early 1970s Subbuteo team
Brazil

mum stood on Pele
( writerblock ... embedding disabled by request on, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 21:06, 2 replies)

That Bastard!
During the early 80's I was (and still am) a huge WWF wrestling fan. and I collected a load of the LJN rubber action figures.. I had about 40 of them including some quite rare ones (such as a first edition Andre the Giant figure which was only in production for just under a year before it was remodelled and re-released) The had been brought over from the US with me when we emigrated. Well to cut a long story short. My mother re-married and the idiot she married HATED me, so out of spite took the one thing I loved (those figures) and gave them away without my knowledge to the first bunch of kids he could find. (what a twat.. I will never forginve him for that, just add it to the list of other things I will never forgive him for)

Anyway.. I was looking at some collectors sites and come to find out that several of those figures are worth in excess of £50 each now and the rest average around the £10 mark. Not bad considering I paid like $8 (£4) for each of them new.
(Phoenixx1973 Will be campaigning for the "Vote Saxon" party., Sat 16 Aug 2008, 19:14, 2 replies)

Also comics
I once had an "x-rated" issue of Panther Vs Vampirella, something thats impossible to get hold of again. My mother threw it out. I thus cried.
(Lex scripta, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 19:01, 1 reply)

Bonus
I was helping clear out a house the other day and there was a huge metal thing in the shed. I had the idea that it might be worth something to someone. Cue almost putting my back out getting it into my car, it was very heavy. I took it to the scrapyards and was rewarded £20 for the copper in it. Huzzah!
(Lex scripta, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 18:59, Reply)

2000AD, again
Years ago I had spent the night at my grans, it was around this time I found a recent ( about 1999 ) copy of 2000AD my uncle had left on the kitchen table. I read it over and over and over, and then claimed it my own by reading it on the bog.
Then when I went to bed that night, I always used to go through my uncles draws and wardrobes to find lots of luxuries like those trolls with the big hair and pictures of naked women ( hee hee ).
Then I tried getting into the door at the back of the room, but alas, I couldnt shift the bed out of the way, but I managed to have a glimpse in to see piles upon piles of what I assumed, at the time, was bella magazine or something.
Que a few weeks later, my grandad had noticed that the door was slightly ajar, so he shifted the bed and decided to clear it out, I got a phonecall from my uncle ( who had his own house, just not cleaned his shit ou of my grans ) saying that my grandad was throwing comics away and if I wanted them, was to stop him. I sprinted up the street, burst through the front door and punched the old fucker in the mouth.
He'd thrown away issues 1-287, I managed to salvage 287 to the present day ( sometime in 1999 ).

Sorry for length, but its the girth that counts ;)
(KoJ, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 18:45, Reply)

The attic
EVERYTHING that I think may one day be valuable goes in the attic. Never mind the fact I'm running out of room up there and that I can't find some of the older stuff I've put up there.

So far I've got two years of Kerrang!, lots of back issues of Zoo/Nuts, about the last 30 issues of Viz and most of the annuals, and a couple of years of Reader's Digest (even though the latter's probably worth fuck all).

There's also a couple of larger, discontinued Lego sets up there (although they may have been crushed under the weight of the aforementioned shit) and a shitload of Micro Machines (which might have suffered the same fate).

If I could find anything up there, it would be a fucking goldmine (in years to come).
(peterlynch, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 17:08, 4 replies)

Slightly different 2000AD story...
Seen some complaints about 2000AD stories so I thought I'd offer a different angle.

I had two 3ft piles of 2000ADs at my Mum's house. she kept them to the day she died. Unfortunately, I live in a different country now so it's not really reasonable to transport them. I let my brother dispose of them.

