Albany Comic Con : The Haul

So, yesterday I went to Albany Conic Con.  This is the second year that I attended, but this time I didn’t take any pictures.  The attendance seemed to be higher this year(it actually runs twice a year, but I attend the fall one), and at times, it was a little hard to maneuver through the crowd.  Keep in mind that this is a small con held at the Holiday Inn.

It was a great time, and there were plenty of great deals.

I’ll highlight everything in a few different posts.  Today, I’ll just highlight a few of the comics that I picked up.

This one is long over due.  This has got to be one of the most iconic covers in Marvel history!  This was a big series when it came out, and this is the first time I’ve owned it since.  I couldn’t get the dollar out of my pocket fast enough!

Like Spider-Ham from Marvel, you can’t go wrong with DC’s Captain Carrot.  These are good, fun reads!

I know close to nothing about the TMNT comics from IDW.  I do know that this is a 1 in 10 variant sketch cover though.  The seller had it marked for $10, but said that everything was 50% off.  I ended up getting it for $3.50.  I’ll probably have to pick up the collected editions(if they exist), if I actually want to read the this(micro)series.

The Punisher is the first comic that I actively collected.  I’m always happy to fill the early gaps in the series.  I picked up issue #13 as well.

This is another title I collected in my first years of comic collecting, although I think the title had changed to Avengers West Coast by that time.  50 cents was too hard to resist for issue #2!

Those are just the highlights of 11 comics that came home with me.  I also got a few toys, as well as some packs of some great early 90’s trading cards.  We’ll get to that stuff in a few days.

Yard Sale Finds #14 & Where I’ve Been

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I last posted something.  And I hate when this much time passes by without doing a single post.  But I really wasn’t feeling writing, even when I had the time.  I’m guessing that this has something to do with being Summer.  And that I haven’t really gotten any new toys or anything in a little while.  There just doesn’t seem to be anything on the market that I’m interested in.  I’m seeing that the new Ninja Turtles are being spotted, so that should all change soon.  But anywho, let’s get back into the swing of things.

The weekend before last, I was in Boston for the weekend.  I forgot to bring extra batteries for the camera, so I wasn’t able to get too many pictures.  The only pictures I was able to get, were a few from the aquarium.  I didn’t get an awful lot of variety(I had to keep alternating the batteries in the camera, just to get a few seconds for a shot).  But I was able to snap a few good ones.

I spent alot of time just watching the penguins.  I even got to watch them during feeding time.  We were told by one of the keepers, that the penguins are fed twice a day, and they are allowed to eat as much as they want.

Excuse the blurry photo.  But this guy was one of my favorites as well.  This is a leafy sea dragon.  It’s head resembles that of a sea horse, but his body looks like floating plant debris.  I’ve seen pictures of these guys before, but in person, it is almost impossible to tell that these are anything other than plant parts.

I got to touch a few little guys who looked like this one.  It was awesome!

Take a look at this cute fella.

Just one more.

This tortoise is over 50 years old and weighs 585 pounds.  That’s pretty amazing!

And last weekend I decided to hit up the local flea market.  This time, there were more vendors, but there was a lot less that I was interested in.  However, there were a few yard sales in the area that had some stuff.  On the weekend of August 4th, there is an event calling itself “The world’s biggest yard sale”.  I have high expectations for this.  But here’s my most recent haul.

Super Smash Bros. Melee, was the most expensive purchase at $5.00.  That’s actually a pretty good deal for this game, and I didn’t have it yet!  The light saber was in a box with a bunch of other light sabers.  But, this was the only one that made sounds, lighted up and extended itself at the push of a button.  This was a hell of a steal at just one dollar(!).  I thought the tiny pink Chevy was a Micro Machine, since I can remember having this as a kid.  But I was duped.  This is actually released by Road Champs, which I think was one of the better Micro Machines rip-offs.  And I was able to grab it for just a quarter.

The 3 items I just mentioned, all came from separate sales.  But the 4th item in the photo is the only item that interested me at the flea market.  I couldn’t say no for two bucks!

Notice that the can says Budweiser Light.  This is a promotional can from the first batch of what we know today as Bud Light!  This is full can from 1981!  Don’t believe me?

