Recent Toy Show Score

Last Sunday was the annual toy show in Albany.  I went last year, and found some pretty good stuff(you can read about it here, here and here).

It’s a small affair, but there are plenty of deals to be had.  There were a few more vendors then there were last year, and about twice as many people in attendance.

Below are my action figure scores.  I also purchased a handful of packs of older trading cards, but that’s for another time, and another blog.

Everything you see above, cost me a total of $16!  Not a bad deal at all!

Lion-O was originally priced at $8, but I was able to get the seller down to $6.  He came with his claw shield, but it looks like one of his eyes could be burnt out.  The seller and I were unable to confirm this, which is why we agreed $6 would be fair.

Snout Spout, Sgt. Bananas and Robocop were purchased in a lot deal for a total of $5.

Snout Spout’s head is incredibly loose, and his legs are very loose at the hips, but I’ve wanted to add him to the collection for a while, so this one will be fine as a placeholder.

Robocop is from the Robocop and The Ultra Police line.  He is missing his gun, but he does have his helmet, which is missing almost all of the time.  If I can find strip caps(is that the right phrasing?), I’m sure the cap-firing action will still work.

Sgt. Bananas is in almost pristine condition, and he’s not a figure I have come across in the wild.  He’s one of the more wild looking figures, and fits my collecting focus for old-school TMNT(which is secondary characters).  The only variant Turtles I’d like at this point, are the cartoon Turtles and the Movie Star Turtles.

And lastly, we have the Cobra Viper from the 1990 G.I. Joe Sonic Fighters line.  This was a steal at $5(there was no need to haggle here), since he is complete.  Not only is he complete, but the batteries were still in the backpack, and the sounds still work!  The sounds are pretty generic, but it’s still a pretty awesome feature.  Had I known that the backpacks still worked, I would have bought the other Sonic Fighters he had(all were only $5, and they were all complete).  This came from the same seller I got Shockwave from, and this guy has great prices, and all of his figures are complete.

Trade With Action Figs & Things – Part III

This is the third, and final part of the recent trade with Action Figs & Things.

Everything in this trade was awesome, but I saved my favorite for last.

These were 2 needed additions to my old-school TMNT collection.  My focus on the line is diverted to unique characters, with little focus on Turtle variations(there are a few exceptions).  I’ve wanted to add Splinter to the collection for a while, but I always seem to find him without his robe.  For me, the robe needs to be included, in orderr to warrant a purchase.  This remedies that situation.

Triceraton is another figure that I’ve had at the top of my list, and he even came with his blaster.  This figure was released in 1990.  But the Triceraton race actually has it’s roots in the old-school TMNT comics.  So this figure has a lot going for it.

Due to limited space at the moment, Splinter will probably be the only one of the 2 to be displayed(the M.U.S.C.L.E.s and Nemesis Enforcer will be on display as well).

Thanks again Anthony!

Yard Sale Finds #13

Well, this weekend was supposed to be a pretty decent weekend for yard/garage sales.  But the friggin’ rain ruined it!  There were two different towns that were having village-wide garage sales, and the rain seemed to make many people change their minds.  The people were out looking for the sales, but there were far fewer sales than I have seen in past years.

There were some deals to be had, and I even passed on a few items.  But we’re here to talk about what I was able to come home with.

There were tons of PS1 games for sale, but many of them were missing the instruction manuals, so they were of no real interest to me.  While this game is nothing special, but I am a hockey fan and I am a PS1 fan.  75 cents was about what I was willing to pay for it, so it was a good deal for both sides.

I know the above three items don’t look like much, but all three were mine for 25 cents!  The Officer Big Mac car is made by Ertl, but I’m not sure if it was a Happy Meal premium or sold in stores.  It’s marked 1984 and has the Ertl logo on the bottom, and the pull-back action still works like new.  I can never say no to either series of McDonald’s Changeables(the robots or dinosaurs), as long as I don’t already have them.  And obviously, I didn’t previously have this one.  The McDonald’s Happy Meal box is iconic, and this is a pretty neat toy.  The pack of NBA trading cards is a premium that was inserted into boxes of Drakes Cakes back in 1992.  I remember this promotion, as I was heavily into trading cards at the time(NHL, NBA and non-sports).  This is something you don’t see everyday, and I couldn’t pass it up.  I will not open them, but John Stockton is the top card, so that’s not half bad.

