With permission from "Toy Cellar" here are photographs from a past Ebay auction of the utterly fabulous JR21 ROCKET XL9 SPACESHIP, a close realtive of the C21 PROBE FORCE 3. As a JR21 toy it is completely new to the blog and I imagine to most SWORD collectors. However we have seen it's clone before, the identicaly boxed and designed HOOVER ROCKET XL9 SPACESHIP. Again, the chicken and egg question rears its head, as to which came first? My own opinion is that the Hoover version did and JR21 copied/bought it and later, as part of Century 21 toys, used it as the basis for the PROJECT SWORD PROBE FORCE 3. It's a theory but does it hold water? There are so many Probe Force 3 variants and makes (pictured here in part), probably more than any other SWORD design, that it's a game of snakes and ladders working out what came when! The model number of the JR21 XL9 is 304. The C21 Probe Force 3 us unnumbered.
Below are pictures comparing the JR21 and HOOVER versions. NB. The Hoover XL9 has a rear red fin missing.
Above JR21, Below Hoover
Above JR21, Below Hoover
It's so close isn't it? Did one manufacturer get the mould and modify it to insert the fins and wings for PF3 which go further down the fuselage or the other way round - remove all this to create the XL9?
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