Britains Forgotten Space Toys | Ashens
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- Опубліковано 10 чер 2024
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Back in the midst of ancient history (1981) a very British toy company realised that kids were more interested in Star Wars than obscure army regiments and farms. And so! Space was born!
With the Stargards fighting the... non-Stargards? And memorable characters like... guy with a moustache? It's that rarest of toy lines - one with no back story at all! (I mean, seriously, you could knock a generic story together in a few hours and it'd be fun to write...)
Anyway, it's a cool semi-construction setup with nifty looking flying saucers so it's OK by me. And there's a dragon thing for bonus points! - Розваги
The best kind of Ashens video. Where he talks about an obscure toy and makes me just want to get on eBay and buy them all immediately.
Do you think it is a coincidence that these toys appear on eBay after the video goes live?
It's not. You're being manipulated. Because guess who put the toys on eBay?
The video is full of subliminal messages, and you're falling for it, not me.
They took away my eBay account because I was selling tons of DNA replication tools and miniature humans.
eBay tries to say you can't sell bodily fluids, but how are you then supposed to stop witches from hexing you?
You gotta "put a bottle" on the witch, by putting a bottle of wizard pee under your bed, and then the witch can't pee herself, so she comes to you to axe you to throw the pee bottle away, and you bargain where she stops hexing, and then you pour out the pee and she can pee again.
That's how you run a business.
I literally did that with the weird 90s Doctor Who playset 😂
It’s really cute
The Final Faction video convinced me to pick up a near complete set at my local Dollar Tree (as of my writing this they’re still available)
I did that with Manta Force…
I remember having most of those sets as well. Most of my aliens ended up invading my Britain’s farm. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Please tell me you did the ol' cow abduction thing.
Ahh the old farm animal abduction set
There's a toy I've not seen for nearly 40 years and had completely forgotten existed! Had loads of these as a kid and vaguely remember loving them. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Ashens!
You must be a gen x'r.
Aka old as dirt
lol me too
Loved these. I had the humans and my brother had the aliens.
I had these as well, proper blast from the past.
And yes it was the early 80's. I had Britain soldiers as well, they produced tanks, field guns, staff cars and much more. Great range.
I got some from a send-in offer on packets of crisps. Eventually.
I’m Swedish and was still fortunate enough to grow up with “Space”.
Britains toys were sold at the bigger toy shops here. Some of my friends had the farm toys or knights, but never Space. But Space was always something we played with when we were at my place. The aliens were the most popular ones, and we built all sorts of combined vehicles.
I was probably 4 when I got my first ship, and I had no point of reference to '50s Sci Fi. I just thought these toys had the coolest design ever. I was very proud to own the alien saucer, still am.
The ingenuity of these is definitely that you could create your own stuff from the different sets. For me they were an even cooler alternative to Lego.
Thank you for giving Space the spotlight they deserve!
'50s
*
Cool story, thanks for sharing
My bum is on the swedish... SWEDISH
The moment I saw the first spaceman I almost screamed - there’s a box of these all beaten-up in my grandparents’ house that used to belong to my uncle when he was a kid - I never knew what they were. Really nice to see them again!
un-beat up that box and give those things some love, maybe even put em up on a shelf for display.
What's weird is that I remember seeing the quadruple tail-fins of the toy in the preview image on a spaceship model on Star Trek: The Next Generation, specifically the warship from the episode "Suddenly Human", but I have no idea if they share a mutual source or are at all related. The other half of that model was a spaceship from _Star Wars,_ so maybe it was bashed together from that toy and the one in this video...?
I do remember Britain's toys. As my late mother used to work for them. Also they was hand painted that was why they was so expensive.
My rich friend Giles had the ‘Metal Base’ figures, I had to make do with Airfix 1/32 scale all-plastic figures.
those was the ones we got. My mum used to bring home the rejects or the imperfect ones
My Dad was a radiologist and for a year or two he was involved with irradiating people with gamma rays from pellets of cobalt 60. He would bring home small lead containers used to ship the radioactive cobalt. I’d play with them.
Metallic lead is way less toxic than lead compounds. Fortunately!
Yes, but kids chew on everything.
I was SO worried that you'd say you played with the spent pellets of cobalt 60!
My science teacher allowed his students to play with mercury and lead.