I'm not really upset though, I found a torrent for every 200AD out, including quite a few I didn't have. The internet saves the day again.
(Richy_T hundreds if not thousands of dollars, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 17:04, 1 reply)

it wasn't thrown away
by anyone - nor was it worth millions...

i am a hoarder - things that i think may be useful to me, i keep.

sometimes i think these things don't make much sense, but i think i'll probably be able to use them (whether for their intended purpose, or shoe-horned into some other form) someday.

over the years i have (reluctantly; due to moving, space reasons, etc.) had clear outs and thrown things away, only to discover (not normally immediately afterwards, but at some point) that i could really use that thing i threw out.

i think i have to learn to live with it, and just assign more space for "stuff"; what the fuck is a "spare room" ? i'm not that rich, so i'll put it to use (in this case, for "stuff").
( ablufia v0.43 - have your face drawn, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 17:03, Reply)

i lost *cuvvy*
cuvvy was my security blanket thing it, was made of teh fluff and i used it to sleep along with sucking my thumb.
i loved it so much.
i once made my dad turn the car around after an hour in the car to go get cuvvy.
then when i was 5 or 6 my mum decided i was too old for it and hid it in the loft.
im 16 and just found it in a box with some records and old crap.
i confronted my mum with this and she just smiled and told me i was too old for it.
bitch
(PaulGadd -, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 16:57, Reply)

I've lost
Any attractive qualities, going my (lack of) success with the ladies recently.

*sobs*
(scentless_apprentice takes two bottles into the shower!, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 16:47, 1 reply)

Scourge of the Rebel Alliance. Defeated by Mum
I doubt I will ever forgive my *darling* mother for throwing away;

- Boba Fett Star Wars action figure. One of the original ones. With the jetpack and that.
- Slave I
- Han Solo in Carbonite

I understand that these are much sought after items on the geek circuit. Now, when I'm feeling in need of some self-loathing, I like to sit and taunt myself by considering whether I'd have sold them for a healthy profit, or simply retained them for the geek-kudos that they would've brought my way.

Had my *fucking* mother not ditched all of my toys when I went to university. Bitch.
(Light, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 16:30, 1 reply)

Probably Not Quite What the Family Built It Up To Be.....
Great Grandfather was Head Gamekeeper to Lord Cardigans Estate in Northamptonshire in the early part of the 20th Century, upon his retirement he was presented with a Cavalry Officers sword that had belonged to his employers family as a token in recognition of years of faithful service. FACT.

The Grandfather of this particular Lord Cardigan was the one that led the Charge of the Light Brigade. FACT.

What becomes a little shaky is the detail that then goes in between then and now...as family legends generally go, there's always embellishment and blame.....the most likely and credible story is that my late Grandmothers Brother, sold it to a passing scrap merchant one day in the 1950s.

The chances of it being the very sword that the legendary Lord had pointed his men into the 'Mouth of Hell' with, from the back of his trusty mount Ronald are, admittedly, slim, but me, my Father and my Uncles like to think that it was, the women of the family are rather more relieved that a razor sharp example of cold steel isn't available for flambouyant brandishing at boozy family gatherings.

A more likely scenario is that Lady Cardigan reminded her husband over breakfast that the gamekeeper was being put out to grass and they'd forgotten to get him a gold watch from H Samuel - why not dust off something from the shed and pretend it's valuable? His Lordship Shuffling off in his slippers and plucking one of hundreds of knackered dress swords from a selection of elephant foot umbrella stands dotted about the place.

There are a couple of other cool(ish) things that have been misplaced of the firearm/explosive munitions variety that I could tell you about if anyones interested?

Length? 32.5 to 33 inches with a pronounced curve.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_1796_light_cavalry_sabre
(Oil Slick, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 16:26, 1 reply)

Much hard work and creativity
When I was around 10, myself and my friend got it into our heads to produce a school comic. This was before computers had really started to enter the home so involved wax stencils, a hand-turned duplicator and much manual collating and stapling. I'd do the framing and typing, him the drawing and we'd work on scripts etc together. We did pretty well, increasing readership and went to 7 issues in all. We barely covered our costs but bought a few sweets with what we made.

