Where did I put those?

There was a discussion on a local wargame club FB page about old GW figures. It soon degenerated into a who has got the oldest figure competition. 

As I don't do Warhammer etc this is sort of a game I can't play. Or don't really want to.

Then I remembered something. Back when I did some tempting in a GW store c1982, they gave away promo figures when a branch opened. I had some of them. So I wondered if they were still about. They were. In a bits and pieces box.

There were three that I remember having, from the more northerly store openings. I think London had the first one, which was some sort of generic D&D adventurer. You have to remember that this was when the stores still had the rights to sell D&D, just about, and were also a general board game & video game shop. I was working in Sheffield. Our promo figure was an unarmoured samurai. Not all that interesting - except no one made such a figure at the time - but I picked up several for samurai skirmish games. I seem to have lost them, however, or given them to someone who cared about samurai more that I did.

The Nottingham shop had a bit more whimsy and a bit less practicality and produced a a Robin Hood dwarf figure (or "Dwarven Ranger" if you miss the point). He's a charming little fellow, and I evidently started to paint him with all the various shades of green in my paintbox then got bored.

Manchester's figure was a "Rabbit Assassin". This would probably be a Robot Assassin these days. I don't know what the derivation of the idea was, but then I didn't play D&D. It's probably a thing. Nice figure. Again I had a start at painting it, having blackwashed the mail armour, but then never finished it. On reflection it might have been that I'd got myself a proper job at that point, packed up and headed for home. Twelve months later I was married and working like mad to get up the corporate ladder, so painting items of whimsy weren't high on my agenda.

Anyway, having found them, I posted a picture and people went "Wow!" and so on. I then checked on ebay. That little dwarf fellow last sold on ebay for £37 in 2016. There's one on the site now for £70. The rabbit I can't find anywhere. Question is then, do I sell them or paint them or put them back in the box?

In the end I decided that I'd paint them, and put them in a display cabinet. At least the kids will know they're of value when they come to wind up the estate, rather than take them down the tip.

In preparation I stuck them in a bath of paint striper over night. They've cleaned up okay, so I guess they'll be featuring in a future "look what I done" type post. 

In the meantime they're a reminder of a different era.