Last of the Yard Sales?

For the last month or so, yard/garage/tag sales have been pretty scarce.  At least from what I’ve seen.

But, I did happen to stumble across one this past weekend.  And the funny thing was, that I have been to this guy’s garage sales 2 summers before this!  And as you will see, he hasn’t run out of stuff to sell me.  In fact, if he has another sale, I had my eye on a “Pepsi Challenge” button.

The Pepsi items were bought from this gentleman,  while the Mac Tonight mug was scored at Richie Rich’s(he let me take it for free).  I am a huge fan of old-school Pepsi items, typically from the 80’s through the early 90’s.  The Pepsi Christmas cup is too cool!  I plan on making this the cup I will most use this coming holiday season.  The Pepsi can is from an old summer promotion Pepsi had back in the 1990.  This was one of 4 designs that came out.  I’m sure if you see the other ones, you’ll have no problem remembering them.  Check out this interesting tidbit on Snopes(I found this out through X-E, years ago).  The car is stamped 1980, and it’s a Chevy Pro Stocker(they couldn’t just call it a stock car?).  But the cooler name of Pepsi Challenger(much better) is on the body of the car.  It rolls smoothly and fast.

And I actually like that it looks played with.

While there were no other sales to be found, I did pick up a couple of comics from the comic shop that I spoke of 2 posts ago.

As is the case with the last batch of comics that I bought, these were bought primarily for reading.  And anyway, I don’t care if every single one of the comics that I own isn’t in pristine condition.  I find the Amazing Spider-Man cover to be quite attractive.  Holograms were a HUGE deal back in the day.  And I still find them to be really cool in any format.  I know I’ve seen a blue cover exactly like this, but I don’t know if it was the same issue, or a variant or what(anyone know what I’m talking about?).  The Marvel Tales starring Spider-Man is no where near good condition, and this time, reading was the secondary reason that I purchased this.

As alot of you know, I’m a big fan of old-school comic book ads.  Whether they’re for toys, cartoons, video games or food and candy.  I’m a fan of it all!  And the ad on the back cover of the Marvel Tales, has a really awesome ad!

Isn’t it awesome?!  I was thinking, since the comic is such poor condition, I just may frame this beautiful ad.  This is from 1982, which was a year or 2 before I got into G.I. Joe.  The top portion looks just like the file cards that were on the back of every figure and vehicle(and are still to this day)  The other ads within could make an appearance, should I decide to continue the old-school comic ads…which I am!

Later…maybe?

Sorry for the recent lack of activity, but I’ve been dealing with some stuff as of late.  Truthfully, I haven’t even thought about writing for the past few days(with the exception of last night).  I know that i get disappointed when sites and blogs that I frequent, aren’t updated.  So I’m sure there are a few of you thinking, “what the hell?!”.  Maybe I should do more “Random Quickies”, or even just a quick picture, so I don’t burn myself out.  I do like writing and posting articles, so no worries, I’m not going to stop anytime soon.

I do have a few things to share, that I’m hoping to get posted tonight.  I’m sure I’ll get my groove back, as my favorite holiday is rapidly approaching.

The Halloween season is my favorite time of the year(with Christmas a close second).  Hopefully, I can get a bunch of Halloween related posts started soon.  But first, I’ll have to work on a new post for tonight.  To hold you over ’til then, here’s an evil pic of the animated Beetlejuice(from Google images.  Not sure of the original website it came from though).

11 Comic Books and Other Things

Recently, a new comic shop opened in my area.  This is not to be confused with another comic book shop that opened in my area in the last year or so.  That was a different comic shop, where I’ve heard stories of the store’s owner and bad business.  I got ripped off by him, but we won’t get into that.  The new store is nicer and the guy(Eugene) who runs the place is a cool guy who interesting to speak with.  The name of the shop is Empire Ray Gun Company.

All of the comic books you are about to see are not in mint condition.  But that’s okay.  All of the comics in my collection are of varying degrees of condition.  The primary reason to be into comics is to actually read them.  And that’s why I bought these.  And for the old-school ads from my childhood.

I got the Robin II issues because these were a big deal when they came out.  Holograms were one thing in card form, but when you put them on a comic cover, you got a kid’s interest.  This was also in the time of “gimmick” covers.  Every comic company was putting out glow-in-the-dark covers, foil covers, embossed covers and foil-embossed covers.  But the cover of the first issue is so awesome, and it was a four issue mini series, so it was worth the price.  I got these books for one dollar each, which is awesome.  But he didn’t have issue 2, so I won’t be able to read this anytime soon.  You’ll also see Johnny the Homicidal Maniac #7, Roger Rabbit #2 and Transformers #2.  JTHM is a great, dark comic(this was the only comic that cost cover price).  I loved Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, so I don’t see why I wouldn’t like the comics.  The old-school Transformers comics were a favorite of mine back in the day.  Plus it’s the second issue!