Because he was more organised than I was, I let him keep the archive copies. However, turns out his Mum was opposed to the comic, thinking they took too much time away from his school work and ended up throwing them all away. My Mum never threw out anything, ever (it was a nightmare when she died recently) so a bit of a misjudgement there. Unfortunately, my Dad had thought the stencils were rubbish (or more likely I had left them in his way, being less organised).

I'd gladly give 100 quid or more for any copy of those comics. Well, I did somehow end up with a copy of one of them somehow but it's not one of the better ones.
(Richy_T hundreds if not thousands of dollars, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 16:19, 1 reply)

Rescued from being thrown away
This one's a bit happier than a lot so far. My sister's then-boyfriend was working in a little theatre when the sound guys were having a clearout. "Want any bits, Stu?" they said.
"Oh" he said, "what's that keyboard sitting there?"
"Oh that?", they said, "It's knackered and beyond repair and it's total cack anyway. We're going to bin it."
"Hang on then", says Stu, and later that evening tells me about it in the pub. It's knackered, it's kind of black with blue bits, it's got Fablon-covered "wood" ends, and it's going in the bin. Do I want it? Yes, I do. Might as well, eh, if nothing else I can salvage a few bits. No idea what it was.

So a night or two later on the way to the pub I pop round to Stu's, he opens up the car and there in the boot is a rather battered but not too awful Korg Polysix. Sure enough, it was was knackered - none of the knobs worked (50p chip from Maplin), half the voices didn't work (took two years to get three envelope and four filter chips - the keyboard enthusiasts will know what I mean when I say "SSM chips") and the battery had leaked onto the CPU board (mostly time, repairing the traces eaten by battery juices).

Now the wooden ends are falling off, so I'm going to B&Q to buy some nice wood to make new ones, better than the old chipboard ones. Or maybe I'll pop the lid open and give it a tune and service. Or, maybe I'll just make another cup of tea and fire it up and play it for a bit. It's worth quite a bit now, if you look them up on eBay, but I'm not planning on selling.

Thanks, Stu.

Length is about what you'd expect for a full-size 61-note C-C.
(gordonjcp, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 15:19, Reply)

Every single
Transformers comic from issue 1 until they stopped printing them including all the gi joe crossovers etc.

they were thrown on the rayburn bit by bit when i was naughty.

I recently bought a cd that apparently had them all on, on ebay but they lied and there was no combat colin.

boooooooo
( Peej, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 14:29, Reply)

Keats and Yates are on your side, but oh the love of Wilde is on mine
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

I threw away the will to live when a girl I was fucking kept on quoting this to me. the last two lines, the controlling bitch.
( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 14:16, Reply)

A bit geeky
I am probably a little older than your average B3tan, racing towards 50 with a fixed rictus grin and a rock filled sock hidden under my pillow ready to confront the grim reaper on my own terms when he dares show up.

So the things I lost were not transformers or star wars figures etc. After my time.

My thing (and all of my childhood friends) was Airfix models. The average kids pocket money would cover one kit per week and we loved it. Buy and build them (badly) on saturday and by sunday evening they would be in a fairly sorry state on the shelf in my bedroom after some rigourous bombing raids over Mr Hill next doors pond (dambusting) or Mr Ridouts cabbage patch on the other side (very dangerous due to hostile Yorkie dogs!)

I was very lucky in that I had what seemed like 1000 aunts, uncles and older cousins at the time and they all knew Little RadG loved his Airfix stuff, and as they were so cheap, every time they called round (at least 3 of them called a week, the benefits of a large extended Welsh/Italian family) they would bring me a kit to keep me quiet.

The result is, by the time I went off to University I had 5 or 6 very large boxes of unbuilt Airfix kits, some donated from the collections of older cousins dating back to the 50's and early 60's, along with my collection from the 70's onwards.

I totally forgot about them for almost 20 years until one day a few years ago I stumbled onto the Airfix website by accident and was immediatley lost in my childhood for a while.

