MOONBASE CENTRAL

Sunday, 27 November 2022

JOHNNY LIGHTNING LOST IN SPACE ROBOT

Some previously published photos I took of the Johnny Lightning Lost in Space Robot.

SUNNY SMILES DOWN THE SECOND HAND TOY AISLES

There was further mooching in a local town yesterday.

One charity shop had this bookcase full of old stuff including an interesting yellow plastic Easy Adder, which I'd never seen before.

The Fuzzy Felt Fairy Tales caught my eye too. There was always a Fuzzy Felt set on the go when I was a kid like the Farm or the Zoo.

Another shop was selling bundles of plastic figures, which I snapped up as I thought they looked interesting, mostly Fortnite and Roblox.

The large big Optimal Optimus at the back came home with us as did the Power Rangers robot.

The biggest purchase of the day were these large mint boxed Strike Force vehicles by Sunny Smile, the US Jeep and the Patrol Boat. For Action Man and similar 12 inch figures I was pleased with these and thought the £15 each reasonable for a Charity shop.

Reminiscent of the classic Cherilea vehicles I had as a kid for my Action Man, I bought and sold quite a few Sunny Smile vehicles like the truck and tank in the noughties but I've never got hold of them mint and boxed like these.

Would any of these been of interest to you readers?

Did you ever own any Sunny Smile vehicles or the earlier Cherilea toys?

JOHNNY LIGHTNING LOST IN SPACE SPACE POD

Some previously published photos I took of the Johnny Lighting Lost in Space Space Pod outside of its bubble packaging.

JOHNNY LIGHTNING LOST IN SPACE JUPITER 2

Some previously published photos I took of the Johnny Lightning Lost in Space JUPITER 2, outside of it's bubble packaging of course.

I Thought it Was Tai Hing!

A few years aback I posted this page of Tai Hing toys, some of which I have at Moonbase but also some of which we have never seen before or since on the blog.

One of those is the prone soldier lying down with his rifle. Its impossible to guess how big or in what form these soldiers are - like Airfix or much bigger? - but this one on the Bay recently caught my eye.

I thought I was onto something but I don't think its the same toy. The model numbers are wrong and there's no sign of the Tai Hing logo.

Do you agree?

Ah well, at ease soldier.

Did you get a toy like this one Christmas?

Saturday, 26 November 2022

RESIN ZERO X MEV

Here's another look at the small resin MEV which was sold by the Gerry Anderson store a few years ago.

I went for the spookier Century 21 Mars surface look rather than what we now know it really looks like!

Ancient Aliens: King Crater the First

Kelloggs Crater Critters, which dropped into kids cereal in 1970, have featured many times on the blog and are one of the most iconic little toys from my childhood. Due to their small size and disposable nature, they can be very hard to find today. Originally produced by Rosenhain and Lippman for the cereal giant, Kelloggs, they were one of the many little toys which came free with Sugar Smacks and other cereals for more than a decade.

As the branded cereal was quite expensive back in the day, I couldn't get my mum to buy it often, as I wouldn't eat the sickly sweet nuggets and just wanted the toy. In fact I was only granted one box, which luckily had two critters in the box - Glubber and Gloob.

Naturally, I had to have the full set and took to my network of schoolmates for swaps in the playground for other bits and pieces. Eventually, I managed to gather another two figures, the legendary King Crater (sans the elusive crown and Miss Venus). When I got Miss Venus, I was so pleased with myself, I got in from school and arranged them all on the mantlepiece - but unfortunately, Miss Venus took a tumble and ended up in the grate and I watched horrified as she was consumed by the fire.

Many decades later, I found a set of reproductions from Mexico, as when R & L ceased trading, the original dies and molds found their way over to Mexico and were used to turn out modern versions of the toys in slightly gaudier plastic. At last I had a full set, if only modern casts. Then, while searching for more information online about the range, I ran into one 'Astronit' a collector with a vast knowledge of the industry and an enviable collection of monsters, premiums and all manner of ephemera. Have a look at his Flickr stream, but be prepared to stay a while!:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/astronit/

I contacted Astronit, who is a US based fan, called Mike Speth. Mike kindly expanded my knowledge and my hoard considerably, generously spending considerable time giving me background on all manner of plastic and rubber space toys. During the course of our chat, I discovered that Crater Critters also appeared in Japan - with some quite notable differences and two completely different creatures.

Europe/USA release

Since then, I have had the Critter ranks swollen with the addition of more original premiums, courtesy of Andy B, who kindly provided me with almost a full set! Just recently, I came across two more in another loose toy lot, which matched the two I had got in the cereal box all those years ago, even down to the colour. With renewed interest, I emailed Mike again this month and he surprised me yet again by telling me he had found a full set of the original japanese premiums.

What was even more exciting was that he had discovered a different cereal offer, from 1962, which he felt was the basis for the design of the Critters themselves. Japanese children were invited to 'design an alien' for a 'Cornfrost' cereal based competition and some of the illustrations on the early box were very reminiscent of Miss Venus and King Crater.

'Design an Alien' Panel

He explained that the japanese Crater Critter line arrived five years before the standard line and R&L borrowed the idea and remade the figures to their own specification. The original figures have 'Kelloggs' and their name embossed on them, whereas the 1970 versions are blank. Mike also had a translation made of the box itself, to find out the names of the japanese creatures!

Merry Alien with 'Kelloggs' logo and name on back

TRANSLATION OF THE CORNFLAKES BOX

1962 CORNFROST 'DESIGN AN ALIEN' BOX

GLOOB

GLUBBER

JODRELL JIM

LUNARTIC

BUGSY BACKBONE

UPSY DOWNSY

MISS VENUS

KING CRATER

Notice the differences in the style of the figures, between the original japanese molds and the later R&L designs. Probably the most prominent is the Kings leg arrangement, with one leg foremost under the chin! Octopus/Miss Venus has more pronounced tentacles and the others have different facial expressions. The 'Munch' and 'Rolling' alien have a much more 'childlike' appearance and may well have originated in response to the Cornfrost competition entries. The simple blob-like bodies are strikingly similar again to the designs on the box back, shown above.