And now, the action figures.  I passed on Tabe from Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos because he was really dirty and was pretty much naked.  Even for $1, I just couldn’t make the purchase.  I also passed on a Transformers Animated Ultra Magnus.  But I had reasoning behind why I didn’t grab it.  I like the look of the Animated figures, and Ultra Magnus looks cool.  But When I picked him up, he was in robot mode, and I wasn’t sure if anything was missing.  It was $3, so it wasn’t too big a risk, but room is at a premium right now, and he is one of the larger figures from the Animated line(probably taller than my Voltron).  I’ll grab it next year if the old woman still has it, as I make it a point to visit her set-up every year(she always ahs a ton of action figures).

These three came from the old woman I briefly mentioned above.  And they cost her usual $1 per figure, of which I had no qualms of paying.  I found the Beetlejuice figure on my second time through(my first from the line).  Whiplash is a little dirty, but that will not be a problem that can’t be solved with a little soap and warm water.  And Fugitoid looked to be in pretty good shape, and you know I’m always looking for new additions to my old-school TMNT collection!

I spent a total of $4 on the day(everything you see above), so I didn’t do too bad.  I just wish that we didn’t get all the rain we did, because there would have been at least 3 times as many sales as there actually was.  But still a fun hunt nonetheless.

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).

1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey Cards

I know this may seem a bit different from what I usually write about here.  But I have been a fan of hockey since I was a kid.  To this day I am still a fan, and I try to watch every New York Rangers game that I can(which is most of them).  My dad was a huge sports fan, and while we watched football, and sometimes baseball, hockey is always the sport I really got into.  Like most boys in the eighties, I started out collecting baseball cards.  I didn’t really watch much baseball, but I knew who the star players were.  When I started to really get into hockey, I started buying packs of hockey cards.  Most of the ones I was used to were Score or Pro Set.  And coincidentally, I started collecting around ’90-’91, and this was the first year Upper Deck had started producing hockey cards.  I believe they started manufacturing baseball cards the year before, and it was a success, so they branched out.

When these hit the market, they were like no other card out there.  The “counterfeit-proof” hologram on the back, the foil packs.  Also, like many other people have pointed out–the photography for these cards was fantastic.

I ended up getting 2 factory sealed boxes of these cards.  I ordered one, and quite a few packs were all dinged up, so I contacted the seller on Ebay, and he sent me another box free of charge!  The only difference was the second box was the high series.  The high series is where the more desirable rookies are located.  We’ll get to that in a minute.  Let’s take a look at some of the cards(these will be more of the “hits” from the box, maybe I’ll do a later post with a greater variety).

Mark Messier will always be one of may all-time favorite players.  Being that I am a Rangers fan, I’m sure you know why.  Points-wise, only Wayne Gretzky has more.  As you can tell from the Stanley Cup and the Hart Trophy he won, this was in the prime of his career.  Rounding out the page is Mike Richter.  It’s been some time since I looked at an early nineties Beckett, but I believe this is considered to be one of Richter’s rookies(does that still hold true?).

Mario Lemieux was an amazing player, who was hampered by injury throughout his career.  Many say, if he was healthy, he would be ahead of Wayne Gretzky on the all-time points and goals list.  That could be true, but my younger brother is a Penguins fan, so I had to act like I didn’t like him when we were growing up.  But being that he was such a great player, any time I pulled one, card trading definitely worked in my favor.  His base card(the one on top), is one card that I have never forgotten.  To me, this is just great photography, and that’s why it’s stuck with me after all these years.

These days the Young Guns cards are usually sought after cards.  These days they’re more limited in numbers, thus commanding more money on the secondary market.  These were the ones that started it all.  As you can see, I ended up getting one of each of the best ones…Sergei Fedorov and Pave Bure.  Back in the mid-nineties, these cards were hot!  For this set though, I’d say these 2 cards are in the top 3 in the set, as far as value is concerned.  The only other rookie in this set that is on par with these 2 is the Jaromir Jagr rookie(of which I did not get a single one, and that was the one I was hoping to get).  Even though many of these guys didn’t become super stars, it’s still a nice looking subset.

Wayne Gretzky is the NHL’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points.  He owns countless records as well, and is the only player in NHL history to have his number retired by the entire league.  Again, his base card is another from this set that I will always remember.  When I got my first copy of this card way back when, it was one of my most cherished cards.  As you can see from the awards card, this was another one of the many seasons he led the NHL in scoring.  And filling out the page is the only Adam Graves that I managed to pull.  It’s kind of weird that I pulled 8 Lemieux cards and 7 Gretzky cards, but only 1 Graves card.  Adam is my all-time favorite player, and like Mark Messier, has his number retired by the Rangers.

