Thunderbirds 2086 revisited

When I did the post on Thunderbirds 2086, reader Yorkie put in a request to see all the Thunderbird machines from the annual. Well, I aim to please if I can so here you go -  All 17 vehicles complete with their respective technical info.

Thunderbird Toys 2004

Like most Thunderbird fans I didn’t much take to the live action film and that meant I didn’t bother picking up much of the merchandise associated with it, maybe that was a mistake.  

Although, I did get a couple of the smaller vehicle sets which I think are pretty fair.

Being fond of die cast models I got the die cast set  by FEVA.  

The back of the box has a run down of the vehicles, and as a minor bonus some  Thunderbird collector cards.

Even though the models are very small they’re well detailed.

Thunderbird 1 & 3 which both have a reasonable roles in the film are nicely represented. 

Thunderbird 2, everybody’s favourite looks good and is probably the best model in the pack.

Thunderbird 4, which was pretty much shoehorned into the film is tiny, but again well detailed and complete with a set of grabs.

Thunderbird 5 unfortunately is  the least impressive of the set, principally because of the small size of the toy. 

Another similar set I picked up is made by Bandai. 

This plastic all action set is full of little gimmicks. 

Thunderbird 1 fires a missile that you’d struggle to lose seeing how it’s the full length of the toy.

The set has another nice representation of Thunderbird 2. The toy releases a little rescue platform from beneath  it’s pod. 

Thunderbird 3 and Thunderbird 5 share their gimmick. 

As in the film, Thunderbird 3 attaches to Thunderbird 5’s docking station. Flick a switch and TB 3 is flung into space.  Thunderbird 5, presumably in scale with the TB 3 toy is much bigger in this set. 

Thunderbird 4 is nicely detailed but just like in the film, is just  there to make up the numbers.

There we have it. In hindsight maybe I should have picked up more of the  larger toys, particularly Thunderbird 2 but considering the film has no appeal to me, for now I’m happy with these tiny examples.

So with a new series in the offing, will it be a case of third time lucky, with a whole new set of vehicles and renewed interest in the classic series, or will it be just another modern attempt at simply cashing in on the Thunderbird brand.!

NASA PROBE FORCE 3 ON EBAY

Reader and Gerry Anderson Complete Comics History site founder Shaqui has just listed this nice NASA variant of the SWORD Probe Force 3. It would make a fine addition to a Probe Force 3 variant collection. You can find it along with its neat box on Ebay UK here. Take a look!

Trans Atlantic Army

In the mid to late seventies, when I was fairly tank toy obsessed and space toys were on the back burner, I ran into Atlantic models. Made of soft polythene, they tended to sacrifice realism for playability and to a degree value. A lot of the model packs held two kits of the same toy, making them a great buy. The slightly larger boxes had a single, more complex model in such as these machines shown here. Notice the slapdash painted red Laser Command Vehicle, with a slightly familiar design...

The Army Game

No mention of Timpo can be complete without a brief look at their soldiers. My earliest memories include toy soldiers, Timpo and Britains standing proud amongst their ranks. Here are some of the later twin sets and a veritable flotilla of landing craft! I know the Britains Deetail Recoiless Rifle and German mortar team are among woodsys memories too!

GONE TO THE DOGS

Following tangenitally on from the recent action figure thread, here are two of my favourite action figures, which for me are unusual as they fit in the seven inch scale. Being a reader of sci fi weekly 2000ad, i was delighted to see a brief range of some of my favourite characters made into toys. Judges Dredd, Death and Anderson headlined the range, but i was pleased to see the two Strontium Dog bounty hunters, originally drawn by Carlos Esquerra make an appearance, in quite faithful detail. Johnny Alpha is almost perfect with his helmet  chest holster and futuristic weaponry and his vampiric colleague Durham Red is modelled after her Mark Harrison reboot style.

Red has her twin pistols which attach magnetically to her leather clad hip. Unfortunately, the line was short lived and never made it beyond six figures.

http://www.2000ad.org/markus/durhamred/