Bonner Comics Laden

 The comic shop Bonner Comic Laden is easily one of the biggest I've ever been in. It is deceptive to start with but the length of it is astonishing! It just keeps going back and back! 

Here are a few of the comics and modern Action figures for sale there in what is clearly a thriving German comics scene.

Fortuitously for me they had this Creepy archive by Dark Horse in the sale bin. €12.

I already have a hardback version at home with different stories in it.

This softback contains reprints of 1. My favourite cover, the young ghouls - below and 2. My favourite story, Monster Really. Result!

Do you have reprints of your childhood favorites or do you still have the original comics?

HO HO HARROGATE

 The Missus and I spent a happy day on Thursday rummaging in the charity and vintage shops scattered around festive Harrogate town centre here in Yorkshire.

One shop of note was Space, a vintage and retro specialist store crammed full of Sixties and Seventies bric a brac.

This is just the entrance area.

As I'm always looking for Project SWORD badges this pile drew me in. No SWORD but I could see ET and Stingray.

Whilst in Space I bought a nice red Superfast truck, which just needed a tiny bit of paint touching-up using my new acrylic paint pens I got for Xmas from Wotan. Whilst doing that I got stuck into some of the old die-casts I got over December.

I now have a good stock of paint pens and sharpies. Reds, blues, blacks get the best results. Yellow and orange remain tricky and I haven't yet got the right shades for all the yellows and oranges that Dinky and Corgi used back then.

BARTER BOOKS

 The famous Barter Books second hand book store in Alnwick, Northumberland.

Its an old railway station and its huge. A couple of shots to give you a flavour. The website describes how they found a lost room too, which became the buffet!

Also a video of the toy train sets tootling around the ceiling of the old station store.

Do you have a bookshop you like?

GERRY ANNUAL

Today we,re visiting Barter Books. It’s one of the biggest second hand bookshops in the UK. I may have blogged it before as we,ve been a few times over the years.

I found my first second hand copy of the 1967 Project SWORD annual in a similar but smaller shop called Cuvvins in Whitby 30 years ago. I still have it. My original childhood copy is long gone.

I,ve picked up a lot of Gerry Anderson annuals like this over time. 

Have you any Annuals, GA or otherwise? Where did you get them? Email me some pictures for the blog.

WILL OSBORNE'S BILLY BLASTOFF SHOP DISPLAY AND CENTURY 21 MAGICARS

Hi all,

here's my Eldon’s very own space hero Billy blastoff with corresponding shop window display. 

The Century 21 Twinpack cars would fit onto the captain Scarlet track that was posted a few weeks ago. They would also fit the ideal Motorific raceways sets.

 Will O.

UK

THE OLD WINDOW

I took this snap of this old Barber's window a while back.

The ramshackle toy display just appealed to me.

You don't often see windows like this now.

What can you see?

Have you seen an old window display?

CENTURY 21 RECORDS SHOP POSTER 1965

This was an interesting auction I saw last month. A piece of shop display material for Century 21 that's new to the blog.

You ever seen one readers?

Century 21 Records original UK shop display poster issued by Record Retailer magazine, 1965. This poster was for use in record shops to promote the launch of Century 21 label and advertised the first six EPs to be released.

17 x 11 inches (approx).

CO-OP COMIC CAPERS

Just nipped down the local Co-op. There's tons of goodies in the magazine stand. there's the latest Thunderbirds comic with the stickers and stuff, which doesn't seem that popular. 

There's also a Star Wars Scout Trooper replica in a small plastic display case along with a mag. Must be a DeAgostini job. 

Finally for the small 'uns there's a neat Submarine plastic toy free with the Octonauts comic. Very SpaceX!

Finally and my fave is the Kelloggs Star Wars cereal boxes all stacked up in a display shelf. Just the Darth Vader box front here. A thing of forceful beauty!

What's in your supermarket?

SPACEX AND SWORD ON FILM AT CHRISTMAS IN THE SIXTIES

Well readers, its nearly the Big Day. It might be Christmas Eve but there's still time to get a last minute prezzy for someone.

To help with ideas for gifts here's my traditional Christmas Eve post where we nip back to Oxford Street, London, Christmas 1964 courtesy of British Pathe.

Here you'll find a SWORD Apollo Saturn in a shop. This version of the Rocket was either the Japanese Tomy version or the American Sears version and was apparently sold in the UK. It appears unboxed at 1.02 minutes for a few seconds along with a working Dux Astroman robot! It'd look great under someone's tree!

And here's a lovely boxed SpaceX Superset in a shop window in Carnaby Street, London, Xmas 1969 or 1970? Quick, go and get it, its the last one!

Films owned by British Pathe.

SPACE TOOB BLUES

Are there any cheap plastic space toys in the discount shops near you? When up town I try to check out Poundland, Pound World and the 99p Store. Pickings have been very very slim though. 

The set I hope they'll stock is the Space Toob, pictured below, but as yet no luck. It remains an internet item and quite pricey. Maybe the chain The Works may stock it at some point? Have you found anything readers?

SUNDAY DRIVER

Today, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Whitby with Woodstock and his lovely wife. During our ramble in the fresh sea air, we took in the sights of Dracula country, such as Whitby Abbey and the house that Bram Stoker stayed in while writing. Before partaking of the local fish and chips, we took a stroll around the shops and Woodsy showed me a tiny kiosk in the town square, which sold diecast models. Needless to say, as it was Sunday, it was closed. Camera in hand, I managed to take some tantalising snaps through the barred windows...

ZELLERS OF CANADA; COOL ANIMATED BATMAN TV TOYS COMMERCIAL 1987

source; you tube

BYRAM ARCADE, HUDDERSFIELD: A VINTAGE OASIS

Yesterday Missus Moonbase and myself visited the University town of Huddersfield in the West Yorkshire Pennines of Northern England. Its a beautiful place set high on the moors and filled with proud neo-classical columned buildings. A sort of Pennine Athens with fish and chip shops. The second hand market is just amazing and I saw some cool vintage toys!

Whilst we were in town we stumbled across an old arcade which had been recently restored, Byram Arcade. It was really gorgeous and they had a fab job on bringing it back to life. The shops mostly specialised in vintage stuff: one was clothes, another furniture, another guitars and many more. After a delicious salsa burger and chips we wandered round the three floors.

A few shops were empty and I did daydream awhile about having a vintage toy shop there! It would fit right into the spirit of the place and fill an obvious gap! I was busy meticulously standing up several dozen Thundercats figures in the window when my Missus broke my reverie and said "look at all those paper birds Woodsy!".

Suspended on nylon threads between the floors were hundreds of folded paper birds. It must have taken hours upon hours to produce and looked stunning. These three photo's taken on my phone don't do it justice at all!

Have you a vintage arcade like this near you readers? Would you like to have a vintage toy shop there?