Online Pound Store Plastic Warriors – Affordable Joy

With non-essential retail still closed and avoiding the High Streets during Lockdown, my chances of plastic tat shopping in pound stores and charity shops has been nil.

Aside from kind donations from the lead and plastic mountain of fellow bloggers like Alan (Duchy of Tradgardland) Gruber, I have also discovered the occasional joys of the online pound store.

Toys for a Pound! https://toysforapound.com

Yes, toys for a pound.

The H. G. Wells’ “eternal boy” of Little Wars (on a Budget – see our strapline) or my inner 7 year old is still far too easily pleased with this.

The contents of the £1 pack – 60 figures, six different styles in two colours (the traditional green and tan)

 

I like the “bigging  up” on the bag header  of what for many people is  just a pound bag of 60 plastic tat soldiers – but these are no ordinary troops, they are  THE TROOPS – WAR FORCE SET – SPECIAL MISSION – SUPER SPEED. 

 

“Super Speed Power!” on the header, Ramboesque figures and a blue beret

 

These plastic soldiers are about 45-50mm. 

As well as the plastic toy soldiers, there are also more military figures and film collectibles on Toys for a Pound:

The back of the pack shows the rather groovy moves of these M.Y military characters

 

You can glimpse a weapon for each figure in the bottom of the blister pack.

 

At the moment (as lines sell out), you can get 4 ‘Lego compatible’ block type soldiers for 25p each – that’s about a twelfth of the price of a Lego blind bag minifigure, and you can see what or who you are getting.

These mini-figures did used to be in M.Y blind bags – similar blind bags with bricks and minifigures can also be seen on https://toysforapound.com

Perfect stocking fillers, party bags, Easter presents – apparently you could also give them as gifts to children (over 3 or 6 years old).

Screen shot on https://toysforapound.com doesn’t show their equipment

 

Unlike the picture shown in the website, the military figures do actually come equipped with military equipment.

Being precoloured  plastic, these would be good for garden gaming, as if you lost them, they are only 25p each. You would need some flat Lego type base plates to help them stand on uneven surfaces. Wilko stores do pick and mix blocks / Wilko Blox, whilst Toys for a Pound have blind bags of 50 Lego compatible pieces and a minifigure. 

For those requiring female soldiers, an equally lavish pound will get you four female M.Y block figures for head swaps.

The Pound Store Lastic Warriors blog acid test: Q. Would I enjoy either of these packs of soldiers or block figures  as a (1970s) seven year old spending my pocket money on them? Absolutely.

Which of the two would I choose to spend my Pound on? Difficult one! 

I was slightly too old when the Lego minifigures started to appear as we now know them, but  Airfix figures  and Lego walls mix well enough. 

Wilko do small military vehicles as we mentioned in a 2019 post:

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/04/12/the-joy-of-pound-store-block-figures/

What every modern girl needs … her own attack helicopter! (Wilko 2019)

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/toys/construction-toys/c/858

Interesting to look at but I am currently avoiding starting a whole new Lego compatible army. I wonder what H.G. Wells, writer of Floor Games and Little Wars, would make of these block figures and this plastic building bricks world? 

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 20 March 2021. 

The Joy of Pound Store Block Figures

49p to £1 each set  – that’s what I call pocket money toys. Shame about the builder’s missing arm …

I liked the look of these blister pack figures with equipment, they have good pocket money  “play value”. I picked these packs up for half the usual £1 price at UK high street store Wilko.

Oddly I didn’t  notice at the time of  rapid buying that one of the builder’s arms was missing. If you look carefully in the photo of the blister pack, you can see his arm is clearly missing. Each pair has an obviously male and less obviously female figure.

Not a promising advert for this builder and his safe use of the sprue of power tools enclosed!

For the sheer love of toys, I thought I would photograph these figures before I  passed them on to younger members of the family.

Obviously these cheaper “bootleg-o” figures which are compatible or fits with other construction kits. The missing arm shows that maybe the production values are not quite the same as the more expensive Lego  but they are highly affordable for children and parents on limited pocket money and imaginative to boot. You aren’t paying any film franchise costs as you do with Lego.

The figures out on a baseplate … with a spare builder’s arm found from the toy box.

Previously I have mentioned the Wilco Blox figures alongside the Poundland underwhelming non-brand unofficial but charming superheroes.

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/rip-stan-lee-and-farewell-from-the-pound-store-superheroes/

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/the-unincredibles-more-pound-store-superheroes/

The Wilkoblox.com shows the current range. All the screenshots below are from the April 2019 Wilko Wilkoblox website.

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/toys/construction-toys/c/858

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/en-uk/toys/construction-toys/all-wilko-blox/c/1246

I love these  space / superheroes figures …

I think the 50 figure wilkoblox set is highly attractive and would frame nicely on the wall – tempting.

Wilkoblox – Multiracial, cross generational, lots of female role models such as police officers, builders and  other emergency services. Overall a pretty imaginative set but sadly without personal tools or equipment …

Great superheroes, green aliens, space type knights …

The  military selection is limited but there is an attractive 10 in 1 tank set, that you could build in 10 different ways.

You would obviously have to buy 10 sets if you didn’t want to break each model up every time.

Nicely photographed on model landscapes though …

Attractively landscaped photos

The surprise odd one out is one of the photos for the  5 in 1 military helicopter set, showing a young girl playing with the helicopter.

