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.

Raphael 2012

The fourth and final of Turtles, Raphael.

I was able to snag Raph for $7.77 at my local Wal-Mart about a month ago(Wal-Mart now has them priced at$8.88) Just like the rest of the Turtles, Raph was included with a “Ninja Arsenal.  He has the same 9 points of articulation as only the Turtles have, and a pretty decent range of motion.  His skin tone is also the darkest of the four, just as he is in the show.

You can see that his trademark crack wasn’t forgotten, which shows that the sculptors were paying attention.  This line so far, for me, has been aces.  And it looks like it’s sure to get even better.

There was enough attention to detail, that we are treated to having a Raphael figure that can hold one of his sais in his trademark manner(you know what I’m talking about).  I have to give Playmates an A+ for the amount of playability that the line has thus far.

The future looks promising for this line, and I’m excited to see how it’ll turn out.  The show is great, and the stores I have been to lately, have had most of their stock depleted.

Here’s the mean, lean, green incredible team.

Starscream

I wasn’t sure exactly what line this Starscream would be considered part of.  Judging by the figure, and card back it looks like it would be part of the Reveal the Shield line.  But that’s not the case.  From the front of the card, you could beleive that it would be from Gnerations.

Can you see what I’m talking about?

I found this at The Christmas Tree Shop.  There were also 3 other different figures, which were Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and G2 Megatron.  With the exception of the G2 Megatron, the other 3 figures are all in the Reveal the Shield line.  These figures do not have the rub sign, and they also come with weapons.  From what I can see, I’m thinking that these may be a Canadien release, and The Christmas Tree Shops ended up with the overstock(I will be going back for Megs).

He looks good in robot mode.  But as with all figures in this scale, you can’t get him in too many different poses.

Almost 100% of the time, I prefer the robot modes when it comes to my Transformers.  And even though Starscream will be displayed in robot mode, I think his alt mode looks pretty damn good.

After I took these pictures, I was able to get those little bars on top to actually snap into place.

I think these are priced fairly at $4.99, and were a totla surprise find.  I’m also thinking that this may be my favorite Transfromer in this scale.  Very cool!

Marvel Universe – Future Foundation Spider-Man

So, my local Wal-Mart wised up and have finally got a fairly decent toy section.  Not only do they have a plentiful stock of the new TMNT and Transformers figures, but they finally started carrying Marvel Universe figures.  And Spidey was calling out to me.

I know almost nothing about The Future Foundation, but I do know that this wardrobe choice is very appealing to the eye.  The web accessory he comes with is basically useless, as is the mini comic shot.  No more stands?!  The last Marvel Universe figure I bought before this one was Apocalypse, and he came with a stand.  That was in May of last year!  What gives?!

His posability leaves a little to be desired, but you can get him in a few decent poses.  This one was a little stiff in one of the shoulders.  Other than that, he’s a-okay.  These run close to 10 bucks, which I think is a tad too steep.  So I’m not sure if I’ll end up buying any more any time soon.  That is, as long as I don’t come across Thanos or Gray Hulk.

Michelangelo 2012

Just like how Krang is now “Kraang”, Michaelangelo, is now “Michelangelo”.  The little differences in these 2 names, is the only thing that I don’t like about the new TMNT line/show.  It’s no secret that I love the new figures.

Just as he always has been, Mikey is still the fun-loving jokester of the crew.  When Ninja Turtles first hit the cartoon scene back in 1988, Mikey was my favorite.  This didn’t last long, as Donnie became my favorite a short time later.  So I guess you could say that he would be my second favorite.  I think part of the reason I originally like Mikey, was because he was the one wielding nunchucks.  And a lot(and I mean a lot), of kids loved nunchucks, me included.

As is the case with the other Turtles, Mikey’s skin shade differs from that of his brothers.  He is also the shortest of the four, or the “runt of the litter”, as the card back refers to him.  He has the same articulation as the other Turtles(the other non-Turtle figures in this line have much more limited articulation, which is a minus for me).  I think that this is probably the best articulation that a Turtle figure has had(with the exception of the NECA figures).

