Pound Egg Princesses

(Good) Plastic tat is sometimes hard to find, unless you order it. I noticed that with crackers this Christmas, they’ve all gone metal, or paper or eco. All well and good but …

In a world or oceans drowning in single use plastic waste (SUP), it seems worth giving some of this plastic an ongoing use or even a new use.

Some children’s magazines still offer the occasional useful bit of plastic tat, always worth keeping an eye on these in WH Smith or your local newsagents.

One random blind bag possibility are Kinder Eggs which with their Disney / Pixar overlap offer certain ranges and the chance of useful figures. Kinder Eggs are found in many outlets from about 80p to £1 each, the range (Frozen, Princesses, general) is often indicated on the foil wrapping.

At first I thought this was Pocahontas as a child, but I believe this is Moana the title child / teenage princess figure from Disney’s recent Moana cartoon movie set in Polynesia (a Disney movie which I have not yet seen). She is about 40mm in height, but scaled down as more of a child.

Another useful Kinder Egg Figure is (Princess) Anna out of Disney’s Frozen / Frozen II Nordic fairy / folk tale cartoon movie.

She is more approaching 54 mm in height, as an adult figure.

According to Wikipedia Frozen II entry: “Anna’s outfit was inspired by the Norwegian folk bunad, worn during the 1840s and 1850s. Typically made of wool, it had decorative embroidery. Anna lost the pigtail braid she had in Frozen because she is three years older in Frozen II …”

There are some simple folk motifs painted onto the figure. I didn’t know that a bunad is a generic term for a type of Nordic folk dress, many examples are pictured here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunad

You learn something new everyday.

Previously on Pound Store Plastic Warriors Kinder Egg Surprise section …

https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com/2022/12/04/do-you-wanna-build-a-f-kinder- egg-snowy-surprises/

Olaf the Snowman and the Stone Trolls appear in both films

My Frozen collection is now enriched with:

a rather small but see-through plastic ice horse called The Nokk
“Pulling from Nordic folklore, the Frozen 2 filmmakers were able to create this beautiful character, a mythical water spirit that takes the form of a stallion. While gorgeous, this water spirit is a warrior set to guard the secrets of the forest and is dangerous to those not careful.” https://d23.com/meet-the-enchanting-new-characters-of-frozen-2/

a characterful Reindeer called Sven (again in both films)

and a curious fire lizard salamander character (who eats snowflakes) called Bruni from Frozen 2.

Anyway a cheapish way to acquire useful civilian figures and weird creatures, depending on what you find inside that chocolate egg!

Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, 5 February 2023

Pound Store 42mm farm

Simple and attractive  box art

Found this on my travels in a National Trust gift shop for the not strictly pound store price of £4.50 (but hey it’s for charity). Pound store bizarreness and  quality though!

It is available online too https://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk

What you get squeezed remarkably into one small box 

I look at these play sets part with the eyes of the child I once was and part with the slightly more adult eyes of the gamer and figure converter.

The National Trust shop product shot on their shop website. 

The calves are small enough to be cows in a smaller railway or gaming scale.

The piglets are pleasingly stocky and wild boar like (lunch for Obelix and Asterix).

The rabbits (?!?)  are just plain bizarre. The chickens and ducks repainted are good for farm vignettes.

The wobbly fencing would make good corrugated iron panels at smaller scales.

What I find most fascinating are the cloned farm figures which are in that indeterminate 40 to almost 50mm sizing. They are in slightly soft plastic, rather than hard and brittle.

Figures to scale. A surprisingly buxom wench (left). The Winston Churchill /  farmer is equipped with pipe, whip or crooked stick and shotgun, proper “get off my laaand!” stuff. 

 

How the mini farm set fits with 42mm figures (Irregular Miniatures WW2 British tommies). Armed Inspection by the Ministry of Ag, looking for illegal hidden  pigs? Saving the Nation’s Bacon!

Throw in a slightly battered vintage car and you change the character of the farmer –  a  junk shop find of Ford Model T Yesteryear model  in the process of being repainted khaki to a staff car. 

It all packs back inside the building and into the box – neat! Great as a child for holidays.

