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 Roveing Reporter's Rack-toy Round-up #1

The Blog's New York-based roving reporter Brian Berke, seriously anticipating Rack Toy Month, sent these shelfies, back at the start of January, although he was probably aiming at the novelty-post element of the Christmas season, but for some reason, too much stuff, or my tardiness (checks history, 122 posts over Dec/Jan, so too much stuff!) that never happened, so we're looking at them now!

 

Erasersaurs re-purposed as Romantisaurs, but the only thing which renders them romantic is the sticker on a separate sheet behind them, which has the added bonus of saurian wordplay! Greenbriar claim responsibility for this mawkish nonsense, but they are possibly new sculpts, and I don't think the big Sauropod has been seen in other Dinoraser posts?

 

Thingy and Stitch, I've never seen it, and keep getting it confused, in my head, with the TV-show within the Simpsons; The Itchy & Scratchy Show, a violently slapstick cartoon, knock-off of Tom & Jerry, watched with glee by Bart and Lisa? But they look to be polymer solids, so there's a place for them here, if only temporarily, when they start to turn up.

 

And the same can be said of these, in fact, we saw a similar solid, 54mm Barbie from Mattel, in a recent plunder or donation post, with more in the queue, so these are probably an extension/different wave of the others?

 

Generic Action Figure, Seal Team Six, waiting for the SAS to show them how to do it!

  

Yes, I've looked it up, yes, I'm adding it to the Tag list, but it's still a larger Action Figure, and I have to draw the line somewhere (she's a 'good guy'!), but question - they've named the enemy raiders 'the Kharn', does this mean the long-forgotten owners of Bluebird's intellectual property can sue, or are all alien race names fair-game?

 

I'm trying to avoid Paw Patrol too, thankfully they are too big, but at some point, some small ones are going to come-in, and I know they're already Tagged, and, if they don't interest you, they may be ideal for kids/grandkids?

 

Many thanks to Brian, who has subsequently sent two more lots (I just found the latest in Gmail!), so we'll be returning to the budget-basements of the Big Apple, before the Month's out, if we don't just all get evaporated by the sun first! 

SS is for Shelfie Session

Try saying that when you're drunk! I had a quick whizz round all the usual suspects the other day, and managed to shoot a few shelfies of stuff which may be of some interest to some loyal readers, or not, as the case may be!

 

Shot this pair in Hobbycraft, and I may go back for the Sherman, if only to compare it with the CTS and Airfix ones? It's the Lego-compatible range of clip-together 'kits', but differing from Lego and Cobi, in not having any studs showing on the finished article, the top layer is all 'site specific' and fully-moulded/sculpted on the final, visible faces. These were new, about two years ago, and I venture to say, at 20-quid-a-pop, all the money!

 

Off to The Range for these, I think we've seen the Harry Potter one previously, but no matter, a reminder is as good as . . . something witty I can't come up with? Hard to pin down, but I'll try - branded to RMS, brand-marked to Project Craft and imported by CDS Group "...a third party logistics (3PL) and supply chain solutions provider!", so there!

 

While these were shot in B&M the other day, Magic Box have clearly moved-on from Crazy Bones, but there's still a blind-bag element to collecting the line, they are too unpiratey (spellcheck says I invented that word!) to save for ITLAPD, so here they are.

 

It's funny, because Bushy the Twig over at planetcamp has started going to B&M, and The Range, he'd better get himself to Smyths and Hobbycraft if he really wants to copy me! And a few garden centres, and Flying Tiger, and the other one! And he needs to stop showing us the stuff he leaves in the charity shops, which he also now visits, because that’s the shite nobody's buying!

Still, he does live castles now, as well, and he's finally added a Blog archive, after nearly 20 years! He added a link-list too, a couple of years ago, but managed to avoid this Blog, and has already cut it down and placed it where nobody can find it - doesn't like sharing, see!

 

But then it took him several years to start tagging, and only after one of his readers (guess who!) kept pointing out the lack of a tag-list! And then never did it that systematically, so it's still hard to find anything, nor did he retro-Tag the first few years' stuff, so that's lost!

Don't get me wrong, there's no exclusivity to any of this stuff, I can't expect to be the only person doing this, that, or the other, and a good idea, nicked, is the purest form of plagiarism, therefore - the sincerest form of flattery!