I’ve always hated that the nunchucks never had real chain links.  I’m not saying that they have to be metal, but even if the plastic was individually linked(like the ‘chucks old-school Panthro came with)it would look that much better.  But, they work, and it’s not like I didn’t know they were plastic in the first place.

He’s a great figure, and I can only hope that the Turtles catch on with the kids of today(as I’m sure they will), and we get some more awesome figures.

I already picked up Raph, so the team shall be complete soon!

Finds From the Thrift Store

This past weekend, I was introduced to a new thrift store(new to me anyway).  Of all the thrift stores that I have been to, this one seemed to have the best selection.  They had NES games, Genesis games, toys, and lots of other cool stuff.  The best thing of all though, was that they were having a 75% off sale.  Video games and electronics were not part of this sale(they were 20% off), so I decided to check out the toy section.  There were a few TMNT figures that I already have, but there was one that I had never realled seeing before.

This is Antrax.  I know that there were characters for almost any animal that you can think of, but I don’t remember this guy.  I thought he looked cool, so I decided to buy him.  His original asking price was $8(way too high, I think), but with the 75% off, he only set me back $2.  He’s completely void of accessories, and missing his antennas, and mandibles.  Still, I’m glad I picked him up.

I was informesd, when I bought Antrax, that I found him in the vintage toy section.  There was another toy section in the back with more current toys, but other stuff had been found there.  So I figured it was worth a peek, and found this beauty!

It’s the Captain Power – Powerjet XT-7!  The box is still sealed on one side, and the other side has been taped shut.  The contents of the box is loose(and rattles around in the box), but I was assured that everything that was supposed to be in there, was in there.  I would like to get some adhesive remover to get the tape off of the box, and then I’ll have a peek inside(I of course, want the box to look as nice as possible).  Now most of the time, I’d be ripping into the box before I bought it, to make sure it’s all there.  But, with the sale, I got it for $5, instead of the $20 it was originally marked for.  I love when I can find 80s toys in their original packages for a price that I’m comfortable with(which seems to be getting to be a rare thing).  The box is nowhere near mint, but I still love the look of packaging.  I’ll definitely be going back to that store soon.

Leonardo 2012

I picked up Leo here when I got Donatello.  I originally was going to just get Donnie, but at $8.99 a piece, it made it easy to buy two(Wal-Mart has the for $7.77, but that’s a story for another time).

Leo’s shorter, and his green skin is a different shade than Donnie’s.  This is a nice touch.  Each of the Turtles have a little bit more uniquenesss because of this, and that’s a good thing.  I love the old-school figures, but I’m liking the differences that they have made.

As is the case with all of the Turtles, Leo came with his standard weapons(in his case, katanas), as well as a rack of other ninjas weapons(each figure has a different set).  They’ll just end up in a ziplock bag, stored away.  I think that it’s a nice that they’re included, but I don’t have any use for them at the present time.

I plan on getting all 4 Turtles, but I’m not so sure about the other figures that came out in this wave.  The other figures have less articulation, but they do look cool.  Once the show airs, I may be swayed into picking them up.  And the next wave is shaping up to be awesome, with the addition of Metalhead!  I’m really interested in how he’s going to look.  Could be good, but could also be very bad.  Time will tell.

I am pleased so far, and I hope this line and show does great.  It’ll be really cool to see the new generation of kids get into the Turtles just like we did.  I can’t recommend the figures enough.  Once you have one, you’ll want all four.

Donatello 2012

I haven’t anticipated a toy line like this in a very long time.  As you should be able to tell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of my all-time favorite toy lines.  I got into the toys and the cartoon series early, and moved to the older Mirage comics in my early teens.  And though there has been quite a few carnations of the Turtles in the past, this incarnation looks interesting.  It’s almost like a mix of the original Turtles from the comics, mixed with the ones we knew as kids.

