So You Collect Toys?

Yeah. The price sticker is R7. In '89 your R10 pocket money bought you a Joe, a Coke and a packet of O'Gradys. If I only had a time machine.

There are some issues that plague the toy collector. Why do I do it? Where do Iput all this stuff? How do I tell chicks?

The first one is the easy one. Why do I collect? Well because there is nothing in this world I would rather spend money on. Some people like cars. Technology. Angling. Property investments. I trawl ebay for deals on vintage stuff while a friend of mine keeps me up to date with the latest 'modern era' stuff. As a child, I was spoiled for choice. I remember walking into the local O.K. Bazaars and being greeted with a sight that I still dream about. An entire aisle of G.I. Joe. Carded figures as far as my five year-old eyes could see. And nobody did it better than G.I. Joe. The card art was the gold standard of action figure. In fact, I can distinctly remember the card art being the selling point. The figure wouldn't enter the equation. My imagination would run wild with the beautifully painted image on the left hand side of a grizzled war hero or sinister baddy and I would completely ignore the awkwardly un-posed, loose, rattly figure on the right.

But the well started to dry up soon after that sadly. And there never was an abundance of vehicles in South Africa, and certainly not big vehicles. But it taught me the skills of toy tracking and in my early years I remember finding The Thunderclap, Bugg and Sky Raven all on local shores.

And one day G.I. Joe was no more. And I was sad.

Enter the interweb. This cunning revolution was the beginning of something special. I (we?) would only know of G.I. Joe toys either first hand by seeing them, or on cardbacks and leaflets. As a late eighties/early nineties collector, I missed what most regard as the heyday of the line. I had no knowledge of mythical things like 'The Original 13', fantastic vehicles like the Skystriker, W.H.A.L.E or Tomahawk. To my knowledge, Storm Shadow had always been a good guy.

1998 was a big year. It was the year I started searching for G.I. Joes online. It was the year I registered as an ebay member. I remember my first purchases were from a website called 'Amok Time'. I think they advertised in Toyfare Magazine. Anyway, my first requirements? Hawk (1986), and the Tomahawk helicopter (also 1986). 

And the reason I'm relating all this? Well I find it answers the first question very well. I love getting stuff in the mail. It is a reason to live. I do an elated dance of joy when a collection slip from the post office is deposited in my box. Yes, I still wait for the slip, only resorting to tracking numbers when packages are late.

The other two questions I am battling with. Well, chicks can take it or leave it... I fear they'd likely leave me the day they realise that a 4 inch soldier is getting more attention than they are. I'm clearly dying a bachelor.

Space. That is an increasingly difficult issue. I have never let it bother me before. But now that every cupboard and shelf is loaded with toys and my wardrobe lives on the floor, it has become a problem. And now that I am a USS Flagg owner, even the floor is toy real estate. I'm gonna have to move into a bigger place. And that means less money for toys. Damn!