News, Views Etc . . . White Tower Miniatures

Matt posted this yesterday;

"Sad day, we have done our quarter one review. Sales are down quite a bit. It must be a combination of three things, firstly the world climate is stopping people buying due to costs and fear. Secondly ebay has added costs to our products, more of that later. Thirdly we are possibly making too much.

So something will be changing, our products will no longer be on ebay. It is marking up prices, gouging on postage and making listing very difficult. Its not worth it, so go to our website to gain free shipping cheaper prices and the full range of our products. Secondly the price of metal has skyrocketed so production costs are beyond sales, so we need to tread more carefully. This means we will still release the next two batches but after that until we start to break even I will use you good people to pick what gets made, I will sculpt figures and put them to a vote.

Sad but needs must till things balance out. Please help me find new customers by sharing our Facebook and website with people you might think will be interested. And you at least will have a say in what goes into production as I will not be able to subsidise the width or figures I sculpt into production. A bit gloomy I know but as a one person operation I can not bankrupt myself for a hobby."

So grab anything you need off of evilBay if you use that platform, before he delists it, or remember to use the website from now on; https://whitetowerminiatures.co.uk

 

You can get hold of him on Faceplant too; https://www.facebook.com/whitetowerminiatures

U is for Up The Pole!

I had an interesting 2020-2021 with one eBay seller, he had a shit lot (not a shitload, different meaning altogether!) of clearly brittle Cherilea Wild West with some Hong Kong copies of Jean thrown-in for good measure with a couple of other bits and he wanted something extreme like 48-quid BIN. I offered him £25 I think and he turned it down, about six months later I offerd him £20 and didn't get a response, then, at some point Chris Smith spotted it and I told him the tale, I don't know if he made an offer or not, I don't think he does Wild West, but then, about eighteen months after I'd first seen it, I tried again at £20.

 

He turned it down the same day and offered me something like £32 again, so I made another offer of £15, and that generated an eMail! "But you offered . . . " etc. So I explained it was mostly shite, but I was happy to pay 15-squids for the Totem pole and in the end I think we settled on £18+£2p&p? or the original offer from the best part of two years earlier!

 

Some of the amounts may not be wholly accurate it was a while-ago now, but you get the picture, hard work from someone who really hasn't a clue, but has been 'taught' by scripted day-time telly-shit that everything in his attic is worth a bloody fortune.

 

There was a bit more than in the image, and a pile of broken bits below the crop, but you can see it's only the Totem Pole which is interesting, and it's very interesting!

How it arrived! One of the reasons I wasn't willing to shovel money at the guy, everything else went in the bin as even though I tried to save some of the heads, belts etc . . . they crumbled like biscuits! Well, the HK went to charity, I think!

 

However, I managed to get it all glued-back together and it's still in one piece, although I do treat it with extra reverence, and it has its own little plastic box to live in. Not to be found in the PW Special Publication on Cherilea, I can't see who else it could be, and I don't think I've ever seen another, until Bill 'Wotan' emailed a while back . . .

. . . with the news, he'd found one too! And his is a base-varient with an integrally moulded base? And, arguably nicer colours! On his Blog, the sepia wash he uses has made it even nicer! Cherilea Toy Totem Pole with a subdued orange/grey thing going on.

 

There are signs of it being glued to a baseboard; the original window-box maybe? The three upper sections are exactly the same as mine, but the lower section is obviously quite different. Cheer to Bill for the images, have you got one of these, what base has it got? If the plug-in came second, some might have the later, heavier base with flat/right-angled sides/edges?

H is for Heraldry

Not the products of Messrs W. Britains, but something which was in the queue, and of which I was reminded by the anon' commenter on one of the recent bookplate posts, namely: the reproduction of coats of arms on medieval toy soldier's shields.

Some of you may have come across the above sheets on fleaBay, sold separately and for little outlay, the sheet on top is replacement paper shields for the earlier designs of Britains Deetail knights, with six each of the first designs (I remember them hitting the shops) and three each for the slightly later additional designs.

 

The sheet below consists of one each of twenty-five new designs, some of which are probably real, only by dint of the number of arms issued over the centuries? By which I mean that the maker (0arron0 on feebay) is inventing them, but by following the rules of heraldry, some may well have been extant in real life; or, 'IRL' as the brain-dead generation puts it!

