Let's look over some of the current listings for collections of Hing Fat "Space Bucket" astronauts + related (or not) goods on our favorite auction platform. In the interest of fairness I have removed the seller's identities, and no offense is meant. Just a warts & all appraisal of material related to this subject currently offered for sale. Search term was "Plastic Astronauts" which produced about 1500 returns, of which these hits were the merchandise in question. I may do a more thorough search using different terms as a followup, but with no real intent or purpose to the search this is what turned up, and there's some good stuff plus a laugh or two.
FAIL: Jeez, off to a bad start already. See, the Space Shuttle did not exist prior to 1977, so there's no way the set could have been made in the 60s. Deliberately false advertising or slack-jawed cluelessness, take your pick. People should either know what they are selling or come clean on not being up & let the product speak for itself -- Many listings below do so very well and don't try to make what they have sound special. The vendor does accept offers and postage is included in the price (it's never "free" eBay, ever) which softens the blow a little. So I am failing this vendor for being uninterested in learning about what they actually have. All evidence also points to the set as having first been pressed in the very early 70s. Seller is either lazy or being a sneak. Let them keep it.
Rant aside the most interesting thing shown is that brown Moon Terrain patch + the rocket with the red exhaust fans between the two shuttle boosters. Would love to have them, but no.
FAIL: These are not anywhere near NASA designs. Two dollars each is also kind of stiff for what appear to be later issued castings, though the seller does accept offers. Take it or leave it I guess, and I left it.
PASS: Steep asking price but they accept offers, and do not pimp the figures as anything but what they are: Silver gray plastic astronauts. Thank You!!!
Not numbered. And that horizontal line seems a trait of the non-numbered figures marked "Made in China". My estimation of the value on these sorts of middle period recastings -- presumably made 1975 to 1990 -- is about $.50/per head.
PASS: Excellent listing. No hype just an explanation of what they are with a reasonable asking price including postage. The Make an Offer option makes it a winner.
LOL ... da fuk??? I'm strangely tempted just for the poor little guy ... what in Sam Hill .... ?? Never seen the likes and it does not appear to be play damage, more along the lines of a casting error. Looks like the Half Soldier character from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".
PASS: Excellent. Numbered, and that's an interesting greenish tint to the plastic. Could just be flash photography effect (??) but I'm tempted by these, the ardor cooled somewhat by having just found another nice stash of the numbered pieces I'll show upon their arrival. These are good candidates for what may be the "Original Castings", and that green hue is unique to my eyes. Grab em before I go weak over the green.
Yes.
EHH: "Fail" is too strong a word, as I doubt the vendor has much of a background in space toys. They're just asking too much for three guys, but then again the value on anything like this material is what you can get for them. Can't blame the vendor for wanting to at least make their listing fees.
Hard to see the bottom, but it appears to have no number, a "Made in China" stamp, and that horizontal line. I wish the seller luck in moving them.
And a tip to anyone selling plastic toy soldier style spacemen or Army Man guys: ALWAYS SHOW WHAT'S ON THE BOTTOM!!! Even if there's nothing. It's just as important as the condition.
FAIL. How do they know these are from the 1960s? If they are marked "Made In China" the rule I have learned is manufactured 1972 or later. And while the Make An Offer option appears congenial, let's get out the link:
Numbered, but that pricing is ambitious to say the least. My estimation on the value of the numbered pieces which may be original castings (re: from the first batch issued circa 1972 - 1974, no one seems to know for sure) is about a dollar a pop, though again they're worth exactly whatever the seller can get for them. My main objection is to the 1960s claim -- Have done the homework, there is no evidence I am aware of supporting the claim, and the spurious use of the date to bulk up the vintage appeal only works to draw further scorn onto the integrity of the toy range from collectors who are aware that people are still making these things right now. Thanks, Buddy.
PASS: Wasn't logged in so we can't see what their shipping cost was, but those look to be the non-numbered later castings (i.e. 1980 - 2000), and as long as the postage is reasonable that's a nice starter set for someone who is interested in the spaceman design may not wish to bother with the vehicles.
The two Walkie Talkie Guy's antennae are both intact, usually the first detail to get damaged. Good deal.
PASS: Their asking price is a bit stiff and due to not being logged in we can't see their postage rate, but they are straight-up about the merchandise, I believe the 1980s dating from the waxiness of the plastic, and they'll accept an offer.
"Made In China" with no horizontal line, which is interesting. Makes these somewhat different and would also serve as a good starter set of loosies from 1980 - 2000 for someone not interested in the vehicles. Keep the $.50/each guide in mind when calculating that offer, and if the postage under $5 it's a decent score. Just remember they are not in the running for being original castings because they aren't numbered. Other than that, recommended.
PASS: They look just darling on that fibers piece, the price is about right, and their postage cost reasonable for five plastic two-inch spacemen. Hope they use a box -- All vintage plastic toys should be shipped in a box.
