#1024 TOMICA – TV TRUCK (Nr. 75 or Nr. 29-75) (1974)

I haven´t shown any die-cast made by this brand since a long time. (Almost) All cars I had in my collection have been shown already in this blog, but this one was my last acquisition. I bought it in my city and collected it directly from the seller. It was not very expensive, and since it is my first and only carded or boxed vintage Tomica, I decided to buy it.

I love it, it is a nice TV van, based on an Isuzu van. The cast shows several doors and compartments on both sides of the vehicle and a practicable rear door, but there are no other details (such as antennas) that would help identify the car more properly, except for the stickers on the sides of the vehicle, which, by the way, can be red “NHK COLOR TV” or blue “TV TRUCK”. (NHK is the Japanese national broadcasting company)

My toy was released in the Pocket Cars series, which, as you know, it was intended for foreign markets (these are all marked “TV TRUCK”. They are not so sought-for as the Japanese releases (“NHK COLOR TV”) in the standard black box, and there is a earlier variant with another type of wheels. In particular, this one is partially written in German, and includes a backcatalogue with several Tomica references of the same series.

There are several  alternative decorations in the same colours, but with alternative tampographies on the sides: “Minicar Shop Open” in green, “East Land” in red, or even both at the same time (I have spotted one model carrying both tampographies).

In 1979 the same cast was also used in reference nr. 8, Isuzu Blood Bank Car, in white and green. Many years later, it was reissued in white and blue, but with a darker shade of blue.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: TV TRUCK (Nr. 75)
• Scale: 1:122
• Year: 1974
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: 6 cms

#1023 FIGURAS EN ACCIÓN (F.E.A.) Nr. 28

This time we chose a slightly different cover story, as we are going for My Little Pony. This toyline is 40 years old and it was a nice occasion to review all the series ever made of this neat and cute creatures. We rarely review toylines "for girls" as we do not have the experts for that, but this time we had the chance to collaborate with Perikoala, and we simply couldn´t miss that!

Other big topics are the boardgames made by Edilev in Spain (all of them very rare and sought-after, even thought they are not well designed); Connectors (a.k.a. Socket Poppers) by Matchbox/Ertl/Giocchi Preziosi; a very extensive article about the spanish die-cast models made by Mira which are based on Matchbox, Corgi Juniors or Majorette; a short bio of Kim Simmons, the toy photographer of Kenner and Hasbro for most of their Star Wars toylines and, last, a short and simple discussion about bootlegs and how are they have become popular and expensive nowadays.

The general sections are always there: news, books, travels, old ads, one "treasure" (the Thunderhawk from the toyline M.A.S.K.), and other stuff. Many kinds of toys, figures and games, mixed altogether.

The magazine can be downloaded from the official blog. It is free and completely anonymous (no registration or whatever required) Check this!

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#1022 NOREV – RENAULT VAN (Around 1995)

This time I want to show only one die-cast van marked Norev, which is, to my knowledge, very rare. I haven´t seen any Norev like this before. The quality is not very good, the base is plastic and the paintwork is also not the best possible. It is also a "Made in China" model. The wheel design is, to my knowledge, unknown to this brand.

Other Norev from these years are much better casted, have metallic base, practicable parts, detailed interiors and other nice features. This van could be part of a bigger set/playset and maybe they required a cheaper model. It is known to me, that it is based on a Corgi Juniors cast, but for some reason, it was labelled Norev afterwards.

That is why I think it has some interest to be shown here. Do you have any of these Norevs in your collection? Do you know where does it come from? Any information is welcome.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RENAULT VAN
• Scale: Approx 1:64
• Year: 1995
• Company: Norev (France)
• Size: 7 cms

#1021 BIKER MICE FROM MARS – LAWRENCE LIMBURGER and DR. KARBUNKLE (1993)

The Biker Mice from Mars was maybe one of the last great action figure collections of the 90s. Galoob made very good action figures, accesories and vehicles. The toys had a supporting TV series that was also well done, and, in general, had everything they needed to succeed. Unfortunately, it was already 1993 and children were not so interested anymore in action figures. The market was saturated with all kind of action figures, and the videogames were the most desired toys of the day.

Also they started during a time of crisis, that explains why in Spain sold very badly, but in other richer countries they made slightly better, like in France or Germany. Shame! I look at them today and the style looks to me a bit childish, maybe the target children were the same that already had the Ninja Turtles, Bucky O’Hare or Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys.

