I Wish I Was A Spaceman

I’ve always enjoyed collecting astronaut figures and have had hundreds over the years. Some are still with me today, whilst others have been lost, sold, traded or cannibalised to make other stuff. The Cherilea brand spacemen are among the lost spacemen of my youth, even though I have had many different figures over the years, both branded versions and Hong Kong knock offs.

The Cherilea style is very distinctive, with long limbed, athletic looking figures, in tight fitting suits, with clip on apparatus. Like Timpo and Swoppet figures, they are made of three main body sections, of head, upper torso and legs. This gives a limited pose ability and a chance to switch around parts. The backpack/chest apparatus is also removable and comes in a variety of colours.

Way back in the late sixties, a visit to a grotto got me a boxed set of two maroon space pods and three or four figures. The pods were of the design shown here, but with gold coloured accessories, a blue base and orange legs. The upper hull was based on the very short lived Dr Who Mechanoid figure, which was hastily rushed out along with a Swoppet Dalek figure, in the wake of the new BBC series. For some reason they were only produced in small quantities for a short while and the tooling was then changed and used as the body of the space pod, which was available for a much longer time.

Both of these pods are recent acquisitions and are missing a ladder, the rocket engine and one of he attitude rockets from the side of the yellow pod.

The figures have been copied endlessly by several makers and often appeared as cake toppers. I was very pleased to find a pair this week of the original Cherilea brand, to go with my pods. The bases have Cherilea Toys clearly embossed on them, whereas cheaper copies are usually blank, or omit the bases entirely.

There are at least six different poses in the range and some slight variations in the helmet shape and the back packs, dependent on maker.

Now that I have a couple of originals to marry with the pods, I will try and find some of the other poses to complete the team.