After the unpleasantness of the past few days I feel that a little change of pace is called for. What better antidote for the nasty aftertaste of a licensee's bullshit than a refreshing little preview of good things to come?
Those of you that follow my tweets on Twitter will know that I happened to enjoy this season's story 'The Doctor's Wife' immensely. Written by the brilliant scribe Neil Gaiman, I even went so far as to say it was probably my favourite Nu-Who moment meshing a cracking story with new and classic elements in a respectful melange of Doctor Who deliciousness. If this story was a meal, then it was roasted hog cheeks served in a sourdough boule.
Amongst the highlights of this wonderful yarn (and there were many) was the reappearance of the Timelord Emergency Messaging Cube first seen in the 1966 Story 'The War Games'. Now reinvented for the 21st century with a flashy new updated design, this is a prop that immediately captured my imagination and set my mind buzzing with the possibilities of creating something that aped the onscreen design not just in aesthetic sensibility, but also in function.
Allow me to therefore present The Celestial Toystore's Timelord Emergency Messaging Cube:
Nice isn't it? It's made from custom milled plexiglas, glass, and white styrene with custom electronics. There is a 10 second voice record function and motion activated light and sound playback. Invert to turn off, turn it over again to turn it back on. Playback causes to the light to flicker but I want to remove that function because it does not behave like that on screen. When still, the cube gently pulsates. Power lasts for up to 1 week on one set of batteries and the unit is invisibly sealed with access to the inner cube only required to re-record the message or change batteries.
Pricing is currently still being worked out as plexiglas this thick is not cheap so much 'negotiation' with my bastard materials suppliers is currently taking place. I aim to bring this item in at a price of around £120-£130 excluding shipping with order book opening in the next month or so.
It's been an interesting few hours. I'm going to try hard not to take too much pleasure from this as I hate being subjected to grovelling from a grown man. It appears that 2000 years of Chinese military thinking has been brought down full force on the ego of a little man who decided it may be a good idea to stick his penis into the gloryhole of the RPF with little idea that a Chinaman with a George Foreman grill was waiting for him on the other side. Going from not wanting to talk about CT or anyone even mentioning CT, he can't stop talking about me! Gee, I'm flattered. This has obviously got to Michael Bauers since he erased the QMx sonic thread a few hours ago and has now reinstated it with Kenney's responses removed. But he persists...everyone likes a tryer, me included, but show a bit of dignity for fuck's sake. I didn't expect it to this easy. Even MFX put up more of a fight. I'm not going to waffle on as I'll let the master do that. Here's the latest straight from the desk of Kenney Palkow (My response in RED):
"CT.... I replied to the above but the postings were all deleted. So, I will resound here one last time before it gets deleted again. I tried to post on your blog using one of the accounts needed and it will not post or preview.
There's always email through my site.
You're very set on the notion that I was talking about you. I want to again say that I was not talking about you! I didn't even know who you were or anything about you. The entire reason for me getting involved with any discussion was to set some people and some facts straight about the QMx sonics that I would be making. when I was talking about how some companies will say anything to make the sale... that was intended for someone else and they know who they are. It had nothing to do with you.... why would it? At that time, I was under the impression that you never saw the originals and even stated that on your site as well as that your sonics are not accurate. So why would I crack on you about accuracy. It wasn't until after you mentioned to me that you did see the originals and then provided a link to that post stating so. That's the truth. I apologized for the "China" comment a couple of times already even though it was misread. I looked at my post with that in it and realized how that could be mistaken and I apologized. As for apologizing for anything else? I will not because it wasn't directed at you. You keep saying that there was no one else producing the sonics so it must have been you. Gee, you are a long winded, boring fellow aren't you? You insulted me, you refered to me, it was me you were talking about. You have more reverse gears than an Italian tank! I have had many, many private letters of support where your comments were construed as being a direct attack on me even though you never refered to me by name. You don't need to. If I said 'A balding, self aggrandizing, knife wielding deadhead bore from Pennsylvania', I don't need to refer to your name for people to know who I'm talking about. Apology accepted regarding the chinese comments. I'll tell the lads to put away their nunchucks. They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You are proof of this. You are in no position to dictate absolute facts in regards to this prop because, you don't know it all. I don't know it all but what I do know has been gained through hard work, questioning, and huge amounts of subterfuge. That you cannot accept that is an underestimation on your part of my abilities .
Why do you insist that it must be you? There have been many sonics.... fan made and those made by replica prop companies. All made over the years. I was talking about all of the ones I saw. There has only ever been two high end 'replicas' of the Tennant sonic over the years: mine and the MFX. I am still in business. The others are toys and novelty pocket fillers.
I also made a general reference to props I made were people insisted they had access to when the props never left my control. So, none of this involves you. I could easily lie for you just so I could get you to remove all the posts but I won't. It wasn't about you. In the context of the thread and the immediate prior discussions, everyone knows you were talking about me.
