WE WERE EXCITED ABOUT THE DALEK THUNDERBIRDS ROCKET GUN WAY BACK IN 2009

Originally blogged in 2009: This highly unusual THUNDERBIRDS dart pistol - above - appeared on Ebay in the last week, being sold in Belgium. It's clearly a knock-off of the officially licensed 1960's Lone Star Rocket Firing Space Gun (below, courtesy of http://www.vintagethunderbirdstoys/).

The flagrant copying of the TB2, both at the top and bottom of the card, are clearly visible and you can almost see how they have simply slapped a Dalek over the TB3 picture! But, do you know, I love this knock-off. The dark space background is wonderful for TB2 (and unlikely as I'm sure that TB2 was earth-bound) but what really makes it for me is the juxtaposition of a Dalek and the TB2 in one place!

This is very unusual and reminds me of a DC/Marvel Superhero crossover where Batman meets Spiderman! Both contemporaries in the swinging Sixties and regular neighbours in TV21, I'm sure they never actually came together on TV or moreover on any other toy? It's strange how the toy is simply called ROCKET GUN AND THUNDERBIRDS, opting to miss out on the selling power of Dr. Who in the title.

The black and white drawing of the space boy in the bottom left corner is also odd - sort of reminds me of the motif in the Dr. Who Disintegrator Gun comic advert. I must admit I had a bid on this but it was a reserve item and remains tantalisingly unsold!

There is another knockoff of the Lone Star gun, the PILEN PISTOLA ESPECIAL from Spain. I can only find one image of this similarly wondrous derivative, on the marvellous METROPOLIS TOYS site. The image is copyrighted so please view it on their site.

Pilen avoid any mention of Thunderbirds but have slapped one of the Tracy brothers over a space-scape patrolled by a more plausible TB3. However, it is still the Dalek version, which does it for me!

PS. Steve from www.vintagethunderbirdtoys says "Interesting. The Pilen dart gun is significantly smaller than the Lone Star version. I wouldn't give the Pilen one house room. I assume the Dalek/Thunderbirds one is a re-card of the Pilen".

2009.

LONE STAR GUN IN CRATER 101

To continue the thread about the Thunderbirds/ Dan Dare Lone Star pistol, five years ago Jcamts told us that "The gun looks like the Spectrum Space gun they use in Captain Scarlet's Crator 101." [pictured above]

STRATO GUN

Following on from Woodsy's post on the Dalek knockoff gun, I believe this is the original toy it was based on.

Made in 1953 by U.S. company Futuristic Products, this is the Strato Gun, a die cast cap-gun.

As I mentioned in the comments on Woodsy's post, it was remoulded in the U.K. as a Dan Dare water pistol in 1954.

This example from the Alphadrome web site.

DALEKS AND THUNDERBIRDS GUN

Knockoffs usually mix things up and the Rocket Gun and Thunderbirds is a great example! Scoop will be happy with the Dalek action on the card and all Thunderbirds fans love Thunderbird 2. There's even a second one underneath the grip not to mention the pistol itself with 2 Dalek sucker darts! What's not to like!

ME AND MY EXTERMINATING BIG BROTHER!

As by way of comparison between the Product Enterprise 12" and Micro movie Daleks here's a photo of the two 'drones'.

SPACE POP LOLLIES ANYONE?

In my mailbox this week from reader Richard B:

Hi Woodsy

Just saw these: 

http://www.zokuhome.com/collections/polar-pop-molds/products/space-pop

Plastic molds for making ice lollies in the shape of five different  spaceships, plus a little astronaut to go with them. Easy to see why this triggered my nostalgia gland! (Note also the use of a very familiar typeface for the ship numbers.) 

Thought you might like this for the blog, if you haven't run it already. 

Richard

Let's Roll!

Role Playing games have been a popular pastime for many since the 1980's and lately, popularity has boomed. A Thunderbirds rpg is now available, allowing players to take control of their favourite character and save the world. Any fan games will enjoy playing as a favourite fantasy character and now Crooked Dice have made it even easier to do so, with a game system based on Cult TV shows. A simple rule set allows teams to be made up of any set of characters, selected from your favourite series, such as Blakes 7, Dr Who, Life on Mars, Department S any combination of classic tv tropes. To bring a figural dimension to the game, they have produced a series of white metal figurines which 'reflect' the classic series very closely, without actually infringing copyright! The technically accurate figures just need a lick of paint and you can build your own army of Spectrum agents, Space 1999 astronauts or evil genius organisations complete with henchmen.

Check out the fabulous range here and see how many classic characters you recognise!

http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product-category/miniatures/page/10/

DALEKS INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D. MICRO MOVIE DALEKS

Although I do have the four large radio control Invasion Earth movie Daleks I really do like these more manageable Product Enterprise Micro Talking Movie Daleks.

Their small size makes it fairly easy to create a quick diorama.

Each has a pull back and go motion, and uses actual dialogue from the film, although it does sound a little distorted in a couple of mine.

The silver Dalek, or drone.

The black Dalek who is in charge of the mining operation in Bedfordshire.

The red Dalek who is in charge of the spaceship, capturing slaves and wiping out the resistance.

The gold Dalek is the overall leader and differs from the other three models in that it has a sucker arm rather than a claw.

The colourful box with some splendid retro artwork.

"Intercept escaping humans in river area!"