MOONBASE CENTRAL

Monday, 15 February 2021

WILL OSBORNE'S TRIANG LUNA-CY

This Triang Luna-cy game has a hemispherical moon that you fire the rockets into.

A Few Days Until NASA’s Mars Rover Landing

Will you be watching Moonbasers?

Anyone got any toys or dioramas that could recreate/celebrate this rover landing?

This is from NASA:

Get Ready to Watch the Mars Landing Show

On Thursday, Feb. 18, NASA's Mars Perseverance rover will touch down on the Red Planet. Tune in to watch the landing broadcast starting at 11:15 a.m. PST / 2:15 p.m. EST / 19:15 UTC.

Try NASA's home simulation!

Have fun, and help us celebrate Perseverance's arrival on Mars!

mars.nasa.gov

Follow our newest rover, Perseverance:

NASA Mars

NASA's Mars Public Engagement Team

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

WILL OSBORNE'S MARX MOON SETS

Some pictures of my Marx toys moon sets.

Will.

Sunday, 14 February 2021

FOUR THOMAS SPACEMEN

I saw these on Etsy or Ebay earlier in the year and thought I'd save the pics because these spacemen are new to me.

Described as Thomas Spacemen I really don't think I've seen them before. They look intriguing too.

This first one is like a gunslinger with cowboy style trousers.

This one has a sort of duck face, almost Tusken Raider. The weapon looks like a Third Reich stick grenade!

This third one is more classically Buck Rogers-ish or Flash Gordon.

This final one has a lovely blue sheen and looks female, with a hint of Metropolis's Maria maybe.

Anyone know anything about Thomas spacemen?

Just watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Moonbase Junior. Its an amazing animated cartoon considering how old it is. I can't imagine that Disney ever made a more nasty villain than the evil queen. My young grandson covered his face!

Collectables from that original film must be scarce as hen's teeth. I wonder if there was an animated feature before it anywhere?

I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUEDO

Hi Woodsy,

I just came across these two items, a history of the board game Cluedo, or Clue in America, and its variations, some of which were based on various TV shows. This covers the different suspects, murder weapons, and rooms that have existed over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4b2mFHB20A

and a review of the film of the game - Clue (1985).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjYfSh7tZw

I have never played the game.

Yours Sincerely,
Paul Adams from New Zealand

Have you got a Clue or Cluedo board game? Did you have one as a kid?

Saturday, 13 February 2021

GEEK SALAD JABBERWOCKY

Nearly everyone I know here in England have been vaccinated [or should that be 'has'?].Me and the Missus are just waiting our turn now. Its all very sci-fi but scarily real. Have you been jabbed for Corona?

NASA are dropping another car on Mars next week. I've not had time to look into this but I'm hoping our resident space correspondent Wotan will bring us all up to speed. I wonder if the new rover will bump into Curiosity, two mates on Mars? That's how I think, sorry!

Moonbase Junior had an online Zoom class today whilst here at Moonbase. It was with a professor from Mini Professors. Science for small kids. It was great fun and they made fake blood with cheerio red blood cells and even a working heart with a balloon and straws. Part of the mailed kit was a real stethoscope. for listening to Junior's heartbeat. It was terrific all round and a great way to spend an hour on Saturday morning. One thing we didn't know was that a stethoscope has an on-off switch!

We visited a local ruined castle today for our daily walk, Pontefract Castle, which was for short time in the past the English capital as King Richard was imprisoned there! It had to be the coldest day for ages and after half an hour we had to seek warmth in the nearby B&M and Poundstretcher stores, a welcome retail therapy amidst the domestic monotony of lockdown number 3 in England.

Moonbase Junior wanted some Pokemon figures but they'd run out so he bought a six inch Iron Man figure. He loves Iron Man as much as Superman and Batman. I was sorely tempted to buy a small blister carded Shazam action figure, as it so reminded me of the DC Super Powers line of toy figures from the mid-Eighties, probably the best range of DC figures ever. I passed.

In Poundstretcher I saw blister carded discount toys from 2010 for a range called Kung Zhu. Apparently these were pieces of armour for hamsters! Surely not real ones! Mint and sealed for just 49p, the blisters felt like a bargain and I realised I still love clearance lines like I did in the 90's when I scoured shops for them for my mail order toy business! Anyone know this line, Kung Zhu?

Speaking of selling toys I seem to be having trouble with Hermes the courier. Their tracking facility doesn't work on their website. You type in the receipt number from the Post Office and nada. No details! Its worrying and frustrating as I have to use Hermes for some larger items I sell. Have you had this experience?

Band of Bruders

As a follow on from the earlier post about Bruder Astro toys, here are some of my collection. Generally speaking, there are eight distinct vehicles, all about 2" long. These were generally sold in clear plastic countertop boxes. They would often appear with farm vehicles, boats or planes, or less often with trains.

The colour scheme is almost always a combination of blue/white and silver, mixed up throughout the models, but the larger vehicles also come in a green/purple/orange mix.

Where the story becomes a little cloudy is the addition of cake topper versions of the toys, which appear to be copies of the West German toys, using slightly simpler mouldings and slightly inferior quality plastic.

Alongside these appear yet another range of smaller versions, again unbranded, which echo their larger siblings.

To confuse things even further, an extended range of models appeared in Kinder Eggs in the 90's made by Giodi, the company responsible for some of the better miniature models. These tended to be on the same scale as the smaller copies.