I was not so young anymore and I do not recall watching the cartoons. I recall vaguely the toys in the lanes of some big commercial center, but they didn’t catch my interest, because I was more interested in other lines and toys.

Today they have a base of fans and the prices are rising fast. Also many figures came with lots of accessories, and they are difficult to find, increasing even more the prices. I have very few of these, that I got mostly in big lots together with other toys, and today I am presenting two of the villains in the series. I like the non-mouse characters best, as the heroes are very similar to each other and come in over a dozen versions each.

In this case, I present Lawrence Limburger, the boss of the evil creatures. Coming also from Mars, it is a fish-like monster that disguises itself as a businessman, mafioso or tycoon (or all three at once) and wears a mask to hide its true identity. It came with that mask and also with a trap full of spikes to catch maybe the mice or other characters from the heroes side.

  

The second character is Dr. Karbunkle with his minion Fred, a rendition of the classic mad scientist, with its white overall and a strange cable that connects a bottle in the belt to his brain. Due to the long overall, it is not very poseable, but it looks great althogether.

Fred is some kind of mutant creature with two different feet (one reptilian, one hairy) and one tentacle instead of the second arm. It also has three eyes, and an action feature, that opens the face and the brains pops up.

Both figures are relatively easy to find and cheap to buy.

Next time, hopefully soon, I will present one of the mice maybe even with a motorbike. I have to re-organize my collection of Biker Mice from Mars. Meanwhile, here is this picture of Dr. Karbunkle and Fred and the original German/Italian/Dutch cardback for Lawrence Limburger.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAWRENCE LIMBURGER and DR. KARBUNKLE
  
• Toy Line: Biker Mice from Mars
  
• Year: 1993
• Company: Gaoob (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: Around 15 cm.

#1020 GUISVAL - CENTURION MK.III TANK + KNOCK-OFF (1977 and Around 1993)

MONTH OF THE BOOTLEG AT TOYS FROM THE PAST

Today I want to show two small toy tanks.

The first one is made by Guisval and is a Centurion MK.III model, which appeared for the first time in the catalogue from 1977. There were several versions of it made those first years: in green (with british or Spanish roundels on one side), in light brown (with Spanish roundels) on and also in light brown with dark brown stripes (with a green flag and a crescent moon, which, to my knowledge, does not represent any real country).

Later reissues would also use new decals, like a British flag, and the last known issue is a completely white version from the United Nations, which I find quite original and I would like to own.

All of them have turning turret and the cannon moves up and down.

The second toy tank shown in the pictures is a low quality knock-off of the Guisval model made by an unknown company much later. The model is unmarked, except for “No. 462”, and it is almost identical to the Guisval model. The cannon is slightly longer, the plastic base and wheels and different). The metal and paintwork used are of lower quality, the paint scheme shows a green/yellow camouflage pattern and the stickers on the side say "U.S. Army".

Does anybody know about it? In any case, it is a very curious one, although the quality is very low.

 FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CENTURION MK.III and KNOCK-OFF
  
• Scale: Approx. 1:100
• Year: 1977 and Around 1993 (respectively)
  
• Company: Guisval and Unknown Toymaker (Spain and China)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#1019 EARTH FORCE - LAZAR (1985)

MONTH OF THE BOOTLEG AT TOYS FROM THE PAST!

Pace Toys is known only for this excellent series of sci-fi action figures. There is nothing to be found on the internet, but according to the information shown on the blister is another American-Hong-Kongese company of quality (but cheap) toys in the style of other popular lines.

Earth Force figures are copyrighted in 1985, so they would fit somewhere between Masters of the Universe and Star Wars. By construction and size, they are similar to the figures by Mattel and by theme, with the Kenner ones, but it shares some aspects with other toylines such as Starcom or Galaxy Rangers.

The storyline printed on the backcard tells us of an interplanetary society that has gathered some Peacekeeping Troops from different corners of the Federation to be sent to "trouble zones", that is, the futuristic version of the UNO Blue Helmets.

