B is for Back to Hyperspeed!

So, these are the other three issues in the set we looked at the other day, and these have not been de-boxed, as they're in storage and have been there since these shots were taken in 2023. They were remaindered in The Entertainer, I would never have bought them new, far too pricey!

 

And I suppose it's worth mentioning, for overseas loyal readers, the Brits probably all know, that The Entertainer is a slightly weird chain of otherwise standard mid-range, mostly 'big-brand', toy shops, and only weird because it's owned by a god-botherer, so they won't stock any Harry Potter toys (it's the Devil's work!), although they seem happy with the equally numerous lines of Tolkien stuff, and they don't open on Sunday, an important day in modern retail, as it's one of the few days the modern family can be found together, with a bit of spare time!

 

I don't know why I didn't twig I was missing two ships, but the card back may have been different to the two I got the other day, but I don't think so, I think I just wasn't paying attention!

 

XL-01, the ship which started it all (whatever it is, I haven't seen the movie (I may have the DVD in the watching queue somewhere?)), and upon the return from the flight of, Buzz discovers his crew-mates are all four years older.

 

XL-15, the final ship, the one that finds the full hyperspeed. Buzz is now wearing a spacesuit close to the one we all know and love, although at this size, there's no clear dome over his head!

 

Note how the tripod landing gear on all these, follows the pattern of the Galoob Micromachine's 'Action Fleet' ships, particularly the X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters, and these will all be going in my Action Fleet tub, as background/freelancer ships!

 

Zyclops Pods, appearing it the third act of the movie, the dénouement, the showdown, the final battle of good verses evil, as - presumably - Buzz defeats anti-matter Buzz, or whatever the excuse for his giant purpleness's existence is, in the script?

 

You get two Zyclops robots (I think they are robots?) and two pods, the pods differ, with one having a push button trigger, to open it upon dropping, with red paint 'landing lights', the other has signs of damage, both moulded in and painted on, no red tips, and needs to be opened manually, I'm guessing there is some reference to a scene in the movie, represented by the distinction between the two versions?

 

Wave Two contained models of XL-03, 09, 12, and XL-14, along with a re-issue of this pod-set, hitting stores in 2022, I suspect only the US got them, as over here Wave One was still on clearance a year later? And we still have two to look at!

H is for Hyperspeed!

This is an odd one; basically, it's clearance of clearance, of clearance! I mentioned the other day (well, sometime in the last few months?), when we saw a figure lose, in one of the donation/plunder/mixed lots, that there was a post on these in the long queue, and there still is, but this isn't it!

 

This is a couple I didn't know I didn't have, and which I picked up in Home Bargains for £1.99, a couple of days ago! I'd been in there looking for something else, saw these and thought "Do I have all five?", so checked the other folder when I got home, realised I still needed two, forgot to go back the next day, but managed to get over on Thursday, and grabbed the two miscreants, which are now the subject of this post.

 

XL-02

 

XL-07

 

The five sets in the series, there are two larger vessels in other series, a huge vessel in a third, and some wave two stuff, which may not have got to the UK, along with a twin set, containing two of the above. 

 

Now, I never watched the movie, but, with the exception of the Zyclops pods (purple 'eggs'), each of the four 'fighters' are experimental aircraft piloted by different iterations of Buzz Lightyear, who is about four years older in each vessel! The premise of the movie, being Buzz's attempts to develop a fuel cell for 'Hyperspeed'!

 

So, this is the second experimental ship in a series, I don't know if [in the movie] it is armed, although there is a node on the underside, to attach the missile-firer from the larger/twin sets, so it can be (for play), and once the XL-15 enters the picture, conflict does occur with 'Zurg' (an alternate Buzz)

 

And this is one of those occasions where, if you've followed the story or are a fan, you know far more than me, but which also comes down to Disney tearing the arse out of a franchise, and tying themselves in knots, some of which remain unresolved to this day!

 

 

Aaaaannd, this is the seventh! Each time Buzz takes a test flight, four years go by (presumably until the XL-15, but I restate - I haven't watched the movie), back on the planet where his friends are, so by XL-14 (not modelled in either wave - there is a second) at least 56-years have gone by (?), so most of the original crew have died (?), or got old, and their children/grandchildren are running the show.

 

And because he's only a toy in the Toy Story movies, we can sort of assume (whatever Disney says), that all this is in his head anyway! So it's all a bit daft! However, I've been bumped, by this purchase, into bringing the other post to the fore, and will get more into it there, in a day or two.

 

Buzz Lightyear Hyperspeed Starships, in Home Bargains, now, today, for a couple of quid each. But, the fifteen-odd cards on the self, Monday, were four by Thursday, so they are selling fast.

R is for Roveing Reporter's Rack-toy Round-up #4

Some of you may have had a weird alert for a post you can't find, this is due to my being an Aspergic idiot, and wanting to have four posts between each of Brian's posts, forgetting I'd done four because of the 'help wanted' post, which now isn't wanted (don't know, don't care), so, yeah, 'Hyperspeed' will post again in a few hours!

 

In the meantime, Brian sent a last minute set of shelfies from Dollar General in the 'States, and it's about half stuff not generally found on the Blog (but you never know who's visiting, or why), and half, some useful stuff, and here it is;

 

Wot? No caps!

