The Toy Army Men which Scammed America (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Horus
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Horus
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And they are still flogging the Sea Monkeys now, with the same pictures
I remember as a kid around about the same time cans of Fizz started having Ring Pulls, doing away with the need to get the shop to open the can for you and seeing these adverts in the back of DC magazines and thinking wow they'd be great, luckily though as the guy in the video points out, they didn't take orders from outside the US. Was really wanting the Revolutionary War set. Luckily enough Airfix came out with a couple of sets a short time later.
Horus
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Yes they were just dropped on the ground in their millions !
I remember back in the sixties and seventies kids tv programmes Blue Peter, used to do charity fund raising events each year, one year it'd be ring pulls, another year, used postage stamps and another the foil milk bottle tops, when milk was delivered to our doorsteps in pint glass bottles, which of course we washed when empty and put them out for the milkman to pick up the next morning.
Often if you weren't quick enough getting your milk delivery in, you'd find birds had come and pecked through the foil to get at the cream on top !
I remember back in the sixties and seventies kids tv programmes Blue Peter, used to do charity fund raising events each year, one year it'd be ring pulls, another year, used postage stamps and another the foil milk bottle tops, when milk was delivered to our doorsteps in pint glass bottles, which of course we washed when empty and put them out for the milkman to pick up the next morning.
Often if you weren't quick enough getting your milk delivery in, you'd find birds had come and pecked through the foil to get at the cream on top !
jason foote
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Oh man, i always wanted the revolutionary toy soldier set but thought the6 would probably be 28 mm for the price
Oldallamerican
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There were two versions of the Revolutionary War sets. My neighbor had the first set - flats; that was about 1963 (I don't know how long he'd had them); in 1967 a classmate ordered a set and I was really concerned he'd be disappointed but they turned out to be 3-D and soft plastic. Pretty good at the time (I hadn't seen Airfix yet), so I saved my pennies and ordered a set. Still have some somewhere.
I bought the "Gold Crown" "game", too. I was disappointed (but should have known) the "huge castle, big enough to hold 121 men!" wouldn't be what it was cracked up to be, but still disappointed it was a printed plastic mat. The figures (GIANT copies of Herald knights) more than made up for it though. It was hit or miss back then. Caveat Emptor!
I bought the "Gold Crown" "game", too. I was disappointed (but should have known) the "huge castle, big enough to hold 121 men!" wouldn't be what it was cracked up to be, but still disappointed it was a printed plastic mat. The figures (GIANT copies of Herald knights) more than made up for it though. It was hit or miss back then. Caveat Emptor!
Horus
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Things our Fathers gave us in childhood didn't always survive due to enemy action, AKA other older boys with a mean streak. I remember a neighbours boy of about 7 and I being 4, ripping up some maps, Dad had given me from his Army days in Germany. One side printed with the area in Germany they were on manoeuvres in, the other having being printed a handful of years previous by the Wehrmacht ! Of bits of Britain. perhaps for Operation Sealion. The only survivor being for Southern Ireland, we still have !
