F is for Figures From Freebie post

Thought I'd better put up a bit of a line-up of this growing range, but managed to miss one figure in each line-up! And - as I'd posted pictures of the new Daleks last time; left them off this collage, but you get the general idea, and the others are in the post below if you come to this from Google at some point in the future!

So accompanying a Sontaran child - far left of both line-ups - are a Cyberman, the two Weeping Angels (the only figure set so far issued in more than one pose), one punching and one crying, an Ood, a Silence (lanky-git), the lizard-like Silurian (green - missing from lower shot), a character I don't know (Automaton? White - missing from the upper shot) a Judoon (grey thing in a kilt) and something that looks like Disney's Beast...the Minator?

Above them are a few of the Fatlek Daleks with a couple of colour variations, the blues are elsewhere. Inset to the left; when batches collide, two-tone red, and to the right a comparison between the new 'classic' Dalek and a Fatlek.

F is for Freebie

We've looked at this magazine before and - I'm sure - will do again, but I thought it was time to do a round-up of recent issues and the free gifts of interest to us collectors, as it's a while since I updated the Dalek post that has been getting the odd update on these.

A smorgasbord of issues over the last six months or so which contained figures. Mostly they are figures already issued at least once, sometimes they have already had two outings, while the Fatleks have been issued about half-a-dozen times now.

Still even the Fatleks get colour variations from issue to issue, and you can see here that the 'yellow' member of the team is a bright yellow in one set and a goldy-orange in the other, likewise I think I've got three blue shades in the collection now and at least two reds.

In the last month Silurians have been issued in two shades of green as well. But - look at the hexagonal pack bottom-centre in the collage; new Daleks! More on them below.

Other items which might be of interest to collectors have included the grwo-your-own Cyberman on the left, an approximately 54mm Tardis I'll be looking at in a separate post soon and the 'spinners' on the right above. These consist of standard figures from the existing range with mounting-holes in their bases, but they come with a roughly 1:76/72 scale Tardis and Dalek pencil toppers, both of which can be used as stand-alone additions to the figure range, the Dalek requiring the removal of the pencil spigot and being yet another shade of yellow!

It is a sad fact that the people who issue this stuff probably give no more value or have no more concern for these 'useful' bits as they do for the week-in week-out generic plastic or paper-based crap they put on the covers of all comics and magazines aimed at youngsters these days; rubber or paper masks, sticker sheets, logo-printed note-books, stationary sets, wallets, and so on, with the result that they've never corrected the small size of the Sontarans (the second figure set issued), and are now 'clearing' Sontarans and Cybermen (the very first set issued) covered in a mildew which suggests long storage in the wrong conditions.

Yet...while it appears they are 'clearing' the remnants of this series of figures, they have issued a brand new set...

...so, along with shots of the Fatleks and the Pencil-topper are the new Daleks, coming in six metallic colours, well two are sort of black and charcoal, but I think at least one is supposed to be metallic (graphite?), I thought they were a re-issue of the very first set of these figures, the small goldish-fawn ones from about three years ago, one of which the Philosophical Toad kindly sent me after I'd missed the original issue.

However, when I checked them against the picture in the previous post, it was quite clear these are a larger, better detailed return to the 'classic' Dalek shape, their weapon and eye stalks being particularly fine compared to the original one, so I hope we'll see them again in other colours.

Rather than keep-on adding to the product list on the old post here's an up-to-date version of the 'Master List':