When I got involved in any discussion, it was about a couple specific misrepresented facts which had nothing to do with you. I did even read that many posts there and had no clue who you were. I asked the everyone calm down and keep it about the QMx props. I stated that the props that I make should be compared to the originals and nit a replica against another replica. I don't think that would being fair to anyone. And why would you compare a replica to another replica for accuracy instead of against the original? Indeed, originals I have also had access to. You want to compare against originals, go ahead. I don't think you will because you replica has a 0.5-1mm error in the head. And no, it is not photographic distortion. One of my crew measured it on the sly at SDCC.
This whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. You are asking for the truth and I gave it to you. You want me to confirm details you say are on the originals to calm people down about doubting whether you had the prop. I would be willing to take your listing of details.... look over my pics of the originals and state whether indeed you had access to reference materials to the originals. I con not say publically that you had control over the at any time (i think somewhere i read you or someone else stated you had all 4 11th sonics and took all of them apart) because to be honest.... I can't see the BBC sending you all 4 heros, to China, to an non licensed individual to examine. I know that would never happen. If you had a license, you would get one sonic. But even then.... I doubt it would leave there control. I had to fly to the UK to see these. So, how can you ask me to confirm that you had all 4 11th heros to tear apart? How? I can't confirm that. I can make contact with the BBC to confirm it if that happened. You made a statement that if I added any type of medium to the props to laser scan, it would stick to all the grease packed into the 11ths. There was no grease at all in any of the 11ths or even the 10th. They were all dry. But, I did add medium to the individual parts and I dud laser scan them quite well. Keep in mind that the scans were in case I didn't gave enough time with the props. It turns out I did and I ended up with three sketch pads full of dimensions taken with micrometers and a caliper. I also had radius and chamfer gauges with me as well. So, getting back to whether you had access. I can certainly look at all your listings of details and confirm or deny your claims as to knowing about the props at a certain level of detail but I can't say you had them. If you have pics of all 4 apart and you standing there... then I could confirm such a claim if the props are the real deal. Anyone can make claims they had the props but using pics.... pics anyone could have given you while they were in the UK. I already know of at least one individual that could have sent all of his pics to you. My point is that there is no way for me to confirm you had the actual props to tear apart.... how can anyone be asked to do that. If you say you had them.... then I can't say you didn't and I don't care if you did..... it has nothing to do with me or the props I'm building.
Soooooo, you still don't believe me? I'm not asking you to say anything more that confirm the details I've posted. That is enough. I can assure you I most definitely had these in my hands. Hell, I could have even taken a picture of the prop in between the wife's tits for all you know. Will I post them? Fuck off. However, I don't lie. Do you think the BBC would honestly confirm they handed me a bunch of hero props? Honestly?! I got them through unofficial channels, right under their noses. Do you think anyone would happily admit to that? Trust me, it was easier than you think. Laughably so, in fact. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Luckily I have connections you can only dream about.You are in a quandary aren't you? Confirm my details and it will show that I have had, at the very least seen the props up close and at worst, will show that there is a leak big enough to drive a tank through at the BBC. Either way, it will be bad news for someone. As for the grease in the props....just ask Nick. Maybe they knew you were coming and decided to specially tart them up for you. Did they smell of Old Spice too when you examined them? They did when I handled them. They really shoudn't have gone to the effort. Tell you what. Let post a pic at the end of this email...of a prop partially dismantled on my desk at the same time I measured the 11th and 10th props. It doesn't matter what you say to be honest Kenney. I think everyone here knows I'm right because come what may, my replicas will have a direct lineage to the original props and that is what counts.
Why can't we end this entire bashing party and start a fresh discussion? I'm asking you to please remove all postings of me and to remove/stop any further tweets. Were not talking about a simple bashing over replica props CT. What you're doing has a negative effect and damaging to my career. That's a little overboard... don't you think? So, please remove all the stuff and I will engage in open discussions with you about your details you want me to confirm you know. I agree that there is enough market for the both of us. I don't agree in the threats. There is no need to threaten that you will keep an eye on me waiting for me to **** up. First, this isn't even a fair fight. No one really knows who you are. It's not even a level playing field for me to engage you and I won't try. Let's just end it and move forward. Again, I'm asking that you please remove all material related to me and we start fresh. If you can honorably remove that material, I will respectfully engage your requests and confirm your details of the sonics. "
No Kenney, my deal stands. I am sick of this backwards and forwards arguing the fucking toss. This will be my last offer. Accept it and we're done. I'm not discussing with you anymore as frankly, I have better things to do. I am not going to cave in to your wishes just so you can save whatever face you have left. You picked this fight, you stared this and no amount of backpedalling can retcon the facts as they stand. Suck it up, get off your knees, stop snivelling and take this like a man. The little PR exercise has backfired spectacularly for you, you've risen to my baiting and I have played you like a Stradivarius. I'd just accept it, go back to my workshop and produce the finest replica I can. In that regard I wish you all the best. Enjoy painting those sonics!
And for the rest of you........
And just to remove all doubt....look at this ruler that is sitting here on my desk....
