Above is another TB2 knockoff called SPACE PATROL by ASC, pictured previously on the blog. I love the box art - those other spacecraft look sort of familiar or?
..and here's one of those images, which you just can't get out of your head and you look everywhere for the toys for years on end but no joy. I first saw this picture way back in the mid-1990's on the cover of Dennis Nicholson's superb but out-of-print book The Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Guide and it's stayed with me principally because I've simply never seen these TB knockoffs anywhere else. I've mentioned the one on the right earlier this week in the THUNDERCOP bloglet - the awesome RAY-GUARD SPACE SHIP X-2, which, as explained by Dennis was operated by a strong torch beam. There's an X-3 as well, which presumably is a TB3 in the same style? The fabulous SPACE WARSHIP boxes shown on the left are by old Thunderbird pro's LINCOLN INTERNATIONAL, who made the famous line of TB kits in the 60's. According to Dennis's book these are Seventies incarnations of TB's 1,2,3 and 4 and have lost any written connection to Thunderbirds, which I find amazing! Did kids not watch repeats of Thunderbirds somewhere in the world back then? Maybe not.
In all my many years of collecting I have never seen any of the above TB knockoffs. Have you?
Top picture: general internet, Bottom picture - The Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Guide - front cover -1994 by Dennis Nicholson.
Can't help thinking that the description "Space Warship 2" means they misunderstood what Thunderbirds was about! :-)
ReplyDeleteI suppose the space thing was over in the 70's. War was the new buzz. I doubt of there'll ever be another space generation like us.
ReplyDeletei had the full set of spaceships here in New zealand in the late 70s
ReplyDeletethey were sold via a series of chain stores called FARMERS i I knew exactly what they were....
there were an insane number of each in my local store but sadly i only got one of each
Wow! what a great tale. Farmers musy have been a cool shop! I've never seen the Space Warships in the flesh so they must be pretty rare outside of New Zealand. Do you still have your spaceships? Any chance of pics for the blog?
ReplyDeleteCheers
Woodsy
Hallo ppl, I've just found one of these space ships around Milan, Italy. It's a "Ray-O-Matic X-2 Space Ship made in Hong Kong product n° 6901" It's boxed and it works fine. Any good information to have it for a good street price? Cheers, G :)
ReplyDeleteHi G, I would suggest that you put your space toys on Ebay or Todocollecion so that as many people as possible can see them.
ReplyDeletePaul