My Toy Collection - By Jack

Even before I became a Doctor Who Fan I have always been a collector. Whether it is Star Wars or vinyl records or Doctor Who I have had a collector in me from a young age. So it was inevitable that when I became a Doctor Who fan I would no doubt want to collect the toys and merchandise from this iconic series. I started buying old annuals at boot fairs, mainly from the Tom Baker and Peter Davidson era, and I found a great Dalek annual from the 60s. I found a complete Tom Baker doll from the Denys Fisher toy line and even began to collect the modern toys as well.

In 2007 I moved to America for a year to perform with a band I was in at the time, whilst I was out there I found that it was nearly impossible to find any new additions to my collection. Though it had its cult following, Doctor Who just wasn’t as big in the US back then as it is now. I found a few comic shops who said they could order Doctor Who items from the UK but the charges for ordering would cost more than the item itself. Toys ‘r’ us had a small Doctor Who collection but as they were imports they were charged at $27.00 a figure and that was before tax. I found it all quite ironic as I had just come from the UK myself and didn’t add to my collection at all that year.

Unfortunately when I returned to the UK in 2008 I was in a very different place in my life. I moved back to Kent for a short amount of time before I moved to Hampshire and I had to sell my collection as I worked to turn my life around. A good few years went by and I didn’t collect anything but I still remained a loyal Doctor Who fan after all a large collection of toys doesn’t make you any more or less of a fan.

After meeting Kristy she started buying me something Doctor Who for every Christmas which got me back into collecting again. Having owned such a big collection before I didn’t feel like I needed to own everything again, content on knowing that I’d had them at some point in my life. Instead I could concentrate on finding new pieces. 

Now my collection isn’t the biggest but I have a lovely humble collection of fun items which either Kristy has bought for me or we have bought together. It is all displayed on a shelving unit in our living room along with all of our other geeky displays.

Some of my favourite pieces are the two red wind-up Daleks which Kristy and I bought for each other and opened at the exact same time on Christmas morning completely unintentionally. There is also a Matt Smith figure which I got signed by Neil Gaiman at a book reading I attended in Portsmouth last year. He spoke a lot about his love of Doctor Who which developed at a young age and was accompanied by an actual Dalek throughout which was really cool.

River Song is one of my favourite characters so you’ll notice a few River Song items; I try to pick up River items where ever I can. I found the unopened River Song figure at a toy show last year for a tenner! I couldn’t believe my luck as it is such a rare figure and sells for up to £50 on eBay, but it’s not an item’s worth that I am interested in, it’s just great to find a figure you’d love without having to pay collector’s prices. This is one of my all-time favourite finds. 

Beside my Doctor Who figures I also own some key Batman figures displayed alongside my original Star Wars figures which I have had since I was a kid.  

Kristy and I are also big Game of Thrones fans and we have a small shrine to Game of Thrones in our living room which is also home to my universal sonic screwdriver remote.

I plan to review many of the items in these pictures in later posts so watch this space!