I have always been more of a fan of the old Mirage TMNT series, but I like all TMNT related literature.  The issues from Archie Comics was done in the same vein as the tv show, so it’s a give in why they would produce comics that were more like the popular cartoon.  The main reason I bought the Thor(I have nothing against the series or character) comic was because there are moai on the cover.  And I got the three issues of “Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham”, because I was(and still am), a huge fan of the character and series, and these were issues I didn’t have.  I would love if Hasbro made a Marvel Universe figure for Spider-Ham(are you listening, Hasbro?).  And as I said earlier, the ads in these comics are great.

On my way home from work on Friday, I spotted a little “flea market” shop that was open for business in my area.  It was a small locally owned establishment, and it was very small(like a big shed).  I decided to check it out.  I didn’t find too much, but the owner was a nice guy and his prices were pretty good as well.

Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke is they best movie they made.  It is hilarious and very quoteable.  I don’t know if I’ve seen The Freshman.  But the dvds were $3 each or two for $5, so  I had to find another movie, and I didn’t see anything else interesting.

I don’t have any setimental attachment to Exo Squad and the bubble is wrecked beyond repair, but I couldn’t say turn down a 17 year old action figure for 3 bucks!  It’s a cool looking toy, and I had to buy it.  He kept on trying to get me to buy a box of the baseball cards you see pictured.  He said he must have 50 sealed boxes.  I’ve curbed my trading card collecting, and baseball isn’t my sport.  Before I left, he just gave me a set for nothing.  From what I’ve heard this set contains both Ken Griffey Jr.’s and Randy Johnson’s rookie cards.  Not too bad.

I haven’t been to any garage sales recently, but I haven’t seen any either.  I did spot one Saturday moring as I was giving a friend a ride home, so I just had to stop.

And Stimpy here, was the only thing that caught my attention.  I loved Nick Toons back in the nineties, as there were so many great ones.  Ren & Stimpy and Rocko’s Modern Life were my two favorites.  Of couse him in his original box was a deciding factor in my purchase.  The woman selling it had it marked for $6 but she said I could take it for $4, and it even works!  Not the best deal for a yard sale find, but definitely a fair price.

And lastly…

An old-school talking Pee-Wee Herman doll!  My friend Mike surprised me by giving this to me on Saturday.  He had him sitting in his man-cave, and knew I’d appreciate it.  The motor in his voice box is messed up, so he talks like a chipmunk, but that’s fine.  Maybe there’s a way I can fix that?  I now know that these dolls have bendable legs, which makes it great for display(but he’ll have to be stored away for now).

Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Playset

Well, this is a first for me.  This marks the first time that I have purchased an action figure playset.

While growing up, my brother and I had tons of action figures for many lines, but we never had the playsets to go with them(well, we did get the wood beetle playset from Battle Beasts.  But that was the only one).  Now, they weren’t essential, but they would have added a bit of credibility to our play sessions.  So it wasn’t a big deal that we never got any playset for our action figures.  And in the eighties, we had a lot of great playsets.  We had Castle Grayskull(Masters of the Universe), Cat’s Lair(Thundercats), The Sewer Playset(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), The Hyve(Sectaurs)…and the seven foot long USS Flagg(G.I. Joe).  Now all of these playsets(and many others), are all very nice and would make a great addition to any collection.  But out of all the playsets that were released when I was a kid, this was the one that I wanted the most.

I ended up scoring a specimen that included the box it originally came in.  The price that I paid would have been fair if I only got the playset and the box.  But also included, were all but 3 figures from the whole line! 🙂 🙂 🙂

So let’s meet the gang.

From left to right-Reba the mail lady, Pee-Wee Herman, Miss Yvonne and Ricardo.  The two humans I don’t have are Cowboy Curtis and the King of Cartoons.

And every other character, except Conky!  We have Randy, Jambi, Chairy, Globey, Magic Screen, The Puppetland Band(Dirty Dog, Chicky Baby and Cool Cat), and Pterri.

It even came with Pee-Wee’s Scooter(which was included with the set when it was released), and his helmet.

The box is a little over two feet long, and the Playhouse itself is just a few inches shorter.

