All That Jazz…And Some Other Stuff

Well, I guess that I have recovered from the laziness that caused my absence for this week.  But that means that I have a few things to share with you!

The “Jazz ” part of the title refers to this guy.

 I found this at a not so local Target.  The only sign of this line locally is the Battle in Space set that I picked up at Wal-Mart.  So, around 3 weeks ago, I’m perusing the toy aisles at the not so local Target and stumble upon a small selection of the Reveal the Shield figures.  There were one of each of the following…Special Ops Jazz, Perceptor, Turbo Tracks, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee.  So it was a tough choice, as I could only go home with one of them.  I narrowed it down to Perceptor and Jazz.  And while I thought Perceptor looked great in his robot mode, I thought Jazz looked more true to his G1 roots in both modes, this being the reason he was chosen.

Seems like I got a good deal.  Being that it only cost $8.38, on clearance from the original price of $11.99*cringe*.  It’s a fun enough toy, and looks very nice in either mode.

Nice, right?  I think so.

But my preference for display is always robot mode.  And this figure is a good reason why.

Very nice!

Now, onto the “other stuff”.

My friend Chris gave me a pack of these Garbage Pail Kids Flashback cards yesterday.  I’m thinking the pack must have been from one of those “Value” boxes they sell, as the pack only contained 4 cards(the pack I bought had 8 cards).  These are all classics I remember from the original releases.

Onward!

Last night my band played at a local bar(the show was great!).  And as everyone knows, McDonald’s breakfast is the perfect cure after a night of drinking.  But I’m not here to tell you about what I ate for breakfast.  I just wanted to give you a little background on how I came into possession of what I’m about to show you.

So anyway…

We were driving to our closest McDonald’s, when I noticed a tag sale at one of the town’s churches.  After we picked up our food, I made my wife stop at the tag sale.  I found one item I was interested in, and inquired how much they wanted for it, and was told the sale was based on however much I wanted to donate.  With this information, I decided to see if there was anything else of interest.  And there was!

Here’s what a $1.00 donation got me.

This was the item that I inquired about.  I totally forgot that there was an animated Ace Ventura series!  The cover art alone is what got me to pick it up(a great representation of Jim Carrey).  It’s just a bonus that it’s a published by Troll.(1997)

And there’s this.

From Mego, we have Pulsonic Baseball II, “The World Series of Deluxe Computerized Baseball”(was there stiff competition in the computerized baseball field?).  Chris was with us, and said he had this as a kid and remembered that it was fun.  I took his word for it and bundled it with the Ace Ventura book.  I’m probably going to sell it, so I tested it out to make sure that it worked.  It did, and Chris didn’t lie, it’s actually really fun to play!

This was everything that was in the box.  Looks like it’s missing the piece with the logo that prevents cheating when playing against a human opponent.  The other plus is that it is copyrighted 1979, which is the same year I was born.  Considering it’s age, it’s still quite fun(looks like we have something else in common 🙂 )

1988 California Raisins Sticker Album

I was searching for this for a long time.

Back when I was a kid, sticker albums were a decent alternative for the times we didn’t get toys.  They were pretty cheap, so it was pretty easy to sucker your parents into buying you one when you knew that a toy might be out of the question.  Why blow a chance to get something, right?  Most of the time stores would sell the albums right along side packs of the stickers.  But there were also times you could find an album pre-packaged along with packs of the corresponding stickers.  I got this one pre-packaged with the sticker packs.

I had this specific album 2 times growing up, but I only remember the second one coming pre-packaged.  Panini was the company that usually put these stickers and albums on the market, but Diamond produced this one.  The stickers available were of the claymation Raisins as well as their cartoon counterparts.  These raisins were a hot property during the latter stages of the eighties.

The ten packs yielded only 3 doubles, and I still have a long way to go to complete the book.  I took my time and tried to put them in as straight as possible.  Some of the stickers didn’t match up when you had 2 or 4 stickers to complete a scene.  But I guess that’s expected from something like this, considering the time it came out.  Not only did you get to have fun collecting the stickers for this album, but the whole inside of the book is all in 3-D!

The book comes with 2 “Slide-O-Scopes”, rather than the traditional 3-D glasses.  It works by sliding the cover over the red and then the blue, and vice versa.  It works well enough.

Here, on the inside back cover, we have an ad for the Diamond Collector’s Club.  Here you could order the stickers you needed to complete your collection.  Let’s face it, you’d have to buy a shit-load of stickers to complete one of these albums, so this was a much easier and cheaper alternative.  The funny thing is, is that they would only process orders for 10 or 20 stickers ONLY.  10 stickers for $1.00 or 20 stickers for $2.00 + a $1.00 handling charge.  Man, times have changed!

