Prisoner Of The Daleks!

5" Cyberman Action Figures; methodone for the Dalek addict.

I was going to try and get a post in this weekend, but Sunday's blogging time was eaten up trying to find my house keys - I searched every coat, bag and pair of trousers I'd been wearing over the past week, rang up the cinema we visited on Saturday, hovered on the verge of calling a locksmith before finally finding the bloody things at the bottom of the bed! I'm still nonplussed by the whole business... I mean, I'm certain I didn't have the bed with me when I went out...

One unfortunate effect of returning to Nottingham has been a relapse of my Dalek-buying addiction. I thought I'd got it kicked; using 5" Cybermen (top) as a sort of methodone treatment, I'd cut down and then finally gone cold turkey sometime in May.
Unfortunately, this little claw-armed bugger caught me when I was weak and fatigued, out shopping the first day back from Edinburgh. He was lurking wilfully in a remainder shop, that deadly thing for the collector, The Variant I Hadn't Seen Before.

Left: 5" Claw-Armed "Assault Dalek". Check out his thread on Flickr for more details.

I know, I know, it's all just excuses, I'm forty for God's sake, I should know better. Perhaps I should start a group for Middle-Aged Men Who Want Toys... "Hello there, my name is Matt, and it has been nine days since my last Dalek..."
Still, at least I've not spent too much time photographing Dalek when I should have been drawing Stickleback. Speaking of which, better get back to it.

See you in the funny pages.

Addictive Behaviour

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.