Marx Toys Miniature Camera Guy Figure from the "Lunar Exploration Miniature Playset" Line

Note - This was an unfinished post from late July.

Back to this stuff again. Downsized miniature spaceman figures are a favorite topic around here and Marx did their fair share of creating specimens thereof to ponder. Their epic year of 1962 saw not only the retail release of the "Operation Moon Base" masterwork but two space toy playsets featuring reduced sized versions of the OMB spacemen. "Mystery Space Ship" was the more popular of the two and "Space Ranger" pioneered the Rescue Chopper toy concept nicely. Both were issued with a set of the miniaturized 35mm OMB astronauts, though the eye-popping alien figures which were there to hamper the routine of the astronauts usually get the propz, and deservedly so.

Space Tank Guy drove into the wrong part of town.

For whatever reason when creating the downsized astronauts Marx excluded their "Operation Moon Base" Camera Guy pose. They also chose not to include the Republic bell style Moon Suit for the astronaut with outstretched arms and left the figure + suit for the Grumman Moon Suit out of the party as well. But when responding to whatever impulse drove Marx to create their "Lunar Exploration Miniature Playset" line he chose to commission a downsized OMB Camera Guy in the slightly smaller 28mm size the LEMP figures were pressed in.

My stash of loose LEMP figures obtained so far. Collectors & vendors have been diligent about keeping the playlets intact for that New Old Stock look, and "complete" sets are not all that hard to find if you know where to look and have the semoleans to make it happen. Sadly, many collectors or re-sellers have efforted "restoring" the sets by re-fastening the toy pieces in place and often - sadly - with adhesive, arbitrarily gluing the figures to the nicely printed laminated cardboard diorama surface the sets were peddled within. While impressive looking for resale, the results frustrate collectors like myself by forcing a decision whether or not to ruin the nice diorama surface by tearing the figures free of their fate or just letting it sit.

Only a fool or insane maniac would pursue that action, so the only solution is to find already loose figures which other collectors had chosen to free, ripping up their diorama stages. Or, find dilapidated sets which are so trashed already as to excuse prying the figures up. I went both routes and so far have a nice cross-section of the six poses Louis Marx commissioned for the sets, lacking only a loose Space Walking figure to complete the mini-collection. Then I should be able to sleep again.

Three of the four figures with bases, the pilot is just a sitter. But all four of the others have a Marx Toys logo and interestingly a Made In Taiwan script as does the Space Tank and Space Camper vehicles I have at my disposal. So the toy pieces themselves appear to have been fabricated in Taiwan and the assembled with their presentation boxes in Hong Kong. Where they were painted is anyone's guess, though I presume in Taiwan after being pressed.

Camera Guy sporting evidence had been sliced free of his glued down fate. Adhesives were not used by the Marx factory as the point of the sets was to have their owners take them apart and play with the components. The diorama box stage was just there to get the imagination flowing, and the figures were never meant to remain permanently attached. These were disposable ephemeral pop culture toys never meant to last. It is only collectors & re-sellers who have chosen to try and preserve their original appearance (and up the resale value) by utilizing adhesive. Fucking idiots.

And again, a Marx logo though too deteriorated from the adhesive much glommed on their for 50 years to make much more sense out of it. And I know, I'm being obtuse: By gluing the pieces down the sets were able to survive long enough for a few specimens to come into my possession. But it's by faking it, to an extent. I'd rather have them rattling around in their loose but then again I'm the knucklehead who used to ruin his rocket models by plucking the astronauts out of them so I could sneak one into school.

No O2 pack as he's conceptually connected to the spacecraft via umbilical with oxygen hose. 

Compared with his full-sized 60mm counterpart.

Left: 1962

Right: 1970

With a specimen of the Moon Base camera guy cut free of its base by a prior owner.

Compared with an iconic MPC Camera Guy 54mm spaceman. Basically the rule is that if your camera guy is free-standing it will be MPC, if it's lying on his side connected to a supporting base its by Marx.

A damaged Marx camera guy from my stash which had been cruelly cut from his support base, though it does allow a comparison with the MPC equivalent at right.

The Marx figure will not stand without sticky putty as it was never meant to. MPC camera guy stands just fine on his own, perfectly balanced by his oxygen hose. One can also see most of the MPC figure's face and his suit detailing are different.

Marx figure has no oxygen tanks.

Marx figure is also of a slightly larger scale. The MPC figures are usually described as 54mm, the Marx Moon Base astronauts as 60mm.

Gold Soft Plastic "Rex Mars" Four Inch Figure - Is It A Marx Original? OH THE DRAMA

UPDATE: Two noted Marx authorities have chimed in, one saw no problem with the gold color and the other declared "Either Marx or Plastimarx" without hesitation. Good enough for me, and if the latter it'd be the first Plastimarx item in my stash.

