NEC Vintage Toy Fairs

[The Doctor]

One on tomorrow (8/5). Trains booked. My first fair/con/tat market of any kind since before covid!!!!

Only my second public transport trip since before covid.

Sir Nick will be there. We will find 50p Star Sabers for Toy-Fu.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Phil needs an Origins Webstor. His chums will seek it for him

[The Doctor]

Ralph needs one too.

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

I need a Mega Construx Webstor.

[The Doctor]

Ok, ok.

-Ralph

[shaggydave76]

Anyone else from the boards here going to the NEC next Sunday?
I'm looking forward to meeting Youtube's 'Toys are Russ', who will be selling on the day, alongside a fair few others with old and new Transformers

[Dezzeh]

Have helped out on The Spacebridge's table for the last 2 or 3, but this time I'll be going down with the boy for some early access TF raiding

[shaggydave76]

Save something for me,, lol.
I have to travel from Oxford by Train, so I'm looking at getting there for around half 10 or 11.

[legios]

If I do make this I probably won't be there until 1 or 2 - morning Zoom call with the family so I wouldn't be leaving here till quarter past 11 at the earliest. But given the there is industrial action on the train that would get me there on Sunday I might give it a swerve in any event.

Karl

[shaggydave76]

Apr 1, 2024 19:59:28 GMT legios said:

If I do make this I probably won't be there until 1 or 2 - morning Zoom call with the family so I wouldn't be leaving here till quarter past 11 at the earliest. But given the there is industrial action on the train that would get me there on Sunday I might give it a swerve in any event.

Karl

Yes.
ASLEF and pals have an extremely annoying habit recently of Striking on weekends when there are Toy Fairs and events across the Midlands and South. They did it last on the day of the Sandown Toy Fair with bus replacements from Clapham Junction.

Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Monday 8th are the worst affected strike days, and on Sunday 7 April, although no industrial action is taking place, planned Network Rail engineering projects will hamper many passengers hoping to travel on the Sunday to dodge the strikes.

Fortunately for myself, CrossCountry ARE running that Sunday - an hourly service from Oxford and calling at the NEC.
Also, London Northwestern and Avanti West Coast are both running a full timetable that Sunday too, so for anyone travelling mid- to long distance to get there by train, as much as it's a bit of a slog, it's definitely going to be better to just travel on the day itself rather than risk a hotel stay and get stuck trying to get home on the Monday.

[shaggydave76]

Post-Event update:
Apart from THE most uncomfortable journey to get there. . .
Arriva bus (Rock hard seat for 90 minutes) + CrossCountry train (Squashed-in, standing room only for an hour)
= VERY achy back and butt!
. . . the Toy Fair itself was AMAZING! Huge amount of buyers, 500 jam-packed tables, and enough Transformers old and new to keep collectors very happy!

Granted, this was my first experience of the NEC Fair, but even the more popular Youtubers were saying that this was one of the best ones they'd been to for both buying and selling.
Well worth the uncomfortable journey to go to!

[blueshift]

Yeah, seemed to be far more stuff, and at the 'small cheap tat' level which I like!

[shaggydave76]

I noticed an over-abundance of classic He-Man.
Anyone into that could have probably purchased a full complete set of figures from the various sellers.

[Nigel]

I didn't realise it was on. I'm yet to visit an NEC toy fair and I was free(ish) on Sunday.

[The Doctor]

I keep missing them due to train strikes. Otherwise it would be easy to get there.

-Ralph

[Dezzeh]

There was an awful lot of very good high end stuff as well, if only the pocket was bottomless..

[shaggydave76]

Apr 10, 2024 20:09:14 GMT Nigel said:

I didn't realise it was on. I'm yet to visit an NEC toy fair and I was free(ish) on Sunday.

Well, the next one isn't until Sunday 29th September 2024, so plenty of time to prepare.