I just want to know why it says “not for consumption”?  But this was right up my alley.  I don’t know what else to say.  The guy selling these had 2 for sale at 2 bucks each(my friend Dean bought the other one), and said he had already sold a case of these.  I’ve never seen something like this before, so I figured I might as well grab it since it was appealing.

There are a few village-wide sales this weekend, so maybe I’ll have better luck.  But as I mentioned previously, there is the “world’s biggest yard sale” a week from Saturday, that I’m hoping to have stellar results from.  I’ll keep you guys posted.

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?!

Albany Comic-Con 2011

So, about a week and a half ago, I attended the Albany Comic-Con(this was my wife’s anniversary gift to me 🙂 ).  I’m not sure if this was it’s inaugural event or if it’s an annual thing.  This year was the first time in the 8 years I’ve lived here, that I have heard about it.

I’ve been to a few conventions in NYC before, and they were a pretty decent size.  This one was smaller, but it definitely had it’s charm.  To give you an idea, it was held in a Holiday Inn, and had two dealer and guest rooms.  There were a few different panels as well.  I attended the panel discussing action figure sculpting and creating.

There was a pretty big turnout, and there were many deals to be had(every dealer I met with was friendly and reasonable).  I won’t bore you to death with all the details, so we’ll get to the pictures.  Most of them are Star Wars related, but I’m pretty sure that’s okay with most of you.

All of the Star Wars costumes were top notch, and made up 60%-70% of the cosplaying crowd.  The Tusken Raider(or Sand Person) above, was one of two who even had sound effects and music playing(concealed within their costume and accessories) that were related to their character.

Now to the loot!

But before we get to that…I just want to show a few games that came in the mail around the same time I went to the convention.

Ultima isn’t a great game, but it’s an RPG that I have fond memories of.  I already have this game in my collection, but I got a great deal on a complete copy(the box is mint).  Wario Land:Super Mario Land III, is one of my all-time favorite Game Boy games.  This was another great deal that also included the game case and instruction manual.  I only realized that it was a foreign language manual when I got it in the mail.  Game Boy games are region-free, so it works fine on my Game Boy.  And the manual is not necessary for me to play this game.

And now to the Comic-Con loot!

That Punisher comic is one of my favorite comic book covers, and it was also the very first back issue I bought when I first got into comics.  The Marvel Universe is part of a series of of pages with pre-punched holes to be put into a 3 ring binder as a sort of reference book.  Both of those were 50 cents each.  The Jason goes to Hell was a bargain at 50 cents, considering it still has the cards in the sealed bag.  I don’t mean this to sound like it’s worth much.  I’m just a huge Friday the 13th fan, and getting a comic book and trading cards of Jason for 50 cents is great!  I have no idea about the Redfox comic.  But it was 50 cents, and I thought the cover looked pretty neat, so I took a chance.

The New Warriors was one of the titles I was heavily into when I first got into comics(along with The Punisher, Avengers West Coast and Marvel Comics Presents).  I couldn’t pas up the first issue for a dollar.  In my current collection, I don’t have any other New Warriors books.  I’m hoping I’ll like it as much as I did back then.  What The..?! is a parody of Marvel characters by Marvel.  It was done by Hilary Barta, who I have mentioned before.  I love his cartoony style and at 50 cents, I promptly snatched it up.  The 2 G.I. Joe and the Transformers comics were a buck a piece.  The first one is a Marvel one from the eighties, and the second one is an Image one from 2003(this one is actually G.I. Joe vs. Transformers).  It’ll be great to read all of these.

One seller had a bunch of polybagged issues of Wizard from the early days of the now-defunct “guide to comics”.  I picked out a fairly early issue that included some pretty cool premiums.  To the right, we have a press kit for the movie The Crow.  This is my all-time favorite movie.  This is a very cool find!  It has black and white 8×10 photos, 5 film stills and a press release about the movie, the actors and various other things pertaining to the movie.  I had no problem dropping the ten dollars the seller was asking for it.  Also pictures are 3 packs of trading cards.  The seller was selling certain packs of trading cards at 3 packs for $1.00.  The 3 packs I chose were The Worst From MAD, The Valiant Era and Adventures in Toon World.  I’ll be saving these packs, and may do a post where I open them and see what they contain.

