Cool Toy Show Pick-Ups #3 & #4!

I wanted to get the last 2 pick-ups from the toy show, because I have something else I have to review.  It’s something I’m looking forward to, so let’s get the last 2 items out of the way.

Momaw Nadon, also known as Hammerhead.  I won’t say too much because I plan on opening, and reviewing this guy.  I really like all of the backround characters in the Star Wars movies, and Momaw here is one of my favorites.  I happily paid the $5 that was asked for him.  I would like to have one of the old-school figures of Hammerhead for my collection, but this one will do for now.

Next is what my buddy Dean(Deaner!) got me for my birthday(May 2).

Brad Turner, a.k.a. Condor.  This is the first M.A.S.K. figure in my collection!  This was the one I always wanted.  The only one I ever owned was Jackhammer(which is pretty cool), but Condor was my favorite of them all!  I actually di own this figure for a very short time.  I can’t remember the exact year, but a kid down the street actuall gave me the Brad Turner figure, and Condor!  Not only that, but he also gave my brother and I a plastic Sword of Owens(I’d love to find that again), and a huge stack of Garbage Pail kids.  He(the kid), was getting to the point where he felt too cool to be associated with this “kids” stuff, so that’s why we ended up with it.  But, my dad inquired about where we got these new found things, and then made us give them back!  Even though this one’s missing it’s windshield, it’s good enough for me.

So, not a bad haul, eh?  But I also got something else that day, but it wasn’t from the toy show.  We were out for my birthday, remember?!

Cool Toy Show Pick-Up #2

This is a 1986 Cobra Viper.  To me, the Cobra Viper is the figure that defines Cobra.  I remember these guys from the show, and like most of the characters from Cobra, they were idiots.  But they do look really cool.  This was at a sellers table, in a Ziploc bag, and it was complete, marked to sell at $7.  Now considering this figure is complete, $7 is a hell of a deal!  But the bargain hunter in me had to see if they would take $5 for it(it was on my way out and it was the last of the money I had on me).  The guy looked at it, and said “Yeah, okay.”.  These guys had really good prices on all of their figures, but this one caught my eye.  The dealers were from Comic Depot, and you can check out their wares here.

Still, more to come.

Cool Toy Show Pick-Up #1

I always thought Trap Jaw was one of the coolest and meanest MOTU villain.  I ended up scoring this guy for $4(originally marked at $6).  He stands very well, and will make a nice addition to my Masters of the Universe collection.  He will join my other villains Skeletor and Mantenna.  The only heroes I have are Buzz-Off and Rokkon(he’s on my Transformers and robots shelf though).  I really need to get a He-Man figure for the collection(2 actually, as I really want to get a Thunder Punch He-Man as well).

More to come soon.

Prized Possessions and the “Tip of the Iceberg”

This week’s assignment from The League is “Prized Possessions”.  Brian asked us, “What is the one item in your collection you would save if your house was being swallowed by a sink hole, carried off in a tornado, and then swept away in a flood.”

It was a pretty quick decision.

I believe I bought this from a Toys R Us back in 1999.  When I was a kid in the eighties, I would’ve killed for the original(it was diecast, ya know).  But, I only owned the green lion, and my brother owned the red lion(the black lion is my personal favorite).  I happened to hit up the Toys R Us in White Plains on pay day, and there were 3 of these on the shelf.  It was the 5 lions, the five pilots and the “Blazing Sword” and shield.  A pretty good deal for the $29.99 asking price.  I didn’t even flinch…I wanted this!  While waiting for the train to go back home, I opened up the package and began to assemble it.

The box it came in is long gone, as I wasn’t the dork collector I am today.  One of the horns on the robot form’s head is missing, as is it’s spring-loaded missile on the back and one of the “wings” is also absent.  The only other thing missing is Pidge(the mini pilot for the green lion).  But it’s mine, and it’s also one of the toys that’s been in my collection the longest.

Check out what Colbey couldn’t leave behind over at Random Toy Reviews.

Shawn from Branded in the Eighties chooses to save a cuddley(sp?) friend.

Jon from Doubledumbassonyou picks a figure I never even knew existed(but it’s awesome!).

And, I went to a toy show today!  It was a small affair, but I did manage to get a few deals.  I want to spread them out over the next week(this gives me a few posts), so I’ll just show you guys the smaller stuff today.