Doctor Who Adventures Magazine
Tying-in with the BBC’s Dr. Who television series, it has some sort of premium/freebie on each cover.
Relevant Issues;
No. 98 - Cybermen (x5, approximately 25mm)
No. 99 - Daleks (x5, approximately 20mm, original type)
No. 170 - Dalek Soldiers (x5, approximately 30mm, ‘Fatlek’ type, orange, from; Premium World)
No. 183 - Dalek Slime (comes in a green Dalek container, approximately 45mm, ‘Fatlek’ type)
No. 186 - Build-your-own Dalek kit (approximately 54mm, ‘Fatlek’ type, silver/black)
No. 203 - Dalek Army (as No.170, but 17 ‘Fatlek’ Daleks in 5 colours, from; HMA)
No. 204 - 16 Mini Monsters/Monster Battle Pack (8 Cybermen - as No.98; 8 Sontarans, both from; HMA)
No. 205 - Dalek Pencil Set (4 ‘Fatlek’ pencil-toppers with pencils)
No. 211 - Dalek Slime (reissue of 183)
No. 223? - Build-your-own Dalek kit (reissue of 186, red/black, Xcel Concepts)
No. 224? - Dalek Slime (reissue of 183/211)
No.229 - Dalek (or other?) Micro-figure (from Character Options) + mini ‘Dr Who’ note pads)
No.237 - Weeping Angel Army (8x 2 poses = 16 figures in PVC/vinyl; HMA + collector card pack)
No.238 - Monster Battle Pack (6x each; HMA Cybermen and Sontarans; 5 Daleks, each of a different colour) 
No.241 - 16 Glow-in-the-dark Who Shapes (Some items of use as approximately 60mm flats)
No.254 - Mini Monster Army (8x each HMA Judoon and Ood, batch: 15885)
No.255 - Mini Monster Army (8x each HMA Silence and Silurian, batch: 15886)
No.259 - Grow Your Own Cyberman (Henbrant 25mm figure grows to approximately 54mm with Cartamundi trading cards, package by Xcel Concepts, batch: 18130)
No.261? - Dalek Attack Set (Xcel Concepts, paint-your-own 50mm Fatlek, 2 paints, brush, bouncy-ball and Dalek key-ring, batch: YBC 086)
No.262 - Ultimate Monster Army (HMA, 5 Fatleks, 2 weeping Angels - 1 of each pose - 8 other figures, batch: 15921)
No.267 - Mini Monster Army (HMA figures - blind assortment with Berkshire Labels Dr. Who stickers and Topps Moshi Monsters stickers)
No.284 - Mega Monster Army (HMA Creative, 5 Fatleks, 15 figures, batch: PR1001140)
No.294 - Monster Spinners (HMA, Silence, Sontaran and Cyberman with Dalek and Tardis pencil toppers, batch: PR1001144)
No.297 - Paint Your Own Tardis (two part kit with sticker sheet, brush and 3 paints, HMA, batch: 1001266)
No.300 - Ultimate Dalek Collection (5 Fatleks, 6 original type, HMA + Cartamundi collector card pack, batch: PR1001596)
No.303 - Mini Monster Army (HMA, assorted, different retailers had different batches, I saw 8x each Cybermen/Sontarans [batch: PR1001598] in a large Tesco's store with a thick layer of mildew and 8x Silence/Silurians [batch: 15886] in a local shop, some magazines had non-figural gifts - all old or clearance stock) 
No.304 - Mini Monster Army (HMA, 8x each Weeping Angels [only one pose; punching] and Silurians)
No.352 - Bumper Gift Set (9 different figures [2 new sculpts], 1 NS Dalek, 2 trading cards, HMA, batch 1004413)

Even if the originating PR/marketing companies don't rate them they make for very good war-gaming or role-play figures, can replace counters in board games and might make for an interesting cake-decoration! What do you do with yours?

D is for Kaleds...and Davros, Doctor...Dapol?

Pre-Scriptum...I love Daleks (from behind the sofa), but I increasingly hate the BBC. So, a bit later than I had hoped, here is the Dalek/Dr. Who round-up I mentioned in the autumn. There are a few thanks due on this one, thanks to the Philosophical Toad for A) sending me the earlier Dalek and Cyberman from the Doctor Who Adventures Magazine and B) telling me about the later ones and thanks also to Bill from Moonbase for sending me the white-metal Doctor and a lose Citadel Miniatures Dalek and Cyberman in sand plastic. These are about the same size as real life relative to each other, but there is a poorer quality line-up lower down for a definite scale/size comparison. From Left to right - top to bottom; 3 Marx 'Rolykins' Citadel Miniatures Kit 2 Character Options Daleks Doctor Who Adventures magazine Dalek, earlier version (maker unknown...Toad? Still got the card?) Premium World Dalek, later version (Doctor Who Adventures magazine) 2 Fisher Price/Strawberry Fayre board-game pieces 2 Product Enterprise Daleks Cherilea 'Swoppet' Dalek Premium World 'Dalek Slime' container (Doctor Who Adventures magazine) Henbrandt 'Build Your Own' Dalek (Doctor Who Adventures magazine)

