Traffic & Travel

Alright,

Welcome back to That Kitsch Itch the official blog for www.kitschitchtoys.webs.com the UK’s home for retro and vintage toys. Check us out on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/kitschitchtoys) or on YouTube (www.youtube.com/woolicane), plenty of different things to look at, get involved in, buy and so much more still to come.

Sorry this is going up slightly later than I planned, events have kind of got in the way this week. Especially the traffic this lunch time. I had to journey out when I normally write this and by the Gods was the traffic bad. It was what should have been a ten to twenty minute journey, a quick trip out, dropping my niece off, no big deal. An hour and a quarter later I’m at last pulling up at home, still with my lunch to cook and a load of videos I needed to record. Still I got the videos done, so they should be up over the forth coming Wednesday’s, which is something at least. I’m going to try not to rant too much here, all I’m going to say is bleedin’ roadworks, and move on.

On to more pleasant things, like Collectorabillia in Leeds next month, which has just launched a brand new advert with Kitsch Itch Toys featured across it. I’m hoping I can include it on here so I can show it off a bit, it’ll certainly be going up on www.kitschitchtoy.webs.com so go and check it out there too. It’s shaping up to be an awesome event, as is Ultracon over at Magna near Sheffield, been chatting to the team running that and everything looks amazing for that event. I can hardly wait for these two things to happen. Keep your eyes on the Kitsch Itch site for more on them.

Now I know that last week I said I’d be trumpeting my Patreon campaign here today, unfortunately that hasn’t developed yet, the video I was hoping to record to promote it hasn’t been finished yet, and I really don’t want to start it without that. It should be this week, depending on events that are beyond my control getting in the way like they did last week. At least the camera on my phone should mean the video is a much higher quality. More on this next week no doubt.

Just a quick note as well about some new items that are just arriving in stock. I’ve got the chance to bring in some Kree-O Cityville Invasion blind bags, they are awesome things and I hope to have a load to sell at the upcoming cons  with any over spill to wind up on our website or the ebay page. These minifigures are also part of this week’s Wednesday video, the Blind Bags Summer Special. I’m calling it that mostly because it’s filmed in the garden. It should be lots of fun there’s Marvel and Thomas the Tank Engine involved too. Not only that though, but there is also a few, possibly more than a few, Doctor Who 3 and ¾ figures landing in the store this week. Certainly there is one with the 12^th Doctor in his caretaker outfit. Not one of my favourite episodes and not my favourite figure scale, but still they should be awesome. Expect a review of that arriving at some point too.

Other than that I think it’s time to call it a day on this meandering edition of the blog. Hopefully next week will be a bit more focused. There will be a big update coming on Flay’s First Adventure and what might be coming up after that as well. It is looking exciting. Also we’ve got a controversial episode of Fanon still to come this week, all about Thundercats. Keep your eyes out for it and until next week…

Sithee

To Go Global?

Alright,

Welcome back to That Kitsch Itch the official blog for www.kitschitchtoys.webs.com the UK’s home for retro and vintage toys. Check us out on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/kitschitchtoys) or on YouTube (www.youtube.com/woolicane), plenty of different things to look at, get involved in, buy and so much more still to come.

Two things I want to discuss this week, one is good, one not so much. Let’s start with the good stuff first. Kitsch Itch Toys is going global. Now this was always the intention for the site, to slowly grow and begin selling in Europe then the rest of the world. Circumstances have changed however, as they usually do, and those plans are accelerating. Presently the pricing for shipping to mainland Europe is being researched to work out just the right prices to charge, then it’ll be onward to the USA. By the end of September we expect every item in the store to be shippable right round the world. I’m also looking into finding trading partners in both the USA and in Japan, helping the flow of items both ways. If anyone out there reading this is interested in becoming a trading partner of Kitsch Itch Toys we would love to hear from you. Hopefully we can work something out.  We’re an approachable bunch and we do love to foster a sense of cooperation.

Well that’s the good news, now here comes this week’s rant. I am slightly disappointed that every week I seem to have to have a little moan about something, but here we go. This company has been set up using the UK’s New Enterprise Allowance. A great service which lends money to help set up a business and then gives a small weekly payment to help get you on your feet. Sounds great right, and in many ways it is. I couldn’t have set this up without their help. Still, they make you jump through hoops to get it. I don’t mind that too much, it’s what I’d expect. The trouble comes when they make it impossible to make it through the hoops like they have done me this time. I love the royal mail, but I know full well that I can’t rely on it to have something delivered the next day, not even first class. So when I get a letter late on a Friday afternoon asking to mail evidence of business to another town by Tuesday I’m in trouble. By the time things are gathered on the Saturday I’ve missed the last collection, so it won’t be picked up until Monday, it then needs to be sorted and shipped out to the right town, it may arrive at the town by Tuesday, but no chance of it getting to the office then. So they’ve made sure my payments are stopped, or at least suspended. I’m going in to talk to my local office about it today, hopefully that will sort things out but that doesn’t change the fact that they made this an impossible task to complete. It’s like they don’t want people to succeed. Okay rant over, I just needed to get that off my chest.

