October 2025 Halloween Time Odds Ends, I show two interesting items I found for Halloween at Target. Next, I give some background on some Marx figures. Finally, I show some 3D army figures I picked up at a flea market.
October 2025 Halloween Time Target Surprises
Receently, I was in Target to get some mailing boxes when I spotted two items. The first was a tiki bar with a Halloween theme. I just thought this was funny.
The second one was this plastic house. Both pieces light up. i thing this house could be used for 54mm or 60mm figures.
Some Marx History
Some of you may not know the history behind some of the Marx figures. For example, the pioneer chopping and the woman with the two buckets were made but never used. The cavities laid dormant in the Marx molds until Nick Argento of Glencoe Models found them at American Plastic. He purchased them and ran they with other 54mm Marx pioneer molds he found.
One other mold that Nick found at American Plastic was the 45mm kneeling Indian. Now most people have this figure without the paddle. There are a few that have it with a partial paddle. I visited Nick on a trip return from Boston. He showed me the 45mm Indian cavity and we discovered that Marx had sealed off the paddle on the figure. Very likely they decided against doing a separate canoe for the playset and decided against it. Not wanting to lose the figure, they closed off the paddle. Nick restore it to its original purpose.
3d Army Figures
I went to my local flea market to see what I could find. A woman selling Japanese anime figures had some 3D fantasy figures her husband had made. Going through a box I discover four three-inch army figures.
The figures are well detailedwith some minor cavats. The grendae thrower has some excess plastic coming down from the helmet and the soldier walking with the automatic weapon has damage to his foot. I will go back to the flea market and try to see the man who did these figures. It will be a busy week as I have the Allentown Toy show on that weekend.
Awesome finds!! I like the house a lot ,it will have much use in many scenes with minor painting or touching .
Very rare ,i never seen it before ,most be new?
The 3 inches figures are soft plastic ?
I figure too the house has many uses. The woman said that it was not resin. I will have to ask again if I met the husband.
The 3-D printed figures are very interesting. A tad styalized, maybe. But they would be fun and easy to paint. The plastic draping down from behind the helmet may be a WWII version of the NFL “Do-Rag’ that gor shredded during battle…?
I didn’t know the two pioneer figures were not actually produced until “after-Marx”. I have many recasts of these two figures that I have used for conversions on my diorama.
Also, I would have thought the paddling figure was Tim-mee, so thanks for the clarification.
It’s “intel” like this that maks Stad’s Stuff still the best site for the hobby. I’m glad you are actively attending shows again. Thanks! Gary in Texas
Gary
It is why I posted the information on those figures. I have been around so much history of this hobby. I say I know where the bodies are buried. LOL.
Hanging down plastic on Japanese grenade thrower looks like 3-D support trees to prevent “floating” areas of the figures from sagging. They should easily snap off. I believe these figures were 3-D printed.
Yes, they are 3D printed. I don’t trust myself with my shaking hands to take pieces off.
Figures are post WW2 style generic uniforms and odd helmets . Definitely not WW2 Japanese
.
The detail on the 4 green army figures is quite good
I might disagree about the detailing on the 3D printed figures. They are actually somewhat generic with vague details. Difficult to say which actual nation or era they represent. There are much better 3D prints out there.
The 3D print binocular guy seems to only have 3 fingers on each hand. To me this lack of accuracy in the details would suggest AI involvement in the design.
A sort of dumbing down of toy soldier manufacture.
He had an accident at Grenade Throwing Training.
LOL
I agree of the 3D figures ,they are simple made
,sill interesting .
The tunic looks a lot like the 1960 west German Bundeswehr army issued ,the helmets are a mix of French Modèle 1951 helmet with post ww2 Japanese 1960s type 66 style helmet or the M62 german helmet.
Figures are made to represent generic post 1960 till pre 2000 armies with not accuracy detail .
Grenade thrower could pass for a French soldier in Algeria War.