Bottom shows a comparison shot between the two types of 'Rolykin'. When Product Enterprises first announced these in the...err...(quickly checks the boxes!)...late 1990's! I remember the collecting and Sci-fi press waxing lyrical about the return of Rolykins and other lapped-up bumpf from the toy companies PR department, but they were in fact quite different, first the base was rather too heavy (Boo!), but yet!...the detail was much better (RAY!!), although they were very pricey for such a small toy (Boo!), something to do with the amount of packaging I don't doubt! However the Entertainer chain of toy shops in the South-East would remainder each range for almost no money after it's 'run' and if that moment happened to occur as I visited the store I'd pick one up, so managed to get 4 from - I think - 2 series (RAY!) They are shown in the middle shot, left to right; 1st is a chrome plated 'movie' Dalek in silver, then the gold movie Dalek followed by the Dalek Invasion of Earth Limited Edition; Dalek with Sensor Dish Black / Classic Dalek and finally a Special Weapons Gunner Dalek. The convoy lights/horns are the main way of telling them apart, the first series had short ones, the second series had long ones. The full range would seem to be thus; 1999 Dr Who and the [TV] Dalek Rolykins (short lights on head) - Drone (Blue) - Imperial (White) - Supreme (Red) - Emperor (Gold) - Command (Black) - Battle (Pale Blue) - Darlek Invasion of Earth Limited Edition; Dalek with Sensor Dish Black / Classic Dalek 2000 Dr Who and the Movie Dalek Rolykins (long lights) - Blue/silver head - Black - Red - Silver/blue head - Gold Chrome-plated Limited Editions - Gold - Silver - Cherry Red 2000 - Others - Special Weapons Gunner - Incubating Dalek - Davros Rolykin The top photograph shows some of the other Marx Rolykins, Batman and Robin - having clearly eaten all the pies - are pretending not to see the Dalek threatening Earth... "What was that noise Robin, that noise that sounded like a Dalek threatening Earth?" "Farting-fireworks Batman! I think it was an auto-exhaust backfiring" "Yes, That'll be it, let's move over there a ways, I think I saw a Kebab-van go round the corner" Meanwhile - Lenny the Lion (I think he was called Lenny? Not having the web here as I write this, nor having time to look it up before I upload it later this week you'll have to Google it yourselves!) our 1966 Savior intends to give the Dalek a good old British drubbing with a Milbro orange-plastic World Cup football! "Exterminate That! You shriveled-prune in a colander! Three-nil, threeee-nilll threenil....." It must be said however, that despite the vast sum these change hands for, boxed, at shows or on FeeBay, the body is still the most accurate representation of a badminton shuttle-cock in the toy world. There may be others to find, gold, blue or yellow?

The rather fuzzy 'sizer' top left, construction of the Fisher Price board-game Dalek, the lump of metal in the base often comes loose and rattles around inside these - now - quite old models and similar break-down of the Chrilea Dalek. Finally the 30mm white metal Doctor sent to me as part of a swap by Bill at Moobase. I think it's John Pertwee in his foppish Victoriana, but Bill thinks it's [someone else I can't remember and can't find the email and I've got 3 minutes to finish editing this so maybe he'll tell us who it was!?] any other votes?. The Fisher Price Dalek is a classic example of the madness of collecting vis-a-vis dealers. This game, or the lose pieces always fetches a pretty penny at collectors auctions or toy shows, yet turns up at car-boot sales almost as often as Kadgagoogoo 12" singles, for pennies. it was issued by Strawberry Fayre for a while before the Fisher-Price re-branding and may have had a Mattel label as well, ran for a fair few years and sold by the bushel. The only problem is the automated Maginot Line cupolas in place of a Dalek head! As both companies also issued the Dad's Army board game with cardboard flats of the main characters, it may be that Strawberry Fayre were the licensing 'arm' of Fisher Price, until corporate image became all in the 1980's and it no longer served to have separate labels in-house?

The Citadel/Games Workshop bits, strangely for a company that has spent the last 34 years turning 22mm into 32mm by half-millimeter increments these were almost too small! and are the smallest on show here today. But perfectly formed! I hadn't the heart to take the sand ones off the sprue, as the grey ones had come freed from the card anyway at some other time, so it was brilliant when Bill sent me a couple. Next question; do I risk stripping the paint off the Cyberman or wait for an unpainted one to turn up? The excess stock of what seems to have been a unpopular line (as part of the GW oeuvre, yet now having quite a cult status) was cleared in the bag shown, and some were kicking around a dealers stall at Andy Harfields show a few years ago, where I got the loose one.

