Total Pageviews

Greetings!

'A gaping silken dragon,/Puffed by the wind, suffices us for God./We, not the City, are the Empire's soul:/A rotten tree lives only in its rind.'

Saturday 15 December 2012

The shape of things to come...

... no, not the over long and, sad to say, tedious novel by H.G. Wells (what was his editor doing? Just taking the cash?), but one of my three, going on four years old grandson's interests:


Knights and archers. He's had the bowman since the summer, and was much taken by the discovery that the 'axe' was, in fact, a bill hook. Today, he added the man at arms to his collection, and was pleased to learn about the fleur de lis . Somewhere, he also has a Crusading knight with a battle axe, and we must find him! The man at arms and the bowman spent a good part of the day floundering in 'Playdoh' - 'aaaargh, I'm sinking, hellllp, helllp!', but, occasionally triumphing on 'the battlements'. He isn't entirely sure what battlements are, but he knows they sound good.

But the medieval can also be combined with the modern: 


The little dragon above came unpainted but with a few tiny pots of acrylic. He is, in fact, a benign dragon called 'Sparky', who is good at cooking, has an indeterminate West Indian accent, and is one of 'Mike the Knight's' sidekicks. However, the boy wanted him to be fierce, so went for this purple mix - in a sort of modern disruptive pattern finish. That's the way!

Finally, this weekend's superheroes: 


At last ! An Incredible Hulk!

14 comments:

  1. Mike the Knight is extremely popular with the Puddin', but lacks the accent here in the frozen North.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does the Puddin like The Octonauts too? I prefer the undersea chaps to Mikey - though Evie is pretty cool on her scooter with Mr Cuddles.

      Delete
  2. If only I had a grandson so I would have a good reason for knowing who Mike the Knight is. Its my mother in law actually, content doesn't interest her but when she's awake she likes bright colours and action.

    Sounds like a promising young fellow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can understand that, my late father developed a fondness for Thomas the Tank Engine in his latter period. Our choices are a bit limited when we really get on in years...

      Yes, I've great hopes. His father was a little more advanced at the same age, playing ACW ironclad games involving Lego ironclads and a dice. Unfortunately, he subsequently was captured by sci-fi and fantasy gaming!

      Delete
  3. Splendid dragon.I went with my daughters to the Hobbit last night and loved it.Your purple dragon would give Smaug a run for his money i venture.
    The big knight and archer- are they the 80mm (?) ones you see in toyshops/Waterstones with mounted variants available too. I must confess to being tempted by them every time I go by. Medieval skirmishing in the grand scale I think...
    best wishes
    Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed The Hobbit. I've decided to resist, as I have a comforting and firm picture of There and Back Again in my head.
      Yes, they're more like 90mm in the flesh, and are made by Papo and Schliech. They would do very nicely for a sort of combination of role play and skirmish. But it's just as fun going 'aaargh', 'pwang' (the arrows) and 'stab'.

      Delete
  4. I have all this to come... but as my grandson is only a month old, it seems a long way off.

    Sad to say, I've never completed Well's work, although I did give it a good go. However, as I've said before, the bit about how he saw the nineteen thirties and forties developing is very interesting reading.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A month? This time next year, you'll be able to introduce him to the beginnings of it all. Actually 'Mike the Knight' was the start of it for my grandson, and it is a very pleasant little TV show.

      Yes, so much of Wells' stuff is like that - real curate's eggs. Pity.

      Delete
  5. Great fun! They are Schleich or something like that aren't they? I got into collecting them several years ago. They are very beautiful figures, especially the series with blue and yellow livery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the knight is Schleich and the archer is Papo - both the same size and very compatible. I'm resisting buying them for myself as they carry a pretty hefty price tag. A big step up in more than one way) from the Britain's knights of my childhood.

      Delete
  6. The Grandson sounds like a damn fine Chap!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All he needs is a moustache and a pipe and he'd be there!

      Delete
  7. Excellent stuff. We have some of these knighty fellows as well, made by Papo I think? The Robin Hood they do is very good and I have recently beheaded a Papo dragon for a project I am working on. Arthur, my middle son, has an interest in Superheroes (as well as chocolate)so we must look out for these.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't know they did a Robin Hood, must look out for him. I've got a Britain's Maid Marion somewhere (from my son's childhood) that I doubt that they'd make now - she's wearing a hoody and stabbing with a knife! The chocolate egg heroes are made by 'Mon Desir snc': www.mondesir.it How do I know this ? The woman in the sweet shop gave is the display box when we bought the last ones she had.

      Delete