H.G. Toys "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" Galactic Playset (1979) with H.G. Saucer, LP Space Figures & Other Surprises

Some additional madness related to the Tara Toys "Space City Vinyl Playset" surfaced, summed up as "Nearly Complete H.G. Toys BUCK ROGERS Galactic Play Set and Communications Belt Set with Battery Operated Twiki Doll" Lot. Props to e-b4y seller "vindianajones" for having kept them in such great shape. Out of my price range at current (just bought a car) and don't need a Twiki the size of a shoe. But there's some familiar forms in that set, cynically repurposed by H.G. as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" swag to sell licensed box art + repackaged plastic. Am taking the liberty of posting some pix from the listing (<-- link), active as of this publication. Hoping it helps somebody looking into these sets to decide to make the score: Go buy his toys!

I almost would ask the Mrs. for an OK if the boxed playset were a standalone item just for the sexy modular printed diorama components. Though the set is acknowledged by the vendor as not complete & most importantly for my hormones missing the Wilma Deering figure .... That's the one I would have taken to school every day in my pocket until it broke too so, I can understand her having been lost in the sands of time. She is that hot.

Seller name added to the pix by me to help protect his investment of effort documenting the bundle. Love the box cover art. It's a "Lot" sale so keep in mind that everything to the right of the box was originally sold separately from the playset. Communicator belt is pretty hip -- I guess you carry both radios at once, and talk to yourself ... ?? or maybe a second belt is missing for your friend hiding behind the sofa on the other side of the room. Hope so. I had a marvelous Space: 1999 belt set & am sympathetic if enjoyably confused. I guess the discs are decoder devices for secret messages you'd signal across the room so mom won't catch on (?) and you can see all of Twiki you'd want below (or view the item listing using this link here, or view the seller's other items via this link here).

Huh. I don't "get" the radios yet -- are they walkie talkie devices? -- but do like the buckle, so that's a good start. All the kids in home room would have flipped out when we were eight at Show N' Tell if you stepped up with that baby strapped on. Though I was 12 by the time the show went on the air and would not have been caught dead wearing such a device in public. Back in my room, sure.

Anyway ... Box Contents Rundown:

"Space Commandos"; Quick! which episode were they from? 

Centerpiece is a good old H.G. Toys generic made Hong Kong flying saucer (shown disassembled here: it's the larger yellow round piece at right, three matching yellow landing legs and red dome to the left) with toothpick thick gangplank ladder intact. Been repackaged since the early 70s in at least two other play sets I can think of, neither of which had anything to do with Buck Rogers. Uber fragile and never meant to last, this one in seeming perfect condition other than the licensed franchise logo sticker marring the surface (which I wager shipped like that from the factory, just to make it look official). On a slow day one of those in such shape is running you $75 or better shipped & accounts for half of the set's current value. Would love to have one someday! Or make my own.

The fighters are a match for those from the "Space City" Lot shown previously so here's one source for them -- Been wondering how they were vended, keeping eyes peeled for bagged or blistered pieces too. The "Space City" lot had more then two of each fighter and none of the other pieces from this collection, so my logic circuit reasons they must have been packaged in other ways too. Note how the decal stickers intended for the wings of the Draconian fighters are creatively stuck to the yellow runway on the playmat/base instead, hinting it likely did come with a label sheet for owners to decorate the parts with official licensed franchise designs. Or just stick them to stuff, always more rewarding. Sharp looking diorama bits! those are keepers and for me the real interest: Wish it had come with a sturdy play-ready housing like that "Space City" briefcase, but this is what H.G. could manage. This grouping missing a smaller mountain form or two, maybe a sky (?). Love the colors chosen for the paintings, and the base piece almost lies flat which is a nice touch.

