I had an interesting mooch round for what I call Plong Spacemen on the net to see what's out there.
Made by Jean Höffler of West Germany, branded as JEAN, these spacemen are quite distinctive with the antenna on top. I imagine they are nice to collect. Höffler were a prolific toy company and you can read a full company history at the superb Blechroboter.de here
https://www.blechroboter.de/info/jeanhoefler/index.html
Woolworth released these bagged Satellite Patrol figures in silver and white. I love the header card art. The number 10 appears to be the number of figures in the bag. I assume its the European Woolworths brand, which is still going and has shops!
Woolworth issued these carded Luna Astronauts, with a clear picture of the moon front and back.
The same name appeared on this larger blister card, this time with partly painted astronauts.
More Woolworths releases in the form of Plong bubble gum, which is what I know these figures as, Plongs. You can see the Jean Höffler logo on the card rear with the word JEAN and a motif above, although I'm unsure what it represnts.
These antenna'd men came with Plong bubble gum bars, individually wrapped, in this blister card. The gum reminds of Bazooka.
My friend Paul V pointed out yet another pack, a double with four bubblegums, as seen online. A gorgeous shop display box too!
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JEAN also released a whole line of space vehicles to go with the figures, which may have been a single space station set. Not sure I've seen the box for this though. You?
What do you think of JEAN branded astronauts readers?
I have a sealed boxed luna set, plus several loose pieces. Love the toys Wished they would have made more items.
ReplyDeleteThey sound great Bob. Did you get them in Woolworths?
DeleteNo. It would have been more fun if I had. No, just on the web. Pics sent of Luna base set.
DeleteThe JEAN symbol represents a drum with two drumsticks resting on it (the round-headed mallet type if I'm taking it very literally :)
ReplyDeleteI've looked into Plong figures in the past, because they're indeed quite nice and there's (or was) loads of them on offer. Decided not to expand my collection too far from Spacex so left them. The various Plong card backs can be combined into a continuing moonscape btw.
Best -- Paul
And then I notice your Plong card is different from what I'm talking about. I meant these: https://www.ebay.de/itm/395613335769 (where you might want to add that picture to complete your very nice write-up, Woodsy?) That's a complete trayful with a BIN of €35 - somebody ought to snap that up!
DeleteBest -- Paul
Fascinating Paul. Of course, a drum! I see that now. I've added the eBay display too. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteAt least I thought I had!
DeleteAnd now I have.
DeleteAm I the only one who thinks they look rather like the Teletubbies, especially the ones with coloured space helmets !
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrific assortment of space toys! I would soooo love to visit a Woolworth's again. I had many a fun shopping excursion back in the day when my mom would take me to downtown Milwaukee and it would be one of the stops we made (along with W.T. Grants, The Boston Store, and Gimbels). I got my very first job at a theater just a couple hundred feet away from the Woolworth's my mom would take me to, so the visits there would continue for quite some time. As for Hoeffler, their Cowboy and Western toys as well as Knights and castle toys are featured quite often in the toy groups in farcebook and I see them there quite often. They had quite a good selection.
ReplyDeleteWoolworths in America, Woolworths in the UK, Woolworths in Australia!
ReplyDeleteAll different entities as far as I can tell.
I remember Woolies in the UK as a kid, selling Beatles plastic wigs, Winston Churchill busts and ( a life changing event for me,) Triang SpaceX toys! Those images are burned into my brain -and it didn't hurt a bit!