So, to the figures issued by Giant in the early to mid-1960's, the
same figures would have been found in The
Toy House or World Toy House
(same firm) packaging. Figures are marginally the largest at a tad over 21mm
and a mean/average, and also the best sculpted, these can paint-up well, but
are scarce, so better to use commoner copies for that sort of thing!
The boards I used t shot these have left a
bit of a shock on the eye, vis-à-vis the base-marks, but if you enlarge the
images (right-click and 'open in new tab',
or window, then left-click the image if a plus-sign is showing) you'll see they
are clear enough.
This is what I call the command poses,
four-of-nine, with detector man (it's sci-fi he could be detecting anything,
not necessarily mines!), a spotter with binoculars, a squad/section
signaller/runner and the O/C - Officer Commanding; we know that's who he is as
he's the only one with a side-arm . . . or ray-pistol!
The squad troopers, armed with various
lengths of space-rifle and a recoilless, tube-launched weapon, undoubtedly
capable of some cosmic devastation on an epic scale! Giant originals are all clearly marked with the mark more
associated with the later retail production (black and silver knights, Mongols
&etc.), including the spurious ⓟ-mark! - "GIANT ⓟ MADE IN HONG KONG"
Someone sent me this about ten-years ago, maybe
twelve (2007/8?) and I can't find the eMail to thank them, they are - sadly -
only empty cards, but I think we can tell they would have contained - from the
left; a random (of three designs) space-tank and a handful (20-odd?) of figures
[3907 Space Patrol], a larger single blister of (40/50-odd?) figures [Space
Men], at least two tanks, with the missile-launch mechanism of a third, along
with a sample of figures and possibly one of two things yet to be identified
(?) [5933 Space Brigade] and finally; one of the big rocket-ships with a
dozen or so figures [5932 Space Launch].
Not clear in this low-res shot is that the
Space Launch set has an integral sunken tray like the Viking longship sets, and
later simpler blister-packed sets existed including another Space Men and a
Space Explorer set.
I don't have the tanks or rockets yet, so
until I track them down, which I will, here are a couple of past feeBay lots
with two of them, they all have the same twin missile-launcher as a plug-in and
the same dodgy running-gear as the WWII tanks, but three different
superstructure/bodies of which there are two seen here
Compared with the 23mm'ish Airfix Astronauts, you can see the
diminutive size of Giant's figures,
the bino's guy looks smaller-still because he's bending forward slightly and foreshortening
has 'dwarfed' him!
This image (left) is now on 'Worthpoint'
except theirs is a fuzzy thumbnail you have to sign-up to see properly (which
I'm sure involves money or endless spam, probably both!), but the eBay original
can still be found at a higher resolution, it came in an opposite colour-way
(blues for reds and vise-versa) and while being now some sixty years of age,
bears a remarkable resemblance to Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship 'Heavy Lifter' (main image), which is designed to
land on its tail fins like all those 1950's pulp-cover artwork and kids comic
vessels!
Vintage and modern as the current HexBug Nano - Nano Space/Nanobot's space
ship disgorges a troop of Giant's
intrepid finest to . . . err . . . check
something out! Please note; There were no gold astronauts from/issued by Giant
I think I've bored you with this before,
but Giant's figures are problematical
for me with what passes for OCD in an Aspergic; namely they are armed, so
should be 'Spacemen', but they are clearly wearing NASA-era spacesuits which
makes them 'Astronauts' . . . doh! And hence the titles of this series 'Astronaut
Spacemen'! Although Giant get round the quandary (it's real!) by using the separate
words 'Space Men' across the whole line - not 'spacemen'.
===============================================================
But is it Giant
Yes! Apart from the obvious prop in the last shot, the four Airfix and most of the figures in the filtered first image, this IS the Giant Plastic Corp of New York & Hong Kong issued product.
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