True to form for 1970s Hong Kong based toymakers the box contents appear somewhat different then what's on the box cover. Which looks like it would have set you back all of $14.95 in 1979 money, marked down to $12.49 for Christmas. Then onto the remainder tables for $8.99 once Season Two bombed and most of us started watching COSMOS with the late Dr. Carl Sagan (same night & time slot) who managed a good show even without Erin Gray's shimmering lip gloss. One wonders how many ended up in landfill with "Star Base Zeus" packs and unsold "Star Station Seven" sets buried next to them after fall 1980 inventory closeouts. Not making fun of the listing or vendor mind you. It is what it is & I'd love to have the playset just to study for diorama ideas. By the time this was on shelves (fall 1979) my space toy buying childhood years were over. I wanted a guitar and still have it.

All figures confirmed as original to the set. Tigerman looks ready to get busy, always my favorite non-Wilma character from the show, and that's all of a Twiki I'll ever need. Those c.1977 Matchbox "Adventure 2000" space soldier copies (the gray "Space Commandos") sure get around, hope they were licensed! ;D And it's always nice to see the LP Toys alien cyborg figures lined up below them, in existence since like 1965 in many forms, though I think kids loyal to the show would have been a little confused -- Which episode were they from again? 

PENCILS UP! Answer: None. Just generic if interesting Made in Hong Kong space forms jumbled together with the Buck Rogers stuff cast under license, which is likely all H.G. actually made for the set, the rest obtained from other Hong Kong companies divesting of leftover space forms. Too bad we can't see what's on the figure base bottoms especially for the white castings, would love to know who made them. And Princess Ardala is still hot however you slice it so there you go. A sealed unit closed at $99 a week ago and something tells me the Wilma figure is the key. Here's why:

You're certainly not taking it home for the bootleg Matchbox guys or Dr. Huer, and it didn't come with the Twiki doll, which I know all you robot collectors want. Bad.

Now first off, I actually came to appreciate Twiki as an adult, Mel Blanc etc. Disco dancing aside, Twiki had a personality & some of the best lines on the show, at least until Season Two ... But what's up with Dr. Theopolis there? Looks sort of like a saucer spinner launcher to go shooting at your friend across the room while he's decoding your message, which would actually be kind of cool. But Theo had a face and that's a gyp. I wonder what it did when you pushed that red button, other then making annoying Bidi Bidi sounds while one of the discs spun around. Arms don't even flex. Pass.

... Maybe he disco dances, can't miss having that on your Ogle Shelf. Links to the listing above. Robot collectors try not to fight too savagely over it, and good luck to all involved! Fun stuff.

Yeah she is.

Ajax Style Parachute Jumper Spacemen, 1960s? One Made In Hong Kong + One Unknown

UPDATE 8/29/19:

By Ajax, "vintage 1950s". Has the atom bomb backpack seen below. Missing his fitted clear helmet but those aren't impossible to find, presuming he had one. And I like the yellow. It's different.

Left: Made In Hong Kong, maker/age unknown.

Center: Ajax, early-mid 50s.

Right: Maker/age unknown.

Had parachute jumper army men as a kid & loved them to death. This was my first encounter with the concept in vintage Space Patrol era astronaut form. Both jumpers cast in a softer Army Man type plastic, Ajax in hard brittle dense plastic. Am convinced their forms were derived from the Ajax design.

Green dude and Ajax guy both have what I am calling atom bombs strapped to their backs (more likely rocket packs but it's my blog). Blue dude's back feature looks like more of an afterthought.

Blue guy has totally different boots, less of a ray gun but sharper details. Green guy's features much more closely modeled on the Ajax design. Blue dude looks like a low-cost knockoff by a company who was already making PJ figures & wanted to add a spaceman to their line.

... I gotta admit, those boots on the blue guy were a selling point just because of how different they are then the green one.

From the playbook I subscribe to, Made In Hong Kong = 1960 - 1972. I think it's a safe bet to opine that he is early to mid 60s, though I have never seen an Ajax/Archer type spaceman with Hong Kong markings on it prior to this. Who in Hong Kong was copying those forms?

Mouth open, eyes protruding.

