Merch

Since we’re getting closer and closer to the latest Bond film coming out, the preponderance of Bond merchandise has started to crank up.  And as a Bond connoisseur, that results in me having to make some difficult decisions.  Do I buy this, or do I not buy this?  There are some staples that I don’t bother with – notably clothing, sunglasses and watches.  Which is a shame, because I particularly like some of the watches – but I’m not prepared to shell out the thousands of pounds necessary to acquire an Omega or Rolex.  Swatch has just released some more affordable 007-themed watches, and although they are “limited edition” (my favorite 2 words) they just seem a bit tacky.  What else?  Well, lots of luxury brands have undoubtedly paid tons of money to appear in the film – so we can forget about those.  Champagne, perfume?  Nope.  I do own a couple of Bond cars – you know the Corgi/Matchbox type ones (sadly, a full size Aston Martin DB5 is just outside my price range).  At one point I thought about going all in on this and trying to acquire as many of these model cars as I could, but that never really happened.  What else have I seen?  Figures – nope, especially not those ghastly Funko Pop figures.  It seems that any companies beginning with the word Royal are producing something – Royal Mail are releasing a set of James Bond stamps, the Royal Mint are producing something (there is a countdown on their website for something 007-related), and Royal Doulton are releasing another Jack the Bulldog porcelain model (which I think I’m obliged to get, because I’ve got 2 of their previous ones).  I would love to own some genuine James Bond film props – but there are very few out there, and those that are normally get snapped up in auctions at inordinate prices.  There are lot of prints and posters out there, many of which look great, but again something I have never really got into.  I have got a lot of Bond trading cards, and I could certainly splash the cash to complete some of these sets – but again this doesn’t seem like a good use of money.  Indeed, most of these things are probably a colossal waste of money.  But hey, if they give me just an iota of pleasure and satisfaction, which they do, then perhaps they are worth it.