Wednesday 26 February 2014

The Nuln Spearman and the Guard Captain came and went

So did you spot them? Yes indeed it is true - the Nuln Spearman and the Guard Captain appeared on ebay - very briefly - before the auctions were pulled. Want some proof? Here you go:



If you have no idea what the fuss is about then these two figures define the very term "rare." Citadel Giant? Chicken Dragon? Chances are you'll see ten of those before you see another Nuln Spearman or Guard captain. In all my years of collecting I have never seen another example of these - not even (yet) in the collections of Bryan Ansell or Tim Pollard.

What makes these two figures so enigmatic and desirable is that they did actually make it into adverts and flyers back in the 80's, but for some reason never made it into general release. They have reached mythical status for that very reason. But it now seems as if at least one of each of them escaped into the world at large. Here they are in an advert in White Dwarf 90 (numbers 5 and 11):


So there we have it, these particular hens' teeth do indeed exist.

On another note, what do people feel about pulled auctions/private offers? Personally I don't have too much of a problem with it, and I confess I've done it myself in the past. Judging by the number of requests I get to pull my own auctions, it seems as if there are a lot of people out there who don't mind it either! 99% of the time I turn down requests I get to pull auctions. Once in a while though, I do get an offer which even I can't refuse!

2 comments:

  1. Like you Steve, I tend to turn down requests to pull auctions, although I've noticed it happen a lot recently on auctions I'm watching. It's frustrating, but if it was something I desperately wanted, then I'd consider (and have) contacted the seller, so swings & roundabouts!

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  2. When I was collecting 1980s GI Joe toys of the MOC and MISB sort (if you think, well, any miniature is expensive, these will burn a hole through your bank account in seconds), for a while the number of pulled auctions got so bad that when I saw something that I really wanted I would send a message to the seller to let me know if they were planning on pulling the auction for someone, because I might be willing to pay more, not that I approved of the practice.

    I also take offense to the "prove you're not a robot" test for message postings. Some robots are swell chaps with highly valuable skills. They're not the least bit squeamish about plans to reshape flesh and bones no matter how radical and innovative the plan may be.

    After a while, it stopped happening almost entirely, though.

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