#582 MC TOY – SEVERAL FORD MODELS (1984)

MC Toy reproduced a lot of different models by Ford. Here are the four oldest and most interesting ones:

Ford Escort 1,6i (Ref. 8449) - I have the impression that this model is among the rarest MC Toys made. I haven´t seen it very often, but it is a nice reproduction. With so many versions of the Escort, both in Europe and the US, I am not sure which car does it represent, I think it is the European version.

Ford Sierra XR4Ti (Ref. 8441) - One of the features that MC Toy adopted very soon was the colour change with temperature. Many models from the common series were repainted and redecorated with this type of paint. The first version of the Ford Sierra by MC Toy was red, and the temperatur-changing version is either pink or white. Pink in normal temperature, white after coming out of the fridge.

Ford Granada 2.8 GL Mk II (Ref. 8451) - This car was already a bit old when it was reproduced, and represents the Mark II European version. The MC Toy model is very well done, and the colour blue suits it very nicely, I don´t like the black decoration, it would have been better without it.

UPDATE (May/2020): This car was incorrectly identified as a Toyota Hilux SR5 in entry #434, when it is a Ford F-150 Flareside [Ref. 8739] I move the following text from that entry to this entry. Thanks to MetalPower for pointing it out.

FORD F-150 FLARESIDE "DUST DEVIL" (Ref. 8739)
 

This model was equipped with a different type of wheels made only for a few models. It also has some fragile plastic parts behind the cabin, that are sometimes missing.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FORD ESCORT 1,6i (Ref. 8449), GRANADA (Ref. 8451), SIERRA XR4Ti (Ref. 8441) and FORD F-150 FLARESIDE (Ref. 8739)
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: The two first digits in the reference number indicates the year of design and manufacture, so: 1984.
• Company: MC Toy (U.S.A./ Macau)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#581 LONE STAR - ROADMASTERS "IMPY" / "FLYERS" - VOLVO 1800S (1968)

Lone Star has two Roadmasters series. The first and oldest one, spelled Road-Masters started in 1956 and was made in 1:43 scale, like their competitors from Corgi and Dinky. During those first years, the models by Lone Star were not very well detailed. In the early 60s, models started having windows but not interiors, that would be available first by the end of the 60s. Head and tail lights were painted silver or red. Wheels were two parts, including aluminium hubcaps and rubber tyres.

 

In 1966 the Impy series was introduced. This series had a fixed size of 3,5 inches, that is, very similar to the Matchbox 1-75 series. The Road-Masters were discontinued, but this new series was called Roadmasters Impy. Here's a flyer with the first 12 models ever reeased in this series.

 

 

The Impy models were advertised as the "cars with everything": a lot of practicable parts, steering, jewelled headlights. They were the first toy producer to adapt the thin, low-friction wheels introduced by Hot Wheels, less than one year after Mattel (Mattel: 1967, Lone Star: 1968). Models equipped with these wheels were repackaged to the "Flyer" series.

 

 

 

The packaging was similar to the one used by competitors Corgi and Dinky, although afer a few years, the introduced the boxes with plastic Windows. The boxes of the Impy series displayed a baby devil.

 

 

 

In the U.S.A., the Impy series was sold as "Mini-Cars" in blisters packaged by Physio-Chem, a toy company that usually distributed in the United States toys made in other countries.
To finish this entry, I would like to publish here the images of a catalogue that I found on the blog DieCast Chile, which is a very nice blog in Spanish that shows die-cast models from different manufacturers. This catalogue was found here: http://www.diecastchile.cl/2013/06/publicidad-de-impy-lone-star.html. Note that the cover car is actually the same I am presenting here, with the original rubber wheels instead of the "flyer" wheels.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VOLVO 1800S (Nr. 19)
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1968
• Company: Lone Star (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 8,5 cm

#580 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – METEORBS - ORBEAR (1987)

When the Masters of the Universe fame was decaying, Mattel decided to introduce a series of 10 figures that did not fit the rest of the series. These were 9 animals and one robt that could transform into eggs.

HEROIC METEORBS

• Cometroid – Heroic meteorb with mechanical power.  
• Ty-Grrr – Heroic tiger Meteorb.
• Astro Lion – Heroic lion with amazing brute strength.
• Comet Cat – Heroic panther. The fastest of the Meteorbs.
• Tuskor – Heroic Mammooth who busts force fields with tusks.

EVIL METEORBS

• Dinosorb – Evil brontosaurus who stomps to start quakes.
• Crocobite – Evil crocodile with crushing jaws.
• Rhinorb – Evil rhino with horrible ramming horn.
• Orbear – Evil grizzly who bashes enemies with his claws.
• Gore-illa – Evil ape with monstrous muscle-power.

The story created to fit the Meteorbs into this series was that they were powerful creatures from space that reached Eternia together with Rokkon and Stonedar (two figures from series 5). They appeared in a few comics, catalogues from different countries and also in one chapter of Princess of Power.

The figures are not even a Mattel toy. They were manufactured by Bandai in Japan. They belonged to another toyline called Tamagoras, that reached a certain popularity by the beginning of the 80s. Unfortunately, the Meteorbs didn´t sell very well, and were discontinued after only one wave/ year. The MotU were already in their end phase and the concept was too different. It didn´t work, although transforming toys were some kind of fashion back them.

I own only one of these, Orbear, the bear.

I also have several figures from the Huevox series by Phoskitos. Phoskitos is a biscuit and chocolate dessert intended for children at school. They always have some promotion running with stickers or whatever. In this case you could win these figures. They are from the late 2000s and made in China. One of them is identical to Tuskor the Mammooth, only in another colour.
 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ORBEAR (Ref. 1415) + Some HUEVOX
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 6) / Huevox
• Year: 1987 / Around 2008
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.) / Unknown (Phoskitos promo)
• Size of the figures: 6 cm

#579 THE CORPS! – WAVE 3 (V): LIGHTNING MOBUTU, SENSEI KABUTO and STEVE WYOMING (1992)

From the six figures we were talking about in the last entry, I still wanted to comment three.

• Brickwall
• Crusher McCloskey
• Hat Trick Lemonde
• Lightning Mobutu
• Sensei Kabuto
• Steve Wyoming

LIGHTNING MOBUTU - Probably the most iconic of this six figures, since it appeared in the artwork of some blister cards. I love the colourful uniform constrasting with the black skin of the character. This figure has again great sculpt details, especially head and trousers. I would say it is/was the fashion of the early 90s. He might be wearing some kind of augmented reality glasses, maybe the first version of Google Glass? :)

SENSEI KABUTO - This is another of my favorite figures, it represents some kickboxer or martial artist, and looks really cool: black trousers, orange details in sculpt, and naked torso. Head has some protection for fighting, which might be impractical for real war.

Found on: https://www.joeaday.com/sensei-kabuto-lanard-corps/

STEVE WYOMING - As said in the previous entry, Steve Wyoming is one of my least favorite figures, I find that helmet quite boring, especially considering his naked torso... Head is perfectly protected, but shoot me a little bit lower. The colour combination of skin-red and grey/silver helmet leaves me indifferent. This figure appears also very often in the packages’ artwork.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LIGHTNING MOBUTU, SENSEI KABUTO and STEVE WYOMING.
• Toy Line: the Corps! (wave 3)
• Year: 1992
• Company: Lanard (Hong-Kong)
• Size of the figure: 3 ½¨ or 8 cms.