Trago’s finest Summer 2025 … and now another pack for Christmas 2025 from the Tank Museum shop.
Comparing poses from two bags of cheap plastic soldiers from summer 2025 and then Christmas 2025.
A welcome Christmas present sourced from the Tank Museum online shop, so a donation to heritage charity! I nodded family towards this museum shop link and so I knew they were wrapped and ready waiting under the Christmas tree.
My happy, eternal inner 7 year old is easily impressed by 160 soldiers for under £5.
The Tank Museum website describes them as: 160 Piece bag of Plastic Toy Soldiers.
“A classic toy for children, which contains [80] Army Green coloured soldiers. Each soldier comes equipped with his own battlefield kit and is moulded onto a solid base to stop them failing over.”
“Equipped with his own battlefield kit” sounds so complete, fully accomplished and equipped! Alongside their personal weapon, most of them are carrying a battlefield minimum of personal issued kit, mostly webbing, water bottles, bayonets, helmets and ammunition pouches.
I first wrote about these figures back in June 2025:
These are Matchbox WW2 Infantry copies that are no longer 1:32 scale or 54mm but closer to 40 to 42mm?
Do you get the same number of poses in each bag, like you do on a sprue set?
Unlikely, in my experience of rack store / pound store toy soldiers.
Sometimes you wonder – “How many Rommels does anyone need?”
So I counted poses in both bags.
WW2 American infantry
Bayoneting – 4 and 4
Kneeling firing – 7 and 7
Advancing – 15 and 22
Flamethrower – 14 and 14
SMG Grease Gunners – 10 and 3
Too many of this pose but ripe for conversions into Rifle, BAR or SMG gunners?
Next up are the German infantry and Afrika Korps copies
WW2 German Infantry
Steel helmet firing – 2 and 3
Grenade thrower – 15 and 13
Kneeling firing bergmutz cap – 8 and 7
Steel helmet SMG gunners – 15 and 17
Officer with Pistol – 11 and 9
Officer (Rommels) – 17 and 14
Steel helmet standing firing Afrika Korps
Next up were thinning, semi-flat, slightly warped copies of Matchbox British infantry and Eighth Army:
WW2 British Infantry
Steel helmet, advancing with bayonet – 13 and 3 figures
Steel helmet falling wounded – 14 and 11
Kneeling Bren gunner in beret – 4 and 8
Grenade thrower in beret – 3 and 9
Officer with binoculars – 12 and 17
Troops with berets – Eighth Army copies
Officers and the falling wounded British figure could be used as logistics team, artillery crew, etc.
Mixed bag?
The number of figures in each pose in each bag is fairly consistent for many poses but for some individual poses such as British Bayonet figure varies widely.
Overall I counted 160 figures in the Summer 2025 and 161 figures in the Christmas 2025 bag.
Cheap plastic and disposable to many as they are, I enjoy the enthusiastic sales write ups!
Exciting Big Basket Blurb for these figures
160 Piece bag of Plastic Toy Soldiers – A classic toy for younger kids, which contains [80] Army Green coloured soldiers
Made from BPA and Toxin-free, hard wearing plastic, making this platoon of soldiers virtually unbreakable!
Kids can use their imagination to bring their soldiers to life and play out a range of scenes, indoors, outdoors, or wherever their imagination takes them.
Each soldier comes equipped with his own battlefield kit and is moulded onto a solid base to stop them falling over. Each soldier measures approx. 5cm tall. (Source: Big Basket UK)
To be fair most of these are now 40 to 42mm tall base to top of head / helmet.
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, Christmas 2025 / 30 December 2025.
Once was an Airfix WW2 Russian infantryman but copied down to 25cm. I had a small number of these figures as a child …
£8 to £9 for 50 tiny warped flashy Airfix copies doesn’t seem much of a good deal but they are very colourful.
Supposedly 2.5cm tall
Once was an Airfix Eighth Army British Officer
Product blurb –
“Are you looking for a creative and funny toy for your kids? This item will be your best choice. This product is a set of plastic soldier model toys for children. These soldiers figures are designed in different poses, allowing kids to play pretend games on an imaginative battlefield.”
Encourages imaginative play and helps children learn basic military concepts.
Designed in various poses for engaging pretend play.
