Gerry Anderson's 1965 Supermarionation series Thunderbirds is a classic sci-fi adventure romp. It aired on cable channels regularly all throughout my childhood in the 80's and 90's. I found the style of it difficult to enjoy at first, but I eventually caved in and became a fan. Thunderbirds centers around an ex-astronaut, Jeff Tracy and his five sons who pilot the Thunderbird and work for a secret organization known as International Rescue. Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward also works for International Rescue as their London agent. She is a beautiful socialite spy who is constantly chasing bad guys in her fancy pink Rolls Royce (which is all decked out in 007-type gadgetry). Thunderbirds inspired lots of other projects, including an Anime series, live action TV and film, and is apparently being revived into a new series right now by Gerry Anderson himself. Matchbox did an awesome job bringing some of these great 60's characters to the toy shelves almost 30 years later. I will be reviewing more in the coming months. Let's check out Lady Penelope!
(The cardback is from another figure, Scott Tracy, but it is the only image I could find online)
There's not really much to say about this figure other than that she is fun, and it was a surprise to see her made.
Lady Penelope comes with a whopping five points of articulation!
The only accessory Lady Penelope comes with is her travel bag, which unfortunately she can't hold without toppling over (as is Lady Penelope ever handled her own luggage anyway.. sheesh)
Here are a couple pics of her from the show and a tribute clip from youtube
Time for a Comparison Shot!
Cheers!
Good ol Lady Penelope!
ReplyDeleteNot hugely into customs, but I have been thinking of grabbing a Marina figure from Stingray to re-paint into Tintin.
Actually I took pictures to review Marina but haven't posted it yet. I actually have an extra Marina I can give you if you want it. Shoot me an email: molarlion@gmail.com
DeleteAs a collector of their more diecast side of things, Lesney did market some weird stuff under the Matchbox name--ABBA dolls especially. Yet, I feel these fit in perfectly with the diecast line (on another note, the FAB-6 has been on my list for some time now). And really, not that bad from a company that, at this time, wasn't into weird stuff under Tyco ownership; and the early '90s in general.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know anything about Lesney's partnership with Matchbox. That's a very interesting piece of toy trivia and I kind of just fell down a google rabbithole. I also didn't know that FAB-6 existed, it looks so wonderfully pink!
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