I’ll leave you with a few additional photos.

Thundercats Hoooo!!!

I just wanted to show everyone this kick-ass shirt I found at Wal-Mart this afternoon.

Looks like they got everyone except for Vultureman.  Still a great shirt none the less.

Random Quickie #4-MAD No.279 June 1988

I will let it be known that I am a long time fan of MAD magazine.  I was first introduced to the magazine by my dad, and have been periodically reading it ever since then.  I remember going grocery shopping every Saturday, mostly at Shop-Rite, with my dad and step-mom.  One day when I was 9 years old, my dad decided to buy the latest issues of Mad magazine and Cracked.  This became a ritual every month when the new issues hit the stands.  Which brings us to today’s Random Quickie.

This is that first issue that I read(not the exact issue, that got traded a long time ago).  I always remembered it because of the scratch and sniff cover, and any time I would think about my dad, I thought of this issue.  I found this copy on Ebay a couple of years ago, and it’s the cornerstone of my MAD collection.  My dad passed away 14 years ago, so this is nice reminder of the influence he had on me, and the good times we had together.  This one’s for you pop.

My Favorite Comic Book Covers #3

In my last post, I said that I would leave tonight’s post up to you.  Colin was the first to respond, and he said that he wanted to see some more comic book covers.  So that’s what we’re here for.

I really wanted to put this one on my last comic cover post(The #1s).  But there are so many #1 comics out there, and only so many can be put on a single post(plus everyone’s opinion varies).  This is a now classic cover from Todd McFarlane.  Back in the early nineties, Marvel had a huge selection of the best comic talent working for them.  This cover is the reason that I think McFarlane’s representation of Spider-Man is among the best that I’ve seen.

This cover has two things going for it.  First it’s done by Sam Kieth(my favorite comic book artist), and secondly, it’s a Batman comic!  Batman is huge and looks pissed, and the Joker looks psychotic!  Not all of Kieth’s work is the same, but it all has his touch(look at Four Women for example).  Many of you will know Kieth as the creator of The Maxx.  And if you’re my age, you’ll remember that he did a slew of Marvel Comics Presents covers back in the early nineties(and these were double covered comics, with one on the front and one on the back).  This is one of favorite Sam Kieth covers ever!

How can you not like this cover?!  It works so well!  I started reading this title around issue #34, and while my interest started to wane after 10 or so issues, the covers that continued to come out, gave me a reason to buy them anyway(I still read them).

My favorite incarnation of the Turtles, will always be the original old-school comic look.  I’d say the first four issues have the best cover art, but this is my favorite “Tales” cover.  Just looking at this cover has me wanting to re-read the series and fill the holes in my collection.

Jim Lee is an amazing artist, and his run with Batman had some really nice cover art.  It’s the top 2 guys on the DC roster, but they don’t look so friendly.  It could be assumed that this scenario(Batman being human and Super-Man being a powerful alien) would be the likely one, but I’m pretty sure Batman has Kryptonite in his utility belt(I really need to start re-reading my comics).

BONUS

A short while back, Open the Toy wrote a post about Eric Draven(The Crow).  In the comments I stated that I had a hand drawn sketch from none other, than J. O’Barr himself(creator of The Crow).  LEon, who runs that site asked if I would share the sketch with everyone.  Well, I figured with tonight’s subject matter, it would be fitting.  So LEon, this one’s for you.

It’s Debatable

I really wanted to get something up this past weekend, but didn’t.  Between having friends over, the Rangers playoff games on tv and tv in general, I just didn’t have a chance.  I do have all the pictures taken for the review I wanted to do, but I’ll once again, give you guys a choice.  I won’t give too much away, but just pick from Transformers or California Raisins or something else you can think of(as long as I have it), and I’ll have it up tonight.  You want to see a Comic Book Cover post?   I can do that.  Some more Non-Sports Trading Cards?  I can do that as well.  So I leave the power in your hands, folks.  If I get no responses, I will seriously pick tonight’s post out of a hat.

Beverage Review #4

So, it’s been quite some time since I last did one of these.  But then again, it’s rare that I see something new or different, that would motivate me to write about it.  Well, this past weekend I purchased something that I just had to review!  You’ll see why in just a second.

It’s blue!!  Any new drink that is blue is worth buying, in my book.  It’s Calypso Ocean Blue Lemonade bottled by King Juice Company, Inc.  The bottle states that this lemonade has real lemon bits.  They’re hard to see, but I’m sure they’re in there, with good reason.  They have another variety with real melon bits in it, and you can see them clear as day.  It’s a tart, sweet lemonade.  And that’s a good thing!  They’re also a pretty decent deal at two for 3 dollars.

It almost looks like it’s glowing, doesn’t it?  I would say this is the brother of pink lemonade, an assessment you can appreciate if you can find this stuff.  I would also imagine that this would go great with liquor(I wouldn’t know, I only drink beer).  🙂  Even if you end up hating this stuff, the cap is at least worth a quarter.  If anyone tries the melon variety, let me know how it is.

More Mega Blok’s Mini-Figs & GPK Flashback

Friday after work, I swung by my local Wal-Mart(I’m sure you already knew that), to get some more of those cool Mega Bloks Marvel Universe mini figures.  Just like the Lego mini-figs, there are certain numbers on the bag(above the barcode), to coordinate with the figures in the bags.  After receiving a tip from Chunky B. and Jboypacman, I headed to Wally World with my “cheat sheet” in hand.  Here are the 2 that headed home with me.

I figured I’d get the classic Spider-Man because it would accent the Venom that I already have.  I got Green Goblin because of the sweet accessories, and because he’s the super-rare figure of the set.  And it seems like we will be seeing a second series.  The checklists that come with every figure say “series 2 coming soon”(sweet!).

Along with the mini-figs, I also picked up Howard the Duck on DVD for five bucks, as well as this sweet impulse buy, right near the register.

These Garbage Pail Kids are titled “Flashback” because they are reprints of the original ones from the eighties(with a few minor changes from the originals).  Let’s take a look.

These are Series 2, so I didn’t expect to get the good ones, but there are a couple of ones I do remember(Jolted Joel, Alien Alan).  The Unzipped Zack is a pink bordered parallel(1 in 3 packs).  You’ll notice that the last card pictured(Bad Art), is missing the Flashback under the GPK logo.  This is because it is a “Lost” Garbage Pail Kid.  This was one that never made it into the series we got as kids.  I think that is pretty cool, something old, yet new.  The ones I got, for the most part, just have pieces of puzzles on the back.  I was hoping for some with those gross awards on the back(remember them?).

At $1.98 a pack, I think they’re a bit over priced(they used to be 25 cents a pack back in the day), but they are pretty fun, and I wouldn’t mind getting a few more.  I did pick up a few other thing that will get worked in here at some point this week.  Including Transformers, trading cards and an all-new Beverage Review!  For now, I’ll just leave you with this.

Toy Display Update

A while back, you guys saw when I first got a book case to display some of my collection in my bedroom.  Well, since then I have accumulated a ton of toys, and a couple of days ago I added some of them to the display.  Here’s what is now on display.

Of course, some stuff had to be switched around, but I don’t think I had to take anything down to accomplish this.  Click here to see what the display looked like when it first went up.

Two Weeks Worth of Toys!

Man, have I been lazy.  Over the last 2 weeks, I have accumulated a ton of toys.  I just got around to sorting and cleaning the ones that I’m keeping last night.  So today you will see only the ones I thought were cool enough to keep.  And believe me, a lot was left out.

We’ll start with one of two most recent Ebay finds.

 A Snork, E.T.and Friend Bear.  Just to be clear, I wanted this lot for the Snork and E.T., but I’ll keep the Care Bear anyway.  🙂  A sweet deal at 99 cents plus $1.99 shipping!

Keeping with the Ebay theme, we’ll see an even sweeter deal next(a few of my favorite new additions).  Before we get to the toys…I’ll let you know that I got them for 99 cents plus $4.99 shipping(the seller paid more than 7 bucks to ship them).

Robo-Force!!  These guys are stamped 1984 CBS Toys.  I don’t recall much about these guys, but I know I had a few of these guys when I was younger, because there’s no mistaking the suction cup bottoms.  From left to right we have Vulgar(The Destroyer), Wrecker(The Demolisher), and Coptor(The Enforcer).  Wrecker is in the best condition of the three.  Check out all of them here.  Iwould love to get Ripper(The Anti-Robot)!

These guys were fun to photograph.  So before moving on, here’s a few more shots.

 

 

Around the same time I received the Robo-Force figures, my friend Ben, gave me a tacklebox full of action figures and accessories.

I’m still on the fence on whether or not I should keep the G.I. Joe Extreme Iron Klaw figure.  But I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look bad-ass!  I’m also having trouble deciding if the blue figure is a ninja or a wrestler(gotta love old school bootleg figures).  Snakebite from the Super Naturals line is the clear winner of the entire contents of the aforementioned tacklebox.  The troll is Vegar The Champion, from Applause’s 1992 Troll Warriors line.  Some fine additions, to say the least.

Lastly, we have a family of Batmen.

I’ll be keeping the first 2(1990 & 1992 respectively).  But if Chunky, Reis or anyone else wants the other two(1995 & 1997), let me know, and they’re yours.

I plan on adding more figures to my shelves(and maybe re-arrange or swap some out), which you’ll see in the near future.