Mouth closed, eyes sunken.

Ajax's triangular chest feature is checker-cut with diamond shaped points, the other two raised dots randomly placed to fill the triangle.

Any insights give me a shout!

Marx Toys 6 Inch Apollo Astronauts (1970) with Blue Variant & Subtle Casting Differences

Click here to open video in a new window.

Had the six poses from the set as a kid, parents chucked them out first chance they had and I'm re-acquiring them as an adult. So far have four of the six, with a blue variant on one and this time won't let them out of my sight.

Suitcase Guy, and some interesting observations on his features come below.

All 6 inch Marx Apollo figures should have the Marx logo brand at upper right, clearly dated 1970 in Roman numerals. Anyone claiming them to be "from the 60s" needs to subscribe to my blog. Figures without the logo or a plain circle are bootleg castings made in Mexico.

Scoop and Sample Bag Guy.

Camera Dude

This one had served as a chew toy for some adorable little mutt who likely waited for weeks for a chance to finally chomp down on it when nobody was looking. Someone should write an article on the physical abuse that plastic spaceman figures have had to endure. Look for patterns.

Walker

Scoop and Sample Bag Guy, blue variant. Whether these are any less common then the standard white castings is unknown to me.

That rules. Had to have it.

I also like how the Dust of Ages is present on blue guy's shoulders etc, but when making these pix I noticed something odd, and not just that they all have the same face.

In case you blew off the video upload, the dude in the middle has a slightly different chest unit. Central rectangular feature has a wide middle strip, the other two are just three vertical strokes of the same width.

Same with the blue guy: Three vertical strokes of equal width, white figure has a wider strip in the middle.

And again. His plastic also has a waxier texture to it, the others more of a china-like patina. 

The back of his pants is also slightly different with a wider "jock support".

His moon terrain base also lacks the degree of texturing on the one to the right. Not sure if these attributes are indicative of his being an "earlier" casting but there definitely was a change in the tooling during the run.

Marx Toys Apollo Astronaut Figures in 54mm and 6-inch Sizes, 1969 - 1978

Click here to open video in a new window.

Whoa ... I sense some artful potential with that angle. One intention of this collecting habit is to amass interesting forms to be photographed & projected onto a canvas to be traced then painted-in, and that's going into the Keeper Folder.

Let's deal with the size issue to as long as we're here: On my video and in many other places I refer to the smaller figures as 60mm, which is incorrect. More like 54mm, though some with appendages flailing in the air do push it up into a taller bracket. The larger figures are also more like < 5.5 inches but rounding that up to 6 inches is accepted.

As to the dating, my intel has the larger figures debuting first, just after Apollo 11 and likely in time for Christmas 1969 toy shopping. I had the complete set of six poses by the age of five, which would have been January 1972, and my guess is that they were still commonly available at retail as long as the Apollo Program was in the public consciousness, with 1970 as their commonly accepted year of manufacture. 

If my understanding is correct the smaller figures were first issued in the "Giant Martian Landing" set in white (1972 or 1977, reliable sources differ), in both orange and white as part of the "Galaxy Command" playset (1978) and in orange only for the "Star Station Seven" playset (1978/1979). Which makes them somewhat rare as collectors usually prefer to keep those sets together, and to my knowledge they were never packaged alone. Could be wrong! please chime in if you have the skinny.

Blue variant at back left is somewhat rare as well. You can usually score the six inch guys for $15 - $20 shipped. Smaller sized usually turn up in lots and the full twelve poses should set you back $25 - $40 depending on the vendor. Then again as with all such things these are worth exactly whatever the seller can get for them. I've had some of the larger guys on my "Watch" lists for months 'cos I won't go where the vendors would prefer for a single figure. Nope, happy to wait it out until the Junk Drawer seller who doesn't care and is just getting rid of old stuff lists one up for $5 - $10, which is how all of my examples ended up where they are.

Yeah, that needs to be painted.