And here is the star of  my purchases.

The Reveal the Shield line of Transformers has been virtually non-existent in my area.  I’ve barely see any of this line with in an hour’s drive of me.  And this was the first time that I saw any of the “Legends Class’ figures.   The dealer I bought this from had all of the Legends Class figures from this line, and if money wasn’t an object I would’ve bought them all.  Starscream is the next on my list if I can find him at a decent price.  Megatron cost me 7 bucks(not too bad), and Starscream was the same.  I just didn’t have the disposable cash at the time.

I think the figure looks great, and is a great representation of the G1 Megatron that we all love.  But I do have a few gripes about this figure.  The first will be apparent in the next photo.

That is one hell of a paint error!  I wish I would’ve noticed this before I bought it, or else I would’ve bought the other available Megatron(as long as the paint was better).  My second gripe is the rub sign almost came off.  It’s a sticker, and it was moving when pressure was applied to it.  I may have to super glue it to the figure to make sure it’s not lost in the future.

And my final gripe…

Is the orange cap on the barrel necessary?!  The original G1 figure was made of die-cast metal and was a full size gun, so I can understand the confusion in mistaking it for a real gun.  But is there any chance that anyone would confuse this tiny, very plastic looking toy for a real gun?

Still, I’m happy to add this Megatron to the collection.  And I’d say he’s worth picking up if you can find him.

Camping in Lake George

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July weekend.  For the holiday weekend, we went camping up at Schroon Valley Resort in Lake George.  Camping on vacation is a little different than a vacation when you stay at a hotel.  It seems to make you forget everything(in a good way).

Lake George is definitely a big tourist area.  It’s also a really beautiful area.  Let’s start off with a few pictures.

There are few attractions in the area, that have peaked my interest in the past, and I got to experience one of them this past weekend.  There is Dr. Morbid’s Haunted House, and there’s a wax museum.  We opted to check out the wax museum.  Now this wasn’t a typical celebrity or historical wax museum.  It seems the theme here was death and horror.  There were scenes of grisly murder, as well as scenes depicting the Salem witch trials, and even Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.  I asked if I could take pictures inside, and was told I could, just without the flash.  I couldn’t get the flash to shut off, so I only got a few shots inside of the attraction(and the didn’t come out too good).  But I also got a few shots inside of the lobby(where the flash wasn’t an issue).

It was a pretty decent sized walk through and great in it’s own cheesy way.  I will be going back to Lake George in September(for the Adirondack Nationals car show), so I’ll make it a point to go to Dr. Morbid’s and see which one is better.

My favorite part of these waterfront communities is the casino arcades.  Of course the prizes are never worth the amount of money you plunk down to win them, but it’s all about the thrill of winning!  The highlight of these games was when my wife hit 300 tickets on a single quarter.  Among all of the ticket spitting machines, you have you typical video games.  The picture I took of the classics accidentally got deleted, but I did get a few shots of the pinball machines.  I played 2 games on the Funhouse one, which is one of my all time favorite pinball games.

And I had to toss a quarter into this!

For 25 cents, the parrot will spin and flap it’s wings, then say, “I love the sound of money.  Here comes your present.”.  After the show, you get a little plastic egg with a small prize inside(like any toy vending machine, except it’s a plastic Easter egg)  The prizes aren’t all that great(I got a little plastic box to put teeth into for the tooth fairy), but the parrot’s performance is so worth it.

We ended up getting a decent amount of tickets for what we spent, so we got a few decent prizes.  My wife got a nice pink folding knife(which is very sharp), and a souvenir glass.  This is what I got.

I got the Ultimate Spider-Man “Action Vignette Figure” from one of the shops across the street.  These were $2.99 and they were blind-boxed.  I was hoping to get Venom, but this one’s alright.  It’s got nice color, but it’s got limited articulation.  I had to get the gumball machine because I have always wanted one.  This one is metal and glass, and for 800 points, seems to be of decent quality.  The car is a “Burnin’ Key Car”.  I remember a few different cars with this feature from when I was younger.  The name also sounds familiar, but Maisto isn’t a brand that I remember.  It’s still going to be a cool car to play with.

On the fourth there were fireworks, but again, I didn’t get many good pictures.  I did manage to get a couple though.

