When I do these posts, there's always quite a bit of serendipity. I was doing some viewings for movie reviews when I decided to catch up with a Youtuber I correspond with. I found out he had cited a couple of my previous posts as sources for a video. I also got a bombshell: Per my very knowledgeable correspondent, a "variant" in my collection of Marx astronauts hasn't been reported to. That inspired me to go back to this feature (which already had a revival on the horizon) and take another look at the space guy I call Scooper. Here's a reference pic of our star with the Gas Station Duchess (aka Connie).
"So they just point and you scoop... um, what exactly?"
As recounted in my first post on Marx astronauts/ space guys, during my first wave of Marx collecting, I ordered two each of a pair of astronauts I call the Commander and Scooper, which I examined for possible variations in the plastic and mold design. The most conclusive difference was that the second Scooper I received had a life-support pack in a shape I hadn't seen before or since: Instead of slanting, it bulged outward, both in back and to the sides. I mentioned this in a correspondence with Steve Nyland, who has a Youtube channel as well as the Space Trucks blog. According to his latest video, this hadn't been reported by other collectors. As a followup, I took some more photos to show better just how different it is.
In the process, I took a closer look to see if there were other differences. I can already tell them apart well enough by coloration, with the "bulgy pack" variant actually looking lighter and glossier. (This isn't always clear in my photos.) However, I concluded back when that this had more to do with preservation and cleaning than anything else. Mr. Nyland has suggested that there's a difference in the bag shape, so I took the photo above with "Bulgy" on the right. (At least, I'm almost sure...) I can see it, maybe, though I wouldn't count on seeing it in photos.
I must say, at this point, I'm tempted to second-guess myself. My educated guess was that this was an early version of the mold that got changed to save on plastic, something that certainly happened with Galaxy Laser Team. The problem is, if there was a change that profound, somebody "should" have drawn the same conclusion by now. By comparison, there's any number of things that could have happened to change the final shape of the figure: A different kind of plastic, faster cooling, extra air pockets... I still think it looks like a mold variant, but I can't say I can't be wrong. Meanwhile, I took a look at the second Commander figure, which came with the "bulgy" figure. Here's a pic with the Truckstop Queen to lead the set.
"See, a brief case says authority."
This time, there was no question of the source of the difference; this guy is flat-out grimy, which is a disconcerting improvement. (The other one has a defect at the base of the case handle I can pick out independently, right and behind above.) This mostly just proves that he wasn't together with "Bulgy" from the beginning. However, I did discover they both had tape residue on the bottom, which is a strong indication they were in a single collection sometime before they came to me. Here's a pic.
After taking a look at these guys, I decided to take a look at my two blue astronauts introduced in the last installment of this feature, the Flag Guy and one of two of the Cameramen. The Flag Guy in particular is even glossier than Bulgy. On the other hand, the Cameraman a bit dingy-looking whether in either color, which means if the difference is associated with differences in plastic, the change was made while both colors were still in production. Here's a few pics with Bulgy to show what I mean.
Oo, the shiny!!!
Finally, I took another took at the one I call Digger, who came with the head of a shovel broken off. I didn't even mention before that this is the one I'm sure was produced with a different kind of plastic, probably later and cheaper. I've wondered further if this is one of the figures collectors have described as "waxy". To me, he looks like a piece of candy, smooth, featureless and almost but not quite translucent. For this post, I finally tried banging him against other figures, the "clack test" that actually worked for the Mexican and Ukrainian copy figures, and there was definitely something different. (I truly have the worst superpowers.) Here's a pic of him in a lineup.
With that, I wrap this up. As mentioned above, I have an incoming acquisition incoming that will be getting an installment. If I find out any more in the meantime, I may include an update then, or I just might come back for another round. That's all for now, more to come!
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