Yard Sales #16 – Season Finale

Well, yesterday kicked off the beginning of fall.  I can’t say that I mind the change.  Although I’m going to miss the nice weather, the fall season has it’s perks.  One of them is not yard sales.  I’m sure this will be my last post about yard sales until April-May 2013.  And it’s sad, because you can really find some great stuff(for some great prices).  It’s really hit or miss when it comes to thrift stores and second hand shops(not to mention hit or miss prices…everyone is an expert 🙂 ).  But this installment yielded a very nice selection of stuff that I’m into.

We’ll start with cool, and end with coolest.

This was one of two Alfs spotted at the first sale that we stopped at.  This one and the other that I passed on were from a Burger King promotion, back in 1988.  This one had it’s tag intact(the other didn’t), so I figured it was worth the $1 asking price.  This will fit nicely with my unintentional Alf collection(we’ll have to see that one of these days).

Anything Zelda related is a must-buy in my book, as it’s my favorite video game franchise ever(I’m sure I’ve mentioned this a bunch of times)!  The best part is that the woman running the sale only wanted $1 each!  Both of these guides are for Twilight Princess.  The awesome hard cover edition is normally selling for $20-$30 dollars(or more).  And I’m sure the other(the Nintendo Power one), goes for around the same.  The thing with finds like these is, while they may be worth a little something on the secondary market, I’m not really inclined to get rid of them.

A little confession.

Twilight Princess, while I own it(for gamecube), and it’s from my favorite franchise, it’s the only Zelda game I have never played(I will work to rectify that)!

I got these at Richie Rich’s(you’ve heard about this place from me plenty of times before), so this may be consideere cheating…but I went to Richie’s while I was yard saling.  So, it counts.  These guys were hidden behind a few plush bears, but I spotted them!  They were marked at $4 each.  I countered with $1 each(they’re pretty rough).  I was told that I could take them at $2 each.  But the American Picker in me offered $3 for both.  And my deal was accepted.  Panthro appears to be okay, and his “action” works(for the most part).  Monkian’s face is roughed up badly, and his “action” does not work at all.  The villians from Thundercats seem hard to come by, and any Monkian, is better than no Monkian.

Normally, old-school Thundercats figures would be the find of the day.  But that was not the case this time around.

Oh no.  I found these guys!

Germs!  I hardly remember these guys, and I’ve seen them on a bunch of sites, but I’m having a hard time recalling if I actually owned any!  They seem right up my alley, and I immediately knew what they were when I saw them on a table ten feet away from me.  For 50 cents each, there was no way I was leaving them behind.

On the right is “Huppahickasilia”; “Commonly known as the hiccup”*.  And on the left we have “Sweatystinkiosis”; “Commonly known as body odor”*.  These are very fun, and quite nice looking to the eye.  It’ll be a fat chance before I find any of these again!

When I took them out of their test tubes(I’d take a guess that these are often missing), they felt(and smelled like ), they were brand new.  Taking a look at what the going rate for some of these, I’d say they were a pretty sweet find!  But as always, I’m not interested in getting rid of them!

What a great way to send off the 2012 season!

* – information obtained from The Dork Dimension.

Christmas Fallout 2011

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas!  I must have been good, because I did very well this year!  Here’s everything(minus gift cards and cash).

I was like my kid-self this past Christmas.  I love opening presents, and I’m sure a lot of you can relate to that.  I got most everything I wanted, and some other stuff that wasn’t on my list, that I’m happy to have received.  Let’s look a little closer.

I finally got a Wii!!  This was the big gift from my wife.  This Wii is black and came with New Super Mario Bros.(as well as a music cd, which I haven’t checked out yet).  My wife also got me Punch-Out!!, and her parents got me (The Legend of Zelda) Skyward Sword.  My friend Mike got me the Genesis games you see, as well as Kung-Fu for the NES.  It looks like I’ll be busy for a while!  🙂

In the clothing department, I also did well.  But most of these items were things that I needed.  I got a pair of Dearfoams moccasins(slippers), driving gloves, socks(you can never have too many socks), sweat pants and a couple of t-shirts( one from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a really sweet “Facts You Need to Know About Chuck Norris” shirt).  Although clothes weren’t really appreciated(you all know what I’m talking about) on Christmas during my childhood, they are greatly appreciated now!

