#746 M.A.S.K. - FIREFLY with JULIO LOPEZ/ STREAMER (1986)

In the second series, M.A.S.K. issued 8 more vehicles, more or less the same number than in the first wave, including new types of vehicles, which were chosen probably for being as different from the ones in the first wave as possible.

An so we got a dune buggy. This type of car was somehow popular in the 80s, with some dirt races and circuits in the U.S. and other countries. I remember watching some races on TV. I haven't seen them for years, wo I guess, they are not celebrated anymore. Buggys are today almost forgotten, probably because of security issues, since they seem to be very dangerous cars.

Despite that, I love the Firefly, a Buggy that transforms into a jet. The buggy itself has every detail: from the side mirrors to the exhaust pipes, the front spoiler, the not-round steering wheel... it looks awesome.

The jet is somehow more strange, but it still looks like some flying thing with huge turbines behind, long wings and several small guns.

Behind the pilot seat, there is a compartment that hosts a bomb. In flight modus, it can be dropped off by pushing one lever on the top of the vehicle. Anything that is designed to be dropped off gets lost easily, so it was a great luck to find one of these. Now I can show this vehicle 100% complete (well, almost, one of the wing guns has a broken tip).

The figure that comes with the vehicle is Julio Lopez, a new character with hispanic roots. Most toylines, after the initial success tried to present characters from ethnic minorities or other nationalities, and M.A.S.K. is a ood example. This is a great chance to enter foreign markets, mostly in Europe or South America.

Taken from a German M.A.S.K. Comic Book

The mask is Streamer, and, as most masks in the series, is not "mortal". This one pretends to release super-tack glue.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: FIREFLY with JULIO LOPEZ/ STREAMER
• Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 2)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the vehicle: Around 6'' or 15 cm
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#745 ANGUPLAS/ MINI CARS - SEAT 1400 (Nr. 2) (1958)

 

I wanted to write an article about this brand, but when looking for information about them, I have found that the guys from 87thscale have already summarized a short history of the company and a complete list of references, with the help of Juan Mauri Cruz, one of the most important collectors of this brand worldwide. He has also written a comprehensive book (over 400 pages) about the company that is being sold in very few places for around 42 Euros.

 

The most interesting part of the history of Anguplas is its relation with Norev. Angupas made ome models for Norev, assembled others and sold Norev's in Spain. It is interesting to find some "mini-cars" made in France and some Norev madein Spain, although not every model had both versions. There were even sets that combined one truck from one maker and a trailer from the other one.
 

 

From the very few models I own by Anguplas, this one has the lowest reference number (nr.2) and is the oldest of them. It is made in greyish blue and, as you can see, has a few details painted in other colours. Red lights, silver base,  silber bumpers and silver front grill. The model has a very good detail level for its small size and has even windows.

 

Apparently, Anguplas made each car in several colours, so many collectors are just looking for all possible variations. This is quite a difficult task to achieve.
 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SEAT 1400 (Nr. 2)
• Scale: Approx. 1:87 (H0)
• Year: 1958
• Company: Anguplas/ Mini-Cars (Spain)
• Size: approx. 4 cm

#744 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER - BASKET FEVER PVC FIGURES (1993)

This plastic figures were made in 1992 and are marked (C) D´Ocon 1992. Interestingly, there is no manufacturer marking on the back of the figures and collectors in Spain argue if the manufacturer was Comics Spain or not. The figures are identical to these: same plastic, same paint, similar design, but the company in 1992 has some economic problems as I explained in entry #267. This would make some sense if they did this figures using a second company in order to cash the money and avoid paying other debts. One detail here is that in 1997, together with Comics Spain there were other two companies that were precincted and closed.

Curiously, that same year it would be another D'Ocon production (Delfy) that would cause the end of Comics Spain.

It will probably take a few years more until we find somebody involved in the casting or manufacturing of these figures and we know the rest of the story. No matter what, the figures  are really great and represent characters from the Spanish cartoon series "Basket Fever" or "Locos por el Basket".

This series was produced by the Public Spanish TV (TVE), the ACB League (professional basketball league) and the Spanish Basketball Federation to promote basketball and sports among children. The main character, a grasshopper was also the official mascot of the ACB league.