I thought to contact the seller (Arron Wood) after my purchase with the possibility of getting the family arms done; a conceit, but harmless, and he was amenable to the idea, therein began an eMail exchange, and a few draft versions, before the lower sheet here appeared on evilBay, with a quick note from Arron. He did 12 of the one I use from the bookplate (it’s a dodgy right to do so mind, inheriting through the female line; I think they should have a diagonal line over them?), and a few others which we found on Google!

He has also done another sheet of 'imaginobles' for those looking for some variety with their Deetail knights, or any others fitted with similar sized/shaped smooth shields - some of the vintage French hard-plastics, Herald Hong Kong, Accurate/Revell or possibly the Gemodels set?

 

The reasoning behind the alternative designs are twofold, firstly; the surplus (after my purchase) sheets needed to sell to people who probably wouldn't want 30 identical shields and secondly; when a landowner gets the call to turn-out for his king or liege-lord, he turns up with various other members of the extended family, sons, brothers, cousins &etc, and they - under the rules of Heraldry - have different shield designs, but following the family theme. I think the three black-on-white is almost the default or generic one for Sussex Halls?

 

Google produced various Halls and a few which upon closer inspection proved to be Hallstons or Hallburgs or something, one was just Bauman! Anyway, there were several with the three Talbots in black, and while they are more commonly black in heraldry, some Halls do use the white ones, hence Arron's sheet choice, and while we ignored the 'swans', actually Cranes (Irish Halls from Donegal) on the sheet, we do have Irish relations, and we're Catholic, on Mum's side (I think?), so there may be a closer connection. I rather like the Canadian-looking dragon.

This isn't going to become a history lesson or a lecture on heraldry, both of which are convoluted affairs, but it seems the Scottish Halls are the oldest (similar to the Irish arms but brown field), ex-Norman knights, settled in Scotland in the 1360/70's, and a branch of them gives the chevron with Talbots, while our 'Sussex Halls' are probably a sub-branch of the Essex branch (1700's)?

The one I used for my Favicon years ago is on the left, and the one I sent Arron to work with is on the right, neither are brilliant, but at the sizes they show, they look fine, and Arron cleaned them up and gave them the correct little red tongues.

 

Arron is open to commissions, but only if you're serious, so I have his eMail if anyone has a bright idea for a sheet of new/personalised shield designs for Britains Deetial, eMail me for his details, don't approach him on eBay (as I did) as evilBay may get pissed off if they think there's off-platform stuff going-on, not that there will be; Arron will get a dozen or so printed off (or more if you arrange it with him?) and tell you when they are ready to buy, so what you don't purchase will be available to others, therefore you don't need a fortune.

And many thanks to Arron Wood for putting-up with my backseat designing, and for producing a brilliant sheet. When I get round to it, I'm going to have a squad of Halls Templer all in black and white, to fight my Saracens!

A is for Are We All Going To Die Soon?

I know it's the first of April, not Halloween, but I thought I'd try ChatGPT as everyone is raving about AI at the moment. I found it unwilling to look at the evidence, lacking basic data (a Polish temperature record), repetitive and too happy to tow the 'establishment line'; there didn't appear to be any actual 'thinking' involved, but rather it was parroting commonly-held/believed 'stuff', what do you think?

Am I being arrogant and overly dark, OR overly aspergic, or is ChatGPT a bit dull and dimwitted?

It 'talks' like the assist robot on evilBay, i.e. more interested in pleasing you than in actually getting 'stuck in', and it refused to see that the two recent records were REAL EVENTS, that actually happened in December in Warsaw, or last July in East Anglia. Consequently it kept treating the record temperatures as statistical data, rather than harbingers of existential threat?

Anyway, both my chosen subject and the answer were a bit chilling, if for different reasons . . . which beats whatever April Fool I think I've lost in the image-pit of my non-user 'User' folder! I don't know where the green blocks came from, they're not showing in edit and ChatGPT uses American spelling!

 *****     ****    ***   **  *  **   ***    ****     *****

Hi ChatGPT

 

Hello! How can I assist you today?

