There's not a lot to say about this mini itself, except that it's probably one of the oldest minis that I still own. I don't know why I painted it purple either, but it seems to suit the rather unearthly look of the thing.
It's from the Minifigs Science Fiction range and Lost Minis Wiki identifies it as SF 18 Aquila Lite-Man from the mid 1970s (it appears in the 1975 catalogue).
I can't remember why I bought it, though it might have been some sort of wraith in early D&D (which would date my purchase to around '77-78) but it brought memories flooding back, and that's what these Artefacts posts are all about.
Way Back in the Mists of Last Century (provide your own wibbly-wobbly SFX)
I bought a few of this range back in the seventies on rare and much anticipated trips to the Model Railway Supermarket in Bradford. There was no plan to buying them, I just got minis I liked the look of.
Back then, shops selling minis were rare, and often the minis were just a small section among other hobbies, such as plastic kits, model planes and railways (much later Something Wicked was also like this).
I always found model soldiers fascinating, going right back to plastic Britain's soldiers, but the opportunity to buy the smaller lead ones was very rare.
I do have vague memories of a shop in Scarborough where I bought some Highlanders, and there was a shop in Howarth called, appropriately, Land of Gondal*, which had a good selection of historical stuff. I remember them having a table of small cardboard boxes, each with a code for the particular mini and the relevant mini inside. Very trusting.
My first trips to the shop in Bradford were true expeditions. A bus to Bradford, then a long walk (well, to my young legs; it was over a mile and a half each way) to the shop. We later worked out which bus to take, but it still felt special.
I first went there to buy some of the Minifigs Mythical Earth range, and my remaining handful have the title of oldest minis still owned, but they are for another post. I even remember seeing small books with the words "Dungeons and Dragons" on them, but I ignored them, I was there for the lead.
There would have been a good number of cabinets of historical minis, and a few of the then new fantasy minis. I remember some of the ranges even now. Minifigs produced Mythical Earth, the Science Fiction range and a Sword and sorcery range that were to Conan what the Mythical Earth minis were to The Lord of the Rings.
As I moved from Middle Earth wargaming to D&D the trips became more focused on RPG minis (hence Aquila Lite-Man). I was no longer making the expedition with my parents but with the gaming group from college. They were rather raucous journeys!
Enough misty-eyed memories. Now I'll have to think of something to do with the Aquila Lite-Man.
*That's right, Gondal, not Gondor. A no-prize (or possibly a self-administered pat on the back) if you comment why it's appropriate.
I quite like that Aquila Lite man, a true old school look to him.
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