I had a great vacation here, and I can’t wait to go again in September.  I also managed to find a pawn shop in the area.  There was decent video game selection, and I ended up with a bunch of games to add to my NES collection.

I ended up paying $28.00 for all of those games(I made 2 separate trips).  I needed all of them except for Tecmo Super Bowl(the one I have acts screwy).  On my first trip I saw Turtles IV” Turtles in Time”(for SNES).  I went back the next day and it was still on the shelf, but I was informed that it just sold on Amazon!  Dammit!!  That was the only sucky part about the whole vacation, so I’m obviously not disappointed(although I really want that game).

So what did everyone else do?  Find anything at the garage sales?  Let’s hear about it.

Yard Sale Finds #7

Howdy!  I know it’s been a while.

This weekend was great for me on the yard sale front.  I got some good deals on some really cool stuff.  There are a few items that you will not see today because they are going to get their own separate posts in the coming days.  One of the items we’ll see in it’s own post, should not have survived this long(I was stoked to find this, you’ll see it tomorrow).  Almost all of my finds were toys(yay!), and I paid the price I had in my head every time.

I was quite surprised at the volume of children’s books people were selling.  And even more surprised at how many were of interest to me.

With the exception of the Calvin and Hobbes(50 cents), each book cost me ten cents.  The Masters of the Universe book is the only one with writing in and on it.  The Voltron book made me laugh because all of the pictures within it appear to be screen caps of a specific episode.  The little pink heart was my first find of the day in a “free” pile.  The Matchbox vehicle was thrown in with 4 books to make an even 50 cents(one of my nephews will end up with it).  The TMNT vhs was found at a mini flea market that was being run at a couple of lockers at a storage facility.  I purchased the video because it has one thing the dvd doesn’t have.  The Pizza Hut commercial.  Yes, that Pizza Hut commercial.  Plus it was only a buck, and one of the first finds of the day.  I did find something else at that storage facility that I have wanted since I was a kid, but we’ll see that in a few days(any guesses?).

Our next item was found at the same sale I found the Calvin and Hobbes book.

A bubble light night light!  When I was growing up, these were my favorite lights on our Christmas tree.  For years I have been searching for strands of these lights(I know I could find them on Ebay for probably a lot more than I’d be willing to pay), with no luck.  I would’ve paid up to 3 dollars for this, but got it for a quarter.  It looks great and will hold me over until I can find a strand of these beauties.

Bring on the toys!

These guys were found in a old “collector’s” sale.  By collector, I mean that he collected older stuff.  From old advertising pieces to vintage glassware to records.  The box I found these two in, had them selling for 3 bucks each.  Even Raphael from TMNT, who had a broken arm was going for 3 dollars!  If there’s anything I have learned from American Pickers(moreso with Frank), it’s bundling.  I ended up getting these 2 guys and a secret item for 3 dollars!  Stinkor’s scent gimmick is very faint, but maybe finding a replacement chest plate will rectify that?  I’m really surprised I found Buzz-Off with his wings intact.  I remember regularly removing his wings back in the day.  The joints are pretty good on both figures and their action works as well.

And lastly….

Darth Vader was found before everyone else.  I couldn’t seem to find any trademark or copyright stampings, so I’m not sure of his origin(anyone know?).  I figured the dollar they were asking for him was reasonable.  He’s twice the size of the regular figures, and he he has a cloth cape.  A cloth cape!  The other seven guys we’re found at a single sale for a buck a piece!  The lady wanted 2 dollars each, but we made a deal of a dollar each if I bought them all(I remembered from last time).  Greedo is stamped 1995 so I know he’s not one of the classic figures(and he looks extremely faded).  All of the others are stamped with either a 70s or 80s copyright.  I was across the lawn when I spotted these guys.  From there I only could see Chewbacca and Admiral Ackbar.  Only when I got to the table did I see that there were a total of seven figures.  The lady selling them was talking them up, telling me what she was seeing them sell for on Ebay.  I explained to her that I collect old-school toys and she made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

So how do you think I fared this weekend?  I have other posts lined up for this week that I hope to put up starting tomorrow.  I’m actually a little excited about the things I plan on writing about this week.  And you know how it is around this place…it could be anything.

