Odds Ends Figures Other Things June 2017we will look at some interesting items. First I will share some figures from Peter Evans. Next I will relate an interesting purchase I got when going to do something else. Also I have some photos of Britains Swoppet mounted figures.
Odds Ends Figures Other Things June 2017 Peter Evans
Peter sent me the following figures to enjoy. First we have three different Hong Kong figures. Each figure is swoppet style.
Next we have three of Spiderman’s enemies. They are Sandman, Black Cat and Mysterio. Black Cat is slated to have her movie.
This photo has a Speedwell German kneeling firing machine gun, Shrek and some unknown mystical creature.
Final we have a blow toy of a soldier marching. The figure is slightly over 5 inches tall . I have no idea who made it.
Odds Ends Figures Other Things June 2017 Comic Book Flat Figures
I have found figures when going to do something else. I had gone to a flea market/ farmers market. After doing the flea market I decided to buy some hard candy. As I was heading to the candy stand, I passed a dealer in books. He also had a lot of the comic flat Revolutionary War figures. These figures were sold on the back of comic books. The problem was they were flat figures. Many children who got them were disappointed. I had them as a child, but I was aware of the problem when I got them. When I bought them at a Salvation Army Bazzar I knew they were flat. I had gotten that information from reading “Seduction of the Innocent” by Frederic Wertham. Wertham had attacked comics for violence.
My decision was to buy them was because that and I had always wanted them. I kept them in a paper bag and played with them occasionally. They were sold as I had no more interest in them. I see the army flats more often than the Revolutionary War.
Odds Ends Figures Other Things June 2017 Britains Swoppet Cowboys and Indians
One of the popular items from Britains were their swoppets. The mounted cowboys and Indians had two different styles of horses. The horses in the photos above are the second version that were first used in 1966. This is according “An Unauthorised History of Herald and Britains Plastic Figures” by Peter Cole.
When I first got the above figure I thought they had put this figure on the wrong horse. When I was doing research in Cole’s book, I discover that the horse was valid. It had been used from 1966 to 1968.
It is a shame they discontinue it.
Odds Ends Figures Other Things June 2017 One More Thing
I was going to some reused plastic bags and found this figure. As you can see he is a religious person holding a cross. I had gotten him years ago at show. A gentleman had in his basement these massive display of figures. The person did conversions which this is one of them. The person passed away and his collection was broken up I got a bunch of the figures and sold them to other collectors. I am going to keep him.
Sometimes you call them swappets and sometimes swoppets. What is the correct name? Thanks.
The correct name for figures made by Britains Ltd. is Swoppets. Other manufacturers used variations of the term and alternative spelling for their multi-part figures.
I can still remember the feeling I got when I got my “Footlocker” of the US Civil War set that I had saved a Month’s allowance for and saw how small it was to be holding all the items that had been shown in the Comic Book ad and of course when I opened it my Mom found out that I knew some swear words!!Was my first experience of “Buyer Beware”I did use the Merrimac/Monitor ships though as I imagined that they were far off shore bombarding my Fort Superior.
I think the use of swappet resently come from HTF Di n Ducote that uses the therminology “swappable” swoppet figures in his description some times.
Otherwise is wrong spelled if you try searh w word swappet any toy soldier or figure.
My thoughts.
Best.
You are correct Don Ducotte uses the term swappables. The term swoppets has come almost generic to describe a figure that takes apart and can be changed.
Never been a fan of swoppets or whatever term you want to use to apply to them, but I do like that cowboy catching one in the abs. The Hong Kong versions are just terrible.
I remember sending away for the Romans from the back of a comic book, the small box they arrived in was rather disappointing , however they were more of a semi-flat figure and I did end up enjoying them, they were much better than the GI’s or Civil War flats that other neighborhood kids ended up getting.
The artwork for the Roman set is worth more than the actual figures. I remember clipping out the response sheet in the back of the Superman DC comic book. If I remember right it was $1.49 cash that I placed in the envelope and sent it out in the mail.
Waiting for about six weeks the little box finally arrived. My mother could not figure out how I was receiving mail from someone we did not know. When the box was released from quarantine I already had a suspicion something was not right. Of course, 30mm flats will do that to you. Many of the figures also looked liked medieval Italian painting versions of Romans, and could possibly be knights. Going back to check the ad and artwork I began to make my case for mail fraud and grand larceny. Boy, was I going to show those “crooks” who was the boss.
After cooling down I realized there was one benefit. As a Notre Dame fan I was pleased that one army was blue, and the other gold. I began to set them up in football formations. After that wore off I was able to trade the whole set to a kid down the street for a wrist rocket slingshot.
A lot of intact DC comics with the premiums ads NOT clipped are more valuable than the junkie tiny flat figures. As I recall, a few of mine arrived with broken weapons, etc.. I was prepared for a Marx-like playset & was disappointed with the junk I received. Maybe they have some current collectible value, but so do old Cracker Jacks prizes. Boy, the JUNK we treasure!!
I guess we want NOSTALGIA when we look for some of the really junkie toys of our youths. For example, I am tempted to buy the old Whitman card stock “punch out” books when I see complete mint cowboy towns or Indian villages.
e.g. Here’s one for Ed and you other Alamo fans:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-THE-ALAMO-GOLDEN-FUNTIME-PUNCH-OUT-BOOK-1960-PAPER-DOLLS-/321873986265?hash=item4af12f42d9:g:ZM8AAOxyhS9TgXJW
I remember that book and may have had it.
I had many of those punch-out books growing up. I thought the artwork was great. Still do.
I had that book, maybe a couple of them over the years. Every now and then you see someone selling one at one of the shows. I’ve seen them on a number of occassions, been tempted, but never pulled the trigger.
