Friday, May 29, 2015

We all live in a yellow...



The classic lines, the fenders that don't give up untill there is no car left... oh boy. Streamlined beauty. All plastic. All classic.

Limousine, Renwal, USA, 1950's

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Flexibility and elasticity

Marc, Orli Jouet, France, 1979

This is one of the most common renditions of Marc (Ken / Ace Goodheart (USA)) the leader of Gatchaman / Bataille des Planètes.

He was sold like this and also on blister card.

Unfortunately, only four out of the five members were made this way (Tiny (USA) / Alumette (FR) / Ryû (JP) never made it as a bendable figurine... )



Monday, May 11, 2015

Hail to the King of Speed !





This plastic toy is based on the Auto Union Rekordwagen Typ B "Lucca" from 1935. It was made under different sizes, colours and numbers by the US toy company Renwal and renamed "Speed King" (Dinky toys UK also made a version but kept the original maker of the car on the box).

How can you not go fast in such a thing ? It's flying even standing still.

Speed King, Renwal, USA, 1950's
The real deal... (Audi Archive picture)

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Save the universe - eat potato chips / crisps

Before the European Community went bezerk regarding toys in food packages, it was common to have a little surprise in potato chips packs. The Italians, well, they went premium with this figurine of Capitan Futuro. Assemble limbs to body and voilá... ready to play.

Capitan Futuro, Sorpresina Patatine PAI, Italy, 1980's

The nice thing is they respected the correct colors of the figurine (sorry Popy !) and the figurine has a lot of detailing for something that was given for free.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

O Canada ! Our home and native land !

Spaceships, Reliable, Canada, 1950's
Sometimes the "less is better" can apply directly to the toy-design world. This is definitely one example.. These 2 rather flimsy space toys were made by the Reliable company in Canada and ooze classic Sci-Fi design. Fins ? Check ! - Curves ? Check ! - and look at all these windows ! They seem to be cruise ships on the sea of stars...

Strangely, they have different coloured wheels and axles between front and back.