I have a few Space sets from the gang over at MPC / Multiple Toymakers that I'm going to share. Last year I posted some Cold War era, somewhat Space themed playsets like Playset No. 3007 US Air Force Missile Rocket Command (Mar 2019 in multiple posts) and Playset No. 3004 Missiles To The Moon (May 2019 in multiple posts). While those sets concentrated on the action down here on Terra Firma, the next few sets will plant us squarely on the Moon or in orbit.
MPC / Multiple was the king of re-utilization, even more so than Marx or T. Cohn. They would take the same figures and vehicles, and accessories and use them in a maddening plethora of different sets, only changing the boxes to suit whatever marketing they had in mind at the time. It makes for fun collecting but at the same time it's frustrating. Unlike Marx, there doesn't appear to be a concise volume of cataloged sets available to the collector for reference and there may never be as they have become the underdog of the collecting world. For those of you out there copying the images on this blog - and who actively scour the Web for MPC / Multiple Toymaker images - we'll hopefully be able to fill in some of the gaps for your cataloging actions.
This set consists of modular Space Control Center consisting of two 'pods' connected to a central hub which can accomodate up to four control pods. There is Jet Sled and an Air Hopper, each accomodating one figure. And then there are the ubiquitous MPC 54mm Astronauts. 50 of them! In mundane, workaday poses. MPC had a field day with those guys and offered them up by the millions in playsets and header bags, and who knows what else. They literally pumped these out like there was no tomorrow! While MPC's Ringhand figures were available in action poses and had scores of individual weapons at their disposal, these guys were mostly either in 'peace' mode or in a somewhat guarded mode - carrying, but not aiming/firing weapons.
I love this set as it brings alive Actual Moon activities, not just rocket launch pads and Cape Canaveral / Kennedy activities on Earth. It gets us there! Of course you can always flesh this out with other toys to make a bigger Moon base, which may have been Multiple's goal in doing all these sets
The Control Center has a nice modular design, a popular concept for extra-terrestrial habitation. It is of course a simplified design with no apparent access or egress from the pods other than to flip the cover up. But that's okay - it's a toy. Four pods can be connected to the central hub. Those pedestals or supports are often times lost or broken and can be a toughie to find.
The Jet Sled was included in several sets in Mmultiple colors.
My Air Hopper sample is broken - it only has three legs! It too was included in multiple sets in different colors
The seven different poses that came in my set. There were 50 individual figures in all
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