Very stoked to finally get these in, ordered the very day before the international travel ban went into effect from my man Snerdley over there in Spain. Glad the President let them through.
If my understanding is correct, these were distributed by a company called Camy as a premium giveaway for a chocolate bar in or around 1968.
Very different.
Comansi OVNI 2000 figures, same era.
Not sure if the green figure is meant to be an alien or if he's just green.
OVNI 2008 in green, OVNI 2004 in gray.
I like that lantern. Space Chimp by Safari from a "Space Toob". Those are cool.
I need crappier fonts and cheesier color. Mockup demonstration of a combine painting I want to see, estimated size would be 32x40 or so. Misspelled "Ossining" (d'oh) but then again it's meant to suggest a design by some guy over in Hong Kong from 1972. Circle in the middle of the top is meant to suggest a hole punch for a display rack. "Future Management" is a fictional business I invented and refers to a song by Queen drummer Roger Taylor from his 1981 "Fun In Space" album. "Babs & Babs" is a song by Robert Fripp + Daryl Hall from their 1977 "Sacred Songs" collaboration, sounds like the name of a closeout store. "515" is a song by The Who from "Quadrophenia" and along with "Number Nine" is my favorite number to utilize when needing a cool number. "Hand Painted By Real Artist" is from a Marx windowboxed "Lunar Exploration" set. The "US Space Heroes" is one of the names Payton Products used for their bagged sets of two inch MPC spaceman copies.
Working on additional moonscapes for other backing cards, and formulating how to make painted wall boxes for individual figures to be housed within. I don't want to just show them loose on a table and do want viewers to choose an astronaut for their very own.
Forty three recast five inch MPC spacemen, likely manufactured in Mexico during the early 1990s. Brought them home for less than a dollar a head, with a sackful of recast equipment for my vintage figures as gravy. Time for our Immersion in the Culture of Collecting moment for those not yet hip to what these are:
The figures were first manufactured c.1963 by a company called Multiple Toymakers (or MPC) and I had two or three as a child. Destroyed by the age of eight and lost to the Sands of Time. MPC manufactured them between 1964 and 1972 or so after which the space toy craze had puttered out. The molds ended up in Mexico and during the early 1990s were utilized by unknown parties to apparently cast several railroad cars full. I re-discoverd the form last spring and began a collection of both vintage figures as well as the Mexican recasts. Which are looked upon with a certain amount of scorn by collectors as they were very cheaply made from the original MPC molds using a horrid plastic which has not aged well. Original examples are still soft & supple, these will crack if dropped onto a cement floor and cause grown men to weep in regret for having wasted their money on them when there's so many vintage figures going around. Just gotta know where to look.
In fact, the vintage five inch MPC spacemen aren't even that hard to find, but the equipment they came with darn near impossible & the figures lacking without it. Or at least that's how I felt about it, and upon realizing the score would provide ample accessories for the eighteen vintage figures I've obtained was sold. If I can paint and sell even a few of the figures at a modest rate it all pays for itself. And if I can sell them all, including as elements in space artworks, I can score a boxed 1962 Marx Toys "Operation Moon Base". Man Alive.
Decent, and there's plenty of helmets to go around. Only six of my vintage figures lacked helmets so, there's more. But the plastic is stiff and brittle, so the oxygen packs will stay with the recast figures as I paint them.
Worked out to forty one figures to paint with at least two examples of the 10 original MPC poses. Two of which I do not have vintage 60s/70s examples of in my collection so two get bagged up with those for the time being. Two smaller spacemen by Crescent Toys at lower left from my man "Finklehop" on e-b4y. He's good.
I picked sixteen figures to start with, all sporting broken guns or tools so I won't be so self-conscious about screwing them up. Utilizing the Golden's metallic Iridescent Acrylic Colors to create foil suits in Sgt. Pepper and Major Tom colors. I'd imagine Major Tom would have wanted a nice day glow lemony green space suit. Something "trippy", maybe shimmering under the lights.
Also: Acrylics are not the right material to be painting on plastic with but it's what we have in the house. And it's time to make art out of this stuff so, away we go.
