KNOCK-OFF GOLD

I love this particular knock-off's name. Robert Cop II. ha ha. That's priceless!

https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/superhero-knockoffs

Do you know any good knock-off names?

ANIMATED ZERO-X

I love Marcus Morgan's OX animated clip based on Thunderbirds are Go. What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JaWIKlpH3Q

Marx Man From UNCLE Figures

Hi

           Here is a You Tube video from The Toy Room which features a Marx playset, with WW2 US and German troops. The German tank looks a little like a Panther. There is also a demonstration of an 'exploding' machine-gun nest. After this, the video looks at other Marx plastic figures, in various sizes. At 10:22 there is a pair of Man From UNCLE figures; a range called Nutty Mads, which resemble the Hawk Weird-Ohs; and a line called Campus Cuties.

18 The Toy Room - "Marx Battleground Playset" - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

To cap it all off...

Hello again! 

I was just thinking about my typographic jokes and references while I was doing the washing up. 

I noticed these two bottle caps, the 60s one on the left was brought out from the UK when my mother emigrated. 

The other is an early 3D printing experiment using flexible resins and is my tribute to her and a lifetime's memories of the way she'd store brewed coffee in a glass milk bottle (long after they'd been replaced with cardboard cartons) sealed with that cap.

The typographic reference?

The word HYGIENIC is in Stingray font!

Lewis M,

Oz

BOAT LOADS OF FUN

Have a look at this report on the collection of toy boats at the Mikkelson Museum in MN, USA. Its an awesome flotilla of wood and plastic for the enjoyment of kids. I loved toy boats as a kid and still do. Do you readers?

https://www.woodyboater.com/blog/2010/10/29/mikkelson-collection-tour-a-treasure-chest-of-toy-boats/

I have a feeling all these were sold at auction in 2012.

FIVE STAR FIVE PROP

 

I have to admit knowing very little about Five Star Five.

So when I saw this small prop that had been auctioned by Vectis at some point I was pleasantly surprised by its design, both huge-looking and very industrial. It recalls the stained rig-like sprawl of the Nostromo. I'm unsure of its name.

This made sense when I read that ALIEN designer Jon Sorenson had actually made the prop.

Five Star Five was a Gerry Anderson feature film project in the late Seventies, which was ultimately shelved.

You can read more about it and see some of Martin Bower's designs on the Catacombs site https://catacombs.space1999.net/plus/dt/5star5/vcp5star5.html

Gerry's son Jamie owns the rights to Five Star Five and has produced a novelisation in both hardback and CD formats.

https://shop.gerryanderson.com/collections/five-star-five

Are you aware of Five Star Five?

A View Master History

Here is a short, but very interesting, history of the View-Master from You Tube. From the very beginning of the idea in 1938, to its launch in 1939. It looks at the different models of viewer, their use as a training aid for US servicemen in WW2, and how the 3-D effect was achieved. Cartoons and other flat subjects were re-done using models in scenic settings. The behind-the-scenes photographs of these are very enlightening.

I had a Model G viewer, which was a Christmas present, I think in the early 1970s.

Collecting View-Master l COLLECTOR GUYS - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

TELLY WATCHING

Snatching some TV watching between home improvements, I've seen a few things of late.

John Carpenter's The Things always impresses. The pace is just superb. I also like the glimpses of the alien ship we get as its sat in the ancient ice sheet. I do9n't think we see all of it. Has anyone any idea what the whole ship looks like?

Me and the Missus have embarked on a Stranger Things journey together. Boarding at the start of Series 1 we have got to episode 5. Its unusual for the Missus to watch Sci Fi so I'm unsure how far we'll get watching together! Stranger fingers crossed! Are you watching?

The other Strange, the Doctor and his recent outing in the Multiverse, left me a bit bamboozled, what with all the swirls and curls of light. I got a third of the way and fell asleep. I'll catch up one day but I'm not champing at the multibit. Have you seen it?

Last but not least is Obi Wan Kenobi, the new series on Disney+. My mate Mark recommended it because I like the first 3 original Star Wars films. I gave the first episode a bash and yes, I liked it. Have you seen it readers? 

Have you seen anything of late readers?