I ordered a kit or two online, just for nostalgia sake, and had great fun building them. It was such great stress relief that within a few months it was again one of my hobbys, it may be saving my life!.

Then I remembered those huge boxes full of my vintage kits ... I saw on E-bay how much vintage plastic kits go for (silly money for some) called my Mum to see when was a good time to call roundand pull them out of the attic.

"Those silly old plastic airplanes" she said

"Oh I gave those to the church jumble years ago"

I was crushed ... but never mind, I had my rediscovered hobby to keep me going. Until about 2 years after that phonecall, when I was helping Mum clean out the attic when I saw 5 big very familiar boxes lurking at the back. MY KITS !!!

It turns out she found one boxfull and gave it away and the rest were safe in the eaves out of sight.

The only trouble is the box she gave away was the "James bond" box which was worth a bloody fortune!

I could never sell the rest though, even though I have worked out a rough value for them all of about 4k.

It is just such a pleasure to look at them every now and then and the memories of my childhood come flooding back as if it was only yesterday!
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 14:14, Reply)

Vintage 80s synthesizers...
When I used to work in a music shop, I would have a jolly good time fleecing people on part exchange deals so I could amass a collection of 1980's instruments, which are now considered "classics" by many. Many a night was spent playing, programming and fixing them up and while they were never worth stupid amounts of money, it looked flash as fuck doing gigs with 4 or 5 of them on stage at a time!

One day, the business went downhill sharply, I lost my job and had to sell the lot just to afford to eat and not be on the streets. I was able to sell each one for over 50% profit (on account of my earlier fleecing and basic repair abilities) and made enough money to pay my rent for a few months and eat rather well until the next job came along! I was sorry to see it go, and I may never be able to get hold of some of the synths again given the stupid second hand prices nowadays... but when sold in the right way, collections like that are as good as hard currency when things get rough and you need to liquidate assets.

So, in short - FUCK stuff. It comes and goes and you should never get attached to anything you can't fling in a rucksack and take with you when you have to pick up your petticoats and do a runner. Aside from the very basics (and the equipment I need to do the job with the band) I own esentially FUCK ALL and I don't intend on amassing any more material wealth.
(keyboardman, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 14:07, Reply)

4 gigs of pictures
just got back from east africa to find that my camera, together with a 4 gig memory card, was missing from my rucksack (although the case was stuffed into a side pouch, where it doesn't belong).

On that memory card were pictures of me on one knee proposing at sunrise on the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, a month of memories from tanzania, a simply incredible wedding (not mine) in mombasa, a paradisical week in zanzibar... you get the picture (pun not intended).

Keep the fucking camera, but please, someone somewhere open that memory card and see those pictures and work out some way to get it back to me.

(seriously, does anyone know any way of tracking something like this down? Outer edges of possibility, I know...)

As a philosophical aside, I realised as I was lamenting, hard, the loss of some of the best pictures I have ever taken, that I was remembering them from the screen on the back of the camera, not the scenes and experiences themselves. Am in agreement with Alain De Botton's thesis on the camera degrading our ability to properly see. Will try to take less pictures in future, more memories.

Edit, ok, I realise, on actually reading teh question, that mum didn't throw this out, but I am still in a massive sulk about this so claim the right to post it anyway (spurious)
(pounana Slept well, and dreamed of large women, on, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 14:04, 1 reply)

Huggy Bear
I was given a teddy bear when I was three that I loved very much. His arms and legs were curled out in front of him and he had a mini bulldog clip affair in his back, which meant that he could grab onto your arm, or round the back of your neck, or wherever he was most comfortable. Because of this, I called him Huggy Bear. Needless to say, I took him everywhere.

When I was five, our family moved to Singapore, Huggy Bear in tow. As I grew older, my attachment to Huggy dwindled - running around the vast tropical undergrowth with your mates pretending to be Indiana Jones took over. I always knew he was around though, somehow looking after me.

