Buck's Invader

 This Buck Rogers Invader is new to me. It's a saucer with a motor and the box claims it can spin hundreds of feet into space! 

A mix of toy and rocketry! 

Anyone ever had one?

Will's Buck Rogers Signed Starfighter

Hi Woodsy. 

Seeing Scoop's Buck Rogers Star Fighter reminded me I had this … for those who like add- ons , it's signed by Gil Gerard and Erin Gray. 

Also a couple of 1950's annuals. 

Will O

UK

Ed's Buck Rogers HG Toys Galactic Play Set

Woodsy,

Here's one of about two dozen playsets sitting out in The Cave that I finally took off the shelf and started photographing. 

I don't have all the photos taken yet but this will give you an indication of the treasures within this set.

The playset is based on the television series which ran from 1979-81 and HG Toys did a really nice job in packing a lot of action into a relatively small playset.

There are:

Three distinct sets of figures:

-Character figures from the TV series

-Space Commandos

-Robo Aliens (provided by LP)

Spaceships:

-Two brown Draconian Marauders of the Draconian Empire (the bad guys)

-Two white starfighters

(I still need to apply the stickers onto the spaceships and then photograph them)

-One large flying saucer. 

The words 'Star Station X-5' are molded into the upper hull, and this saucer is a hold-over from previous HG space playsets like their 'Alien Attack' and 'Space Wars' playsets. 

(The box art shows a blue saucer, but I've only ever seen yellow)

Cardboard Graphics:

-Seven separate graphics depicting alien landscapes and a landing strip

From Vegas Base

Ed of The 25th & 3/4's Century

BUCK ROGERS' RING OF SATURN

Ever since I got my copy of the book Comics Collectables and Their Values in the early 1990's I've adored vintage American comic hero rings.

I've been especially in love with the 1946 Buck Rogers Ring of Saturn.

Interestingly, there were three different heroes using this ring with different stone hues as merchandise, the other two being the Shadow and Jack Armstrong.

You can read about them on the Hakes auction site

https://hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/225793/JACK-ARMSTRONG-THE-SHADOW-BUCK-ROGERS-GLOW-IN-THE-DARK-PREMIUM-RING-TRIO-WITH-MAILER-BOX-PAPER

Costing a Cosmic Ransom online nowadays and basically practising making rings I began to mess around with some of my late Father in Law's plumbing parts.

And voila! Before I knew it I had my own Saturn rings, gas rings and rocket rings! Well, sort of. See what you think.

I think my personal favourite is this simple blue and red plastic ring.

Have you any super hero or cereal rings?

STRIKE A POSE BUCK!

 Ed's Archeresque parachutist reminded me of how much I like those old Buck Rogers book cover illustrations with similarly strange and endearing poses as those Archer figures.

My favourite Buck pose is this.

Arms and one knee bent, head looking down in a gas-powered ascent.

At once unreal yet oddly hypnotic, I wonder where this kind of art came from?

Another, even more awkward posture is this, as Buck grabs the top of a tree. It just looks so odd.

Archer Ajax figures are posed in similar ways, which is hard to describe. Is it Art Deco?

Here's Aqua I saw on Ebay.

Just what are these poses readers?

LEGS IN THE 25TH CENTURY

 

The flying leg positions of vintage Buck Rogers art have always intrigued me.

They always appear to be unusual and almost unnatural.

Is this artistic licence or a sign of the times they were created in?

Buck Rogers Screen Debut

Hi

Here is a short Buck Rogers film from the 1930s, with Buck in a space battle with the Tiger Men of Mars. The budget was clearly rather limited, so do not expect too much. 

Given the attire of Wilma Deering, I wonder if fashion designer Mary Quant was a science fiction fan ? At one point Dr Huer urges Buck to 'get above' Killer Kane's ship - how do you get above someone in space ? This was apparently the very first screen appearance of Buck Rogers.

(2) First Buck Rogers Film - YouTube

The background to this short is given on a site called Cafe Roxy. Seems it was made for the 1934 Chicago World's Fair - even though the copyright date on the film is 1935. It did not play in movie theatres, but may have been later used in department stores to help sell Buck Rogers toys.

Café Roxy (caferoxy.blogspot.com)

Paul Adams from New Zealand

FOUR THOMAS SPACEMEN

 I saw these on Etsy or Ebay earlier in the year and thought I'd save the pics because these spacemen are new to me.

Described as Thomas Spacemen I really don't think I've seen them before. They look intriguing too.

This first one is like a gunslinger with cowboy style trousers.

This one has a sort of duck face, almost Tusken Raider. The weapon looks like a Third Reich stick grenade!

This third one is more classically Buck Rogers-ish or Flash Gordon.

This final one has a lovely blue sheen and looks female, with a hint of Metropolis's Maria maybe.

Anyone know anything about Thomas spacemen?

BUCK ROGERS: 25TH CENTURY COLLECTABLES

Hi Woodsy,

You are doing a good job entertaining us all at this strange time.

In case it is of use, here are a few things I culled from the internet, over time, on Buck Rogers.

Most of us probably remember Buck form the rather campy 1970s TV series, but he started in the 1920s, and I believe as a cartoon character he predated Flash Gordon. There is an excellent website based on the collection of the late Roland Anderson, which includes some of the early adventures:

I have included a compilation of what were aptly described as "nifty space ships" from this site. Buck Rogers Comic Strips

Perhaps this was the first large-scale merchandising for a space character. 

There were toys, board games (including a compendium of three, with lovely art) and comic books, as well as a cut-out puppet theatre, with two great backdrops- on the one of the city included here I have superimposed one of the cut-out figures. 

Alas, all out of my price range!

All the best,

Andy B.

UK