Yard Sale Finds #6

So, it’s been a week and a half since my last post.  For the Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I, along with a few friends decided to go camping.  It was nice to get away from civilization for a few days.  Upon my return, I just didn’t have the motivation(or any content really), to write.  While I do have lots of stuff I could write about, there just wasn’t anything new that was jumping at me for coverage.  But this weekend reinvigorated me with new finds and additions.  Not to mention that my blog here turned 1 this past May 31!

While we were camping, I was hoping to run across some wildlife.  There wasn’t much aside from your run of the mill birds and insects(too many), but I did have the pleasure of meeting of one wild acquaintance.

What you see in my hands above is an Eastern red-spotted salamander(or newt).  I found Newton here(that’s what I named him), walking across the forest floor after a brief rain shower.  These guys are not very fast and they’re extremely docile.

Fast forward to yesterday.  As I’ve mentioned recently, there are village wide garage sales starting to take place on the weekends.  This weekend was Richmondville Days.  This village wide sales happen around the same time every year, and Richmondville Days is the one I look forward to the most.  In past years, I have usually made my best finds here.  And this year did not disappoint.

It’s Gizmo!  He was a steal at 25 cents, and will make a great companion to the Mohawk I scored last year.

I’m not a huge Star Wars collector, but I do love me some sweet Star Wars toys.  On the left is a Stormtrooper Burger King toy from 2005 I found for a quarter.  There’s a button on the back, that when pushed, emits a light through the bottom of an Imperial logo.  It’s hard to explain, so I took a picture of it, just for you guys.

To the right is J’Quille(any relation to Shaq? 🙂 ).  From what it says on his card, he was in Return of the Jedi, and was sent to assassinate Jabba the Hutt.  But his plans “were rendered moot when Jabba was killed during the Rebels’ rescue mission at the Pit of Carkoon”.  I remember Jabba’s Sail Barge, but I don’t recall this fella(like I said I’m far from a die-hard fan).  But all of the different species in the Star Wars films look so friggin’ cool!  The lady I bought this from had about a dozen carded figures, and were selling them for 2 dollars each!  Hindsight tells me that I probably should of bought them all.  The only one I regret not buying is Rappertunie.

I picked up these three NES games for a total of $6.00.  Ghost Lion looks to be the best deal, as this game normally sells in the 20 dollar range.  I passed on the games I already have, except for Karnov, which was pretty beat up.  It’s always nice to add to the video game collection(especially NES and SNES), for a small sum.

Starting from the left we have a “Fright Features” Winston Zeddmore(his action works great), a four pack of miniature Ninja Turtles, Rahzar and Skeletor.  With the exception of  Skeletor, I bought this lot for $3.00 from this one old couple who always have great figures every year.  And Skeletor only ran me $1.50.

I found all of these fast food toys in a “free” box.  There’s 4 different BK TMNT toys, a Plankton toy(from BK as well), and a Furby(BK).  There were a ton of others that I had no interest in.

Ending the post with free fast food toys seemed pretty lame to me.  So here’s an added bonus.

All of these came from my friend Gary.  I found the ALF on the right under his porch about a week and a half ago and he said I could have it.  He gave me the other Alf and Darkwing Duck yesterday.

I also found a new soda yesterday(I found it when I was getting a couple of bottles of Pitch Black), that I’ll review tomorrow evening.

My spooktacular Saturday

My Saturday started out routinely, with me waking up and having a cup of coffee.  Shortly after, my fiancee woke up, and informed me we had to go to Albany to get my duds for our upcoming wedding.  While we were out there we would go to BJ’s to pick up a few groceries.

Now, I have to go off track for a minute.  After we left BJ’s, my fiancee asked me where I wanted to go for lunch.  We drove around for a few minutes and I had decided on Chili’s, and then she spotted a new establishment.  The place was Recovery Sports Grill.  She said that there was one near her job and she has heard a lot about the place.  So we go in, and there are flat screen tvs in all sizes, all over the place.  They have these little wireless receivers that emit sound from whatever tv number you select.  I decided on the only hockey game that was playing.  So I set my receiver to 6 and waited to order.  What I ordered was not important.  But what is, is what I found when I entered the rest room.