Hopefully next week I’ll be able to trumpet my patreons, I’m planning to record videos for that this week to explain and entertain my way into getting to some people to donate. I’m also hoping to have an update about Flay’s First Adventure next week so yeah, things should be positive again then. That’s going to do it for this week though, keep watching the usual channels for some interesting new things coming up, including this week’s top ten video on Friday over at www.youtube.com/woolicane I’ll be talking about Superhero movies I’d love to see, but probably won’t it should be a lot of fun. Check out last week’s episode of Fanon while you’re there, it features me talking about one of my favourite topics, Doctor Who, Ace to be more specific. Until next time…

Sithee

I Hate Technology!

Alright,

Welcome to this weeks –LATE- instalment of That Kitsch Itch, the blog from Kitsch Itch Toys; the UKs home for retro and vintage toys. Visit us at kitschitchtoys.webs.com check out my YouTube page at www.youtube .com/woolicane and follow me on twitter @woolicane. So that’s the shilling out the way now on to this week’s main topic.

I admit that this week’s title may be a little strong, I don’t actually hate technology, what I hate is technology when it’s not working, which is most of the time it seems. Phone’s that need charging twice a day, tablets that crash because they’re half full and computers that, well that just die. If you hadn’t guessed this is why this is late going up, I’ve had some major computer problems, problems that have led to me having to borrow a computer just to get this up at all. Something of an issue for someone running an internet business.

I blame iTunes, I’m probably being unfair, but I do. I downloaded it yesterday onto my computer and instantly things started going wrong. Subtle ways at first, my computer slowed down, iTunes store couldn’t connect to the internet. Annoying yes, but not life changing or even work threatening. Then came this morning, that’s when things changed. It was taking a lot longer to boot up, especially considering its one of these lightning quick solid state drives, and then it wouldn’t connect to the internet. Nothing I did helped it, I tried turning it off and on again, nothing, I followed a load of instructions found on the internet (which helped me get rid of some malware), still no internet. Finally I managed to make it to the set up screen and restored my settings. I really thought that was going to work. Now the computer won’t boot up at all. Oh and I’ve only had the dam thing since February.

What this means is I may be about to lose a load of photos that I was going to use for the site, a few videos that featured stock walkthroughs and who knows how much other work. Nothing on it that’s irreplaceable, just inconvenient to replace, especially with no computer to replace it on. It also means that I can’t edit down the photos I do still have to upload onto the site or the facebook page, which is even more annoying, I want to move along but the tech won’t let me. –Oh by the way check out Kitsch Itch Toys on facebook and drop us a like, it does us loads of good- So instead of spending the day reviewing my new Amazing Spider-Man figure I just got in (along with a few others for that series still boxed) and photographing and uploading more stock I spent the day failing to fix something that shouldn’t have gone wrong yet, and in the end handing it over to the IT department of my accountant, yes really.

This was not the blog I was intending to write today, I wanted to talk about films that got kid friendly toy lines that probably shouldn’t, you know the likes of Terminator 2 and Robocop, it’d be like the upcoming Deadpool movie getting its own line of Mashers. I also wanted to talk about the upcoming cons Kitsch Itch Toys will be at, I’ll save that for next week though where it gets enough space. The last thing I want to mention is Eon Quest it’s a kick starter that I’m supporting and it’s coming to an end, get in while you can, I want that graphic novel here at Kitsch Itch Toys. I think that’s enough of a rant for this week, pop in to kitschitchtoys.webs.com ,  facebook.com/kitschitchtoys or twitter.com/woolicane I need a good cheer up.

Sithee

Timey-Whimey

Alright,

Welcome to this week’s instalment of That Kitsch Itch, the official blog of Kitsch Itch Toys, the UKs home for retro and vintage toys from the ‘70s to today. The store is now officially open, though due to unforeseen illness the big social network push has had to be delayed until this week. Expect lots of stuff being posted across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, the forums and who knows where else. The invasion begins in ernest. In the meantime don’t forget to check out kitschitchtoys.webs.com  

As exciting as that is though what I really want to talk to you about today is Doctor Who. This probably isn’t a shocking choice of topic if you’ve read the title, but it is one very close to my heart. That’s right I’m a Doctor Who fan, I’ve been a Whovian since well before that term was in common usage. I remember watching the show when I was seven and Sylvester McCoy was the man with the TARDIS key (now that’s giving away my age). I remained a huge fan during those dark, dark years when it was off telly, or at least it was only there in reruns. I was one of those there cheering and jumping for joy when Russel T Davis returned the show to our screens bringing Christopher Eccelston out as Doctor number 9. And I’m still here now eagerly anticipating its return for the new series, even if I’m not such a fan of Clara. If you want more on my problems with her check out my reviews of the last series over on my YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/user/woolicane) but that’s not what I want to talk about here, I want this to remain upbeat and positive, let’s just say I have issues with the character and how she’s written, I think Jenna Coleman is a very good actress.

