UK Archives - PS

Denys Fisher Monster Factory

Mantooth — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 04:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I buy Monster toys and then totally forget about them in October, case in point this set. A wonderful “do it yourself” craft set from the UK that includes Frankenstein, the Wolfman and Dracula (the Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry of the monster world).

What’s that you ask? Can we look inside Brain? Your wish is granted after the jump!

So Copycast is a series released by Denys Fisher, who by the way, is the man who invented Spirograph, I always like mentioning that. Monsters was one of a few themes that you could get in 1976.

Monsters, Planet of the Apes and Dinosaurs, there is no loser here! Seriously I’d pick all of these guys for my team.

Pretty sure the Copycast material isn’t good now, so I won’t try to make figures of these guys but the molds are a little cartoony. I’m not complaining.

I never bore of monster toys and honestly, i hope I never will…..

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Colouring Book Theatre: Gerrry Anderson UFO

Mantooth — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 14:23:00 +0000

UFO by Purnell (1971)
One of the nicest things I received at Mego Meet was this colouring book, which frankly, I didn’t know existed until it was placed in my hands.

The one caveat my pal Corey had was that he hoped it would be featured on CBT. Wish granted! (One little bit of trivia, the striking woman on the cover is Dr. Strange’s real life mother)

While filled with colourful costumes, purple wigs and cool tech, Gerry Anderson’s UFO is also a show that featured dark story lines and adult themes. It doesn’t exactly scream “Children’s colouring book” which of course, makes it all the more delicious to me. (See Dune)

Grab your crayons and join me after the jump.

Not surprisingly the book is done by a mix of artists, mostly working from stills. Artistically it goes from attractive to kind of phoned in. The hilarity stemming from the editors complete lack of knowledge/caring about UFO.

The picture of “Gay Ellis” above is actually Joan Harrington. This is the kind of detail kids probably ignored and only upsets middle aged dorks like me.

Commander Straker and a robot, I think it’s funny that although the show has moon bases, space ships and other bric-a-brac that they needed to add a 1950s robot to spice it up.

Straker was a lonely, lonely guy.

Nope that’s Gay Ellis, which the book gets right half the time. There is also three versions of this portrait in the book.

And thank goodness, wouldn’t want to colour something interesting.

They look more like me getting off the couch than running.

Ok Colouring book, this is lazy, even for you. Not everyone on the moonbase is named Joan, that’s Nina. (trust me, I know my purple haired moongirls!)

Nope, certainly no flesh hunting aliens looking to harvest your organs. Move on….

This book seems to not realize who the bad guys are, the aliens are called “Astronauts” and so are the actual astronauts.

The book features a lot of drawings of the lunar module in space, they always call it a submarine. Submarines are spaceships now. The book never shows the real submarine.

I don’t know if it shows but I seriously adore this book, it’s awesome.

Japanese UFO Colouring Book Theatre

Previously reviewed Colouring Books

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1975 Lone Ranger UK Catalog

Mantooth — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 04:00:00 +0000

The brilliant Gabriel Toys Lone Ranger action figure line was a big hit in North America but it was also a smash in the UK, where is was sold by Marx Toys.

Today, we’ve got the 1975 catalog for the British Lone Ranger series which includes some sweet photos of store displays like this:

Visit the 1975 Marx Lone Ranger Catalog here.

And once you’re finished, we’ve got the most Gabriel Lone Ranger content on teh interwebs!

Lone Ranger Figure Archive

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War of the Daleks

Mantooth — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:08:00 +0000

TOTALLY TRUE STORY: When i was 15 years old I found a copy of this game at a “Toys and Wheels” store at the mall in Canada. I don’t know how it got there but this store used to buy a lot of close out stock like Action Jackson uniforms and the like so maybe it was a sample.

All i can say is, as a 15 year Doctor Who fan, I thought I was dreaming.

The game is lost to time (and to the fact that I moved like 20 times from the age of 19 to 28) but I still have one of the chubby l’il daleks on my desk.

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Denys Fisher Cyborg

Mantooth — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:11:00 +0000

Not enough props can go out to what I think is the UK’s better kept secrets, originally a Japanese line called “Henshin Cyborg”, the clever monkeys at Denys Fisher took it, made it smaller and added a keen back story.

I didn’t grow up in the UK, had no inkling it existed when I was 7 but when I look at this stuff I swear I feel nostalgia, it’s that cool.

Check out the 1977 Denys Fisher Cyborg Archive

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1978 Berwick Toys Catalog

Mantooth — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 04:06:00 +0000

Most North Americans have probably never heard of UK based Berwick toys before but that should change because they created a lot of fun and inspired toys for the English market.

Berwick’s main items seem to be role play such as their line of play suits and games. 1978 saw the introduction of a toy called “Mudd” which seems similiar to slime and some really oddball Batman items.

Click Here to Visit the 1978 Berwick Toys Catalog

More Toy Anarchy in the UK

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