I've always categorised and compartmentalised throughout my life. It's the anorak in me I think! Whether it was Monsters as a boy, Kung Fu and Bands as a teenager, Birds [feathered] as a young man and toys as an adult [which sounds a bit back to front!] I categorised, listed, ordered and 'collected' them all. At the heart of any categorisation is a a good tick list and here's just such an attempt at one for SWORD toys.
My rule was simple for this. If a company made at least 2 SWORD toys they made the cut. Each toy range has a different colour. If I have one it get's an X. I've included any toy which pushes the list further such as Imai's Snow Train/ Beetle [Thunderbird 7]. I've not included masses of Zero X versions as there are too many. The last two toys are Century 21 toys, which the 1960's toy trade press connected to SWORD so they are in too. There are many omissions such as the Japanese Space Birds and the many clones of both Space Gliders and Probe Force 3, which would form bristling checklists in themselves. Finally, I may missed out toys which should be in so please let me know. The challenge of a checklist are the boundaries it has, which, although good at the time but later may seem restrictive.
I would welcome other readers' checklists of SWORD or any other toy range - either for publication or interest. Anyone else like lists like these?
2 comments:
THANK YOU LORD - I'M NOT ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE!! Woodsy, in regards to list keeping, you and I were cast from the same tooling. It was only just recently that I discarded my childhood list of songs/45rpm singles/LPs. The list included what I wanted and what I had, and whether the song was on a 45rpm single or an LP. Also a couple of years ago I finally transferred my coin & currency list from my childhood hand-scribed list to a spreadsheet. My list making has slowed down some but the are still a few - old habits are hard to break :-)
Love the check-lists too! Like you Woodsy, I would set my own parameters regarding toy lines or other collections which did not always follow the manufacturers proposed guidelines. Like setting goals, lists help us collect and even savour the prospect of collecting that elusive piece.
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