The Walking Dead, Book 2, was my secret Santa gift from the X-Entertainment gift exchange(thank you so much velouria_78!) that a few of us who post  on X-E took part in.  This is the hard cover edition, and I can’t wait to start reading it!  While I’m up to date with the tv show, I have only read the first collection(Book 1).  Next to that is a Reveal the Shield, Legends Class, Optimus Prime.  This line has been scarce in my parts, but my wife, somehow, found a place that still had some.

And here’s everything else.  We have a case of Saranac “24 Beers of Winter”, of which I am on my second Chocolate Lager as we speak(it’s pretty good, not too chocolatey or sweet, it’s quite strong though).  I also got a nice Old Spice gift set.  This has everything to keep me clean and smelling good for a little while, plus maybe it’ll turn me into that cool guy in their commercials(and I’m not talking about Ray Lewis either).  My wife(she’s so awesome!), also got me a Remington(they don’t make just guns), grooming kit(I hinted that I wanted this, but didn’t think I’d get it).  You’ll also notice some Slim Jims, a head massager, Werther’s Originals, a few rubber bracelets, some car air-fresheners, some vhs Transformers episodes, Paul Mitchell shampoo/conditioner and a Snoopy toothbrush holder and rinse cup(which is in my bathroom right now, but will end up going into storage with the rest of the Christams decorations in a week or so).

Also, between my wife and myself, we got $160 in cash, a $25 Applebee’s gift card and a $25 Regal Cinemas gift card.

I hope you all got what you wanted, and had a great time as well!  Please feel free to discuss your Christmas in the comments, as I love to hear about stuff like this.

Yard Sale Finds #9

Before we get to what I was able to find at the sales this weekend, I want to share my thoughts on the latest Transformers movie.  For what it is, it’s a good movie.  I have realized that movies cater to the masses, and everything evolves and changes as time goes by.  If this helps get the newer generations into the property, that’s cool.  Of course it’s not exactly what I wanted to see, but I’m happy it’s come as far as it has.  It was entertaining and that’s the bottom line.  I could be selfish and go into how I would have made it the perfect movie, but that would only be my opinion.

Now that that’s over with, let’s get to what I was able to find on this past weekend’s excursion.

We left for the sales this weekend a lot later than usual (12:15pm).  This may have been a factor in why little caught my attention.  The best deals are to be had early in the morning.  But I did manage to score a few deals.

I bought the vhs tape, hoping that there might some old commercials on it.  I haven’t been able to screen it yet, so I don’t know if it was a valid purchase.  But it was only 25 cents, so it was worth a shot.  The Rubik’s Cube was a good deal at a quarter as well, being that it’s not in the greatest condition(but it’s an original).  The Halloween II dvd is in pristine condition and was a steal for $1.00.

Here we have a Muppet Babies growth chart(1991) and the February 1987 issue of Radio Electronics.  I am saving the growth chart for when we have a child of our own, and it was free!  The magazine was a dime.  There is an ad that I want to share for a later post, and than I want to donate it to a site that can appreciate it.  Here’s a full size shot of the growth chart(it’s pretty cool).

The items that you have just seen are the least interesting of what I was able to find.  Now you’ll see the stuff that I was more than happy to take home.

Each of these guides cost me a quarter each.  There was a stack of them that also included Animal Crossing and a few Star Wars games.  They were all either Nintendo Power or Official Prima Strategy Guides.  I have only played Super Mario Sunshine once, but you can never go wrong with Mario(i’ll get the game someday).  Wind Waker is my second favorite Zelda game(i know a lot of hard core gamers hate this game, but I love it).  I have beaten the game numerous times, but this will help me finish it 100%(getting all of the figurines is hard as hell!).

Each of these games cost only $1.00 each!  I bought Defcon 5 at the same sale I bought Halloween II at.  It doesn’t have the instruction manual, but it’s my first”tall box” PS1 game, and it only ran me a buck!  I found the 3 SNES games in a box of SNES games, but all of the games were sports games.  The 3 I bought(while still in the sports genre), were ones I needed and were the best of the lot.  At this sale, I also found Pokemon Red for Game Boy Color, and the guy running the sale gave it to me for free.  I tried to play it when I got home, and it instantly powers off when you try to turn it on.  If anybody knows why this would happen, please let me know.