 

Above is the stuff of less ineterst to the Blog, although the Mickey is a solid, and Spiderman has a solid fan-base, whatever size or figure type, and it's always nice to see figures who aren't WASP's, if you know what I mean, and it's a growing trend, to be encouraged.

 

Looks like fun, although some passing little scrote has squidged his head-in!

 

Both solids, and with existing, even 'vintage' figures of both Sesame Street and The Muppets, from Schleich, Comics Spain (and others), and a couple of breakfast cereal producers, a whole sub-genre of figure collecting, and/or TV/Movie related stuff.

 

Lego-likey, and always like Lego-likey as it's not plagiarist, lying, expencive Lego! And it's always interesting to see how 'other bricks are available' producers design their mini-figures, here we have real waists/hips and ripped shoulders! These officers could easily arrest any Lego mini!

 

I've seen similar in B&M and elsewhere, but not something that's lighting-up my universe! Although I 'get it', and they are the collectables of the future.

 

This looks nice, and a 'solid'?

 

I've also seen these, we may have had shelfies in the past, these here are possibly more colourful than the ones I've seen in UK stores, and like those minis we saw the other day, are window-walkers, in that sticky, cold, very-soft, silicon type polymer.

 

Many thanks to Brian Berke as always, rack-toys to be found in Dollar General, now. The four post thing was accidental, but after two, it made sense (to someone on the spectrum!), to continue it for [self-imposed] compliance sake!

R is for Rack Toy Roadies

I tend to grab the odd die-cast from time to time, usually to ID a figure or animal, for future reference, but occasionally I'll buy a figureless one because . . . military or space! They, or their images, have been building in Picasa for a while now, so let's get them cleared out!

 

This actually dates back to 2015, and may have been seen, possibly in a green version in another post, but was grabbed, along with the more accidental find of the Chap Mai one, and in addition to others seen on Small Scale World, for an eventual follow-up to this post;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2010/04/h-is-for-hummer-humvee-hmmwv-humbug.html

 

If I recall correctly, these High & Drive, were 99p, in the - now - long-defunct 99p Stores, which were still going that year.

 

The same year, this was added to the pile, and I didn't even get it out of the card, it's the Jackle AFV, I think, a hurried replacement for the Land Rover Wolf, WMIK and RWMIK's which were proving so vulnerable in Afghanistan, and excising the tabloids. The front's a bit wrong, but it was quite a new vehicle back then, and in real life, the type remains in service with Light Cavalry as a reconnaissance vehicle.

 

This bit of fun was bought in 2021, and I really only purchased it because, a quid! And it's military green, but all fictional, a bit surfer culture, a bit post-apocalyptic (and 'straight to video'!), with a hint of suitability for the Gaslands or Car Wars role-playing/war-gaming rule-sets? Corgi's 'Rod Squad'.

This was a funny one, the first of three purchases in 2024, it was bought for the bike, and purely as a future ID'er, for the chopped Harley/'US Custom', but what was weird, was that none of the other vehicles on the rack had the necessary or even 'a' tow-bar/hook to pull this trailer?

 

In the old days of the 1-75 Series (originally 1-50), several vehicles in each tranche, would have the hook necessary for whatever towed caravan, boat or motorcycle was in the range at the same time, but, despite looking at every rack, pile or box of Matchbox since this purchase, I have not yet found a towing vehicle?

 

 

Actual surfer, this was bought purely to ID the figure in future mixed lots, and I could have shelfied it, but again this stuff is always between 99p and a couple of quid, so, what the hell!

 

 

Siku, apart from a Leopard Tank in sub-scale a few years ago, there is very little from them either these days, military anyway, but I managed to find this in vague 1:72 scale (I think most of this stuff is closer to 1:60?), and again it's more about ID'ing in the future than anything else, but, a nice horse sculpt.

 

While this Pass N' Go from Mattel's line of Hot Wheels came in the other day, and I just thought it was fun that the old Monopoly car had been 'given life' as it were! Nothing to do with the collection, core or peripherals really, just a fun, impulse purchase!

Note - This is the first post using Grammarly for Firfox, instead of the old LT Spell Checker which decided it wanted money now! I had to re-start to get the Grammarly activated, but it seems to be working, however, apologies for any typos which get through.. 

B is for Bab's Aplenty!

Further to the previous post's Barbies, and apropos a comment Tom made a while back, he sent this image of various Barbies, in the smaller scales, some of which we saw here;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2024/04/m-is-for-micro-toy-box.html

 

As a point to mention - there are now several of these micro-mini 'branded' collectables, but the others are more consumer goods or, foodstuffs, for doll's houses, or similar. Anyway, here's the new shot; 

 

And I'll let him explain . . . 

"...a pic of the 'world's smallest toys' Barbies I mentioned the other day:
 

These are a separate line to their original mystery boxes, being closer to 1/72 and sold in their own 'fashion case' or house sets. There are 6 figures in the range (albeit, some are duplicate sculpt/different paint job) - I'm in quest of the dark haired version of 'totally hair'. The two boxed figures to the right are the larger scale sculpts from the original mystery box line.

And there you have it - I am a middle aged man collecting Barbie dolls. But I'm gonna mix them with my army men, promise!"

To which I would add, that the smaller boxed Barbie (left of the pair) is the second series one, the larger box (far right) is the one we saw from the first series. And many thanks to Tom Clague for this update, I nicked the title from his eMail, and he actually uses them in his model railway stories, here;

 

https://tomertonvillage.blogspot.com