I recently saw this small plastic figure in my daughter's birthday party favours stash for her kids.
Initially I thought it was Wilmer Flintstone.
Turns out its Tinkerbell the fairy!
Either way, these cheapo party figures you can get seem fine as toys to me. Has anyone used anything like this in their modelling or toy repairing?
I watched Disney's The Black Cauldron last night with the Missus. Its a flick that's always intrigued me as it was one of Disney's biggest cinema flops ever losing gazillions of Disney dollars.
Much too late for me to have seen as a kid, Cauldron hit the big screen in 1985, by which point I was already a young dad! I wonder just how many kids saw it back then. Much fewer than expected.
The film itself is not like the classic animations of my own childhood, Aristocats, 101 Dalmations and so on. Cauldron is much darker with scant chance for laughter. The characters themselves are memorable but not unforgettable in the way say Mowgli and Baloo are. The voices seem weaker, perhaps even un-Disney. I know the boy hero is called Taran but I've already forgotten the name of his mentor the Wizard. Doldan? The names are often mumbled.
The princess herself - yes, a Disney Princess [someone on the staff must have read the Disney guide book] - also seems uncharacteristically un-Disney. She's wearing a Belle dress but her face is somehow harsher than normal. Whatever the reasoning, The Cauldron Princess is not one of the standard panoply of Disney royals you can buy for your kids almost everywhere. She could only dream of the goddess-like world-spanning fame lauded on the most famous of them all, Frozen's Elsa.
I've read that Cauldron was the first time that Disney used CGI. I couldn't tell where but that's no bad thing. I also read that Andy Serkis based his famous Gollum on one of the two small creatures who star in the film, namely the floppy-haired dog-like thingy called Gulpy?..... dunno! [there's that name problem again]. This character leaps and twirls and gabbles and talks in riddles, a lot like Gollum. Andy Serkis clearly liked the Black Cauldron.
The mention of Gollum hints at a wider resemblance to Lord of the Rings overall, in particular the animated Bakshi film of the Seventies. The scenes of the Horned King - perhaps the best characterisation in the Cauldron as a whole, with the noticeable voice talent of John Hurt - are dark and scary. They remind me of Sauron. Maybe that was the idea. Cauldron itself is, from what I've read, a Disneyfication of high fantasy novels by Pennsylvanian Lloyd Alexander, a world-famous childrens author, who has completely, me personally, passed by. Based on, but not entirely, Welsh mythology like the Mabinogion, Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain are a vast literary undertaking across five novels, published in the 1960's. I don't know why I've never heard of them until now. I always loved Lord of the Rings.
My favourite character in The Black Cauldron is Creeper. At first I thought he was Trobbit from the Blackstar set of toys, but Creeper is his own man. Well, half-man really, maybe less. Unusually for the film Creeper is actually humorous and his jumping, shuffling and down-trodden antics are genuinely endearing. Like many other imps of misfortune - Berk a la Trap Door comes to mind - Creeper is always in deep bother with his impatient master, the Horned King, who likes to strangle the irksome thing whenever he can.
Strangling is just one of the actions in the film, which make it less-suitable for tiny kids. The Horned King is another. Imagine Skeletor in a hoody. Yet the big no-no was to come and a scene I didn't see because the missus and me ..... fell asleep! Well, it was past 11 and we are in our Sixties!
The scene is known as the 'Cauldron-born' and we need not have worried. It was more or less deleted as soon as the film was made back in 1984. Too scary by half, Disney chopped and changed 12 minutes of the Horned King bringing his undead army back to life, as you do when you're a mad castled megalomaniac. Shame.
The Black Cauldron is on Disney+, so we can re-visit it at some point, preferably before our eyes shut.
In the meantime I can try to find my one and only Black Cauldron collectable, a small plastic figure of the magic pig Henwen, a cereal give-away at the time of the film. And there's me thinking it was just a generic plastic porker.
Have you seen The Black Cauldron readers?
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I'm all nostalgic about old Disney films at the mo. So far I've watched The Sword in the Stone from 1963 and Robin Hood from a decade later, both really really great. I laughed out loud!