Lastly, I’d like to show you the inserts that were randomly inserted into packs.  These are nothing like the memorabilia and autograph cards(or both on the same card), you see these days.  Hell, they’re not even like the countless junk inserts of the mid-to-late nineties.

Holograms were a big deal during this time.  The only thing is, is that these are horrible!  The are blurry and it’s hard to make out who they are.  I’ve been able to make out Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky.  Of the ones I got, there are two with 2 players on them, but I can’t make out who they are.

Still, this is a great set, that’s a sentimental favorite of mine.  If you’re interested, you can usually score a box on Ebay for about$15-$18 shipped.  If you can find them locally, you’ll probably pay about $10 a box.

TMNT Days #2

Who’s next?

This is an April O’Neil from 1990.  I won this in a lot of TMNT stuff on Ebay, about a year or so ago.

As you can see from the figure assortment on the back, TMNT was huge at this time.  Unlike the 25th anniversary figures, the artwork on the front of this card features only April.  With the newer cards, there are a few different characters on the front, and every card is the same.  There were a few variations of this figure with no stripes on the pants, or different color stripes on the pants.  The one I have is the most common variation.  It’s not one of the Turtles, but I’m happy to have it in my collection.

Look at that!  2 days in a row!!  🙂

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!

A Look into One of My Non-Sports Trading Card Albums

I’ve shown you some of my favorite non-sports trading cards before.  Tonight I’m going to keep the theme, but add a little twist to it.  Instead of showing some single cards in top loaders, we’ll see full 9 card pages from one of my albums.  I’ll cover a good range, but have tons more for future follow ups.

I’m pretty sure that I started collecting trading card before I started to get into collecting comics.  It started with getting some albums full of baseball cards from my older brother and step brother.  The eighties and early nineties were a great time for non-sports trading cards.  This was before companies started adding chaser cards with their various gimmicks.  Most non-sports cards were a regular set of cards and a set of stickers.  Topps had tons of licenses for all the popular properties.  And if you bought a pack of cards manufactured by Topps during this time, you also got the requisite stick of their famous now stale gum.  When the cards were new, the gum was a nice bonus.  But now the gum would be old and stale(trust me, this stuff went bad years ago.Do not eat it).  You can see a picture of this gum from one of my other card related posts here and here.

Here is the album we’ll be peaking into today.

There’s not a single Pokemon card in here!  That’s not to say that I don’t like Pokemon, because I actually do.  They remind me of Battle Beasts in a round about way.  I got into them when the craze started, and got this binder pretty cheap(and it’s officially licensed).  The Gameboy games were what really got me into the lore.  It’s not too bad, give it a chance!  But we’re not here to talk about Pokemon, I just wanted to explain the album choice.

First up…

We have a sampling of my Punisher cards.  The Punisher has been my favorite Marvel character ever since I started collecting comics.  I especially like the old school prismatic sticker(I’ve had this for a long time).  Some of these were found in packs, while others were found in binders in card shops and conventions.

Here we have some stickers from Topps’ Nintendo Game Packs from 1990.  I’ve talked about the cards in a previous post, and briefly mentioned the stickers.  Some of these stickers are pretty ridiculous, but they’re fitting of the time period.  While I’m missing 4 cards from the set, I do have the complete set of stickers.  On the reverse side, they have “Top Secret Tips”.  And I stand by my assessment that they’re bullshit!  Not only did every kid know the tips, but a lot of them were the lamest ones!  I’ll even give you proof with a scan from the backs of the above stickers.

While the tips suck, I love the design!  Any time I think of a spy, that’s exactly what I would imagine.

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!  One of my favorite shows and toy lines of all time!  These are Pee-Wee’s Playhouse trading cards.  They have 1988 Herman Toys printed on them, and I would guess that’s when they were released.  I never saw these when they originally came out, and I don’t feel like finding the wrapper to find out, so we’ll assume that they were released in ’88.  These were something special.  Topps went a different route with this set than they did with any of their other licenses.  These were sold in “Fun Packs”.  Fun Packs we’re more like a trading card goodie bag.  You get cards, temporary tattoos, stickers and a lenticular card in every pack!  You can usually find loose packs on Ebay for as low as $1.50 a pack(although most will overcharge for them, so shop around).

