Transformers Generations : Fall of Cybertron – Grimlock

Couldn’t believe that I was able to find this all ready, and locally!

From what I’ve been reading, this was supposed to hit shelves in March.  I checked out a few different places, and my local Wal-Mart was the only place to have Grimlock.  I also saw Soundwave(at K-Mart and Target), Blaster(at Wal-Mart) and SoundBlaster(at Target).

I have been really anticipating the release of this figure.  Grimlock was a figure that eluded me as a kid.  Even the Masterpiece and Animated versions never crossed paths with me.  Being that Grimlock is one of the more popular characters(with good reason), his secondary market prices are pretty high.

I got this at Wal-Mart, and cost me a little less than $25 after all was said and done.

He comes packaged in robot mode, and looks pretty damn good.

The form of the figure looks very good, but leaves a little to be desired when it comes to articulation.

His T-Rex mode is pretty awesome, though he has basically no articulation in this mode.

He does have a few action features, and they definitely enhance playability.

The first is a “CHOMPING JAW!”.  It doesn’t stay open without assistance, so here’s a shot with a piece of mechanical pencil holding the jaw open.

There are pegs on the weapons, which fit into holes on the figure to be stored in this mode.

The second feature is “GLOWING EYES AND MOUTH!”.

My only gripes would be the limited articulation in both modes, and the open chest in T-Rex mode.  Other than that, the figure looks great in both modes, has great playability, and is an overall great value.

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!

Trade With Action Figs & Things – Part II

Tonight we have the 2nd part of the recent trade betweeen myself and Anthony from Action Figs & Things.

First up is a 1997 Zorro figure from Playmates Toys.  Research tells me that this would most likely be from the first Antonio Banderas as Zorro movie from 1998.  It’s got a cool little action feature where he swings his sword in his trademark style(sort of).  I’m not familiar with the movies or the line, so this guy is a pass for me.  But no worries!  One of my friends has already claimed him.

And right beside Zorro stands Nemesis Enforcer.  Nemesis Enforcer was part of a 3-pack of G.I. Joe villains who first appeared in 1987’s, G.I. Joe-The Movie.  And any old-school Joe is a welcome addition!  Unlike Transformers-The Movie, I don’t remember too much from the first G.I. Joe movie(and it’s been a really long time since I last saw it, we’re talking almost 2 decades).  But these figures for the 3 Cobra-La Figures are unforgettable.  NE here, is only missing his grey wing “back pack”, to be complete.  And from what I’ve read, it seems that Nemesis Enforcer never displayed the green tentacles that come with the figure, in the movie.  Crazy!

Part III will be up in a few days.

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.

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.

Bang-Jo

So, what we will be looking at is another recent Ebay win.

G.I. Joe, Equipo Ninja, Bang-Jo.

What’s weird about this, is it’s obviously from a Spanish speaking market, it was sold to me from China!  My winning bid was $3, and it included free shipping.  The seller sent me an e-mail stating that the figure I won was out of stock.  They asked me to pick something else, or they would give me a refund.  $3 is a good deal for a carded figure, so I told them they could substitute my win with a similar figure.

The package is copyrighted 1992 Hasbro.  These figures came out just as I was phasing away from toys.  More than anything else, I like the packaging itself.  It’s art!  The packaging for the toys of my generation are some of the best looking(I may be a bit biased though).  I know this isn’t a highly sought after figure, but it sure does look nice.  I would pick up any old-school G.I. Joe figure that’s still carded for less than half of what the new ones go for.  Obviously, I don’t know anything more about this guy.

Sometimes you can still find a deal on Ebay.  Who knew?!

Yard Sale Finds #11, and…

It seems like that time of the year is upon us.  The time when the weather’s warm, and you need any excuse not to be in the house.  It’s late spring, and it is now, yard sale season.

There were quite a few sales in my surrounding area.  But I didn’t find a whole lot that caught my interest.  I did find some neat stuff though.

First is this freebie.

This was unmarked at one seller’s table.  And when I inquired about the price, she told me I could have it for nothing!

Another angle.

I’m not sure when this promotion ran at McDonald’s, but the last copyright date on the glass is 1965.  Anybody know?

There were tons of vhs and dvd’s available, but they were either horribly overpriced(and some in pretty rough shape), or they just weren’t very desirable.  That being said, I did manage to find a few that peaked my interest.