When it came time to move back to England when I was ten, I realised as we were packing that I had no idea where Huggy was. I wasn't distraught as such, but very concerned that we might leave him behind. My mother however had come across him in the back of an old dusty cupboard, and so knew exactly where he was.

So she hatched a plan.

The plan was simple - she would feign ignorance as to his whereabouts, then reveal him later with a great flourish. Of course Huggy would never forget his best friend!

First though, she had to keep her secret, shaking he head sadly whenever I mentioned missing Huggy. She over-egged the pudding a bit though - one night, she told me a story in heart-breaking detail of Huggy waking up to an empty house, finding details of our flight and running to the airport to catch us. He'd get there just as the plane was taxiing down the runway, frantically pumping his legs after us as the plane gathered speed, "Wembley, wait!" he'd cry. "Wait for me! Come back!" But it would be too late - the plane would take off, leaving the little brown bear bereft on the tarmac. I was fighting back tears, but knew that my mum was only ribbing me because I was ten and too old to really care about a teddy bear. And of course she knew just where he was, and could imagine my face when she took him out of her handbag on the plane.

Except she forgot.

Huggy, for all I know, is still sitting forgotten in that dusty cupboard in Singapore. I've tried to imagine that some other child has found him and loved him as much as I did, and I take comfort from that, even if it isn't true.

Here's to you, Huggy, wherever you are.


*sniff*
( Wembley, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 13:15, 4 replies)

Killdozer
this is simultaneously one of the worst and best films I've ever seen.

It has a cast of about 6 and the main theme is that of a bulldozer (D9, fucking big thing) which collides with a meteorite, comes to life and starts killing.

Highlights include:
lines such as "we'll be safe on that hill!" "no, that dozer can build a road anywhere!"

and when the humans are burying their dead, the dozer appearing at the top of a cliff above them and pushing gravel off

I've only seen this film a couple of times. The second time, I recorded it and passed it around my like-minded friends for their enjoyment.

Then my mate Ian's dad recorded over it....

I was outraged. This film is a B movie classic and I have never seen it on TV since.

This was 10 years ago or more, and I'm still bitter
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 12:43, 4 replies)

Childhood treasures
When my parents split up and we moved house,ninety percent of my childhood toys were either chucked away or found new homes.This included my beloved collection of transformers toys.When i discovered this a few years later when i went searching for them i was gutted.For about thirty seconds.Then i remembered that most of them had either been broken by myself or soddoth senior or been chewed by the dog.As i'm pushing thirty i realise i have no need for such childish trinkets,except for Grimlock and the decepticon tank which i hid from my mum and still have on a shelf at home.
(yob soddoth happiness is a Dane called Hamlet?, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 12:18, Reply)

The loss of my dearest friend - Tragic story which is not about plastic toys
Everyone, at some point in their lives, must come across somebody with whom they find they have a deep connection. Somebody with whom they get on so easily, with whom they feel they can share any secret. A true "best friend," if you will.

(Hermits are the obvious exception to this rule.)

I too found one such individual. He was almost like a miniature version of myself - quiet and reserved, but without the long hair. At least, not until later in life, when he too decided to grow his. And invariably, we found ourselves sharing so much of life's joys. We both enjoyed the freedom of the open air, we both screwed ourselves up in fear during scary films, we both got the same orgasmic shiver at the climaxes of Carmina Burana, Beethoven's 5th or even Won't Get Fooled Again. Hell, we even had identical taste in women.

This is not to say we were carbon copies of each other - we also complimented each other perfectly. I needed him. He gave me a sense of worth and boosted my self-esteem no end. Conversely, I, being the bigger and stronger of the two, gave him the care and protection he needed. I can still remember days when chill winds would blow and he would cower behind my leg.

I am of course talking about my penis.

