So to the commonest version/variant of
Giant clone, while now priced as (and usually described as-) Giant on evilBay,
these used to be easy to find in under-table rummage boxes at shows and over
the years I've picked up a reasonable number of them in the four main colours
shown here, with silver outnumbering the other considerably - I've probably got
more silver than all the others put together?
The same ten poses as the previous C1's,
but smaller and less detailed, the 'bazooka' man can - again - suffer from
distortion, but not always and not as consistently as the C1 fellow, this might
point at the same factory for both, but is more likely down to the thickness of
the sculpt at that point in both sets?
A comparison between the first-aider and
the O/C, you can see they are separate poses, with the officer having a
questing little-old-lady stance, while the medic is reaching more forcefully.
His chest detailing is also better as he's been recut from new, rather than
pantographed, same for his head/helmet.
C2's are probably copies of one of the
other two sets (C1 or - less likely - C3) and show it, he doesn't though, he's
altogether a fresher sculpt.
My favourites dukeing asteroid e asteroid, not the commonest, but I've found them two or
three times over the years and seen them a few other times on feebleBay, so
they were quite numerous sometime (probably in the Woolbro sets - see below)?
Gold turn-up in about the same quantities,
while the red-chap is the only one I've got! Possibility he's a Gum-ball
machine capsule prize/Christmas cracker type thing, but I suspect he's from the
US 'comic offer' sets (see below), where half the contents were this colour,
the other half the common silver?
I have someone to thank for the
silver-troop shot - Theo van der Werden, I think? Cheers Theo - it all gets
used eventually! And the gold patrol are advancing up a Cane trench!
Base mark is similar to the C1's, but much fainter
and a bit smaller (still a DIN font; 'HONGKONG') than
the C1's, with no dimples, holes or double-stampings, the sepia image is me
trying to show you that a gloss-red figure inches from the camera-flash has the
same marking! There is a gap between the two words, but it's so thin I've given
them the one-word mark.
Their numerousness is down to the fact that
they were carried by various people in various sets, mostly generics in
independent corner stores and newsagents, but at least one branded supplier Woolbro (left), where they carried the
same '445' code as the other sets in
the line (Fort Cheyenne, Mobile Task Force and Roman Fortress). Age-wise they are
probably newest on the left (Woolbro mid-1970's) and oldest on the right; a
generic from the late 1960's.
The two later sets both come with a copy ofMattel's Major Matt Mason space
walker (also nicked by Eldon's Billy
Blastoff) and a rocket which I think is taken from MPC (? Someone like that!), but which has had a safety 'bulb' added
to save eyes . . . it was carnage in the earlier 1960's blinded kids as far as
the still-sighted could see!
On the subject of Blast Off (at least two board-games, a play-set and a book, the
book titled in homage to all the other 'Blast Off's!), Five Star, Helen of Toy
and others carried a set (in two sizes - 117 and 196 pieces) under the same Blast Off moniker, which I suspect probably
contained these C2 figures (in the absence of other better candidates) which
would have included my red figure - on one side - with yet more silver figures,
but this is still conjecture? The two brands here are clearly the same outfit
working from the same address.
Some sources claim Giant figures were in the sets, but without empirical evidence, and
while the sets are very rare, so is my red example! As the Blast Off sets were red and silver, and given some will claim
everything Hong Kong and small scale is "original Giant", I suspect the truth is that these common figures were
the ones used. Many thanks to Peter Evan's for one of the comic pages.
===============================================================
But is it Giant
No! The truth is that four sets of astronaut/spaceman tools were being used, probably all within months of Giant's product appearing, at around the same time (1961/2) through to about 1974 (for these C2's), although these may have been issued a little later than both the C1 and C3 clones. There is however no Giant stuff in this post.
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