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Baskingshark’s Tales Posts

Charlie’s Angels and the ULTIMATE Spanish Character Car…

Charlie’s Angels and the ULTIMATE Spanish Character Car…
Written by
Baskingshark

As frequent readers will recall, we’ve already looked twice at how Spain’s 1970s-80s diecast toymakers liked to play fast and loose with (a) licensing laws and (b) authenticity when it came to cashing in on the era’s superheroes, movies and TV shows by producing tie-in model cars. But just when you thought the Back to […]

The Horrific Origins of Dinky Toys’ Stripey, The Magic Mini

The Horrific Origins of Dinky Toys’ Stripey, The Magic Mini
Written by
Baskingshark

Imagine, if you will, a summer Sunday in the English countryside; birds are singing and the sun is shining. You are walking down a country lane, on one side of which is a lovely orchard, bursting with apple trees. On the other is a rolling meadow, where you plan to enjoy a delicious picnic. Every […]

Supercar – The World’s First Character Car

Supercar – The World’s First Character Car
Written by
Baskingshark

If you were to ask the average collector what the first diecast car to tie into a TV or movie series was and who made it, 9 times out of 10 they’ll you it’s the Corgi Toys James Bond Aston-Martin DB5. But they’d be wrong. Not only was the DB5 not the first character car, […]

Bburago’s Lamborghini Cheetah. Driven by Smurfs on the Moon.

Bburago’s Lamborghini Cheetah. Driven by Smurfs on the Moon.
Written by
Baskingshark

Nowadays, every luxury car maker has one (or more) Four Wheel Drive SUV in their model range. Lamborghini, for example, has the Urus. But the Urus was far from their first attempt at going 4×4. That was the Cheetah, a full on off-roader (supposedly). Which was much, much weirder. As were some of the models […]

Adams Probe 16 AKA Durango 95: Big Screen Infamy & Diecast Copycats

Adams Probe 16 AKA Durango 95: Big Screen Infamy & Diecast Copycats
Written by
Baskingshark

For decades, Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed 1971 dystopian black comedy A Clockwork Orange was notorious, especially in the UK where it was filmed. In fact, for 27 years from 1973, it was almost impossible to see after Kubrick had it pulled from release after it was blamed for copycat violence. Only in 1999, when Kubrick died, […]

Galgo’s Even More Bizarre Character Toys

Galgo’s Even More Bizarre Character Toys
Written by
Baskingshark

Contrary to what you might think, Galgo isn’t a giant monster who fought Godzilla in one of the lesser Godzilla movies from the early 1970s. It’s an Argentinian toy company which made diecast vehicles in the 1970s and 80s – including some character pieces which rivaled Spain’s oddest, starting with…   The Dukes of Hazzard’s […]

Burning Questions Dept; Why Does The Incredible Hulk Have a Mazda 1600 Pickup Truck and Why is He Imprisoned in the Back of it?

Burning Questions Dept; Why Does The Incredible Hulk Have a Mazda 1600 Pickup Truck and Why is He Imprisoned in the Back of it?
Written by
Baskingshark

Following on from our look at the naked cash grab very interesting and not at all redundant superhero transportation device that is the Corgi Supermobile, let’s move on to another of the Corgi Marvel products. One that is even more surreal and posits way more existential questions; The Incredible Hulk’s Mazda B1600 Pickup.     […]

The Supermobile – It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Plot Device to Boost Sales!

The Supermobile – It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Plot Device to Boost Sales!
Written by
Baskingshark

Avid readers of the hobbyDB blog will recall a few months ago when we looked at Superman’s Citroen CX as part of our dive into the Pilen model company’s very inauthentic character toys. Now let’s take a look at another vehicle belonging to the Man of Steel. It’s no less weird, but it’s a lot […]

Where Did the Marlboro Go?!

Where Did the Marlboro Go?!
Written by
Baskingshark

If you like building models of 1980s European sports racing cars, you might have seen that Italeri recently re-released several older 1/24 scale Esci kits, including the BMW M1 Procar in nice new packaging; Hmmmm, it seems something is missing from that picture. What could it be…? Let’s take a look at the officially-released Italeri […]

Who is… Artec Man?!

Who is… Artec Man?!
Written by
Andrew Adamides

History is littered with forgotten superheroes and those who… didn’t quite work out. Arm-Fall-Off-Boy. Matter-Eater Lad. Flatman. But among the most mysterious of all was… Artec Man! Little is known about this shadowy figure. He appears to have originated in Spain, where Pilen, the diecast company responsible for some of the world’s most inauthentic character […]

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