Ideal for distribution at kids parties; kids will love them.
Size: Approx. 1.5 x 1 x 2.5cm.
Once was that Pointing Airfix WW2 German Infantry Officer … in yellowOnce was that stick grenade throwing Airfix WW2 German Infantry … Once was Airfix American WW2 infantry …
A few more such classic figures can be glimpsed here:
Some classic Airfix figure poses now in colorful mutated form.
All screenshot images from EBay sites, Oct 2025
Whilst I would have enjoyed these as a child, I probably wouldn’t have had a suitable craft knife or Scalpel required to remove the flash.
For this money you are almost paying for a new box of Airfix figures for £6 per 48 to 50 figures, although you wouldn’t have the range of nations – still stocked by airfix.com for £6 , Hobbycraft, model shops etc.
Various other posts on this my blog featured show the slow mutation of Airfix copies, Matchbox figure copies
I enjoy the promised excitement and learning in the blurb that you find selling toy soldiers online:
Unleash endless adventures with the Jumbo Soldier Pack! This ultimate set features approximately 48 meticulously crafted toy soldiers, perfect for igniting the imagination of young strategists and collectors alike.
Features:
Massive Set: With around 48 soldiers, this pack offers a diverse range of characters and poses, ensuring hours of engaging play.
Detailed Design: Each soldier is intricately detailed, reflecting classic military attire and gear, making them perfect for both play and display.
Durable Build: Made from high-quality, durable plastic, these soldiers are built to withstand the rigors of active play.
Educational Fun: Encourage strategic thinking, teamwork, and creativity as kids set up battles, defend forts, and create their own heroic stories.
Whether you’re expanding an existing collection or starting a new one, the Jumbo Soldier Pack is a must-have. Ideal for birthday gifts, holiday surprises, or just because – this pack promises to deliver excitement and adventure to any child’s playtime.
Add the Jumbo Soldier Pack to your cart today and watch as imaginations soar on the battlefield!
Suggested age suitability 3 years and upwards.
Who can resist?
Blog / Blurb posted by Mark Man of TIN, 19 December 2025
I enjoy watching Big Lee (he of the Posties Rejects) on his BMLA Youtube chats.
He talks about dealing with the Lead Mountain and the joys or risks of Shinyitis that should prevent that oft quoted fatal thing – that when their last miniature is painted, then a gamer dies.
Cheap Life Insurance?
The cheapest solution to living forever – rack toy pound store figures!
Look variously online if you have no toy stores or newsagents nearby.
Available in a range of sizes or scales …
Convertible to a range of skirmish games …
Colonial forces versus tribal warriors – all conversions
Range of historical periods from knights and ancients, cowboys and indians, pirates, khaki ‘green and tan’ army man modern infantry …
Little Wars on a Budget …
Which as they slowly de-evolve and mutate, familiar old figures become new?
If you have to live forever, it’s worth investing in a bag or two of interesting and affordable toys to stash in the rainy day cupboard to ensure immortality.
To have missed one Blogaversary for the Pound Store Plastic Warriors in September 2025 was slightly embarrassing, but to have missed this two years running?
I think I missed posting this Wild West themed 8th Blogaversary (post below) in September 2024.
No excuses, it is after all a hobby, not a job but if I had to blame anyone it’s the dearth of interesting new rack toys and fewer ‘bricks and mortar’ toy shops and newsagents.
The bulk of my gaming posts are still out first on my original Man of TIN Blog and its successor site Man of TIN Blog Two, if you are not already following or subscribed to these sites.
Online ‘recce flights’ on online pound stores, eBay Auctions and the odd shelfie this last two years have revealed a few interesting figures this year …
40mmish plastic copies of Matchbox, curiously warped but attractive figures with an Irregular Miniatures figure vibe …
with more to come. All full of potential, including cheap recently made figures suitable for garden games and all weather outposts.
Some are Shelfies rather than bought packs, as I probably have enough pound store basics? (Sounds of distant unconvinced laughter).
Budget Black Hawk Down ‘desert warriors’, Feb. 2025 – almost space marines!