Click here to open video in a new window.

Factors to consider:

1) Gold is not one of the described original colors.

2) Gold is not one of the described recast colors.

3) Wear, aging and dust consistent with a vintage figure which has been on display.

4) Helmet has slight discoloration consistent with having been on display.

5) Wearing down of the front helmet notch consistent with described originals.

6) The flashing of overspill plastic at the mold seams is more pronounced on the recast.

7) The gold figure has the correct notches on the bottom of his feet consistent with Marx figures.

8) The vendor was an estate specialist, had a nice selection of other confirmed vintage spacemen.

If it is a copy it's likely "vintage" as well: He stood on someone's shelf long enough to collect dust and for the helmet to be slightly yellowed by pollutants. What I would ask is, if it's a bootleg why would it have the notches on the bottom of his feet?

Figure cast in a very soft semi-translucent gold plastic with an interesting marbling swirl. Which does remind me of the marbling on a known Hong Kong copy of an Ajax female also cast in a soft semi-translucent plastic but was significantly altered from the original pose. This is either an original, an exact copy of a Marx figure, or was cast in the same molds as the Mexican recasts by someone other than Marx before the Mexican figures were made. 

With known Mexican recast from the 1990s at right. The recasts are only described as being cast in a "smoky metallic silver". By my eyes the gold figure is also "older" in the sense that it was somebody's toy, played with for many years before coming into the hands of a collector.

Described original figures cast in metallic blue, metallic green, silver and white. Though the reference source cited their size as 5 inches. If they got that wrong ... Counter point is that I have metallic blue, green and silver figures of the 70mm "Rex Mars Official Planet Patrol" figures released prior to these and their plastic is less waxy and stiffer than this gold stuff.

Note wear to helmet notch, a described trait of the original figures due to the softness of the plastic. The Mexican recasts use a much stiffer plastic and my recast example was new/unused. This was played with extensively.

Known Mexican recast helmet at right.

Left: Semi translucent light absorbing plastic.

Right: Opaque light reflecting plastic.

The seam overspill / flashing is much more pronounced on the Mexican recast.

Note the difference in the hands.

Better trimming to the gold figure. The thumb on the gold figure also appears to be further away and better defined than the thumb on the silver recast.

Pictures are helpful but are only a representation of the figure. 

Do I think it's a Marx original? Unsure just what to think. 

Do I hope it's a Marx original? Not any more, though I did at first. Man enough to admit that.

My collecting motto runs "You buy the spaceman and not the story." No claim was made about the gold figure other than it was vintage so nobody got had however it may work out. The price was very reasonable and it's different enough from the recast to be of interest regardless of what it's story might be. In terms of probability my call is a 60% chance that it was not made by Marx and likely to remain an unknown. Only thing which can be said for sure is that he's cast in a very different plastic than the Mexican re-issue and has been around much longer than they have. He was somebody's toy once until ending up in an estate liquidation. Now it's my turn to have him, and someday he'll pass along to another enthusiast at my estate liquidation. We just rent these things for a while.

Marx Toys 6 Inch Apollo Astronauts (1970) with Blue Variant & Subtle Casting Differences

Click here to open video in a new window.

Had the six poses from the set as a kid, parents chucked them out first chance they had and I'm re-acquiring them as an adult. So far have four of the six, with a blue variant on one and this time won't let them out of my sight.

Suitcase Guy, and some interesting observations on his features come below.

All 6 inch Marx Apollo figures should have the Marx logo brand at upper right, clearly dated 1970 in Roman numerals. Anyone claiming them to be "from the 60s" needs to subscribe to my blog. Figures without the logo or a plain circle are bootleg castings made in Mexico.

Scoop and Sample Bag Guy.

Camera Dude

This one had served as a chew toy for some adorable little mutt who likely waited for weeks for a chance to finally chomp down on it when nobody was looking. Someone should write an article on the physical abuse that plastic spaceman figures have had to endure. Look for patterns.

Walker

Scoop and Sample Bag Guy, blue variant. Whether these are any less common then the standard white castings is unknown to me.

That rules. Had to have it.

I also like how the Dust of Ages is present on blue guy's shoulders etc, but when making these pix I noticed something odd, and not just that they all have the same face.

In case you blew off the video upload, the dude in the middle has a slightly different chest unit. Central rectangular feature has a wide middle strip, the other two are just three vertical strokes of the same width.

Same with the blue guy: Three vertical strokes of equal width, white figure has a wider strip in the middle.

And again. His plastic also has a waxier texture to it, the others more of a china-like patina. 

The back of his pants is also slightly different with a wider "jock support".

His moon terrain base also lacks the degree of texturing on the one to the right. Not sure if these attributes are indicative of his being an "earlier" casting but there definitely was a change in the tooling during the run.