One more for the f...ugly collection - but had to have it ! In Japan, they made beautifull cheap toys with vinyl. In Italy, ... well, blown plastic just does not give you the details, really.
Nice try Italy. In France, they would say : Oh mon dieu ! Albator a la jaunisse ! (jaundice)
Straight from Mexico - big size (5" - 13cm) figurines... No idea who or when these were made. But they sure have all the charm and funkyness of the original TV series...
OK, you really had to live in Italy to get that one when you were a kid - but now, By the Powers of Castle... hmmmm sorry - by the powers of the internet.... voilá !
One more for the Fugly database. No maker on it. Same size as my GA-37 Popy Grandizer - except this one is not made of any alloy whatsoever. Just Rubber Baby !
I never really quite understood the design behind these. I think it would rather be clumsy to have your backpack bellyside if you were an astronaut... and these tubes, gosh ! The different types of helmets is quite intriguing as well...
OK, this is for the freaky funky ugly Hall of Fame of toys. Just one question pops into my mind : WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? (or what drugs were they on when they created this?)
Bruce Wayne's sidekick always had a pasion for two wheeled superbikes... as shown in this toy from the 70ies. Forget American Muscle... this is Japanese technology at its best !
No helmet ?
Robin bike, Gulliver ?, Brasil, 1970's
Now I can race Superman : Honda against Suzuki, ... how nice
OK, I know the caped crusader had a rough life, but come on ! Holly Pizza Batman ! What will Cats say ? Chasing psychopats around Gotham makes you hungry ? Drinking to much Guiness at the Irish pub with friend Gordon ?
French toymaker JIM made this figurine - the ring on the head meant it could be worn as a pendant of some sort...
Batman, JIM, France, 1970's
The funny thing is that later on, in the 1986 "The Dark Knight Returns" novel to be precise, there is a 55 year old version of Batman going back into the cape. And he doesn't look very slim either.
When Stephen King wanted a specific model for a possessed car, that was it ! The best Detroit had to offer in the late 50's : Virgil Exner Forwart Look, with twin headlights for that devilish "je ne sais quoi ..."
OK, don't give me that look ! Royal Red and Iceberg White
Sometimes the absurd becomes beauty, and this was certainly the case with this bird. An experiment on how countries could work together to make dreams come true. A show off for technological acheivements and nations, just like the Zeppelins in the 20ies.
The Concorde was faster than anything you could fly 40 years ago when it first showed its nose... and it is still faster (2.5 times faster) than any comercial plane you could fly today. And it flew much higher than the others... so less air = less turbulance.
Ambientalists ? They cried (fuel consumption of 20 thousand liters of kerosine per hour, big bad boom each time it passed the sound barrier)...
The trully wealthy ? They cheered (Paris / New York in 3h30) because they actually could afford the ticket.
Concorde, ?, Hong Kong, 1980's
For the little story, originally it was not supposed to have any "passenger" windows on the sides. (lighter, better structural integrity) But after some studies it seemed that passengers needed visual recognition points... so they altered the design.
I collect space guns and Leji Matsumoto's heroes, and it is nice to have a toy that fit in both categories. Maybe the strangest space gun ever - but it has all the details of the Yamato space ship - and it takes a battery and makes space sounds !