These ALF figures were given away in Wendy’s kids meals sometime back in 1990(that’s what they’re stamped).  I’m a fan olf ALF, and for 50 cents each, I grabbed all 3.  They’re based on the short-lived animated show(that I liked, and the toy line is something I’d like to find a few of), but these look like they’re more specifically from ALF Tales(which were poplular fairy tales that featured ALF in the title roles(I have ALF Tales on dvd, and I can’t believe I haven’t watched it yet!  I’ll have to get on that).

And in the same box, I also found these.

Also, 50 cents each.  Any E.T. toy for fifty cents is a deal in my opinion, plus these are my favorite representations of the lovable alien.  The Happy Meal Koopa Paratroopa was in a line of toys given away in Happy Meals at McDonald’s back in 1990(check out a commercial for it here).  Just like the other one in my collection, it is missing the tube and bulb required to make it hop.  There are loads of these guys in the games, so I don’t mind owning 2 of them(they’re my favorite old school Super Mario enemies anyway).  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle candy dispenser is made by Topps, but this piece is missing the bottom cover, so I don’t have a date for you.  But I would assume that it’s from around 1989-1990.  I remember buying tons of this candy back in the day, and it’s something I have never came across for sale, and at the price I paid, I’m happy.

I also managed to score a SNES game at a very nice price.

There was a kid there selling a Super Nintendo and 6 Super Nintendo games.  So I asked how much the games were.  He said that they were all $10, but Aladdin was $3!  I already own the other 5 games that were there, and this one usually sells for $10 or more.  It’s a fun platformer, and it’s from Capcom, so it’s also very visually appealing as well.

The best is yet to come.  I have a few really awesome toys we’ll see in the coming days(quite possibly tomorrow).

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers – Holy Grails and White Whales

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers is a project that Brian from Cool and Collected started about 2 months ago(for those of you who are not familiar with this, click here for the scoop).  The topic this week is, as stated in this post’s title, Holy Grails and White Whales.

While I could go on and on with stuff I would love to get, the idea is what would we most like to find, and be able to take home with us.  There’s got to be  something that has eluded you, that you think you may never get, or get the opportunity for a chance at.  There are a few things that instantly came to mind.

I collect video games, among other things, so that’s where we’ll start.

What you see above is the very definition of Holy Grail, when it comes to the Nintendo Entertainment System.

I have many fond memories attached to the NES, which is probably why I have so much interest in the system itself.  I collect games for quite a few consoles,  but I have more NES games than all of my other consoles combined(200+).  If you are not familiar with the story behind these cartridges, I’ll give you a little history.

In 1990, Nintendo held a video game championship across the country(not unlike the one in the movie The Wizard).  There were competitions in cities across the nation, looking for the best Nintendo player in that city.  Then the “best” players from each age group would play against each other in the finals of the tournament to determine the winner.  I’m not sure just how these were distributed, but I do know that some went to the champions and finalists, and some were given away in a Nintendo Power contest.  There are only 90 of the gray cartridges, and just 26 copies of the gold one.

The games contained within are Super Mario Brothers(get 50 coins), Rad Racer(complete the first course), and Tetris(get the highest score you can).  There is a dipswitch on the outside of the cart, that you can use to adjust the amount of time to play.  Even though all the games are pretty common, the cartridges are not.  This is something I’m pretty sure I will never own, but it’s nice to dream of finding it a at a garage sale or flea market.

And there are a few toys that came to mind as well.  Now, there are a lot(tons), of toys that I would love to add to my collection.  There are plenty of lines that I collect, and others that I would like to collect.  But there is one line that stands above the rest, and that’s Transformers.  Or more specifically, Generation 1 Transformers.

The first of the two?

Transformers and I go way back.  My brother and I received our first Transformers on the Christmas of 1984 or 1985.  We got one each, and they were both Megatron.  Megatron is high on my want list, but Ultra Magnus is just a little more important to me.  You see, when I saw Transformers the Movie back in 1987, Ultra Magnus quickly became my new Favorite Transformer.  My older brother ended up getting it for me, I believe, for my 9th birthday in 1988.  For some reason I didn’t have it very long.  My stepmother, took him away for some reason(probably jealous that my younger brother didn’t have one), and I never saw him again.  I’m sure I probably cried my eyes out, because I really wanted that toy, and really loved it for the short time that I had it.  So, maybe, finally getting him again may give me some closure.

