CARDED ANGEL

 

This is a nifty Japanese model Angel Interceptor I saw on Noppin.

Have you seen it before readers?

SMALL PASETAS

Spanish kids did well for toy s if the old catalogues are anything to go by.

I love that big tinplate police car by Rico. I wonder how much 690 Pasetas was in 1968?

Did you have anything like that readers? Any toy police cars at all?

FOCUS ON THE RETRO SWIFT BY SIXTEEN 12

 I couldn’t resist taking a few more photos of the new Sixteen 12 Retro Swift, in more suitable surroundings.

Although the model uses the same tooling as Sixteen 12’s other more highly detailed and accurately coloured Swift, this one is designed to look like a toy, in the same vein as their other ‘Dinky toys’ inspired Retro releases. It simply imagines what a Swift might have looked like if Dinky had released one back in the day, taking into account their way- off inaccurate colours!

It’s fair to say that opinion is very much divided over this latest addition to the Sixteen 12 Retro line up.

In some ways I can understand some of it. The original Dinky Eagles, which in spite of their infamously inaccurate green and blue colours, have a genuine nostalgic appeal, which is intended to transfer to the Sixteen 12 Retro Eagles. As Dinky never did a Swift ,it obviously can’t have that same appeal!

Of course, as with most niche products, it's not cheap, and no one’s being forced to buy it. Naturally, it doesn’t stop some people from voicing their dissatisfaction in no uncertain terms on social media, with the striking paint scheme being the main the bone of contention with many.

However, I should add a fair number of others

don't mind this alternative look.

To be honest when I first saw photos of the proposed model last year, I thought the colours were too garish, but didn’t dismiss it out of hand, and over time I’ve warmed to it. It’s certainly different , and while I’ll admit, I prefer the highly detailed ‘proper’ version, I have to say if something like this had been an actual Dinky release back in the mid seventies it's more than likely I'd have bought it!

As I mentioned on a previous Retro Swift post, the model has a limited run of just 300, and some are wondering just how well it’s selling. I’m pleased to hear that it’s apparently selling very well, and remarkably all 300 are almost gone!

Like others in the Sixteen 12 Retro range, the model maintains it’s Dinky toy look with a folded cardboard display plinth and clear acetate cover.

Although the Swift actually appeared in the Space: 1999 second season episode, Brian the Brain, which originally aired in on UK TV in 1976, the box retains the year 1975 on the cover, obviously to keep it in line with the packaging design for Sixteen 12’s Retro Eagle Transporter, and Freighter, which to my mind is perfectly understandable. 

  

HALT! EPOCH RAUMSCHIFF TAXI

I saw this on auction recently, a neat German flying space taxi. have you seen anything like it readers?

THE MAN IN THE MOON: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH LEWIS'S KENN

Hi Woodsie, here are some behind the scenes pics from my all 3D printed Kenn on the Moon extravaganza.

It all started with this Art Toy mash-up with Ken as Matt Mason, but it quickly grew out of control with a cast of characters and a bunch of designs featured here, which are still only computer graphic renders at this point.

Ken started off as a full digital sculpt and once I had the basic body, I stretched it and distorted it into all the other characters.

Here's what they look like with their helmets off...

I was really down to the wire, and Ken's Buggy looks pretty sweet from above, but where the sun don't shine it's pretty ugly!

And people ask "Where do I get my ideas from?" Well, mostly the toys I never had as a kid!

Hope you've enjoyed this Moonbasers...

When I get around to printing out my other designs, you'll be the first to know!

 Cheers, 

Looey

OZ

VOICE OVER

I recently purchased this second hand action figure. This fella's from the old Voice Squad toy line by Toy Island 1991.

This chap's called Dragon King and had three button-activated sounds. They didn't really function when I got this example, a croaky voice and crackling noise, but some new batteries and a spray of WD40 on the contacts did the trick. Dragon King was saying Halt Who Goes There confidently once again.

I remember these in the discount shops back in the mid-90's and I've had a couple of loose figures over the years as the button-activated sounds are quite fun and an interesting gimmick.

There are a number of sub-ranges of Toy Island's Voice Squad line such as Pirates and at some point this year MC will run a feature on them all.

Is Voice Squad something you've come across?

THAT'S IT FOLKS! GORGO'S GONE!

 

Hope you enjoyed Gorgo week readers?

Special thanks go to Paul Adams of NZ for all his fab contributions to this special week.

Till the next monster week .....

GORGO Week Extra: A Tale of Two Monks: Rasputin and Monarch by Paul Adams

I have been looking in to the history of Monarch Books, and trying to compile a list of their film and TV tie-in novels, as not all are grouped together in the Monarch Movie Book series. It has been claimed that one of these was Monarch Books 241, Rasputin: The Mad Monk. Presumably based on the Hammer film of the same name.

I quickly realised that this was doubtful, and further digging made it even more unlikely. 

Rasputin: The Mad Monk, by Stuart Friedman, Monarch Books Inc., was published in March 1962. Cover painting by Bob Maguire. The cover states First Publication Anywhere. Retail price 35 cents in the USA.

The Monarch Books address is given as Division Street, Derby, Connecticut, USA, rather than the Capital Building, Derby, as in earlier books.

My reasons for doubting this is a movie tie-in book are as follows:

No movie tie-in is mentioned anywhere on the front or back cover, or inside on the title or copyright pages.

No mention of Hammer, or any other film or distribution company.

The book was published in March 1962, but the Hammer film was not released until March 1966 (it was made in 1965). Book publication and film release dates do not always match, but four years is a pretty big gap.

The copyright page states 'A Monarch Non-Fiction Headliner'. So it was non-fiction, while the Hammer film was a fictionalised account of real events.

Monarch book numbers are confusing, as fiction and non-fiction titles are mixed together. The 241 number is therefore no help here.

The Wikipedia entry for Monarch Books claims Rasputin is based on the Hammer film, but gets the publication date wrong, stating 1959 when it was 1962; and lists it as a novel.

Only someone who has actually read the book could say categorically if it is, or is not, based on the Hammer film.

There was a novelisation of the Hammer film by John Burke, part of The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus (1967). This contained novelisations of four Hammer films: The Reptile; Dracula - Prince of Darkness; Rasputin - The Mad Monk; and The Plague of the Zombies.

This was Pan Books Ltd, M223. 

There was a 2nd Printing in 1974, with a different cover.

Four photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand