Blood for the Baron!

Well, I'm cashing in my final chip. I've managed to sell off all of the Skeletrons and 30th Anniversray magazines I had left which I have used as refunds for the disasterous Pre-Orders idea for the Palitoy Guide. My own attempt at a one-man Kickstarter. My goal was to use the pre-order money to produce the Skeletrons, which I did, to then sell them to provide the money for the Guide to be printed. But I didn't finish the Guide and I didn't sell the Skeletrons; it all went tits up.

And of course life got in the way. Since the car crash of 2010 it's been nothing but a game of dodgems for me, falling in love is chaos after a decade of being a shut-in scanning comics and hosting a chat room for toy fans, which as we all know led our lives to the Vacation In The Shadows boxset earlier in the same year! I also passed a kidney stone a month before the Shads were announced - it was excruciating - if you don't know what a renal colic feels like, try to imagine bollock cramp.

The tube between my kidneys and my testicle had a cramp and I woke feeling like I'd been kicked in the balls.

I jamp out of bed to run to the bin so that I could throw up, but I didn't make it that far. Every muscle in my body contracted at once, I felt like I was being electrocuted.

I crawled my way to the desk, I swung my arm to club the phone to the floor. I jabbed my friend upstairs phone number with my clawed hand. It took forever, all I could do was move one arm and watch the phone. I misdialled three times. The fourth, it went to voicemail. I redialled, he answered and I croaked "Call an Ambulance"

According to Wikipedia it's one of the four worst pains a human body can endure, on the same level as childbirth and getting shot. I don't f*cking recommend it at all.

And then Vacation in the Shadows given to me by you lot, knocked me square on my ass

And then I got hit by a truck a shoved into a teeming motorway airport roundabout a few months later, and woke up somehow not dead but in a parallel reality. Crazy f*cking year. Now I'm 40 with no kids, my own house an amazing landlady, the majority of my hair, chronic f*cking whiplash and a 23 year old girlfriend who loves me. I can't wait for you all to meet her! The only drawback is that she's Scottish and if they get independence next week I'm gonna have to head North with her! I quite like the idea, the music scene is way better there than Nottingham... it just sucks as I've finally found a decent place to live!

I so wish I could have done the book as well, if I ever can find the time then I'd like to do it one day, but the ideas I have require so much bloody work at this point the only hope is a group project.

Anybody interested in helping?

Back to the point, I have apologised to all of the customers who have waited patiently and I have refunded all but three orders. I have two 30th Anniversary Magazines up on ebay, which I'll use to cover that. I've broken even, which is all I've ever wanted from BFTB.

So my Action Force collection in 2014 consists of my Vacation in the Shadows giftboxset complete with BFTB Certificate of Authenticity , a Secret Base, Staff Car, Hawk & Blades, Z-Cycle and Quarrel, Gaucho, Jammer and Doc, Dolphin, 2x Silent Attack & Natalie Poole and Action Man and an unopened Bombardier......

Baron Ironblood equipped with the Vacation Black Major's whip, a Roboskull, Red Jackal, 2x Skeletrons v2, Red Laser and a pristine non-Dufus original Red Shadow without accessories from last year's Roll Out Roll Call.

And this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271608591021? ... 1558.l2649

If I can find a buyer befoe RORC 2014 I'll have enough to cover the hotel, two tickets and the travel costs. Fingers crossed, All In!

So. You've been busy then?

Looks like your collection is still in good shape. If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to ask, Jim. I'll do what I can. BTW, where is the colouring project at? Sorry, salt on the wounds.

Keep it real, brother.

Mate, physiotherapy and a midlife crisis, editing my mum's books... I called for the BFTB Elite to help run the projects and maintenance before the forum crashed but really it was Jamar made the magic happen with the Colouring Project, I carried it along for a good while after his son was born and I'd love to see it finished one day. But I am busy, currently ebaying and paypalling patient and understanding people. Is anyone even interested in Custom of the Month?

Not that I'm complaining! Just skint and busy!

Me too. Still interested in COM, but no time to get involved. My kids have hit teens and its just gone nuts.

I do need to finish Codename: Moondancer too.

Hahaha!!

Yeah the more I got into the book, I realised I wanted 300 pages worth of hard work. When I made the figure poster Rene and I stripped away the backgrounds for each figure, well I'd love to do that for the vehicles and then have a kickass diorama photo for each toy, then the isometrics, accessories or blueprints and MIB/MOC pics plus the data. But I wanted the whole thing to look like a dossier, so the text can vary from all sorts of styles to WW2 era typewriter to handwritten tear-off pages, and then I'd want stuff like paperclips and rubber stamps of all description and then crazy stuff like coffee rings and cigarettes over the edge of the page.......!

And there is no actual text data I can fall back on for the 1982 figures, I was thinking to do Wikipedia-style references to the mini-Action Man toys with further background into the historical stories ie WW2 etc. But for the 'fantasy' troops like Ground Assault all I can think of is to ask Bob Brechin to flesh out his ideas. I still need to get some of the elusive MOC pictures and cardbacks. And all of the German range need loose photographing to match the existing archives, but I note a few of the boys here are darn near complete on those so it's not beyond the realms of possibility...

It's just too big of an unpaid project for me to take on right now - I had the impetus two years ago but not the time, and now sadly that moment has passed. It's frustrating as Hell but I really bit off more than I could chew. Would love to see it one day possibly as a group project if folk are up for some photoshoppery.....

So, you coming to RORC 2015? I hope to be better organised by next year!

I wish, mate. I'm not sure my liver could handle it. I'd love to, but its going to be around $2000. That's 10 months of toy money. One day, maybe.

I'm pretty sure the venerable Steve now has a complete German collection? Get on to him.

A jock lass! You couldn't get better. God willing we will still be part of the UK on Friday morning. If not England here we come!

You should put "very rare prototype model" instead of trying to sell it as a broken figure

It's not a prototype, though - it's the one with the weird eyepaint, the BFTB Dufus Baron!!