Inspiring a whole new generation of pilots or helicopter engineers? Some good STEM / STEMettes role model inspiration.  Screenshot from April 2019 website of Wilko / Wilkoblox

There seems to be a general lack of small arms and personal equipment. The Internet, Etsy and Ebay has plenty of Lego compatible military figures and equipment.

Cropped or not cropped? When product photography goes slightly awry in the distance …

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN on 12 April 2019.

The Unincredibles? More Pound Store Superheroes

 Night falls on More Pound Store Superheroes?

My latest find at Pound Land is another set of Superheroes to match those I found in November last year: https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/rip-stan-lee-and-farewell-from-the-pound-store-superheroes/

These figures are cleverly made to look slightly like well known Super Heroes without having to pay super (hero) amounts of copyright. I see glimpses of Iron Man, Spider-Man and Hawkeye.

No backprinting on these simple Blocktech figures with their hollow heads. 

Back of the box illustration

Some people may look down on such ”bootlego”  budget figures at four Superheroes for a Pound. 25pMan anyone? The QuarterofaQuid  Kid?

Buying legitimate Lego super heroes with their Marvel and DC franchise would cost considerably more.

Even the real Lego base plates are quite expensive – however in Poundland  this grey square cost only a pound, much less than Lego would charge.

However these generic, unnnamed, slightly derivative super heroes have what my parents called “play value”.

Hopefully the imagination of a child will make them priceless and valuable, as set out in this lovely paragraph in the  Little Wars chapter  from John G. Garrett ‘s Model Soldiers – A Collector’s Guide, late 1950s:

These ones will sit happily on my desk alongside the first set as inspiration. Repeat after me – Never forget,  tiny plastic Super Heroes “I am Joan of Arc; I am Napoleon; I am Ivanhoe” …

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN blog on Pound Store Plastic Warriors, 10 February 2019.

RIP Stan Lee and Farewell from the Pound Store Superheroes

 

Oh no! We’re immobilised in plastic! Will our cut-price super powers save us now?

The same scene cartooned in Clip2Comic app as a tribute to comic artist Stan Lee 2018 RIP.

As my belated tribute to the late cartoon superhero creator and artist Stan Lee, I’m pleased to have finally tracked down a couple of sets of Poundland’s finest Superheroes.

Oh no! We’re trapped inside a box now. Is there no escape?

Free at last! Free at last!

I missed buying these figures a year or so back and have kept an eye out in Poundland ever since. Today they were back in store at £1 a box so I bought a couple of packs as an investment.

To escape paying franchise fees to DC Marvel and Avengers, Poundland have invented some new cut-price super hero figures of their own.

They come in four different main colours – red, blue, yellow and green.

Red Rage – all Red muscly bodysuit and face mask

Arrowhead – in Blue and red with and an arrow design on his face mask

Centrum – in Yellow bodysuit with worrying target on his front for villains to aim at.

Green Force – Green and red body suit and green face mask.

Thankfully although the Poundland Superheroes (designed by the Anker Group KFIG-PL)  are nominally named, they leave their individual superpowers to your imagination.

Centrum sounds like he should be part of some disappointing and dull global or privatised utility company who fails to turn up on time and doesn’t complete the job to your satisfaction. His secret base has no answerphone service or point of contact.

Maybe Green Force is a gardening or lawn repair service superhero, able to restore your patchy lawn in return for cash?

The Incredibles cartoon movies 1 and 2 have a list of short lived, aspiring or underperforming List of Known Superheroes or Supers killed off or briefly glimpsed in the movie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Incredibles_characters

Failing that, you can use a fantasy name generator on its superhero or super villain setting https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/hero_names.php

What are the Poundland superhero figures like?

I quite like the range of expression from smiley face to angry or aghast. You can of course swop heads, legs and bodies around.

Quick conversion ideas. A few quick head swaps with female hair, a Lego cloak and Lego head and hat. Name these yourself.

Good to see some multiracial block figures as well. A couple of female figures might have been good – unless Red Arrowhead with the painted cinched in narrow waist Is supposed to be female?

Some female block hair might do a conversion job but they do have very odd block heads, unlike the Lego stud attached hair.

Lego heads swap onto the Poundland neck stud quite well and the hands carry Lego style accessories, tools or weapons well. They also stand up on Lego studs well enough.

Other cut price Superheroes are available …

I would have loved this varied set of figures as a 70s child … almost worth box framing. Lego hardly had any mini figures then  and all were bright Simpsons smiley yellow.

Worth pointing out for pound store balance that UK high street budget retailer Wilko or Wilkinsoalso does their own “bootleggo” range called Blox with some attractive bulk packs of civilian and  military figures, compatible with but a fraction of the price of Lego figures. There is a fun superhero girl or superhero fan with a Boom! t-shirt in the Wilko Blox set.

Some attractive Blox figures from the 50 figure set including a golden knight / robot  and superhero (fan) or Cosplay girl.

Compatible with other leading brick brands, these Poundland figures are four superheroes for a £1, compared to £2 to £3 for the average Lego superhero mini figure blind bag.

At 25p each, there are no accessories, but you can easily  make your own superhero capes out of paper from a Lego template using fabric or paper and a hole punch for the head hole.

25p Man anyone?

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN (no comment on his cut-price super powers either a softer metal version of the Man of Steel) on 17 November 2018.

And finally here is an interesting YouTube compilation of the many graphic novel picture  tributes drawn as farewells to the much missed Stan Lee (1922-2018)