OLD AND VISOR

In the 1990's I sort of fell in love with action figures. I blame car boot sales/ They were full of them. Some figures, though never, turned up. Here are three visored ones I've never actually seen in the flesh. Two are called Captain Lazer/ Laser [not the famous Mattel one either].

Tootsietoy Captain Lazer

 

Mattel Big Jim Captain Laser

 

and here's a poor drawing I've done of the head of one I just cannot remember the name of and hence I can't find a piccy of it. Its American, from the 70's I think and and about 12 inches tall. He has a sort of radar disc on his forehead and I think he's green or possibly red. Maybe Sonic Man or Voltron or something. Anyone have any idea?

 

 

POSTSCRIPT:

Reader Brian has nailed this one. My mystery action figure is Electroman made by IDEAL in 1979. His nemesis was Zogg the Terrible, who looks like a mad doctor leech. Electroman has a distinct Captain Action look about him. Cool yoys for sure and two I've never seen in the flesh. Thanks for the ID Brian!

DRACULA: THE ORIGINAL CAPTAIN SCARLET

I was watching this great behind the scenes footage on You Tube from the 1966 film Dracula Prince of Darkness. It's one of my favourite Hammer Horror Dracula movies. It featured such icons of British horror and sci-fi as Barbara Shelley, Andrew Keir and of course, the immensely tall Christopher Lee, as the scarlet prince himself.

 

 

But the film also contains actors who graced the TV shows of Gerry Anderson. At least their voices did. Charles Tingwell voiced the role of Dr. Tony Grant in Thunderbirds Are Go and Dr. Fawn in Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons.

 

 

But its the voice of fellow Yorkshireman Francis Matthews, which is instantly recognisable as that of Captain Scarlet, which he did, along with Charles, after Dracula Prince of Darkness. I'm surprised they didn't get Chris Lee, Barbara Shelley and Andrew Keir in there as well. Shelley and Keir went on to appear together in one of my favourite sci-fi flicks of all time, Quatermass and the Pit, in 1967.

 

 

Do you think Francis Matthews was well cast as Captain Scarlet?

Dive, Dive,Dive!

Loving submarines, divers and frogmen I found these Playmobil divers irresistable. The deep diving suits are essentially shells, which clip onto the standard figure. The diving bell is missing a couple of small parts, but is a great little model, weighted with metal and designed to hold a figure.

RUBBER TOYS

Taking the dog out today I happened to smell my hands after handling his new ball. Rubber! It took me straight back to when I used to love rubber novelty items I bought mail order as a kid. Jokes, novelties and tricks and all from the great Ellisdons in the sixties. God, did I adore it all.

Oddly enough the rubber items were all pretty grisly: a toy severed hand, which was a more or less just a heavy slab of reaking rubber and a soft toy rubber skull, which laughed when squeezed. Both were life-size! Its hard to describe how much fun I had with these two items and I'm pleased to say that I was re-united with a similar skull in the mid- noughties. However, the severed rubber hand has stayed away!

Did you send away to Ellisdons as a kid or did you have any rubber toys?

 

 

DURHAM TARHEEL AMERICAN SPACE TOYS

 

For years I've thought that the two American toy companies Durham and Tarheel worked hand in hand. I'm now beginning to think that they were almost one in the same company. Look at their logos above. The globes and the white semi circles around them look almost identical apart from the minor detail that the globe contour lines are opposites.

 

 

Further evidence are the number of toys brandishing either Durham and Tarheel logo's. Pictured are those with SWORD/ SPACEX/ ANDERSON connections: the Space Glider and two NOVA's.

 

 

 

Readers with brightly coloured space toys like these should double check that they haven't also got a Durham toy on their hands.

QUIZ TIME

New Year Toy, TV and comics quiz. A MAX of two answers per reader in the comments please. Go go go!

1. What is Hasbro short for?
2. What does the comics acronym JLA stand for?
3. Which Doctor from Dr. Who did Denys Fisher make an articulated action doll of [actor?]
4. What is the name of the metal joined to the skeleton of Wolverine?
5. Which old British big monster movie was set in Cornwall?
6. Who are Lili Ledy?
7. What was the date on the cover of the first Fantastic Four comic?
8. Who designed Mouse Trap for IDEAL?
9. Who manufactured Lord of the Rings action figures in the 80's?
10. Name the odd one out and why? Moon Crawler, Moon Prospector, Moon Ranger [2 possibilities]
11. Which TV company brought us Marine Boy?
12. What was the Green Hornet's car known as?
13. Who is the odd one out? Kojak, Magnum PI, Columbo.
14. What does Lee Majors crash in at the start of the Bionic Man series?
15. Which creepy board game would have 'dropped it down the chimney'?
16. In the Official Manual certain C21 Project SWORD do not appear. Which?
17. What did Han Solo say he'd done in less than 12 parsecs in his Millennium Falcon in Star Wars?
18. In the toyworld what is Tomland?
19. Which toy figure did these two companies name the same? Mattell and Tootsietoy
20. Which is the highest ranking badge in the Project SWORD range and what's the colour?

MOON OR MARS BASE?

If you had the choice - and the Earth was in a state of imminent Project SWORD- style collapse - would you prefer to live on a settlement on the Moon or on Mars readers?

What would your'e reasoning be? Serious, humorous, all good!

Whistletown

Iv'e collected the little toys that fall out of crackers since I was a kid and they are one of my delights at Xmas. Modern cracker toys are invariably tape measures or paperclips or the classic Fortune Telling Fish, but back in the day, toys and charms were much more interesting.

As my current cracker haul in December was severely disappointing this year (even though all crackers are now obliged to clearly display their contents - spoiling the fun even more) I decided to take a quick look to see what yesteryear might provide and looked on ebay. Sure enough, there were a number of cracker novelities, but a set of three on a cheap buy it now, were perfect.

Three small sixties toys, all whistles. One is a missile shape, just under 2" long, with tiny fins and nozzle. The white one is the classic dart shaped spaceship, a design used in a similar, larger version whistle and the final is a neat black aeroplane, not dissimilar to the Vampire or Venom aircraft. All made in Hong Kong, as we have come to expect.

Due to problems with children swallowing stuff over the years, whistles like this have fallen out of favour, these three are especially small and vulnerable. Cereal premium kings R & L made a fine set of Whistles in the Hooty Toot series, but again, the two piece cereal inclusions were very small.

Not a whistle, but in a similar vein, Woodsy gave me this fine little japanese Glico rocket. Tiny premiums are much more popular in Japan, which possibly speaks volumes about the country. Its just under 2" again, with a tiny spring inside the rocket body, allowing it to launch. Fabulous!