Adsense
How many of you remember when the Blog
carried these? I had Adsence from
the off (December 2008) and ran it for a year or so before I dropped it as
being a bit pointless! Now, the first rule of Adsense is that you can't talk about Adsense - I'm only talking about it because I don't have it!
In the first few months it earned me about
$12-something, which - at the time - seemed like pretty small beer, however I
was only getting 40-odd hits per day, so looking back it was quite good! But
the money doesn't seem to have ever made its way to my bank, and when the major
layout and coding changes (by Blogger) hit in the autumn, it all disappeared?
It was re-instated (from zero) at some point and accrued another 8-dollars or
so, before I closed that account so I never received that dosh either.
1.5
million hits went-up a couple of weeks ago!
But now I get considerably more hits per
day so I may well reinstate it soon. Those who don't like it can just ignore
it, as it will be for those who come here on an ad-hoc basis from Google
searches, not the regulars. My stats are such that the 'casuals' outnumber the hardcore
toy soldier people by a factor of 3-1 or more.
Also I need a new camera and it seems like
a good idea to see if the blog can fund its own camera, no?
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Background
I said I'd look at it, and having been
using the Library, my mate's router or the free service in Café Nero, for a
year now, I can assure you that the problem is with the screen it's being
viewed on, not the chosen layout. Some older Dell's seem particularly prone to
poor settings, but it is all about the settings, and if you find it hard to read
the Blog - use it as a 'test-card' to get your settings right!
It should be pale grey text on a dark-chocolate/purple-brown
background, with muted prussian-blue hot links which go heliotrope once you've
visited them. If the layout gives you a migraine (as it does for one poor chap
on one of the die-cast forums) every time you visit it, it may be a sign of
deeper problems which should be discussed with a doctor or optician.
If you have problems with it loading, you
have slow broadband speeds and will have to wait! If you have to wait more that
30 seconds for a page to load, you're probably still on dial-up? The electric
blue of hotlinks on older pages is a glitch in Blogger's coding I can do
nothing about, but seems to be limited to posts/tag-results older that around
2011?
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Plastic Warrior Show
Don't forget it's only a month and a half
away now, and the latest PW magazine is out with news that the table prices are
down this year so if you are still thinking of taking a table, now's the time.
And they are on Paypal.
The old website is to be run-down/retired.
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A Year in Toys
The British Toy & Hobby Association's
press release for 2017 included:
Toy sales in the UK were up 6% at £3.5bn
quid in 2016.
Approximately 415-million toys were sold in
the 'toy year'.
Shopkins (similar to those Fungus
Among Us we looked at here, but one I'm trying to avoid!) were last year's
best seller for under a £enner.
Collectables were the big trend with Star Wars and Lego 'minifigs' leading the way.
250 firms stalled-out at the fair.
The UK is the fourth largest toy market in
the world after the US, China and Japan, Lego
was the most popular brand.
Nanobloks (a mini [and bloody expensive] version of building block) sales are
growing at 20% year on year!
Altogether it was an upbeat
forecast/report, but then it would be - it was showcasing their annual get
together!
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Real Toy News
Culled from the newspapers recently:
Did anyone else notice Transport for London (TFL)
using Mr Men and Little Miss's in their advertising over Christmas?
In January the Character Group who we know from their Lego-like figures of British serviceman and Dr. Who (a license they seem to have lost to Lego), but who also hold licences for Pepper Pig and the (fading?) Tellytubbies
announced that the fall of the pound due to Brexit would lead to higher prices
for their toys, consequently their share price fell 5.8%! Cheers, Brexidiots.
Nestlé also posted negative results
with a slowdown in growth to 3.4% from 4.2 in 2014-15, not that interesting but
they do still contribute a few premiums through some of their subsidiaries.
Nintendo's [Apple] i-product compatible mobile 'app'
version of Super Mario Run was the
fastest ever download, with 40-million in its first three weeks (up to
christmas) which may lead to a renaissance in the character's popularity, but -
thankfully - there have never been many toy figurines of the little twat!
Hasbro have buggered-about with the playing pieces in the standard Monopoly set again - dropping three
oldies for - among other things - a mobile 'phone! Obviously the 20-odd
versions I saw in the Toysaurus last
visit, just aren't enough!