All the recent stuff from the BBC's Doctor Who Adventures off-shoot. Various companies supply the giveaways/premiums and you do have to be quick to get them, this - in an age of failing/short-lived kid's magazines - is usually sold out within a day or two, well it is round here! Known lines (all shown bar the orange one which is only in the group photo's above) Issue No. 98 - Cybermen (x5, approximately 25mm, grey) Issue No. 99 - Daleks (x5, approximately 20mm, original type, gold) Issue No. 170 - Dalek Soldiers (x5, approximately 30mm, new type, orange) Issue No. 183 - Dalek Slime [container] (approximately 45mm, new type, green) Issue No. 186 - Build-your-own Dalek kit (approximately 54mm, new type, black & white) Issue No. 203 - Dalek Army (as No.170, but 17 ‘Fat'lek’ Daleks in 5 colours) Issue No. 204 - 16 Mini Monsters/Monster battle Pack (8 Cybermen - as No.98; 8 Sontarians) Issue No. 205 - Dalek Pencil Set (4 ‘Fat'lek’ pencil-toppers) Issue No. 211 - Dalek Slime (reissue of 183) Issue No. 223? - Build-your-own Dalek kit (reissue of 186, red/black, Xcel Concepts) Issue No. 224? - Dalek Slime (reissue of 183/211) Issue No. 229 - Dalek (or other?) Micro-figure (from Character Options) + mini ‘Dr Who’ note pads Issue No. 237 - Weeping Angel Army (16 figures [8x2 poses] in PVC/vinyl; HMA + collector card pack) Issue No .238 - Monster Battle Pack (6x each; HMA Cybermen and Sontarans; 5 Daleks, each of a different colour) Issue No. 241 - 16 Glow-in-the-dark Who Shapes (Some items of use as approximately 60mm ‘Flats’) Issue No. 254 - Mini Monster Army (8 Judoon and 8 Ood) Issue No. 255 - Mini Monster Army (8 Silence and 8 Silurians)

When the Philosophical Toad first mentioned the new design, I thought she was just having a go at the crap modeling of the orange miniatures against the gold ones from the year before, but have since realised that - as part of their determined effort to dumb down the whole country and lose the license fee - the retards at the BBC have built a 'new' Dalek (I guess it was part of a story-line?) which has lost both the Battleship-prow of the original and the 'Soldiers-spine', and in so doing has lost its meanness, its menace, in favour of some PC fluffiness, all roundy-cornered and not so nasty?? If something's not broke...don't try to fix it! As Batman & Robin have eaten all the pies, I guess the Cyberman has been at the cakes?

...[Wane Slob at his babies Christening] "It's not a Buy'bee it's a cayke, Jewanna'piece Vicka'...aw'riot if we cum back next wayke?"

A selection of the Character Options micro-figures, like most of this new production, it starts life hideously over-priced (for what it is), and after a set shelf-life gets cleared for a few pence. Sainsbury's were selling-off the 3-figure sets when we moved here (autumn 2008) for 99p and Toys-r-Us shipped-out the 5-figure sets and ships for a similar mark-down. Way-way-back in the Dark Times, when Dr. Who fans kept their little magazines going with monthly calls for Dr. Who to be resurrected, and the Bloody Bastard Corporation kept saying "No, no plans, no demand, kids/times have changed, ran its course" etc...etc...ect...ad. nauseum, there was a little company in South Wales called Dapol, who fed the fans with a small range of Dr. Who merchandise, and paid the Big Bad Cretins an annual fee for the 'privilege' of keeping alive this dead concept. Now it came to pass that the Boringly Bland Cripples at Broadcasting house, suddenly, and a year or two before they announced the 're-birth' of their dead-baby, ended all licenses with Dapol and yeay, verily, did they give no good reason. Then, Supprrrise! Supprrrise! chooks! a couple of years later...they're issuing all sorts of licenses left, right and centre to global corporate toy giants and faceless marketing concerns, with 99% of all production in China to meet the demand for the bright, new, "worlds ready for the return, can't think why we ever ended it" Doctor. Now...Dapol operate in one of this Unions unemployment black-spots...what the BBC did was against everything it was set-up to represent, everything it should aspire to be and everything that is morally or ethically decent about and within a civilised society, and for that alone they should have lost the License Fee. So that's my Daleks but there are dozens of others, in the larger sizes for instance Marx alone made several in tin-plate and plastic, Poplar (was it?) did a 12-inch blow-moulded one, Cherilea did a bigger one, various plastic money-box Daleks have been produced with or without a license, and talking of no license, Hong Kong and Japan were the source for lots of battery-operated machines. Even now there's a board game with a bunch of small scale gold Daleks I keep seeing but never quite bring myself to pay for!

Such are the mysteries of synergy, that while I was preparing this article the other day I had no idea there was an upcoming issue of compatible figures! Therefore 'Bod' Paul's comments were a bit of a mystery, and I sort of thought "Ah, she (his sister) must have gone to one of those excellent comic markets (like the one I once got the 1st and 2nd issues of Heavy Metal from under Hanover station) and bought a couple of copies of one of the back issues mentioned in this article"!...

