MPC Ringhand Indians

MPC Ringhand Indians. It was nice to finally get some of there guys with accessories to put in their hands.

Jungle War

A couple of Marx Army Men in a Marx jungle. One of my early attempts.

Night Attack!

Marx 45mm Training Center GI's with Marx Battleground accessories in the background.

Wall of Spartans

Line of Spartans by Conte Collectibles.

American Militia

A couple of Accurate American Revolutionary War figures posing if in front of an Airfix 1/72nd Scale "Washington's Army" box.

Marx Cavalry

54mm Cavalry figure by Marx Toys.

Cunnyngham Collectibles

No photo today. Instead, run, don't walk over to the web page for Cunnyngham Collectibles. Bookmark the page and keep your eyes for the first anticipated release of U.S. Civil War Confederates in the last quarter of 2009. If the photo of the prototype is any indication, these are going to be some quality figures.

Showdown!

A couple of 60mm Marx Cowboys face off on the Hotel side streetfront.

Squad Leader

WWII G.I.s by Conte Collectibles.

Farmer w/Pigs and Horse

Marx Toy's Modern Farm set, 1950's.

Pirate Battle

Pirate figures and cannon by 21st Century Toys.

Andersonville

Andersonville Playset by BMC. Marx flag thrown in for a spot of color.

Wiliam Howard Taft

William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. Figure by Marx Toys.

Night Attack!

Figures and accessories by Marx Toys.

Lasoo This

A Timmee cowboy tries to rope a $1 Wal-Mart dinosaur.

Creeping Menace

A Marx Toys 60mm Indian warrior creeps up on a Marx pioneer woman. Marx trees and ladder, Lincoln Logs in the background.

Those Little Soldiers From the Backs of Comic Books

Many kids who grew up in the 1960's and 1970's saw ads like this on the backs of comic books:



A lot of us just looked at them and wished we had the scratch to get them. At some point my brother and I were lucky enough to get our parents to order us a couple sets of these guys. I've heard some people complaining about disappointed when they got their soldiers, but we loved our sets and spent many happy hours setting these 1" tall figures and fighting imaginary battles. According to The World of Comic Book Toy Soldiers these figures came from Lucky Products or a "Nameless Mail Drop Company" and not one of the better known companies like Helen of Toy. Actually, the above page seems to cover this subject pretty well.

Even luckier, these little guys survived. Below are a few photos of them:


A couple of patriots pose in front of a pile of dead lobsterbacks.



The Continental Line. As a kid, I spent a lot of time getting these guys lined up just so. The figure are from both mine and brother's sets. That accounts for the different colors.



Here is a shot of all the poses. The British were just the same (except they were red, of course).



My pile o' toy soldiers.

Below is another ad for these soldiers with an actual photograph of them. Some of them look a little different than mine. Some of them, particularly the artillery and cavalry look like the much maligned "flats" that I hear resentful baby-boomer complain about when they talk about sending away for these toys.


Here's a fun page from 2004 that contains a review of a new incarnation of Helen of Toy's Classic Army Men Footlocker. Unfortunately, the 2004 version of Helen of Toy didn't seem to last. Below are some more toy soldier ads from the backs of comic books, click on them for larger images.

The Rogers Family

L to R: Dale Evans, Bullet, Roy Rogers. Character figures by Marx Toys.

Patrol

Army Men by Conte Collectibles.

Marx Robin Hood Figures

60mm Robin Hood figures by Marx Toys.

Red, Yellow and Green

Auburn, Ideal, Marx, MPC, plus Oscar the Grouch!

Stalking

Toy indian figure by Tim-mee Toys.

Ideal Ft. Cheyenne

This vinyl covered suitcase set was released by Ideal Toys sometime in the early 1970's. I had this as a kid and really enjoyed it. By time I got this set, I think our Marx Ft. Apache set had been retired. Ft. Cheyenne served as a great satellite outpost to my Jean Hoeffler Ft. Independence set (I'd love to get my hand on one of those sometime). I've been keeping my eye out for Ft. Cheyenne, but every one I've seen for sale has had the vacu-form teepees or the blockhouse caps all smashed up. I got this one on Ebay for what I consider a bargain price. It did not have all the poses of the red indians, but I'm very happy with it.

According to the Toy Soldier HQ, the figures are all copies of figures by other makers: "The 45mm figures were made in Hong Kong and were not original Ideal poses but rather 45mm copies of various British company figures. The Indians are copies of; Crescent, Lone Star and Britians poses, while the foot cavalry are copies of Britains Herald figures and the mounted cavalry copies of Timpo poses." The cavalry figures I got with this set are molded in a light, waxy gray color. I still have a couple of them left from childhood set that are flat, darker gray and look much nicer.

I set this up on my dining room table and snapped a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Rifleman Ranch

Rifleman Ranch playset by Marx Toys.

Prehistoric Terror

Not a toy soldier by any stretch of the imagination. The damsel in distress is from a set of figures called the Horrified B-Movie Victims and the dinosaur cost $1 at Wal-Mart.

Armored Advance

Factory painted figure by Toy Soldiers of San Diego with a 21st Century Toys tank in the background.

General George Washington

George Washington figure by Marx Toys.

FIght at the Wall

Normans and Saxons battle it out over a stone wall. Figures by Conte Collectibles.

Brave Knight

Medieval Knight figure by W. Britain.

Council of War

President Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant meet at Grant's headquarters at City Point, Va. Figures and accessories by Marx Toys.