Slowly-but-surely I've been buying the various add-on cars for the Lionel Hogwarts Express train set I bought last month. The first add-on car - purchased a couple of weeks ago - was the Slytherin Coach, road #99728. Then this Gryffindor Coach - road #99727 - recently had a price reduction and I couldn't pass it up! Four more cars to go!
Ed
It's funny, but these were in a bag of Flintstones figures that I believed were all made by Applause - until I looked closer. They are all marked 'Comics Spain' - huh?? Who dat? Never heard of 'em. A quick search of the Internet yielded this information from the website The Phantom a site devoted to the comic book hero of the same name:
"Cómics Figuras SL was founded in
Granollers, Barcelona, Spain, 1982. Cómics Figuras SL more commonly referred as
‘Comics Spain’ manufactured plastic plates, sheets, tubes and textiles. In the
collecting arena it produced a wide range of comic, film and television PVC non
poseable action and predominantly unlicensed figures.
Sometime between 1983 and 1985,
‘Yolanda’ (see below second figure set) having the sole official rights to
produce various PVC action figure lines, sued Comic Figuras SL and won the
case. Comic Figuras SL did thereafter acquire some licensing and produced its
first catalog in 1985. The first known catalogues and promotional posters of
the company appeared in 1985.
By 1992, the business was in
financial hardship and was forced to file for bankruptcy. The company still
continued to produce figures after 1992 for which they had already lost
licenses to produce. In 1997, the operation was shut down. Today, these “unbranded”
figures are highly sought after particularly the Smurf and Superhero lines.
Although the Phantom color schemes were Purple and Blue, the shades often
differed as each figure was hand painted."
Learn something new every day!!
Ed
Before I start in on the next FOV figure set we're just gonna post this update. There's always a learning curve when doing these series and I've already discovered a couple of things I didn't know just a few weeks ago. At the beginning of the series I mentioned that FOV changed their boxes from a dark-toned motif to an olive green color. But guess what...?
...there's a third variation!
This company wasn't around all that long and I've already discovered three variations in their boxes (four packaging variations if you count the carded sets - which will be covered in later installments). I've asked this before, but - WHY? (Keeping asking that Ed - you'll never get an informed answer from someone in the know who worked at at Unimax, but at least you'll get it out of your system!)
Ed
Back to a dark motif.
The artwork has changed, the figures are generically called "BATTLE HARDENED SOLDIERS", and the back of the box does not feature individual set photos - what I call the 'catalog back'. Rather, photos of the individual sets are all blended together in one montage with an overlay of the company's website in black and white block lettering.
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Here's the final installment for the Star Wars Happy Hippos figures by Ferrero. Only this time it's not a figure, but rather a puzzle containing 150 pieces. It took me 3 hours to put this sucker together but when done, it adds a nice touch to the collection. It measures 12.625" (32,06cm) W x 9.625" (24,44cm) D.
Ed
The last of five poses in this set.
Ed
