An Alien Heat

Here is a little pocket hero of mine, the rubber jiggling alien bought about 1967 in Woolworths. The rubber figures were sold in a counter box of 'Moon Men' next to the infamous 'Teachers Pets'. This little guy has been through the wars, swung on cotton over the bannister, sunk in hot baths, thrown out of windows on parachutes and crammed into all kinds of customised spaceships. Until about a decade ago, he was alone (apart from his five mates below) until a chance discovery on a fellow bloggers site, Astronit - who also had several different versions of the figure. Shortly after I managed to find a few colour variations of the figure and different types, including the solid clear plastic version donated by Astronit himself. 

The versions are many and various and probably the most recognisable is the tiny silver plastic models found in Apollo Moon Exploring sets. The rubber ones have a small logo on the sucker, which has so far remained indeciperable, so I don't know if there is a direct connection, or if it is just another instance of Hong Kong piracy.  

Apollo Moon Exploring figures, the greyish version is fractionally smaller than the chrome. Life imitated art a few years ago, when Mega Bloks got the Halo toy franchise and released some really goo OO/HO models, with small figures, including diecast Master Chief figures, just the right scale to pair with the APEX aliens!

The rest of the Moon Men, in different colour versions and below, the chrome lineup from APEX.

A chance discovery on the street, literally, in 1979 brought my attention to 'The Man From Mars'. Walking back to college one day I found him on the floor not far from the building. Once more, Astronic came to the rescue and showed me others of his kind, direct from the gumball machines of the states and kindly sent me a smaller cousin for company.

Right up to date again for the Independance Day aliens, included here as the are a great alien design and have rubber bodies, with Matt Mason like armatures. The smaller figure came with the standard 6" Exo Armour figure and the larger 3" one popped out of the Supreme Alien Commander, with motion sensitive faceplate.

Not an alien, but certainly another favourite from the Teachers Pets and a contemporary of the Moon Men, is this odd tree-man. Missing a branch or two over time, he's been through all manner of adventures with me too.

And finally on to the Kellogs Crater Critters, given away in Sugar Smacks in 1970. As I was never a fan of sweet cereal, my Mum would rarely buy it, as I would just rummage about for the toy and forget the food. As it was, I managed to get a couple of the figures, and more recently a complete set of Mexican reproduction figures in more garish plastic. King Crater is an original, but wasn't crowned until a few years ago, when I bought in some replacement parts.

King Crater and his loyal Princes

Jodrell Jim

Glubber

Miss Venus

Lunartic

Upsy Downsy

Gloob

Bugsy Backbone