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!

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.

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers – Holy Grails and White Whales

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers is a project that Brian from Cool and Collected started about 2 months ago(for those of you who are not familiar with this, click here for the scoop).  The topic this week is, as stated in this post’s title, Holy Grails and White Whales.

While I could go on and on with stuff I would love to get, the idea is what would we most like to find, and be able to take home with us.  There’s got to be  something that has eluded you, that you think you may never get, or get the opportunity for a chance at.  There are a few things that instantly came to mind.

I collect video games, among other things, so that’s where we’ll start.

What you see above is the very definition of Holy Grail, when it comes to the Nintendo Entertainment System.

I have many fond memories attached to the NES, which is probably why I have so much interest in the system itself.  I collect games for quite a few consoles,  but I have more NES games than all of my other consoles combined(200+).  If you are not familiar with the story behind these cartridges, I’ll give you a little history.

In 1990, Nintendo held a video game championship across the country(not unlike the one in the movie The Wizard).  There were competitions in cities across the nation, looking for the best Nintendo player in that city.  Then the “best” players from each age group would play against each other in the finals of the tournament to determine the winner.  I’m not sure just how these were distributed, but I do know that some went to the champions and finalists, and some were given away in a Nintendo Power contest.  There are only 90 of the gray cartridges, and just 26 copies of the gold one.

The games contained within are Super Mario Brothers(get 50 coins), Rad Racer(complete the first course), and Tetris(get the highest score you can).  There is a dipswitch on the outside of the cart, that you can use to adjust the amount of time to play.  Even though all the games are pretty common, the cartridges are not.  This is something I’m pretty sure I will never own, but it’s nice to dream of finding it a at a garage sale or flea market.

And there are a few toys that came to mind as well.  Now, there are a lot(tons), of toys that I would love to add to my collection.  There are plenty of lines that I collect, and others that I would like to collect.  But there is one line that stands above the rest, and that’s Transformers.  Or more specifically, Generation 1 Transformers.

The first of the two?

Transformers and I go way back.  My brother and I received our first Transformers on the Christmas of 1984 or 1985.  We got one each, and they were both Megatron.  Megatron is high on my want list, but Ultra Magnus is just a little more important to me.  You see, when I saw Transformers the Movie back in 1987, Ultra Magnus quickly became my new Favorite Transformer.  My older brother ended up getting it for me, I believe, for my 9th birthday in 1988.  For some reason I didn’t have it very long.  My stepmother, took him away for some reason(probably jealous that my younger brother didn’t have one), and I never saw him again.  I’m sure I probably cried my eyes out, because I really wanted that toy, and really loved it for the short time that I had it.  So, maybe, finally getting him again may give me some closure.

And the one I wanted, but never got.

Soundwave, is perhaps the coolest looking Transformer in robot mode(and a little dated in alt mode).  I knew a few kids who had this guy, and boy, did I want it!  There were quite a few times I would pick out cassette 2-packs(for Soundwave or Blaster), when we would ask if we could get a toy(you know what I’m talking about).  I have had a few chances to pick this guy up, but at the time(s), I just didn’t have the $40-$50 to spare.  But that may all change when the toy show comes to town on April 22!

Check out what has eluded Reis over at Lair of the Dork Horde.

Brian talks about the item he would love to add to his ever-growing King Kong collection over at Cool and Collected.

And Tim searches for “The Non-Existent” over at Flashlights are Something to Eat.

Reveal the Shield – Trailcutter (Legends Class)

Of the toys I found this past weekend, this was the first one that I found.  But before we get to the pictures, I would like you to take a look at the price I found him for.

Unbelievable!!  When I spotted this, I was hoping that I would find a few more!  This was the only real Transformer among the knockoffs that the store had.

Trailcutter(his name was Trailbreaker back in the day) is a “Legends Class” figure.  This means that he’s small and has a simple transformation, as well as limited articulation.

The vehicle mode is actually pretty good looking(and reminiscent of his G1 counterpart).   The only thing I would’ve done differently, is I would have painted the rear windows silver.  And the robot mode is just as similar to the original look.

For their size, I think they’re pretty decent toys.  I would like to find more, especially the “Deluxe Class”, but I know my chances are pretty much zero.  The only other one in this scale that I want is Starscream(I have to act quickly, before it costs me a fortune).

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).

Another Great Package From Jboypacman

Howdy everyone!

I have been itching to get another post done, but I ended up catching the flu last Saturday.  I was laid up in bed sick from then until this past Wednesday.  This was the first time I have been really sick in a very long time(6 years or more).  During this time my last item from Ebay arrived(those hockey cards I briefly mentioned last post), as well as a surprise package from Jboypacman.

This was a complete surprise!  Jboy has sent a couple of packages to me in the past, but he usually lets me know before hand.  This time it was out of the blue, and was perfect, because I was sick at home.  So, getting an awesome package of toys while I was sick, made me feel somewhat better(if that makes sense).

So let’s see what was inside.

First there was a huge Hell Boy figure(he’s not my thing, but I’ll find him a good home).  One of Hell Boy’s feet was broken at the ankle(I’m guessing this happened during transit, as it was directly below where it was attached).  You’ll also see Frankenstein from The Real Ghostbusters line.  I already have this figure, but this is an upgrade compared to mine, so I swapped them out.  There is also a Snake Eyes figure(25th anniversary?), that came with tons of guns, swords, knives and even an extra head.  The extra head has Snake Eyes in his classic “knight” helmet(the one he’s currently sporting is the goggles version).  Rounding out the group is a character from Chicken Run(I believe), which is going to my friend Mike(he loves chickens).