And lastly…here’s the toys I was able to score.

From left to right we have a Burger King Capitol Critters toy from 1992(remember that show?).  I believe this is Max at the Jefferson Memorial.  Then we have Breakfightin’ Raphael from 1989, but his Wacky Action doesn’t work.  The Jawa is a Burger king toy from 2005.  Reptar has a sparking action(that works).  I don’t know where this specific Reptar came from, but he’s really cool(Brian also found him about a week ago).  The Stegosaurus has 2 things going for him.  1)- Dinosaurs are awesome and 2)- He glows in the dark.  Each of these items ran me a quarter a piece.

The Jawa has this neat feature.

Kind of creepy, huh?

And lastly, we have this.

I haven’t been able to identify the vehicle, which is stamped 1988.  The figure which is stamped 1991, is Bushido(version 2), who is from the Shadow Ninjas line.  Although he’s stamped 1991, this figure was actually released in 1994.  These figures had a cool gimmick that was a great gimmick in the eighties and early-to-mid nineties.  From yojoe.com….”When exposed to water and light, the figure’s color would change.”

Well, that’s all this time around.  Not too bad considering how late we left.

And before you go, I have a little poll for you guys.

You guys know that Transformers is one of my favorite lines, right?  Well, over the past couple of months, I have accumulated a handful of carded figures from various lines(around 4 or 5), and plan on reviewing them all eventually.  My question is…which would you like to see?  I will not give their names, but I will give you a choice of different lines(please see below).

1)- Transformers: Dark of the Moon

2)- Transformers Animated

3)- Transformers Generations

4)-Transformers Universe

5)- Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons

Some of these have been stewing for a little while, while others have been picked up recently.  Maybe I’ll do them back to back until I review all 5 of them.  If that’s the case, list the order in which you’d like to see them in.  Maybe a Transformers Week is in the cards?

Random Quickie #2 – The Official Nintendo Video Game Stick-Ons

As you may or may not know, I am a huge Nintendo fan.  Let me rephrase that.  I am a huge fan of Nintendo during the days of the NES.  Which is to say that I will buy pretty much anything from the 80’s that is related to Nintendo.  Back when the Nintendo Entertainment System was king of the mountain, there was very little that you could find without Nintendo branding.  Which is where today’s piece comes into the picture.  These stickers were one of the first things I purchased off of Ebay(2007).  If memory serves me correctly, these came from Hawaii and ran me less than $5.00, shipping included.  The one pictured below is one of a few different assortments that were released.

The games depicted on the stickers are classics.  The only one I believe that is missing from this assortment, that I’ve seen in others, is Rad Racer.  I’ll end this here, but I will give you another scan of the reverse side of the package.  Look at all of their suggestions for “Fun things to do with stickers”.  Only in the 80’s.

My 5 favorite NES games

Tonight, I wanted to show a little love for my favorite video game console ever..the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the NES.  I remember that when my dad brought it home, we were like, the second family in the neighborhood that had one.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what the hell Nintendo was until the day my dad brought it home(this was in 1985).  Ever since my first turn at Super Mario Bros. I was hooked!  Now, I always read stories about when people were younger, played this with their friends.  Don’t get me wrong, I played this by myself, with my friends, and…With my dad and stepmom?  Yes, this is true.  My dad was just slightly less addicted to this machine than my younger brother and I were.  In my family, Nintendo was a BIG thing.  For about the first six months after we had the system, we went out every weekend and my brother and I would alternate choosing what game to buy, and my dad would make a selection as well.  The first game I chose was Excitebike(very fun game, not in my top five).  After those initial six months, video stores began to rent them, and my dad was hip to that, so we rented many a game from “Bob’s Video”(seriously, that was the store’s real name!).  Anyways…being how huge Nintendo was to me growing up(and to some extent now), I figured it would be fitting to showcase my top 5 favorite Nintendo games.  There were alot of hard choices to make.  I based my choices on memories of the game, how much I played it, and the fun factor and the playability of the game, even to this day.

