An important day for the acquisition phase on this project in that two objectives are fulfilled: A sampling of all six Marx Toys 6" Apollo Astronauts in their factory-issued completeness, and a New Old Stock sealed bag of what are suspected to be a good match for the bag of 2" Multiple Toymaker / MPC produced 2" spacemen like I got for Christmas (or birthday?) in either 1971 or 1972.
The opening binge also included a box of gray 5.5 inch MPC spacemen figures sold to me as New Old Stock and at a hookup price which allows them to be whatever they are: I buy the spaceman and not the story which they are being sold with. But I had begun suspecting over the summer that all of my gray MPC 5.5ers may have been a re-cast just based on the color of plastic they are made out of compared to known/confirmed vintage examples. The smoky gray color is not one of the original MPC blends, and can attest that they are shaped in a harder type of plastic which has gone somewhat brittle over the years. One of mine had some minor damage as described in the video, and by comparison the classic 1960s MPC castings are still somewhat flexible, cast in a more flat or matte material. Don't go bending them, but they will give a little where the gray figures are to be treated with gentle care.
Another potential hint which came to mind is that the gray figures did have their basic equipment still on their sprue forms but not all of the equipment others have documented they originally shipped with. Most should have had some sort of equipment satchel they would carry over a shoulder and all of the figures who are empty-handed are supposed to have accouterments cast with them which would be removed from the sprue connected to their bodies to fill those hands. So either unscrupulous vendors were clipping them off for private keeping, which I trust is not the case. Or the gray figures were never cast that way at all as their moulds were either incomplete approximations of what MPC had originated, or were cast from altered original molds missing the pieces perhaps as a plastic saving effort. Either way decided I have more than enough of them (including some to paint + use as figures in space art) and if shopping for such pieces in the future will confine my choices to only the known colors which MPC produced them in during the golden era of space toy production.
Left: 1960s Multiple Toymakers / MPC.
Right: Suspected re-cast, maker and age unknown.
Cheers to researcher Paul Vreede for his page on the copying of the 5.5" Multiple Toymakers space figures by unknowns, which you can read by clicking here. And just because they are "re-cast" doesn't make claiming they are vintage untrue. To me "vintage" translates out to pre-1990, some may even argue pre-1999, which as of this posting is 20 years. Authorized copies of 1950s Archer space figures pressed by Glencoe in the early 1990s are now vintage pieces as well and collectible on their own merits, and it is unlikely that the MPC derived figures were cast any later then they were.
In case you skipped the video, at left center are spaceman figures by MPC (left, holding rope coil) and Marx (right, jumping off rock pile) which the untrained eye could mistake as being related. Their only connection is that one (right) inspired the other (left).
A good enough match for the exact bag of 2" MPC spacemen that Mom & Dad got me for Christmas when I was either four (1971) or five (1972). Saw that 1972 date and had to have it, one additional selling point being that it gives me a verifiable way to put to rest the confusion (or indifference) about who made this variety of plastic space figure. They were made by Multiple Plastics Company (or Multiple Products Company, the names seem interchangeable) and sold under their Multiple Toymakers shelf name. Though oddly MPC/MT did not stamp their 5.5" figures, accounting for the difficulty in attributing who made the gray figures mentioned above.
MPC's two inch spacemen may have been inspired by the Marx Toys "Operation Moon Base" astronaut figures which first appeared in 1962, but are clearly marked with the MPC logo on their bases. Which does not mean "Marx Plastics Company", a mistake I myself made on several occasions prior to a June learning experience. Marx did not logo stamp their space figures prior to the 6" 1970 Apollo astronauts. It's as simple as that. Anyone relating or claiming that MPC marked spacemen are by Marx, or that Marx produced MPC's space figures (or vice-versa) is uninformed or deliberately trying to pull a fast one on fledgeling collectors prone to believing what they read on e-b4y listings, D'oh. My apologies for having done so.
The correct MPC logo. Later copies will either have "Hong Kong" on their bases or nothing at all.
LOTS of Stick and Lunchbox guys ... My intention is to keep the bag sealed. Have a nice bucketful of loose 2" MPC guys to last as long as I'll need a couple and obtaining more is only a click or two away. Would enjoy learning precisely when these guys first appeared -- My current "intel" suggests it was as part of the MPC "Fireball XL5" playset from either 1963 or 1964 (have seen dates indicating both), which certainly would have given MPC time to evaluate and copy the design attributes seen on the Marx "Moon Base" figures from 1962.
Glorious, though the "Made In USA" claim likely only applies to the packaging. The figures themselves were pressed at the MPC plant in Hong Kong then likely shipped in mega-bulk to Miner Industries in NY NY for packaging.
Now the question becomes, did these ship with the Hing Fat style Lunar Module and Lunar Rover vehicles I destroyed by the age of eight? Am still convinced those pieces arrived packed into a bucket with a couple dozen spacemen, though just whose remains lost to the sands of time. My childhood recollections cannot tell one variety of spaceman from another aside from the distinctive 6" Marx figures due to their size & presence.
.... ISN'T THIS EXCITING!!!
And YES, fist pump. Got em back, all six, with interest in the form of the blue variant at center. Hardest nut to crack was Square Scoop Guy with his scoop intact: Kids seem to have been universally obsessed with twisting the scoop part off, prolly myself included as well. The 60mm orange figure in my stash is also scoopless, and finding him as an individual figure took patience. I know the figures I had as a kid were all cast in white but am fairly certain the six poses were offered in light blue as well, to date have seen online references to three of the six (Flag Guy, Scoop and Sample Bag Guy, and Suitcase Dude) and feel comfortable presuming they filled out the other three poses in blue as well.
They may also have done a pale or light green casting though my intel on that is spotty & based on a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look but it was gone, I cannot put my finger on it now, the child has grown, the dream is gone ... Oh dear he's quoting "Comfortably Numb" again. Must be time to organize another art show at the gallery for the Suits.
Nobody's fooled anymore.
Where were we ... If collecting these for your own stash, all should have a circular stamp on the bottom of their bases reading "Marx Toys 1970" with the date in Roman style numerals, along with another smaller circular indentation as well. Mexican made copy/bootlegs will have an empty circle instead of the Marx data, or have no bases at all, and have been sighted in a fluorescent green and black casting as well as the standard white.
Heh ... I still have a very vivid recollection of attempting to carve the flag off my Flag Guy figure with a steak knife, and I will also note that it took a while to find an individual figure with its complete flagpole intact. Bingo.
One can see from the way the light is hitting the figures that all three appear to be cast in slightly different plastics. Suitcase Dude is waxier and softer looking, Camera Guy has more of a china-like patina, and Scoop & Sample Bag Guy a sort of cross of the two.
Mission accomplished! I may land more of the blue castings if the right item listings turn up but that's getting back a huge chunk of my childhood and slept very well that night knowing the Quest I am on can now change, from one of acquisition to utilization.
Now to make photo-based art with them. Will share up results for sure.
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