The Blue Guy - Annoying Glencoe Models "Archer Spaceman" Recast with Upside Down "Vintage" Markings

Everything is wrong with this guy, and I hold him up here as an example for other collectors to avoid. Have trotted him out before as an example of Glencoe Models' effort to re-issue the classic Archer Space People in or around 1991. They are fine figures, you can still get sealed boxes brand new, but they aren't the vintage Archer product and yes, it matters.

Dude ...

Hopefully less so now for myself as a collector, having landed an unlooked for bale of vintage survivors which instantly completed my collection of the original Archer spacemen. It also precipitated a review of the collection of figures obtained previously and this one's many faults have come back into the fray. I did post about this subject at the Alphadrome.net forums and am hoping one of their veteran regulars can help shed light on what the living hell is up with this thing.

The story behind his acquisition is sad and avoidable: One of the only "Archer" figures I specifically went shopping for (most obtained in space figure lots) late 2020? the goal being a vintage 50s figure in his Sentry pose with the rifle barrel fully intact. Only explanation I can provide for having instead purchased an easily identified 90s recast is that I saw what I wanted to see and ignored what should have been obvious indicators. Starting with his non-metallic blue color which is incorrect for vintage Archer. I thought they had done a blue for the males. 

Nope. "Dumb rookie."

What my eyes latched onto was the PAT.PEND. script on the rifle stock, which when seen on its own looks convincing as a vintage indicator; Glencoe utilized a smaller modern font that is easy to spot. What my eyes ignored was the size of the C in what is a copyright stamp just above his suit tanks. On vintage figures that C will almost fill the circle. That one doesn't come close. How the two markings ended up on the figure is the alleged mystery here, which bamboozled me into spending money on something I now regard as a lingering warning to be more careful.

I now have four figures in the pose. The silver and lavender colored figures bear all the indicators of vintage manufacture including passing the Clink Test, where the figure is carefully tapped on a hard surface. Vintage figures will produce a high pitched Clink! where the 90s recasts will usually create a dull thud or click, though not always. The blue and painted figures failed the Clink Test, and the orange demonstrates the eventual fate which awaits all of my Glencoe figures: Being absorbed into the art machine. Either that or demonstrating an industrial garbage shredder, something I do not own. So we paint em.

Now comes the mind-screw: The Pat.Pend. lettering on the blue figure is upside down relative to the silver and lavender figures. Same font but wrong direction, something that went right over my head when seeing it. At the time I only had the known Glencoe figure painted orange in that pose, and all my brain registered was that the blue one had the vintage font.

If anyone can help explain the upside down "vintage" lettering with small copyright C, I am all eyes to read your input. One does not need to sign in or register to leave a comment. Go for it.

The orange figure with its smaller modern Pat.Pend. font typical of the Glencoe re-issue series. He also has the smaller C seen on the blue guy. Silver figure at right gets all vintage indicators correct including passing a Clink Test the blue and orange figures failed.

One last indicator is mold flashing around the feet where (if my understanding is correct) excess plastic pooled during the mold shot, cooling as a fringe or halo of plastic in this case around his feet. One has a crescent moon of flash, the other evidence of more having been trimmed off. By contrast the feet of the Archer made figures in silver & lavender have no flashing at all, a trait shared with all of my Archer made figures.

Only the Glencoe made figures evidence flashing, for which they can be forgiven as (if memory serves) they were juggling other paid projects during the day and working the Space People castings after hours as a side project. Archer likely had more time to perfect their pour methods and could afford tighter quality control. Though the flashing attribute does have a potentially useful method in eyeballing modern figures from vintage originals. In fact, it was when contemplating his crescent moon of flashing that I recalled another figure which I'd wondered about with a similar issue.

Bingo.

"Baby Lady" now ratted out as a Glencoe by her untrimmed nails. The Archer female designs had no indicators to evaluate by, and for whatever its worth she appeared to pass her Clink Test. But there's no 75 years of exposure to atmosphere on her or any evidence of playwear handling. No way Archer would have let those feet pass control. Blue Guy helps draw the conclusion, and remains a welcome part of my collection for Clink Tests. Perfect control specimen to compare others against.

BUSTED! "Archer Space Figure" Found to be Glencoe Models Re-Issue After Two Years of Not Noticing

UPDATE! Video lays it out.

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Our subject, obtained summer 2021 with an inexpensive "Lot" of other figures, most vintage, and presumed I'd gotten lucky with an undamaged Force Field Guy. Passed a "clink" test where you'd gently rap it on a wood surface, and both the color and swirl effect to the plastic convinced me I'd gotten lucky.

Only reason the issue came to light was landing a nice heap of all vintage figures (see last image) which included three in this pose. Sat down to make some comparison pix and was startled to learn something new.

My only explanation would be that at the time the figure was obtained I was so paranoid about that intact hose/cable connecting the device to his belt unit that I bubbled the thing up immediately. Boxed em up, found other figures to mull over and simply haven't paid much attention to my Archers since. All lame: One closer look should have tipped me off.

