EL CAPITAN ESCARLATA, EL CAPITAN MARTE AND SUPERCAR

Argentinian comics [seen on Todocollecion auctions]:

Captain Scarlet

Fireball XL5

Supercar

EL CAPITAN ESCARLATA

1977

FRIDAY WITH JAIRZINHO

Well, its the end of the working week and yes, thank God is all I can say. Rounding it off has been a freaky Friday of sorts, as bouts of nostalgia have bubbled up throughout the day like a lava lamp.

Chatting this morning with a friend about football - a subject I ignored after 1975 - that knotty matter of the best player of all time reared its sweaty head. My younger friend naturally opted for modernish players I'd only just heard of like Figo, Messi and Rinaldo, whereas I threw in ancient soccerists which he'd never heard of like George Best, Eusabio and Pele.

Mentioning Pele I was amazed that I was able to cite so many names from that iconic Brazilian team which graced that magnificent World Cup in 1970: Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivelinho [without googling can you get any more?]. How I loved that team of nimble ball dancers with the coolest one-word names, who glided and skipped round a field of brilliant sunshine like gazelles. If I remember rightly my parents bought their first colour TV for that hot Mexico World Cup and age 10 I lapped it up in all its vivid sun-drenched Mexican palette. It was just brilliant. When did you first watch colour TV readers?

I recall even having my own football boots in those days, the one and only pair I've ever owned. They were the legendary Stylo Matchmakers as worn by the sideburn king George Best, the first footy superstar and often referred to as the fifth Beatle as he was just as famous as his four fab mates. His signature was printed in silver on the sides of my boots and despite them being flappy hunks of black plastic and quite uncomfortable I adored those Stylo Matchmakers. Did you have a pair at all?

The other blast from the past today was handling something I too had at school, the very tinny Oxford Geometry Set. You know the one, a neat silver tin box containing all the essentials for a long maths lesson: pencil, compass, protractor, ruler and triangle [is that the right word?] I couldn't believe that these tin sets were still being made and continues to be part of the ritual of a new academic year. It took me right back to clumsy schooldays at my own grim comprehensive planted in the Seventies. Did you have an Oxford Geometry Set readers?

The working day then ended with a revelation. I'm currently obsessed with LED lights and how they might be integrated into toys and I'm always on the look out for tiny usable lights. What I didn't expect was to see a workmate deploying an illuminated lipstick! Yes, her lippy brush holder had two small LED's built in to light up her lips! As you can imagine I wanted that lippy top and near wrangled it out of her hand! I have been promised it once the lipstick has run out!

Then on returning home I was chuffed to find my latest Ebay item had arrived, a doll's house fire guard. I don't have a dolls house but it will be very handy I think. I shall reveal it's cunning re-purposing very soon!

Hope you have a great Friday evening readers, the weekend starts here!

What are you up to?

EL CAPITAN ESCARLATA

1977

DINKY THUNDERBIRD 2 VARIANT ON DINKY TOYS TV BLOG

As ever there is another fascinating variant discussed on the superb Dinky Toys TV Shows Space and Specials blog. This time its a matt green Thunderbird 2. Have a look.

https://dinkytvspace.com/2019/09/05/101-thunderbird-2-matt-green/

GULLIVER LANCHA TORPEDEIRA TORPEDO BOAT

This Gulliver Torpedo boat I saw online looks ace.

It reminds me a lot of a huge Italian toy I bought from a local boot sale earlier in the year.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2019/04/car-boat-sale-italian-missile-boat.html

I had every intention of repairing my box this holiday but just didn't get round to it.

Have you got toys and boxes waiting for repairs?

Or a torpedo boat?

TARHEEL CAPTAIN SCARLET

I've always been hugely excited by the Tarheel Project SWORD Spectrum Patrol Car.

We've featured it on display at the Hamilton Toy Collection.

For those interested this webpage looks like the original sale listing of the toy on Worthpoint some years ago.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/spectrum-patrol-car-vintage-tv-series-534247757

As we know this is one of two Century 21 Captain Scarlet toys repackaged as Tarheel, the other being a Dart Set.

Do you know of any other Tarheel Captain Scarlet toys?

SPACE MEN PARACHUTIST

I noticed this SPACE MEN parachutist and thought, hmmm, that looks like the LP Astronaut clutching his rifle.

What do you think?

Did you have a space figure like this?