About Me

My photo
No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

H is for Herald and Hong Kong

Similar to the cowboy shot the other day, but this time we do have all poses from both sets so; two photographs and a bit more blurb!

Not much more though, these are Britains and - much to my puzzlement - are one of those marks which generate so much interest (the others being Airfix, Timpo and Marx) it's all been said before and covered in greater depth than I can muster the enthusiasm to attempt!

The early set, first made under the Herald banner in polyethylene. Like the cowboys, some but not all poses were carried over to the Hong Kong production phases, to be made in a rigid PVC, namely; the standing and sitting 'Chiefs' in full war-bonnet and the squaw with baby in papoose - along with the camp-fire.

Note how much smaller the PVC standing Indian (far right of the row) is compared to the UK ones to the left of him.

Losing the three (see note below) fighting poses in the production move to HK, they were replaced by these guys, the crawling one was one of my favourites as a child and I still have a soft-spot for him today, but he's not a '10 items to rescue from a fire' pose, as these are pretty common, pretty indestructible and can be found in reasonable condition, with relative ease.

I also like the fact that the standing firer has full clothing, it's amazing how stereotyped 'Red Indians' were in the toy industry of the past, they all seemed to fight semi-naked on hot days! This guy is ready for a cold winter...it's just a shame he bought his PJ's form the local fancy-dress hire shop!

I realised after I'd published - there was a forth figure transferred over to the HK range; the kneeling archer (there is one; top right - first photograph!), so the range went from 7 to eight with four new and four old poses plus the camp fire, Tee-pee (Ti-pi?) and Totem pole.

No comments: