Tinman Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Back in 2009 I purchased this set of spacemen, primarily for the blue Best spaceman in the upper left corner. When I received the set I found two of the Premier figures, the ones with the air hoses, had a hole in their left foot; the holes are approximately 1/4" deep and 1/16" in diameter. I instantly thought, crap...who would drill holes these vintage figures and why weren't they disclosed in the auction's description, but because they weren't my primary focus I stored them in a box and forgot about them. Wooooosh...flash forward to January 2015. After sending Phil a Marx Jumpie for his collection he offered me an assortment of spacemen in trade; in the picture he forwarded I saw another Premier figure, the one with the Egyptian-looking head-gear, with a similar hole in the right foot. Upon receiving the figure I found the hole to be the exact depth and diameter as the ones in my collection and came to realize they were manufactured that way. Why they have holes in their feet is beyond me; some of the figures were packaged with small rockets they could stand on, but I've never seen a rocket that had a peg for mating with the holes in the feet. Does anyone else have Premier figures with holes; if so, which figure is it and which foot has the hole? Premier made four figures: 1) Figure with air hose (both of my examples have holes in their left foot) 2) Figure with Egyptian-looking head-gear (the example I received from Phil has a hole in its right foot) 3) Figure pointing a ray gun (pistol) in the air 4) Figure holding a rifle across his chest The percentage of figures with holes seems to be fairly low; I've only seen two until I received Phil's in trade, and I believe he said he had a couple more. Any thoughts as to why the holes are there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Here are photos of the spaceman standing on the rocket with platforms but I can't detect any pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 A delightful mystery, Tinman! The search for pins is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Thanks for the pics Phil! Do you have any more Premier spacemen with holes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Bill, the onlyPremier with holes in feet are the previously mentioned ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 I'm not sure I follow; either I got your only one or you have a "couple more." If you have a couple more could you say which figures they are and what foot has the hole...I'm just trying to determine a pattern? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Sorry, that was my 1/22 email to you. Flash gordon Solar Commando set carded. Red figure, right foot hole, metallic copper with rifle right foot, yellow figure left foot. . The set has a green 4" rocket with no standing pads or pins. So that probably tells us nothing. All my other loose figures have no holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thanks Phil. I looked for a pic of your set on but couldn't find one, was it ever posted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 There are two version with different color figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thanks Phil! The fact that the above red and yellow figures have holes in opposite feet means the holes aren't specific to the type figure; it's also interesting that all three in the set have holes, which may be a tell. The holes may mean absolutely nothing since there's nothing on the rocket they can be used with; not even a platform for them to stand on. With our couple of examples the only figure we haven't seen with a hole is the one pointing a ray gun in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I'm inclined to go with the standing pad theory. They look as though they would fall over easily during play and simple base would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 Bringing this back to the top for our new members; I still have no insight as to the use of the holes, other than the obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted June 29, 2020 Share Posted June 29, 2020 Many new toys( action figures) have holes in their feet as well... I believe it is used to stabilize (attached to a work stand) the piece as it is being cleaned of mold flash, or painting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejpetrie Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 I have a full set of the four poses in a matching shade of metallic green. I can't get to them right now to report which foot has the hole on each, but each one definitely has one. These came to me with some toys of the late 1950's, which would have been a late period for Premier to be making these in hard plastic. So Tinplate6 may be on to something. Maybe the mold was starting to break down at the edges and maybe flashing had to be cleaned. Later, when they began producing the figures in soft polyethylene, which would have produced an even greater amount of flashing, they may have had to invest in a new mold, which wouldn't have required the same holes for workbench mounting. That would explain why the later soft plastic figures don't show the same hole in the foot. But this theory flies in the face of the fact that no high volume toy maker would have addressed the problem of flash removal with a manual solution. Too time consuming and too costly, plus there's never any evidence of sanding on any of the pieces. That's something that might well still be in evidence today. Therefore, I think that it's more likely that the little space guys were being modified as accessories for a new concept toy that never saw production. They probably got their existing mold ready for its part in the new toy's assembly process before the kill order went out on the project. At that point they could have easily returned the mold to its original state, eliminating the foot holes. Speculation is all well and good and a lot of fun sometimes too, but I think we really haven't found the answer yet. Maybe someday if someone stumbles upon Premier's files? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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