@@kentuckylady2990 Me and my brother did that in the '60s. We'd break thermometers and play with the mercury, or melt lead over a bunsen burner and throw it in cold water to make "sculptures". Molten lead being a great kids' toy.
My dad worked for a ceramics company and for some reason they used mercury, he brought home a pint-sized bottle of it. We kids used to play with it and no doubt it got into our furniture and carpets. My childhood home may have become a Superfund site by now.
Over here in the US there was a shop called Toys International that kept a range of Britains figures. I remember the Space set vaguely, but I was obsessed with the knights and still have a few of my old ones from back in the day. Wonderfully painted, beautiful sculpts on those.
Late eighties, there was a space toy called Starcom. The feet of characters had magnets and the levels of their home base were metal. They had mechanical ships. Ships would have hidden guns that activated by button push.
I had a lot of StarCom thanks to saving mowing lawns money, and when they went on clearance at Toys R Us, I think I ended up with everything but the big shuttle and base. There were soooo many figures you got through vehicles and packs, it's like I had two armies. Since the villains used a lot of robots, it was like the Storm Trooper army I never amassed 😂
Yes! Someone else who has heard of this. I still have a bunch of mine. I occasionally look on ebay and consider either selling it or buying more. I should probably stay away from Ebay.
@MrDalevich just keep them. StarCom is so unique, it's the only toy line that had dedicated vehicles for shipping crates!
I remember these little magnets in their feet I must have been about five. I remember one time my dad stuck it to the bonnet of the car and we drove around only stopping when it fell over and I yelled so I wouldn't lose it
I always wanted then, but sadly never got any. They did look very fun to play with.
To be totally honest, I loved playing own storys, with toys without special backgrounds. You were free to create own characters and worlds without some hardcore fan kids telling you that this and that couldn't be, and you're doing it wrong etc., and you perfectly have to stick to the story... I loved creating my own worlds with own characters and own stories.
I was like "Oh cool, foreign toys!" but then the wheeled one came out and a memory surfaced...
My uncle used to travel all over the world for his job in the 80's. I think his was a sales executive for a major telephone company. But he'd always bring home a toy or game for his young son. During the early 90's my family was going through a rough patch when my father got fired, so for Christmas in 1995 I was given a ton of my cousin's old toys. I got a bunch of G1 transformers, He-man/Wrestling/Conan toys, some Thundercats figures, some of those Hologram face toys that Ashens looked at a few years ago. And that Space Gods buggy!
I was trying to find these exact toys for DECADES! I had tons of them as a kid and they were amazing!
Born in the early 80's and these were TOYS!!!!!
You could actually play with them and not worry about them too much!
It's a genuine delight seeing how happy he is with the new toy when he opens it...
I had a big base thing, it was very cheap and plasticky but you could take the figures out of their bases and there would be fixed places to put them on the big base, it had cranes and gun emplacements and all sorts. This is bringing back so many memories.
I have almost every single thing in this video in a box upstairs. Awesome. A massive part of my childhood in one 28 minute video. 😁😁😁
I had the big silver base.
Yes it was just thin vac-form plastic + a cardboard bottom, but that’s what made it cool.
Cos even though it was huge, even with the other bits added, it was still light enough for a child to pick up/move the whole thing like a spaceship etc...
I never had any white ones/vehicles, but had plenty yellow, green + lots of duplicate pieces etc in like a glittery silver.
Absolutely brilliant, awesome toys.
I loved them + have fond memories of MANY hours having great space adventures.
Thank-you for the warm nostalgic glow Dr Ashen... 👌👍🦑
I remember a kid at school had the good-guy spaceship because I was really impressed with the rotating cockpit thing. I recall there being two variants, but I could be wrong.
Brilliant toy line. I had most of the figures, and the flying saucer type vehicle. Loved the 'Stargards' figures in the yellow suits. Very pulp sci-fi indeed. Thanks for sharing.
You can swap the heads over, too. I had one Stargard in a black suit, as a 'Baltar'- like traitor.
Hes just legendary, decades after and I still love watching him
Ikr, you can always come back to Ashens for some wholesome perma-eternal videos
What a nostalgia hit! I only had one vehicle which was the gryroscope/X-wing ship and I loved it. I remember looking through toy catalogues and seeing pictures of the rest of the series but I never got any more. I have a distinct memory of getting the yellow ship on Christmas morning and having the dilemma of deciding wether to play with it or watch The Black Hole on the telly.
