Big Jim's Board

I've seen Action Man board games but not Big Jim's. This looks Italian or Spanish, SOS Emergenza.

Do any of you know Big Jim?

Jim und Lilli

It's our final day and we are packing the car with stuff to bring back home.

I've resigned myself to no more Flohmarkte or Diakonie visits until we return sometime.

I've also resigned myself to not finding any Big Jim or Bild Lilli either.

Jim is popular in Germany among collectors, who fondly recall the versatile action dolls range. There were countless knockoffs and accessories available for dressing Jim in the 70's. He was an all-round adventurer. I found some of his cowboy gear last year by Wentoys.

Bild Lilli is older, has a longer heritage than Jim. She's also a superstar and a lot more desirable among collectors. Lilli is Barbie. The West German doll was a saucy offer with the 1950s Bild newspaper sold at Kiosks back then. Mrs.Mattel found Lilli on a visit and bam! The rest is .... Let's go Barbie!

Jim and Lilli are out there, probably together in his camper van by a plastic lake somewhere.

Auf unsere Wiedersehen.

THE GREAT BRASS BATTLECAT MYSTERY

Like me, many of you will know that Mattel's Big Jim orange Tiger was recycled to create ...

... the green Masters of the Universe Battlecat.

but you may not know about its brass 'battlecat' relative.

I certainly didn't when I first saw one in Bradford's 4everetro shop, priced £125.

 It was complete mystery to me!

The friendly proprietor explained that they were basically fancy goods, which had turned up on brass ornament market stalls years ago.

Looking further into this mysterious feline I found, well, a LOT of them!

There's a whole cattery of ornamental tigers and looking at the many online discussions/ videos and listings its clearly fascinating to many toy collectors and MOTU fans.

For example, below is a 'Siberian tiger' I found pictured on Etsy. Looks like the Battlecat to me!

Here's is a Chinese tiger ashtray.

Here's a Chinese panther.

and here's a plastic tiger.

This classic tiger pose seen on all the above appears to be everywhere when it comes to toys and fancy goods. The MOTU cat is just one of them.

So, is the brass tiger a copy of the Mattel Battlecat or simply a very moggy coincidence?

What do you think readers? Can you shed any light on this feline?

Do you have a brass cat on the mantlepiece?

TIMBER!

Moonbase personnel and Junior had an exciting morning yesterday watching tree surgeons fell our three fifty foot poplars. They had to come down as Moonbase has subsided a little where they've drank the soil dry.

Junior had his Golden Nuggets stationed at a special table so he could watch the tree surgeon climb the trees and start chainsawing. He was in awe and thought the tree guy was spiderman!

Seeing the excitement on Junior's face got me thinking about Action Man for some reason. Had there ever been an Action Man tree surgeon set? I don't recall one. I do remember creating my own around 1986 for my toddler daughter to play with using some action dolls and belts. Barbie was a natural at climbing the settee. Ken just stared!

Looking through the interweb I found one action doll lumberjack. Big Josh from the Big Jim line. For some reason he's just dressed in flimsy denim summer wear. I think he's camping rather than lumberjacking as he's only got a hand-axe. You can see Josh top right in this Big Jim catalogue ad. Rugged seemed to be the look Mattel were going for with Big Jim and his pals.

Oddly enough, the plastic log Josh is splitting in half was one I found loose years ago at a German car boot sale. I think Big Jim was quite big there. Took me ages to ID the log, along with some other camping stuff I got.

Have you ever had any lumberjack or tree surgeon toys and games readers?