Ogle shelf time. I'm looking at the vintage packaging for ideas on how to present the painted figures. And just looking at it. Some of it has survived even longer than I have, so far. It's re-assuring.
Sadly the red did not make the cut. The metallic shades have little microscopic bits of reflective stuff which seem to bond well with the surface of the figures, cast in the kind of plastic used to make filing cabinets or waste baskets for sale at less than reputable dollar stores. So using acrylic paints is trying to use petroleum on petroleum and it either slips right off or scratches if sneezed on.
The metallics also scratch super easy, so a can of spray acrylic clear coat is incoming, both to help preserve the metallic foil suits which worked and to hopefully give some flexibility on using primary colors like those above. Rubber suited goons from a James Bond movie, or DEVO.
Space Pyramid in progress, with the picture being all that remains of the rubber red goon suit color.
My rule is that if just stacking them into their box overnight scratches the surface they get re-done. Soak in warm water for ten minutes and it lifts right off with a dish scrubber.
Step three is crafting bits of moon terrain on the topside of their bases using Golden's miraculous Crackle Paste compound. Does exactly that, and if applied correctly with just the right staining & a surface coat layer of Clear Tar Gel will look like they are standing on (and in) the surface of an alien world.
The green didn't survive either. And as a testimony to how well the metallics adhere to the filing cabinet plastic the figures are cast in, applying the crackle paste to their bases results in it just sliding off when dry. Here its adhering nicely to a primer layer of Iridescent Copper Light fluid acrylic. Also using an Iridescent Silver (Fine) which is full body.
Looks like a kick line rehearsing the big "Planetoid" scene from ALIEN: THE MUSICAL.
Working with mom, who is a badass artist in her own right. The painting is all taking place up in her dining room as it has the best natural daylight in the house. Certainly better than my Lunar Module down in my dad's basement which has all the charm of the Nostromo's C-deck. I pretend I'm on Skylab, and yesterday marked 31 days since I'd last been at my apartment in Utica. It'll be there, but we agreed that I cannot re-enter the house after interacting with anyone until the pandemic stage is over. Both parents in their 80s. We sit it out and why should I be the only one who gets to have all the fun.
Four which didn't make the grade. Note the flaking on the yellow suits especially.
Bingo. Note how the metallics used to "prime" some of their boots hung on, and all of the crackle paste as well.
"We're on this Planetoid ... following an Alien noise ...
We only gotta walk two clicks ... to get to the Derelict ..."
Kane's solo just before they find the Derelict. Am pleased with how that yellow came out.
Word on a Wing. A Stranger in a Strange Land.
"Please, don't be long."
Two more of the moonscapes in progress, for use both as a giant "backing card" for sets of spacemen and as diorama backdrops in window box structures. Sculpting terrain into which the figure can be removed, played with and replaced is also on my mind.
The Broken Gun Squad, having stared first with the figures which had broken or damaged toos/guns. Blue guy second from bottom left is an example of the "reverse-detailing" method I'm trying, where I prime the figure with a lighter color then leave his oxygen hose and web gear straps alone when painting the body a darker color. Hoping it allows a cleaner result, though in the end they are meant to be painted objects rather than customized toys.
Side effect of the Covid-2020 Lockdown "Life On Pause" phenomenon is finally having time to really look at some of the toy forms I've obtained over the past year and a half. And something which managed to slip my attention is a Marx Toys logo which tuned up on the equipment pack of this fellow above. I'd obtained him within the past 90 days but others which had been in my collection for a while are also thusly marked. Twist (for me, at least, still on the learning curve part of Marx and space figure collecting) is that many more examples from my 38 piece collection of loose "swoppet" style spacemen bear all the other hallmarks of a Marx Toys swoppet, but lack a logo stamp on their equipment pack.
Those hitherto common Marx Toys "swoppet" spaceman attributes be:
1) Pod Feet rather than a fitted base.
2) Equipment packs cast in rubber with painted details.
3) Painted details also on weapons, tools & boots.