Charlie and Hooper

The cartoons´ script dealt with two rival gangs who instead of fighting decide to play sports for the control of the block. One of the gangs is formed by respectable, nice and kind dogs, and the other one are crook and troublemaker dogs. The grasshopper arrives and joins the first group, and will have the idea to play basketball with the rival gang.

Linda

The good guys gang is called "dinamics". Although in the original series there were more characters, these are the ones made in PVC:

-Mike (a.k.a. Boss): Gang Leader

-Linda: Gang member

-Hooper: The grasshopper, newest member of the gang

-Sargent: Trainer (I do not have the figure yet!)

The bad guys gang is called "quebrantahuesos". This name literally means "the bonecrushers", but it is also the common name in Spanish for the bearded Vulture, a bird that can be found in many places around Spain.

-Charlie (a.k.a. Kilo): Gang Leader

-Yvonne: Gang member and Charlie´s girlfriend

-Rapper: Gang member

-O'Rejas: Trainer

Boss and Ivonne

Unfortunately, there are other characters that do not got their figure. In the dinamics gang: Freddie (a.k.a. Krueger) and Plasta, and for the Quebrantahuesos team: Paccino and the Destroyer. With these figures we would have 2 five member teams and two trainers, and thus we could have played 5 on 5 basketball games.

Rapper and O'Rejas

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: HOOPER, BOSS, LINDA, CHARLIE, YVONNE, RAPPER and O'REJAS.
• Year: 1992
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer, maybe Comics Spain (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 7 cm (between  2’’ and 3’’)

#743 NEUE NÜRNBERGER SPIELKARTEN – GEHEIMNISSE DES MEERES (Around 1978)

During my childhood I recall watching many documentary features on TV about Jacques Cousteau, the great French researcher of oceans and sea life. They were aired almost constantly, so I guess in the 70s these were even more popular. Underwater videos of creatures are fascinating, so I can imagine many people enjoying the shows on TV and also playing these cards afterwards.

As you can see on the cover, this set is devoted to the Indic Ocean and the Red Sea. Maybe there are other decks devoted to other oceans. The guy on the left is Jacques Cousteau.

The set was first edited in 1975 with the reference number 628, but later reissued with reference 266310, maybe 3 to 4 years later. The reissue has 8 families, one less than the original release.

 

The card was manufactured in Germany by Heinrich Schwarz and Neue Nürnberger Spielkarten, a company that has never appeared before in our blog. It was founded in 1948 in Nuremberg and bought by FX Schmid in 1989. It became a subsidiary with the new name Nürnberger Spielkarten GmbH.

Heinrich Schwarz was only the director for a few years; at the end of the 50s, Gisela Herfurth took over the direction of the company until 1989.

Later, FX Schmid was absorved by competitor Ravensburger and the company got a second life as an autonomous card manufacturer since 1995. I don’t know if the new company has anything in common with the old one, but the logo is almost identical and now is called NSV (Nürnberger Spielkarten Verlag). Thez managed to create some really good card games in the lasft few years, like Quixx (2012) and The Game (2015), and reissued other older games that I consider quite good, like Sticheln (1993), Land Unten (1997, previously known as Zum Kuckuck -1988-).

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: GEHEIMNISSE DES MEERES (Nr. 266310)
• Year: Around 1978
• Company: Neue Nürnberger Spielkarten (West Germany)

#742 MATCHBOX – LAMBORGHINI MIURA and MERCURY POLICE (Nr. 33 and 55) (1969)

MATCHBOX AUTO-STEER

This feature was adapted for some Matchbox models in the regular wheels era. These models are quite rare, since they were probably a bit more expensive to produce, and they were produced only during one year. It was in 1969, that Matchbox decided to release a few models with this new feature. The models, as seen in a German catalogue were:

• Nr.3 Mercedes Benz “Binz” Ambulance
• Nr.6 Ford Pick Up
• Nr.15 Volkswagen 1500
• Nr.18 Field car
• Nr.25 Ford Cortina GT
• Nr.33 Lamborghini Miura
• Nr.50 Ford Kennel Truck
• Nr.55 Mercury Police
• Nr.62 Mercury Cougar

The catalogue from 1970 does not show these models with the Auto-steer symbol, so I assume the feature was cancelled very soon, in less than one year. That means there was probably just one batch of each moel made, and probably not in especially high numbers.

