Jelly Babies and the like

[jam jar lurker]

Somewhere around the late Eighties I bought a box of 50 Daleks and 50 Cybermen. They were dark blue plastic, maybe about height of Lego minifigs. They were extremely detailed and accurate (the Cybermen were Earthshock style). I think they were for use in a USA role playing game and were intended to be painted.

Francïs

 

[redfern]

Somewhere around the late Eighties I bought a box of 50 Daleks and 50 Cybermen. They were dark blue plastic, maybe about height of Lego minifigs. They were extremely detailed and accurate (the Cybermen were Earthshock style). I think they were for use in a USA role playing game and were intended to be painted.

If it's the same game I'm remembering, it was developed by FASA which also had a license for "Star Trek".  I purchased the core set and an "extension" for the Daleks, but never played it.  I do recall FASA offered gaming figurines, but I never saw them.  I thought they were pewter and they were sold in packs of 3 at the most.  Then again, that was almost 40 years ago and I'm sure my memory is faulty.

But whatever their origin and intended purpose, I bet that was cool having that many figurines to stage!  Whatever happened to that collection?  Still have it?

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[jam jar lurker]

It was like getting the bag of green soldiers you mentioned; an instant army. A very random find and purchase from the local record store in the dim and distant past. They did battle it out on the shelves of my Target collection for many a year till I eventually bought a place of my own and donated a bunch of stuff to a friend (space being relative).

Francïs

 

[russellsuthern]

Vaguely related, but of interest I think.
A little macabre fact I picked up from daytime telly the other day.

Apparently, back in 1864 when Frys created the iconic sweet, they called them "Unclaimed Babies"

Which does sound a lot more disturbing than "Jelly Babies..."

Regards,

Russell

 

[Andrew Harvey]

'They say the evil one eats babies...'

 

[Andrew Harvey]

Dear Jam jar Lurker, I have some of those old citadel miniatures sets of Daleks and cybermen. The Doctor's were good likenesses and Leela is very well rendered. They were great, a small army for about a fiver if I recall. Mind you, that took a bit of saving up for in the eighties! The box art for the plastic Daleks & cybermen was good. A dalek giving the cyberman a good zap! One of the pictures I put on this site a while back had some of the daleks in it. They have come in handy over the years....

  I'll have a crack at putting the pictures on here in a while.

 

[Volpone]

A quick note on Jelly Babies in the USA:  Someone here pointed out that a candy store called "Lolly & Pops" (or somesuch) carries them.  I have confirmed this and bought some from them, but they were darned expensive.  And I'm not that big a fan of the authentic English Jelly Babies, so I'll usually do either Sour Patch Kids, which are about the right size, kid-shaped, and covered with a white substance (granulated sugar, not starch) or store-brand gummy bears, which are a bit small and more bear shaped and not at all covered with a white substance.  But sometimes our supermarkets will have a little ethnic foods section.  Hispanic is most common and sometimes Kosher, but once in awhile they'll have an English section.  And last week I picked up something called "Wine Gums."  Not at all animal shaped--baby, kid, or bear--and not coated in starch, but relatively tasty and allegedly from England (but at a more reasonable price than candy store Jelly Babies.

So, English people:  Are Wine Gums really a thing?  Are they remotely popular?  I don't think they're too bad.  Certainly not Jelly Babies, but then again, neither are licorice all-sorts and that never stopped Tom Baker's Doctor. 

 

[redfern]

So, English people:  Are Wine Gums really a thing?  Are they remotely popular?  I don't think they're too bad.  Certainly not Jelly Babies, but then again, neither are licorice all-sorts and that never stopped Tom Baker's Doctor. 

I have not tried them, but the local Publix from where I have purchased jelly babies off the shelf also sells wine gummies in the immediate shelf space.  Like the JBs and the All Sorts, they are the Taveners brand.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Volpone]

If I could get Jelly Babies without going to a boutique candy store, that would be great (apart from me not actually liking Jelly Babies, but that's another story).  Around 1986 I went to a Dr. Who convention in Minneapolis and you could buy Jelly Babies there.  First time I "got" that they weren't jelly beans (I guess when the Beatles came to America and George(?) said he liked Jelly Babies, they suffered being pelted with jelly beans by well-meaning but confused American fans while performing.  Anyway, I want to say drug store chain Walgreen's also carried them briefly in the late '80s.  But they must've been some kind of alternative American version because they had the Bassett's box graphic but they weren't coated with cornstarch; they were basically larger, baby-shaped Gummi Bears.  (A big part of my brain thinks I'm imagining all this, but a bigger part insists it really happened.) 

 

[Five Fingered Styre]

So, English people:  Are Wine Gums really a thing?  Are they remotely popular?  I don't think they're too bad.  Certainly not Jelly Babies, but then again, neither are licorice all-sorts and that never stopped Tom Baker's Doctor. 

Wine Gums are definitely a thing. I'm a bit of a connoisseur, myself  8)  ;D

the market leaders are Maynard's, you can get them everywhere over here, but the best ones are made for Marks and Spencers. Maynard's are too soft, but with the M&S ones the texture is just right, and they've thrown in some unusual flavours as well.

Actually I'm a little addicted to M&S Wine Gums  :-[

I like Jelly Babies, but they get sickly quite quickly...

 

[cobalt]

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but amazon.com stocks Jelly Babies from a number of different manufacturers, including Basset's, Haribo, Gustaf's, Waterbridge and Taverner's.

Not sure which would be considered the most accurately British.

 

[rassilonsrod]

Not sure which would be considered the most accurately British.

I think the answer to that must be Bassett's.

However I am still yet to find any vegetarian versions.... I mean there are plenty of vegetarian gummy bears and so on, but actual jelly babies are all made the traditional way from pig bone gelatine.

 

[Volpone]

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but amazon.com stocks Jelly Babies from a number of different manufacturers, including Basset's, Haribo, Gustaf's, Waterbridge and Taverner's.

Not sure which would be considered the most accurately British.

I would say "accurately British" is overrated.  Because I, personally, would describe the Basset's ones from the UK as "gummy bears that you kept in your sock drawer for 3 years before carrying around loose in your pocket and then dropping them while at the beach."  I've been looking for something Jelly Baby shaped that tastes like Gummy Bears. 

And I've said it before and it may be my imagination, but I'd swear that Basset's tried selling Jelly Babies in the US in the late 1980s.  Picked up a box at a Dr. Who Convention that I thought was just a fluke, but then I swear they were on the shelf at a local drugstore a few years later for a time.  And the ones they sold in the US did not have the starch powder on them.  They were just like gummy bears (except for the shape and packaging). 

 

[rassilonsrod]

I would say "accurately British" is overrated.  Because I, personally, would describe the Basset's ones from the UK as "gummy bears that you kept in your sock drawer for 3 years before carrying around loose in your pocket and then dropping them while at the beach."  I've been looking for something Jelly Baby shaped that tastes like Gummy Bears.

Haha, I've no beef (or pork *badum tish*) with Gummy Bears, they can be quite tasty. But I always found the authentic Jelly Babies to be more flavoursome.  I guess as humans we're all a bit different like that