When the series came back though it went from being this classic cult series to totally mainstream. It was a proper hit series, to much rejoicing from old school fans such as me even if there were a lot of differences that us classic series fans sometimes like to moan about, it even cracked America. Now this was a show that cranked out a tone of merchandise even when it was off the air, this went into overdrive when it became the smash hit it still is now. Alongside so many other great items, toy company, Character brought out some amazing five inch scale figures and we’ve just got a load of them in at Kitsch Itch Toys. What did you think I was talking about one of my great passions just for fun, no this is still going to tie back to new stock that I’m excited about sharing with you. The figures we’ve currently got in stock include the incredibly popular Tenth Doctor, the first New Who companion Rose, spinoff superstar Captain Jack Harkness as well as a bunch of awesome monsters such as the Slitheen, a pair of Autons, an awesome looking (and massive) warewolf and even a Cyberman. As well as a load of loose figures I have also managed to get my hands on a box set from series four comprising of companion dark horse Donna, the base breaker River Song and the Narrator who, in David Tennant’s last story, turned out to be…

Sorry I’m not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. If you can’t tell I’m pretty excited about getting these figures in. I’m a huge fan of the show and a huge fan of these figures. Some of them might not even find their way to the site because I might sneak them into my Doctor Who display. Watch this space for more on that dilemma. Either way I think this just about finishes this week’s post, if you want to chat more about the Doctor and his adventures feel free to message me on the contact page of Kitschitchtoys.webs.com and check out the other stuff on sale there too.  Until next time.

Sithee

Who Ya Gonna Call

Alright,

Welcome to the second instalment of That Kitsch Itch, the blog belonging to Kitsch Itch Toys, the UK’s home for retro and vintage toys. In the first blog I gave a brief overview of who I am and what the shop is about, I’m not going to go over that again here, but if you want to know more about it I recommend you go check it out. This week I want to give a little bit of an update on things. Firstly I want to talk about the website, currently at http:kitschitchtoys.webs.com (this is a temporary address while I wait for my tax code so I can officially take up kitschitchtoys.co.uk). This is going very well (as you well know if you’re reading this post on there, we are featuring each new blog on there in the other fun stuff section). We’ve got a load of products arriving there, still only in a coming soon state at the moment, still in the process of linking it to my paypal, but I expect them to go live and able to be bought by tonight. So that’s all exciting. Also I’ve spent this morning photographing more stock to go online, just a pity that after about the third item added to the site it gets really repetitive. Still I’m pleased at how it’s coming on and it is getting into that really exciting stage.

Then there is the alleged high street store. This was (and still is) a key part of the overall business plan, I found the perfect shop, okay it was a bit of a fixer-upper but it was in a great place, had the right amount of space and (at least for the first year) the rent was reasonable. It all looked good and things were moving nicely. Then the blasted estate agents demanded a bank check. Now that was fair enough, I had no objection to that, I’ve never had any debts (except the loan that I’ve taken for this project; and in the grand scheme of things even that’s not all that much), had no convictions, nothing to suggest I am have any bad credit and the last time I had it checked, which was December, my credit score was as good as it could be. I figured that this bank check was a mere formality that would just get my application rubber stamped. I was wrong. Instead I got an email back saying ‘sorry because of the report from the bank we are refusing your request to rent this space.’ Naturally I pressed for more info but they refused to give me any more details. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the file was too thin, I’ve never borrowed outside of my student loan until now, had no credit cards, etc, but if that’s the problem how can I improve on that if because of it I don’t get the chance. It’s frustrating I can tell you that. So now here I am roaming the streets of the city and looking for new premises, hoping that I won’t just get turned down for no good reason once again.

Still, that’s all part of the game I guess, I’m still enthusiastic about the whole thing and a little set back like that isn’t going to slow me down. Besides there are so many great things still to talk about. Like the package I got through the post today. Who Ya Gonna Call… that’s right I got some Real Ghostbusters figures. The original ones for that matter, the first released figures from 1986. I have in stock now not only the four Ghostbusters but also the proton packs they came with (in various states, but mostly pretty good) and the ghosts they came packaged with. The only thing missing is the card backs, which means I’m calling them complete, which as far as I’m concerned is pretty damned epic. They are going to be offered as separate purchases on the site but if someone’s interested in buying them altogether then contact me through the contact me page on the site and I’m sure we can work something out. 

I think that epic journey will do for this week, more excitement next week, until then remember to check out http:kitschitchtoys.webs.com

Sithee