And as you’ll see in a moment, when you unfold it, it’s even bigger.  I had a lot of fun photographing this.  There is a lot of stuff from the show built into this, and we’ll check it out first hand.

The first thing you’ll notice is the trademark door.  That is a friggin’ awesome door!(there’s a great article over at X-Entertainment regarding the playhouse.  It’s actually one of my favorites.  Check it out here.)  To the left of the awesome door is Mr. Window, who has a lever to make it looks like he’s talking.  And to the awesome door’s right are the dancing flowers that also have a lever to move them side to side.

There’s Clockey and the two talking fish.  Clockey has movable hands(but it’s one piece, so they move simultaneously), and the fish sticker is lenticular, which gives the illusion of movement.  So, so, awesome.

The refrigerator and freezer doors open to reveal the anthropomorphic food we’d see whenever Pee-Wee opened the fridge or freezer.  On the show, they were brought to life with stop-motion claymation.

They even built in Floory.  It all would have added to the realism.

The table(which Globey is sitting on), and bench were also included.

Other accessories were the purple island couch, the t.v. set and platforms for Jambi and the Puppetland band.  Other things of interest include the Cowntess, the little statue Pee-Wee would turn to open the secret wall compartment that housed his scooter as well as the opening wall itself.

This gets a 10 out of 10 in my book.  Matchbox did so many things right with this.  There were other characters on the show, that didn’t get the action figure treatment.  But a gentleman by the name of Ben Zurawski made a custom set of the rest of the cast, including, Mr. Kite, the dinosaur family and Roger the monster.  He also made Magic Glasses and Picture Phone.  You can read about all of them here.  For now, this will be displayed in it’s box, because I don’t have enough room to display it in all it’s glory(the figures will be displayed, of course).  And who doesn’t love old-school packaging anyway?  With any luck, I’ll find the three figures I need, and have my first complete action figure line(that’s kind of cool).

I was out and about in town today, and I stumbled into the local Dollar General.  9.5 times out of 10, I’ll end up walking out empty handed, unless I happen to be thirsty, in which case, I end up buying a drink.  But there was a sale, with me getting both of these for a total of $5.40(that’s with tax).

They’re “Legends” class, but they’re also 25th anniversary(that was 2 years ago).  These will stay sealed, just like the other two 25th Anniversary Mini-Cons that I have.

A few days ago, I ended up buying 11 comic books.  I have bought maybe, 5 comics in the last 5+ years.  I’ll tell you the story in a few days.  We’ll talk comics.

Yard Sale Finds #10 and Other Recent Acquisitions

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday(if you have it off).  A big part of my area was hit pretty hard with tropical storm Irene and it’s pretty hard to swallow.  Many people, including my wife’s grandmother, have had their homes severely damaged or completely lost.  But everyone is working together and trying to rebuild our communities.  All I would like to ask of those who read here, is to keep those who were affected in your thoughts.

The yard sale finds we’ll be looking at today are from last Saturday, the day before Irene hit.  But we’ll also take a look at some other acquisitions that were not procured at yard sales.

First up.

The Best of Unsolved Mysteries is a “best of” from the days when Robert Stack hosted the show.  I won this brand new on Ebay for less than $10(including shipping)  While the most recent incarnation of the show with Dennis Farina is a pretty good show, it didn’t have the eerieness of the original series.  I think Robert Stack’s voice and the way he presented the stories had something to do with it.  I was intrigued with this show when I was younger.  The stories would scare the shit out of me, but I couldn’t stop watching.  I’ve watched about half so far, and I think, being that we are now entering the spooky Halloween season, this will be a perfect fit on a chilly fall evening.

Now some yard sale finds.

If you have read any of my previous “Yard Sale Finds” posts, you will know that I am a fan of old children’s books.  I typically gravitate to books I remember from my childhood.  And these are going to be books that I will read to my kids(we don’t have any yet, but we’re trying).  The hard cover Winnie the Pooh book is from a series of many that we had growing up.  I now have5 of them(3 Ducktales, and Peter Pan).  And who doesn’t remember The Berenstain Bears?  These were great books that taught us life lessons, and right from wrong.  Mercer Mayer’s artwork has always stood out to me, and I’ll always recognize them among any books.  And you can’t go wrong at 25 cents.  I got all three books for 1 dollar(the Disney book was 50 cents).

This is an awesome movie!  The disc looks like it’s never been removed from the case, and on top of that, it was only 50 cents!  Chevy Chase, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd.  What’s not to like?!  If you haven’t seen this, check it out if you get the chance.  It’s funny, weird and entertaining.

