STEVE ZODIAC'S JETMOBILE TOYS

Reader Steve Zodiac has kindly sent me these cool snaps of his space scooters. At the top we have the beautiful Marcus Harris and Lewis [trading as Golden Gate] Steve Zodiac and Zoony Fireball XL5 original Jetmobile from 1962.

 

Underneath the Golden Gate toy is the much larger knockoff but equally handsome boxed Space Scooter by Amico from Steve's collection. Amico also made a neat walking Moon Scout battery operated toy.

 

 

The XL5 jetmobile became a popular vehicle for character toys like Modern Toy's Snoopy and a very festive Santa Claus Scooter both pictured below. I suspect they were unlicensed [was the Jetmobile a registered design?] There's even a Christmas tree Santa jetmobile bauble available now on Amazon! Now that's design longevity!

picture Ebay

 

picture scooter swag

 

picture Amazon

 

For a view of the Golden Gate Jetmobile box take a look on the fantastic SuperM Fireball XL5 merchandise online gallery about half way down - it takes a while to load.  There's also a piccy of the equally gorgeous and larger Graham Brothers [trading as Fairylite] Steve Zodiac Jetmobile and box from 1963. Venus got her own Fairylite Jetmobile but I can't finds a piccy. Can anyone help? Different jetmobile toys welcomed for posting here. Email me.

PLASTIC HEROICS: COLLECTING VINTAGE PLASTIC ACTION FIGURES

Like space toys, collecting super hero action figures is a great hobby. I started about twenty years ago when I found a Captain America Coupe in the clearance shelf of the local Toys R Us pictured below [ebay]. It was from Toy Biz's Marvel Super Heroes line. Mint and boxed, big and slick, it was a thing of beauty and I was hooked!

As it was pre-internet back then, I equipped myself with some books on the subject like Comic Hero Collectables, Tomarts Guide to Action Figures and John Marshall's Action Figures of the Sixties. But it was a guide to loose action figures, which I consulted the most. A german publication, it covered all of the action figure lines I was likely to find at car boot sales here in the UK during the 1990's/ early 2000's. The best thing was that all the figures were photographed loose [uncarded], just like how I'd find them nestling in a box of candles or wing-nuts under someones stall! The book was a boon - a real field guide, which after so much heavy thumbing is as taped together as the Hulk's undies!

Armed only with my kid knowledge of sixties possessions like Little Big Man, Action Man and Major Matt, I had to basically start from scratch when it came to action figures from the seventies onwards. It was really great fun discovering stuff for the first time in books: Tomland monsters, Mego Super Heroes, Knickerbocker Lord of the Rings, Kenner Marvel Super Heroes and Secret Wars and I really envy anyone who is starting out on the same plastic adventure!

 

 

Secret Wars proved to be a terrific line to look for. The distinctive simple jointed slightly-soft plastic figures were scarce enough to keep the chase exciting and common enough to find one every now and then at a boot sale. Finding a loose Wolverine [pictured - ebay] or a Kang was like finding an uncut diamond! I once stumbled across a stack of mint Secret Wars toys again on the clearance shelf of Toys R Us in the early 90's: Doom Roller, Captain America Bike, a clock and a rucksack. I don't know if Toys R Us still have a clearance shelf anymore but it was like a gold mine back then! I even had a gold card I was there so often!

DC figures were another treat, particularly the jointed hard plastic heroes of Kenner's brilliant Super Powers  line from 1984. I always wanted to find a loose Hawkman but never did. My consolation was finding a loose Super Powers Aquaman [pictured - ebay] and Batmobile. A huge toy range, Super Powers is incredibly popular with action figure collectors and the joy is shared online on lots of sites. Here's just one I like: Hall of Justice. 

 

Alas, all my action figures and toys were sold during my dealer days on Ebay and at toy fairs during the mid - 2000's, but when I find myself at the odd car boot sale these days I always cast an eye over any plastic heroes hiding in the tat!

 

 

Let me know if action figures are your thing too?