I think the figures will repaint well enough for civilian figures, as will the outhouse repainted to a small distressed farm outhouse. It is a clone of Britain’s Plastic small farm buildings that I still have.

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN, 2 September 2018

The Mini Farm set is manufactured by www.keycraft.eu, an interesting low cost plastic toy trade retailer with lots of business retail insights on their website. The Sceince of Impulse Buys? Note:  Trade only.

The Science of Impulse Buying – Who could fall for impulse buys of such low cost, brightly packaged toys? 

Keycraft import the usual suspects – repackaged copy Matchbox US infantry clones (with no enemy) sold by several outlets including book shops.

 

 

More Plastic Zoo Staff 2018

 

Four useful civilian or military 54mm figures, one with each animal and vehicle blister pack – photographer, binoculars baseball cap guy, female scientist or medic and determined looking adventurer figure with jungle hat. 

Useful figure, handy smaller scale lorry and an African animal to boot. 

Good looking 1:32 or 54mm figures from the back as well. They could be adventurers, Press or war photographers, officer with binoculars, medics. 

Determined, distinctive and versatile female medic, vet  or scientist figure. Feisty enough to suit Star Wars games too. 

Female Space scientist, tropical biologist, dinosaur vet ??

The usual mix of scales of figures and vehicles can be annoying to some but is full of potential across a range of scales.

Odd mix of scales per set surrounding the 54mm figure 

36mm pound store figure conversion, HO/OO Railway figure, 30mm Spencer Smith figure for size comparison with the lorries.  

Useful trucks and useful (detachable?)  wooden crates. 

The accompanying animals …

Ark Toys and Ravensden origin. 

These were a useful set of civilian or military safari or zoo figures that I got at a discount, not Pound store materials but certainly useful plastic figures and lorries to accompany some of my Pound Store Plastic  conversions.

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN , Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog 29 May 2018.

#FEMbruary challenge for Pound Store Plastic figure conversions?

 

Pictured: Some interesting old metal female civilian figures to match my usual 32-36mm Pound Store Plastic soldiers, found in a job lot of figures, previously shown at  https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/a-good-size-match-for-my-36mm-poundland-warriors/

A Westair metal WREN (WW1? WW2?) on first left.

My #FEMbruary challenge on Pound Store Plastic Warriors?

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/09/fembruary-hobby-challenge-conversions/

Ross Macfarlane of The Battle Game of the Month blog wondered what my Pound Store version of my #FEMbruary challenge might be?

Interesting ideas – not sure what #FEMbruary Pound Store figure conversion I might attempt yet.

Looking back through this blog there are a fair number of female plastic figures ranging from pirates to space princesses, pioneer women and native Americans, zoo staff and visitors, to police officers.

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/first-blog-post/

What female gaming figures might you paint up or convert for #FEMbruary?

One of Steve Weston’s plastic Mexican Civilians who may well become a suffragette this FEMbruary.

The FEMBruary challenge seems to have started at the Leadballoonery blog.

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN on 9th FEMbruary 2018

Plastic Zoo Visitors # 1

They could be zoo keepers, Rangers or tooled up to become space marines …

Trying to to find interesting 54mm civilian figures is always a challenge. Apart from an unusual set ordered online from China, it usually involves looking out for figures with playsets or vehicles. An expensive way to acquire a few figures!

Britains and other companies used to make civilian and railway figures in 54mm lead but few in plastic, the occasional keeper figure or farm worker.

It was always frustrating as a child to have a zoo or farm or a parade set out but no visitors  to watch; it usually resulted in lots of  troops parading (H.G. Wells Floor Games style) endlessly  through the zoo along with assorted military staff feeding the animals.

Military bands and other forms of entertainment and display were not unknown in the Victorian zoo and right through to Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoo into the 1950s. Whilst military mascots ended up in zoos (including Winnie the Pooh at London Zoo ) and even a naval zoo existed, at Whale Island, this was a little uninspiring as a regular play or garden scenario.  http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2024904/photography_ProvidedCHO_TopFoto_co_uk_EU044495.html

Evn today, Edinburgh Zoo has a penguin called Nils Olaf  “commissioned” into the Norwegian Royal Guard and occasionally visited and paraded  by his fellow (human) comrades in their magnificent full dress uniform.

