BLUE BOX STATIONS

 I like this Blue Box space station. Not quite sure how big it is or whether it would suit Star Wars figures or SpaceX astronauts?

Anyways, never stationary, Blue Box recycled the idea for their Deep Sea Discovery set, which I saw boxed online too.

What do you think readers?

BLUE BOX BYGONES

 Last year I bought on a small fleet of miniature plastic cars, which struck a chord when I saw them.

I recall having similar cars as a kid, especially in construction and garage settings. I think mine came in three-layered window boxes.

These are all by Blue Box and individually numbered on the bases.

Beautiful little things.

Do you like them? Did you have any as a kid?

ARCO DETOO

 Looking into Arco's Play Kid toys is fun and I've come to realise Star Wars figure collectors like them a lot, especially knockoff fans.

Arco's SpaceWar range of small figures are as prized as a Wampa's doo doo and collecting them all would be a real challenge I bet.

Here's Arco's little Darth Vader effort. He even gets a TV camera for filming his own rise to power and an mechanical arm for keeping his millions of fans at arm's length.

I love the golden robot C3P0 on the header. Did they do a R2D2?

Do you collect Spacewar figures readers?

Alongside Arco's more famous Spacewar are their more generic Play Kid sets. I've looked at the space ones before on MC but here's a different line, construction workers in the hilariously titled box, On The Job!

Seen on Ebay, everything looks as it should be and I for one would have loved this in the Sixties, when I suppose Arco's equivalent back then would have been someone like Blue Box and their beautiful three-layered window boxed sets of tippers, trucks and workmen.

Did you like construction worker and vehicle sets as a kid readers? Blue Box? Arco? Who?

REDBOX SPACE ACTON ASTRONAUT

I saw this online and it brought back memories of my own Redbox astronaut and deep sea diver in their characteristic triangular carton.

We've featured many of these over the years and they always make me think of Christmas, getting one on Christmas morning back in the mid to late Sixties.

Did you have one?

Did you have any other Action Man type figures?

SECRET MISSILES BASE BY PETREL: MYSTERY CONTENTS: ONE RESULT!

We've seen this Petrel set before [top right] but I thought I'd blog it again as its unusual. I know nothing about Petrel.

The old Vectis auction pictures aren't too great. Its hard to make out exactly what's in each compartment.

Anyone know what the yellow object is and the orange craft below it with the star sticker?

*

RESULT!

As soon as Arto mentioned wheels it rang a bell and here we have it. I think the orange vehicle is the friction powered Missile Car, seen below in blue and boxed as featured here on MC in 2014! Make still unknown.

Further observations:

Top right I now think that the yellow object is a plastic dingy or lifeboat like this [playmobil, as an example] 

and maybe some figures are frogmen or are they simply LP spacemen on their side? What do you think?

Top left I can just about see a black vehicle, possible a jet or a missile. Can you?

ED'S SNAKE

My snake: Although the battery cover is missing, the batteries manage to stay in the thing and it works pretty good!
Cheers
Ed

Nevada

USA

DON'T CORNER THE SNAKE!

UK Blue Box Version  

Italian Ceppiratti release

Did you have a Snake?

[thanks Hugh!]

BLUE BOX WINEX: A BLAKES 7 FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY

 

This is a strange one. This blue saucer appears to be part of the well-known Blue Box space vehicles series.

I saw this online ages and ages ago and thought. hmmm, I don't know this one. I saved the image.

My photo label says Winex, so I assume that's the maker but I can't find anything else or even this image. Has anyone got the toy?

Not only does this toy have all the things we associate with the Blue Box line - box art and arrowhead decals - it also recalls something we've blogged about before, the Blakes 7 connection.

Could this blue flying saucer be inspired by these Gauda Prime spaceships from Blakes 7 we've featured before? Look at the box art too.

What do you think?

FOUNDS

 The Missus and me were let out on Saturday. We hit the charity shops! yay!

We got tons of modern kids' toys for our Grandkids and a few vintage odds and ends.

This Batman figure came with a plastic case of sorts and a grabbing arm.

Anyone recognise it?

Also an unusual die-cast car.

Its Blue Box and there is a ratchet style sounder underneath too.

Anyone know Blue Box die-casts?

Also a small Britains Deetail archer. Is he complete? From a set?

Anyone know?

Have you found any odds and sods lately?

TONY K'S HONG KONG MEN

The Deep Sea Diver is a 12 inch action figure by Redbox. 

Sadly, a red valve is missing from the dive helmet of this example. Just like the GI Joe and Action Man Deep Sea Divers, the Redbox copy was also equipped with tubes enabling him to dive and resurface. 

The 8 inch Action Parachutist box is marked M Toy and BBRB, Hong Kong. The actual figure is identical to the one used above and was probably a cheap generic HK doll which was readily available at the time. 

The outfit was probably inspired by the GI Joe Fantastic Freefall set. Basic parachute toys, many from Hong Kong, were ever popular with kids. This one being more detailed than most. 

The smaller 8 inch Astronaut in the pics is the twin of the one now enjoying new adventures on Moonbase. 

I had three originally. One was launched into orbit as part of the eBay Expeditionary Mission some years ago. The other two were put away until now. 

The larger Astronaut is also a 12 inch action figure by Redbox, marketed as 'Operation Astronaut'. This version was influenced by Mattel's Major Matt Mason, although other versions, with different designs also were released.

Tony K

SIGNS OF CHRISTMAS

Well its my last day off work and I'm sorting through stuff lying around after Christmas, signs that it really did happen!

I thought I'd share a few of the things I got over the festive season. Some were gifts and some were purchased on days out.

I love books and in this new Xmas bundle are: Stephen King's Pet Semetary, The Twelve Fingered Boy, Titus Groan - the first in the Gormenghast trilogy - and a new reference book called Paperbacks from Hell, a US look at collecting horror novels. Now that's my kind of book!

I was also fortunate to receive this wonderful gift from Tony K [thanks very much!]. Its a Space vintage Action Astronaut like the one I had as a kid! These figures came in triangular window boxes with a side-header.

I'll blog more about this figure when I take him out of the box the next time.

If you have any figures like this I'll blog them too if you want.

More Xmas gifts to follow soon.

MY BLAKE'S 7 JOTASTAR FALCON

These were my very first group shots of the start of my collection in 1990.

There's a lot of happy memories here not least my first re-found Project SWORD toy and annual.

But its the small silver and red rocket that I want to look at a bit more. Its the one in the top picture bottom left.

I didn't know what it was at the time but I later realised it was a Blue Box-style spaceship minus its wings.

I say style because I don't have this toy anymore and can't be sure what brand it was. It may well be on one of my old toy price lists that I sent out in the post.

The interesting thing is that I don't recall seeing another one like it in all the years since. There are many versions of the Blue Box space toys but not this gunmetal grey one.

Here's a typical Blue Box ship I sold on the card probably 15 years later. You can see all the fins and wings are missing on my grey one above.

But then in the summer of 2017, 17 years after finding it at a car boot sale, I was able to finally ID my silver grey spaceship.

No wonder I couldn't find another one. Its the very uncommon Falcon from the Blakes 7 Cosmic Strikeforce carded series by Jotastar.

image: ollie/ Horizon Blake's 7 Online

I blogged it at the time but still feel chuffed AND miffed that I had one but didn't know it!

Anyone got any of the Jotastar Cosmic Strikeforce?

The price tag above says J.J.Toys. Anyone know it?