From Zenith to Nadir

Boredom is a terrible thing and they say the devil will make work for idle hands. Yesterday, over lunchtime, I made the rather silly mistake of cruising a japanese auction site to pass an hour and gaze in wonder at the variety of odd toys on sale.

Using the wonder of Google Translate, I was eventually able to find a category which related 'loosely' to the Vintage section on ebay. The listings were chock full of Ultraman, Gundam and other familiar mecha and monster toys as well as a bewildering variety of cars and other weird items. Then, just as exasperation and apathy were beginning to wash over me, I spotted something very familiar indeed. 

Described by translate as a Tommy Interplanetary Rocket (sic), the toy is clearly an iteration of the Sears/C21 Saturn Rocket. The main difference between the Sears and the Sword versions were the colour, size and the fact that the Sears model had a 'smoking engine' effect, which is clearly shown on the box of this new version. So its safe to say that this is a reboxed version of the larger model but without the gantry and pad.

Its hard to make out any important details on the box such as makers mark or date, but the overall look and design seems contemporary with the Sears version. The one major difference is the 'Ranger 7' sticker on the hull.

My initial joy at seeing the toy quickly paled after I realised that the exchange rate of the Yen meant that the opening bid for the item was a little under a hundred quid, even before I could figure out a way to begin to consider how to join the auction! Ah well...

Great New Discovery!

PS. Just adding to Wote's amazing discovery here's a photo of the other two known Apollo Saturns for comparison.

Picture: Darth

Re. his own Sears Rocket Darth has sent the following info:

"HI Paul,
All it says is "Made in Japan" No logos. It says it on all three fins, the body and the box. Of course the launch tower is made of tin which the Chinese rarely used. Another thing I noticed is that the box says it was available in Canada through Simpsons, which was a Canadian department store. So they had them in Canada at one point.

Cheers
Darth"