#1036 FIGURAS EN ACCIÓN (F.E.A.) Nr. 29 + ¡¡¡ME LO PIDO!!! + MOSQUEPERROS Y PIRATAS

This is the cover from the latest issue of Figuras En Acción (short: FEA), and, as you can see, we bring a mixture of topics as heterogeneous as it gets.

The main articles deal with toys from the TV series Maple Town (with a special focus on Spanish merchandising), the off-road Scalextric STS 4x4 made in Spain by Exin, an extensive article about Matchbox´s Regular Wheels era, never-seen before paper documents from the manufacturing process of Laser Light Skeletor (the European exclusive figure that closed the vintage Masters of the Universe toyline) and another article about the rare vintage action figure toyline Ninja: Assassins vs. Defenders.

We include again an interview with Jon Diez de Ulzurrun, that deals mostly with the third volume of the Informe Madelman books.

There are several other sections which may interest you as well, such as news, vintage advertisements, museums and book comments, so the contents are even broader.

The magazine can be downloaded for free (no registration required) from the official blog of Figuras En Acción. Search for the download link here: https://figurasenaccion.blogspot.com/2023/12/revista-numero-29-diciembre-2023.html


Other publications worth commenting:

!!!Me lo pido!!! (Jorge Navarro Fortuno)

This book was issued last Christmas and I was lucky to get one copy at the time. It is a collection of pictures, like a giant Christmas catalogue, sorted by toymakers, but, on top of that, there are long descriptions of the history of each of the companies mentioned in the book, as provided by great specialists, collectors or the owners (the their heirs) of those companies. It is therefore a must for everybody who would like to learn more about Spanish toys from the last decades, or for people willing to discover those jewels, unique to Spain, which were designed and manufactured mostly before the country was open to fluid commercial relationships with Europa and the United States.

The book has around 400 pages and deals with around 150 toy companies. Some of the companies, of course, are more important than others, so, wherever there is a toyline which was especially popular, you will also find notes about it in particular, additionally to the history of the company who was responsible for that success. For example, in the pages dedicated to Exin, you will also find subchapters talking about Exin Castillos only, Tente, Scalextric or Ibertrén.

Mosqueperros y Piratas... (Álex Algarra)

This publication is the third volume of a series dealing with Spanish PVC figures. Volume 1 was dedicated to Comics Spain, volume 2 to Comansi, Yolanda and Novolínea (all three are actually the same) and this third one deals with all the other manufacturers there are (or have been) manufacturing this type of toys in Spain.

I only own this third book, as I wanted to see if I could find more information on those smaller companies that made figures I like, but from which there is no information at all on the Internet. This books partially succeeds: the figures made by those companies are ALL reproduced in these pages (so it makes also a good collector´s guide), but the information is only to be found partially. I guess many of these smaller companies operated only for a couple of years and disappeared or changed names and production, so there is no place to investigate or no person to be contacted. Still, the book is great and collects everything that is is currently to be found about those companies, plus the comments and facts that the author gathered through decades of collecting plastic figures and commenting them with a group of fellow collectors.

It still surprises me how less is known about these toys. Many things I read in German catalogues or in older articles on the Internet is wrong, and even today, people are discovering figures nobody knew they existed, as it happened last October, when a tyrannosaurus from Comics Spain was found for the first time, and later sold for over 370 euro on todocoleccion.net. To this respect, I think it is great that Alex Algarra put everything down on paper as a landmark for all future enthusiast and collectors.

#1035 FOREST FAMILIES – CAT and TIGER FAMILIES (Around 1989)

 

 

Forest Families was the cheap knock-off to Sylvanian Families or Maple Town (La aldea del Arce in Spanish, Les petits Malins in French, a powerful license of the late 80s.) made by MC Toy (May Cheong) from Hong-Kong. At the time this company had already some major success with cheap, but qualitative die-cast cars that were sold worldwide. With the time, this company would change its name to Maisto, and would later purchase Bburago and Polistil among others (just the names, as the production sites in Italy were shut down completely).

In order to diversify their offer, they decided to release these nice-looking anthropomorphic animals with clothes, accessories and even some bigger playsets in the style of the brands mentioned above. They were widely available, and they had good sales in many countries all over the world. In some places they are known by alternative names, such as "Peach Fuzz Village" in the United States (distributed by Mel Appel), or "Bärenwald" in Germany (distributed by Simba). If my memory does not deceive me, I saw these for sale in El Corte Inglés (Spain) in the early 90s.

The collection included mainly boxes of 4 figures (mother, father plus 2 children), but also smaller blisterpacks of 2 or even 1 figure, including some grandparents. The construction of the figures was simpler that those from the competition. What strikes me the most, is that, while Epoch for Sylvanian Families and Bandai/Tonka for Maple Town made animals that live in the forests of Europe or America, M.C. Toy designed and manufactured many exotic (and even dangerous) animals from Asia and Africa too: Tigers, Hippos, Frogs, Elephants, Crocodiles! mixed with the "ordinary" rabbits, bears, cows and so. This eclectic bunch of characters made the line more fantastic and maybe even more attractive for little boys. Today I will show my tiger and cat families, out of a big bunch of figures I bought a few years ago.

Today, Forest Families are very sought-after, more or less as much as the figures in which they were based. There are still some to be found in their original packages, I guess the prices will start rising after these have been sold, as the rarity and scarcity increase. If you are interested in them, always pay attention to the clothes. All figures should wear some kind of clothes and these should be in good shape. The figures have flocked hair, which, at certain spots, may be a bit (or a lot) worn out. This defect completely degrades the figure.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CAT and TIGER FAMILIES
• Toy Line: FOREST FAMILIES / BÄRENLAND
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: MC Toy (Macau/ China)
  
• Size of the figures: Around 7-8 cm