Toys from the Past: 08/01/2020

Monday, August 24, 2020

#956 TMNT - TRICERATON + WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE (1990)

These two figures are the only ones that I have completed so far from series 3. Like every other TMNT fan, I adore the figures from the Playmates toyline that represent other characters than the four turtles and the other main characters. They are so well designed: colourful, funny, with great playability (for example, unlike theturtles, most of them are very easy to set them standing) and cool accesories.

I am observing that the line is gaining value in the last months and some figures are really expensive already. Will this trend continue?

Well, the two figures today are:

TRICERATON:

Most mutant characters from the TMNT universe are humanoid animals living today, but in this case, it is a dinosaur. It looks like a crazy Playmates idea, but it is actually already in the very first issues of Eastman and Laird´s. Actually they are living on some other planet in Dimension X and are intelligent beings. There are many of these, although in the comic, they are wearing a different suit and look slightly more aggressive.

The figure comes with a grey belt and two rather big blue guns, that contrast with its orange skin.
It is an enemy of the Turtles

WINGNUT:

Wingnut is a bat, and Screwloose is a mosquito, maybe two of the strangest creatures in the toyline, because, how do you make a bat look human? It has strange proportions, with short legs, big belly, and the strangest of all is its head, and more particularly, its nose.

Besides the small Screwloose, the blister pack included two mechanic wings, in which we could insert a revolver and a grenade, both in light yellow, and a yellow belt.

From this figure I also have the bio-card, cut from the original blisterpack in English. These are very funny to read, as they always include many jokes and puns. Although I have this notes about its background and origins, I am still unsure if the figure actually appears in the comic books at some time, or if, in this case, it is a Playmates invention.

Wingnut is a friend and helper of the Turtles.

FACTS and FIGURES:

Name: TRICERATON + WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE
Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) (Waves 3)
Year: 1990
Company: Playmates (U.S.A.)
Size of the figures: 3.75’’ or 9,75 cm

Friday, August 7, 2020

#955 HIGH SPEED PULLBACK - ABARTH 2000, FORD ZAKSPEED CAPRI and TRANS AM (W13, W15 and W16) (around 1986)

Thanks to my friend Steven, who corrected me here.

These cars are not Summer/S.M., but High Speed. For some reason I got them wrong in my collection and so I passed the error to this entry. I will try to write some alternative text to it, since it is the first time that High Speed appears in the blog.

I have to say, that these High Speed are Summer knock-offs, so maybe that is where the confusion comes from. To my knowledge, all Summer/S.M. cars are marked with the brand name or the logo, so, if not marked, as in this case, they are not made by S.M.

Sorry for the confusion!

The first Summer/S.M. cars I ever had were two pull-back cars in 3 inches size. My father got them for me in the year 1990 or so. One of them was a dark blue BMW M1 with white tampographies and the second one a Mercedes (500 SEC?) in green, also with tampographies. Compared to my Guisvals, Matchbox, Tomicas and so on were objectively ugly. I think I still have one of them somewhere, but I do not know where did my father get them from, where did he buy them (might have been abroad). That was the first time I saw an S.M. product.

~~This series seems to be slightly different to me, but may also belong to the same. The models presented here are recent acquisitions, I bought them altogether in a flea market.~~

The models are well done, mostly compared to other newer Summer models, so I thought I would include them in my collection. They are Made in Hong-Kong and are based on own casts. I even like the tampographies and the colours used. Nice sport cars!

W13 ABARTH 2000 (1:66)