Now, this list might not suit everyone.  I’m pretty sure they’re all classics.  I wanna get this out of the way before we start…Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(the first one), almost made this list.  I know alot of people cite this game as being to hard and hate playing it.  I too believe it is hard as hell.  But, Everytime I play it, I end up enjoying myself playing it.  I don’t even want to hear about the under water bomb-disposal stage being to hard.  If you take your time, it’s not so bad.  However, after that it’s a bitch!

Let’s get down to business.

Coming in at number (johnny) five is…Metroid.  I remember getting extremely frustrated with this game when we first got it.  I would get the initial power-ups, and then I would get stuck, and than I’d play something else instead.  After I got over sucking at it, I decided to give it my all.  Friends helped me.  Nintendo Power helped me.  And I finally beat it.  This was one of the most satisfying video games I have ever beaten.  Nowadays, this would take me months to beat.  But I guarantee you one thing, if you can make it to Mother Brain with missles, I can beat it from there!  Here is a picture of the cartridge from my collection(all of the games within are my own), as well as a screen shot(all taken from Google images) from the game.

Coming in at number four, we have everybody’s favorite 8-bit shooter.  Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Select, Start.  Ring any bells??  I hope at least 85% of you knows what this is.  This is the classic 30 lives code for Contra.  Out of all the gun upgrades in this game, I’m a fan of the spread gun(Matt over at X-E prefers the laser).  This was a game that my dad would play with me and my brother.  I remember one time I said that I wanted to get the flame thrower that just came on screen, and my dad was pissed saying that he needed it, and I expressed how I needed it.  Then, it came down to him telling me to take it…awww.  I refused, and he said to take it or he would turn the system off.  Me, being the hard-headed person I am and was, still refused and he turned it off.  I think I went outside and played with toys and dirt and he watched a baseball game.  Another fond memory I have of this game is…My dad had acquired a gun upgrade that he didn’t want and said, “I needed that like I need a hole in my head.”, and immediately got shot.  We laughed about that every time that game was played.  And yes, I can beat this game.  Haven’t tried it recently withhout the 30 life code though.

The next game on my list is what started my obsession, of course it’s Super Mario Bros.!  I used to play this game non-stop.  When I discovered the warp zone to levels 6-8, I had my older brother, who was babysitting us at the time, call my dad at the restaurant he was at with my stepmom to tell him the good news.  It stands the test of time in my book.  I will play this game and beat it anytime it’s in an NES.  There’s nothing much I can tell you about this game that you already don’t know.  Well…maybe…Before Mario Bros., Mario was known as Jumpman.  Long story short, at Nintendo’s office in New York, their landlord was an Italian man who looked like Jumpman, his name was Mario.

I played Duck Hunt alot too…Fuckin’ dog!!

The next game is a game that I consider, a game that I’ve mastered.  I only consider Super Mario Bros. and this next game, games that I have mastered.  Meaning 10 out of 10 times i will beat the game with one life and no continues, without warping or passwords.  Sometimes it’s 9 out of 10, but hey, we all drink sometimes!  This was a game where I got my tips from school before I got my subscription to Nintendo Power.  This was a game before the ear-biter, was an ear-biter(Mike, you were the shit in The Hang-Over!).Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!  All of your opponents were racial stereotypes, this shit wouldn’t fly nowadays, but I guess Punch-Out for the Wii proved me wrong, in a way.  Some of the shit your rivals say in the original wouldn’t be on the Wii version, right(I don’t own a Wii)?

And, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, my number one NES game of all time(any game for that matter), The Legend of Zelda.  This game was all I played for quite awhile.  I’d wake up early on weekdays so I could eat and get dressed before school, and play some Zelda.  I would wake up before cartoons on Saturdays and play me some Zelda.  For some reason, I was the only one in my family to really like this game.  We all played for a little while and then, it was just me.  I have a few questions like Matt…Why did that Moblin give us rupees?  Why were we only allowed to carry a maximum of 255 rupees?  And why was the cartridge gold?  I love the gold cartridge version.  The only other gold cartridges for the NES were The Adventure of Link, unlicensed games, and the NWC gold cart(of which only 26 were confirmed to be produced).

Well, those are my top 5.  Discuss your top 5 in the comments.