Tag Archives: Never mind the adverts here are the toys

Live long and prosper… with Playmobil Star Trek

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Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Box front.

Never Mind The Adverts! Part 19.

Greetings vintage mates, and a happy New Year to you all. TVTA kicks off 2023 with this wonderful Playmobil homage to the original Star Trek series, featuring the figures of James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Lieutenant Uhura. Nothing else to say here except that I’m very pleased to add this cool toy to my collection. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves! Enjoy.

Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Box reverse.

Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Box detail.

Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Figures x4.

Thanks for looking 😊

Never mind the adverts (Pt17) – 2000 AD figures by ReAction

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2000 AD ReAction Figures. The complete set. 1999. UK.

Welcome to part 17 of TVTA’s series Never Mind The Adverts… Here Are The Toys!

In this edition I complete my 1999 ReAction figure set for characters from the British comic 2000 AD. I was missing Durham Red and Johnny Alpha, but now have them both 🙂 Another collection ticked off the list!

My original post for the figures I had can be seen here

For now, take a look at how cool the full set looks… starting with the mutant vampire Durham Red…

Durham Red 

Durham Red. 2000 AD ReAction Figures. 1999. UK.

Durham Red. 2000 AD ReAction Figures. 1999. UK.

Durham Red. 2000 AD ReAction Figures. 1999. UK.

Durham Red. 2000 AD ReAction Figures. 1999. UK.

Johnny Alpha 

Johnny Alpha. 2000 AD ReAction Figures. 1999. UK.

Continue reading →

Never Mind The Adverts (Pt16) – Judge Dredd Mega Heroes by Mattel

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We are the law!

Welcome to part 16 of TVTA’s series Never Mind The Adverts… Here Are The Toys!

Featuring: Judge Dredd Mega Heroes, by Mattel

In 1995, Mattel released a series of multi-pack action figures based on Judge Dredd characters from the British comic 2000 AD. The semi-articulated figures, which stand at around 2 to 3 inches (7 – 12 cm approx), come with an impressive amount of colour and detail, and were launched to coincide with the summer blockbuster film Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone and Diane Lane.

TVTA is pleased to present maximum thrill power images of the full 1995 loose set, including the impressively zarjaz ABC Robot, and Judge Dredd’s Lawmaster MK IV bike!

Judge Hershey and Block War Dredd.

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

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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!

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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.

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

X-23… how do you like it?

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

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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!

Vintage NASA Space Set Made In West Germany

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A TVTA mystery toy special! NASA formed in 1958 and West Germany ceased to be in 1990 – so this toy set which I picked up for under a tenner at my local vintage toy shop was produced anywhere between those two dates, likely the 1970s following NASA’s successful lunar missions.

The figurines are approx 1 inch tall, and like the lunar module and rocket vehicle have ‘W GERMANY’ stamped on them as COO (Country Of Origin). The red pilot figure has no COO stamp but has the same uniform as the others, and was likely meant for a vehicle that’s missing from the set? I made this quick dio using card, rocks and sand.

Edit: 20/11/17. Thanks to TVTA agent Arohk over on the TIG forum I’ve found out the origins of these toys. Fast forward to the end of this post to find out!

Mystery solved! The figurines and “Luna Station play set” were originally made by Jean Höfler in the early 1970s, with the figurines eventually being licensed out to Plong bubblegum in North America. The following images are all courtesy of the excellent site: blechroboter.de

image by blechroboter.de

image by blechroboter.de

Thanks for looking 🙂