First indicator is the sice of the C in the circle above his suit tanks, and in my defense it isn't very clearly stamped. But from this angle one can clearly see that it's a rather small C relative to the size of the circle.

This was the shocker - I had not understood the underside of his projector was marked, and it is clearly stamped PAT.PEND. in the smaller modern fonts Glencoe used when manufacturing their re-issues.

With this new bundle came the green figure at left, which is the first time I'd had another of that pose to compare the lavender one against.

Difficult to see with something of a crack through it, but that C almost fills the circle, one of the indicators of a vintage Archer.

And the stamping is poor, but that is clearly the older PAT.PEND. script.

And yeah, those don't match. I'd only known to look for the script on the rifle butts of the two figures carrying long guns and the device that another figure is about to toss. I had not understood that the force field generator was marked as well.

The new bundle also featured some chromed figures which also pass the vintage test.

The helmets are wedged on too snugly to pull off for a picture - and look too damn good in place - but there is a large copyright C on both of the chromed guys which matches the green one.

Same vintage PAT.PEND. on all three.

I recall another detail about how one of his hands had to be re-constructed after the original mold had exploded? Or am I thinking of another pose. All that NASA era polyeurthane space plastic has rotted out my memory.

More on this soon. Best figure buy of 2023, other than Parker & Brett.

Breaking a Vintage LP Toys 50mm Plastic Astronaut Figure, and Other Such Fun

 

Ugh.

You know, of all the confounded luck. Space Karma biting back for making fun of the Rescue 411 guys maybe. Have had this problem before with the figures. Pressed in a soft chalky plastic that will go brittle if left to sunlight + air, which this one's yellowed hue suggests may have been its fate.

Could have been repaired, but I have four or five more and sensed an opportunity ...

Lost in the Space Swamp, a recurring motif in these works.

Additional cheering news is that I get to paint him now - I only mess with the ones which are broken, playworn, or inexpensive copies I have multiples of. And I have some other blank white plastic LP 1/36 Pistol & Lunch Box guys, my name for the pose. If interested the Triang Spacex Golden Astronaut website has a handy guide to the LP astronauts which you can visit by clicking all that linked text. and below is the setup I was preparing for when the mishap took place.

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For more information on LP Toys' myriad of space plastics be sure to visit this page here at the Triang Spacex Toys website, with links to pages for both the human and alien figures. They have been of unique inspiration! as much as the Marx or Lido forms. There is something about how they and the other varieties I've featured get at the meat of what I was after with my own space character imagery. 

Point was to try and match the scale of the smaller astronaut to the aliens relative to the matched scales of the figures at top. More soon.

"Four Super Men Conquer The Moon" Carded Spaceman Set, Early/Mid 1960s? Bizarre Upsized 54mm MPC Spacemen

Hell yeah. Took a couple years but bingo: Got one.

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YAY!!!!

Those graphics say 1962-1965 to my eyes.

Held in place by nigh but staples. Since when??

Figures based on four of the classic MPC 1/32 scale spacemen. Or maybe those were based on the larger ones? Chicken/egg thing going on here. My intuition suggests the larger more detailed figures may have come first. Certainly designed by the same artist who submitted his results to two different companies. The MPC figures resonated better with the buying public and the larger ones disappeared. Cease & Desist from Miner Industries? Or did they just flop, in part because they were poorly balanced, tip over all the time, and kids hate stuff like that. In any event far fewer were made whereas the 1/32 scale versions captured the popular imagination & were in production until at least 1984. Guess which ones are easier to find some sixty years down the road.

My crew of loose figures scored on a lucky afternoon a couple years back.

The loose figures are all marked Hong Kong on their base undersides.

The packaged sets have the same Hong Kong font but add a number, presumably a mold position. So, my loose figures may not have been "Four Super Men Conquer The Moon" dudes.

Not My Collection - An alternate packaging scheme, year and maker also kept secret. I have also seen the figures pressed in red and a gold/green color. Not making any of this up.

Dolls faces inside of the helmet behind the concave visor produces a bizarre optical effect which would have given me nightmares as a kid. Now it excites my geek center.

Other than the helmets the sculpting of the upsizes is dead on perfect with slightly sharper details.

Space Rifle Guy doesn't need no oxygen tanks. Just holds his breath between shots.

Nearly comical lean to the left is real. All but the Geiger Counter Guy are top heavy and fall over without the use of sticky putty on their feet, or a slanted table top.

Subject on the left altered with Golden's light interference acrylic paints. Very pleased with his base of moon terrain.

Further conjectural non-evidence that the large figures first surfaced in the early 1960s. The other spacemen they remind me of most are Marx Toys' four inch Rex Mars figures from 1958 (?). The Four Supermen were responses, including being armed to the teeth and on a less than peaceful mission.

Family Snapshot