A closer look at the Palmer's. The face of the dude looking up is very tight. Nice work.
Hey, you need Ground Crew or the spacemen aren't going anywhere.
Now for the MPC guys, and after looking at them in person for about twenty seconds was convinced almost beyond a doubt that they were alterations made by a prior owner. Likely male and between the ages of 6 and 10, doing exactly what I would have done if I'd thought of it. And probably did do, as one can see all three are missing hands. Two have no equipment. The painting is also roughly applied & inconsistent: Two have dots to indicate helmet details, one has eyebrows.
Two were orange castings, one blue. All marked with MPC stamp, and it is interesting how one of the stamps appears to have been purposefully defaced.
Am pretty sure he should be holding a pistol in one hand & his lunch box in the other.
D'oh. Did the same & worse to mine!
This should be my favored Rope & Triangle guy in mid-step. Hands hacked off and the painting extended over his stumps. No way MPC would have clipped off their equipment prior to painting.
This one has its pistol but missing his lunchbox. Paint very thickly applied on torso ...
... And our little Rembrandt carved off his oxygen tanks. I did worse! and this trio can be used in collaged works.
The Big Guy, and the fourth of six figures from the set which I've been able to acquire. First offered up by Marx starting late 1969 in response to the worldwide Moon Fever for space toys having anything to do with the Apollo program. Had em all as a kid! and managed to destroy them, which as one can see would take serious dedicated work. All were ash canned in the later 70s when we were compelled to throw our older broken toys away by unsympathetic powers--that-be.
These things are big, chunky and meant to survive basic play use. So we took ours to the next level and from the looks of this one somebody's dog had the same impulse.
Classic dog chew damage: That front tooth gouge was quite the fang. Poor lil' Sheba probably waited patiently for her chance to latch onto this baby & give it a good gnaw. Every time she saw it she'd be like, "Oooo ... Yeah. Mine." One day somebody didn't put their Space Toys away. Ten unsupervised minutes while Mom was making lunch and it was a junk-drawer relic. Delighted to have him regardless!
;[
Heh ... But with the Marx stamp and worth the bargain basement price I scored it for. Can be supplanted by a better-conditioned example & used as a 3d element in a space collage. A big one too.
The four six-inches I've scored to date. Still need Square Scoop Guy and Flag Dude, which are proving the hardest to find in un-compromised condition as those features were relatively easy to destroy -- I vividly recall carving the flag off mine with a steak knife. Took a couple sessions, was a mess & regretted the effort. And everybody twisted their square scoop off or they just weren't with the program. Even the smaller orange reduced size figure I found is missing his square scoop.
Marx did a series of smaller 2.25"/70mm sized castings of the same poses (plus others) in both white and optic orange for their post-1970 space playsets. Will do another gripping post examining how they stand up in comparison.
and
The stamps of authenticity. Mexican cast bootlegs will have a plain circle with no text.
They all use the same head ... Like clones of each other.
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