#956 TMNT - TRICERATON + WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE (1990)

These two figures are the only ones that I have completed so far from series 3. Like every other TMNT fan, I adore the figures from the Playmates toyline that represent other characters than the four turtles and the other main characters. They are so well designed: colourful, funny, with great playability (for example, unlike theturtles, most of them are very easy to set them standing) and cool accesories.

I am observing that the line is gaining value in the last months and some figures are really expensive already. Will this trend continue?

Well, the two figures today are:

TRICERATON:

Most mutant characters from the TMNT universe are humanoid animals living today, but in this case, it is a dinosaur. It looks like a crazy Playmates idea, but it is actually already in the very first issues of Eastman and Laird´s. Actually they are living on some other planet in Dimension X and are intelligent beings. There are many of these, although in the comic, they are wearing a different suit and look slightly more aggressive.

The figure comes with a grey belt and two rather big blue guns, that contrast with its orange skin.
It is an enemy of the Turtles

WINGNUT:

Wingnut is a bat, and Screwloose is a mosquito, maybe two of the strangest creatures in the toyline, because, how do you make a bat look human? It has strange proportions, with short legs, big belly, and the strangest of all is its head, and more particularly, its nose.

Besides the small Screwloose, the blister pack included two mechanic wings, in which we could insert a revolver and a grenade, both in light yellow, and a yellow belt.

From this figure I also have the bio-card, cut from the original blisterpack in English. These are very funny to read, as they always include many jokes and puns. Although I have this notes about its background and origins, I am still unsure if the figure actually appears in the comic books at some time, or if, in this case, it is a Playmates invention.

Wingnut is a friend and helper of the Turtles.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: TRICERATON + WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE
• Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) (Waves 3)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Playmates (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3.75’’ or 9,75 cm

#955 HIGH SPEED PULLBACK - ABARTH 2000, FORD ZAKSPEED CAPRI and TRANS AM (W13, W15 and W16) (around 1986)

Thanks to my friend Steven, who corrected me here.

These cars are not Summer/S.M., but High Speed. For some reason I got them wrong in my collection and so I passed the error to this entry. I will try to write some alternative text to it, since it is the first time that High Speed appears in the blog.

I have to say, that these High Speed are Summer knock-offs, so maybe that is where the confusion comes from. To my knowledge, all Summer/S.M. cars are marked with the brand name or the logo, so, if not marked, as in this case, they are not made by S.M.

Sorry for the confusion!

The first Summer/S.M. cars I ever had were two pull-back cars in 3 inches size. My father got them for me in the year 1990 or so. One of them was a dark blue BMW M1 with white tampographies and the second one a Mercedes (500 SEC?) in green, also with tampographies. Compared to my Guisvals, Matchbox, Tomicas and so on were objectively ugly. I think I still have one of them somewhere, but I do not know where did my father get them from, where did he buy them (might have been  abroad). That was the first time I saw an S.M. product.

This series seems to be slightly different to me, but may also belong to the same. The models presented here are recent acquisitions, I bought them altogether in a flea market.

The models are well done, mostly compared to other newer Summer models, so I thought I would include them in my collection. They are Made in Hong-Kong and  are based on own casts. I even like the tampographies and the colours used. Nice sport cars!

W13 ABARTH 2000 (1:66)

W15 FORD ZAKSPEED CAPRI (1:65)

 

 

W16 TRANS AM (1:70)

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ABARTH 2000 (W13), FORD ZAKSPEED CAPRI (W15) and TRANS AM (W16)
• Scale: 1:66, 1:65 and 1:70
• Year: Around 1986
• Company: Summer / S.M. (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#954 DINO RIDERS SMITHSONIAN - DIPLODOCUS and STYRACOSAURUS (1992)

The dinosaurs from Dino Riders, at the time in which they were made, were supposed to be very accurate 1:32 scale reproductions of dinosaurs. The castings were nice, they had "glass" eyes, were sprayed with state-of-the-art methods and so they were advertised. Today, they are not so eye-catching anymore, and there are better options available in the market, but, of course, more than 25 years have passed since them.

When you visit natural history museums, you usually see plastic toy dinosaurs in the museum shop. I guess back in the early 90s, somebody in charge of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington noticed the quality of some Dino Riders' dinosaurs and probably contacted Tyco to deliver a series of figures to be sold in their museums.

The dinosaurs made for the Smithsonian collection were slightly modified from their Dino Riders counterparts. All electronic circuitry for the walking feature (and the battery cover) were removed, wheels and slots to fit harnesses were also removed and the paintwork was modified in some cases. The box was also designed expressely for the museum. Bigger dinosaurs were sold in big boxes, medium dinosaurs were sold in couples. The boxes had a quality seal "Authorized Replica, Smithsonian Museum". A nice trick to point out the quality of the product.