This was sort of true of British Zoos in wartime – there were  special rates for servicemen (and lady friends) in uniform, entertainments in WW1 for injured servicemen. I have 1939’propaganda’ press pictures of servicemen enjoying elephant rides at Belle Vue Zoo Manchester. In the first few weeks of being closed to the public on ARP grounds in September 1939, London Zoo made arrangements for servicemen to walk round for the animals to look at. ‘The Zoo’ also made their canteen over to the RAF as the big houses around became RAF Regent’s Park full of training aircrew.

Britain’s and other lead toy soldier manufacturers made plenty of civilians and farm workers in the more pacifist aftermath of WW1. Plastic manufacturers haven’t followed suit and painted railway figures in this 54mm /1:32 scale are often quite expensive.

Failing the mounting of a full scale military parade through your zoo, Wild West town etc. all day and everyday,  some normal civilians are useful for floor games, sandpit games or  wargames.

The 54mm female figure from the left is from the c. 2007 zoo vehicle  playset, whilst the “Marilyn” stylish 1950s unfinished painted figure is from recent Chinese plastics online purchase of civilians. (Photo / figures: Man of TIN)

These  feature sets  came from a zoo gift shop with two zebra striped jeeps, some brilliant wooden watch towers and rope ways (of which more anon) , a couple of odd sized animals and these interesting modern civilians.

Something vaguely unsettling about this boy child in his simple factory paintwork. Useful photographer figure though!

Something similar to the girl child in the photos has recently been repainted and reused in a Slinkachu type way on the front cover of an art photography book Micro Worlds about the recent group of artists / photographers playing with scale for satiric, unsettling or comic effect. An interesting book but one which contains some slightly disturbing dystopian or to some tasteless items from a range of photographers.

Another candidate to be my Man of TIN blog photographer? (from a 2007 zoo vehicle playset)

Police and firefighters are now available in poundstore tubes. Back in the 1980s there were Britain’s Deetail nurses, doctors and  construction workers, not forgetting the Britain’s farm workers from lead to Herald plastic and a modern farm worker range still around in toy shops today.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/tag/plastic-police-figures/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/more-poundstore-warriors/

In future blogposts I will feature more civilian figures to be used for game scenarios from the Chinese online set to the useful USA manufactured  Toob “heritage” plastic figures roughly in 54mm, also purchased online.

Plastic Warrior website also feature an excellent set of Mexican Wild West civilians or peasants.

Posted by Mr MIN, Man of TIN, September 2016.

 

Toob figure Jamestown pioneers

These are Toob figures from their Jamestown Pioneer set. They are a blacksmith and a woodsman, both handy civilian figures in 16th / 17th century dress that could be repainted to suit later periods such as the Wild West.

A wide range of civilian figures are featured in these Toob figures sets, though they are hardly pound store cheap and arrive prepainted. I ordered these online as some useful civilian figures to enrich games and displays.

More Toob 54mm figures from the Jamestown Pioneer and Wild West sets. The plastic house came from a pet store!

I will feature further figures in a Toob figure review in future blog posts.

Manufactured by Safari Ltd, Toob figures can be found online on various sites: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toob-680304-Powhatan-Indians-Miniatures/dp/B000GZADV0/ref=pd_lpo_21_tr_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DRXMM2ETGA3K7EC77CYA

 

Pound Store Pirate’s Moll

 

This scary looking female comes in a set of cheap painted pirates often found in toy stores and seaside shops.

She comes with some interesting protection tucked away in her hands behind her!

This female figure could be repainted in a variety of ways to suit different periods from  17th Century pirates to Wild West and even Gothic, fantasy, vampires, steampunk and Sci-Fi scenarios.

Civilian or female figures are often hard to find in pound store plastics.

I have repainted the base colour on her face as she had some strange gothic black eye paint in her factory original paint state.

Posted by Mr. MIN, Man of TIN, September 2016.