And so soon after the 'ossuary' thing, he managed to squeeze in a Shogun reference, the day after me (literally the next day!), but I was talking about the MB Games game with the five armies of different-coloured miniature figures, not some nerdy, cerebral time-waster, for a rained-out caravan holiday!

 

It's tragic how threatened or envious he seems to be of what was originally, a completely different Blog, but they increasingly look the same, because he keeps doing what I've already done! In a few years, the only discernable differential between our two Blogs will be that all the eBay scrapings will still be over there, and all the original copy and images (mostly of a [vaguely organised] collection) will still be here!

Anyway, I promise you, you'll never find me making dollies accessories out of hot glue and toothbrush handles, ever, he can keep that! What do you think readers!

E is for Eye Candy - Indian Animals

I shot this back in February at Sandown Park, I should have bought it really, but the images will have to suffice, just as you can't know everything, so too, you can't own everything, but you can have a damn good try at it!

 

A nice set of Schneider type semi-flats, hand-painted and tied into a tray, in the 'old school' fashion, and there were 33 previous sets! Box ticked; Karachi Industrial Works under two forms of lighting!

N is for Nearly the Nativity!

It's the 20th! I don't know where that month went in such a hurry, but it did! I haven't shot any Nativity sets this year, nor have we had a chance to clear any of the unused stuff from last year, or the years before, all sitting down the bottom of Picasa at 1968! But, to prevent anything else joining them, there are still a few bits from this year to get up here, and this is Brian's Nativity finds in a store in New York.

 

The Archangel Gabriel getting busy with Satan! Two sizes.

 

The family shot, then they were off to Egypt as asylum-seeking refugee migrants!

 

OK, got it!

 

But did they pay?

 

13 pieces is a fair count, and beautifully presented in gold silk!

 

Quite a few styles, from the super realistic miniatures through to the mawkishly sentimental cartoonish baby-faced stuff, but nice that you can 'pick and mix' off the shelf, or slowly add items, year to year. Mostly resin, but it looks like some may be china? Many thanks to Brian as always, for sending these into the Blog.

F is for Follow-ups - Recent Posts

A few 'matters arising', as it were; things to add to recent posts, which have come-in or been found since I posted the original stuff!

 

Power Rangers

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/09/m-is-for-mighty-morphins.html

 

I had the commercial art/shot in Picasa all along! And this white chap, who would seem to be a knock-off, came in some mixed lot and was shot separately by me, back in 2010, and I'm not sure where he is now, as he wasn't in the over-view post a few years ago?

 

True Legends - Mythical Warriors

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/09/o-is-for-once-upon-time-in-june-sci-fi.html

 

Brian Berke sent this shot of his 'Goodly Hero' as they tend to be called on the gaming table, all painted-up, and fighting a mini-Godzilla from the Wicked Duels / SCS Direct sets, also painted.

 

White Ghosts

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/10/w-is-for-white-buttons-white-ghosts.html

 

Confirmation of this year's trend for short, fat, funny-faced ghosts, with an odd plate and bottle-stoppers shelfied in TKMaxx, and some 'Illooms' or illuminated-balloons from B&M, and it's not ghosts per se, they've been a feature of Halloween stuff since before I was aware the event, it's this half-opened shroom-head design, which is so strong at the moment!

 

Rado Industries / Ri-Toys Centurion 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2025/10/b-is-for-back-to-london-july-1-of-2.html

 

Purely a confirmation shot, tying the tank into Ri-Toys sets, where it did stirling service as a British, American and German WWII AFV!

 

Noddy
 

Mentioned in passing a couple of times recently, figures in one's or two's, this is a partial set of what I suspect is over 18, maybe 20-plus figures, and which I think are Marx? But were they a Swansea 'Kins' thing, or contract manufactured for someone else? I have a PC Plod somewhere, and the damaged Skittle, plus a couple of others I think?

 

Marx . . . check, Noddy . . . check!

 

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2025/10/weve-found-noddy.html 

 

How desperate is he? And he didn't "pick it up", it was relisted on eBay the other day! 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277455102102

 

So he's lying, to copy me, and scrape doll shite, off of evilBay without any apparent context, why? How threatened is he feeling? It's almost more fun than annoyance now! What an idiot! he also managed to check-off the unknown Power Ranger knock-off above, with some Mexican Luchador he knew nothing about, so when it's not faux ignorance (what do you think readers?), it's actual ignorance! And he did skulls the day after me, it's faintly tragic!