These 2 plastic ships are Portuguese - no markings, but presumably by OSUL, just like the spaceman. The yellow and red one (with the spring inside ?) reads: "Valverde" - "MARINHA GRANDE". They go perfectly together with the blue astronaut (see previous posts)
Spaceman and spaceship, OSUL (?),
Portugal, 1950's -60's
The Guard, the Dignitary and finally the master chief of evil himself - el imperador ! They really love wearing monk's robes at the dark side, don't they ? Fashion statement for the Sith ? Hmmm - that's not a Hugo Boss suit, that's for sure...
Why does Clark Kent need a van ? Just like the bike issue... Superman can fly for heaven's sake... He is faster than a speeding bullet and can outrun a train !
I think that Corgi needs to apologize to all the geeks between us. You just don't have Kent driving a Chevy van. B.A Barracus maybe. Clark Kent definitely not. And the lab ? with a TV screen ? why needed when you have supervision ?
Chevrolet Van (detail - Superman's lab), Corgi, Gt.Britain,
1970's
Chevrolet Van (detail - Superman's lab), Corgi, Gt.Britain,
1970's
This, and some other robotic catch phrases (let me re-phrase this : beeps from ARTOO and annoying remarks from THREEPIO), is what makes this alarm clock so great !
For the sake of nostalgy (and to prove that I don't only collect robots and spaceships) a little flashback to our wonder years.
Willy (left) and Maya (right), Brintois, Portugal,
1970's
I think this cartoon has aired in about every single country I lived in. So it should touch the memories of thousands of you. The Adventures of Maya the Bee (German: Die Biene Maja) first started as a book, written by Waldemar Bonsels (German) and published in 1912. Here the Fench intro-song.
Plastic Space gun, ?, Macau,
1960's (in background Space Outlaw gun)
Plastic Space gun, ?, Macau,
1960's
When a design is that good - it has to be used again, doesn't it ? Not a 100% copy (longer scope, vertical bars instead of horizontal ones on top of barrel) but a very close match. Even the rocket and the stars on the grip are identical...
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sagittarius robot, Son Ai Toy, Taiwan,
1980's
Sagittarius robot (detail), Son Ai Toy, Taiwan, 1980's
Some plastic robots are really weird looking. This is one of them. Viking stickers - cool helmet. I don't know if it had a rider or not. Maybe a shield and a sword in both hands...
Donald Campbell's Bluebird, Everife toys, Hong Kong,
1970's
Whe would they paint this car orange ? The original was blue - blue like Bluebird... Also not there is the plane-like back fin that was used for the speed record of 1963-64.
In the craziness between the two wars, people were pushing the envelope of just how fast they could go, both in the air, on land or on the water... Sir Campbell was one of those "lunatics", beating speed record after speed record. How did he do it ? Improving on his vehicles - and using bigger and better engines all the time. The first Bluebird car was raced using a Napier-Lion engine, but this model (rebuilt car in 1931) had a powerful Rolls-Royce R V12 engine with supercharger. On 3 September 1935 the speed of 300 mph was achieved (about 480 km/h) on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.
Tragically, it is about at around the same speed that his son, Donald Campbell, would die in 1967 - but this time on water... See http://www.sirmalcolmcampbell.com/sirrecord.html for the list of all speed records of the time.
In the days before CGI (Computer generated images) a real actor had to go in a suit and do whatever was needed to cast his/her role. This post is dedicated to one of these "men behind the mask", Anthony Daniels.
Without them, no original Star Wars would have ever existed...
C3PO (12"), General Mills, Hong Kong,
1978
Fritz Lang's Maria, Metropolis She was inspirational for the overall design of C3PO
Rubber flubber on spacebike with suction thingy, ?, Hong Kong,
1970's
Sometimes toys are so weird they just get appealing... This is the case for these 2 little gems. Spacemen ? maybe... Aliens? more probably so. No idea who made them - but they certainly let their imagination go whack ! (or maybe smoking some mushroom from a foreign planet....hmmm)
The first Toy fair in Lisbon happened last weekend. While the space and the expositors are not the ones found in Paris or Brussels, it was nevertheless a good start - with lots of public coming in (entrance was free) and some nice toys on display.
Also to note was a good job from the 501st Star Wars legion - Portugal, who were responsible for promoting the whole event on the streets surrounding hotel Roma.