I had a load of these in the early 80s and had completely forgotten about them - thanks for the massive nostalgia trip.
I think they must have been sold off cheap as I had bloody loads of 'em, and that wasn't, usually, my folks style.
I had lots of these, they cost me 30p each! I loved them! My favourite were the mutants!
Well, that's a toy line I haven't seen or thought of in years. A real blast from the past as I certainly had some of these as a kid!
Wish ashens would post more old toys vidoes on here. Made my evening, day, week even.
I had these when I was a kid. I think the bits that aren't broken are probably still in my mum and dad's attic. I loved them. The lack of story didn't matter too much, because I just made up my own ones, but the construction options were always a bit disappointing- it seems like you should be able to recombine them into elaborate space stations and battleships, but there really aren't that many combinations you can make, especially with the goodies. I think you can open up the goodies' ground vehicle and take the little man out as well, but it's a very old memory, obviously.
I love seeing you acting sounding and reliving your childhood. I recently found a box of my old toys, I was doing the same, my children thought I had gone insane and I think I bored them half to death with childhood stories. This was great, thanks mate. Cheers.
I had this back in the early 80's, I could never remember what they were called, I remember Zoids and other contemporary toys, definitely a blast from the past.
with each reveal - oh my word, brought it all back, my dad got a job lot from a toy shop and I had loads of these, but like you say, no back story, but the addition of strange robots and mutants really took my imagination. thank you for this
This is brilliant. I remember it all in detail. I was amazed that you got muteron and master at the end. Nobody else i knew owned that. I got it for Christmas when I was a child 🤟
I was very sad that you wouldn't show the muteron (who was in heavy rotation as a generic bad guy at our house!) or the cyborg thingy which I coveted greatly, but you snuck the amazing green chap in! Great stuff!
I'm in New Zealand and these are a core memory for me. No idea how they got here or if they were widely available but I loved the hell out of them. The later figures always made me think of the plastic monster finger puppets.
Chur Cuz, dunedin!
I also had some of these in NZ so they must have been been sold here.
Never heard of these toys but the interchangability of them is pretty nice, so much that you can even do your own configurations with them in theory. Also nice robot at the end.
Here in the US, Britains Ltd figures were likewise only to be found in shops that also carried things like model railroads and Mamod miniature steam engines, but the figures were always of historic military subjects. I never saw the "Space" figures anywhere. Good video!
Edit: I remember the tanks and armored cars were always from Dinky Toys, and were very well done.
Damn, I had a friend whose brother was mad into farming (we lived in the country) and had all the old Britain models. As you say, one day the model shop he went to dumped this whole range and sold them really cheap so he arrived home one day with a bag full of the white and red ones. Yeah, the figures weren’t much to write home about but if you had enough vehicles you could spend hours welding them together. I had completely forgotten about these.
Crikey! I completely forgot about Britains toys. I remember seeing the displays in Langley's and Kerrison's as I did the full sweep of the shop, soaking in the designs, the colours, the different toy lines... before I doubled back and bought action Force, as I always tended to do.
Thanks for bringing back a happy memory.
Did you go to two toyshops?
@@TheMasterNo6 Yes & no. Those were the two main toyshops near where I lived, when I was growing up (in days-gone-by, before franchises like toys'r'us). I went to whichever one my parents took me to... and whichever one they were more likely to win the game of 'con the naive child into picking the cheaper option'.
"See this bright orange truck? He's called Stax. He's a Go-bot. Go-bots are a group of super-secret soldiers who work for Optimus Prime. Stax is also a ninja. You want Stax, don't you? Stax is better than Optimus. Lets buy Stax!"
OMG!!!! I had these and totally forgot about them!!! This was a major blast from the past!!! I had some Stargards and Aliens and the Stargard gyroscopic vehicle. I remember there was a thing about the stands, you could have 2 figures share a stand and link all the figures together like a space walkway or something. Thanks for the vid man!!!
I have a very vague memory of seeing some of these toys when i was a kid, but for life of me, i'm not sure where it was. It was either on holiday in Yarmouth or in Skegness.
