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| DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION |
In a recent post, I showed you the cover of The FANTASTIC FOUR #126 (though they'd dropped the 'article' by then), and mentioned that I purchased it at the same time as a 2nd copy of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1. This was on Friday, October 6th 1972. However, I have a regret about that day, which is this.
In the window of a little toy shop, which, if memory serves, resembled The TINKERER's repair shop seen in The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #2, was a DALEK Money Box by toymaker COWAN de GROOT. It was clearly based on the MARX Dalek, but was even less accurate. In fact, in profile, it resembled the redesign on the DOCTOR WHO TV show a few years back.
Therefore, not being terribly impressed by it, I didn't buy it, even though I could have. Now I wish I had, and whenever I see a photograph of it, I regret not purchasing it when I had the chance. It commands a small fortune nowadays, but that's not what fuels my regret - it's simply the 'time travel' aspect of the item - apropos considering where the Daleks made their TV debut.
So, readers, do you have any regrets like that, where you recall having the opportunity of acquiring something, but chose not to? However, don't let me hold you back in any way; feel free to air any regrets you may care to share. Honestly, you'll feel far better for it. Hey, trust me, I'm a doctor. (Of all things related to nostalgia.)
******
And yes, there's a plate with a picture of a Dalek on it, clearly based on this one.
12 comments:
I had one of those Dalek money boxes. I got it from Castle Market in Sheffield. My big regrets are that, while pretending that my pencil box was its supreme Dalek, I managed to drop the pencil box on the money box and break off its eye stalk and that I later threw it away, meaning I shall never be able to sell it for a vast fortune.
If only someone had told you about glue, then you might not now be in this heart-rending situation. We all feel your pain. (And your poverty.)
I think I've managed to acquire most of the things I never bought the first time round, like:
I bought The Illustrated Roger Zelazny when it came out, in Cambridge's premier bookshop Heffers, but left the Illustrated Harlan Ellison 'cos it was falling apart, with half the pages loose, even before I picked it up from the shelf.
Years later I did get a copy, though that one was in a similar sorry state.
And the punchline is an Ellison interview in The Comics Journal, where he complains that HIS copy is falling apart, while he's doing the interview...
I've had books like that, PD. I carefully remove the covers, take off the old glue on the spine, then apply wood glue to bind all the pages together again. Also, there are a number of things I've regretted not buying at the time, but managed to remedy that situation by acquiring years later. Nor everything 'though.
I can’t really recall to many things at all I regret not buying at the time but I wish I had held onto somethings such as a couple of my matchbox cars (in original boxes), my 1960s Batmobile, my wind up 60s Japanese toy robot and a few comics ( Mighty Crusaders issue 5, Wham and Pow first issues, Superman v Muhamad Ali, some Alan Class comics and a good few late 60s / early 70s DCs) but nothing I would lose sleep over or buy again at ludicrous prices.
Actually one thing I would love to get again is the book where I first saw Ken Reid’s “Fudge the Elf” - it wasn’t a Fudge book but was part of a bumper book of stories. I did manage to track the Ken Reid story down a few years ago in a Savoy books reprint of “Fudge”. I held onto that book for a few years (from about age 4 – 8) then lost it or threw it out but I know I will never get it again as I can’t recall the cover, title etc of if indeed if my memory is 100% correct (maybe it was a memory of a few books combined – my childhood recall is not as sharp as yours Kid)
I've seen pictures of Fudge The Elf books, but they've never really appealed to me for some reason, PM. I might pick up one some day 'though, seeing as it's Ken Reid. Regarding the Superman Vs. Ali Treasury, DC reprinted it as a hardback a few years ago, and it should still be available. There are two versions: a deluxe one, which is slightly smaller, and another one which is approximately the same size as the original. As for childhood recall, unfortunately mine is not as sharp as it used to be.
I had one, Kid, I can remember the smell of the (cheap) plastic!
Of course it went the same way as all my Daleks and YES, I do regret it, but nothing new there!
Wouldn't it be great if there's a Heaven, JP, and when we die, we're reunited with all our old toys and comics?
I regret getting rid of my old Action Man and his associated costumes. They were all old and well played with but it never occurred to me that some of the outfits would never be made again ( the WW 2 Germans). I didn't buy them because I was a Nazi I bought them because they good guys had to fight some bad guys. Otherwise you end with with a modern Marvel movie were good guys end up fighting good guys.
Well, be fair, PS, that's what they did in the comics back in the '60s & '70s. They'd meet, fight, then team-up to fight the baddies. Why not track down some old Action Man stuff on eBay? You could probably replace most of the items you had that way. Believe it or not, some bargains can be had.
Here's a regret, Kid, see if you're familiar with it? I regret ( and THIS happens to me TIME AND TIME AFECKINGAIN! ) stacking that one last item on the pile, - causing another fecking landslide! And so many items ALWAYS get bent / creased and, in my mind, spoilt!
It's a torturous nightmare to my OCD mind!
Is this familiar to you at all?
Anyway, going to be off radar for a while till I get caught up! Sorry for offloading on you, but figured you might understand how I feel?
That's certainly happened to me before, JP, but I always try and learn from past mistakes, so it's a while since I've stacked any piles. (And no, to anyone else, pile-stacking is not the same as Billy Connolly's 'furniture-piling'.)
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