I stopped at Toy R Us this past weekend, and they had every other scale in stock, except the ones I was looking for!  They even had the Classics.  I was about to purchase the Classics Donatello(he is my favorite), when I figured I would check out the nearby Target.  My plan was, if Target didn’t have any Turtles, I would go back to TRU and buy the Classics Donatello.

And as they have in the past, Target came through!  They had at least one of every figure in this scale, except for Krang(I know, I know, he’s now Kraang).  I already knew I would get Donatello.  But at $8.99 each, I bought two(you’ll see him in a few days).  I love the new look of the Turtles, and think that the figures(so far), are prety nice to look at.  I always get nervous when new incarnations of shows and characters I grew up with go into production.  But just like Thundercats, this line will get my money(and of course I’ll be watching the series).

The other 3 Turtles all have their teeth showing, but not Donnie.  From the back of the card, we can see that Donnie has gap-teeth.  While this seems a bit weird, I’m curious to see how it fits in to his personality.  The articulation is better than the old-school figures, and it works.  Besides his trademark Bo, he also came with a weapon rack(similar to the ones we got with the originals).

I will have all four of them.  In my opinion, you need to have all four Turtles.

I’m not going to have any time to write this weekend, so, we’ll see the next one in a few days(I may have a few more by that time though 🙂 ).

Bazooka

Howdy everyone!  I needed to take a bit of a hiatus from blogging but I’m back now!  It’s been a little dry in regards to toys, but I do have some stuff that I can make(at least little) posts for.

I went to a few yard sales in the past week or so, but I only obtained one new item!  And it was this guy.

Bazooka was in a bag with a bunch of other G.I. Joes, some of which were broken.  The bag said that they were $3.50 each, but the guy selling them said that he would give me a deal for all of them.  The only others that I noticed were another Bazooka, and a Gung-Ho who was just barely hanging on by his o-ring.  There were others, but I wasn’t familiar with them.  So, I decided against buying them all, and just took the single figure.  The paint is good, and the joints are as tight as the day he was purchased.  Not a homerun, but a decent addition for $2.00.

Thundercats 2011 Tygra

This was the final figure that I needed to complete my “base set” of the new Thundercats.  Sure, there have been other figures released, as well as figures that only come with certain vehicles/accessories(I would like to get them at some point too).  But the core members are the ones that I am most interested in.

When the line was first released, and as I started to buy the figures, Tygra was plentiful.  Even as I purchased the other figures, he was no trouble to find.  But of course, when it’s the last figure I am looking for, I can’t find it!  I’m sure most, if not all, of collector’s has had them happen to them before.  But on a recent excursion to a not-so-local Wal-Mart, there were Tygra’s aplenty!  Actually, they had a good assortment of the first series.

He comes with his bolo whip and blaster.  His belt is removable, but it’s not poseable, as there is a small “peg” on the inside that attaches to a hole on his hip.

The whip is very flimsy, and the blaster is a very light weight plastic.  I think both accessories could have been made better, but the figure itself is pretty decent.  The face is a little off from how Tygra actually looks like in the show, but it’s a four inch figure, so I really can’t complain too much.  As you know, tigers’ stripes help them to “disappear” in the tall grass of the plains to stalk prey.  Well, Tygra is obviously a tiger, so his whip makes him invisible.  I also figured that it would be fitting to take shots of him in the tall grass(tall to Tygra, anyway) of my yard.

I wouldn’t say that Tygra is my least favorite character, but it just happened that he was last on my list of figures to get.  But I’m glad that I got him.  The only other figures I have besides the collection of Cats are the 2 Mumm-Ra figures in this scale(the mummy and “The Ever-Living).  I have never seen “The Ever-Living” figure on the pegs, and I have Jboypacman to thank(if I didn’t already 🙂 ) for both of those figures.

Now that I have the complete team, I can get to reviewing the Thundertank, which should be a lot of fun!