Monday, January 22, 2018

#894 MIGHTY MAX - SHRUNKEN HEADS aka MICRO HEADS (1993)



Some of the smallest Mighty Max sets were the Micro Heads. They are really small, and have space for exactly one Mighty Max figure, although in some cases it is kind of tricky to fit the figure inside the case.

Each head of these micro sets represents one of the well-known monsters or some recognizable horror icon: Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein, a skull, a zombie... what makes them very attractive to all horror fans. Each head opens revealing a very small scenery including the moster (casted) in it. The Mighty Max figure that fits each set mostly has some accesory in its hands that fits the theme of the adventure: a stake in the Vampyre set, a spray can in Insect, pliers for Lobotix…


Another interesting feature is that the figure fits almost milimetrically in the case, it took me quite a while to fit all figures in their correct positions, it might be quite challenging. I haven’t found out how to fit the figure in the last set (Insect), if anyone knows…


Here are the eight sets’ interiors. Note also the nice combination of colours in each set and altogether. There is a great production design behind this toyline.

VENOM



LOBOTIX




 MELTY


MUMMY




RAT



VAMPYRE


ROCK MONSTER




INSECT


FACTS and FIGURES:
  • Name: Venom, Lobotix, Melty, Mummy, Rat, Vampyre, Rock Monster Insect  (Shrunken Heads or Micro Heads)
  • Toy Line: Mighty Max (wave 2)
  • Year: 1993
  • Company: Bluebird (Great Britain)
  • Size of the playset: Around 3,5 cm long
  • Size of the figures (Mighty Max): 1 cm

Sunday, January 7, 2018

#893 MAJORETTE - SEVERAL BOXED MODELS (1972 to 1977)



There is not much that I can say about these models. They are very old Majorettes and all of them still in their original packages. Some of them are not mint, because the packages can be opened and closed anytime, so I guess, some of them have been removed from the box (before I did that to take the pictures) and maybe even slightly played with. However, they are in excellent shape, they are quite old (first 70s) and some are even rare. Note that some have fragile parts or easily lost pieces.

I bought them around two years ago in a flea market. First I bought only a few, then I regretted very much not having bought more. Surprisingly I had a second chance to buy the rest a few months later.

The hard plastic boxes are interesting. They seem to be cubic (well, rectangular prisms), but they are trapezoidal, being the upper surface smaller than the base. They consist of two parts plus maybe some inlay and maybe some paper or illustration inside. The two main parts are solidly attached to each other by means of two slids/flaps. I have fear when opening them, that one of the flaps break, but so far this did not happen. The inlay is made of a very thin plastic, and usually places the car with the front slightly higher than the rear part of the car.

Since the box is transparent, some models include a Majorette illustration below the car that probably tries to make the box more attractive, maybe thinking about those cars that are not sold in a nice display, but countertop.

All boxes also included a red sticker with the name of the car and the reference number.

Note that there are boxes come not only in short and long versions (for cars with trailers) but also in tall and short variants for normal cars or especially flat cars (like the Shadow F1).

And finally, the pictures, each of them with number, name, year of issue and a short comment about the model. We start with the series 200:

204 Pompier (Dodge Pompier) – color: red
First released in 1974. Note the very fragile chromed ladder, still in the box and in perfect shape.






206 Ambulance (Citroën DS Ambulance) – color: white
First Released in 1973. Rare version with thin wheels.





207 Jaguar E (Jaguar Type E) – color: blue
First Released in 1972.








211 Tracto Pelle – color: orange
First Released in 1974. The steering wheel is extremely fragile, 99% of the times is lost.





222 Multi Benne (Scania Multi Benne) – color: orange/ green

First Released in 1976. Nice model, a more modern version of this miniature was commented in entry #385. Note the price tag of 14,80 Austrian Schilling, something around 1,10 Euro.





223 Saviem Chantier / Fertighaus Transporter – color: blue
First Released in 1976. Previously was available with a brown hut/home in 1975. The load is very hard to find.








242 Service (Dodge) – color: orange
First Released in 1976, same model as Dodge Chasse Neige, but without the front loader. That model was available in 1974 and 1975. Excellent with its decals.





243 Shadow F1 (Shadow DN5) – color: black
First Released in 1977. Also commented in entry #587.




258 Dune Buggy – colour: light green
First Released in 1972. Commented in detail in #788.

Now the three boxes from the series 300:



320 Fardier (Scania –No Nr– + Fardier) – color: blue
First Released in 1976. Excellent vesion with real wood sticks. Unfortunately, not one of the oldest versions, but still remarkable.






343 Dinghy (Dodge Safari –No Nr– + Pneumatique) – color: orange/multicolour
First Released in 1974. Excellent multicoloured miniature with plastic zodiac boat in trailer. Trailer comes with a very old type of wheel.







354 Triqueballe (Tracteur Ford –253– + Triqueballe) – color: red

First Released in 1971. This is a curious model with a real wood stick hold by the trailer. This model appears in many catalogues from 1972 to 1979, but is discontinued in 1980 and replaced by a more moder model of tractor (Tractor 208), which, with very few changes, is still being sold, or at least it was until very very recently.







FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: SEVERAL BOXED MODELS
  • Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
  • Year: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977
  • Company: Majorette (France)
  • Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm