Yard sale finds #3

My most recent yard saling adventure was yesterday.  Everytime I decide to go, I think about the possibilities.  The possibilities of finding the ultimate bargain.  You know, a box of Transformers, for ten bucks.  Something to that effect.  Well, that did not happen on my most recent excursion.  But I did manage to buy some pretty cool stuff, without spending a lot of cash.  I’ll just cut to the chase, and show you the loot.

The first sale I hit up yielded this guy.  An excellent value at only ten cents.

I don’t know about you.  But I loved the Beetlejuice cartoon.  I remember when these came with a Burger King kid’s meal, and I thought they were pretty sweet back then!  There’s no action or posability, but they’re nice to look at.  The toys had one character from the show on one side and a different character on the reverse.  This particular one has Beetlejuice as a snake charmer on one side.

And a sand worm on the reverse.

The next handful of items were found at a single sale.  Up first.  Coming in at fifty cents, we have……

An old school Pepsi can.  I believe this is from the late eighties or early ninties.  The ingredients include high fructose corn syrup.  So whenever they made the switch from sugar.  One thing that is absent from this can, as opposed to cans of today, is the nutritional information that is on almost every food package.  Simpler times.

Every item in the next photo was in a bag for a whopping total of fifty cents!

The brightly colored Batman Beyond figure was what brought my attention to this merry group figures.  He is sadly missing one of the two detachable wings that clip onto his shoulders.  The newer version of Skeletor made up for that though.  Then, there’s Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, who will get sold, as well as the two guys on the left(I have no idea who they are.  If you can help me, let me know).

The next two items were bought for laughs as well as the nostalgia.

I have never seen this particular Robin Hood movie, and I was not a fan of 90210, although I know a lot of the characters.  One of my favorite things about this purchase is, the Kay Bee price sticker.  It’s a nice reminder of my favorite toy store.  The price tag has the 90210 cards marked for 79 cents.  I scored both packs for just a buck!  These could make for a review in the future.

And the final item(it was the first thing I saw) from this stop is…

This was my favorite find from this sale.  I remember all different bears made just like ALF here.  You squeeze his shoulders and his arms open up to clip him onto something(rear view mirrors were popular).  I have never seen an ALF version though.  He was in a Ziploc bag and  he’s as soft as the day he was bought.  I would rather have this guy than the fifty cents I traded for him.

Next, we stopped at a used furniture and gift establishment.  This place isn’t too far from home and we’ve passed it hundreds of times.  Yet, this would be our first time to set foot in the joint.  There was way more furniture than gifts.  There is a silver lining to this.  Here it is.

This is a McDonald’s mug from 1995.  Didn’t McDonald’s promote some 3 patty burger for this movie?  I think, if you bought any size Extra Value Meal, you had the option to buy one of the however many for a nominal fee.  I could of had the other four mugs that were displayed with this one for three more dollars, but decided against it.  Three of the remaining four were Robin ones, and the last on was a Riddler one that was smaller than this one(maybe part of another set?).

The last sale we hit up yielded a lone item.  But a sweet item.  At just a dime, well worth it.

Judging from a small Pepsi logo and a small Universal Studios Monsters logo, I would surmise that this is a collector’s cup from Taco Bell from sometime in the ninties.  It displays the Monsters in a different light by showing The Mummy playfully giving The Wolfman a noogie.  Since I first laid eyes on it, it has definitely upped my Halloween spirit.  Well that’s the latest haul, and it may be the final of the season.  But who knows?

Bombshock and Combaticons

Yesterday, I ended up going to Wal-Mart for a jug of motor oil and my prescriptions(antibiotics), and I went to check out the toy aisle.  Most of the time I figure the toys are too expensive and I’ll pass on making a purchase.  Now, I was put on antibiotics, and I am not permitted to drink alcohol while I am on these medicines.  So that’s two weeks with no beer, that equals a little extra cash.  This permitted me to consider things above a $5.00-$6.00 item.  Right away I was drawn to the Transformers.  There wasn’t too big a selection of characters that I was familiar with.  Here’s who I decided on.

There were a few reasons why I decided on this guy.  Number one is, there is more than 1 toy in this set.  The second reason is, while I root for the Autobots, the Decepticons have a far more bad ass symbol.  And the final reason I chose him was that, as a kid, I never had a combiner.  Sure I had 1 or 2 from different combiners, but I never had all the ones needed for this.  Plus, I thought he looked better than the Autobot combiner.  Let’s meet Bombshock and the Combaticons.

(Sorry for the blurry photo.)

From left to right we have, Missile Carrier Drone, APC Drone, Bombshock, Tank Drone and Armored Car Drone.  Now, judging by their names, these aren’t typical Transformers.  In fact, with the exception of Bombshock, these guys don’t even have a robot mode.  What?!  The other guys pop onto Bombshock and form the arms and legs of Bombshock’s Commander Power-Up Mode.  At first I thought that was kind of lame, but look at your final product.

 He’s looks like a pretty mean customer.  All in all, while maybe not worth the twenty bucks they charged for it, at least he’s solid  and not a liquid.

 

 

 

“Tonight, tonight! It’s comin’ tonight!”

So I made a sweet purchase last night.  Well, 2.  I did buy Adventures in Babysitting on dvd, but that’s not what the title is referring to.  And no, it’s not A Christmas Story on dvd(I already own that, and if you didn’t know that the title of this post was a quote from that very movie, shame on you).  I don’t want to say what it is, because that will kill the suspense.  I will say that I will be snapping some pictures this afternoon and posting the surprise no later than 8:00PM(it could be way earlier though, so check back soon).  I say no later than 8:00PM, because, I like to procrastinate and I might get sucked into cable programming.  But it’s such a cool item and I really want to write about it.  Are you exited?  I know I am!

RAK(Robert A. Kraus)

A few days ago, I posed the question of, “Who is RAK?”  Well, those three letters are the initials of artist Robert A. Kraus.  I suppose he’s pretty well known, because, his website says, “Welcome to the website of  world famous artist RAK (Robert A. Kraus).”  To tell you the truth, I kind of stumbled upon his work.  Now, I don’t remember what I was searching for, but I was on Ebay and happened upon some trading cards of his work.  The series is entitled “SUPERFREEKS”.  He has a very unique style, and they’re quite eye catching.  I believe there were 2 series, with 159 different cards in the first series alone!  I only own six of the many cards in this set.  Below, we will look at the first three in my collection.

This first group represnts one of my all time favorite movies, my favorite super hero and one of my favorite video game characters.  As you can see, he has a very exaggerated style, that, in my opinion is very visually appealing.  I would love to get a whole set of these and frame the entire set.

And, the last three.

I think Megatron would be my favorite of the lot.  And I find the Lion-O and DangerMouse cards attractive as well.  He also sells prints, matted prints, posters and a whole bunch of other stuff.  There was a game on the SEGA Genesis titled “Chakan”, with the title character being a creation of Mr. Kraus.  There are similar pieces of Chakan art available as well.  These cards are avilable at rakgraphics.com.

Who is RAK?

Does anyone know who Robert A. Kraus is?  I only ask because, I think he is an amazing artist and I have some trading cards he sells.  They are called Super Freeks, and I bought a few different ones years ago.  He draws these crazy looking cartoon caricatures of pop culture characters.  From Jason to Freddy.  From Batman to Spider-Man.  Megatron to Jack Skelington.

They are absolutely awesome.

Should I do a single one for a few posts?  Or do you guys want to see all the ones I have in one shot?  Let me know in the comments.  If you want to see them all, you will have to wait until Sunday(I have band practice today and I’m going camping after work tomorrow, and won’t be home until Sunday.  If you want to see them in a few different posts, I might be able to get one up before I go.

Back to the Future II trading cards revealed!

Finally two posts in one day!!  It would seem that I was teasing everyone with a day of two posts.  There has been some request that I open the sealed pack of Back to the Future II cards I aquired on vacation.  I was just as curious, and figured, what the hell!?  Let’s have a look-see.

Sealed pack.

Trading cards.

Ancient gum.

