Never Mind the Adverts Pt15 – Flea Market Finds… cars, cars and more cars!

Posted on July 10, 2019 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Corgi Juniors Tom & Jerry. Jerry’s Banger. 1979/80. UK.

Welcome to the latest Never Mind The Adverts Here Are The Toys!

In this edition I share photos of some 70s and 80s die cast cars I found at my local flea market in France last Sunday. Featuring the brands Corgi, Matchbox, Majorette, and my first example of a Politoys (later rebranded as the famous Polistil company). I also snagged a vintage set of German FX-Schmid automobile cards. FX-Schmid was one of the forerunners to the world famous Top Trumps cards which are still popular and sold to date. Those of you who had a set of Waddingtons Top Trumps back in the 80s will recognise the familiar old-school design of the cards.

So, cars, cars and cards of cars… not a bad haul then, and a relaxing way to spend an hour on a Sunday morning, and all for less than the price of a pain au chocolate and double espresso (which incidently I had too 🙂 )

Enjoy the pics!

Matchbox Battle Kings K 105 Hover-Raider. 1974. UK

Matchbox Battle Kings K 105 Hover-Raider. 1974. UK.

Matchbox Superfast Chevy Van “Vanpire”. 1979. UK

Matchbox Superfast Chevy Van “Vanpire”. 1979. UK.

Politoys Abarth 2000. N Y 19. Pininfarina. C1970s. Italy

Politoys Abarth 2000 N Y 19. Pininfarina. C1970s. Italy.

Majorette Ford Escort XR3. N° 212. 1987/8. France

Majorette Ford Escort XR3. N° 212. 1987/8. France.

Majorette motorized Motor. C1980s. France.

Majorette Motor. C1980s. France.

Majorette Ford Capri. N° 251. 1982/3. France

Majorette Ford Capri. 1982/83. France.

Matchbox Super Kings Security Truck K 19. 1978. UK

Matchbox Super Kings Security Truck. K 19. 1978. UK.

FX-Schmid Top Trumps Quartet game N° 53322. Autos de Course. C1970s. Germany/France

FX Schmid Top Trumps. Autos de Course Quartette Cards N° 53322. C1970s.

As always thanks for looking 🙂

Never Mind the Adverts Pt14 – Action Figure Frolics and Fun, plus Name-that-Figure quiz, all in TVTA Color!

Posted on January 25, 2019 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Welcome to the latest Never Mind The Adverts Here Are The Toys!

In this edition, I finally get my hands on a Thirteenth Doctor action figure as portrayed by Jodie Whittaker in the BBC sci-fi drama Doctor Who. Judge Death stops by to give us an intimate portrait. X-23 Laura Kinney strikes some cool poses. Barbie meets a Dalek! And test your knowledge with TVTA’s fun-time action figure quiz: can you identify the characters and which franchise they belong to?

Doctor Who by Character Options

When 13 met Martha…

The Doctor and Martha Jones finally meet. It’s only natural they strike a pose for the camera.

: Martha: Enough of the posing around. I just spotted danger ahead… I think I saw a Dalek! 13: Really? Where? Oh no, I just remembered I don’t like Daleks, neither do you. Let’s get after it!

: Martha: oh, it’s okay… looks like Barbie is dealing with the Dalek situation now. 13: Barbie… how did she get here?

when Barbie met Dalek

Dalek: Exfoliate! Exfoliate! Barbie: All in good time my lovely new blue accessory… first we have to choose outfits, do our hair, bake cakes, then there’s this cool party I’m throwing later over at my place. What? You haven’t seen my dream house yet!?!

Judge Death – the intimate side

: It’ssss not eassssy, all thissss death… There are timesss when I yearn to be at peace with the world…

: Ssssometimesss I like to read poetry, paint… I garden, though my flowersss take often the habit of dying…

: They asssk me… how can you live with yourssself when being resssponsssible for the murder of sssso many innocent beingsss? …

: I reply, I do not live, therefore I do not have to live with myssself…,

: They reply back… you’re not a nice guy… we’re gonna get Judgesss Anderssson and Dredd to sssort you out!

: Oh no… I’m sssso ssscared!!!!

: Boo!

: Hahahahahahahaha!

: But really, all joking assside, my criticsss are quite right.. I’m not a nice guy at all…

: Sssso run! You have ten ssecondsss before I sssentence you to death!!

X-23 – These boots are made for slashing, and a fistful of adamantium!

X-23… how do you like it?

: I…

: Like it…

: Like…

: That!

Quiz time!!!

And now, from Norwich, it’s the quiz of the week! Presenting, in glorious TVTAColorVision, the TVTA fun-time action figure quiz: Identify each character for 1 point, its franchise for a bonus point. Can you score more than 14 points? Don’t feel bad if not, this is quite hard, and Wooof only scored 5 points and he’s supposed to be an expert! Haha. Hard cheese, cat… What, shhhh, don’t tell the readers I only scored 3 points!

Answers are at the end of the post… no cheating! Deduct a point if you do, naughty you!

Right, let’s go! Name the following characters, and the franchise they appear in…

Cowboys!

And finally, how about some cool cowboy figures from the 1980s? These were made by a company called Gerca. I remember nagging my mom for ages as a kid for a pack of cowboys very similar to these – I wanted them because their hats and guns were removable and the body parts interchangeable!

Wild West figures. Gerca. 1980s. Made in Macau. Loose.

Wild West figures. Gerca. 1980s. Made in Macau. MIP.

That’s all folks,

Thanks for getting action figure quizzical with us 🙂 Join us again soon for another edition of Never Mind The Adverts, in glorious TVTAColorVision!!

Never Mind the Adverts Pt13 – 1979 Big Trak

Posted on June 24, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Welcome to the latest Never Mind The Adverts Here Are The Toys!

Time to take a look at a toy that I always wanted as a kid but never had. Now, as an adult collector, I can finally say I have one! The original box is in a sorry state but the vehicle works perfectly (just needs a replacement bulb for the photon torpedo). After a good clean up and a trip to the shops to buy a monster load of batteries, I had the Big Trak following my commands along the kitchen floor like a good one. Oh, and the thing was so noisy it set off the neighbour’s dog upstairs barking.

Welcome to the world of the mighty electronic Big Trak!

BIG TRAK (US) or Bigtrak (Europe) was a computerised toy vehicle created by Milton Bradley in 1979. This six-wheeled tank-like space monster came with attractive decals, a front-mounted blue photon beam headlamp and an integrated programmable keypad that remembered up to 16 commands which it then executed in sequence. The US version was moulded in grey plastic while the European version was white. A companion unit was sold separately – the Big Trak Transporter – a trailer which could be attached to the rear that carried and dumped loads in response to Big Trak’s pre-programmed commands. Big Trak was relaunched in 2010 by Zeon Ltd who produced replicas of the original.

Hamleys. UK. 1983.

Thanks for requiring batteries with us 🙂 Join us again soon for another edition of Never Mind The Adverts!

Never Mind the Adverts Pt12 – Die Cast toys

Posted on April 26, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Welcome to the latest Never Mind The Adverts Here Are The Toys! Time to take a look at some die cast vehicles from the 1970s to present – direct from The Vintage Toy Advertiser collection.