Breakdown of Auction Awesomeness!

Finally!

*This is a little long-winded*

In my last post, I showed the video game scores I was able to add to the collection.  For this post, we will see my share of the toys we were able to win.

Literally, we will start off small.

Here we see a couple of dinosaur erasers, a pterodactyl stamper and a generic pterodactyl.  But the real stars of this group are the 2 TMNT mini “sidekicks”.  Pictured above is Fish Stix(who came with Ray Fillet), and Mutant Fly Friend(who came with Napolean Bonafrog).  These Sidekicks are basically accessories for certain figures, and as such were commonly lost.  But they appeal to me, and I am now sort of collecting them.

Three of these are McDonald’s Changeables.  The French fries on the left, and the Quarter Pounder are from the first Changeables series(the first series were robots), while the fries on the right are from the second series(the second series were dinosaurs).  I’ll never pass up ones that I don’t have, and they’ll typically run you 25-50 cents(I’m partial to the robot variety), but expect to pay way more if you decide to look for them on Ebay.

The second toy(the ones that I haven’t already mentioned), is another carton of French fries, but I have no idea what it is from.  It’s stamped 1989 Hallmark Cards, and I have no idea what, or where it’s from.  I would guess that it’s another fast food toy, but I can’t be sure.  Any help identifying it is appreciated.

And now we’ll move onto some larger, more familiar action figures.

Any Ghostbusters I usually find are broken, or extremely played with.  These 2 are from 2 different lines, but I didn’t have an Egon or Peter until now(and they’re the 2 best ones).  Egon is from the Slimed Heroes line, and Peter is from the Fright Features line.  The Fright Features figures were pretty cool(I also have Winston from this line).  You would activate the features by pushing down(the obvious), outstretched arm.  The feature makes their faced go all crazy-cartoony scared.  It’s actually a pretty cool gimmick.

Here is 3 different lines of awesome!  First up is Witterquick from Visionaries.  I already had him, but my previous figure was missing his helmet, as well as a thumb.  Upon closer inspection, you will also notice that his chest hologram is not correct.  His hologram is supposed to be that of a cheetah, not an eagle(?).  The funny thing is that the figure that was previously in my collection also had the incorrect chest hologram(don’t remember what it was, it’s already been passed on).  These figures aren’t exactly common, making it a nice find.

The we have a DC Comics Super Heroes Robin.  It’s basically the same figure as the Robin from the Super Powers line, with a few differences, of which I don’t know the exact specifics.  I would love to get a Batman to accompany him, as he is displayed next to my only Batman figure(it’s from the Nolan trilogy, but I don’t know the exact figure, it was a gift).  The figures from this line I have a few memories of, specifically the black suit Batman with the grappling hook belt(currently looking for one).  Robin’s kick feature works well, and his cape is intact!

Then there’s Steelwill from Silverhawks!  I haven’t crossed paths with a Silverhawks figure since I got Quicksilver back in 1986.  When I found this guy, he was missing an arm, but it was included, and an easy fix.  The action feature works well, and although worn, it still displays pretty nice.

And the hits just keep on coming!

I never thought that I would ever be able to find and purchase Rock Lords somewhere other than Ebay.  On the right is Boulder, and on the left is Magmar(I know that there is also a Pokémon with this same name).  What’s pretty neat that these two just happen to be the leaders of the respective good and evil Rock Lords.  I was pretty amped to find ’em!

Lock Lips is the star of this group(and maybe of all the figures found).  Madballs are hard enough to come by, so Never in a million years did I ever think that I would come across any of the head-pooping action figures.  It’s feature works very well, and the figure itself is in pretty nice condition.

The Masters of the Universe knock-off only has MACAU printed on the side of one of the legs.  I have nothing else on it.

And rounding out the trio is a Rambo figure.  I had a few of these when I was a kid, and while nice, I’m actually indifferent with this one.  At least he’s wearing his trademark bandana.

The following all came ion the lot with the TMNT Sewer Playset(as well as other figures and accessories), and we got it all for $25!!  Insane!

I thought that it was pretty awesome to fins the Tiger Force “Tiger Shark”.  We have Tiger Force Recondo, and Tiger Force Frostbite.  Destro is the second version of the figure, and is a fine addition to the Joe collection.  The Tiger Sharks stickers all seem to be there and are in great shape.  I wouldn’t mind adding a couple more of the vehicles from this line in the future.

And obviously, there were TMNT figures to be had.  There were a pretty decent number of figures, and I needed these.

Ray Fillet’s accessories(including Fish Stix), are accounted for.  Tokka’s fingers are chewed on the left hand, but now Rahzar has his partner.  He’s basically Slash, and I’d compare, but mySlash fell ofo of his shelf, and his head broke off(can’t be fixed).  Panda Khan had a few accessories in the mix.  There were a lot of accessories in the lots, and a good amount of them actually went to the figures in the lot.  There were also weapons and accessories for figures that weren’t in the lot.  Almost everything that goes with Mutagen Man was present, except Mutagen Man himself.  But considering the amazing luck we had at this auction, I have zero room to complain about a figure not being there.  But I now have the small, easily-lost parts for the Mutagen Man I will eventually add.

The Party Wagon is in pretty good shape, with a few flaws.  The side mirrors have been chewed and mangled, as has the radar on the, windshield shield?  You know what I mean.