I adore that early Disney style. Do you?
It's what I remember as a kid. Beautiful washes of colour with cute comical characters and gorgeous music. What's not to like? I bet there's tons of collectables, more than anyone person can collect!
Alas, a complete creature of the Sixties, I can't abide modern Disney films. The old style canned in favour of, what is it, an anime look?
Ah well, I am officially a Disney fossil. My granddaughter LOVES Frozen above all other things anywhere! Let it go Grandad!
Interestingly I read that Robin Hood was criticised for recycling some scenes from earlier films. I definitely recognised the Jungle Book King Louie dance in there! Ha ha.
Have a look if you've time.
Jungle Book https://youtu.be/fwTClRr1x6g?feature=shared
Robin Hood https://youtu.be/JMXTVJmO8C4?feature=shared
I was reading about a Disney film called The Black Cauldron. Apparently it nearly 'sank' the company. I don't know how true that is but its certainly a less popular animated film than their classics. I've never seen it. I have in the past found small plastic cereal figures from the film at boot sales - a pig for one - so there was a sort of marketing campaign with free toys.
Have you seen The Black Cauldron? What's it like? Is it suitable for a 7 year old?
Watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ an old mental thread came full circle with the appearance of one John Walker.
Years ago I picked up an Action Figure reference book at the NEC Memorabilia show in 2000 with my mate Mark. I have thumbed through it hundreds of times ever since and it has been an invaluable resource in ID'ing loose figures I find.
One figure I've never found and one that's fascinated me since getting my book is US Agent. A strange looking super hero with a very plain name, I always wondered who he was.
Well, having watched the first two episodes of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, turns out that John Walker, an American soldier in the Marvel universe actually succeeds Steve Rogers as .... Captain America. Hard to believe I know.
Looking up John Walker online it then turns out that John Walker later morphs into .... US Agent, which I assume is when he took off his Cap's outfit.
US Agent does look like Captain America with the stripes and shield, although the colour scheme is much darker. I wonder if it was an off-day at Marvel when they came up with the less than inspiring name, US Agent.
With a name history as convoluted as Captain Marvel, I'm already looking forward to further episodes of Falcon and the Winter Soldier to see if US Agent actually appears.
In the meantime here's the 1990 Toy Biz action figure that I first read about in the year 2000. This one is carded and from an auction site.
Do you have one?
This was interesting. A picture of an early interpretation of what Disney Gremlins might look like!
Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl wrote a story about them years before the movie was dreamt of!
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Marvellous-Life-Of-Roald-Dahl/
Do you like Gremlins?
Its bound to be on telly this Christmas!
I've picked up a few quaint little stocking fillers recently.
The white van is a Hot Wheels Spoiler Sport from 1976. I had hoped it was a Red Line but never mind. It's still got those Seventies design chops, which I love. I may repaint the white since all the livery has come off.
The orange Matchbox Speed Kings is a K-42 Nissan 270 X. Just missing its windscreen, again its got those cool Seventies lines and just needs a few spots of orange. A gift from the Missus last week.
The two figures are my most recent find. Asleep in a junk box of old soldiers, they were 20p each. Result! The diver is a Palitoy Action Force Red Shadow Muton from 1982. A nice figure but I've struggled up till now to class these soft plastic Action Force as GI Joe. I've thought it through and OK, yes, they are and Muton can join the cabinet squad after all.
The Joe next to Muton is an as yet unidentified Lanard Corps! soldier from 1986. He's the first Joe I've found since I totally Joe'd out in Summer and never thought I'd Joe again. Having been through that summer craze I've no problem classing Lanards as proper Joes so in the cabinet he too will go!
The last toy find but not the least is my fave of the bunch and a Charity Shop gift from the Missus too. Its a soft plastic Mickey Mouse trike and at 1993 its not that old but I really like it. Its all those colours and the clever design that's bowled me over.
Have you found any interesting bits and bobs of late readers?
And those little musicals trills after Mando had finished zapping everyone is a deadringer for Clint and his little flutey signature whistle in those old Sergio Leone Westerns.
