Honestly, the toys are for the children really... Ed Karswell tells us more.
Honestly, the toys are for the children really... Ed Karswell tells us more.
Ilove toys and don’t care who knows it. I inherited this enthusiasm from my father who is still enthusiastic about toys. I put this down to a slightly rebellious streak in his nature. Why else would a grown man walk home from work with a carded Marx Tommy gun under his arm and then let rip, Al Capone style, as he joined us in the dining room? I should really qualify this; it was 1978 and the tommy gun was intended for my 10-year-old self. Oh happy days.
Now, as a father myself, far from the common opinion of disparaging the new, I am in awe of many of the toys on offer to children today. Being into old toys and being a toy fair regular my kids were privy to a mixture of new and second-hand toys. My son in particular liked to supplement his new stuff with toys I could pick up in my travels around the fairs. Where else could I have bought a bag of six second generation Action Men and a motorbike all for a tenner? Possibly because I was always bringing home used toys they never viewed them as unusual or second best. Likewise, my daughters Toy Story fixation led to me bagging the Jessie character in three different sizes. This arrangement being apparently perfect for home, school and travel requirements.
When it came to Christmas presents my son’s last minute Ben 10 craving could have caused a problem. For those not in the know, Ben 10 was an animated TV series that spawned some very stylish toys to accompany it. Brentwood toy fair came to the rescue here. On entering the hall there was a table laden with brand new and hard to find stock. A deal was done and it was my turn to have the Christmas shopping bragging rights. Likewise said son’s long term HotWheels habit also saw him accompanying me both as a punter and a stall holder. In fact, for a while this actually started taking precedent over my own collecting. When stalling out I would make an early beeline for the same dealers who stocked loose and recent toys in the hope of bringing something back for the kids. It got to the point where there would be eager faces each time I came back from a fair. Playmobile, film tie-ins, Happy Meal toys, you name it, I’ve bought it. Sometimes I didn’t care if I didn’t find anything for myself, after all a bargain is a bargain!
Now not all of it was cheap as chips, some of these toy fair bargains actually turned out to be rare toys. There was a large plastic Batmobile that could double as a pistol that I have only ever seen for sale in America and this was after hunting high and low on the internet too. Then there was the Marvel Avengers space ship that was nothing short than a sculptural triumph in product design. I liked so much that after its toy life ended it began a new one as an ornament in my office... You will never know the lengths I went to make sure that stayed in one piece whilst my son saved the universe!
I would also like to pay tribute and give thanks here to the knowledgeable and enthusiastic toy dealers who helped me out with those purchases. None of them were big money items and I made no secret that they were going back into a toy box and not into a display cabinet. Modern toy retail outlets could learn a lot from those dealers.
It has been long debated that computer games will spell the end of what we perceive as traditional toys. I’m not altogether sure that will be the case as these too will become childhood memories that will evoke the same nostalgia when encountered later, much as all toys seem to. It’s not always the obvious things that trigger those emotions. When having a big clear out my son chose to hold onto an old homebuilt wooden garage that I’d refurbished. I suppose physical items do possess a tactile quality and presence that the virtual does not.
It will be interesting to see what toys ride the next wave of collectables. Star Wars toys were once the new kids on the block and they’re quickly becoming the old guard with those who remember them first time around safely moving into middle age.
So, what about that ‘big clear out’? Well, it involved redecorating the kid’s bedrooms and working out what could stay and what could go. Although it was a seismic task the thing that pleased me the most was that their unwanted toys, both new and second-hand, made their way to a charity shop and will hopefully find new owners… now, how “Toy Story” is that?