...however, I then popped over to Moonbase before my aloted time was up here at the Library, and found a whole bunch of Daleks in new colours and found WOTAN talking about a Dalek 'Army', so over to the newsagents in the main square, where I managed to get the last one! The 'last one' being a pattern that has followed my attempts to obtain these issues from the start! Not only did I now have a Dalek Army of my own, but the 'next issue' feature told me I'd be able to get Cyberman and Sontarian units as well (pencil toppers this week!), so was busy this weekend tracking down two of them.

My Sontarians have been taken out of the mould early and two of them are going to sleep, hot water should provide a cure, while a couple of the Cybermen seem a bit shaky...probably the weight of their body-armour or all those pies?

More updates below - in her own words - courtesy of Philotoadia meandering over from the Moonbase... The badly painted ones are 6 mm metal "Attack Robots" (NOT Daleks, in a bid to avoid paying a licence I am guessing). These are from Irregular Miniatures, and I think there might be rules for playing games with them in the later "Tusk" rule books.

The black Dalek is the one which came from an Advent calendar some years ago. Cannot recall the exact year, but definitely during David Tennant's time. [Well jellous of the last one!]

Absolutely the last update...for now! This was last week's effort, 2D pencil-topping Fat'leks, I love that title Toad...we should go on to Dr. Who forums commando-stylie and use it until they can't help but use it too!

These are currently to be found in Sainsbury's and Toy'R'Us among others, the trick with them if you are a Dalek Fan is; (whispers...) Squeeze the bag, the Daleks are obvious!

A is for Archiving

I thought it might be useful to look at how I organize my collection, and deal with the mass of information/data that a collection of this kind tends to generate if you approach it in the anal manner I do!

Taking the Darleks I got the other day as a prime, recent example, here is a quick guide to archiving a new arrival in the collection;

The loose set gets put in a click-shut bag 4x5 1/2 inches (none of that jumped-up French artilleryman's metric shite here!!) with an index card that has the maker, the set title and whether or not it's a complete set written-in.

Two sheets of A4 paper are also headed with the manufacturer and/or brand, one is given a plastic sleeve and the remains of the packaging, the other gets a thumbnail sketch of the company history, other sets, piracies...anything relevant - sculptors, contact details, box types, colour variations, dates, scale, material etc...etc...

The 'detail' sheet then goes into the A-Z 'Book Manuscript', this is for small scale figures only (15mm-45mm) and currently extends to two volumes with about 500 companies listed and appendixes. In this case the sheet slips between Preiser and Pressman.

Had the items encountered been a figure-less space ship or box of trees, tractors or terrapins, this sheet wouldn't be raised at all, but Darleks are figures and these were around 25/28mm in scale/size, so the sheet is added.

The sleeved ephemera gets slotted into the larger multi-volume files on all things military and civilian - toy & model - Metal, card and plastic. Lying in between Premier and Pressfix, this leaver arch file is one of two for the letter 'P', being Po-Q.

If the item of packaging or ephemera is by a larger/more common company like Hornby, Lego or Airfix it has it's own dedicated file, series of files or other storage box.


Finally the carded set goes in a larger box with other examples of boxed, bagged or carded 'minor makes' (which I haven't bothered to photograph) while the de-carded set goes in this box of loose minor makes, nestling between a bag of Politoys spare AFV crewmen and a loose complete set of Pressmen Scooby-Doo board-game figures/playing pieces.

Obviously, with the exception of Pressman, the adjoining makers are different in all three archives, so....I'm starting to create a forth digital archive, which entails something along the lines of the first sheet above as a Word Doc. which itself is then put in a file with all images, scans and stuff pertaining to that company. This is a slow business, but as I get on top of one - it will go on the A-Z Blog in simplified text format as a list of known figures/products.

At the moment this is not yet really working either as it resides between a different Premier and Primo! Also cross-reference files and separate lists of ships/vessels, food premiums, space ships etc, need to be brought together...when I'm a hundred-and-five it should all start to make perfect sense!

D is for Darlek and The Dr...Doctor Who?...Exactly!

These were given away free with the Doctor Who Adventures magazine last week, I only noticed them on the Monday (it's a Thursday-to-Thursday publication cycle), so grabed the last one in Sainsbury's Wantage, then managed to get the last one in Great Shefford's petrol (filling) station on Wednesday night!

The reason I show them is not to crow (although I did get two sets!!!!), but to point out that about two years ago these were issued with the same magazine in Gold plastic, and about 3 weeks later they were followed by Silver Cybermen, sooo; If they are following a free gift 'cycle' look out for Cybermen any day now?

You can also watch feeBay for these on £4.99 buy-it-now in the next few weeks as that's what happened last time...the mag is £2.20