Yes.  There was a flat screen tv above the urinals.  Now, aside from Cribs, I have never see such a thing in person.  When I first went in, I wasn’t armed with a camera, so I made a second trip right before we left to snag a few pics.

Next up was Target, and I was there for only one reason.  And for a change, it wasn’t for toys.  It was for what my fiancee noticed immediately, that I would’ve walked right past, totally oblivious to it’s presence.  And it’s what I came specifically for.

The elusive monster cereals.  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Count Chocula and Franken Berry in supermarkets even when it’s not around the Halloween season.  But in recent years, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  On the bottom of the back of the box it says, “Grab your boxes of monster cereals before they disappear for another year!”  Now they’re seasonal!?!?  While this was the purpose of the trip, I did check out their Halloween goodies and took a few shots.

I had to leave all of that behind, but I did leave with what I came for.

Now, I thought my day would be over after this, but shortly before we checked out, my fiancee asks me, “Do you want to go to Party City?, Because I don’t mind.”  Stunned, it took about 2 seconds for me to answer, “Hell yeah!”  While their selection isn’t  balls-out, it’s decent.  Hell, you might even find a deal.  I’ll show ya what I picked up after I show you a few pictures of their wares.

I started to get excited as we made our way to the entrance.

Off to a good start.

I have to come back for the bucket-o-eyeballs!

These guys are just creepy.  They would’ve scared the shit out of me when I was a child.

All in all.  Not too bad.

I left with the one thing(s) that I wasn’t sure they would have.

The Giant Lawn Stake Hands.  Matt over at X-E reviewed these this past September.  I thought they were neat, and I never imagined the opportunity would present itself.  I happened upon the last pair, on a hook way over my head.  I asked the nearest employee if they could help me.  I just had to wait while she went and got a ladder.  I wasn’t moving until I had those giant hands.  If I had a child, I would’ve hoisted him/her in the air and have them snag them for me.  Just like the Party City Matt picked his up at, these babies were ten bucks.  Considering their size, they are absolutely worth it.

 

 

***Bonus

On our way to Party City, I saw a guy dressed in a costume directing people to the Spirit Halloween store.  I got a shot of him, from a distance.  I thought he was Charmeleon from Pokemon, and my fiancee thought he was a goldfish.  Hey, we were moving kinda fast and we didn’t notice him until the last minute(hence the far away shot).

After zooming in, he looks an awful lot like Gumby’s pal, Pokey.  I could be wrong.  What do you think?

 

Yard sale finds #4 + more

All of this was aquired over the last few days.

This past Saturday(yesterday), there was a village wide garage sale in the nearby village of Schoharie.  This is an annual event, but this was the second one held this year(I don’t believe that this has happened before).  It was a beautiful warm sunny day.  Perfect weather for an event like this.

Before we get started, I would like to state that all of the items in the pictures were aquired at the aforementioned village wide garage sale, except for the SNES games and the packaged Transformer(which were found at my younger brother’s house and Wal-Mart, respectively).

The journey begins this past Wednesday.  My fiancee and I went to go meet with a woman to design and make our wedding cake.  After we left, my fiancee suggested that we visit my younger brother, Jeff, who lived around the area we were in.  It was almost one year since I had last seen him, so I knew he would have a lot to show me.  I was checking out his SNES collection amd I came across two games I was interested in owning.  I asked him if he wanted to sell them, and he did.  I asked him how much he wanted for them, to which he replied, “Three bucks each”,(I’m assuming those are brother prices).

I selected Donkey Kong Country 3-Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble, and Castlevania IV*.  This particular Donkey Kong Country is the first in my current SNES collection.  I am very familiar with the first two games in this series, and I have maybe played this one once.  So, this is almost a new game experience for me…sweet!  The same could be said of the other title I selected, Castlevania IV*.  Now, I have played, and own the first two of the trilogy that was released for the NES in it’s prominence, but I don’t recall ever playing Castlevania on the SNES.  So…another new game experience.  This isn’t the first time my little bro has came through for me though, years ago he sold me Contra and Bugs Bunny’s Crazy Castle(both for the NES), for five bucks each(gotta be brother’s prices!!).

