April 2017

There were 4 posts published in April 2017 (this is page 1 of 1).

Super Smurfs Cars

After receiving such a positive response from my previous piece on Super Smurf Papa Smurf Teacher it made me think of other Super Smurfs that sometimes can be found mixed up. Smurf in Car also known as Car Driver is one that can be easily found with the wrong smurf figurine if you are not careful. 

This was one of the first Super Smurfs sold in Australia by BP Australia and was commonly made in Hong Kong and can be found with a red car and brown steering wheel. The markings are found underneath the front of the vehicle and the figurine is generally found with a dark yellow helmet. 

In Europe, Car Driver was made both in West Germany and then also in Portugal. Once again a red car was used but this one has yellow steering wheel. The same kind of figurine was used wearing white pants and a yellow helmet. I do not think they ever produced one with a brown or black steering wheel on this version. It was first sold around 1979 by Schleich. 

In 1990 Applause tried to relaunch the smurfs to the USA and introduced the Roll- A-Long Line of Super Smurfs. Though the same figurine was used, this time the car was bright orange with a bright green steering wheel. Sadly these were only sold for a short time and are now highly collectible. 

Between 1991 to 1993 Schleich produced a new yellow car with  a black steering wheel. For some reason Schleich decided to use the figurine that was originally produced for the Tricycle Super Smurf where it has racing goggles resting on his white hat. Then later on for Log Car produced around 1983. 

Every now and then you may find the Car Driver with a smurf wearing a green helmet. This is incorrect as this smurf belongs to Go Cart. 

So as you can see it is quite easy to mix up the smurfs and their vehicles whether it be a red or yellow car or go cart. 

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

 

 

 

Questions for Papa Smurf Teacher

In my early days of collecting smurfs, the prospect of collecting Super Smurfs was really daunting. I wanted to confirm in my mind that the Super Smurf came with the original accessories. Papa Smurf Teacher was one of these….

Like a lot of smurfs made in the early 1980’s, Papa Smurf was made both in Germany (formerly known as West Germany) and Hong Kong. Generally when this occurred two different versions were made. For example if you have a dark brown stand, you should have a chalkboard that displays a stick figure along with the word ‘Teacher’ on it. If you have beige coloured stand, you should have a chalkboard that displays a maths equation on it.

The other thing with Super Smurfs is that the smurf that is sold with the accessories should all be made from the same country. The German made Papa Smurf is made out of a red pvc material, so only his chest, face and tail have been painted. The Hong Kong made Papa Smurf was typically made out of white pvc material and painted in dark shiny colours. 

So if you have a dark stand with a maths equation on the chalkboard, it appears that at some stage someone has swapped over the accessories. For some of you, this might not be a big deal but for others this is just considered wrong! I know from my own personal experience I want my smurf collection to be as close as genuine as it can be.

The other thing you need to be mindful with Super Smurfs especially the vintage ones is the type of box that was sold with the Super Smurf. Sadly some people swap over the Super Smurfs inside of the box, so it is always best to check. If the box has Super Smurf!! on it, the Super Smurf should be from Hong Kong and if the box has Super Schlumpf Smurf!! it should be from West Germany. 

More recently some of the Super Smurfs have been sold without their accessories and sold as individual smurf adding to the confusion with collectors. If in doubt it is always best to check on other smurf collection websites or online smurf shops. If you are still unsure, just ask me the question!

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

 

Confusing Easter Smurfs

Do you find that you get confused by some smurfs that share the same name? I know I do and this Easter was no exception especially when browsing over the Easter themed smurfs released by Schleich.

The first Easter themed smurfs released by Schleich was in 1984. Like a lot of seasonal smurfs these were made in Portugal and sold in Europe and USA. 

If you like to smurfs with different markings, #20489 Smurfette with Chick is a good one to add to the collection as they misspelt the marking Applause on Smurfette. With this it only had one ‘p’ in Applause!

Like Smurfette with Chick, Smurf with Easter Egg also has the Applause marking misspelt on the figurine. In my opinion this is my least favourite one as seems rather bland compared to the others. 

When Baby in Easter Egg was first produced, it was always considered this was a girl because of the pink outfit. For the reissue it was painted in white pyjamas. 

Perhaps Easter is the wrong time of year to look out for rare smurfs like Smurf Painting Easter Egg. The first version was produced in 1993 and was released with Baby in Easter Egg. Both were sold by Schleich until 1995 and then in 1996 Schleich produced new colours for some of the Easter Smurfs.

In 1997 Schleich produced my two favourite Easter Smurfs. These were both brightly coloured and had a mischief look and feel about them. 

In around 2004 fake Easter smurfs were starting to appear on the market. This has always made me a bit cautious when looking to buy these smurfs. It’s bit like eating chocolate over Easter it is always best to buy the best quality!

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

 

The return of Hefty Smurf

Was it just me or were we all excited to see Hefty Smurf given a major role in the latest Smurf movie – The Lost Village? There is so much to like about Hefty Smurf, that I was little surprised that it has taken to the third Smurf movie for this character to be given more focus.

In The Smurfs movie released in 2011, Hefty Smurf was only given a small role and in this film we were introduced to a brand new character called Gutsy. In The Smurfs 2 movie Hefty appears in the film but once again appears to play second fiddle to Gutsy. It is unclear in both films why they decided to create and use Gutsy, where they already had the character Hefty at their disposal. Perhaps they felt Hefty was a little boring.

Hefty Smurf is one of the few smurfs that appeared both in the comics and the cartoon series. I always thought that a character that displays strength and bravery and a willingness to help other smurfs were all good traits to promote to young children. 

The other thing that defines Hefty from the other smurfs is his red heart shaped tattoo on his right arm. Hefty is the only smurf that sports a tattoo. Typically smurfs are characterised by their personality and clothing or piece of equipment. 

I also recall when I was growing up that Gymnast, Schleich ref# 20020 was often referred to as Hefty. However BP Australia used to call this as Keep Fit on their promotional material. It wasn’t until 1994 that Schleich produced a Hefty figurine. Hefty was made right up until 2000 by Schleich. Again a little strange considering Hefty was a well known smurf by fans. 

The Lost Village movie may not be to everyone’s liking but it was nice to see the return of some of the original smurf characters such as Vanity and of course Hefty. 

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B