Thus it came as a devastating blow (stop sniggering at the back) to me when I was diagnosed with leprosy. My skin began to look flaky and jaundiced, and, as it spread to Penis, the two of us became awkward. We no longer shared the close relationship we once had.

Fortunately, the doctors dispelled one myth for me: leprosy doesn't actually cause appendages to drop off. Penis and I were obviously relieved - the fear of being separated was driving us both mad.

So it was a real kick in the teeth when I also caught ebola. The virulent, flesh-eating virus had got in, the doctors thought, through my leprotic sores.

My dear friend, already weak with the leprosy, was nibbled off by the virus within a few weeks. Penis and I were separated. He was as good as dead; I had lost my closest friend.

I could not bear to throw him away, to let him rot at the bottom of a medical waste bin. I did all I could to make sure he had a dignified end. I pickled him.

And so now he sits close to me, at the side of my desk, preserved in a jar of vinegar. His pickled presence reminds me of the times we had together. I miss his tender, supportive company, but I can warm my heart with the thought that once in my life, I had that most special of gifts: a true, honest penisfriend.
(LongJohnBaldry, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 11:55, 3 replies)

As a child
I distinctly remember that, coming from a house where Dad was the one with the TV remote and whatever he wanted to watch was what we watched, myself and my brother were forced to video tape things at an early age. These tapes of various television shows, films and other similar broadcasts I kept.

However, as much as my father was a television control freak, he also enjoyed his sunday pub trips. And this is the same day the grand prix was on.
Because he didn't want to miss precious laps during his piss up time, he recorded the grand prix.

Always, out of the 60-odd VHS tapes, on my stuff.

One of my earliest childhood memories is running to the video player, pressing play, awaiting in glee for ET to come on, and hearing that familiar "NEEEYYAAAAWWWW", before getting very upset.

To this day, things don't change. :(
(TheHBoxster is probably playing Beatles Rock Band on, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 11:33, 1 reply)

Lego - Parent Commando Raid.
My Brother and I used to have two buckets full of lego. We liked our lego, and it was a prized possession. However to my parents it was a throw back to our childhood and not to be encouraged.

One day when I was away at University and my brother who at that time had joined the Royal Navy, and was away at sea. My parents did a commando raid on our room and gave all our lego away to our cousins. so not thrown away but definitely lost.

As you can imagine we were not happy when we found out, but what can you do.

The only real value the lego had was sentimental, but it was our lego damn it.
(Marshall Law, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 10:10, 2 replies)

When I was younger...
... I was a spoiled brat and had a video recorder in my bedroom.

I didn't use it to do the sensible thing and tape late night films from Channel 5, I used it to tape loads of random live music performances from things like Later, TFI Friday and Boxed Set. I had three hours of great music on this tape and loved every song on it.

My Dad taped over it. Probably with some crappy film.
(Slotbun Happiness is a Jaffa Cake In Each Cheek, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 9:39, Reply)

Dull QOTW
I lost several minutes of my life to reading this QOTW. I can't get them back now.
(hutchers, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 8:49, 1 reply)

Star Wars
I once worked with a girl whose husband was a massive Star Wars fan. When Phantom Menace came out he even timed his holiday to America so he could see it straightaway. As a kid, he had all the toys and when he moved out he put them back in their original boxes and safely stored in his Mum's attic.

His job meant that they moved around a lot for a few years but after a while they settled down and bought a house. He was now ready to get his prized Star Wars collection from his Mum's.

Except she'd binned them.
Not sold them or gave them away to a friend's kids. Binned the lot.

I don't think he spoke to her for several months.
(Hagis, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 8:41, 1 reply)

I had this great video about pirates
which my parents threw away when we moved.

It doesn't have any monetary value. It was just that I was 14, and it was the only movie I'd ever seen that was arrrrrr-rated.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 7:10, 1 reply)

I had this great post
But it didn't have a picture of a kitten in it, so my Mum thought I wasn't gonna use it.


(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 6:58, 1 reply)