And the one I wanted, but never got.

Soundwave, is perhaps the coolest looking Transformer in robot mode(and a little dated in alt mode).  I knew a few kids who had this guy, and boy, did I want it!  There were quite a few times I would pick out cassette 2-packs(for Soundwave or Blaster), when we would ask if we could get a toy(you know what I’m talking about).  I have had a few chances to pick this guy up, but at the time(s), I just didn’t have the $40-$50 to spare.  But that may all change when the toy show comes to town on April 22!

Check out what has eluded Reis over at Lair of the Dork Horde.

Brian talks about the item he would love to add to his ever-growing King Kong collection over at Cool and Collected.

And Tim searches for “The Non-Existent” over at Flashlights are Something to Eat.

New Old-School Additions

Happy Easter!

Yesterday I happened upon some fine new additions for my NES, and Game Boy collections.

As you can see, most of these were marked to sell for $10 each.  I ended up being able to snag all of them with the PS1 memory card for $20!  Tetris is the only game in the lot that I already had.  Excellent deal!  I ended up beating Super Mario Land in one sitting last night.

But I also managed to find a good deal on some games for my NES collection as well.

These were only $3 each.  There were a few others I could’ve used for the collection, but these were the best of the bunch in my opinion.  There was also a very nice looking Zelda cartridge(mint!), but I already have it(maybe I should pick it up if it’s there on my next visit).  All of these games are games that I haven’t previously(I may have played Code Name Viper) played before, so that’s a plus.

But, there was also something in the box of games that was also $3.  And it was previously devoid from my collection as well(surprisingly).

I picked this up before I even looked at any of the games.  This gives me a reason to play every single NES game that I own.  Though it came it’s original box, it is missing the code book.  I’m sure I’ll have no problem finding codes.  I’m surprised it took me this long to finally get a Game Genie.  Maybe I was holding out to find one still in the box(always a plus).

But this is probably my favorite thing about it.

No wonder my dad never bought us one!  And that’s marked down by $35!  I really dig the old Electronics Boutique logo.

Thundercats 2011 Wilykit

But before we get to that.

Big Daddy Darth from Plastic Mayhem left a comment to my last post.

“I liked the MAXX…but I liked the Isz figures that came with him even more…lol Those damn things are creepy!”

And being that I didn’t remember to photograph him for the last post…here ya go!

(Creepy?  Yes.  Awesome?  Yes!)

This next figure is the only Thundercat from the new line, that I did not purchase at Toys R Us.  I happened to find this one at Target.  It seems that the Targets and Wal-Marts within a reasonable distance from where I live, do not have any Thundercats figures.  Yet, they are at every Toys R Us that I’ve been to.

I had to make a choice on either Wilykit here, or Tygra(I wanted to get both).

Her only accessories are her flute, and a hover board, like her brother’s.  I’m happy with this figure overall, but for some reason, there seems to be something off with her face.  It’s not that the paint or sculpt is bad, she just looks a little off from her appearance in the show, while the other figures are spot on.

Just like her brother’s, her board also has concealed fire power!

My Wilykat figure’s board has trouble keeping the guns concealed, but Wilykit’s board keeps them firmly in place.  But that’s fine, because it’s the figure itself, that matters to me.

I’m sure all of you are aware that next Sunday is Easter.  Well, today I had the opportunity to see one of my favorite commercials ever!  Two times, actually!  It was the Cadbury Creme Egg commercial!  The Cadbury Creme Egg is one of my favorite candies ever!  So, like the dork that I am, I snapped a few shots of the commercial while it was on my television screen.  I know it would have been better timing to post this next weekend, but knowing me, I’d end up forgetting.  Writing about it early is much better than writng about it after the day has passed.

(How friggin’ cute is that?!)

On a side note, I still have a pack of the Eggs(the miniature variety[not the Cadbury Mini-Eggs, but mini Creme Eggs]), still in my freezer from last Easter.  I wanted to do a mini-review of them here, but I never got around to it.  I’m surprised that I didn’t even eat one over the course of the year.  But I think my mind just wanted to see how long I would be able to resist them, because as I said earlier, I really do like these.  I’m sure they’re still good, and I may as well eat them before they actually do go bad.  So, I’ll make it a point to do so, from now through Easter Sunday(maybe I’ll do the long overdue review!).

(The company’s spokes-bunny, also known as The Cadbury Bunny)