Drive me to the moon...

 

Radar Car T218, DTC Educational Toy, Hong Kong, 1970's

Major Tom ? nope... Major Matt Mason !

Matt Mason, Mattel,
Hong Kong, 1966

Another Space Bagatelle game !

Raket-Gezelschapsspel, 1950's, Belgium or Netherlands ?

Rules of play behind the board

Space-SNIK

Space-Snik rocket, 1984, Bully, W.-Germany

Back side

Observe !

Sky Observer badge, ?, 1950's-60's

No good Space Cadet goes out without it ! It's the "official" badge telling the non-initiated that you know your satellites better than everyone else ! Wear it proudly on you and reach for the sky !

Targets in Space

Targets in Space, Spears Games, UK, 1950's

 

Wind-up mechanism behind the targets

Beautiful space - art !

It was translated "Les Intrus de l'Espace" for the
French market, and a special FR flyer was added

Originally came with 3 darts (one missing)

A big thanks to Michel from Het Tijdreisbureau (ex-Habbekrats) and all the best for your retirement plans ! Hope to meet you one day here in Lisbon !

a Roman with a raygun ?

Space Warrior, Airfix, France, 1981

Walk the walk, Captain Radar !

Captain Radar, Ball Manufacturing Company, USA, 1950's

Walkers are always interesting toys - making use of gravity, the weight fixed at the waist of the figurine would make it move forward... untill it would fall of the table or whatever other shelf it stands on. Not a lot survived all these falls !

The Renwal take-a-part spaceman

The concept is great, turn the key on the belly of the astronaut and see him go into pieces... then build it back together. It is basically a 3-D puzzle and has been on my wish-list for quite some time. Still need to find him a helmet though... oh well, the hunt continues...

Sapceman, Renwal, USA, 1950's

Green rubber

Spaceman / Superhero ?
No markings - 1970's

This one got a string through his head, a shield and a gun. Not exactly sure where it came from or what it is supposed to represent, but I can remember these as prizes you could get as kids at the village fair duck fishing stands...

It's the Man of Action in Space ?

In the USA you had GI JOE, here in Europe he was redubbed ACTION MAN. Not a doll... an action figurine ! Most of the early ones wore military outfits, but this astronaut is pretty much up to specs with the first spacesuits of the Gemini and Mercury missions at NASA. (see more about Action Man here).

The original suits were made by the (now defunct) tire company B.F. GOODRICH and were at the time as critical as any of the other equipment developped for NASA to get people in space. See more about this here.

Action Man Astronaut Set, Palitoy, 1967

The real right stuff - original NASA
picture of Mercury Astronauts

More Italian flats

Aliens and Spacemen, Italy, origin unknown

Diver or spaceman ?

Or diver ?

Spaceman, Torgano ?, Italy ? 

They don't eat a lot in Space...

Tubes and hoses and pipes and plumbing... in space...

Astronaute, JEM RF, France, 1970's (?)

I think they made these when "Scoubidous" (plastic lace bracelets and trinkets) were all the rage...

Obscure French Spaceman ?

Spaceman with missile launcher, Hugonnet, France, 1970's ?

Does anyone have more information about this toyline ? ("Série FERAL") Looks cool - and this one has a cape ressembling the ones on the Gatchaman figurines from CEJI. (merci à Utopia !)

Britains' Space soldiers...

These were also part of my childhood... Bright yellow - at least they did not get lost in the carpet like so many other unfortunates !

Stargard Space Craft, Britains, England, 1981

The ship was all genius toy-design : a weighted base in the transparent cockpit always kept the astronauts level. This type of design was reminiscent of spaceship design in the Yoko Tsuno books I read at that time...

"the Forge of Vulcan" - pg.16 detail - Roger Leloup