Is TV-related and Sci-Fi toy collecting dead in the press? When I started collecting there were loads of magazines in the UK specifically for the TV and Sci-Fi collector like me, magazines like Model and Collectors Mart, Memorabilia, not to mention those cool US titles like Collectable Toys and Values.
What on earth has happened? There aren't any on the UK shelves anymore and haven't been for ages. OK, the Collectors Gazette newspaper occasionally runs something Sci-Fi but virtually all the magazines in the shops are relentlessly devoted to die-cast cars.
Now don't get me wrong, I loved die-cast as a kid growing up in the Sixties. Hot Wheels, Superfast, Sizzlers, I loved them all BUT I don't collect them now I'm all growed up. I collect space and Sci-Fi TV-related plastic toys and particularly love to read about them, which used to be easy when publishers took a chance on publishing magazines about them.
Are we destined to drown in countless column inches about die-cast forever? What do you think readers?
Sadly those days are gone. Dinky, Corgi, Airfix are either no longer around or not interested.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet has just about replaced magazines as we now demand instant information. The magazines have shot up in price to compensate for lower sales which sadly means even fewer people will buy them.
As to toys and models the action figure now reigns supreme. Not my thing at all. Never could see the appeal - I always wanted a model of an aircraft not of a pilot. However with so many superhero films you can see why there are so many. Collectors do buy them and kids too but with so many other high tech fun and games available to them kids aren't that bothered.
How about the Japanese market? SF mad yet most of the kits and toys are robots which are basically action figures again.
There'll always be a few exceptions - the fortnightly Star Trek Starships collection is doing well. Likewise we have the new Thunderbirds and Star Wars mercahndise coming out later this year. However even for Star Wars there are supposedly only 3 new kits being made by Revell of Germany. No major US manufacturer seems to want to make these sort of models any more. Everything else Star Wars is action figures and accessories.
There are a host of franchises that we could have toys and models of the spacecraft and aircraft but I suppose they don't make as much money for the companies so they stick to what sells.