STAR WARS UK GARRISON STORMTROOPER PARADE AT MEMORABILIA NEC 2013

 

My dodgy video of the Stormtrooper march past the Memorabilia hall on Saturday,

NEC Birmingham.

 

Occasional commentary - Woodsy and family!

WOODSY MEETS THE FETT

 

Saturday 23rd November

Memorabilia ComicCon NEC

Birmingham, England

 

 

Captions welcomed!

 

 

More pictures tomorrow!

'DALEK CHRISTMAS' - 1964 AD

Here's some pictures  of various Dalek merchandise that came out towards the end of 1964 for the 'Dalek Christmas', and into 1965.

The second Dalek serial was showing on BBC 1, The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It had starting on the 21st November and would continue until 26th December. This Louis Marx battery operated Dalek coming out just in time for Christmas.

This friction drive version is from 1965.

This Dalek badge appeared in 1964.

Like the friction drive Dalek, plenty of items went on sale following Christmas. This game, Dodge the Daleks coming out in 1965.

Painting by numbers game. The Dalek artwork very similar to that The Dalek Book cover.

Another popular sixties toy, the bagatelle.

And,finally for now, lovely evocative  artwork from the Dalek Shooting Game.

THE DOCTOR'S BIRTHDAY

As the screening of The Day of the Doctor draws ever closer I thought I’d reflect on what I’ve liked about the errant Time Lord.

Most , if not all of my interest in Dr Who these days is purely nostalgic. I remember the early series with William Hartnell  and Patrick Troughton  and enjoyed the odd serial.

I would say I became a bit of a fan when Jon Pertwee took over, buying the annuals and the odd jig- saw, although I don’t remember much in the way of merchandise.

The comic strip in Countdown, a much better rendition artistically than TV Comic ,  was good way to feed my interest in Dr Who.

When Tom Baker became the fourth incarnation I progressed to a fully-fledged Who fan (the term Whovian was yet to be invented) . Tom’s popularity in the role meant a surge of spin-offs.

I managed to collect most of the Target books, the usual annuals, the odd Denys Fisher toy, breakfast cereal promotions and an incredibly long scarf.

My bedroom wall was full of posters of the Doctor.

Following Tom’s departure from the show my interest in Dr Who quickly waned.  While Peter Davison is extremely popular with many people, I felt he was too young for the part and totally miss cast.

As well as that I was getting older and had other interests to occupy my mind.

Colin Baker’s brief tenure as The Doctor seemed to over in a flash and his replacement, Sylvester McCoy was the incumbent when my son started watching.

Suddenly, I was buying up Dr Who merchandise all over again, but this time not for me, but for someone belonging to  the next generation of fans.

Although, I  don’t consider myself a fan of this new rebooted series of Dr Who I know for those who are, especially the youngsters who  believe the Doctor is as important as Father Christmas I’m taking this opportunity to wish Doctor Who many happy returns of the day.

CHEERIOS V8 ROCKET TOY

 

I love this old American TV ad on You Tube about a nifty V8 rocket cereal gift. Anyone remember it?

Corgi Jet Dragster

1973 was a great year for toys for me, after a visit to a specialist railway shop in Liverpool, I found the Swedish Jet Car by Corgi. Advertised as the Starfighter Jet Engined Dragster, it is actually based on Arnold Sundquists record breaking car, as seen here at Santa Pod Raceway:

http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/roger/phillips_04.html

 The toy itself is a glossy Whizzwheels diecast, from Corgis extensive dragster range. It has a large chrome Starfighter engine and a rubber nose to guard against impacts on the skirting! My original toy went west some time ago, but this new acquisition is a great replacement. Interrstingly, on that same day in '73, I found the Spacex Apollo 11 set in a discount shop across the road!
The model railway shop is still flourishing today, just yards down the road from its original location. http://www.hattons.co.uk/

Dapol Marx Dalek

Of all the Dalek toys none is more iconic than the Marx Dalek.

This most remembered toy appeared in 1964 as 'Dalekmania' began to take hold of Britain, spearheading a 'Dalek Christmas'.

The first to be released was the silver 'Tricky Action' Dalek, followed by the black version released in 1965.

This is the Dapol version, released much later, but re-using the original Marx moulds.  

Hooded Swan flies again

Some time ago, after I posted about the Terran Trade Authority series of art books, modeller Kevin Davies sent me the above photo of a small model he had built from Brian Stablefords Hooded Swan series of novels. The Swan featured prominently in the TTA books and as it transpired, was a firm favourite of many readers, including our own P.Toad.

Not a man to rest on his laurels or his workbench, Kev has just completed a second, larger scale model of the Swan, based on Angus McKies glorious cover art which graced Stablefords novels.