All 3 of these glasses/cups were in a “free” bin at a church rummage sale.  When I was a kid we had a bunch of those Giants glasses, which is why I got this one, even though I’m a Packers fan.  The Kermit one is a Welch’s jelly jar, but make no mistake, these were marketed as collectible cups.  The product itself was in the premium.  And the Masters of the Universe cup is from a 1985 Burger King promotion.  I can’t tell you much more about it because we primarily went to McDonald’s when we wanted fast food.  They’re all great, and I have my wife to thank for finding them.

At the same rummage sale they had a tub full of toys, and you could stuff as many as you could in a big Ziploc bag for a dollar. What a great deal!!

First, on the left is Raphael from Jim Lee’s TMNT line.  Jim Lee is an amazing artist, and I like his take on the Turtles.  I have never come across these before, and now I can say these are pretty cool figures.  These are bigger than the typical Playmates Turtle figures, and has different articulation than the classic ones.  Next to him is Rat King from the original series(he was released in 1989).  I already have Rat King, but this one has very little wear, which makes it’s condition better than the one I have.  Then we have Mike the Sewer Surfer from 1990.  I love the little details they put on this figure(as well as others, including Rat King).  And lastly is Pizza Tossin’ Raphael(stamped 1993, released in 1994).  The only other time I’ve seen these, I ended up buying them.  I don’t think they’re rare or anything, but they’re quite different from the other TMNT figures produced around the same time.  Now I just need to find Pizza Tossin’ Michaelangelo, and I’ll have all four!

And that’s not all I was able to stuff into the bag!

First we have a 2009 Plankton Burger King toy.  It’s nothing special, but it was still in it’s box, and I like the styling(and I watch Spongebob too…so what?).  Next to Plankton is a Domino figure from the 1995  X-Men/X-Force line.  X-Force was a hot title when it first came out in 1991, and Domino was one of my favorite characters in that series.  Next to Domino is a little Batgirl figure from 1993.  There are no other markings I can find to tell where it came from.  Still pretty cool nonetheless.  Then there’s one of my favorite finds!  “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase from Hasbro’s 1991 WWF line.  These figures were very cool.  All of them had an action that would imitate some wrestling move.  Lifting Ted’s arm will bring his right foot up, and releasing it would send it stomping down(and this one’s still works).  And lastly is a The Corps figure from 1992.  I didn’t know what it was when I found it, but I was drawn to it’s neon green coloring.  Further research tells me that this is Shark(version 1), from 1992.

We’re not done yet.

Each of these games cost me only 1 dollar each!  Non of them have their instruction manuals, but the games are in great condition, which is what matters most.  Out of the three, I’ve only played Metroid Prime.  Starfox Adventures should be fun, even though I don’t think it revolves around flying.  But instead of Metal Arms:Glitch in the System being in it’s case, there was this.

The Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition!  This disc contains the original Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link(The Legend of Zelda II), Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.  It also contains a 20 minute demo of The Wind Waker, as well as a couple of videos.  This wasn’t for sale in stores.  The only way you could get was if you bought a specially bundled Gamecube which came with the game.  Or, you could have gotten it through a special promotion from Nintendo Power.  The disc alone usually sells for $25.00+, but I already own a complete copy.  But I had a friend who was interested, so we made a trade.

Here’s what I traded it for.

This is an original Nintendo storage chest from the days of the NES.  Shortly before I took these photos, I ended up breaking a part of the bottom drawer(I guess I was a little too rough).  The top drawer can house 2 NES controllers as well as a Zapper.

I love how the spaces for the cords, is labeled chords.  Could this be a case of what is considered Engrish?  This is just one of those things that makes the history of Nintendo’s first console interesting.

The bottom drawer can house 28 NES cartridges.

I decided to put all of my games with manuals, as well as some of my favorite games in that drawer.  It’s a nice piece, and it opened up some room on my NES book case.

I got these bendable, plush California Raisins from a thrift store called Richie Rich’s.  I may have mentioned this place before, I don’t really remember.  Originally, I only wanted the one with the sunglasses.  He was marked at 2 dollars, but it was a half-price day!  So I gladly paid a buck for him.  Richie knows me, so he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  He said I could take the rest of them for an additional 50 cents!  I only had 46 cents worth of change in my pocket, and he said that would work(he just wanted to get rid of them).  One of the females is missing the decal on the lips, but it was basically free.  Anybody interested in taking off of my hands?

Here’s a hint of what’s up next.

Anyone fancy a guess?