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.

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.

A Lego Mini Figure, Marvel Universe Mighty Beanz and New Additions to My Video Game Collection

Well, I think that is my longest title for a post ever.  I know I’ve been away for a little while, so it’s no surprise that I have a lot to show you.  And this isn’t even everything!

While I’ve purchased a few of the Mega-Bloks’ blind bag Marvel Universe mini-figures, I have never bought any of the Lego blind bagged figures.  After seeing them in Wal-Mart again on Monday, I finally gave in.  I was hoping to get either the mad scientist or the Frankenstein monster, but I ended up with this guy.

It’s not a bad figure, it’s just not one of my first 5 choices.  This was an impulse buy, so I had no time to research the codes online.  These are about 50 cents more than the Mega-Bloks mini figures, so they’re a pretty decent deal(even though you can get one of the smaller Lego sets with a mini figure for about $5.00).  I’m not huge into these, but now my Snow Trooper mini figures have another friend besides the space cop, alien and Prince of Persia figures currently in my collection.

While in Target on Monday, I discovered these Marvel Universe Mighty Beanz.  Now, while I wouldn’t have bought these under normal circumstances, these were on clearance for$1.24 per 4-pack!  There were three 4-packs left, but I limited myself to just 1.  You have a chance to get Iron Man characters, which are exclusive to Target.  While you get to see one of the Beanz inside the packaging, the other 3 are blind-boxed.  The visible Bean in my pack was Professor X.  I don’t know if that’s the same with all packs because I was blinded by the incredibly low clearance price.

Besides Professor X, I got Spider-Man(Mighty Bean #1), Black Panther(I thought Black Panther was male), and Col. James Rhodes(one of the Iron Man exclusives).  The checklist shows that both Spider-Man and Professor X are commons, Black Panther is rare, but Col. james Rhodes isn’t on the master checklist on the back of the blister card.  After a little research on the web, I found that he is an ultra rare.  The number and part of his name are missing from my bean, but that’s okay.

And lastly…my latest video game additions.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(PS2), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2:Battlenexus(PS2), Mega Man Anniversary Collection(Gamecube), NBA Jam:Tournament Edition(SNES) and Karnov(NES), were all given to me from my good friend Rob.  I ended up getting Hot Hots Golf 2(PS1) for free when I purchased Pinball Quest(NES) at Jay Street Games in Colonie Center.  And I actually traded Rob my Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PS2 to for his Gamecube version(he’s more of a Playstation loyalist, where Nintendo is my favorite).

All in all, it’s been a pretty good summer so far.  Stay tuned for a toy review in some time in the near future.

Yard Sale Finds #5

The yard sale season is finally upon us.  This is when others’  “junk” becomes our treasure.  In the coming months, bordering towns/villages, will hold village wide garage/yard sales on the weekends.  It’s not every weekend, but only one village wide garage sale will be on any given weekend.  This weekend was the town of Esperance’s village wide sale.

I found a bunch of stuff, but came home with very little in the toy department.  I spent around five dollars for everything you will see here today.

It was an overcast day yesterday, but still warm enough to be outside in a t-shirt.  I woke up at 7:30am(on a day I could sleep in), but I didn’t head out until about 10:45am.  This was probably the reason that I didn’t get a lot of cool toys.  It could also be that I have been hitting the annual sale in Esperance for the last 4 years!  There’s only so many old-school toys in a single location, but I’m with the same train of thought as The New York Lottery….”Hey, you never know.”

I came across some really great deals on books.  I came home with six really cool books, which cost me a grand total of just .95 cents!  And the books came from 3 different sellers!  Here’s the first 4 I found yesterday morning.

From 1979, we have Mercer Mayer’s “Little Monster’s Alphabet Book”.  I remember thinking that the little monster on the cover was a cool looking character when I was a kid.  While this book came out the year I was born, I remember liking this Little Monster series in my early years.  Then we have Sesame Street’s “The Little Red Hen”.  This came out in 1983.  I don’t remember this specific book, but the Sesame Street books that came out in this period were great books for their target demographic(the best Sesame Street book is “The Monster at the End of this Book”, in case you wanted to know).  Lastly we have “Like, MAD” and “Fighting MAD”, from 1960 and 1961 respectively.  These came out many years before my time, but if you’re a fan of MAD, your a fan of their complete works.  Don Martin is my favorite of all MAD artists, and you can see some of his early work within these pages.  It’s not exactly the work I remember from the 80’s, but it’s cool to see some of his early work, as it was kind of rough(but you would still know it was his work).

And here are the other 2 books that I purchased.

From 1963, we have 2 books from the LIFE Nature Library.  The first is a book called The Sea.  I have had a fascination with animals since I can remember.  My obsessions when I was a kid(besides toys and cartoons), were animals, dinosaurs and outer space.  I still retain interest in all of those categories, and the sea is a great place to find some of the weirdest life forms on earth.  Secondly we have The Forest.  While not as cool as sea animals, this is very informative for the life that lives in the world’s forests.  A damn good deal at .25 cents a piece!

In a rare event, I actually found a couple of video games at such a price, that it wasn’t necessary to haggle!

At one dollar per game, I thought it was a hell of a deal!  Spawn The Eternal is from 1997, The Die Hard Trilogy is from 1996.  I haven’t played the Spawn game, but I remember playing the Die Hard Trilogy on the PS1, as well as the arcade version.  Despite being hard as hell at times, The Die Hard Trilogy is a blast to play.

If you’ve read some of my other yard sale posts, you’ll know that I’m a sucker for old-school cups and glasses.  And this weekend proved to provide a nice assortment of vintage drink receptacles.

The Far Side mug will now be my mug of choice when I’m drinking coffee.  I think everyone can relate to this.  Where I live, there are plenty of dairy farms, so I see my fair share of cows.  I’m pretty sure that when 99% of people drive by and they see a cow, they let out an audible “Moo”.  This mug depicts the reversal of roles, and I find that hilarious!  In the middle is a McDonald’s “Mac Tonight” collector’s cup from 1987.  I don’t know why we haven’t seen more of Mac, but I will enjoy drinking out of this cup.  And on the right, is a McDonald’s Garfield collector’s glass from 1978.  I now have 4 of these(3 different, with 1 duplicate).  I love Garfield, and if you don’t, you have no soul.

Let’s wrap this up!

From 1995, it’s a “BK Kids Club Cooler”.  I can only remember Kid Vid and Jaws.  Research tells me that this “Snaps”.  Kid Vid is obviously the chaser.  If any male my age says that Kid Vid was not their favorite, they’re a dirty liar!  Totally worth the dime the seller was asking.  That little wizard guy appears to be hand made, and there’s no date of any tell tale markings of being a production piece, so I’m guessing it was made by a student or in a craft class.  Two quarters was all it took to make it mine!  The black tray is a Discover card check tray(?).  It is shrink wrapped and does not appeared to be used.  I got this from the same seller who sold me the Snaps Cooler, for .10 cents as well.  For a nickel, my wife found that neat little Pepsi Cola truck.  While I have nothing against Coke, and I drink it from time to time, I come from a Pepsi family.  Now, I finally have one of these cool Dark Knight figures found in boxes of various General Mills cereals back in 2008(this is the one with the uppercut action).  The hunt was fun, and I made out okay, so I can’t complain.  I love to go garage saling, as it’s a defining activity of my summer.  And you can bet we’ll see more as the weather gets warmer.