I am a New York Rangers fan, and these dvds peaked my curiosity, as I’ve never seen anything like these.   One is a random Rangers game from 2009 against the Washington Capitals.  And the second is a National Hockey League “Rule Enforcement” dvd for the 2008-2009 season.  I’ll try to find out some further info on these.

The vhs tape is The Trolls and the Christmas Express.  From what is depicted on the case, this movie seems very familiar.  The animation is unique, and I’d love this to be another holiday movie I can watch during the season.  For 25 cents, there wasn’t much risk.

And video games.

(not pictured : The Genesis controller that I got for free.)

Typically, I wouldn’t buy a carrying case for a handheld system, unless it’s one for the old-school Game Boys.  But, the case that I keep all of my Game Boy games in, it getting crowded and I could use the room.  I can use the case to primarily house my original Game Boy games, while the carrying case can hold the “SP” itself, as well as many games as I can fit.  50 cents well spent!

I went to the sales with my buddy Mike, and like me, he collects NES games(although not on the same scale as I do).  At the first sale we hit, I found the 2 games pictured, in a spot he had just looked at.  He couldn’t believe that he passed right by them.  They’re nothing special, but a great find at $1 a piece.  I have never learned how to play Othello, but it’s a great addition, nonetheless.  The other cart is Flying Dragon : The Secret Scroll(it says this on the top part of the label, while the face says it’s The Secret Scroll : Flying Dragon.).  I have never played this one either, but I have never come across it before, so I hope it’s decent.

Also, Lilo & Stitch for PS1.  I don’t know if the game itself is any good, but a PS1 game for 50 cents is hard to leave behind.  🙂

Now, as you can see, I didn’t find any toys!  That’s the bad news.  The good news, is that I did get all of my Ebay purchases in the mail.  So we’ll take a look at one of those.

G1 Cosmos!!  Cosmos has long been my favorite of the little Transformers.  How could you not love a transforming U.F.O.?  His alt mode is a very classic looking flying saucer.  He cost me a total of $7, but $4.50 of that was for shipping.  But he also came with his Tech Specs, so that’s not too bad.  It’s always nice when I get the opportunity to add another G1 figure to my collection.

I did get a few other things.  The other items are all MISB.  My question is…should I do individual posts?  Or, do I showcase them in a single post?  There a re a total of 3 items.  But 2 of them are related, and have to be written about together.  So, I’ll let you guys choose.  If I don’t get any votes, I’ll see how I want to go about this.

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.  😉

Cool Toy Show Pick-Up #2

This is a 1986 Cobra Viper.  To me, the Cobra Viper is the figure that defines Cobra.  I remember these guys from the show, and like most of the characters from Cobra, they were idiots.  But they do look really cool.  This was at a sellers table, in a Ziploc bag, and it was complete, marked to sell at $7.  Now considering this figure is complete, $7 is a hell of a deal!  But the bargain hunter in me had to see if they would take $5 for it(it was on my way out and it was the last of the money I had on me).  The guy looked at it, and said “Yeah, okay.”.  These guys had really good prices on all of their figures, but this one caught my eye.  The dealers were from Comic Depot, and you can check out their wares here.

Still, more to come.

Transformers Generations : Sergeant Kup

I got this figure last August at my local Wal-Mart.  At the time of it’s purchase, it was the first one I had seen locally.  But if you find any of the Generations figures in stores now, Sgt. Kup here is usually in the mix.

Now, while I’m a huge fan of G1 Transformers, I find Kup’s vehicle mode to be a nice upgrade compared to his original look.

While it looks nice, for some reason it seemed small to me(hence the quarters for comparison).  Maybe it because it’s a pickup truck, and not a car?  I especially like the clear plastic that makes up the tail lights(not shown).  Hasbro also did a great job in concealing his blaster when in vehicle mode(when he’s on his wheels that is).

And of course I think he looks awesome in robot mode.  If you’re around my age, I’m sure you remember Kup as a grizzled veteran with a fondness for telling old war stories.  And I’m happy to report that his face still conveys that G1 feel.  Plus, with the upgraded body, he looks even better.

As with all of the other Generations figures I’ve purchased, I find this to be a nice figure.  I would like to display all of my Generations figures in the same area, so it looks like some of my other Transformers are going to have to be swapped out, as room is at a premium right now.  I’ll try to get a group shot of my Generations figures up in a day of so(after I get them all together).