4) Cast in a stiff vinyl type plastic rather than your standard Army Man plastic.
Cherilea swoppet spacemen have no painted details and have feet which peg into separate base plates. Later copies made for cake decorations likewise have unpainted details but pod feet and typically cast in Army Man plastic.
This guy has pod feet, an equipment pack cast in rubber with painted details, his cosmic ray detector has painted details as do his boots, and a Marx logo. What in Sam Hill???
Upon closer inspection of my box of swoppet style spacemen, I have four of them which have rubber cast equipment packs with painted details strapped onto them. My presumption on their age is that all were made 1968 or earlier. Psychedelic Era spaceman figures, which helps explain why they are so freaked-out looking. I never had any of these as a kid but do recall encountering them at a friend's house and being profoundly disturbed by how different they were than the NASA image derived spaceman figures I had at home. These were like insects, spindly and exaggerated in their poses rather than standing stiffly at attention in an EVA pressure suit.
I had been under the presumption that other than random Made in Hong Kong markings, swoppet style spacemen were usually not logo marked by their makers. The bases for earlier Cherilea swoppet spacemen may have been, I have no examples in my collection which are, and had never read or picked up anywhere prior that Marx's swoppet spacemen are (or sometimes are) marked on their equipment packs.
It's an attribute to look for when shopping for your swoppet style spaceman figures in the same way that the bases on Cherilea spacemen are distinctive to their product. Curve ball being that not all swoppet style spacemen with the five attributes noted above bear equipment packs with a Marx logo. Were they specimens which Marx "farmed out" after the mid/late 60s demand for their unique skein of swoppet spacemen petered out? Are the logo marks specific to certain packaging ranges? And why do some bear no markings on them at all?
Left: Marx logo on equipment pack.
Right: "Made in Hong Kong" on pack with no logo.
A closer look at the yellow dude's pack. Made In
Hong Kong. I love the rusty look to the O2 hose. This is not a knockoff copy. Did Marx simply stop logo marking their swoppet style spaceman equipment packs at some point?
Left: Logo marked equipment pack.
Right: Equipment pack marked "Made In Hong Kong."
All other attributes identical except the body plastic. On the left, stiff translucent vinyl. Right, a more flexible vinyl.
The four figures in my stash who have the logo markings on their packs. I know that Marx used them on the box art for their "Hill Climbing Moon Train" set dated to 1968. They also packed them on blister cards and in window box sets. Rule of thumb I had picked up is that Cherilea originated the swoppet style spaceman in or around 1962 and that Marx's version came later. Would be delighted to learn exactly when, and figure out if there is a way to ascertain the relative year given Marx produced swoppet style spacemen may have been produced. Just, well, to be able to do it.
Left: Logo marked equipment pack.
Right: No markings at all.
Left: Logo marked equipment pack.
Right: "Made In Hong Kong"
One other item is that their packs vary, or at least the guy with the red belt has a different pack than the other two, all of which are logo marked with painted details. Am hoping that further information on this fascinating subject arises, and will bring it here on the spot. STAY HOME!!
Hope those reading this are well, riding it out at home and staying safe. It's not "Twelve Monkeys" it's "The Thing", and even one small particle of it is enough to infect a man. Stay Home.
I'm waiting it out with my parents in Syracuse, both in their 80s and we are quarantined against outside contact. Period. I had returned two weeks ago for a quick overnight while in the process of relocating from Utica back to Syracuse and just happened to have brought the last of my Space Bling and most of my art supplies. I will be here until the order to remain in place has been lifted and on day three decided that my work is essential & must continue. It is my duty as a citizen to stay home, make art, inspire others to do the same, and work up a show from our collective results when we can come into each others orbits again. Far Out.
The idea all along has been to make art from or with the spaceman stuff and I'd been itching to push the project into painting (or at least making stuff other than digital pix) and picked out a Lido Toys "Futureman" figure, a blank 18x24 canvas board, and my box of water soluble NeoColor2 caran d'ache pastel crayons. For lack of any other way to "reproduce" the figure I traced its outline into the board about sixty times using various colors and applied a wash in spots to work the pastel as a watercolor. Then went in with acrylics to just get used to painting again for real.
