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!
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