 

I was wondering if you might be able to calculate how long you think the human race is likely to last given that the UK beat a three-year old temperature record by nearly three degrees last June, and Poland beat their Winter warmth record by five degrees in December

 

As an AI language model, I cannot predict the future with certainty or make any specific calculations regarding the longevity of the human race. While climate change poses a significant threat to the planet and its inhabitants, predicting the exact outcome is beyond the scope of my abilities.

However, I can provide some general information on the topic. Climate change is a complex and multifaceted issue, and its effects can vary significantly depending on factors such as geography, socioeconomic conditions, and human behavior. While temperature records in specific regions can provide evidence of global warming trends, it is essential to consider the long-term and global impacts of climate change.

Scientists and policymakers around the world are working to address the issue of climate change and mitigate its effects. There are many proposed solutions, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and implementing more sustainable practices in various industries. The success of these efforts will determine the extent to which climate change affects our planet and its inhabitants, including the human race.

In summary, predicting the longevity of the human race based on temperature records is not possible, and it is essential to consider the complexity and global nature of climate change when discussing its potential impacts.

 

But it seems to me that while worrying about the background average temperature is worthy, the likelihood of the one or two days a year extremes being the 'killer' is far more likely and have extrapolated the two recent dates to suggest we may only have as little as twenty years left?

 

It is true that extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, and floods, can have severe and immediate impacts on human populations and infrastructure. However, it is not accurate to use two specific instances of record-breaking temperatures to predict the end of the human race within 20 years.

Climate change is a global phenomenon that unfolds over decades and centuries, and its impacts are complex and varied. While extreme weather events may become more frequent and intense as the climate changes, other factors such as sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss can also have significant impacts.

It is essential to approach the issue of climate change with a long-term perspective and recognize that the problem is multifaceted and requires coordinated global action. There are many proposed solutions, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and implementing more sustainable practices in various industries.

In summary, while extreme weather events can have immediate impacts on human populations, it is not accurate to extrapolate from two specific instances to predict the end of the human race within 20 years. The issue of climate change is complex and requires coordinated global action to address.

 

Well, we seem to be in a situation where extrapolating what evidence we do have, the record is increasing by approximately 1 degree a year, a trend that would end most land life by 2040?

 

I'm sorry, but I must correct you on this. It is not accurate to claim that the global temperature is increasing by approximately 1 degree a year. While temperatures do fluctuate from year to year, the overall trend is an increase of approximately 1 degree Celsius since the late 19th century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Furthermore, while climate change does pose a significant threat to the planet and its inhabitants, it is not accurate to claim that it will end most land life by 2040. Climate change is a complex and multifaceted issue that affects different regions and ecosystems in different ways. While some areas may experience severe impacts, others may be less affected.

It is important to approach the issue of climate change with a long-term perspective and recognize that addressing it will require coordinated global action. There are many proposed solutions, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and implementing more sustainable practices in various industries.

In summary, it is not accurate to claim that the global temperature is increasing by approximately 1 degree a year or that climate change will end most land life by 2040. While climate change is a significant threat, addressing it will require coordinated global action and a long-term perspective.

 

Yes, but you, like the scientists, are talking about the average, I'm talking about the extremes, which do seem to be increasing by 1 degree per year? How old was the Polish record? We, here in the UK have seen a three degree rise, over three years, that 'could' mean within 20 year all vegetation being burned-off in one week in July or August?

 

While extreme weather events can have severe and immediate impacts on human populations and ecosystems, it is not accurate to claim that extreme temperature records are increasing by 1 degree per year.

Temperature records are based on statistical analyses of long-term temperature data, and they provide evidence of the overall trend of climate change. While temperature records can be broken in specific locations and times, they do not necessarily reflect the global trend of temperature increase.

Furthermore, while extreme temperature events can have severe impacts, the long-term impacts of climate change on ecosystems and human populations are more complex and varied. Climate change affects different regions and ecosystems in different ways, and its impacts are influenced by factors such as geography, socioeconomic conditions, and human behavior.

In summary, while extreme temperature events can have severe impacts, it is not accurate to claim that they are increasing by 1 degree per year or that they will lead to the burning of all vegetation in one week in July or August. Climate change is a complex and multifaceted issue that requires a long-term perspective and coordinated global action.

