About me

Back in 1999 when I was was 17, I was randomly dragged into a city centre comic store by some friends. I initially rolled my eyes at the prospect, as I was going through that weird phase of thinking "I'm a proper grown up person and too old to be messing around with comics and toys". I stood there in the store, uncomfortably warm but trying to play it cool when I chanced upon an action figure made by 'McFARLANE TOYS'. It was based on a character that I didn't recognise. I picked it up off the shelf for a better look.

The figure that started it all.

I don't know why but I had never considered the possibility of action figures that were intended for adults. Thinking back to my initial mindset of 'toys are for kids' I do remember harbouring secret thoughts about being saddened that I was 'too old' to buy action figures now. With the figure in my hands I was stunned at the detail and paint and I thought the inclusion of various accessories was cool, woo choking hazards! I loved that it had a severed head and clearly had a mature theme. It was then that I thought to myself, "wait I can justify buying toys again because this is a toy made for adult collectors! my peers will probably still think I'm a gimp but at least I won't feel like one, hazaar" I bought that 'Marv' figure there on the spot, even though I had no idea who the character was or what he was from.

Over the next few months I became interested in all things McFARLANE, buying various Spawn figures at first - I had always had a passing interest in comics (mostly Dark Horse and 2000ad) so from the Spawn figures I became interested in the comic series. From there I also decided to check out what this Sin City comic thing that I had an action figure for, this opened up my eyes to the world of Graphic Novels and beyond.

Things became really interesting once I realised McFARLANE TOYS had started to release 'Movie Maniac' action figures.

I pretty much bought every figure in the series give or take a few exceptions. Safe to say I was hooked on collecting action figures! It wasn't long until I had a shelves and shelves of stuff and I became a dusting maniac. McFARLANE TOYS really was a trailblazer of it's day, opening the door for companies like NECA and Art Asylum in the years to come.

Although I loved buying the Movie Maniacs I always joked that the figures were great in principle - but looked shite in hand sometimes. They looked great when they were first announced on the company website, but seeing the figure in store often left me disappointed. Bad paint jobs or poorly moulded figures left for some undesirable results. I'm pretty sure I saw some figures with eyes painted on their foreheads! Basically McFarlane had rubbish quality control.

Towards the end of 2005 I wanted something bigger and better.

There weren't many options though, NECA was still in it's infancy and the Japanese import market e.g Bandai etc. was non-existent, at least in an affordable way.

It was then that I saw my very first 1/6 figure on sale in the very same comic store that started it all. It was Sideshow's 1/6 Darth Maul figure from the Phantom Menace. I was impressed with his size and detail and I loved that his robes were actual material so I snapped him up immediately. 

With a few more Star Wars 1/6 figures in the bag it was then that my amazing girlfriend bought me my very first Hot Toys figure. Robocop with Flight Pack from Robocop 3 (Yes I totally married her some time later).

I still maintain that she's technically to blame for the room full of Hot Toys I now own haha, from there the rest is history. I've never looked back since and now own a sizable collection of 1/6 figures from Hot Toys, Enterbay, Medicom, Sideshow, Takara, the list goes on and on!

I've also continued to buy action figures from movies and video games. There are boxes and boxes of stuff. I have enough to start my own toy museum, in fact last time I went to a toy museum I wasn't impressed by what they had at all haha.

Part of the joy of collecting for me is posing up the various collectables I buy and taking photographs of them, hey it's better than being on the street dealing drugs like some mothers would say. In the past I've posted them on Facebook now and then but never anything more, so I figured why not post some pictures on a blog with my thoughts and reviews. I enjoy taking the pics and it might just help someone decide to pull the trigger and buy something they've been tempting themselves to own for a while.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my mad ramblings (BACK IN MY DAY...)

Doon.