Archer Plastic Space Persons of various persuasions, first introduced 1952. Co-designed by Archer founder Robert Genin and German born designer Gerald E. Stahl, the figures captured public imagination. Which sounds corny but is essentially the case, and while there were Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon figure sets prior to Archer's, they weren't as elegant and bordered on clumsy.
Archer presented a startlingly futuristic look with friendly if breakable plastic in a richly varied color range that also included Space Women and a Space Boy. There's even a Space Baby grafted to the shoulder of the Space Mom making it a family wide affair which kids could better project themselves onto, a point Kenner remembered with their Star Wars toys twenty years later.
Millions of the things were sold and their popularity initiated a wave of imitators including for the futuristic vehicles and playsets which accompanied the figures. Check prior posts for a look at some, I only have a few Archer "Cars of Tomorrow" but they are prides of the Space Garage fleet.
At Honest Bob's You Can Really Get Out & Kick The Landing Gear
Archer Space Truck with downsized Archer style figures by Tudor Rose and Empire Plastics.
The figure line proved enduring enough to have been revived in 1991 by a company called Glencoe Models, who renovated the long neglected molds and pressed their own box sets in modern hard plastics, and they are nicely made. One can still find new/sealed Glencoe sets for $50 or so, plenty to go around. Though since they are more or less visually identical to the vintage Archer made figures, discerning one from the other requires a learned eye, and in some cases is more or less impossible.
Making the scene with a 5 inch Lido Toys Captain Video "Futureman" figure.
I should stress that I am still and likely always will be a novice Archer collector. "Well-intentioned n00b" who has picked up a certain amount of information at places like Alphadrome.net and my former library copy of "Bast Off!" to be conversant on the topic. I did a lot of careful editing of verbiage to the above video to make sure what is heard is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but know there's a lot more to be learned and my collection is only at the first notch above "starter". Partly because the figures are considerably larger than what I usually get geeked up about, and get more excited about the downsized versions from Tudor Rose, Cherilea and Empire Plastics.
But if collecting vintage space bling is the scene you gotta have some Archers and you better know your onions or you'll end up paying vintage premiums for modern recasts.
All but one of this group or less verified as vintage 1950s figures - Can you guess which is the modern recast? One of their fitted helmets there at lower left, which I am not a huge fan of: Over time the material used to cast them tends to contract, and what was once a comfortably loose fit turns into a nose-cracking snag. Modern helmets from the Glencoe re-issues tend to be at the as intended looseness and a good enough reason to obtain a set of them. Pass their helmets onto the vintage figures for that complete look.
Turns out this was a very good day.
If my opinion as an artist is of interest I find the figures to be beautifully sculpted and iconic as pop culture objects but a problematic toy design as first envisioned. The figures are uniformly top-heavy and in styrene exceptionally fragile. One good drop is all it takes to lose rifle barrel tips or the delicate force field device's tube. The soft plastic variants address the fragility but still fall over at the merest shudder to the table. The white donuts my figures appear to be stepping on is soft molding clay used to keep them upright long enough to get some pix. Then they go back in their storage box lest misfortune fall.
This group's male figures are all verified Glencoe re-issues, some of which were painted. The lady in blue is unknown, the identification system I picked up does not apply to the female figures, and your best bet in differentiating vintage from modern is to stick with the metallic plastic figures. Her blue is very different than the sentry with rifle next to her. His blue is flat and ends at the surface, her blue has a luster and visual depth to it. Would be interested in opinions, no need to sign in to leave comments.
One method of potential identification of vintage figures is the C in the middle of the circle (just above his tanks) for a copyright mark. Vintage figures will usually have the C almost as wide as the circle. The Glencoe figures likewise marked will have a noticeably smaller C in a modern font. Though sadly the copyright stamp was not applied to all of the figures including the females.
Very different kinds of plastics. The Glencoe re-issues of the females tend to be green. His plastic's blue is flat, ends at the surface. Her plastic has a luster to it with depth. She also has a slight yellowing which suggests age -- Will search through my archive and see under what circumstances she was obtained.
Notice small copyright C on the male figure. Females didn't get em.
Original Archer ad courtesy "Blast Off!", 2001
My favorites of the Archer figures I've collected so far, 1955's "The Satellite Men" in soft plastic with slot hands for holding weapons or equipment as seen in the ad below. You can drop these down the stairs all day and they'll just bounce. I do have a small selection of original equipment but usually don't mess with it, stuff is even harder to find than the figures. Will do a when the new arrivals show.
I've been unsuccessful so far in landing the hard plastic Men of Mars variant they were based on, and am of the understanding that when equipped they are the most visually striking of the Archer figure lines. Now more of a priority after thinking about my conclusion that the blue figure at lower left is meant to be a female. The red one too although this angle doesn't capture the "stern mama bear" Amazon warrior look as well. But those pretty eyes and smile on the blue one has to be a purposeful difference than the face on the other three males. Best reason why is that it's a girl.
PS: The green robot above is mismatched from The Moon Men group*.
My camerafone loves that red figure. I'm willing to bet lunch for a week the blue figure is intended to be female. Will bet coffee on the red one as well.
Case for the red not helped by this image either, will try again. Yes, it matters. Helps demonstrate that Robert Genin's forward-thinking about giving girls a place in his toy line continued, even if quietly.
The three males. Fell over immediately after the image was taken.
Courtesy "Blast Off!", 2001. The three later groups with Men of Mars at left, and it was only after putting the video together that I realized my green soft plastic robot was part of The Moon Men series - *No robot in either the hard plastic Men of Mars or soft plastic The Satellite Men groups.
Ajax spacemen, or clones of them from the hard plastic era which like the Archers had fitted clear plastic helmets & a female. But a VERY different strain of figures made around the same time by an Archer competitor, copied endlessly by many through the 1970s and as a result just as numerous today as surviving Archer figures. Easy to learn the different poses and how to spot them as a different variety.
Space Boy's nose got squashed. Note the difference in hue to the silver of the space women, one more blue the other more yellow. The significance lost on me other than one may not have come from a smoke free home.
Click here to open video in a new window for fullscreen view options.
No comments:
Post a Comment