The Auto-Steer feature allows you driving and steering the car by pushing (down) on either sides of it, just like if it was a skateboard. The card turns left or right if pushed and straight if not pushed down.

I present two nice models from the early 70s. One is already known, since I presented it a long time ago in a previous entry (see #69). By the way, that model is the ultra-rare “tow-slot” version! The Miura was reproduced by Matchbox during many consecutive years and was one of the models that was made with regular and superfast wheels (was in production during the transition from one type of wheels to the other).

The second one is the Mercury in its Police version with blue siren and two figures inside.

Both are in very good condition with almost no paint loss. I love these two models I wish I could find more auto-steer models.

As a curiosity, I also presented cars with the same feature in entry #204, only those were much more modern and made by Majorette of France.

UPDATE (JAN/2017): Two more models. Mercury (Nr.55) and Mercury Cougar (Nr.62).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAMBORGHINI MIURA and MERCURY POLICE (Nr. 33 and 55)
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1969
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#741 STAR WARS – REBEL COMMANDO vs DENGAR (1981 and 1983)

Until now, I always showed figures together belonging to the same series, but this time, I made a mistake, I took the pictures of Dengar (a character from the Empire Strikes Back) together with Rebel Commando (from the Return of the Jedi). Now that the job is done, I will simply comment the figures until the next entry.

Dengar is one of the bounty hunters hired by Jabba the Hut, but despite being quite recognisable, has a rather secondary role in the movie and appear only during a short time on the screen. The figure came with a long blue rifle, but mine is a repro part. The figure is a bit shorter than others in this collection. Having different sizes is something great that I miss in other toylines like G.I.Joe: ARAH or Masters of the Universe. The fgure also looks great in this small snow diorama shown in entry #640.

The Rebel Commando is the rebel troop for the last battle in Endor and is collected and "armybuilt" by many collectors, since they need a big army to fight the imperial troops. The weapon of this figure is original and I got it through my friend Pablo from Coleccionismo80-90. I love this figure for its simplicity, a guy in a green overall with a helmet. I wish I had a few of them, a small army.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: REBEL COMMANDO and DENGAR
• Toy Line: Star Wars (The Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back)
• Year: 1983 and 1981
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 9,5 cm (3 3/4'')

#740 SCALEXTRIC – MERCEDES WANKEL C-111 (Ref. 4044) (1970)

The Mercedes Wankel was one of those legendary concept cars of the 70s, from which only a few units were made. Most accurately, there were 4 versions, that were made between 1969 and 1979.

It included revolutionary advances in their motors, like the Wankel and diesel motors as well as motors with turbocompressors, and avant-garde features like gullwing doors, air conditioning and carbon fiber body.

The car was fast like hell, it broke several speed records thanks to its powerful motors, and of course, it was a car that appeared on the press and TV, gaining a certain popularity those days. That made many toy manufacturers to put their attention in this model to reproduce it on different scales.

Scalextric did a wonderful job turning this model into a 1:32 slot car. It was released in 1970 (it corresponds to the first C-111 version from 1969). The car was available in green, orange, white and yellow, although there is a rare “red-ish” version. This rarity could be explained in which the orange plastic mixed a little bit with red plastic from other models, or maybe there was a mistake and somebody feed the injection machine with the wrong colour.during the production. The fact is that several units came with a colour which looks more like red, and they are scarce. If the guys at Exin noticed that, maybe many red models were destroyed or recycled into new models.

So far about the car model. Notice I also have the original box (with yellow dot) in very good shape and the instruction sheet. This is the one I show in my blog, because I never worried about not having them, and I do not dare buying them online because thez have been reproduced and you never know if the one you’re buying is original or not, until you have it on your hands and analyse it through a powerful magnifying glass.

The complete document comprises 4 pages with an approximate A5 size (each page).

I love this piece of paper. Note that the illustrations are made specifically for the Mercedes, every reference had its specific drawings. Most sheets found today are bent in the middle and the paper has yellowed a little bit, but this is not a problem for me. The fake instructions are also artificially yellowed and bent, making them almost indistinguishable from the original ones.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: MERCEDES WANKEL C-111 (Ref. 4044)
• Scale: 1:32
• Year: 1970
• Company: Scalextric Exin (Spain)
• Size: approx. 12 cm