Bp Australia’s Super Smurfs

Anything blue catches my eye, particularly smurf memorabilia that carries the BP Australia symbol. To find a Super Smurf that was produced back in the 1980’s with its original box and all it’s accessories is even better.

By June 1980, BP Australia had already released at least five different Super Smurfs. These included Tricycle (ref# 4.0203), Skateboarder (ref# 40204) Skier (ref# 4.0205), Signbearer with the sign Let’s go Smurfing (ref#4.0208) and Car Driver (ref# 4.0210).

So if you ever wondered why you can easily pick up a smurf wearing a red shirt with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and holes on the bottom of his feet, it is very good chance it is Skateboarder Smurf without his leaf skateboard. Or that you find a smurf with racing googles on his white hat in a sitting like position, once again it’s a good chance this Tricycle Smurf without his tricycle.

By December 1980 and just in time for Christmas BP Australia announced the arrival of four more Super Smurfs and also for the first time three Playsets. This included Boxer (ref# 4.0508), Bars Gymnast (# 4.0509) Hurdler (ref# 4.0511) and Basketball (ref# 4.0512). The Playsets included Well (ref# 4.0090), Snail Cart (ref# 4.0100) and Boat (#4.0070).

Like everything, a little bit of knowledge can go a long way. In Australia the majority of the smurfs sold were made out of Hong Kong. Hong Kong smurfs were first made with a Schleich emblem and a © Peyo curved signature marking. There is no actual mention of Hong Kong or cavity numbers to be found on these smurfs. This would be around 1978 or early 1979. Later on the Hong Kong moulds started to include Hong Kong or Made in Hong Kong to the markings.

The most important thing to remember is that not every smurf should be considered rare or vintage in these times for collecting smurfs.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Small Smurfs Big Goals

Launched by the United Nations, UNICEF and the United Nations Foundation the “Small Smurfs Big Goals” campaign is designed to encourage to learn about and support the 17 Sustainable Development Team.

Team Smurf will offer their assistance in celebrating International Happiness Day on 20 March 2017.

So what type of smurf are you?

http://www.smallsmurfsbiggoals.com

Thirsty Smurf – Summer is here

Summer is here, and for most of us that means being confronted with hot, humid nights with little sleep or looking for ways to try to keep out of the heat and stay cool. Allow me to introduce to you Thirsty Smurf, a smurf that is a little different to most.

When Thirsty Smurf was first made it only had a © Peyo marking on the arm and W.Germany on the inside of the foot. There are different versions of the bottles, painted yellow straws or unpainted straws to be found. What is strange is that it was never sold by National Petrol in the UK back in early 1980’s. Not really sure why this was. Unless UK authorities thought that it did not meet their toy safety standards.

Thirsty Smurf was also one of the few smurfs that was made in Hong Kong but never sold by Wallace Berrie in the USA. Thirsty Smurf was sold in Australia, typically with an orange bottle and yellow painted straw. I also tend to find this version has a lighter orange bottle compared to the German made version.

I have a feeling that BP Australia started selling this around 1982 as it was shown in the BP Getaway Guide Summer 82, selling for just 99 cents! Imagine if you could buy smurfs in 2017 for just 99 cents, how cool and refreshing that would that be.

Thirsty has also be made as a Promo Smurf for various companies. This may explain why it was never made with a Schleich marking in Europe. Some of these include a Thirsty Smurf holding a Coca Cola shaped bottle, Fanta Smurf with a light brown bottle and WIWA FIT. These are considered extremely rare. I should emphasis the words extremely rare.

One of the more accessible Promo Smurfs using Thirsty was produced by Staatl Fachingen in around 1990. This version holds a green narrow bottle with the words Staatl Fachingen printed in blue on the bottle. This company is based in Germany and sells mineral water.

I also came across a version of Thirsty holding a bottle without a straw. It is like the mould never had a straw as it is completely smooth across the top of the bottle. This version is very special to me, as I feel it is one that has somehow got through the quality control checks.

Keep On Smurfin

Kath B

Astro Smurfs inspired by Nasa

Who would have thought that it would take as long as it has for Nasa to take inspiration from the smurfs in producing their new spacesuit. Up until now the Nasa astronauts have looked more like a Swoof like character in their orange bulky spacesuits. So in a desperate need to get with the times, the Nasa astronauts will now be wearing a more sleek spacesuit in a smurf blue colour. The cooler, more flexible blue outfits, with boots produced Reebok were designed for the Boeing Starliner space taxi.

The Swoofs were an alien race that was created by Papa Smurf using a magic potion he used to make Dreamy Smurf believe he travelled to another planet. The Swoofs are from the comic and the cartoon ‘The Astrosmurf’. In around 1973 Bully produced their own version of a swoof calling this Jungle Smurf, Ref# 20069. More recently the new Jungle Native Smurf Ref# 20783 released in 2015 has looked more like a Swoof!

Popularity of Astro Smurf was immense as both Schleich and Bully produced their own versions. First Schleich produced their version in 1969 wearing a clear plastic helmet with a white spacesuit. There is also a version of this where the white outfit has a red zip. Both of these also has his left index pointing upward. This was given the reference number 20003.

Later when Bully had the license to produce the smurfs, they made their own version of Astro Smurf in 1975/76 wearing a plastic clear helmet and a white outfit with a red square on the front. The Bully Astro Smurf has both arms outstretched.

Bully smurfs. Astro Smurfs with Red Tie — Bully Astro Smurf

Astro Smurfs were first sold in Australia around 1979 by BP Australia. Like the majority of smurfs first sold in Australia this smurf was made in Hong Kong by Schleich. I probably have at least twenty of these Astro Smurfs but sadly most of these have lost their helmets. If you are lucky enough to find one with it’s original helmet, ensure you display it carefully as they are very easy to break.

Astro Smurfs were last made in 1986 by Schleich. The good thing is that both the Bully and Schleich versions can still be easily found at a good price.

The thing I like the most about all of this, is that whenever a company or organisation decide to change their branding to the colour blue, people tend to make a reference to the smurfs. How cool is that!

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

What do you think of the new 2017 smurfs?

Here are the pictures of the new 2017 Smurfs. Loads of new figures for the upcoming season and to also tie in with the latest smurf movie. Let us know your thoughts on the new smurfs in the comment sections below.

This is where you’ll find all the latest release smurfs from the Schleich homepage.