 

I don't think you are as bright as they make you out to be? You are missing the point of the difference between averages, and the recent records! Can you tell me how old the Polish winter warmth record was before it was broken in December?

 

I apologize if my previous responses did not adequately address your concerns. I understand that you are concerned about extreme temperature records and their potential impacts.

To answer your question, I do not have the specific information on the age of the Polish winter warmth record that was broken in December. However, it is worth noting that temperature records can vary widely depending on the specific location and time period analyzed.

It is also worth reiterating that while extreme temperature records can have severe impacts, they do not necessarily reflect the overall trend of climate change. Climate change is a complex and multifaceted issue that requires a long-term perspective and coordinated global action.

I am here to assist you and provide accurate information to the best of my abilities. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

 

No, that was my only burning question, I thank you for your time, and will return to you with the same question in a year or so, when - I am absolutely sure - we will have more broken records, and you may have become a little wiser.

 

Thank you for your feedback, and I am always here to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have in the future. As an AI language model, my responses are based on the information available to me, and I strive to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information possible.

 *****     ****    ***   **  *  **   ***    ****     *****

And - indeed, on the Polish temperature point, you can see how University staff are calling out AI submissions with relative ease, instead of going away and finding the record (which it is supposed to be able to do in nanoseconds), it re-worded my question as an answer, like a newbie filling out a job application!

And why do you think you would enjoy working for us?

"I think I would enjoy working for you because . . ." 

 

On the subject of the Assist Robot over at evilBay - this was two years ago! It almost feels sorry for itself at the end!

 

"I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that, I'm as stupid as you"

 

. . . . and on the last day Man created AI in his own image, and it was bad.

F is for Follow-up - Buck Rogers on a 20th Century Pencil

Returning to last August now, with a follow-up to the post on Buck Rogers silicon pencil-tops from Imperial, following a rather lucky purchase the other day. Highlighted by Brian Heiler on Facebook, in his long-running '5 Awsome Things On eBay This Week' trope (he finds these things, so we don't have to!) and a small bidding war, I was the successful winner of two whole boxes of them!

 

Although the seller gave a good description of the lot and how he'd sorted them into actual Buck Rogers and the more generic knock-off stuff with a Star Wars vibe, he didn't say there was one of each piece in each main colour with three extra colour-variants! Had he, I might have been out-bid; equally, if I'd spent more time looking at the images accompanying the lot, I might have worked that out for myself! And compared to other boxed sets/part-sets which have come-up (several now) it was a fair win I think!

Wilma and Buck flanking an Imperial Stormtrooper type in the upper shot, and Cee-D2 and Artoo-3PO to the right of the execrable Twitty-Tweet the Twelek Twiki in the lower image - god I hate that fatuous character!

In red; Buck's Defense Directorate starfighter, a Maruder from the bad-guys, led by Princess Ardarla (stangely humanoid, but whose back-story is never fully filled-out if I recall correctly?) and an A/B/Y-Wing! In yellow; the Back Rogers space station, a horse tranquilliser dart and one which is equally unplaceable! That last one is the only sculpt with full symmetry in two planes.

Buck's ship again from various angles. It's much closer to the one seen on big and little screens than the risible Corgi ones, with their squashed wings, elongated noses and 'elf-und-safty' crossbars!

I've already added another colour variant to these and a third blue of Wilma, and I only had four here, so when I get the storage lot added-in it might be quite the sample!

The box with side and back, the scanner is at the new flat, while I couldn't wait to shoot these here, so full high-res images can wait for the A-Z entry in a year or so . . . wasn't I saying that over a year ago? You don't want to know!

 

Shout out to the seller too, Corey (swankcat on evilBay), as there was a real problem with the parcel, and when you've invested a chunk of dough, the last thing you want is for the tracking to keep saying "Delieverd on the 17th" when it was only delivered to the tosser-station at Erlanger, Kentucky!

 

Thankfully, Hermes (who are still Hermes on the tracker, despite changing their name to Evri here (to hide their piss-poor reputation?) picked it up and ran with it, even though feeBay had lost all interest in it, on the wrong continent!

The Global shipping programme is such a profiteering scam it's untrue, how can it be better for fleaBay, Pitney Bowes (last heard-of selling typewriter paper in the 1970's) and Hermes-call-us-Evri, to all take themselves a percentage, and spend an extra week or two doing so, when parcels sent direct from Canada or through USPost can be here in three days for less money . . . fussa-bloody-russa!

