BMC Alamo Playset 1999

Toy-wise, there's several themes we've never really touched upon here on Toys and Stuff and one of those is the Alamo. The Alamo is a larger than life kind of theme that deserves way more attention than I can give it at the moment. The cause for the battle, the battle, and its aftermath are detailed much better elsewhere and, as usual but in the toy world the central theme revolves mostly around the main siege which lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836. Boiled down to its bare basics, it was the struggle of a group of people trying to break away from tyrannical leadership to forge their own destiny. Against all odds their defeat captured the imagination of a country and then the world.  It was a classic case of losing the battle but winning the war. I'm writing under a time crunch having to do other things here at the Berg Hacienda, but I do have quite a few related toys and what-not and hope to present them in the months to come.

Our first offering is quite a modest one. This set was produced in 1999 by BMC (short for Bill McMasters who recently passed away), and was one of a line of really nice affordable playsets. The set itself is unusual in that it 'broke the mold' for Alamo playsets by not offering a full chapel and walled compound. Instead, this budget priced set had a nice rendition of the chapel facade (a more historically correct facade without the pediment), a couple of barricades, small guns ramps, figures, and a bevy of accessories. The 24 Texians, molded in a caramel brown soft plastic, appear rather thin and lank and somewhat awkward looking, but once everything is set up they do the job just fine (and as I've said before, they're just toys). There are figures that represent Davy Crockett, William Travis, and Jim Bowie, although with all the duplicate figures it's hard to figure out who's who! The 38 Mexicans, molded in a dark metallic blue soft plastic, have much better sculpting. They are all infantry with no cavalry represented. The artillery appear to be naval cannons and are rather small. There are four of them as well as four ramps. When you add up all the rock piles, tables, crates, carts, and what-not, there is potential for a very nice display. In addition, BMC offered header bags with more Alamo figures and accessories, although they were all repeats of what was in the playset.

Now for the caveat. The photos in this set, like so many I've presented before, .were taken years ago so that I could sell it! Yup, I don't have the set any more. Damn. I have a bad habit of getting rid of stuff I wish I'd kept. On the other hand, if I kept everything I'd end up on that TV show Hoarder's! Oh well. The upside is, there's another version of the set somewhere around here which can still be utilized for a future post. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Some time ago custom painted facades were being offered on eBay and I picked one up hoping to use it one day. I still have it and it may yet come in handy

Here's the facade posed along with an original Marx tin-litho chapel