If I was a knockoff Colourforms Outer Space Men collector I think I would be steaming up my helmet this month. There's been a veritable alien invasion of bootlegs on the Bay. First up are these amazing gumball cards of pen torches, rings, yo yo's and yes, Outer Space Men. Now the cynic in me says that anyone with a vacu-pack machine could put together cards like these and flog 'em on the open market but I thought that about boxes of James Bond rubber bands! No, the optimist and the collector in me is genuinely excited about these gumball aliens and I want some!
The cards pictured above contain a rather shoddy looking Astro Nautilus [top] and my favourite OSM, Orbitron, complete with ray gun. I'm still mystified that Colourforms Outer Space Men were apparently popular enough in the States to be bootlegged like this. I honestly thought that they were uncommon in the Sixties but this is purely based on the fact that very few kids I new had any except me. Maybe they were uncommon here in the UK, I dunno.
Secondly and equally as intriguing, if not moreso, is this bunch of small loose rubber knockoffs of Electron+ recently sold on the Bay. They were described as 'space marauder bendables', which I assume refers to the Toy House line of carded Space Marauder Bendables, which the figures and helmets do seem to fit with. I don't own any Toy House carded figures so I have no idea if they came with weapons. Can anyone clarify that one?
The most perplexing element of the lot is the space car, which personally, I doubt has anything to do with the Outer Space Men or Toy House Marauders. It's clearly a mash-up of various dime store toys and reminds me of a cake decoration. I can see our friend the mini Major Matt Mason crawler in there and the front antenna looks familiar. There appears to be a green seat from an oldtimer car and maybe its wheels? The silver engine I don't recognise at all. Can anyone explain this mash-up in more detail?
The final chapter of this abducted bootleg file relates to that other bendable alien of the Sixties, our lime -brained chum Callisto. A contemporary of the Outer Space Men, along with Scorpio and the fabled Orr, Callisto was Mattel's rubber green man and one of my all time faves. So any Major Matt Mason knockoffs always send a current up my wires as did these two fellows earlier this month. Listed on Ebay as possibly by Cipsa of Mexico, they are made of hard plastic and Callisto is stood on a base.
The blue figure, helmet and air tank are not that easy to match up with Major Matt Mason but a close-up of the alien's face does show that he is indeed our brainy mate Callisto. Anyone got the low-down on these cool plastic bad boys?
Dossier closed.
The wheels of that Space Car look like they are from a traction engine- possibly copied from a Matchbox Model of Yesteryear model, one of which could also have been the source of the seat- it's terrible!
ReplyDeleteI agree Andy, the space car is appalling! More of a space cart! I can see what you mean about tractor wheels and seat. I'll have a look see for a dimestore version. Any clue about the engine thingie? The antenna is very Apollo Moon Exploring.
ReplyDeleteThe little knock offs just came carded with helmets only, my parents bought them for me at Sears in the discounted toy section around 1969.
ReplyDelete