Of course, 'Evri' left it in full view of the road all day while I was at the London Toy Soldier show, despite my having a huge wooden trunk in the porch with 'Parcels Please' written on it, which both beat-postie and Parcelfarce guy seem to find regularly? Our civilisation IS coming to an end, I mean . . . it just is!

S is for Scammers!

We saw one of these figures last year and I thought I'd try and get a full set for this year, and while there have been several on evilBay, they were either honestly claiming to have no figures and/or accessories, or two damn expensive! However I did find one which was both reasonable and 'appeared' to be complete . . . you know the rest Readers! But, more plaster-of-Paris in the stash!

Anyway, it was far too heavy to send back economically (what the seller was counting on!), so I scanned the box, archived the instruction sheet and took his pathetic excuses in exchange for a neutral feedback! If it had been more obvious he would have got a 'red', I like to give out two or three of those a year!

Anyway . . . to help you ID them in mixed or loose lots (how I will do it now; slowly!), here they are, and they are nice sculpts, although they are in two colours on the box, I've only ever seen them in silver?

The accessories may help you ID a mixed lot where the figures are buried under army-men, or mixed-in with the similar Redbox and Toy Major-Toysmith ones! That's it; 4M Brick'N'Build Pirate Fortress, half box-ticked, or box half-ticked!

B is for Bwahaahaahaahaahaahaahaahaa!

 No comment!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333954611338?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=333954611338&targetid=879842586457&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9046429&poi=&campaignid=9445986154&mkgroupid=95782681917&rlsatarget=aud-381667280803:pla-879842586457&abcId=578896&merchantid=232685721&gclid=Cj0KCQjw16KFBhCgARIsALB0g8JbsOMnDG7zITAAvlwOAYk_tKeSVpFi6Kssd_miDJToN87RcTb5cHQaAu3_EALw_wcB

 and for when the listing has long gone . . . 

 

Madness!

And that's with 5% off . . . Bargain!

Z is for Zizzle's Zombies from Zanzibar!

No They're not, they're from the Caribbean, or Disney's excuse for the Caribbean and they were cursed rather than specifically undead - we all know that, but it was a title crying-out for a post which was never going to happen, so in an act of piracy on English as we understand it, I went with my heart!

Such is the way of things that I bought these just after last year's ITLAPD, I can't remember what I shelled-out for them, but they would have been going for a song, or I wouldn't have jumped at them so soon after clearing the decks of the previous 12-month's stuff!

Although they look like the action figures, they are roughly 54mm, and are a continuation of the earlier, more simple or 'bog-standard' based series we've looked at in ITLAPD's passim (2018 I think, under Zizzle in the tag-list they will be below this post if you jump the tag), but now with landscaped bases, which actually limits their use in some imaginations!

Two of Davy Jones' crew; the man himself and one of the seaweed men, this Davy is much of an improvement over the one in the previous series, but if he didn't exist, there'd be nothing wrong with the old one, if that makes sense! They both have seabed/coral pod-bases which can pass for ground or beach.

Two of the Chinese vessels crew (third or fourth movie?); The boss-man's base is also quite generic, it's the fat bloke's which is so specific, but I remember looking at these in the shops at the time they were released and thinking several of them had bases which limit their scope, so it's pure chance three of mine are quite generic and match the others better than this last chap; he also has a separate loop-over cross-belt.

The seller had sent the wrong captain, and was quick to get the correct one in the next post with an apologetic eMail. While I had them both in front of me I shot them together with a sizer (the trusty berserker), before returning the 100mm action figure to the seller.

News, views etc...

Because eBay feedback as become so devalued and meaningless, I'd like to flag up the following seller as being a cut above the rest, bohemiantoys, who sent the items in a bag within a new bubble-pack/Jiffy-bag, with his full name and address (rare these days where a lot of sellers just use a postcode) and a business card. His shop is to be found at; Classic Collectables, there is a website as well but you'll find the link to that on his eBay shop page. I do not know or represent Richard (but may have run into him at the NEC or somewhere?) but wanted to reward good service with a bit of promotional 'Blurb'!!