It’s missing on of the Foot Bombs, and that’s about all that’s wrong with it.  Maybe I can do a comparison post of this and the 25th Anniversary Party Wagon.

And that’s what stayed with me!  I sure hope future auctions yield similar lots.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

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!

New Display Set-Up

Recently I changed my toy display, from a typical bookshelf, to actual shelves on the wall.  Even though it supports less(just a smidge) of my collection, I am much more satisfied with it’s appearance.  There’s a few gaps that have to be filled, and they will be, as soon as I figure out where some of the newer additions are going.  Here’s what it looks like so far.

It’s still a work in progress.  But it’s nicer to look at compared to my previous set-up, and has been a pretty fun project.

Visionaries & the $1 Nintendo 64

This past week I won a few auctions on Ebay, and they are starting to make their way to my mailbox(this will give me material to write about).  I’m pretty sure that I gave away what we’re going to see in the title.  But in case you didn’t catch it, I scored some Visionaries!

The blue guy is Leoric, and the red one is Witterquick.  I remember really wanting these figures when they were first released, but this is the one that got away, the one toy line I didn’t have anything from.

These 2 represent the good guys, and the only other one I have in my collection is a bad guy who is missing his chest hologram(along with everything else).  Each figure came with a weapon, a helmet and a holographic staff.  While none of their accessories weren’t included, the auction did include 3 of the holographic staffs!  I don’t believe that any of them correspond with the figures, but still pretty cool nonetheless.  A steal at 99 cents(+$4 shipping)!

And now to the $1 Nintendo 64.

But before we get to any pictures, let me set up the story of how I acquired such a thing.

On Saturday, myself, my wife, one of our friends and her son, went to go see if we could find any garage/yard sales.  It was a warm sunny day, so we thought that it would be perfect for sales.  We were wrong, but found a few.

There was a Boy Scout troop having a rummage sale.  When we got out of the car, we were told that for $3 we could fill a plastic bag with as much stuff as we wanted.  Not more than 30 seconds after this, they reduced the cost to $1 per stuffed bag!  I looked at the toys and other stuff that had for sale, but nothing caught my eye.  Then I happened upon a box with an N64 control deck and 4 games!  I picked up the games, and then went and purchased my $1 bag.  These games didn’t fill up the bag, so I grabbed a few other thing out of the box to go with them.

So I grabbed the control deck, a PS1 memory card, the MAX controller and the 4 N64 for games for $1.  I definitely got more than I paid for!  I didn’t have any of the games, so that’s a plus.  It’s not the ultimate score, but very nice, all things considered.  I’m going to end up selling the deck and the MAX on the Bay because I already have these items.  I’ll keep the memory card though, as you can never have enough of them.  😉

Everybody’s Working For the Weekend(even this guy[me])

That means that I had a nice weekend.

On Friday night I went with my wife and a bunch of friends(8, to be exact[10 people total]), to see these guys.

If you have never heard of these guys, I recommend that you give them a listen.  They are unique, but they’re not for everyone(I for one, have been listening to them since 1999).  Morningwood and Lunic were the 2 bands that opened for them.  They were decent sounding, but I can’t tell you too much about their performances, as I was at the bar(that was located within the venue), having a few beers before MSI came on.  They put on another great performance, and it was an overall great night…except for one thing.  While on our way through the parking lot, one of the bouncer’s(he was a douchebag), had some choice words to some people in my group(my wife included).  I had some words exchaged with him, and he ended up sucker-punching me.  His hit did nothing to me, and he picked up a piece of wood(?), and threatened to kill me.  Other bouncers came over to resolve the situation and told me to leave or they would call the police(nothing would have happened to the guy, and it would’ve been a big waste of my time).  We kind of made fun of it since then, and it didn’t tarnish the weekend’s appealability(that’s a real word!).

What you see above is what I acquired this weekend!

I plan on doing a review tomorrow.  So…if there is something specific in the in the above photo(even if it’s the NES game, the Adventure Island manual or the hockey cards), that you would like to see reviewed(soon…like, tomorrow..that’s when I plan on posting again), just leave your suggestion in the comments.  I might just write about it!

But before we go, I thought that this was pretty cool.

The index card says…

“Jump into the first pit of quicksand in world 8-2 and sink into a shortcut”

I found this tucked into the Adventure Island instruction manual after I bought it, while we were in the car leaving the store.

I could just imagine that some kid got this hot tip and wrote it down(I’m hoping back when it was released), and put it in the game’s manual, so he never forgot it.

I don’t even know if this hot tip even pertains to this particular game(I’ve only made it world 6, and I even had this one back in the day[it’s in my current collection, and it’s one of my favorites]), but I’m going to make it a point to find out soon.

Yard Sale Finds #10 and Other Recent Acquisitions

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

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

First up.

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

Now some yard sale finds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’re not done yet.

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

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

Here’s what I traded it for.

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

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

The bottom drawer can house 28 NES cartridges.

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

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

Here’s a hint of what’s up next.

Anyone fancy a guess?

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.

Toy Display Update

A while back, you guys saw when I first got a book case to display some of my collection in my bedroom.  Well, since then I have accumulated a ton of toys, and a couple of days ago I added some of them to the display.  Here’s what is now on display.

Of course, some stuff had to be switched around, but I don’t think I had to take anything down to accomplish this.  Click here to see what the display looked like when it first went up.