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Hello, my name is
Brad and welcome to my website dedicated to my Smurf
collecting. I live in Adelaide, Australia and have
collected smurfs ever since I can remember. I was born
in the mid-80s so missed seeing smurfs being sold at
BP stations. I'm not sure how I started collecting
smurfs. I know that my mother had at least 3 figures
(normal smurf, earache, and soccer player ). So these
initial smurfs must have interested me enough to start
buying more. I have managed to date my collecting
smurfs back to 89, as I found a photo of myself with a
plush Papa (photo dated). I remember that I brought a
lot of my smurfs early on from a stall at what was
called the "Reynella Markets". And this is
where I had brought my first Papa Soft Toy.
During the 90's I think I went a little Smurf mad
(especially during 95 / 96 / 97 - and my primary
school teacher must have thought I was nuts!) I
brought a lot more of my smurfs from a stall that used
to be at the local Sunday market. The bloke soon
realised he could make money off smurfs and me and
seemed to raise the price on his smurfs every week.
Back then we thought it was a rip off to charge 3
dollars!! Just think that is a bargain now days! One
of my most prized possessions was also brought at this
market. My giant smurf soft toy! I remember seeing him
from such a distance. He was laying on top of a car
and I asked my mother if she could ask the price of
it. She was thinking it would cost a fortune.. a crazy
2 dollars! I looked quite the sight trying to carry
this thing around with me for the rest of the market.
He was as tall as me at the time.
I think in all the madness I now realise that I did
buy a lot of crap! HA! A smurf dog bowl, when I didn't
even have a dog. Smurf socks, that would fit a small
child. Dozens of soft toys and many books. Practically
anything with smurfs plastered over it that I saw, I
brought. So I now have to have my limitations.
At the end of the 90's I found out about and joined
the only Australian smurf collectors club, which is no
longer running. Smurf Heaven was run from Perth and
included members from all over Australia. We were able
to order smurfs through them, and receive newsletters.
I brought about a dozen smurfs through them. I'm not
too sure what happened with the club. After my second
year membership I didn't hear from them again. It
would have been nice to have been notified. Checkout
scans of the newsletters in my album
page.
Since 2000 I have been going along to the annual
Adelaide Collectors Swap Meet that is held over the
Queens Birthday June long weekend. There are usually
many smurfs to buy and I look forward to this event
each year. And now after the introduction of the
Internet and the wonderful thing that is eBay, it is
so much easier to collect. Although I must admit that
I haven't really brought many smurfs on eBay. I
do feel quite proud that I have managed to put
together a large collection via going to markets and
swap meets. There has been years when I've only added
10 or so to my pvc collection. And I'm not always
continuously buying smurfs. I can often go a few
months without a purchase. I do prefer searching
market stalls than easy buying online. It's the fun of
the hunt! The recent selling of smurfs in Australia
has also been amazing and has really gotten me back
into collecting. I think in 2005 I must have brought
the most smurfs I've ever done in a year. I think
panic set in that I was going to miss out and I had to
buy everything I could from David Jones. So that was
my goal for that year. I was very lucky also to find
the smurf Windmill selling at DJ. It seems Adelaide
was the only reported state to have sold these. That
Windmill was a BUGGER to put together!
I should briefly mention the DVD releases for
Australia. Magna Pacific are the first company to
officially release Smurfs onto DVD. Exclusive for
Australia! I'm really enjoying watching the cartoon
series again. I hadn't watched the Smurfs since the
90s. Agro's Cartoon Connection (where did that show
go?) on Channel 7 screened the Smurfs when I was
younger.
  
My display picture I use on forums, I should explain is Smurfette:
Warrior Princess. I was a huge Xena Warrior Princess fan. I'm
slowly moving on with my life from that show, but I really like
the idea of a Xena Smurfette. So that is a Photoshop edit I made.
Thanks to Steve for animating her for me! Also check out these 2
Little Britain smurf gifs I created and animated! Lou & Andy
Smurfs and Anne.
So take a look through my website and checkout all the Smurfy
items I have in my collection. The PVC Normals are now my main
focus. I have a few supers, most of which are in-complete. And
then I have a huge section for all my other items, which include
soft toys, books, games, sockels, DVDS and many other items.
Thanks for looking!
I hope to update this site on a regular basis.
BRAD
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