IT FIGURES!

On a recent visit to York Car Boot Sale I noticed an old friend of mine languishing in a box of action figures, my old chum Kang.

I say chum as I used to love collecting vintage action figures especially Kang and his gang from the Secret Wars toy line.

When I was collecting them I was helped immensely by a book I got at the NEC Memorabilia show in 2000, Action Figure Collector published by SU verlag, which pictures most action figures as you would normally find them at car boots and jumble sales: loose. A field guide really for how you see them in the wild!

It was a boon and I still get tons of pleasure thumbing through this book. Of German origin, it lists Kang as Krang oddly enough. A Secret Typo I reckon, probably when they got Wolverine to type the names! Dated but highly recommended.

Having recently leafed through it again I noticed this time toys which on first appearance seem to be related.

First up is the Bashasaurus from the Masters of the Universe line by Mattel 1985.

Next is the later Boulder Basher from the 1993 King Arthur and the Knights of Justice line also by Mattel.

Toy manufacture and design is rife with recycled parts like this.

Can you think of any readers?

Will our Toys be here in a Hundred Years?

Soon to be a grandad I got to wondering how many future generations of woodsies will enjoy my plastic space toys?

Just how long does toy plastic last?

Fifty years on my own plastic playthings are doing ok. No sign of cracks or decay. Not so any soft plastic or rubber. Some of these have perished.

So how long will our Project Sword and spacex and other cool vintage toys be around? Another fifty years? A hundred?

TERRORS REHASHED FLASHBAK

If like me you like to spot similar covers on your collection of vintage monster and horror books then you'll love this site called Terrors Rehashed.

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR TOYS FROM AS A KID?

When I was a kid in the UK of the Sixties several shops were THE business when it came to getting my toys. All of them were toy shops in Preston were I lived and all were in the town centre:

In order of importance they were:

1. Thomas Mears - fab independent toy shop and the number one for many

2. Zodiac Toys - brill chain of superb toy stores

3. British Home Stores [BHS]/ Woolworths - classic department stores

Sadly every one of these shops has since closed, the last one, BHS, shutting its doors nationally this summer.

But not everyone went into the town. My Mum worked in the town centre so my parents were often 'up town', but there were of course countless corner shops around the city selling toys.

These corner shops probably stocked more toys than all the big stores put together and their racks were bursting with carded pocket money gems.

So where did you get your toys readers? Big stores, corner shops, newsagents or somewhere else? Maybe catalogues?

ANDERSON TOY CABINET

Here's a cool Anderson toy collection I saw on Planet Die Cast. It belongs to one Sierra 1. There's some interesting debate about the meaning of the Rosenthal monogram too.

http://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=141&id=83474&Itemid=0

SPACESHIP MODEL FROM TV'S UFO EPISODE 'CONFLICT'

Hi,

I recently picked up a Saturn V kit for a model project that I want to do. However, the third stage will not be needed.

I thought I'd build it up and replicate the scene from the UFO episode 'Conflict' where an alien device lies in wait behind Apollo 8's third stage before locking onto SHADO Lunar modules and causing them to crash on re-entry.

Take care,

Kevin D

*

The ship as seen in the TV series [courtesy of You Tube]:

CHILDHOOD'S BOOK END

This is the cover of my Pan edition of Childhood's End as mentioned in tonight's radio SWORDcast.

Have you read it readers?

NEW SWORDCAST ON AIR NOW!

CLICK HERE!

Let us know what you think!