Thursday 25 October 2007

Zeroids Ahoy!

After waiting ages due to the postal strike I now have both my Terrahawks Zeroids. They look really cool together. Neither were in perfect condition, but a bit of a clean seemed to take most of the dirt off. And having a look at the date on the bottom, they are 24 years old so I would expect them to be a bit warn.

There are supposed to have a clockwork feature that you use the stand to windup. The pressing a button on the back of the stand causes them to roll around the floor using and offset weight. This was broken on both of them so I decided to have a look inside and see if it could be fixed.

The annoying thing was they have a sticker around the middle of the ball that covers the join. So I had to cut this with a scalpel to get them open.


On the first one I took apart, all it needed was a little jiggle about and everything just clicked back into place. After that it all worked fine. The second one though appears to have piece missing were the ball attaches to the base. Without this it just won't wind up.

To me these look so Gerry Anderson in design, and that's a good thing. I love the simplicity of them. Looks like I will have to try and get some other Terrahawks toys now : )


Wednesday 24 October 2007

Toy Yoda

Someone needs to get a sense of humor! Thanks to Kim & Duncan for emailing me this little gem.

Wednesday 17 October 2007

The Force is strong in this one

My Dad has just started going through all the old family photos and scanning them in. It's quite weird to look back at all these things and people that you can't really remember. And some of the fashions from the 70's and 80's are really quite shocking.

As a kid I was obviously quite into my kids Tv as seem to only be wearing Tv and film related clothing. It's good to know I have always been a bit on the nerdy side.

Check out these two images.


These photos were taken in 1978 when I was four, and already you can see I was into Star Wars.
I really love the Darth Vader T-shirt and Badge. If only I still had them, not that they would fit me anymore. The badge appears to say 'Darth Vader Lives'. Nice.

Let's just not mention the hair cut.

Monday 15 October 2007

Forbidden planet - beaten on high prices!!!

I didn't ever think I would find a shop that sold toys for more money than good old forbidden planet, but I have.

We had a trip to London over the weekend and I decided to have a look in Hamleys. F**k me!

Lets use a single figure as a guide to prices.

Transformers leader class figure:

Woolworths - £34.99
Forbidden Planet - £39.99
Hamleys - £59.99

Enough said!

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Terra-hooked

After are little trip to the Montacute toy museum a few weeks back I have got a bit hooked on the Terrahawks toys. I never had any of these as a child, but did watch the show. I would have loved to have had a Zeroid, but it was never to be.

So, the fool that I am, I have just started to buy a few bits. I picked these three up on ebay over the last week. I don't actually have any of them yet due to the stupid postal strike so these are the image from ebay.



I have two Zeroids, and a boxed Terrahawk. The designs of them are really great, and very Gerry Anderson which is not a bad thing. I can't wait for these beauties to term up.

And the good thing about this line of collecting, is I know there are only a few bits to get, so it won't be as endless as collecting Star wars or Transformers.

Next on my list is the Hawkwing.

Sunday 7 October 2007

Ministry 'Not in charge of Gundam!'

This just caught my eye.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7029685.stm

I love the quote from Japans
ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura -
"The Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam".

I always thought they were! :)

Friday 5 October 2007

When Accessories go bad

When I was kid growing up, you would get your latest star wars figure, and it would come with one gun. If you were into AD&D (the figures by LJN) you may have got a sword, shield and cape.

Now when you buy a figure you get a gun, and spare gun, extra hands, a different head, a stand, a tool box, antenna, etc, etc, etc. It's gone accessory crazy.

I'm sure this is great for all the people who like building dioramas, but for the normal collector you just end up with loads of little bits to store, or misplace. I have boxes full of little bags containing spare bits for pretty much every figure I have.

I recently got the Revoltech Optimus prime figure. It's a really great toy, but comes with 3 extra hands. What am I supposed to do with them?

Having said that, the Transformers Movie figures, only come with what they need, which is often nothing.

Thank god for all the websites that list what weapon goes with what figure as it gets hard to remember.

Thursday 4 October 2007

Star Wars toys stolen in raid

It tells you something about the world when thieves start going after your toy collection!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7024796.stm

Poor guy, I hope he had them insured.

Keep an eye out for them on Ebay!

Monday 1 October 2007

Has Ebay killed toy trading?

When I first got heavily into to trading you could find plenty of fellow toy collectors and traders on the web, with lists of what they have to offer and what they are looking for. Now, you're lucky if you can find any. There used to be a group of about 20 UK based Transformers traders that all had sites linked together, with mailing lists and regular updates of stock. And now there are 3 or 4.

Is this the fault of ebay?

I tend to think it is. Ebay just makes it quicker to get some cash, and profit. But for me it has taken a bit of the fun out of collecting. It's nice to have a look through someones trade list, find something you want, and then sort out a fair swap.

Sure you can find pretty much anything on ebay, but it's not often a bargain. And you don't get to build up a collection of fellow traders who keep an I out for bits in your trade list. It has all become a little bit faceless, and that is a shame.