Little plastic Bioman robot...

Bio-Robo, Bioman, ?, China, 2000's

Seems he had a swim in hot lava !

BB-8

BB-8 windup with sound effects, Disney Store, China, 2016

This little guy may not have the fame of the R2 unit (yet) - but it sure hold its part in the first Disney Star Wars movie... I'm sure we'll see more of him next December...

Spectrum Patrol Car / SPC - Japanese blown plastic version...

Rato Roru / Patororu nº 110 / SPC, Takara Gangu, Japan, 1967

Header card art (front)

Header card art (back)

There is maybe one country where the Supermarionation craze went even more bezerk than in the U.K., and that is Japan. They loved Gerry Anderson's puppet shows, So much so that lots of toys were produced there. And this time not intended for export - but really for their internal market (maybe because they just could not compete with the Dinky Toys' line of diecast vehicles ?)

With Dinky counterpart for size

Was there ever a fin at th back ? 

This is how it was sold...

Superman needs a spaceship to fly now? Old age, right?

Supermobile(s) (large and small), Corgi toys, U.K., 1979-1982

Read more about it here.

Captain Harlock helmet

Captain Harlock Helmet, Takatoku toys, Japan, 1977-1978

This is an item that has been on my wanted list for quite some time, and it finally arrived in Lisbon... Original toy from Japan - this helmet has a visor that can be pulled up or down and a leather strap so you won't loose it when you ride your bike ! Foam inserts - plastic.

Magic potion ? anyone ?

Asterix and obelix, PEZ, Austria, 1997

Rubber Suits of Monster's legend...

Microman Godzilla / First Monochrome version, Takara, Japan, 2006

Japan always had a thing with their monsters... Radioactive mutations were a popular subject after the horrors of the second WW and what better subject to make low-cost movies that would thrill young and old movie-goers...

But far from the special effects of Ray Harryhausen stop-motion, Japan went the other way around and used real actors in latex suits... A process George Lucas would use some years later for lots of the monsters of the first Star Wars trilogy, before CGI kicked in and filming was made more like computer programming than acting...

Please read more about it here.

Haruo Nakajima, the real actor that did Godzilla "suit" acting

The small Jumbo Great Mazinger

Shrunking heads ? nope... just Jumbo's today ! Take a Great Mazinger from Mattel, give it the treatment, and voilà ! Lots of Grendizer elements to be found also... can you spot them ?

Great Mazinga, made by Fabianplastica for Mattel, Italy, 1978

Remember GI Joe ?

For kids living in the 80ies/90ies, this toy-line was really all they wanted... Lots of vehicles, figurines and action !

S.A.W.-Viper, Hasbro, China, 1991

Laser-Viper, Hasbro, China, 1991

Free Fall, Hasbro, China, 1991

Dee-Jay, Hasbro, China, 1990

Capitaine Flam - Future or Futuro ?

Capitaine Flam mask, César, France, 1980's

Holy cow Batman ! They are building a wall !

El chico maravilla (Robin), ?, Mexico, ?

Flimsy blown plastic toy - 25 cm.

By the way, anybody knows how they translate "Holy Cow" in Spanish ?

Albator, Albator, la la la la la la....

Harlock mask, Takatoku ?, Japan, 1970's

Albator mask, César, France, 1978

Herlock mask, ?, Italy, 1970's

3 different countries, 3 different companies. Same mask. same pirate... Which one is your favorite ? 

Lightsaber with gun attached ? Ulysse (s) 31

I still find things I never knew existed, even of my favorite series. This lightsaber/laser pistol belongs to this category. Somebody said the lightsaber was a more elegant weapon for more elegant times... now attach a laser pistol in the handle and you are ready for the Gods of Olympus !

Ulysse 31 saber, A.G. Excominsa, Spain, 1982

Simple toy, water squirter thing, I guess to be sold in Spanish newspaper kiosks or beach stores, hanging from the ceiling with hooks or something similar ? Exists also with yellow handle/gun.

No marking on the toy, only on the card...

For scale, with a plastic Popy figurine

Shitajiki

Shitajiki's (or pencil boards in English) are a common method to advertise in the manga business. These B5-sized cardboard images became very collectible and these are some of Matsumoto's series I have in my collection:

The Aéro-Car from Mr. Francis Laur

Le rapide aérien, Maison Ch. Rollet, France, 1933

Just like the cars from Leyat 10 years earlier (see here), propeller-driven vehicles were still all the rage in France in the 1930'ies. This toy is a rendering of a proposition of Francis Laur to install a cable-car between "Porte de la Chapelle" and "Saint-Denis" in Paris. Why a cable car ? Because it had to cross 3 railway bridges at 7m height on a straight of 3300m. So it was designed to hover at 20m above street level.

Read all about it here.

The toy came with a cable and instruction leaflet.

The cabin is very light, all made out of aluminium. 

And the sticker says it would go all the way from Paris 

to NYC ! Big, big cable...

A rubber band for propulsion...The real thing would have had
a 40 hp engine, and a propeller that could be inverted
at each end of the line, to avoid expensive roundabouts... 

Newspaper rendering of the time...

In need of rolling stock ? The real system might have been "invented" a couple of years before, when Zeppelins were shot down above Paris.

World War One. Nacelle of the Zeppelin L49 captured in Bourbonne-les-Bains
(France) and displayed in the courtyard of the Invalides.
Paris (VIIth arrondissement). 1917. © Maurice-Louis Branger / Roger-Viollet
(Courtesy http://www.parisenimages.fr/)

The box has the stamp of Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville Paris... today better known as BHV

Scotland tried a similar system, with the George Bennie Railplane. Read more on it here. There was even a small test stretch build at Milngavie, near Glasgow.

The George Bennie Railplane