Interesting, they had a new exhibit next to the Menger and inside was one scene where they had giant figures that resembled the punch out figures in the book. I think I included that picture when I submitted the Texas show pictures. There was a Texian, a Tejano and a NOG.
Most of the ads that were in the comic books were junk. People who buy them to recapture a lost memory of youth.
If I remember some of the artwork on the ads may have been done by Russ Heath. To him it was another job.
I avoided the Revolutionary War flats; at one time I had a neighbor who was a few years older than I who had a set and often let me play with them. Years later after I had moved away (many times over) one of my classmates asked me about them as he had sent off for them. I told him they were junk. Imagine my surprise when he got the new version 3D figures. Well, it wouldn’t be the last time I was mistaken.
I saved my pennies and bought my own set.
I guess the rip-off of my childhood was the “Gold Crown” game when I learned the “huge castle – big enough for 121 men!” was actually a playmat/game board. I SHOULD have known better… But it wasn’t a total waste. The GIANT knights were great and the catapults were kind of cool, too.
When I was about 11 in 1976 I ordered the “Cannon Ball” Civil War game set about the Battle of Chickamauga, featuring “EXPLODING BRIDGES THAT ACTUALLY BLOW APART RIGHT OFF THE RIVER!”
When it arrived almost two months later, the exploding bridges turned out to be little two part plastic plank platforms that you hooked up with an elastic band. You were supposed to tap them with your finger to make them “explode” but they never worked.
There was also a pink, yellow and blue mat/gameboard that felt like it was cut from a plastic grocery bag, some ugly round-nosed cannons and assorted pieces to make blockhouses, a few strips of corrugated cardboard to make two forts, red TNT counters, and perhaps the only worthwhile element: 1/72 scale Marx clone US and Confederate Civil War infantry.
I never actually played the game and most of the stuff quickly got lost, but the figures joined my Airfix 1/72 Civil War figures. I think I still have many of them tucked away someplace.
In my opinion…
Ugly toys and set had been made always I think ,some with partial good parts.
Memories is only reason bring back those to us most time ,as we become older .
For realism they are not .Back then many makers did cheap stuff like today still are and some complain abut cheap made in China stuff today.What happen is we forgot a lot .
Sames goes for copiers and plagiarism ,many old brand copied each other way a lot in their faces with out scruples .HK just continued knocking off when toy soldiers start getting out makers by main western factories and after many western factories had moved the tool there leaving then with out use and shift to new generation action figures toys.Least they keep the tradition x 3 more decades and in some cases were very well done and new figures or sets toys.
Since late 90s most new production are done in China,many by Chinese artist designed ,others designed here or else and also their own production with original sets .I particular never been fun of flat ,yet because former URSS sets were in most flat it bring some nostalgic back to me ,but i have not much use x then other than background far poses in scenes or target shooting ..
My thoughts..
best
I think part of the fun, maybe most of it was saving the money to send away for those comic books flats, then for maybe the first time in our lives getting a package in the mail. Checking that mail box every day just anticipating the treasure we would soon receive, only to have our hopes dashed when the package finally arrived. It was an important life lesson, how many of us actually got suckered in by another comic book ad? I would guess just a few of us, most had learned their lesson. Just part of growing up, although I still get a sense of excitement when packages arrive today, of course now I know what’s in them and what to expect.
I agree, Ed. I had far more fun saving my pennies and staring at the pictures in the comic book ads and going through the whole ritual of checking the mail every day than I did with the game itself.
Agree Ed, well said. It was like Christmas off-season.
And even with the disappointments, there were still some treasures. For me, in spite of the flat castle those GIANT rip-off knights were awesome. I think they still hold their own against many newer items (if you ignore the mounted ACW firing guy with the full field pack on his back…). A great part of child hood.
internet pictures of the ads:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=zGRigitQ&id=DB5EDCF89C5F055BB0DD06770CEF22D867610814&thid=OIP.zGRigitQTe-l3Beyq1jH4wEsDh&q=vintage+comic+book+ad+for+civil+war+soldiers&simid=608004939331077100&selectedIndex=6&qpvt=vintage+comic+book+ad+for+civil+war+soldiers&ajaxhist=0
I am still motivated by those charging Roman ads. And how could I have missed out on having a Polaris nuclear submarine delivered to my home for a mere $6.98?
Sea monkeys (aka tiny shrimp) are still sold today.
Never got a two man Polaris. Folks must have vetoed the $6.98 price.
A couple of kids on my block had the WW 2 sets, so we knew they were junk. Instead, we spent our cash on the Topps Civil War cards.
I still have a stack of about 25 of them left.
Man, some of those are just gruesome!
Can you imagine the howling that would go on today, if these cards were issued now?
I believe you can buy a set of re-issued Civil War cards, I know I have a re-issued set of Mars Attacks. The original Civil War cards are expensive,
Gruesome? You’re not kidding! The artist must have really had a thing for impalements. http://images.collectors.com/smrweb/smr0916/1962-Civil-War-News-21-Painful-Death-MINT-9-40347623.jpg
Very Realistic in my opinion ….
Even back in the Day when I and my buddies were buying them at the local Corner Store in the Bubble Gum packs we wondered how they were getting past the Grown-Ups.We had one memorable incident when the local Eddy Haskell tried passing one of the “Confederate” notes at the local Chinese grocery store on a new clerk that had just immigrated from Hong Kong,first time I saw Kung Fu used.I had the whole set which has disappeared now but I suspect my Mom had something to do with that.
The unknown creature was sold by Chap Mey. I have two of them, there other version,i use for fantasy as trolls …
Sorry correct name Chap Mei…