I did not get one single cool card.  No glimpse of the future.  I must aquire a hoverboard card!  The pack is copyrighted 1989.  Ther is no way that I will try to chew 21 year old gum!  Isn’t gum supposed to stretch?  That’s not the case with this shit!  I was able to break it into gum shredding shards.  Here’s a look at a few of my favorite cards.

 

The sticker is my personal favorite.  That is a pretty sweet jacket Marty has.  The “Retrieving the almanac” card gained my favor by having a Pee Wee Herman look alike wearing a red tie.  And any card that has two different frames on it is instantly cool.  I’ll be honest and tell you that it has been many years since I last saw this movie.  Upon viewing these cards, I realised that I must soon watch it again.  Stay tuned for future trading card adventures!

Beverage review #3

Alright!  This one has been a long time in the making.  The long fable third Beverage review.  This is the last remaining can of the beverages I brought back from Ohio.  Now, I had never had nor have I ever heard of this mysterious drink.  I saw this in the store, but didn’t even contemplate getting it.  I just wanted to get my two twelve pack of Barq’s Red Creme Soda(the last 2 on the shelves).  When the cashier rang me up, he asked, “You wanna get 2 more?  They’re on sale 4 for 10 bucks.”  So, I said “Yeah.  I’ll be right back.”  I had to decide quick.  So I grabbed a twelve pack of Barq’s Root Beer and a twelve pack of a non native to NY of the stuff right next to the root beer.  Here is that non native soft drink.

I’m not sure if it’s ALE 81 or ALE eight one.  At first I thought this would taste like a horrible beer like drink.  I was totally wrong.  It’s actually like ginger ale, a smoother seemingly less carbonated like ginger ale.  Maybe I’m just a little slow and I should’ve surmised that the name of the drink was a description of the drink’s actual flavor.

It’s a nice champagne colored soft drink.  One thing I noticed about ALE 81(that’s what I’m calling it), is that it lacks the bite of say, Seagram’s ginger ale.  I frankly, was not impressed.  So, my fiancee ended up drinking the majority of it.  One last thing, look above the logo on the can…there’s a slogan that says, “A late one.”  Maybe I should’ve drank it late at night.  Or maybe I should’ve mixed it with some liquor.  This my friends, does not get my recommendation.

2 for 1

Beverage review #3 comin’ atcha!  I was also thinking about opening the pack of Back to the Future II trading cards I got while on vacation.  Steffanio was the one who got me thinking about it.  So….in the comments let me know if you want to see what goodies are under that wrapper.  I don’t think I’ll be eating that 20 something year old piece of gum though!  🙂

The Summer Megaparty

I’ve noticed there has been a lull in posts for the blogs on my blogroll.  The reason for this, I’m guessing, is that the majority of the blogs on my blogroll are all fans of X-E.  Matt started the Summer Megaparty last Thursday, and I couldn’t be happier.  It would also seem that I’ve fell into that rut as well.

I do want to write more.  I feel like it’s been forever, but it’s only been six days.  I’ll get cranking on that.

If you want to know what the Summer Megaparty(or X-E), is all about, head over to x-entertainment.com, right now!

The arrival of Superchicken

So, I got a package in the mail about a week ago.  I was eagerly anticipating this package.  You see, the contents of this package could change your life.

The story goes like this.

While surfing the web about a month ago, I stumbled across a great blog.  Now, I’ll sample a few posts before I’ll decide whether or not it’s for me.  The blog I came across was zenestex.com.  Mr. Bobby Cooper is the proprietor of this site.  Anyway, after I started reading through his entries, I found out he was a prankster.  If you want to check out his escapades, go there now.  Two of his particular pranks included putting a Superchicken antenna topper on an unsuspecting coworkers car.  Long story short, I thought that Superchicken was the greatest thing ever.  Bobby said that he got a bunch of them from Whataburger, I think, for free.  I left a comment stating my new found love for this Superchicken.  I received an e-mail from Mr. Cooper asking for an address to ship a left over one he had in his closet.  Just look at him in all his glory!

There’s not too much info on this character.  He’s a mascot for the Whataburger chain.  That’s all I got.  Seriously.  Anyway, I think this Superchicken is one of the greatest thing for, at least, the rest of this summer.  Check out some of this guy in action over at zenestex.com.