#940 FIGURAS EN ACCIÓN (F.E.A.) Nr. 21 + HE-MAN and THE MEMORY STONE + DAS SPIELZEUG + SPIELZEUG INTERNATIONAL

FIGURAS EN ACCIÓN (F.E.A.) Nr. 21

The publication celebrates this month its tenth anniversary. It was exactly 10 years ago, that the first issue was published. If you look at that first issue today and compare it with this very last issue, you will find many differences. I tried to explain a bit how was the development and the evolution of the magazine. Many people have worked on it and brought their ideas to this project.

We also bring other articles about Nacoral die-cast and plastic models in 1:43 scale, Androids and Invaders by Redondo, Furby (the robotic pet), a curious board game called "La Bola Astral" and finally we interview a cultural association called Tekubi Toy that organizes a great toy event in Albacete.

I hope you like this new issue, let me know if you read it by leaving a comment here or in the official blog of the magazine.

This is the url for the official blog, where zou will find the direct link to the pdf (completely free, not even a registration is required)

HE-MAN and THE MEMORY STONE (LADYBIRD BOOKS)

This was a gift from a friend (thank you Steve!), who probably saw the standard Ladybird books in this blog and decided to send me this one for my collection. I didn´t even know this book existed, because it is much rarer than the previous ones.

It is an adventure book you play with a piece of paper, a pencil and a die. The adventure springs from one point to the next and sometimes you can make a decision on what to do or where to go or maybe you have to fight monsters or evil warriors until you reach Skeletor at the very end. He-Man may "die" during the process, and has to restart the story from the beginning. It is also the first book of this kind I read since 30 years, so it was a nice experience overall, it brought me very good memories.

DAS SPIELZEUG and SPIELZEUG INTERNATIONAL

I borrowed these two magazines and it was an interesting read. They cover all new products and bussiness related information: fairs, retailing and so on. It helped me finding a couple of interesting news that I used in the last issue of Figuras En Acción, but in general, I am not so aware of the brand new toys. It is made for professionals, not for amateurs or collectors, although they will provide a great source of information for collectors in the years to come.

#939 COMANSI / YOLANDA - MAZINGER Z MONOCHROMATIC FIGURES (Around 1989)

I haven´t seen many chapters of Mazinger Z on TV. At the time when I watched cartoons, the series was already a bit old, and there were newer, more attractive options. As a result, I never knew much about the characters or the plot. I liked it, no questions about that, but children didn´t comment it anymore, it had not so many merchandising available and they were aired at times where most children were doing other things (that is, either too early or at the time where children used to go out and play outdoors).

Afrodita, Mazinger y Gelbros J3

I bought these figures in different flea markets and got to have the collection almost complete, just missing two figures. They were made by Yolanda in the late 80s (maybe even in the 90s), although there were a previous version in painted plastic. The monochromatic versions of Yolanda are far less attractive than the painted ones, so I decided to sell some monochromatic collections I had and focus on the others. I also sold my monochromatic Super Monstruos a few years ago.

Conde Brocken y Koji Kabuto

The figures made by Yolanda are 9:

• Mazinger Z: Came in two different versions, from which I only have/had one (walking). The second one had its arms up, in a position that resembles the one that the robot used while flying.
• Afrodita / Afrodite A: Female robot, most remembers for being capable to fire its breasts.
• Koji / Kouji Kabuto: The kid that piloted Mazinger Z from its head. Grandson of the creator of Mazinger Z.
• Dr. Infierno / Dr. Hell: Wants to become the new ruler of the world with an army of mechanical monsters. He is a German research scientist who went mad and killed the rest of the researchers except Dr. Kabuto, who fled to build Mazinger Z.
• Barón Ashler / Baron Ashura: An evil character, right-hand person of Dr. Hell. Half man, half woman.
• Conde Brocken / Count Brocken: Another minion of Dr. Hell, ex-Nazi soldier. Not very bright.
• Two robotic creatures/monsters/enemies called Gelbros J3 and Baras K9. These are for me the most attractive for their design.

Doctor Infierno y Baron Ashler

The most interesting part is that the figures are actually promotional. The came in blind bags that were not sold, but could be won when buying some chocolate eggs from the brand “Tombola” (they were similar to Kinder Surprise). The bag looks like this:

Picture courtesy of El Cuartín de Juguete (elcuartindejuguete.blogspot.com)

In the front part it is clearly indicated that each figure is available in four colours, each of them with a particular “meaning”, in an attempt to make children try to get all figures in all colours. My objective was to get one of each cast, no matter which colour.

Back to the colour and their meanings…

• Purple: The Power of the Fist
• Green: The power of the “Lasser”
• Blue: The Power of the Hurricane
• Metal: The Power of the Force

By the way... note that the Count Brocken figure shown in the pictures is red... so there are alternative colours.