Ex-Marx figurines in vinyl
From
Disney Store play set
Disney is buying a controlling stake in err . . . Disneyland Paris! People said when it was announced in the late
'80's that it was a bad idea, and it's struggled to make serious money ever
since it opened in 1992, making a €102m loss in 2015 and ending-up €858m in the red last year. Disney plan to develop
the unused sections of the site (nearly half the original area) and inject €1.5bn into new attractions
and an overhaul, but first they have to purchase a 95% stake in order to get it
off the Euronext Paris financial
market. It may be that Europeans are just not that keen on a mouse in shorts
with a girly voice! It's one thing to make a 'proper' go of it with [young kids
and-] a trip to Florida, it's quite another to visit France and deal with
traffic 'flics' on the Autoroute to
and from Calais - in the rain!
Tesco
PLC (Supermarkets) have obtained/resurrected the
old Sindy Doll brand, taking a licence
from Pedigree (who knew they were
still going? Google reveals a small holding-office somewhere - presumably a Hornby subsidiary?), however the new Cindy isn't the stick-thin rival to Barbie of old, but a rather more
realistic, rounded, 'buddy' doll.
The brand manager Iconix is contemplating a sale of its property Snoopy, if it is sold we should expect an injection of energy which
ought to include new toys, whether any of them would be in our 'sizes' or
formats remains to be seen. Chinese companies are apparently interested.
Speaking of China, at the beginning of
February Jack Ma the head of Alibaba,
while opening a new hub in Australia warned President Trump that 'the world needs globalisation, it needs
trade' and went on to add that while he would try to create one million
jobs in the US (bye-bye Amazon!)
"Everybody is concerned about trade
wars. If trade stops, war starts".
Finally - last week a local (Guildford)
firm; Vivid Toy Group, was sold to
private equity investor Privet Capital
for an unknown amount.
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Other Lego News
Image
courtesy of Brain Berke
Similar
publications are available in the UK
Lego pushed Disney off the top
spot in Global Toy Brands last year, the success is put down to the DC license and Lego Batman Movie, helped by continuing sales of Star Wars stuff and the tail-end of the Harry Potter craze.
They also pipped Tomy and Hasbro to No.2
toy seller worldwide, behind Mattel
at No.1
Sales grew by 6%, which was a slowdown on
2015's 25% to hit $4.4bn while profit remained flat over both years.
They sold 75-billion bricks and launched
335 new lines or ranges, with the large 'scale' Millennium Falcon being
the best-seller.
One of only ten 2x4-stud Lego bricks known to have been made in
solid gold (14ct) recently sold for £12,000 on Internet auction site Catawiki.
Lego opened a flagship store in Leicester Square, London in November
just gone.
In August of this year they will launch Lego Boost, the next level in their
interactive PC/IT-based electronic product range with a user-coding element.
They also plan to enlarge their London
offices making them some of the main offices outside Billund.
They still stole the idea from Hestair-Kiddycraft and Hillary Page
though!
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Return to the 1970's?
Has anyone else noted these adds in papers
and magazines, they are just like the old Sunday supplement 'Home Farm' and
'Funnimals' add's of the 1970's, an early sign of things to come in the Brexidiot
economy no doubt. Both these are claimed by The
Happy Puzzle Company (THPC), but
I've seen others.
So far no figures or Noah's Arks, but it
may only be a matter of time so keep an eye open. There are also the Corgi and Atlas Edition flyers, but they've been around for a while and are a
different concept - same goal though; getting your personal/postal details on a
saleable, mail'able list!
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I know - not enough pictures of figures in
this 'News, Views etc...' so I hope this will do! I'm still working
on the Hong Kong hollow-horse articles for the other Blog, these are some of
the Giant or Giant-like on the 'Smoothie' or 'Mexican' horse types during a sort
out/photo-sesh!
2 comments:
Hello Hugh. I'm running AdSense.
(I hope I haven't violated terms of service!)
The "never discuss your earnings"....
Remember Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan?
"If rewards were dollars...I couldn't buy coffee at Starbucks!"
8 years and running!
Cheers Doug! That's how it was for me first time round, but with the traffic up I thought it was worth a second try, It's not that I expect to make a living at it, you need to be a 12-year old cosmetic 'box-opening' vlogger to do that!
But if it can get the Blog a better camera and the odd storage dongles now and then?
H
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