I hope all is as well as can be for you all.
The recent posts showing costumes and props from Blake's 7 sparked a memory.
Back in 1980-81, in a quest for D&D stores I came across a small mom & pop type store that also had a small case with a few assorted ordinary Dinky and Corgi toys in it. There was a loose odd spaceship that I bought for $1 as it had no packaging.
The recent posts showing costumes and props from Blake's 7 sparked a memory.
Back in 1980-81, in a quest for D&D stores I came across a small mom & pop type store that also had a small case with a few assorted ordinary Dinky and Corgi toys in it. There was a loose odd spaceship that I bought for $1 as it had no packaging.
Flash forward to 1983 and I'm at my first sci-fi convention in Dallas (my third con to work). I was invited to a hotel room to watch a show called Blake's 7 and when the Liberator was on screen I said "Hey, I have that ship!" I was called out on it, saying no one has one. I promised to bring it to the next con.
Jump to the fall, I presented my screen inaccurate Liberator and was promptly offered $75 for it. Sold. Other members of the Blake's 7 fan club asked me to get them one as well. Over the next 4 years I sold off a massive fleet of 25 Liberators on average for $50@. I was making more off anime items as this was the infancy of it and not many had reliable sources of items from Japan.
Jump to now. In my "space boxes" which I recently organized somewhat, I located the remnants of my Liberator fleet. They are Corgi model E44 which were for export to foreign markets and not E2 the accurate version.
Here's a few pics.
Did Moonbase readers have a Liberator?
Lance
Houston Base
USA
Jump to the fall, I presented my screen inaccurate Liberator and was promptly offered $75 for it. Sold. Other members of the Blake's 7 fan club asked me to get them one as well. Over the next 4 years I sold off a massive fleet of 25 Liberators on average for $50@. I was making more off anime items as this was the infancy of it and not many had reliable sources of items from Japan.
Jump to now. In my "space boxes" which I recently organized somewhat, I located the remnants of my Liberator fleet. They are Corgi model E44 which were for export to foreign markets and not E2 the accurate version.
Here's a few pics.
Did Moonbase readers have a Liberator?
Lance
Houston Base
USA
That's a lot of Liberators. I've got one of each version, the white one, silver one, blue one, white reissue for the season 3 dvd release and the silver, white and black variation of that one. Oh and a white metal one that seems closely based on the Corgi one. Is that too many?
ReplyDeleteThose prices are insane, especially for back in the 1980s. According to my reference books Corgi Juniors 44 was available 1979-80, and 2 1980-81. So they were not old models at the time. I recall seeing these in the shops, on cards, but this was long before I began collecting die-casts, and I did not get one at the time. I do not recall the prices, but just normal retail.
ReplyDeleteI like that colour scheme! I got the boring white version, which I have somewhere around. An unusual model all round and a great piece of ship design.
ReplyDeleteToo small (they're only about 3" arn't they) for us Toads. If there had been something twice the size back in 1980ish when these were all over the place I might have bought it. Alas, even now, other than some resin kits I havn't seen any Liberator models I would like (and,yes, I was a B7 addict back then - at least till someone decided to blow up Liberator and give us that Scorpio piece of junk).
ReplyDeleteYeah, about 3 inches and often the center "antenna" is missing nowadays. I never saw them in the big retail or toy stores here, only the small one of a kind shops. Those usually also had UFO Commandr 7, diaklone (before they switched to being Transformers) zymex and so many other lesser known brands.
DeleteAs for the prices, I just took whatever they offered and never tried to raise the price. I think thy just were rather scarce here in Texas.
Funny thing is, I am not a fan of B7 at all. It just never hooked me like Who did or anime in general.
Maybe I'll send you one for your birthday, Wotan.