In the back we can read that this toy has been manufactured by Comansi, although the figures are marked with Comansi’s second brand Yolanda. Otherwise there is no logo of the company printed in the bag.

They are relatively easy to find.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Names: MAZINGER Z, AFRODITA, KOJI, DR. INFIERNO, BARON ASHLER, CONDE BROCKEN y GELBROS J3
• Toy Line: Mazinger Z (monochromatic version)
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size: Around 11 cm

#938 CORGI JUNIORS - SPACE SHUTTLE (1980)

I got this model just a few days ago. It came in a lot with other stuff and It is in great shape, so I was lucky to find it.

I had never seen it before, so, to my surprise, I first opened the lids and admired the wheels feature with great astonishment. It is probably the best Corgi Juniors model I have ever seen.

The inside part shows a gold chromed plastic part that represents the equipment of the shuttle (whatever it is, I am not familiar with it). 

Another action feature of this little spaceship is that the landing gear can be locked up (for flight) or down (for take offs and landings), which is a very cool thing considering its size. This action can be triggered from a small hinge in the base.

This version has U.S.A. stickers, although there are other versions. Most notably, a shuttle with yellow stickers from the James Bond film Moonraker. I will try to get that one too, so I have both. 

I also presented a Columbia Shuttle model by Yatming some time ago, but this one is far better (being the Yatming model not bad at all).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SPACE SHUTTLE (5-C)
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: 1980
• Company: Corgi Toys (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#937 BANDAI - TURTLES CHARACTER MINI-MACHINES - PARTY VAN (1990)

With the Ninja Turtles craze came many related articles, some of them from Bandai directly, other from other brands that acquired the rights to put the characters in their products.

I recall seeing these in a shop back in the early 90s in Spain, also coincident with the micro cars trend started by Galoob´s Micro Machines. Note that the car is advertised as a "Mini Machine"!

This van is slightly bigger than a Micro Machine, but considering it is a van, it would still display nicely together. The van comes with a motorised pull-back motor. Such a toy is, of course, very cheap to produce, by the stickers that simulate the Turtle-wagon add a lot of money to the final retail price. Considering the price tag, this is an expensive toy, I guess they did not sell many of it.

The van came is a small blister card, with some interesting indications on the back. The toy seems to have been imported to Europe by Bandai UK, and then to Spain by Bandai Spain and has the rights from Mirage Studios directly to reproduce this van (copyright from 1989). The blister card comes in English and German, but there are several errors in the German text.

Apparently a complete series of Mini Machines with famous characters was planned, but I only found this one and another one with Postman Pat. The toys are made in China. Remember that Bandai actually distributed the turltes figures in some European countries, so they maybe made a move to offer other related products as well in addittion to the ones made by Playmates.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: TURTLES CHARACTER MINI-MACHINES - PARTY VAN
• Scale: 1:150 (approx.)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Bandai (Japan)
• Size: approx. 2’’ or 5 cm

#936 SECRET WARS – DAREDEVIL (1985)

Despite being a short collection, Secret Wars have a few hard to find figures, mostly if you want to have your figures 100% complete. Some accesories are very difficult to find, and the shield images are also often missing. I would like to get all figures with their original accesories, but the shield images could be repro, that doesn´t bother me.

Daredevil is one of the "difficult" figures because it came with his baton, which is small and quite simple (might be mistaken for something else). In loose figures it is almost always missing. Another usual flaw is a paint loss in the face, but because this figure was on card, the face was perfect, so I was lucky to find this opened (American) blister card with the figure and everything else.

Or I thought I was lucky. The price was not so low, and when I received the figure, the limbs came with some kind of red powder that I had to clean up with a humid piece of cloth (that got tainted red in the process). The plastic is maybe deteriorating and I do not know how it will evolve during the next months. I left it perfectly clean last December and by June it was still clean, I wonder if it will keep being clean, or if the plastic will deteriorate further. The chest of the figure is perfect, I would say it is made of a different harder plastic. While the limbs are more flexible.

It is the only figure I have with its blister card, so maybe it is a great opportunity to take a closer look to it.

The front of the cards are all the same, a blue background with the big logo on top, and the name of the figure in rather small letters between the collection logo and the bubble. It is noted that the figure includes a holographic shield, which is, so to speak, the main attraction and sales argument. The bubble is huge because it covers the figure, the shield and the lenticular images in its little plastic bag and, if present, additional accessories like little guns.