I can envision little Stuart playing with these back in the early 80s, running around the house with his toy spaceship going 'whoosh'. Probably in a patterned or stripey jumper.
I remember Brittain's Space, though I mainly think I knew of it through their adverts and catalogues and seeing it in stores than actually playing with it. I liked the idea of the modularity of it, but as you said Brittain's stuff wasn't cheap and I already had Star Wars toys. I think I discovered a few years later that a friend had a pile of it but by that point that was a point of curiosity rather than something I really wanted to play with.
Thank you for prodding my memory about this!
I saw the title “Britains Forgotten Space Toys” or whatever and suddenly remembered I had these figures. I saved up for them with my pocket money. Of course I particularly remembered the twisty gun people, and the slightly saucy ladies who made a bit of an impression on the very young me. What I had totally forgotten about were the vehicles. Each one you pulled out brought a sudden jolt of recognition, nostalgia. I had this one. OMG I HAD THAT TOO. It turns out I had rather a lot of that stuff. Thank you so much for bringing back long lost memories. Particularly the tight suited ladies
When this video started, a filing cabinet in my brain opened. There was a hint of recognition. When I was about five I was taken to a department store called “Wildings” it was Christmas. I remember seeing the coolest Green UFO with gyroscope cockpit. It was too expensive and I wasn’t allowed to have it. That toy has been a vivid memory for over 40 years. And at 10:17 there it is. I had no idea what the toy line was called. I do now. Thank you 😊👍👍👍👍
I'm in the US but have been collecting Britain's toys for 40 years and thanks to this video I'll make a killing on EBay just in time for Christmas. Your content is truly the gift that keeps on giving thank you Sir Ashens.
the amount of joy in ashens' voice when he was playing with that green thing
I was born 78 and my cousins had loads of these i used to play with, completely forgot until i saw this 🙏🏻
I had a couple of these as a kid. Got them from a small toy shop in my town. Distinctly remember the disappointment of opening the platform kit and finding there was a piece missing. A friend of mine had the floor of his attic decked out with loads of the Britains farmyard stuff, which I thought was kind of boring. Great video. I never saw the later weirder stuff on sale anywhere.
YES!!!! I love when you talk about odd, old toy lines.
Does anyone else remember British Home Stores doing a series of toys called Explorer? It was little Space, Polar, Desert, Underwater and 'Fire' motorised buggies with lots of wheels with spacemen looking figures that go in the cockpit. Each different buggy set had an accessory like a snow plow out big floating wheels, and each had a themed trailer like a radar or a crane. They seem to originally be Italian or something but BHS rebadged them and added a story and comics
Yeah I had some of those.
Yes, I had the orange, polar explorer one and it was awesome.
That's reminded me of something I had completely forgotten about - I had all the Starguards stuff!! Well, I had the yellow, and my twin brother had the green. Thanks Stuart, that's proper nostalgia right there.
Wow, I used to have the starguards ship and various accessories but I never knew what it was called. Great fun to play with 🙂 I think I had more of the Mantaforce toys growing up though but this brings back great memories. Thanks 👍
@4:35 A fishbowl filled up with _mustard_ you say? My favorite! lol These SPACE figs are cool! Besides the helmets, I'm surprised more of the detachable bases aren't missing. That ultimate robot was saucy.
These are really nice, even with the figures being more like small statues
I spent the whole video imagining how all the bits could go together to make one big robot. Never has an ending to a youtube video made me feel more validated.
Wow, these are really great looking. Yes, I remember the farm stuff but have never seen those cool looking toys. Thanks for showing them. Very enjoyable.
I've been waiting years for Ashens to break out the Britains Space! Thank you :)
Oh my! I haven't seen these in years! Thanks for the memories.
I was chatting about this range of toys with my brother the other day and for the life of us we couldn't remember the name of them! THANK YOU!!! Now I need them all again...
Lord this has taken me back literally decades. Thank you for this.
Oooh, I had LOADS of these. BOught them from Redgates in Sheffield. Such a great toy line.
Brilliant, I had (and still have) the Stargard, aliens and cyborgs, plus the first two ships in this video. And yes I'm pretty sure they were usually found in model shops like Beatties rather than mainstream toy stores, because those model shops also sold the other Britains figures, like the knights and Turks
I had these toys.
