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).

Two Weeks Worth of Toys!

Man, have I been lazy.  Over the last 2 weeks, I have accumulated a ton of toys.  I just got around to sorting and cleaning the ones that I’m keeping last night.  So today you will see only the ones I thought were cool enough to keep.  And believe me, a lot was left out.

We’ll start with one of two most recent Ebay finds.

 A Snork, E.T.and Friend Bear.  Just to be clear, I wanted this lot for the Snork and E.T., but I’ll keep the Care Bear anyway.  🙂  A sweet deal at 99 cents plus $1.99 shipping!

Keeping with the Ebay theme, we’ll see an even sweeter deal next(a few of my favorite new additions).  Before we get to the toys…I’ll let you know that I got them for 99 cents plus $4.99 shipping(the seller paid more than 7 bucks to ship them).

Robo-Force!!  These guys are stamped 1984 CBS Toys.  I don’t recall much about these guys, but I know I had a few of these guys when I was younger, because there’s no mistaking the suction cup bottoms.  From left to right we have Vulgar(The Destroyer), Wrecker(The Demolisher), and Coptor(The Enforcer).  Wrecker is in the best condition of the three.  Check out all of them here.  Iwould love to get Ripper(The Anti-Robot)!

These guys were fun to photograph.  So before moving on, here’s a few more shots.

 

 

Around the same time I received the Robo-Force figures, my friend Ben, gave me a tacklebox full of action figures and accessories.

I’m still on the fence on whether or not I should keep the G.I. Joe Extreme Iron Klaw figure.  But I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look bad-ass!  I’m also having trouble deciding if the blue figure is a ninja or a wrestler(gotta love old school bootleg figures).  Snakebite from the Super Naturals line is the clear winner of the entire contents of the aforementioned tacklebox.  The troll is Vegar The Champion, from Applause’s 1992 Troll Warriors line.  Some fine additions, to say the least.

Lastly, we have a family of Batmen.

I’ll be keeping the first 2(1990 & 1992 respectively).  But if Chunky, Reis or anyone else wants the other two(1995 & 1997), let me know, and they’re yours.

I plan on adding more figures to my shelves(and maybe re-arrange or swap some out), which you’ll see in the near future.

Cincinnati Vacation Part 2 chapter 2

After our adventure at Trader’s World, we headed down the road and went to Treasure Aisles.  Now, this is the place I remember going to!  From what I heard, this place used to be called Turtles Cove, or something like that.  I heard that part of it burned down.  When I first came here, back in 1996 or so, I remember buying a white Zombie cassette.  This was the place I specifically wanted to come to.

Almost immediately after walking the door, I noticed a photo op!

Already promising!  Now basically, I was on the hunt for NES/SNES games, 80’s toys, great deals and weird shit in general.  So, the first place I noticed happened to be a video game stall/store.  I headed straight to the NES section, looking for a bargain.  I noticed a few boxed games and inquired about two of them.  Only one of them ended up coming back to NY.  …And here it is!

The guy said that he would part with it for 8 dollars.  I reached into my pocket and had 7 bucks, he took it.  The cartridge and sleeve are legit, but I’m not sure about the box.  Sure, the little piece of styrofoam is in the box, but some of the print on the box seems a little blurry, but looks like the ones I’ve seen online.  Shit, for 7 bucks, I hardly got ripped off!

There were a lot of dealers selling 80’s toys.  The only problem with this was that, they were selling gallon size Ziploc bags of toys for $15+, or really overpricing single items.  So in order to find the best deals, you have to browse a bit.  If you see an item you like, and you think the price is fair, go for it!  I tend to buy something the second I see it.  This next find is no exception.  I immediately saw it, and thought that the price tag of 2 bucks was fair.

Considering how old this is, Rocksteady here, is in superb condition.  He even has his utility belt.  As I one of my favorite TMNT bad guys, he was a must.  The same vendor had the Rocksteady that was a super hero(Super Rocksteady?).  But I decided against that purchase, as that figure looked like it has seen some extensive play.

Moving right along.  Our next finds came from a stall that looked like yard sale.  There was stuff everywhere!  This lady was shilling plastic bags full of toys for 1 dollar.  I perused the bags, but could not find anything to jusify my dollar.  She had other items on shelves, and I inqired about the price.  She said “A dollar a piece.”  I went back and scanned the shelves.  A few things caught my eye, but I walked up to the lady and asked if she would take $1.50 for two.  She said “yes, would you like a bag?”  No thanks, I already have one.

On the left we have Spychanger Jazz, on the right we have a 1982 LJN E.T. action figure with extending neck feature.  I believe the E.T. figure originally came with a little Speak N’ Spell, but I doubt many of those survived due to their size.

As we wandered through, we ran across another game store!  But this one was different.  There were plenty of retro games available, but there was one reason why I stayed more than a few minutes.

Do you see it?

That’s right the Super Mario Bros. arcade cabinet.   I don’t think you can see what that little white rectangle says, so I’ll help you out.  It says”Yes, I work!”  The stage layouts for this are different from the NES edition.  I believe this came out after the NES version.  Now, I have played this before.  It was out in Oregon when I went there for my uncle Jimmy’s wedding.  That was around 1990.  It was alot of fun.

Before we left I had to hit the restroom.  They had some pretty sweet signs on a few of the bathrooms that kept the pirate theme.  Sadly, these were not on the doors of the restroom that I used.

On my way back from the restroom, I saw a guy with a table full of little toys he was selling for 1 dollar each.  A lot of fast food toys.  But mixed in with all of those, I found a companion for my recently aquired Spychanger Jazz.

Spychanger Optimus Prime.  These Spychangers are perfect for taking anywhere, as the fit in the palm of your hand.  If I was 10 years old, I’d probably have 2-3 of them on me during any given car ride.

So ends Part 2 of my Cicinnati Vacation.  I have 1 part left to go.  I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll stay quiet.