SWORD At The North Pole

As the snow begins to thaw here at Glenn Field, I thought before it's gone I'd take a few more shots. This time it's the turn of the SWORD land vehicles.

The Scramble Bug makes it's way across some snow covered grasslands.

The Moon Ranger clears an area in preparation for an Arctic base. 

The Moon Bus travels across the Arctic desert.

The Prospector trundles silently across the frozen wastelands.

Its at times like these I wish Century 21 had brought out more land vehicles of the plastic variety rather than the cut out card type. Proper toys of The Beetle (aka The Snow Train), The Survey Vehicle and the Hover Tank would have looked great.

ONE INCH WARRIOR MAGAZINE AND SPACEX ASTRONAUTS

LP SPACEMEN ALERT! Not sure if these are still available now but there were two issues of One Inch Warrior Magazine, the occasional sister magazine to Plastic Warrior, with really well researched articles about the history of small plastic LP golden astronauts that featured in Spacex and Golden astronauts sets. The articles detail their evolution, usage and ultimate fate as cake toppers, which is a fascinating area in itself! On top of this Plastic Warrior magazine did a detailed article on the bigger scale LP astronauts.


These paper-based articles really do compliment the online resources available on LP spacemen, by our blog friends Paul Vreede and Maverick Collecting.

 

The 'Spacex figures' editions of One Inch Warrior were issue 6 & issue 9. The relevant Plastic Warrior issue was number 85.  Together with a few readers, I got mine back in 2009 when I fist became aware they existed and have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. There were other space figure lines covered in other issues too.


Plastic Warrior and One Inch Warrior back issues appear to be still available from the publishers so if you're interested maybe it's worth contacting the magazine direct. Plastic Warrior organises the longest - running plastic figure show in the UK too. Do any of our readers go?

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Well, its Saturday morning here at Moonbase Central and that means Saturday morning cartoons! Yay! Batman the Brave and the Bold at 10.35am with toy adverts in between followed by old reels of Loony Toons! Bliss! Like being back in the Sixties watching telly in my jim jams slurping up my puffa puffa rice!

I think my favourite cartoon back then was a toss-up between Spider-Man, with that totally catchy theme tune[".....catches thieves just like flies!"] and unforgettable incidental music or Shazzan [not to be confused with Shazam!] which had a ring in two halves and a donkey who went crazy if it's tail was pulled! There were just so many great cartoons though, it's hard to choose!

 

 

What were your fave Sat'day morning toons?

Neptune and Triton

Beautiful animation of how Neptune's moon Triton might look, set to atmospheric music, courtesy of You Tube.

LEVIATHAN

Just watching LEVIATHAN on You Tube. I've got it showing split screen on the laptop because I'm blogging too! Never seen this movie before but it stars Peter Weller of Robocop fame and Micheal Crenna, the Colonel in Rambo, so it should be OK. I've seen its stablemates, THE ABYSS and Wotan's favourite DEEP STAR SIX. 1989 was a good year for oceanic terrors. There was also The Rift, which I've yet to watch.

 

 

I was beginning to think that sub-oceanic monster movies had sunk without trace until I saw the trailer for an amazing looking new film coming out this year. More on that later! But generally do you think that the undersea world holds the same excitement and mystery for film makers and writers as that of outer space? And should the icy wastes of the polar regions be added to the list?

Frosty Reception

Fears grew today as the redoubtable Commander Wotan was seen leaving the Earth base outpost this morning. As blizzard conditions raged across the Pennines bearing heavy snows and drifting across the blasted landscape that was once Lancashire, a brief contact was made with Wotan earlier today, before communications broke down. A preliminary search in the vacinity located his abandoned IceRat, but the drifts had obliterated any tracks.

A special Spacex Recovery Vehicle was dispatched immediately, its balloon tyres, originally designed for traversing the lunar terrain, enabled the search to proceed quickly across the white expanse. Within a matter of hours Wotan was discovered, safely wrapped in an emergency environment suit.Wotan commented " I was just going for a short walk, I may have been some time.." A stiff shot of scotch and a rub down with one of Earth bases female operatives restored the colour to the Commanders cheeks. Amen and Out.