By “ZombieAbaddon” Forrest
I don’t think I’ve met
anyone yet who doesn’t collect something, be it stamps, trading cards, an array
of toy figures and accessories, records, scavenged junk, bottles, old swords
and all manner and size of brass bullets, from handguns to cannons!!! So it’s of no surprise to see the amount of
loyalty a fandom can create. From the
toy figures, trading cards, signed photos, clothing, posters, mugs, all manner
of things. Fans collect everything they
possibly can of their favourite character or the entire cast and set.
When I was growing up, my interests were varied, but when I reached that age where collecting toys, books and games were all the rage, for particular films and TV shows, well my taste was pretty eclectic. But the one thing that always remained true and loyal was my love of sci fi. Cop shows come and go, but the franchise for sci fi never ends, and more toys were churned out for Star Wars than any other film I had come across – at that time. I loved Star Wars, couldn’t get enough of the films, the first three for sure.
As I grew up and realised that Doctor Who
toys were also available, more so really during the New Who era, well again, I
couldn’t get enough of the show, and I think I now have about 25 blue Police
boxes, of all different sizes from key rings, to money boxes to a mini fridge,
right up to a wardrobe being the largest.
I still have all my Star Wars figures and find it extremely hard to part
with any of them, but my Who collection far surpasses them.
Only
a few purchases were new or gifts from friends over the years, every other item
had been bought for one of the kids that wound its way into my room when I knew
they wouldn’t want the toy as much as I did.
The rest were from boot sales up and down the country, or charity shops
in much the same way. The best thing I
found about Doctor Who for me other than the merchandise, were the novels. My first proper novel had been ‘Genesis of
the Daleks’, it was a Target paperback book, scuffed a little on the front
cover, writing a lot smaller, but what I remember about it was the fact that it
stayed true to the actual show. Or the
show stayed true to the book. I read it
and could see Sarah Jane and Harry and the Doctor, Davros and the Daleks, and I
could picture it perfectly. You don’t
see that very often in films based on books, or even dramas for that
matter.
My collection of Who isn’t just Police
boxes however, oh no, my collection spans novels, reference books, audios,
CD’s, DVD’s, figures – large and small, the 10th Doctor’s TARDIS
with sounds, K-9, signed novels from Trevor Baxendale and Justin Richards, remote
control Daleks. Signed photos of David
Tennant, framed posters from old magazines, mugs, over 1000 saved photos from
the internet for an array of different screen savers over the years. (I should really have a sort out of those).
When Torchwood landed, I couldn’t believe
how quickly I was hooked. Normally a
show would take a few episodes to draw me in, but from the off, I was in, I
wanted to know more, and with the aid of the internet and owning a computer, I
was off.
It took some time before my town knew
about Torchwood and even today my Dad has no clue of the stars of it, but
mention Doctor Who and he could tell you about Tom Baker, his favourite Time
Lord and the year the show began. Subscribing
to the magazines was a costly affair and with the current collection of the DVD
files and the crazy amount of Who DVD’s I was collecting up, regrettably (now)
I had to let go of the magazines.
Regrettably in the sense, now because the Torchwood magazines are no
longer in production which means I have to search further for back copies and
pay extortionate amounts of money on eBay for them.
Occasionally up here, an odd novel makes
its way to the charity shops, but most of the books I purchased came from a
boot sale in the next town to me, and that started me off. I now, have the full set of novels, but wish
there were more, and wish that the audios had been novelised, as ‘Hidden’ would
make a fantastic novel, if only for me to understand Toshiko’s calculations,
and ‘House of the Dead’ from the ‘Lost Files’, with the illustrations from Lee
Binding, would it be too much to ask?
I would like to make my own Hub, a project
that will take some time to put together, calculations and lots of scribbling
and lots of saving, but one day I hope to do it. If only to put all my figures out on display
instead of in the toy box where they reside, with the Star Wars figures and
Doctor Who.
So this is my
collection, scattered for all to see. I
should really stop collecting the TARDIS, but it’s such an iconic figure I find
it hard to ignore. I’m tempted by the
Salt and Pepper pots in MenKind Store, and the TARDIS wallet and the TARDIS
bag, but then there’s the dressing gown, and the tree lights and the door
sticker, and the rest goes on and on and on...
And as for Torchwood, there’s a Great Coat
dressing gown I want to buy, there’s the Great Coat itself, there’s the full
set of Torchwood magazines, there’s the unofficial book with an unshaven
Barrowman half face on the cover I want to own.
I still would like to own the soundtrack to Miracle Day if they ever
publish it, there are pieces of music on there that I would love to switch off
the lights in the room, sit back and relive once more.
But for now I can dream.
Enjoy!
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