News Views Etc...News

The Sad News

Eric Williamson has passed away, I have no details but suspect an unwinnable fight against the raw nature of life.

When I first came to the Internet back in about 1998, the four places I found in the first few minutes of my first 'surf' were - in no particular order - the Army Men/Thor Trains website, Everything Toy Soldiers (ETS) on the HaT website, Toy Solder HQ from Kent Sprecher and Eric's pages. That he almost certainly produced them line-by-line from HTML code was in itself a wonder, and it is still the first word on Airfix small scale.

I never spoke to him myself although the odd message was relayed by third-party. By the time I was more active on the net he had gone quiet, I guess due to circumstances that are now tragically obvious. I'm sorry I never had the chance to 'chew the fat' with him and hope he's found a new peace with tons of toy soldiers. The page lives on and can be found on the waybackmachine, I don't link to it as I know he intended to take it down.

The Happy News

It's the Plastic Warrior Toy Soldier show in London tomorrow! That's the show organised by Plastic Warrior magazine, in Richmond, Surrey, where you will find people who want to sell you old Toy Soldiers.

You still have time to get to an airport, book a bucket-seat to Heathrow, Luton, Gatwick or Stansted and be there! The FA Cup Final isn't 'till the afternoon so trading will be a bit brisker than the year they coincided (a while ago now), and if you're not there you'll miss out on so much...just lock the kids in the bathroom, I've heard it's not going to be a day for fresh-air and they'll amuse themselves' with water and stuff...TAXI!

The Figure News

Dr. Who Adventures magazine has issued the 'Monster Army' again this week, one each of the existing poses (and five Daleks - I guess), it's a pain if you already have them as they haven't issued a decent 8x8x set of the two new ones yet but they will in time! On sale 'till next Wednesday.

The Other News


More thanks...despite my not having published much for the last four weeks, the blog had another 11,000+ month of hits (and none of them were me!). Several hundred of them were from a forum linking back to "this person's" blog...well This Person is grateful for all visitors, thanks.

Pen and Sword have sent me another couple of books to review which I should get done over the weekend with any luck, if not in the next few days, and (is that an Oxford comma? Shocking!) I've still got a bunch of articles queued-up, waiting for text/time!

The STOP PRESS News

Oh - did I tell you there's a Toy Soldier show in London tomorrow? Queen Charlotte Hall's in Richmond...three minutes from the tube station...I'll be in the trusty Tuskers 'Tee', although the forecast suggests it's unlikely to be visible?! That's the one organised by PW...a show...with Toy Soldiers - for sale!