Collecting any vintage toy line will eventually reach an impasse. This hiatus is usually as a result of expense and scarcity. Collecting Project SWORD is no different. Most of us will never complete our collections of plastic vehicles as the recent sale of a Nuclear Ferry confirmed. But if you go beyond the toys and look at collectables on the margins you may just be able to carry on collecting your favourite line and break that impasse. This has been my own experience and here are four things you should be able to find relatively easily and which, importantly, are easy on the wallet.
First up is the Project SWORD Annual released in 1969. OK, it's not a SWORD toy but quite honestly its a SWORD collection in its own right. There are just so many vehicles superbly illustrated within it that after a good read through, you'll be both excited and totally clued-up about the back-story to SWORD and the sheer breadth of this amazing fleet of vehicles. These annuals are quite common and there is usually one or two of these on Amazon or Ebay so there is certainly no need to pay through the nose for a copy.
Second up and one of my own personal favourites is the 1969 TV21 Annual, the 'other SWORD annual'. Showing no clue on the front cover, inside it is a veritable feast for SWORD fans. Many of the vehicles are exquisitely drawn in black and white and described in dramatic detail in " Battle Breakdown". This is complimented by a Project SWORD text story with colour illustrations worthy of the Annual proper called "The Loyal and Dead". Besides these you also get a colour Zero-X comic strip, "Breakaway", and a Zero-X text story with illustrations called " Delicate Mission", a tale which could easily be SWORD itself. Like the SWORD Annual, you should be able to pick one up from Amazon or Ebay cheaply if you persevere.
A lot further off the beaten track is this third item, an LP record. "Randy Rayder In Outer Space" by See Disc was released in 1969. It's sole link to SWORD is the use of a Probe Force 1 on the record sleeve and throughout the story book, which came inside the gatefold sleeve. Called Athena, the rocket ship is the central vehicle in the story narrated on the record. Tangential of course but a lot of fun and with determination you should find one or two of these for sale somewhere on the net most of the time.
Last but not least are these fantastic UFO Rubbers by Takeuchi from Japan. Ever since Terry and Bill amazed me with them for the first time in 2008 I have been hooked on these little rubber SWORD clones. Exact copies of their much larger Century 21 parents, these miniatures make a fabulous SWORD fleet in their own right. Seemingly made in their thousands, there are many different combinations and many varying colours. Excitingly the rubbers also feature some of the less well-known SWORD toys like Scouts 1 and 2. Admittedly they're more complicated to get hold of than the other three items, as there appears to be only one source, namely Yahoo Japan. But the effort is worth it and there are usually one or two packets of them for sale at reasonable starting prices on this Japanese auction site.
I would be interested to hear of any other ways you have found to bridge the gaps in your own collecting, SWORD, SpaceX or otherwise.
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