Lido Spacemen: 90mm Futuremen Captain Video - Green HP with and Without Helmet

Captain Video and His Video Rangers aired on the DuMont Network from 1949-1955 and was a live broadcast. There are few surviving episodes and those that do survive are kinescope versions - essentially using a camera to record the show directly from a television screen. Lido produced these large 90mm (3 1/2")  figures staring in 1953 and are an early form of licensed tie-ins. This line only had four figures: Captain Video, Tobor the Robot, and two spacemen. The helmets used in my photo shoots are modern day repos unless otherwise noted, as early helmets tended to shrink. I've included two sets of photo essays here: one with and without the helmet. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Lido Spacemen and A New Series

Well folks, it looks like imma gonna start a new series! Hot on the heels of the Lido Spaceship series we're going to look at their spacemen and aliens, THEN we're going to segue into other makers. I've been gathering spacemen and alien figures for years now in an on-again-off-again fashion as whim and funds dictate, however, it's been four years since my last concerted posting efforts and I got a bug up my keester to do some more! 😀

Lido apparently made four separate series of figures:

-90mm "Futuremen" hard plastic figures sold in boxed in sets starting in 1953

-50mm hard plastic alien and spaceman figures made for T. Cohn's Captain Video Spaceport playset 1952

-35mm soft plastic alien and spaceman figures made as cereal premiums for a variety of cereals mid-'50s to '60s

-"Ringheaded" Spacemen

In addition, they either provided the molds or made figures available specifically to be used as cake toppers or decorations.

It should be noted that I do not have examples of all the figures Lido made, but I can present about 98% of them. If I acquire more, then those can be posted later.

The 90mm "Futuremen" series came out about 1953 and were offered - from what I can gather - primarily in boxed sets. There were four figures:

-Tobor the Robot (as stated in BLAST OFF! Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities from The Golden Age of Space Toys! by S. Mark Young, Steve Duin, and Mike Richardson). Tobor first appeared in a 1953 episode of Captain Video and His Space Rangers titled "I, Tobor" written by Isaac Asimov. (The robot was played by 7'6" Dave Ballard. BTW, in 1954 a full production movie titled Tobor The Great was released by Republic).

-Captain Video

-2 additional spacemen

The three spacemen came with 'square' helmets - aka, the base of the helmet was square while the top was a dome. Helmets made by toy companies of this era often times shrink. If they were stored off of the figure they would often times become too tight to be worn by the spaceman. If the helmet was kept on, it actually molded itself around the figures head and cannot be pulled off without cutting!

Courtesy Toy Soldier HQ

Note: The robot is incorrectly attributed as 'Grag" - Tobor was the name of the robot as it appeared in the Captain Video episodes.

We'll start with the individual photo essays in our next post. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Playing With My Lido Spaceships, A Temporary 'Diorama' - Pt 2 Final

This brings to an end the Lido spaceship series. Next I'll be covering the various Lido spacemen and alien's, followed by figures from other manufacturers. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Playing With My Lido Spaceships, A Temporary 'Diorama' - Pt 2

 A few more shots from my Lido photo shoot. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Back to Hogwarts: LEGO Set No. 76408 2 Grimmauld Place - Pt 2 The Interior

Here in Part 2 of my LEGO 2 Grimmauld Place build, we take a look at the interior rooms in all their glory. LEGO really knows how to put detail into these kits just using a bunch of bricks and oddly shaped pieces. I luv it! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

LEGO included 10 mini-figs with this set. There would have been several more characters as seen in the movies but you'll just have to buy those separately.

left-to-right:

Harry Potter

Sirius Black

Crookshanks

Fred and George Weasley

Ron Weasley

Molly Weasley

Nymphadora Tonks

Kingsley Shacklebolt

Kreature

The interior sans figures

The interior with figures in-place

Let's start on the roof and work our way down. Ron is laughing whilst Fred and George are messing with the listening ear

The third floor has a non-descript room flanked by two bedrooms.

As there is no furniture included, the middle room could be anything.

Bats in the belfry - wonderful touch that!

Skulls? hmmmmm

The middle floor has a music room flanked by a sitting room and parlor

The piano is a nice touch.

The Black family tree is a great feature

The bottom floor has the kitchen flanked by Kreature's closet and a store room

Kreature's closet

A stove, pots, pans, drinking cups and glasses, shelves - a cozy kitchen to enjoy some butter beer

The Weasley twins are being nosey!