I was bought one by a great aunt. Like you I was mad for all things space and got several other bits of the range as presents later. I had almost forgotten all about them.
Great bit of nostalgia mongering, Cheers
Britains farm toys were immensely popular - and where I lived, in a farming area in Scotland, they were in every shop with even a basic toy section.
Yep. I grew up in Inverurie and I don’t think I ever had a birthday as a young child without getting a Britains tractor or implement.
@Kenny_P_abz You will know Strachans then! One of my favourite shops growing up.
The body sculpts are very cool. Some designs remind me of some recent high-end toylines like JoyToy.
Fantastic! I aged out if the toy market about a year before these appeared, so I completely missed them. Glad to know they existed.
The shop that we had in Barnsley was called 'John Britains' and my mum used to take me there (as a treat) after she'd done her weekly shop...but only if I'd been a good little boy! :D
The terror raiders honestly look like space-stage Spore aliens:D
Always a nice surprise when Ashens posts a video! 😊
I just realized that Ashens is like me when, in early elementary school, I would bring one of my toys to school for "show and tell". Realistically though, Ashens is more entertaining when showing his toys.
Never heard of this before. I am glad to learn about them
So here is a little bit more information - sort of. KP Outer Spacer (crisps) had a promotion just before these hit the shelf (singular). Collect so many empty packets, postal order, send off and receive 1 or 2 good guys - 1 or 2 bad guys and......... stuff. There was a double sided poster one side dramatic - the other side a spaceship spotters chart that had nothing to do with what they actually released. Also, a certificate to show you were a member of - something spacey that I can't remember. Here was, possibly, the only bit of story unfortunately I can remember very little but I'm convinced there were a couple double sided posters - the whole thing felt like more than they had to give away, and won my instant loyalty - unfortunately I couldn't afford the ships but did have all of those figures.
I knew i had seen them some other place
I remember this promotion, and it took SO long to be fulfilled. You received a leaflet that Addressed you as "Commander" and told you about the Star Guards - giving them a name like "Space Defenders"? , while the Aliens I know were called "Imperial Stryke Force". The ships featured in the leaflet had no resemblance to the actual models. When app.ying for the offer, you were supposed to choose which side you were on. Having a brother, we went for opposite sides! Your choice determined which figures (Star Guard or Aliens) you received - but the leaflet was exactly the same and assumed you were an heroic Defender. (Unless of course someone putting together the promotional material mucked up....)
Then came the Falklands War, and I moved onto a new line of toys featuring a Royal Marine from a new line called "Action Force". Finally, Lord of the Rings and Warhammer helped me put "childish things" aside !! 😂
Can’t wait for this years Advent Calendar hope it’s going to be epic
Mind you, you can’t beat the Cheese one.
I can only imagine what they've got, because there's been some amazingly naff ones flogged around ebay and tiktok shop this year 😂
Hand job elf would disagree with you ;-)
Had a load of these when I was a kid and had completely forgotten about them so thank you for reminding me.
OMG These take me back. Had so many as a kid. Including the big base, the green mutant dinosaur thing you showed and the one on the other side of the box. One of my all time favorite toys growing up.
Thanks for the memories.....
That green saucer thing got reissued later as a good guy vehicle in white, with the extra metal X-Wing section. I got it when I was 6 and had to have surgery, my parents bought it for me as a reward for my outstanding bravery.
What was the surgery for?
I'm very proud of how brave you were, too.
@@grapegrappler1424 I had an undescended testicle. So now you know my dark secret.
When aliens do end up finding us, they're probably going to be really offended that they're the bad guy in everything
There was a joke like that on one of Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who episodes. A character mentions that something is like a facehugger from 'Alien', and The Doctor stares at him, and says, disgustedly:
"There's a movie called 'Alien'? That's really offensive."
Very fondly remembered. I loved these things.
I was absolutely stunned when l saw these in a toy catalogue here in Austria about 40 years ago. Never had an idea, what they were until now, thx.
My query, however, is this: If Otto appears only in the Minions: Rise of Gru, where is he then in Despicable Me One, Two or Three? Will we get a Minions spin-off solely delving into the backstory of this lovable, plump henchman? Or will his appearance and eventual disappearance forever remain a mystery? Oh how I shall toss and turn this night.
