Ready To Play, now there's an honest set title! While the now defunct 99p Stores 'own brand' of PMS gave me the Army Soldiers. Same figures, same little fort (why I shelled-out my 99p!), same modern take on the old pile-of-earth flag-stand, now a pile of robotic rocks! The green ones were PW show-booty.

Top picture was just for fun, most were in Peter's bag, one came from Dario (pale grey one - top right) in Italy a while ago and the painted one (21st Century) shows how far China has come when it puts its mind to it! The figure next to the painted one is a clone of the recent CTS set, no flies on the Chinese - see BMC below! The figure to his left is an unusual take on the Airfix pose with cut-n-shut legs while the guy top left might be a Lido original?

The lower picture is of the Matchbox figures we looked at the other day but with their 'enemy' - I think? They came together in a bag and are the same softish PVC!

A few more groups of random Chinatroops and a set with a Chinese maker's mark (Zhenhai Toys Factory), something which will hopefully become more common now the Chinese government controlling party elite have decided that's what their people are going to do!

Research reveals it's probably the Ningbo Zhenhai Wantang Toys Factory, and further research (a quick five-minutes on Google!) into the second name Magic Source International Inc. reveals the state of play these days . . .

. . . a probably unrelated (to the shipment which the above set was in) bill of lading (BoL) shows Magic (US, probably as an Importer [jobber]) taking delivery from Top Source Trading Ltd (HK-based shipper) with all parties notifying Flegenheimer International Inc. (the US shipping agent, contract manager or FoB'er) of progress of the shipment on-board the MV GEMINI, a ship owned by CMA-CGM (the French carrier).

The cargo was described as "Plastic Toys ( Invoice No.: Ts-928) Plastic Toys ( Bowling, Kitchen Playset, Beauty Playset)", probably from the above Chinese mainland-based Zhenhai, all those fingers in the pie (add at least three trucking journeys, and a similar story on both raw and processed materials) yet it only costs a dollar a unit in the store!

Poor copies-of-copies, covered in a deposit of leached additive!

The problem with getting your toys produced in the East is that they are rendered easier to clone . . . in the East! BMC GI's cloned in China by an outfit called Dan Hai - nothing on Google? Assault Military (as opposed to 'Stay at Home and Watch the TV Military'?') I rather like the two bunkers, but the control-console is a tub-filler, large piece of plastic with thin walls taking-up space which would otherwise be occupied by heavier (more expensive) figure mouldings! Imported into the USA at the moment by Lollipop (L.P.).

These are one of many samples of old Airfix piracies kicking around, I rather like them (enough to photograph and Blog!) because they are quite good copies which have kept the faith with the Airfix base, and they are unusual colours.