Blaze Atoms Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Seems like this section needs this thread. For the uninitiated, this is one of the more common vintage hard plastic spacemen/spaceship sets, but unless you come across them in the original packaging you'd likely have no idea that they are Flash Gordon toys. From 1952: There are also a couple of evidently rare color variations that I've not yet seen in the original packaging. There's my favorite, the shiny silver (it may be difficult to tell the extent to which this is different from the dull gray variation based on the following pictures, but trust me, it is quite stark): And the transparent variation: There were also some rare examples of Premier Flash Gordon spaceships being sold without the spacemen: And a shiny silver spaceship: And here are some links regarding this toy line elsewhere on the almighty Alphadrome: http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/18594-premier-spacemen/ http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/19467-clear-plastic-premier-spacemen/ http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/16883-premier-spacemen-with-holes-in-their-feet/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 Go, FLASH! Go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaze Atoms Posted August 4, 2019 Author Share Posted August 4, 2019 I'm so depressed! I just missed this eBay auction for no other reason than I freakin' FORGOT to place my bid before going to work. It went for $14.99 plus $5 shipping. Let's just say my max was going to be well above double that, though of course I have no idea what the high bid of the winning bidder was. This is especially crushing because this would have completed my grey set. Here's how I think of the Premier Flash Gordon "Solar Commando" characters: the guy with the helmet that has the usually broken connector tube is "Flash Gordon" (because of the lightning bolt on his chest), the other unarmed character is "Egyptian guy" (because his helmet reminds me of the original Battlestar Galactica television series with its blatant Egyptian influence), and the two armed guys are "rifle guy" and "ray gun guy" respectively. I have a grey Egyptian guy, a grey ray gun guy, and a broken grey rifle guy (no rifle tip). That unbroken grey rifle guy and especially that unbroken grey Flash Gordon were really looking good. I'd pay a decent chunk of change just for those two. My only consolation is that there were no clear or shiny silver spacemen in this lot, because if there were and this happened I don't think I'd ever recover! I should still be able to complete my grey set sooner or later, but these seem to be popping up on eBay with less and less frequency so I am not super optimistic about how soon it might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboDerby Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 48 minutes ago, Blaze Atoms said: I'm so depressed! I just missed this eBay auction for no other reason than I freakin' FORGOT to place my bid before going to work. Aw man! That’s the worst feeling! I have missed a couple myself this way. Watch them for a week waiting til it gets closer to the end, then either forget or get caught up doing something else only to open eBay and see that I missed my chance to bid by just a few minutes. Sorry to hear this happened to you. Maybe next time, the other guy will forget and you will get a good deal as a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaze Atoms Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 18 hours ago, RoboDerby said: Aw man! That’s the worst feeling! I have missed a couple myself this way. Watch them for a week waiting til it gets closer to the end, then either forget or get caught up doing something else only to open eBay and see that I missed my chance to bid by just a few minutes. Sorry to hear this happened to you. Maybe next time, the other guy will forget and you will get a good deal as a result. Thanks for the commiseration! At least I consoled myself by finding this lot to bid on: So hopefully I will still manage to nab an unbroken grey rifle guy to replace the broken one in my display. I used to have more display space and my entire collection was out, but I've since had to pack away the doubles and most of the broken ones, so there are still a few broken spacemen in my display. Obviously this lot is inferior due to the lack of an unbroken Flash Gordon and I won't be completing my grey set, but unlike the previous one this lot contains an unbroken red rifle guy so it'd complete my red set which is pretty sweet (I even have an unbroken red Flash Gordon). Already placed my first bid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboDerby Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 4 hours ago, Blaze Atoms said: Thanks for the commiseration! At least I consoled myself by finding this lot to bid on: So hopefully I will still manage to nab an unbroken grey rifle guy to replace the broken one in my display. I used to have more display space and my entire collection was out, but I've since had to pack away the doubles and most of the broken ones, so there are still a few broken spacemen in my display. Obviously this lot is inferior due to the lack of an unbroken Flash Gordon and I won't be completing my grey set, but unlike the previous one this lot contains an unbroken red rifle guy so it'd complete my red set which is pretty sweet (I even have an unbroken red Flash Gordon). Already placed my first bid! Lol. Love the names you have given them. Best of luck in the auction B.A.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaze Atoms Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 23 hours ago, RoboDerby said: Lol. Love the names you have given them. Best of luck in the auction B.A.! Thanks R.D.,, I won! Once these guys come in the mail I'll post some pics of my collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Gil Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 Congrats! That's a fun feeling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboDerby Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 14 hours ago, Blaze Atoms said: Thanks R.D.,, I won! Awesome B.A.!! Congratulations! Can’t wait to see the photos of your new prizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaze Atoms Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 My new spacemen should be coming in the mail today. While I try to fend off the anticipation, here's something I forgot. I only saw this once and I don't remember how much it went for, but in addition to the shiny silver spacemen and clear spacemen from this set, the other ULTRA-rare variant is the black spaceman: So far I've only ever seen this one example, but with both of the other ULTRA-rares I only saw one at first and it was awhile before I saw the others, so hopefully somewhere out there there is a full compliment of four black Premier Flash Gordon spacemen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaze Atoms Posted August 10, 2019 Author Share Posted August 10, 2019 Well, I got my new set of spacemen in the mail, and unfortunately it turns out the red rifle guy I was really psyched to get is a soft plastic reproduction. So obviously that can't go in my display. I'm gonna try to see about a partial reimbursement but my hopes aren't high. On a more positive note, the darker grey Egyptian guy in the set turned out to be a much more unique find than it looked to be based on the picture, It has marbled streaks of maroon and green throughout in a similar manner to the clear variants that according to Alphadrome an eBay seller described as "mold purge" figures but with even bigger streaks. I wonder if perhaps they would have purged molds with different color plastic if they were out of the clear plastic or maybe early in the production run they weren't purging the molds often enough which led to color bleeding like this. I'll post some pictures soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaze Atoms Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 I got my refund on the soft plastic reproduction red rifle guy! Thread on really obscure reproductions from Argentina I recently purchased: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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