The back of the card is more interesting because it shows a very short filecard (name, height, weight, super powers and weapons) an a mini comic with some action scene starring the figure attached to the card. A backcard catalogue is always available. In this case, it shows the figures from wave 2. And finally in the lower part of the back card, there are some graphic instructions on how to use the holographic shield plus the content and the copyright notice.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DAREDEVIL
• Toy Line: Secret Wars (Wave 2)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 12 cms

#935 MICRO MACHINES - PROMOTIONAL PACKS including COLLECTIONS #17 DECADES: THE '80s, #20 HALL OF FAMERS, #32 ROAD CONSTRUCTION and #33 FIRE RESCUE (1995)

In the last year, I found two promotional packs (from different sellers), each of them including two complete collections from the mid 90s.

They come from Germany in a white box with several copyright (1994) and license notices in German (same sticker in both sets, even though one of them does not include cars from the brands that the license indicates: Ferrari, Chevrolet...), and a German address.

 

The first one has two collections of great racing cars: Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Mercedes... some of the greatest brands of all times are represented.

The second one has a set of firefighters and a public workers, each of them with 3 vehicles and 3 people, where one of the vehicles is a "bigger" one: a long fire truck with ladder or a mobile construction crane.

They are very rare, I have seen them only from one seller each.

 

The sport cars set was offered to me by a seller (not on eBay) and I bought the only two boxes this person had. He told me that they were a present for visitors at a car fair in Vienna by the mid 90s, what I found very interesting. Promotional give-aways are always hard to find.

 

The collections included in this pack are: #17 Decades: The '80s and #20 Hall of Famers, both from 1995.

 

#17 Decades: The '80s in promotional pack

#20 Hall of Famers in promotional pack

The firefighters/public workers set was for sale on eBay and the seller had many of them (I bought three), so I guess there are already many out there in the hands of MM collectors.

 

The collections included are: #32 Road Construction and #33 Fire Rescue, both from 1995.

 

#32 Road Construction in promotional pack

  

 

#33 Fire Rescue in promotional pack

 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name:  PROMOTIONAL PACKS including COLLECTIONS #17 DECADES: THE '80s, #20 HALL OF FAMERS, #32 ROAD CONSTRUCTION and #33 FIRE RESCUE
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1995
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm

#934 PAYÁ INTERNATIONAL - VARIOUS MODELS (Around 1970)

I have reviewed some cars made by this brand in the past. In that review I showed models that were Matchbox (Lesney) knock-offs of the 1-75 series from the 60s and 70s, but I already mentioned that some models are not copies from Matchbox, and today I am going to show some of these (together with more Matchbox knock-offs).

Although quite pricey, I got this lot a a fair price around two years ago. The cars are in perfect shape, so I am very lucky to have found them. The paint applied to these models is rather fragile and all played items usually show more or less paint wear.

The models shown in this entry are:

• 2104 - Chevrolet Impala in black and yellow (coloured as a Taxi from Barcelona)

This car is not in its original colour (which is orange), but was repainted by its previous owner as a taxi. Too bad! It seems to be in a not so bad shape, I may try to clean it sometime.

• 2106 - Ford Galaxie (Jefe Policia) in white and 2107 - Ford Galaxie (Jefe Bomberos) in red

All parts are shared. Note that the sirens have different colours, as well as the windshields.

• 2110 - Ferrari Berlineta in green

This model was also released with a plastic body (see last pic in this series) used for certain Payá speed tracks I will present some other day.

 

• 2111 - M.G. 1.100 in blue

 Note the steering wheel is placed on the left side

• 2115 - Camioneta auxiliar in red (based on Lesney´s Jeep Gladiator)

• 2117 - Seat 124 in red

• 2118 - Mercedes 280 SL in beige

• 2121 - Seat 600 D in red

This model was also released with a plastic body (see last pic in this series) used for certain Payá speed tracks I will present some other day. The suspension integrated in the chassis is extremely fragile!

The complete list of references can be found in the previous entry (see #363)

From all 9 units, all but the two Seats are clear Lesney copies. Some models had slight differences, like the steering wheel in the left side, contrary to the original English model with steering wheel on the right side. See for example the M.G. 1.100.

The Seat 600D and the 124 are two great models, very sought-after because the cars they represent were very popular in the 50s, 60s and the 70s in Spain. In addition to this, the Seat 600D is the only vintage die-cast model in 3 inches made of this car. The Seat 124 was also made by Guisval, but this one is rarer (not necessarily more expensive). For most Spanish die-cast collectors these two are "must-haves", not so the other models of foreign cars.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CHEVROLET IMPALA, FORD GALAXIE (JEFE POLICIA), FORD GALAXIE (JEFE BOMBEROS), FERRARI BERLINETA, M.G. 1.100, CAMIONETA AUXILIAR, SEAT 124, MERCEDES 280 SL and SEAT 600 D (Refs. 2104, 2106, 2107, 2110, 2111, 2115, 2117, 2118 and 2121)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1970
• Company: Payá International (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm