Frank Bellamy still sells Thunderbirds products

I am so excited! Like a child in a sweet toyshop! "In shops now...!" I could say.

Messenger bag with Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds art (RRP: £24.99)

I remember in the Sixties wishing so hard that I could get the comic stickers, notebooks etc etc that was advertised in Marvel and DC comics and wishing we had the equivalent range of comic toys, bags, alarm clocks for UK comics! Imagine when I found out that these are coming our way in the UK and with FRANK BELLAMY ARTWORK!!

Perhaps I should calm down and tell you more without using exclamation marks.

Thunderbirds flask with Frank Bellamy's Artwork

Firstly it was thanks to John Freeman over on Downthetubes.net that I found all this out.  I then went hunting and found that the 50th anniversary of Thunderbirds (how old does that make me?) has a raft of merchandising opportunities with it and that "during the last significant licensing programme in 2001, the brand was worth over £150m at retail" (see the full article on Licensing.biz).

Thunderbirds was on our screens for the first time in 1965 and the new Thunderbirds series - being produced in New Zealand (read more than you need to know here on the Fanderson website) will only increase excitement for little children like me.

Travel set with Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds art

Trudy Hayward says elsewhere: "The new series looks stunning and we have every confidence that it will be a massive global hit. There is a huge affection for this much-loved brand in the UK where it is a national treasure and there are also many exciting themes and characters that will chime with global audiences tuning in for the first time. The series will be supported by one of our biggest ever marketing and retail campaigns ”  

Thunderbirds gadget case with Frank Bellamy's artwork (RRP:£24.99)

Housewares product designer, developer and distributor Bunkerbound are the company behind these products which should appear in shops this month. I have listed the Recommended Retail Price against each image with a link to further details under each image.  Bunkerbound's sales department kindly sent me the larger images and you can see the range and their fuller descriptions here

Thunderbirds alarm clock with Frank Bellamy's artwork (RRP: £22.99)

If like me you spotted that they all appear to use the same collage of images from Frank Bellamy ('Thunderbirds') , Eric Eden ('Lady Penelope')  and also, I think, John Cooper ('Thunderbirds'). Please let me know if you know who the other artists are if I'm wrong!

UPDATE:
TemptationGifts will be retailing these later this year. Their site is full of merchandised characters