Introduction

I have always loved toys, I grew up with an older brother who is eleven and a half years older than me, but we didn't play together much because of the age gap. I would usually play on my own or with a friend if they came for tea after school, although not having a lot of friends meant that I would play alone a lot. Toys became a big part of my childhood.

Saturday morning cartoons and tv shows would shape what kind of toys I would buy or ask for as gifts.

When I was 13-14 my dad decided I was too old for toys I made me take some to a car boot sale, I don't really remember all that I took but I know for definite all my Power Rangers Megazords went and I'm pretty sure that most of my Batman figures got sold as well. This is something I regret to this day.

A few years later I eventually decided to buy back some of my old toys, some of which were harder to find than you'd believe. I learned a lot about toy collecting and what kind of things I liked. Toy collecting also became a comforting thing to me as I suffered through some low periods, it made me relive happier times, but it also became a bit of an obsession.

This leads me to where I am now, trying to collate the things that I enjoy, into an online museum, so I can have a permanent display, and share my collection with anyone who is interested.

Although my wife thinks I mad for collecting toys she has been brilliant and has continued to support me with my crazy hobby.

Aliens

Based on the Alien film franchise, in 1992 Kenner created these toys to coincide with a cartoon called 'Operation: Aliens' that was cancelled before it was released. The toys were still produced and included many Geiger inspired Alien/ animal hybrids.

Boglins

Created by Timothy Clarke a member of the Jim Henson company and Maureen Trotto and Larry Mass, Boglins were released in 1987, original Boglins were large hand puppets. They were later followed by small Boglins, baby Boglins and mini Boglins. There has been a recent revival of the larger Boglins with a Kickstarter, and the possible future release of more.

Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys

Based on the 1996 cartoon, Bluebird Toys and Mattel created the toys including all the main characters and the three main ships. Captain Simian was an Earth chimp used for testing space craft by NASA, until he was discovered by some un-nameable aliens, who evolved him into a sentient being.

Conan the Adventurer

A toyline by Hasbro based on the 1992 cartoon of the same name. Conan was created by Robert E. Howard who is considered the orignator of the sword and sorcery genre. The original books were quite violent, the cartoon made Conan more accessible for children.

Defenders of the Earth

Based on the cartoon from 1986, many of the characters taken from pulp comics of the 1930's. Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar and The Phantom take on Ming the Merciless. The toys were made by Galoob and included spaceships and vehicles.

Gargoyles

The toys by Kenner came out with the cartoon by Disney in 1994, they featured all of the main characters who had many different play features. There were even some different versions of characters produced that were not in the cartoon, such as Flamestorm Goliath, Icestorm Brooklyn and Rainstorm Hudson.

Skeleton Warriors

Nicely sculpted figures by Playmates based on the characters from the 1994 cartoon of the same name, only a limited release as parents deemed them to gruesome for their children, the children (me included) loved the gruesomeness!

Terminator

Based on the kids film? Terminator 2, these toys by Kenner are really cool, most of the T-800 figures have a really good likeness to Arnie, and the endo-skeletons are cool, but the T-1000 with the 'rocket arse' is extremely odd.

The Shadow

Based on the highly underrated film from 1994, Kenner released this line of action figures. The Shadow is an early pulp hero from the 1930s. The figures had some cool play features and "light up" eyes.