These are some of the cards for the custom comic art from Mallrats(I guess these would be considered a sub-set).  If you’ve seen the movie, these were shown during the end credits.  When I worked at Tower Video, we got all types of cool stuff.  As soon as these hit the shelf, I bought the whole box(with a very nice employee discount)!  I thought that I made a complete set, and gave away all of my doubles.  But, I made a mistake, and my set is one card short of being complete.  😦

These are the first series of trading cards based on The Simpsons.  Released in 1990 by, you guessed it…Topps.  These were released around the time Simpsons-mania started.  The animation is rough compared to the polished look of The Simpsons today.  And that’s part of the charm!  The earlier episodes had a bit of a different feel to them compared to a bulk of the series.

I just have one last card to show you tonight.  This is just an awesome card from one of the most memorable scenes from any movie, period!  I’m thinking of using it for my banner.  What do you think?

I think this would work great for an anti-meth poster.  Dontcha think?  🙂

Jboypacman is the Epitome of Awesome!!

Today, I was expecting a package from Ebay, and was pleasantly surprised to also find a package from Jboypacman(see his blogs here and here).  I originally planned on doing a quick post of the little item from Ebay, but the contents of the box Jboy sent, totally eclipses it!  I was expecting the package…I just wasn’t expecting a toy lot of this size.  I’ll let the following photo do the talking.

So much awesome was packed into that box!  I broke it up into a few pictures, so we can get a better look at my Christmas in March.  We’ll start with Lt. Ripley(with face hugger) from Kenner’s 1992 Aliens line, Iron Man from Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, a T-700 from the Terminator:Salvation line and Dr. Claw and MAD Cat from Tiger’s 1992 Inspector Gadget line.

And that’s just the beginning!  As you know, I’m a huge TMNT fan, and Jboy sent me not only a Raph PEZ dispenser, but he also sent 4 Turtle figures.  Three of which I didn’t have!!  We have Wacky Action Michaelangelo, 1988 Raphael(hard head), one that I believe is a Wacky Action Leonardo(I thought he was the only one without a Wacky Action figure, but I could be wrong), and a Leonardo figure(with arm action at the press of a button) from 2004.  Looks like I’ll be ordering more pizza.  🙂

But, wait there’s more!  He sent 4 sweet Transformers!  First, There’s Electrostatic Soundwave, with Ratbat.  Then there’s Decepticon Bludgeon(I just bought one this past weekend!  Now I’ll have one MIB).  Standing next to Decepticon Bludgoen(damn copyrights), is Tracks(1984 Takara).  And lastly we have Snapdragon, who is a 1987 Headmaster(missing his nebulan component, Krunk).  He also sent a Thor comic book that I forgot to photograph.

As I said when I opened the package, WOW!  Thanks again Jboy!  You put a big smile on this big kid’s face!  🙂

On a closing note, here’s what I got from Ebay.

It’s Cool Cat from the Puppetland Band, you may remember from Pee Wee’s Playhouse!  I would like to get Chicky Baby and Dirty Dog as well.  These guys don’t come up loose, often.  Pee Wee’s Playhouse is one of my absolute favorite toy lines, which explains why I paid $4.69 + shipping for this little guy(I wasn’t losing this time!).

I still have a bunch more stuff to talk about this week(as well as some packages on the way).  I’ll get another post up in a few days.  With the exception Cool Cat, Tracks is my favorite addition to the collection.  Which figure is your favorite?

Random Quickie #3- 1990 TMNT Postcard from Branded in the 80s

Wow!  Really?!  This is the third straight day I’m posting something, and it’s my fourth post in those three days!  It’s actually quite refreshing.  I hope I can keep up this momentum.

So last week, Shawn over at Branded in the 80s, posted about a book of TMNT postcards(from 1990), that he had come into his possession.  He stated that he wanted to use these postcards for their intended purpose, and mail them to the first 24 people that responded.  I’m a huge TMNT fan, and this was an item that was right up my alley.  Before we go any further…if you haven’t checked out Branded in the 80s, please do so now(or after you finish reading this).

I love getting mail(and this is the first piece of mail that I’ve received from Georgia).  As Shawn said on the back of the postcard, “this postcard has finally fullfilled it’s postcard destiny!”.  While these are officially licensed, the artwork is different from the usual licensed stuff.  No matter, I think Mikey looks decent.

I love the way his tongue is sticking out, looking over his shoulder.  Like there’s a delicious pizza pie behind him.  Mikey’s my second favorite Turtle.  When the cartoon first aired, Michaelangelo was initially my favorite,but Donatello has held my number one spot for more than 20 years since then.

I just had to show the back, so you know that this is legitimate(and plus, who doesn’t like more pictures).  Thanks again Shawn, this is one of the coolest pieces of mail that I have ever received!