*-The front of the cartridge reads, “Super Castlevania IV”, while the top reads, “Castlevania IV”.  Now, this being the first Castlevania game for the SNES(of two I believe), I would think that, “Super Castlevania”, or, “Castlevnia IV” would be appropriate titles.

Fast forward to Friday afternoon.

Across the street from the local  Mobil gas station, there was a yard sale, where the proceeds from the sale, went to the local Lutheran church(I’m Roman-Catholic, but I don’t discriminate when it comes to a charitable cause).  Everything to be sold was donated by local people, and you determined the price you would donate for the items you wanted to purchase.  I donated two dollars for this awesome piece of video game history.

The box was in rough shape, and I took a shot in the dark, by not checking the contents within.  When I got home, I was astonished at my findings.

Released by Coleco in 1983, we have the “Kid Vid Voice Module”.  As you can see, it’s complete.  Aside from white gunk on the cord, this appears to never have been used.  The black cassette in the photo was in the player when I bought it.  As of this moment, I have not listened to it.  I should though, who knows what could be on it?

I decided to do a little research on my find, and here is what I learned…in general, “Smurfs Saves the Day” is a pretty rare title.  This seems to have everything that was included…instructions, pristine cartridge, ear piece, power cord, all three of the audio tapes(still factory sealed), the tape deck, mail surveys and advertisement, as well as original Coleco styrofoam.  I found that complete copies are in the range of $200, but this one seems unused, the cassettes are still sealed, and I don’t think anything is missing.  The box is pretty beat up, and a few pieces are ripped off, but they are inside the box**.  If I get any additional information, I’ll be sure to give an update.

**You can’t see the original price on the sticker in the picture, but this retailed for $64.95.  That price was crossed out with red pen and reduced to $39.95.  Best find ever?

Saturday.

Garage sales, yard sales, lawn sales and Wal-Mart.  Here’s the little things I found throughout the hunt.

The first finds of the day were a M.U.S.C.L.E and an unidentified doll/figure(1984 Mattel), for a donation of 50 cents.  They were aquired at the same sale that I found the Kid Vid the day before.  Grover and the little jack-o-lantern guy were found at one of the many sales for 5 cents a piece.  We’re at $2.60 so far.

The Transformers made three seperate appearances throughout the day.  Here are the ones that found their way to my home.

First up for 25 cents, is Optimus Prime, who looks to be of the “Transformers Animated” variety.  He’s stamped 2008 and was a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy.  The little purple and black guy is Storm Cloud(the woman at this sale told me to take it for free).  This Decepticon was part of the “Air Strike Patrol”, released in 1989 under the Micromasters line.  Last but not least, we have “Tracker Hound”.  He was the most extravagant purchase at $4.95.  He’s pretty reminiscent of his G1 design.  He will be opened and given his day in the sun.

Our next item is absent from the main photo, for two reasons.  One, the first picture(the one that I used), didn’t include it because I forgot about it.  And two, The picture I later took with it in the picture came out blurry, and I said, screw it!

This is one of the coolest mugs I have ever seen!  With Newport cigarettes everlasting slogan.  The bottom of this mug states that this mug is neither dishwasher nor microwave safe.  I believe that this was a give away promotional item originating from sometime in the early nineties.  If I remember correctly, this was at a time when there was cigarette branding on a wide variety of everday items, from fanny packs to keychains.  Bought for 25 cents at a thrift store down the road from where I bought that Herman book.

Speaking of Herman…

I stopped at the same place I bought the first Herman treasury.  I opted for the third and eighth treasuries at the same friendly price as last time.  A buck a piece. These people also have the treasuries that appeared in between the course of the ones pictured.  I’m a sucker for great literature.  🙂

Last up, we got three dvds, for a grand total of eight bucks.

Ghostbusters was found early in the day.  Marked for three dollars, haggled down to two dollars.  The Good Son was found at the last sale I stopped at for a dollar.  And while grocery shopping later that evening, I found “The Great Outdoors” in the $5.00 bin at Wal-Mart, during the same trip “Tracker Hound” was purchased on.

I’m guessing that this was the last hurrah for summer garage sales.  I found a lot of neat things and the thrill is definitely in the hunt.  Soon, we’ll be shifting gears to “Thrift store finds”.

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?