"Made In China" with horizontal line. So in my estimation likely 1975 - 1985 reissue castings due to the apparent age of the plastic: Not as waxy or glossy as the contemporary guys.
UGH: Was trying to confine this to Space Bucket guys only, but two things leap out of this listing as being just wrong even if potentially worth the asking price -- Marx did not debut their Apollo EVA suit astronauts in the 60mm size until 1972's "Giant Martian Landing" set, and they never issued them in gray. Just white and optic orange. Maybe their original owner was a cigar smoker. More likely Mexican cast bootlegs, with the opening bid price mitigating the f*ckery somewhat, the Make an Offer option earning a "Foul Tip" rather than "Strike". Wish I'd been logged in to see what the postage rate is, cos as long as it's less that $4.00 that could still be an interesting little score for enthusiasts of the Marx Apollo era figures. Will have to go back and look again: Buy the spaceman and not the story, and they are still cool regardless of the boneheaded claim of being pre-1972.
PASS: OK price which includes postage, interesting difference in plastic hues, and you get an MPC Geiger Counter Guy. Can't have too many of those.
"Made In China" with horizontal line, so re-issue castings from prolly 1980 - 2000. Also dig the difference in how the faces of the MPC and Space Bucket guy are sculpted.
Interesting group! I'm good on such variants, but here is another decent starter set for the Space Bucket dabbler who doesn't want to cope with storing the vehicles.
PASS: The Price is Right with postage included, their condition is great, and the seller is straight-up about what they have.
Wish we could see the bottoms. My guess is later era castings, 1990s to present. Good set for someone who wants a bunch of these guys for for their unique spaceman forms but isn't concerned about the vintage angle. Like an artist who wants spacemen to either hand decorate or use in 3d works. I'd snag em if I wasn't already good on the recastings.
PASS: And this set has been on & off my Watch List for a while. Looks to be contemporary i.e. 1990s or later. Only reason why I won't bite on it is my hatred of the Space Shuttle in spite of the fact that astronaut superhero John Young got to pilot the first all-up flight. Then never boarded one again. Got a box of the damn things. I hate em.
Looking for those two Laser Cannon and Radar Reflector accessory pieces examined on my previous blog post. Notta.
HUH ... Interesting in that I've only seen a couple random odd Space Bucket guys with visors, and the effect is nicely creepy. The driver figure is cool too -- looks like a Britains Deetail dude -- and I like the collie :]
Very interesting ... will have to talk to the Mrs. about this one. Too bad his walkie-talkie antenna is gone, but I'd like to have some of these. I wonder what they'd consider a decent offer. always get confused when I see the option made on an auction listing as opposed to Buy It Now. Its like, will they take less than their starting price? Or is it meant to show how high you'd go over that? IDK.
PASS: What I would call a solid looking Junk Drawer Bundle. Nice variety of stuff with something for anyone interested in small plastic toys. Will even opine that the seller might have done better with a somewhat lower starting price using an auction listing as there's some neat looking goodies mixed in there. Someone is going to have to have those tanks and might have been willing to contend with figure collectors to compete for ownership. But that's just me.
The Space Bucket guys look to me like contemporary/later castings, 1980 - 2000 ... But I like that blue tank. The divers are cool too. Decent aircraft. Nice grab-bag for the starting collector of just about any idiom.
PASS: Excellent listing. Would give them an "A" but I don't see a Lunar Lander vehicle, and I would hate to think it's because the manufacturer decided the ffking Space Shuttle took up too much space in the nifty box to include one. Oh how I hate the Shuttle, and the manufacturer's decision to include a Shuttle with Lunar Rover always ticks me off too: IT DIDN'T GO TO THE MOON, MR. HING.
Only criticism about what's specific to the vendor's listing is that the Lunar Rovers both appear incomplete without their distinctive antenna dish, stuck on the end of that comically enormous pole. They could go fly fishing with those things.
The box is sweet. The set I had as a kid came packed in a bucket, which is why I call them Space Bucket astronauts. This method works too, and it's a nice carry-all for a young tyke who needs to be motivated to put their toys away. The listing is correctly phrased, the price fair, and the seller has a sense of style. You can do worse.
EHH: Not sure how well known these sets were in Australia. It should be a FAIL for conjuring up the name of Marx, but technically all plastic spaceman (other than the classic Archer & Ajax forms, which Marx never replicated) can be regarded as "Marx Style" in that they are unadorned static non-articulated low cost plastic astronaut figures. My main criticism is that from viewing the vendor's other items listed for sale they should have known better, and I suspect are using the word Marx as a selling point for Australian collectors who may not know any better
QUIT IT.
Marx had toys of their designs made in the US, Japan and Hong Kong but likely never in China as the company had ceased to exist as a private entity by 1972 when Chinese export regulations changed to have allowed the companies Marx contracted to make the plastics would have relocated from Hong Kong to mainland China. So FAIL, but just "EHH" for now. Maybe in Australia that's a super deal on something considered exotically rare. Here, no.