From the start, Pace Toys produced six figures which are divided in three groups (of two members each): the Cyborg Team (Cherokee and Lazar), the Flight Team (Major "Blaster" Barton and Commander "Comet" Kelly) and the Ground Team (Professor "Hacksaw" Hackett and Colonel "Hammer" Jackson). These groups are basically: Weaponry experts and developers, Infantry and medical units on the ground and Airforce pilots. Where are the bad guys? There are none.

All the figures are made in basic bright colours (blue, red, white, yellow....) and come with a big set of accessories, most notably, an oversized helmet, boots and a chest shield (what alltogether makes some kind of astronaut outfit) and some other accesories that the figures carry in its hands (rifles or guns, knives and shields). All these pieces are mostly missing, and they are not easy to find.

The line was one year later (1986) expanded with four more figures. These were divided in two groups. The first group was the Explorer Team (this one carry green and white outfits), formed by Doctor "Red" Roger Wolf, Professor "Atom" Orden Atom and Doctor "Bronco" Hank Tago. The second group, called the Star Rangers also has three members: Colonel "Neut" Ned E. Utron, Captain Don Oppler and Major Bart Nigel. The Star Rangers were mostly light brown and dark green, so they look more "militar" that the rest of the first wave.

For this wave, new accessories were introduced (such as nice looking backpacks that pretend to be jetpacks or double guns to be held with both hands), but the figures were based on the same casts.

Despite being relatively rare, the figures are not (yet?) very expensive. Carded are obviously more scarce than loose, and they tend to concentrate on particular places, for example in Spain, where they were imported by Hisinsa. Of course, they are also available in other places. I got mine around 15 years ago from another collector who had found it as part of an old toyshop stock. I have been tempted to buy more of these figures, but they were always incomplete, so this blister card is the only item in my Earth Force collection.

By the way, these series fits perfectly with the X-Changers branch called MX Robots by Acamas Toys. As a matter of fact, some figures are almost identical, and you can use some of these as enemies!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAZAR
• Toy Line: Earth Force
• Year: 1985
• Company: Pace Toys (U.S.A./ Hong-Kong)
• Size of the figure: Around 12 cm tall

#1018 JARVIS PORTER LTD. - KAN-U-GO (Around 1960)

T. G. Porter Ltd. copyrighted this game in the year 1934, and many other companies followed and exploited the license, such as Milton Bradley (MB) or Waddington´s. The game I own is a reprint or reissue, probably from the late 50s or early 60s by Jarvis Porter Ltd.

We could easily describe the game as a card Crosswords or maybe a Scrabble (which, by the way, was patented in 1948), that consists of a set of 58 cards with letters printed on them, each of them with a value assigned, the higher the value, the more often (in Scrabble it is the opposite) that the card appears in the English language plus two Kan-U-Go cards. Players have to get rid of their hand cards by forming one word in the manner of a crossword, and the first person to do that, wins the round. All the other players score the sum of the numbers written on the cards that they could not place. It is only allowed to place up to 4 cards in each turn (although the word formed may be longer, as your hand cards combine with the cards lying on the table).

The cards are small sized, and not many, so you can play in an ordinary table. Well, an ordinary table from many years ago, not the current standard table from your 40 m2 apartment. The instructions come in a booklet pasted to the cover of the box. There is “patience” version as well.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: KAN-U-GO
• Year: 1934 (Game) / Around 1960 (this reissue)
• Company: Jarvis Porter Ltd. (United Kingdom)

#1017 REDONDO – McLAREN SERENISSIMA F.1. (Around 1970)

In entry #194 I already introduced the brand Redondo as a die-cast manufacturer with two formula ones in bad condition, and I updated the entry later with a formula one in a keyring.
 
Today I am presenting three more formula ones, but all new in their boxes. Unfortunately, they are all the same reference and cast: Nr. 12 McLaren Serenissima, but, at least, this will help me showing the variety of each model regarding colours of the body and accessories (in this case the spoiler). They are all completely different from each other. They are based in Penny models, but unlike this Italian brand, whose references were always painted in the same way.

Curiously, the stickers are all the same, and really correspond to the McLaren. In later reissues, some stikers would be applied randomly on the model.