Other than that, the next Kempton Park Toy Fair is Sunday 21st April,
and the next Sandown Toy Fair is Saturday 18th May.

I might try to get to the Sandown one this time around, as Kempton is a bit of a slog to get to!

[Nigel]

Ooh, I'll actually be at a convention in the NEC Hilton that weekend. That could work out nicely.

[Nigel]

Well, I did get to the toy fair last Sunday, for the first time ever. Wow! What an incredible show. It's years since I went to any toy fair, and they were mostly trains and die casts with some vintage Star Wars. Even though the NEC was advertised as having a wide range, I still had it in my mind that it would be much the same but bigger, so I was amazed at the breadth of toys available! Just about anything you could think of, from vintage tin toys and trains, through to today's Funko and NECA; dolls, plush, action figures, retro gaming, board games. An awful lot of 80s and 90s toys. One stall specialised in Jurassic Park and dinosaurs, another in Gerry Anderson and ITC, another just old robots; one was mostly vintage masks. (I was tempted to buy a Wuzzles mask.) Pretty much any brand you could think of was there, too: Bravestarr, Sindy, Care Bears, Action Man, Britains, Game Boy, you name it! I was impressed to see a boxed playset from the 80s D&D line.

I was amazed how busy it was, too. Dozens of people were queueing for 8 o'clock early entry, with hundreds in by 9. By the time I left shortly after 11 0'clock, 40 minutes after general entry, there was still a huge queue waiting to get in. I reckon it was busier than any comic con I've been to lately. I had to leave at around 11 because I was actually attending a convention in the Hilton, where the panels were starting at midday, but I could easily have spent a lot more time and money at the fair.

There were bargainss to be had but there was also a lot of overpriced stuff.

I expect a lot of this is old news to others here, but to everyone else, get yourself to the NEC! You won't regret it, though your bank account might.

As to what I bought, the first thing was a Thundercats Mutant Fistpounder, which has been top of my Thundercats wants list for some time; more so strangely, than the Thundertank or Cat's Lair, probably down to its relative scarcity. But this one, I felt was a good price. Discoloured seams and in need of cleaning, but only £35 because the seller wanted rid of some big stuff. (A boxed example on another table was £220. A loose Cat's Lair was £800. I didn't ask about any of the several Thundertanks about the place.) I also got a Hot Wheels Thundertank (from another, large specialist, selling only MOC Hot Wheels), some cheap Transformers and a couple of vintage Sylvanian Families for Kiera.

[blueshift]

If it helps Nigel, I can make repro rubber thundertank treads

[legios]

Ah, I didn't see you there Nigel - although in the press of people it was pretty hard to see anything mind you!

Yes, I was there too. It was pretty thin pickings for me though - I came away having spent £5 on a Star Trek Ships collection Andorian Kumari-class cruiser, and £18.00 on a HG kit of a Gundam that I'm not fond enough to get in Master Grade, but should have _a _ version of to finish off my core Celestial Being Gundams.

I found the diecast aviation pickings to be pretty thin this time - mainly WWII stuff or stuff that goes for way more than the quality actually warrants. I kept my eye on the other Star Trek ships I saw as I was going around, but mostly I was seeing various "lead" ships like Discovery, or "funny, but not _£35_ worth of funny" stuff like the Vengeance. No Aventine, or Concorde class. (I'd probably have cracked and grabbed a Concorde class - the Command Battlecruisers are some of my favourite ST:Online designs).

I did _nearly_ buy a Sentai toy - one of the stalls near the entrance had a complete-looking Pleuzon, and I will admit to loving the concept of an aquatic dinosaur that is also a spaceship that turns into a Robo. However, after completing a circuit of the hall I passed it again and decided that I didn't loveit enough to break my duck and buy my first ever Sentai Robo. :-)

It was a good fun way to pass a couple of hours though.

Karl

[Jaymz]

I went along too and did not see Nick, Nigel or Karl.

Enjoyed the show, good number of dealers and things to look at.