This week I ar bin mostly prey to compulsive Micro-Dalek buying. As a small child I was obsessed with Daleks, but there were never any decent toys available - the ones they did make were always the wrong proportions, the wrong colours. It always struck me as funny, because with their relatively simple shape and limited articulation, Daleks are like ambulatory toys to start with; the 1970's toy Cyberman was just a sort of dressed-up Action Man*, but a well-made toy Dalek would have been an avatar of the "real" thing. When the big remote-control ones came out, I was seriously tempted, but a combination of price and storage space put me off; on the other hand, Micro-Daleks are 2" high and a tenner a pop for something that's exactly what I wanted when I was eight.
Which is probably why I snapped like a twig and bought twelve.
Dr. F remains nonplussed by the whole business, but then, Daleks do tend to be more of a boy thing. She asked me if I play with them, to which I replied, with some dignity, "No, I just line them up, and rejoice in their multiplicity."
Which is what I'm off to do now.
Bliss.
*The new metal ones are really nice, but luckily I don't have a fetish for Cybermen, old or new.
I ar also been photographing my Daleks lots.
Which is probably why I snapped like a twig and bought twelve.
Dr. F remains nonplussed by the whole business, but then, Daleks do tend to be more of a boy thing. She asked me if I play with them, to which I replied, with some dignity, "No, I just line them up, and rejoice in their multiplicity."
Which is what I'm off to do now.
Bliss.
*The new metal ones are really nice, but luckily I don't have a fetish for Cybermen, old or new.
I ar also been photographing my Daleks lots.
4 comments:
I used to use 3 matchticks & a mushy pea pot - all eary found on the streets of my youth.
Jack, being 9, would probably love me to get this sort of thing (he has a few 'battles in time' cards) - but we are ... not exactly flush. There are mini radio controlled K9's - so maybe there are mini radiocontrolled daleks as well...
I know there's one where the front cover comes off to reaveal the dalek within
maybe eventually - but oddly, jack has (even stated) that he does not like to play through toys - he'd rather use imagination (he & his pal & Eve & Jude had arranged some form of 'ship' on the bunk beds on Saturday - small chair, emate, small printer & sundry other essential items ading to the effect
I like Jack!
Like him, I was never keen on stuff with "extra features" - I always hated it when they added some gimmick that meant changing the design of the toy (adding buttons or levers) to make it work - and which usually stopped working the first week you had it. I always wanted (and still do) really accurate facsimilies of the thing I'd seen on screen. For that reason, I really loved the 1970's Star Wars vehicles (still have my Millennium Falcon!).
I think the radio-controlled Daleks get me because having one that moves round on its own is so uncannily like the "real" thing, but mostly it's the scale and the level of finish on the big ones. The Micro-Daleks gave me the chance to buy a gaggle of them, though, which is what I really wanted (after all, it's not "Dr.Who and the Dalek"). Surprisingly, for such little things, they both talk and run (in a pull-back and let-go sort of way), but really, I'd rather they didn't do either and cost a fiver each - then I could have twenty-four :-)
The only new-series Dalek toy that came close to cracking me was a set with four (12cm high?) Daleks (one black, three standard) for about thirty quid - not too big and less per Dalek than the little ones. Those had poseable "limbs," but I don't think they did anything else...
I used to have a tiny Dalek about 2 cm high that had a ball bearing inside it that poked out of a hole in its base. You put it on a flat surface and when you pushed it it moved around in a really convincingly Dalek like manner. It was cool. Always thought they missed a trick with Dr. Who. So many characters that would have made good action figures. They kind of caught onto the idea in the late eighties but churned out a load of Bonnie Langford figures which clogged up toy shop shelf space for many years after.
There was a Dr.Who action figure set in the mid-1970's (1977 or so) - Action-Man sized dolls. There was a not-bad Tom Baker Dr.Who, Leela (any old Barbie-type doll), Cyberman (whose face wasn't quite right, IIRR), and supposedly a Dalek, though as far as I know it wasn't released.
They also did a Tardis to match the figures, but the real cream of the crop was The Giant Robot (from the first ever Tom Baker Story), which was in scale with the figures and beautifully done - one of those things I wish I'd kept now.
Post a Comment