I have two dinosaurs: the Diplodocus and the Styracosaurus. In general the Smithsonian animals are more difficult to find than the Dino Riders equivalents. And among the Smithsonian´s toys, the Ice Age animals are far rarer than the dinosaurs. It is unclear, if the Killer Warthog was also made for this series of if only the other three Ice Age creatures were actually manufactured and sold in the green boxes.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: DIPLODOCUS and STYRACOSAURUS
• Toy Line: The Smithsonian Institution Dinosaur Collectio
• Year: 1992
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale: 1:24

#953 CIBA CHINA - MERCEDES UNIMOG CIRCUS WITH SEAL (Around 1992)

I sometimes bring toys to this blog about which there is no information at all on the internet, basically because nobody cares about them. This is one of these cases, an early 90s plastic Unimog from China, produced by the unknown company CIBA Industrial Company, Ltd. This company was founded in Hong-Kong around 1985 and produced toys in Hong-Kong first, and then in China.

I have seen some toys from this company on auction sites, but nothing more: this friction motored Unimog in two decorations, a futuristic ATV operated by batteries and with exchangeable wheels and also a cable-controlled dinosaur.

All pictures: todocoleccion.net

These kind of toys were sold in bazaars during the 80s together with radios, TVs, watches and other stuff from Japan, China and Eastern Asia. At the time they were very well received, since the electronic toys were still very expensive in Europe back then. Anything with sound, lights or cable/remote controlled was the top.

In Spain they were imported by Cosas Internacionales, S.A. located in Ibi (Alicante), the village where lots of other companies were also manufacturing toys of all kinds.

Anybody out there who knows more about CIBA? Maybe the company continued under another name?

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MERCEDES UNIMOG "CIRCUS" WITH SEAL
• Scale: Around 1:55
• Year: Around  1992
• Company: CIBA Industrial Company Limited (Hong Kong/China)
• Size: approx. 9 cm

#952 MATCHBOX SECURITY TRUCK (Nr. 69) vs. MAJORETTE BANK SECURITY (Nr. 204) (1978 and 1980)

Majorette's Bank Security Van is one of those models that I had not known until recently. It was only a few years ago that I saw it for the first time. I have it now twice and I like them very much. The Matchbox model, I have it since a long time.

This type of vehicle is kind of rare, only Matchbox has a similar one which is also very nicely done with plastic roof, but it was just a matter of time that Majorette got its own security transport van.

The Majorette model has a practicable door on the rear part, so the playability is somewhat better than the Matchbox model, that has no practicable parts. Both look bulky and strong, like the real security vans, although the Matchbox model was made earlier and has a slightly older look today.

The Matchbox model was originally released in red with white roof in the year 1978, but a later and rarer version "Drescher Bank" can be found in green. Both have several variants depending on the shade of colour applied, window colour and so on, the usual stuff.

On the other hand, the Majorette model is available in many different colours and decorations, some of them very recent, since the look of the truck is still modern, or at least it was until a few years ago, I have seen more modern driving around the city.

The first model seems to be the greenish blue one, that first appeared in 1980 catalogue. Although not very clearly, we can see that it has a decal on the bonnet. We think this model was a prototype, because in the catalogue from 1981, we already see the famous model in metallic blue, one of the most common ones.

 

In 1982's catalogue, the van appears in grey with a decal on the bonnet with the text "BANK" and two crossed keys.

And every year a new decoration: in 1983, it was presented with some red and blue stickers on the sides, In 1984 with "post" stickers, in 1985 with "Bank" Stickers on both sides, and in 1986 the model presented in this entry. All of them in yellow. Note that the card depicted is the German version "Geldtransport", not the most usual "BANK" version.

And finally, in 1987, the most usual white version came out. This one was available during, least, three consecutive years. In the 1990 catalogue it appears in light silver, but keeping the tampos, although this may also be a prototype, because I have never seen it, and the following year, the picture appears in white again.

That appearance in the 1991 catalogue is the last for a long period of time. More modern versions of the van (Made in Thailand) are available in other interesting colours, like dark blue, but then it becames difficult to follow how many, which tampos they carry and so on.

Sorry for the bad photos of the Armoured Van, I'll replace them soon.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SECURITY TRUCK (Nr. 69) and BANK SECURITY (Nr. 204)
• Scale: 1:57
• Year: 1978 and 1980
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain) and Majorette (France)
• Size: approx. 7 cm