PASS: Or sorta, the most interesting aspect of it being the "Thinkway Toys" brand, which according to the header card is actually located in Canada ... Huh.
Interesting. Definitely looks to be 1990s Hing Fat type graphic design on the card, licensed to this Canadian imports company to put their own logo in. Will have to look into this "Thinkway Toys", figure out what they really are/were ...
... Though in the end it's just standard Space Bucket fare. Readers located in Australia might want to give it a try, those closer to home can find the same without the overseas postage, modestly priced by the vendor nonetheless. Point being that you don't have to order this stuff from Australia, and if you do live in Australia why send out.
UGH: Confusing headache-inducing, theory-wrecking, and yet still interesting. Contents appear to be unmarked standard issue Hong Kong made Marx/MPC two-inch spaceman knockoffs, packaged with no vehicles -- We only see the Space Bucket vehicles (packaged as new) with the Space Bucket astronauts, never these (or at least so far no sealed vintage example has surfaced on my research benders). Header card claims Hing Fat, which according to their corporate website was founded in 1980, automatically ranking it as a FAIL although with a BUT: The asking price is actually OK, but if and only if the product is what it's claimed to be. You can still get these MPC styled spacemen as new for a quarter each. People are still making them, somewhere.
Not convinced on that being 1970s card graphics either. Looks early to mid 80s, which keeps with the Hing Fat corporate site's "About" page stating they were founded in 1980. They likely packaged all sorts of different toys during their early era before solidifying their own unique production lines and leftover bulk MPC spacemen may have been a decent cash-cow.
Mehh ... I guess the question is, would a still sealed bag of leftover late 70s - early 80s MPC spacemen with a Hing Fat header card be worth $25 (US) shipped to North America? My rule is You buy the spaceman and not the story, and I have all the MPC knockoffs I'll ever need. Only reason for me to consider scoring it would be as a conversation piece, and the vendor's auction pix work just as well.
LOL ... Thirty dollars US to ship two (2) two-inch plastic spacemen to the US?? The other guy with the sealed bagful wanted $8. For a sealed bagful of 30 to 50 of them.
Hit it, Boys:
Keep em.
PASS: Very interesting listing. The asking price is stiff but the Make an Offer is there and postage is included. You could make that work.
"Made In China" and numbered, so good candidates for original castings.
Not sure about the chew toy there at lower left, but there also appears to be an older ring-hand MPC figure sitting next to the driver guy at the top. Very interesting, I'm not biting but someone could make this work, and the pooch will enjoy a new chewie to gnaw on while you document the figure base markings to share with me! :D
IF YOU LIKE SATELLITES: The plural use of "Army Men" implied there were more than one or I wouldn't have bothered with this. Will give them the benefit of the doubt & blame spellcheck, which has quashed the human spirit by correcting everything to its dunderheaded database.
Whatever.
LOL ...
Just ... No. Vendor mentions the broken hubcap but not the missing antenna array or TV camera. You can get the entire 65+ piece set brand new for less than this, no broken or missing parts. Get a clue, though I am reminded of how both the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 Lunar Rovers both lost a hubcap. Astronaut John Young devised a method of clipping a lunar map over the wheel hub to keep them from being sprayed by moon dust to the point of suit malfunction. You're welcome.
HUH ... Chopped-Up painted LP Toys spacemen, what a bummer. Laughed when I first saw this. But you know ... mileage could be gained by making space art with fragmented astronauts bugging in & out of dimension ...
;[
The things kids do to their toys, but I might bite on this. Interesting ...
OH LOL.
Come ON people. How do you Make An Offer to counter an asking price of $100 for some kid's old Space Junk? Good luck, Pal. Even his nice red tailed rocket is incomplete. Six Space Bucket guys, some by Boley (which actually aren't bad spacemen at all), and lots of little signs. The truck might be cool but no way is this heap worth a dollar per bit, with the asking price totally prohibitive to countering with anything but a sneer. Let him keep it, unless you need little signs.
Once more for good luck then I'm off to bed:
And to end on a higher note, here's a very modestly priced listing for a factory sealed Space Bucket with playmat via Tin Toy Arcade, which I will have to learn more about. Credited to Daron Industries who specialize in repackaging low-cost toys for mail order purchasing, so likely licensed from Hing Fat and given Daron's own treatment with the bucket + mat. And at that price including shipping I might get one of these just to evaluate & pass the goods on to young Jasper down in DC when he turns four.
And that's why I call it Space Buckets. Ships in a bucket.
The Shuttle, brrr ... It never got anywhere near the moon, K?? But I've always liked that red tailed rocket and the Lunar Lander looks fresh. The playmat also appears to the the same one packaged by "Awesome Kids" for the used bucket set I obtained over the winter. Good score, and unless you are fixated on having "vintage" pieces with the numbers this would be my first stop.
Click here for the item listing at Tin Toy Arcade, and we'll maybe try this again next week with a more pointed keyword search which includes Amazon. Lots of laughs there, Oh yes there are.
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