I always thought Otto was his actual father.... And he didn't know
What the fuck does this have to do with the video
You have awoken some very very VERY dim memories I have of having a lot of these, definitely the saucer, and the figures. I remember loving the peg gimmick, but there weren't enough pieces to make a huge thing of it. Fisher Price Construx, on the other hand, we had a bunch of sets and from those you could make huge playsets for Transformers etc. Still, I remember liking these quite a lot! Thanks for identifying them for me!
My brother got them for Christmas but I loved playing with them. Amazing for the overactive imagination! I still have some bits of it in a box in the loft.
I absolutely loved this video. It felt like being invited around a friend's house as he excitedly takes you through every toy he got for his birthday. I did have some of these and I loved them. I got mine through some sort of offer by Space Raiders crisps (if I remember correctly). Sadly all have gone now
I inherited a bunch of these and remember playing with them as a kid. Absolutely awesome.
As soon as I saw the tiny thumb nail I knew it was Britain's space . I bought half a dozen of those figures from a news agent in the 90s for pence they couldn't get rid of them.
thanks ashens
you never cease to give me happy memories 👍🏻
I used to watch you in year 6 im now 18 always come back to these videos.Glad ur still uploading
I would have ended my assessment with a Risk of Rain remark about the space suits, but that last monster has such Metroid boss vibes that I almost just... need one.
Ads soon asI saw that thumbnail, I did a double-take and got way more excited than I shoud have. I want to get these again!!
Man I had loads of these when I was a kid, my mum still has them and our boys have enjoyed playing with them a lot!
Stuff me sideways!! I had totally forgotten about these! I had so many of them! Thank you so much for bringing those memories back!!
Oh wow- I had these and had COMPLETELY forgotten about them LOL- thanks for bringing back fond and lost memories
I had a great time playing with these as a kid. Still got them in the attic somewhere.
I remember Britain's toys very well. Used to have loads of the farm stuff as a kid. Also had the green alien stuff and the rubber fellas you showed. Used to love my green flying saucer thingy!
Had the UFO, man that was sturdy 🙂
I loved the lack of backstory, very inspiring.
The good guys, in their posing and bubble helmets etc, actually remind me strongly of late 70's early 80's Scifi cover art, the sort of stuff that was collected together into those Galactic Encounters books by Steven Caldwell 🙂
Woo! Another of my favorite format of ashens video.
Yip! I had some of these. Remember them well. Fenwicks in Newcastle had glass cabinets full of various Britains figures, I loved just gazing at them.
I remember these from back in the eighties. I had both spaceships, the gun platform and the buggy. Definitely influenced from 70s sci fi art.
I had some of these as a kid in the 80s! My uncle gave them to me when he moved back to Aus from England!
I bloody loved playing with these as a kid.
If you remove the wheels from the Star Guard car then remove the interior red seating compartment, you can put the wheels on the red part and you have a buggy. There was a little yellow computer/armless robot that reminded me of Twikie from Buck Rogers for some reason, too.
As a kid, the Stargard buggy was the only Britains space toy I had (& loved) so it wasn't until I was grown up that I realised those two circles behind the cockpit glass are for standing a Stargard figure onto it.
You just have to unplug the figure from it's metal stand, which I as imagine being some sort of hover board.
First! Hello from Canada, I love your show! I was born in 1957 so I have seen my way around a lot of early British toys.
You mention Tanks and if they were made by British Toy makers. The answer is yes!
Our collection of war toys, were manufactured by Leslie. They came from Leslie toys in all kinds of shapes and styles. The first was a military motorcycle called a Triumph Trip, made in England by Leslie No. 4
The next was a spring loaded functional Tow behind Cannon or small Howitzer. We tied a 3' thread to it, then put a needle on it to act as a Harpoon and skewered hornets with it! Then we had to avoid the angry Hornet until it got off! 😱
We had two beautiful tanks that were quite large, that also had functional turrets and Cannons with rubber tracks. We also had several airplanes. I wish my parents had not let us play with them! They might still be here! Thank you for bringing back the memories! Toys were the best back then. Did you guys ever see any Thunderbird toys or Supercar? Great days indeed!
I dig seeing toys that are totally new to me! I would have loved these back in 1981.
I had a bunch of these. Would not have remembered without this video