Watching telly ain't so simple anymore is it! Hundreds of channels and loads of platforms, a thousand programmes and countless ways to watch them anywhere in the house! It ain't 1969 anymore when Thunderbirds was a no-brainer!
So with so much choice you would think its easy to find things to watch. Alas, I struggle. Things I think will be brilliant turn out not so at all and some random stuff is really quite good.
Take for instance The Punisher on Disney+. It starts with a blisteringly good first episode where the anti-hero Frank Castle says very little but avenges aplenty for a whole hour dropping bad guys in cement by the dozen. If only it stayed that way. The Punisher starts to talk and everyone around him in the series likes to talk a lot as well. Too much gabbing and not enough Punishing has switched me off I'm afraid. Its a shame. Like Moon Knight, I'm done with The Punisher's yakketing.
And so I've moved onto something more random. Not Marvel. Just Jeff Bridges, who's chinny rasping voice always draws me in. His Obadiah in Iron Man was just great - "I'm deeply enjoying the suit!".
Anyway, Jeff Bridges stars in The Old Man on Netflix. He's old and gritty, like Clint in Gran Torino or Denzel in the Equalizer, and he isn't in the mood for faffing about either.
I'm about three episodes in and despite a lot of CIA folk now rabbiting on old Jeff himself is doing well in the less-chat-and-more-action department. We'll see how it pans out over the next few episodes.
Another series I've started and one that came recommended is The Peripheral. Its on Prime and so far so good. The next episode comes out Friday - the Power of the Rings slot! Starring the new Scarlett Johannsen, Chloe Grace Moretz, its a futuristic Sci Fi ride for sure. I likes it.
As for horror this week, I caught Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde last night. Starring Ralph Bates, he's always a draw for me for some reason. I think its his lack of facial expression and his brisk clipped speech that I enjoy. I was really sad to learn that he died so young, just 51 years old.
Tonight Talking Pictures TV are showing The Night of the Eagle at 9pm, a black and white slice of suburban witchery and voodoo I've seen a few times before. Renamed Burn Witch Burn in the USA it's based on Fritz Leiber's novel Conjure Wife. I've always liked the 1950's paperback gothic romance-style cover art for it, a sub-genre of books I used to collect.
Friday is another worthwhile rendezvous with endearing Caroline Munro. On the bill are The Outer Limits The Inheritors Part II, The Brotherhood of Satan, the Ghost of Sierra de Cobre and One Body Too Many.
I don't think I've seen any of those before so it will be interesting. Will you be watching readers in the UK? What's everyone watching around the globe?
I was amazed at the effort toy designers had gone to making this bike I saw on Todocolleccion.
There's an entire Mickey Mouse fishtank attached the handlebars. In fact Mickey gets a front seat view of the driveway. he looks like he's on a space mission!
Is this a bike you would have liked readers? What would you have liked to see on the front?
This was my first die-cast 'commission'!
Mickey Mouse in his jeep looking a bit worse for wear.
A friend asked me if I could patch it up. She made me sausage and chips in exchange.
Just watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Moonbase Junior. Its an amazing animated cartoon considering how old it is. I can't imagine that Disney ever made a more nasty villain than the evil queen. My young grandson covered his face!
Collectables from that original film must be scarce as hen's teeth. I wonder if there was an animated feature before it anywhere?
Me and 4 year old Junior were watching Disney's the Little Mermaid on VHS yesterday. I was amazed to see it was released in 1989 and gobsmacked to think I watched it with my own daughter when she was herself 5 way back when.
Seeing redheaded Ariel again I immediately thought of a cartoon character I loved when I was just 8 way back in 1969, Daphne, the feisty co-leader of the Scooby Do gang.
See what you think. Ariel right. Daphne left, if you couldn't tell!
I love this guy.
He's my favourite beaver.
I've been saying his hissy Six Foot Six [I actually remember it as Sixty Six Cents] my whole life and only recently realised its from the flick Lady and the Tramp.
What's your fave Disney character?
