Palitoy Talking Dalek: My toy collector origin story

I recently reunited with a piece that, honestly, is why I’m here. I hope the story surrounding it might be relatable.

Palitoy Talking Dalek- PlaidStallions

June 1984:

I’m 13 and have just graduated the eighth grade, it was a good year for me, lots of friends, lots of experiences. At this time I’m a Doctor Who junky and that love is mainly for the early 70s version of the show. I grew up on the Pertwee and Baker eras on TVO.

I see an ad in Starlog that reads, “Palitoy Talking Dalek Toys from 1975: Red or Silver $25 each plus shipping, send SASE blah blah blah.” Although I’m not entirely sure what Palitoy was or what the toy might be, it sounded essential.

Palitoy 1976 Catalogue

Getting a US money order in Canada was once kind of a pain in the butt. In 1977, I presented my parents with a completed “Heroes World” ad for the Mego Fantastic Four, along with all my Christmas money. They told me I’d have to go to both the bank and the post office, and I believe fighting a giant spider was involved; it’s been a while. My father promised to take me to his friends at Parkdale Novelty and find the Fantastic Four. That sadly never happened.

Undaunted by this past obstacle, I went to the bank on my own and discovered it had changed for the US; I obtained a US money order. I believe the whole endeavour cost me the entirety of my $40 graduation money. I threw it in the mailbox in front of the same”Checkers Variety” I would later work at, and played the waiting game.

Did I say waiting game? I meant the summer of total anxiety. I checked my mailbox every day, probably way too soon, but this was the most significant purchase I’d make on my own that year. I also had never done this before!

Weeks stretched into months; I even wrote the seller more than once, asking what was going on, but I never heard back.

Sometime in August, full of Catholic guilt, I confessed what had transpired to my mother. I got the “Don’t tell your father” that I’m sure is familiar. I think I made peace with it around Labour Day evening. I thought to myself, “I got ripped off, it happens, let it go.”

The next day, I attended the first day of ninth grade in a weird public school. My main takeaway is that some shop kid wearing a Judas Priest headband called my Peter Gabriel concert shirt “Gay,” which still makes me chuckle.

I headed home to find a box; it was the talking Dalek. The ad was legit, the seller honest but maybe kind of a lazy shipper? It was better than I had hoped; I loved the awesome box graphics, the toy itself and the fact that it said “Exterminate” over and over again.

Of course I ordered the red one!

This single toy’s arrival led to 4 decades of making crazy toy purchases, learning about the industry and meeting and making friends with some of the coolest people in the world.

Had it not arrived? I’d probably collect something. I’d likely have a lot more money in the bank, but I’d also probably be no richer.

#palitoy #daleks #doctorwho

Issue #13 of Toy-Ventures Magazine will feature the never-before-seen plans for the 1983 World’s Greatest Superheroes toy line and a cover featuring artwork specially commissioned for Mego’s catalogue, gloriously coloured by Robyn Adams, founder of the Mego Museum.

The Blood-A-Rama Shock Festival Pack

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Toy-Ventures Issue 12- Stretch Monster

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