The box is a jewel case with white base and clear cover (with the Redondo logo on the top). The price tag marks 19 pesetas (12 euro cents). The red label with the car name and reference is also a nice detail, so each box had to be peersonalized for each car.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: McLaren Serenissima F.1. (Ref. 12) (three different models)
  
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1970
  
• Company: Redondo (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#1016 LLEDO – FOUR 3M PROMOTIONAL MODELS (Around 1994)

I missed Lledo for the first 1015 entries on this blog for a reason. Although I have seen many of these models over the years, I never bought them, as I was not very interested. I had some Models of Yesteryear, but I sold these many years ago, and kept only the three or four of them, which I liked most.
 
The company was co-founded in 1982 by Jack Odell, who was also the co-founder of Matchbox many years before (the brand name is his surname spelled backwards). The other founding member was Burt Russell. The 80s was a golden age of these classic cars miniatures, and I guess Lledo just wanted to ride this wave and make some business with classic miniatures. However it was bad times for the die-cast industry, and Matchbox had been purchased by Universal, that moved the production factories to Macau, as it was very expensive to produce toys in the United Kingdom.
 
Lledo actually bought some tooling from the old Matchbox plants that were being dismantled and started producing in their own facilities in Enfield. This would last a few years, until 1999, when the company went bankruptcy, but the brand passed to Corgi Classics, that exploited the brand until 2005, all these later cars are “made in China”.
 
How to compete against east-Asian produced toys? Well, they specialize in classic vintage cars and commercial vehicles, as I said before, which was rather uncommon at the time. On top of that, they offered many chances to customize their references for big brands, as they could place their logo in any of the available models (vans, trucks, some cars…) and make nice promotional items. Placing your logo in a car from the 1920s gives your company a certain aura of quality, tradition and market leadership, so it was a good idea. Obviously, Asians would finally imitate and overtake Lledo with much cheaper products, but these 15 years were good ones, with high production volumes.
 
The first and best known series is called Days Gone (which sounds a bit like Yesteryear) and came out in 1983. The first models were all horse-drawn and stagecoaches, but soon appeared the Ford Model T van. These are marked on the base “Days Gone”.
 
The “promotional” series that I already introduced was the most profitable. During the first six years of production, Lledo had around thirty casts/models, but, out of them, there were hundreds of variations catalogued. The Ford T was the most common, and was produced in over 170 different decorations. The Double Decker bus also had a big success. Each of these “promotional” model was made, with some exceptions, in very limited runs of 500 to 1000 units. Promotional models are marked on the base “Lledo Promotional Model”.
 
Maybe the most interesting models ever made by Lledo are the four land speed record cars, a series made for Kellogg´s. All four were based on new casts and never reused, and they do not fit with all the other references available in their catalogue.
 
Finally, the Vanguards series included more modern cars, from the 50s and the 60s, British and Europeans. The line was excellent in detail and quality.
 
Some models were sold to second parties and relabeled accordingly, for example, under the Hartoys or Edocar brands.
 
The models presented in this entry are 4 promotional models made for 3M. They are all different, and comes in their independent blank boxes. There were dozens of models made for 3M, some of them were sold in ordinary boxes with windows, so I suppose these were not intended for retailers.

Packard Town Van (1933)

 Chevrolet Panel Van (1939)

Packard Van (1936)

Model T Ford Van (1920)

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Ford Model T, Packard Van, Packard Town Van, Chevrolet Panel Van
• Scale: 1:43 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1994
• Company: Lledo (United Kingdom)
• Size: approx 9 cm

#1015 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – JET SLED (1986)

Time to go back to Masters of the Universe. The series is so popular today, that I am starting to loose interest in it. There are several modern toylines, tv series, publications and merchandising available, but I still remain interested in the vintage line and the He-Man New Adventures one only.
 
This toy is the third battle accessory after the Megalaser and the Stilt Stalkers, both presented many years ago in this blog. The Jet Sled was missing, or more precisely, I was missing the backpack part, which is the fragile part of the pack.

As the Stilt Stalkers, the Jet Sled can be carried in the back of the figure, when it is not is use. When in use, it can be used as an autonomous flying object (some kind of drone), or it can carry one figure/pilot that is fitted to the Jet by its feet. Unfortunately, the hands do not fit very well in the handles and it looks somewhat not great, when you are using a figure with it.

It also has two mini missiles on the wings, that can be removed with some effort. Sometimes they are missing. The wheels are also slightly fragile, but most wings are in good shape, as it was, and is, a sturdy toy.
 
FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: JET SLED (Ref. 2084)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 5)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: approx. 16 cm