Nu-Age Smoke Ring gun

Smoke-Ring gun, NU-AGE, USA,

1950's

This is another one of the best space designs around - especially if you were a kid playing Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon in the 50ies. Principle is quite simple - put a special match in the barel (yes kids, do play with fire !) pull the trigger and a rubber membrane would make perfect smoke rings coming out of the nozzle of the gun.

Smoke-Ring gun (chamber open),
NU-AGE, USA,1950's

(Smoke Ring gun pellets - archive pic.)

With the age, the rubber membrane tends to fall to pieces (a problem also known to collectors of fountain pens ;)) Even so, this piece is timeless - and reflects the idea of the 50ies that space exploration would not  always be pacific... Happilly, a decade or so later, NASA decided that the real Apollo missions did not need to carry guns to the moon!

Irwin SpaceShip Express !

Spaceship Express, Irwin, USA,
1950's

A very strange design to go exploring the galaxy... But this spaceship has two big orange knobs... One to choose the planet of your liking (Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus) ... and the other one the propulsion mode (Atomic, Stratos or Atmos - with a STOP included if you need to stay still for a while).
This toy came in a number of different colors. I love the box !

Captain Future Comet - all plastic but what a toy !

Captain Future Comet ST, Popy, Japan,
1980

Captain Future Comet ST, Popy, Japan,
1980

There were 2 ships produced by POPY for the Captain Future series. This is the bigger one (strangely called ST - Standart ?) on the Japanese box. Countrary to its smaller counterpart, this one is made completely out of plastic. Different colour versions do exist (blackwings, for example) as well as a French box and a German box for the toy. It came with a little chrome "cosmolem" (or smaller spaceship) and grey articulated figurines of the crew. 

Comet ST (detail of the crew), Popy, Japan,
1980

Cockpit detail...

Black Hole - Disney

Black Hole figurines, Maia e Borges, Portugal,
1979

With the success of Star Wars, Sci-Fi films were reborn in the late 70ies. No wonder that even the biggest studios went back and developed the theme.

Disney was no exception, and even though it will never get close to the cultural phenomenon Star Wars was, it had some cool mecha design (=read robots and spaceships).

Paint-by-Numbers Shoguns !

 These 2 were bought in Hong Kong. - Gashapon (=free/candy/premium) - type of figurine, but articulated in a quite soft rubber material. I don't have much more information on them. They are completely white/grey - maybe test shots ? (test-shots are toys molded in one color to check for imperfections in the moulding process before going to paint)

Voltes V, Banpresto (?), China,
2010's

Great Mazinger, Banpresto (?), China,
2010's

The CEJI Harlock doll

Capitaine Albator, Ceji, Hong Kong,
1979

This is the original action doll made on an ACTION JOE body - the same as was used for the French GIJOES / ACTION MAN dolls. A friend - collector in Lisbon helped re-string the complete doll, because like lots of its counterparts the joints were made of rubbery plastic that desintegrate with time. Now he's all ready to go and save the galaxy one more time.

German flying car - Das fliegende Auto ! Straight from a Buck Rogers comic ...

Flying Car, Jumbo, US Zone Germany,
1940's

This toy came as a surprise to me last Saturday at my weekly hunt for "toyz extraordinaires"... Made in US-zone Germany by a company called JUMBO (yes - logotype IS an elephant). It has all the gimmicks and feel of Schuco toys of that period - but the really, really cool action is not so much the wind-up of the wheels... Nope ! It has the spring-mounted propellor and pop-out wings straight from a Pulp magazine of that period.

It is indeed a strange design - much more like the bath-tub US-produced Nash than like the VW Kaeffer (beetle). If anyone has more information about this toy please write me.

More of Tetsujin 28 - Gigantor !

The big pot-bellied robot has a certain "je-ne-sais-quoi" of industrial revolution and steam-punk origins. It is heavy, bulky ... and has rivets ! But don't mess with him !

Tetsujin 28, (candy container), China,
2010's

Tetsujin 28, wind-up, Takara, Taiwan,
1980's

BOTP by Jecsan - Spain

A little more chubby than the Popy / CIVAS figurines and without the joints... Very crude packaging (stapled bubble and carton-colored back !) The figurines came with a plastic "visor" - glued (this one fell of with time...)

Princess, Jecsan, Spain,
1970's

Princess (detail), Jecsan, Spain,
1970's

Atomic monster - MATANGO !

Japan, as the first country hit be the horrors of Atomic explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has included this threat both in film (Godzilla - grown lizard due to radiation), manga (Barefoot Gen, for example) and popular culture. On the other hand, they also regarded atomic energy as a source of everlasting power for the future - power that could be used for the good of humankind (Astroboy = Tetsuwan Atom/Mighty Atom). This duality has come once again to surface with the latest Fukujima incidents.

This had of course also repercussions in the toy-world. From robots called "Mr. Atomic" to "Atomic rayguns", it was everywhere. In the Kaiju world, the Matango monster is the closest it gets. Even though it is a "fungus" monster - it strikes a cord to anyone who saw the atomic "mushroom" clouds.

Matango, Marmit, Japan,
1999

Captain Scarlet Spectrum Persuit Vehicle (SPV), Dinky Toys, England,
1970's

This is the workhorse of Spectrum in their struggle with the Mysterons. Fast and all-terrain - the drivers are seated backwards so they can resist a frontal colision if it happens. One of the Nicest Dinky toys around - heavy but full of functions: the front flips open and fires a missile when you press on the suspension of the front wheels - caterpillars lift up and down at the back - and pressure the white button to see Captain Scarlet exit the tank.

It's time to water it down...

The Japanese culture is full of contradictions... What would be as oposite as the zen and the natural beauty of a Bonzai tree ? Well, hmmm - let's see. A colorfull Shogun Warrior to water it ? At least this one does not shoot anything... except for the water sprinkles from it's head.

Getta Robot 2, Popy, Japan,
1970's

Getta Robot 2 (back), Popy, Japan,
1970's

Comansi - Batalla de los Planetas

Spanish company Jecsan got hold of the BOTP license, but competing company COMANSI (mis)used it as a way to get sales on a number of non BOTP toys, like this set of astronauts. (which were cheaper to make than the popular action figures made by Jecsan...). I thought in the beginning that these were in fact Jecsan figurines - but the "OVNI" "2000, 2001, 2002, ... markings on the base prove these are COMANSI.

Batalla de los Planetas (bag of astronauts), Comansi, Spain
1970's

The colors are really nice, and some of the poses also. These figurines came from boxed space sets that the company produced in the 60ies.

Schizofrenic beauties - Batman beware !

They are wild, beatifull and completely crazy. They are the most stunning villains around, with pinup style poses and weapons that make the Bat sweaty every time... they are... the girls of Gotham.

Harley Quinn, WB store, China, 1999

Poison Ivy, WB store, China, 1999

Batgirl, WB store, China, 1999

Batgirl, fast food toy (Mc.D?), China
1993

Catwoman, fast food toy,
China, 1993

Batgirl, Kenner, China, 1997

Catwoman, WB store, China, 1999

Banso Battle of The Planet toys - Gatchaman in XL

Jun (Princese) with bike, BANSO, Japan,
1970's

For me some of the most beautifull (even if - crude) toys made originally for the BOTP / Gatchaman series: Banso toy's made a great job in the display of the charcaters and their mecha (= vehicles). I still need to find two of those (Ken's plane and Jinpei's tank)... if you have one let me know.

Ryu Nakanishi with Phenix ship, Banso, Japan,
1970's

Ryu Nakanishi with Phenix ship (back of box),
Banso, Japan, 1970's