Current state after twelve days. I like working with text and can't draw a straight line if my life were to depend on it. Needs structure but it's more painting than I'd done in at least a year. Consider it uncorking the bottle, and parts of it were collaborated on by mom, a formidable artist in her own right.
While working it I thought I might vary the form my tracing the outline of a recast Mexican made MPC Spaceman clone from the early 1990s. Then decided you know ... I've always wanted to try painting one of these. Not as a toy but as a painted object. All I have in the house right now are either basic spray type paints or acrylics which are not the right materials for painting on plastic.
watercolor crayons by NeoColor II, and brushes by Princeton.
After several unfortunate starts I found that Golden Artist Colors Iridescent Copper Light (Fine) adheres to the plastic the figure is cast in better than most. Iridescent Silver (Fine) as well, and so I used them as a base to mix different shades of foil flight suits. The Flowerglobe is from a 2016 project and served as a departure point for another painting series underfoot above (and the last image on the post below) that we'll look at some other time.
The Foil Suit Crew in progress, and eventually when I get them just right they will need to be coated with something like a clear coat or polyurethane sealant. Even then the acrylics underneath would be prone to being scraped or even peeling off when handled. So these aren't meant as customized toys, and concocting a method to minimize handling has been on my mind. Some sort of housing they could exist within, even if just a plastic bag simulating a vintage space toy.
An impulse I've had all along is to construct artworks into which the spacemen themselves would be fitted in a way that would permit the owner/viewer to remove him. I was always the knucklehead kid who wrecked their spaceships trying to pluck the astronauts out & figure most everyone would feel the same way. So for starters I conjured up an image from my youth which I've pursued as a painting subject in the past.
When we were kids there were three or four of my Uncle Bill's science fiction magazines from the 1950s in a hutch. We were allowed to look at them but not to take them back to our rooms. The one which fascinated me the most was what I recall as a highly elaborate illustration of an Art Deco spaceman standing on the steps of a crumbling pyramid in the midst of a dense teeming jungle. He was holding a ray gun and looking back over one shoulder. Off to one side his space ship lay in a broken heap, and the words MAROONED ON THE JUNGLE PLANET were included in some manner. Someday I hope to find it again.
Such illustration work is beyond my skill set as an artist, but after searching in vain for the artwork for a couple years decided to heck with this, let's just make my own.
Above a version from 2009 as I was teaching myself to paint again after six years of inactivity. The new form is on another 18x24 canvas board and has the Foil Suit Crew figure which best suggests what I remember the figure in the original artwork as doing; Standing there looking lost.
Idea for the piece is to build up a shadowbox structure for the painting to be the backdrop for then use what I know as plasticine and a construction material called Great Stuff to sculpt a few inches of terrain which match up to the painted imagery. Part of which will be a nook where one can place the spaceman facing in whatever direction the viewer chooses. I'm partial to the "over the shoulder" view shown first but if so you'll miss out on the nice detailing on the astronaut.
The Foil Suit Crew's state as of this posting, up on the Ogle Shelf in my Syracuse workspace.
Matching belt and shoes, like Herb Tarlek from WKRP.
Not sure about the gloves. The black I prefer doesn't adhere well to whatever the crap that plastic is supposed to be.
Teshnishan in Quinacridone Red.
The best, hands down.
Lookin' sharp. Worked hard for that green.
Another idea I've wanted to pursue was "Pop Art" packaging, and decided a way to have the figures presented could be to simulate a giant carded set. First thing needed is a decorated card with a super cheesy space artwork on it.
The text is markup and the image taken with both the figures & moonscape in an earlier state, but yeah I'd like to see this including the price tag (with Daryl Hall/Robert Fripp reference), cellophane wrapper, and dust accumulated from six years in a remainders bin. Have them held in place via twist ties & do a whole series. I wish I'd though to do it in a vertical format so there's other variations to try ... I also know where to get a box of the figures for a dollar each. And we have plenty of wood panels, canvas boards, paint, and time.
