"cute " vinyls

@ultrakaiju

Yep, i know what you mean, its rare i see Moomins on my travels. Same with Barbapapa stuff . . .

I think the excellent D&Q reprint book series of the Moomin newspaper comic strip (and all the 1-off books that followed) helped boost their profile to English speaking countries etc, but it seems in Japan they never went away. I found a 14" high Moomin plush a while ago, made by Banpresto. Its just quality in abundance, the design and materials used are impressive. Probably the best plushie i own (haha, who am i kidding? my big Doraemon plushie wins every time). . . . but Moomin is a close second!

 

Vintage charm. No idea how old, i really like the design.
It makes me think of R. Crumb or Gilbert Shelton etc . . .

The message on his hat has a special meaning for me today.
I'm changing jobs. Huzzah!

 

I think they were basically written in English, or translated by her brother. (IIRC correctly they came up with the English names for all the characters themselves too) They were originally published in English, anyway, which is why it's funny that it took so long to all be collected in English. I had several books in Japanese, before the D&Q ones came out.
I remember there being a bit of Moomin merchandise (for the TV series) in the UK in the 90s but the amount of stuff from Bandai/Banpresto is phenomenal.

 

Rare vintage frog keyring by a Dutch company called 'Nutricia'.
He is marked 'Bambix' which is a type of baby food, i think . . .

 

C.U.T.I.E
Bandai / Mattel's answer to making M.U.S.C.L.E figures for girls.
Not very successful apparently.

http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0772/

A toy-line not shy of gender stereotypes!

 

1950's/60's Marx Toys
Flintstones ramp walker (missing the loop for a piece of string on the front of Barney).

Another surprising charity shop find. This one was at the bottom of a bargain box of toys for 20p.
It was covered in grime, and i couldn't believe what i was seeing when i saw it . . . its fairly rare and
worth a quid or two! Nobody spotted its worth so it ended up with a bunch of crappy modern toys.

Cleaned up very nicely!

 

Another ramp walker, this time from a boot-sale. This one has an ear that's been 3/4 snapped-off but as long as i display like this (to the side) everything's cool and the gang. This one is very rare - it makes the Flintstones one look positively commonplace!

 

Another rare ramp walker. I like the way the little one has a hat & scarf on!
1950's / 1960's

 

Vintage Rauls Troll
The one with the brown hair is the most recent. Pretty much mint condition for a charity shop find.
It's either been in storage for many years or was much loved . . .

Cost me 50p - Bargain!

 

Vintage walker by Marx Toys 1970's
I'm pretty sure its a 'Mr Men' character but i can't figure out which one,
also there are no pictures of this sculpt online as far as i can see . . .

Recent boot sale buy for the ridiculous price of 20p.
Twenty 'effing pence!

 

O GENKI DES KA?

 

'Throttle' from 'Biker Mice from Mars' 1994
3.5" High

 

hmmm,not a Mr Man,I need to do some detective work

 

@doomboy

Yeah, its a bit of a mystery that one. I never did find out what the character is.
He looks like a Mr. Men but i couldn't find reference to him anywhere . . .

Its definitely an official Marx toy and not a bootleg, or at least the stamp and
plastic looks legit anyway. Marx did a bunch of Mr Men wind-ups that look
very similar in construction . . .

 

I knew I had seen him before,I did some digging on another forum and found out its 'Meow' from the Hargreaves 'Timbuktoo' series...my little sister was well into em
meow by i thorn, on Flickr

 

@doomboy
Woah, good work in double time!
I've never heard of that one before.

'a sort of cat'

Love it

 

I bought this at a boot-sale but it nearly didn't happen. It was being sold by a family which included a little girl. When the parents went to sell it to me the little girl suddenly exclaimed that it was a favourite toy and she didn't want to sell it. Her older sisters and parents argued with her, but she stood firm and held onto the toy. I even offered her a bit more money, but she wouldn't budge . . .

I said i would come back later on, just in case she changed her mind. I then spent the rest of the boot-sale cursing a cute 6 year old in my head Luckily when i returned about 40mins later she had changed her mind and sold it to me. I gave her the bit of extra money i'd promised. Her dad said he didn't think i was going to come back, and i told him i collect this type of toy and it was worth returning for.

I have no idea who the maker is because there are no makers marks of any kind, but it's a quality vintage squeaker with a lot of charm . . .

If anyone knows the maker i'd love to know. Also, what animal do you think it is? I can't decide.

8" high.

 

That is driving me nuts because I vaguely recognize it.

 

I've been collecting and researching 'Combex' for years and i've never seen this one before.
Very happy to score this little rarity. 5" high vintage squeaker. Made in England.
Yellow vinyl is unusual for Combex.

 

Ledraplastic - Crich e Croch - Made in Italy - 1969
9" high Vintage Squeakers.

The box is very rare. I scored these cheap because they've been nibbled in a few places.
When you squeeze them, their hats pop-up in a pleasing way. Only Oliver has a squeaker,
i assume Stan was too thin to install one effectively.

 

Those are great! Love that the hat pops up.

 

Topo Gigio. Soft vinyl with articulated head. 8" high.
I think this one is made in Japan, but i'm not 100% sure.

So cute. I'm going to start insisting on carrying him around with me all the time, and my family will start to worry about me, haha!