But as shops and soldier ranges come and go, best to buy what you need or want now, as you may not see them again for a long time. Or as cheaply. Or as unmutated. Or ever again …
I still keep an eye out for unusual pound store plastics in unusual places, charity shops, car boots and steam fairs …
Such figures are all grist to the gaming mill now and in the future, such as futuristic figures for my ongoing (Not Quite Star Wars) or Close Little Space Wars skirmish games.
Anyway thanks to my loyal reader(s) and commenters, here’s to another year of pound store plastics.
I have a few interesting online or store shelfies and vintage pack images to share over the next few months.
1970s? Hong Kong made copies mostly of Britains Herald Khaki infantry in my plastics collection.
Cheers then!
Mark Man of TIN, happy belated Blogaversary to one and all.
Now …
********** Back to September 2024 and our 8th Blogaversary *******
It is now 8 years since I started my Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog in September 2016, separate from my Man of TIN blog on toy soldiers.
It has not been a busy year 2023/24 for pound store plastic warrior posts, I’ve not seen much pound store plastic of note or new in the last twelve months.
To be honest, much if my time recently has been sorting out vintage lead cowboys and indians for exhibition and packing away my hobby stuff ready for redecoration and display cabinets.
These Cowboy and Indian figures below featured in what was my first year blogaversary week back in September 2017.
Back to my 2008 purchases, rediscovered whilst packing away …
Western Adventure only £1.99 – that’s my kind of budget adventure.
I have four of these lovely packs, two left unopened, bought for £1.99 each in a now vanished non-chain pound store c. 2008. They are marked up as BJ Toys.
These were put away in the toy cupboard in 2008 ready for a “rainy day” that has never come (so far).
These bags have a colourful and lively photo montage cardboard header of Cowboys, Indians and desert Wild West movie terrain. Stock images. Yee-ha!
These were Pound Store standard sort of rack toy with scaled down 50mmish copies of the 1:32 Airfix Cowboys and Indians.
These Airfix copies have been around a while as I remember picking up and painting up similar pound store packs for a friend’s child c. 1995.
More recently in the last five to ten years Tobar or the late Hawkins Bazaar had hard brittle plastic sets of these Airfix cowboys.
It’s something of a credit to their design or their Airfix designer that these figure poses are still going strong three or four decades later.
Here are two of the packs opened and displayed to show typical range of contents – all the Hollywood Western cliches of totem pole, canoe, log fence, supply waggon or covered wagon – and palm tree?
Some useful playset accessories – the printed cardboard supplies box for the wagon is a simple but nice touch!
All that you need for a “western adventure”, ambush, Bank raid etc.
As usual with playsets, there is a range of figure scales and accessories, the horse and riders are smaller scale than the classic Airfix type Cowboys and Indians, which were once 54mm or 1:32 but now thinning and shrinking into the upper 40mms.
There is also a simple plastic cartoon style playmat, same in each pack.
More of a poster than a gaming mat, these playmats usually have a strange perspective view of things, seen from the rocky foreground through midground of river bank and grass prairie and forest background.
Some interesting gaming scenarios on the playmat – the broken waggon wheel up by the fruit trees, the broken cattle fence, the tiny cave or mine, colourful Indian camp cook out and shields and the log bridge over the river.
A glimpse of longhorn wild west cattle and cow skull for once!
Reminds me of the fun Backyard Battalion playmats this year.
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 8th Blogaversary post month, 13th / 22nd September 2024 and 9th Blogaversary finally posted on Back to The Future Day 21st October 2025
According to the Woolworths Musuem website, these WorthIt! figures were only a round a year or two: 2007-2008/9.
“A reappraisal of the firm’s strategy inspired a new budget range, called ‘WorthIt!’ in 2007. This covered a gap in the offer which had opened the door to discounters. The WorthIt! toys were a hit, offering simple fun at pocket money prices. A magnetic fishing fame and brightly-coloured plastic windmills were particularly popular. Sadly the WorthIt! range came too late to save the stores, which fell into Administration in November 2008.”
Another hour or two of searching stalls and enjoying the noise, smell and shine of big steaming traction engines at the steam rally, I turned up this £3 bundle bag in a rummage box. Cheap joy!
Spot the promising flash of Rebel pilot orange?
Enjoy this Unboxing (or debagging?) at / Crossposted from my Man of TIN Blog Two:
Pound Store Plastic Warriors 