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Monday, October 31, 2011

Marx West Side Warehouse

The television series "The Untouchables" first aired in 1959 and chronicled the adventures of FBI agent Eliot Ness (played by Robert Stack) in his quest to defeat organized crime during the Great Depression. The show  was a huge success, until protests against the rampant violence shown in the series caused producers to water down the scripts. It was the violence which made the show popular and the result of the diluted scripts caused the show's popularity to plummet leading to its cancellation in 1963. Marx, always ready to take advantage of a hit television series, offered it's licensed 'Untouchables' playset in 1961. The set was unusual in that it included two tin-litho buildings. Most Marx playsets only included one building. The 'Revolutionary War' playset had two cabins but they were identical whereas the 'Untouchables' set had two distinctly different buildings -a streetfront, and the West Side Warehouse featured today on Toys & Stuff. 

The warehouse is one of Marx's 'shoebox' style buildings fleshed out with plastic accouterments. It's not unusual for the plastic parts to be missing from this building and those you see in the photos are reproductions. Some years back I had purchased the repos in the hope that one day a Warehouse would come my way, and sure enough, about two-or-so years ago I was able to purchase one - and of course it was missing the plastic pieces. Originally, the playset came with two Rolls Royce tin-litho friction-motored cars by Marx's Linemar division and in the last photo I've shown two of these cars along with a Linemar Cadillac. The figures included in the set were 45mm. Even without the gangster theme, this building would look terrific on an O-gauge tinplate layout. Enjoy!








 All the cars have issues, The car on the left is missing two hubcaps, the car in the middle has been repainted, and the car on the right is missing its windshield. However, they still look great and I'm glad to have them.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Mattel 2011 L2593 Hot Wheels Arkham Asylum Batmobile

This week Toys & Stuff exits the Marvel Universe and re-enters the DC Universe to present yet another Batmobile! I went to Target last week and came across this Hot Wheels Arkham Asylum Batmobile for only .99cents! It's a terrific little die-cast rendition measuring only 2 3/4" (6.8cm) L. Next week we'll probably be re-entering the Marvel Universe as Wolverine decided to pay me a visit.  Enjoy!


















Saturday, October 29, 2011

AOME LOTR - Rescue at Cirith Ungol

Poor Frodo, he's been bitten by one heck of a big spider and now he lies helpless! To make matters worse, help is on the way, but not the kind Frodo would have liked. This little vignette captures three of the principle players from that adventure: Gorbang, Sam, and of course Frodo. It's a nice offering from Play Along toys and helps round out the collection! Enjoy!


Rescue at Cirith Ungol:Gorbang, Shelob-bitten Frodo, and Sam
Wave 7
Issued by: Play Along Toys
Assortment: 48100
Item Number: 48036
Issue Date: 2005
Issue Price: $8.99

Gorbang








Shelob-bitten Frodo








Sam