The Ecto-1 is a welcome addition to my collection, because up until this point, there wasn’t one in the collection.  The Transformers are (I believe), Spy Changers.  I already have the Optimus Prime(my buddy Mike already took him), and I believe the translucent one is Ironhide.  I only say that because, I have a Ironhide that is the same scale, same mold and has the same transformation process, but has a drastically different color scheme.  Take a gander.

It looks like we have fraternal twins, huh?!  You might also be able to say the same for the next two.

You all have heard how much I like the new Thundercats series, and here are two figures I did not yet have.  Jboy sent both the frail mummy version of Mumm-Ra and Mumm-Ra “The Ever-Living”.  Both came with their version of Lion-O’s claw shield(one part of the show I’m not sure I like).  The mummy version came with the dagger version  of the Sword of Omens, and bad-ass Mumm-Ra came with, what looks like a variation of the full-size Sword of Omens.  I now only need Tygra and Wilykit to finish off my “Cats’ team(maybe finish the first wave, unless there’s a Grune in this scale).

Sadly, we’re almost done.  We have one more item, but it’s a doozy.  It’s my favorite item of everything that Jboy sent me.

It’s Beetlejuice!!  I can’t find any stampings(I did a quick once over so I may have missed it), but I’m sure this is the NECA release.  The detail and likeness is great, and definitely looks more high-end compared to every other figure in my collection.  Beetlejuice is in my top ten movies, so I’m really digging this figure.  I also love the miniature Handbook for the Recently Deceased(again, amazing detail).

Jboy you did it again!!  🙂

Albany Comic-Con 2011

So, about a week and a half ago, I attended the Albany Comic-Con(this was my wife’s anniversary gift to me 🙂 ).  I’m not sure if this was it’s inaugural event or if it’s an annual thing.  This year was the first time in the 8 years I’ve lived here, that I have heard about it.

I’ve been to a few conventions in NYC before, and they were a pretty decent size.  This one was smaller, but it definitely had it’s charm.  To give you an idea, it was held in a Holiday Inn, and had two dealer and guest rooms.  There were a few different panels as well.  I attended the panel discussing action figure sculpting and creating.

There was a pretty big turnout, and there were many deals to be had(every dealer I met with was friendly and reasonable).  I won’t bore you to death with all the details, so we’ll get to the pictures.  Most of them are Star Wars related, but I’m pretty sure that’s okay with most of you.

All of the Star Wars costumes were top notch, and made up 60%-70% of the cosplaying crowd.  The Tusken Raider(or Sand Person) above, was one of two who even had sound effects and music playing(concealed within their costume and accessories) that were related to their character.

Now to the loot!

But before we get to that…I just want to show a few games that came in the mail around the same time I went to the convention.

Ultima isn’t a great game, but it’s an RPG that I have fond memories of.  I already have this game in my collection, but I got a great deal on a complete copy(the box is mint).  Wario Land:Super Mario Land III, is one of my all-time favorite Game Boy games.  This was another great deal that also included the game case and instruction manual.  I only realized that it was a foreign language manual when I got it in the mail.  Game Boy games are region-free, so it works fine on my Game Boy.  And the manual is not necessary for me to play this game.

And now to the Comic-Con loot!

That Punisher comic is one of my favorite comic book covers, and it was also the very first back issue I bought when I first got into comics.  The Marvel Universe is part of a series of of pages with pre-punched holes to be put into a 3 ring binder as a sort of reference book.  Both of those were 50 cents each.  The Jason goes to Hell was a bargain at 50 cents, considering it still has the cards in the sealed bag.  I don’t mean this to sound like it’s worth much.  I’m just a huge Friday the 13th fan, and getting a comic book and trading cards of Jason for 50 cents is great!  I have no idea about the Redfox comic.  But it was 50 cents, and I thought the cover looked pretty neat, so I took a chance.

The New Warriors was one of the titles I was heavily into when I first got into comics(along with The Punisher, Avengers West Coast and Marvel Comics Presents).  I couldn’t pas up the first issue for a dollar.  In my current collection, I don’t have any other New Warriors books.  I’m hoping I’ll like it as much as I did back then.  What The..?! is a parody of Marvel characters by Marvel.  It was done by Hilary Barta, who I have mentioned before.  I love his cartoony style and at 50 cents, I promptly snatched it up.  The 2 G.I. Joe and the Transformers comics were a buck a piece.  The first one is a Marvel one from the eighties, and the second one is an Image one from 2003(this one is actually G.I. Joe vs. Transformers).  It’ll be great to read all of these.

One seller had a bunch of polybagged issues of Wizard from the early days of the now-defunct “guide to comics”.  I picked out a fairly early issue that included some pretty cool premiums.  To the right, we have a press kit for the movie The Crow.  This is my all-time favorite movie.  This is a very cool find!  It has black and white 8×10 photos, 5 film stills and a press release about the movie, the actors and various other things pertaining to the movie.  I had no problem dropping the ten dollars the seller was asking for it.  Also pictures are 3 packs of trading cards.  The seller was selling certain packs of trading cards at 3 packs for $1.00.  The 3 packs I chose were The Worst From MAD, The Valiant Era and Adventures in Toon World.  I’ll be saving these packs, and may do a post where I open them and see what they contain.

And here is the star of  my purchases.

The Reveal the Shield line of Transformers has been virtually non-existent in my area.  I’ve barely see any of this line with in an hour’s drive of me.  And this was the first time that I saw any of the “Legends Class’ figures.   The dealer I bought this from had all of the Legends Class figures from this line, and if money wasn’t an object I would’ve bought them all.  Starscream is the next on my list if I can find him at a decent price.  Megatron cost me 7 bucks(not too bad), and Starscream was the same.  I just didn’t have the disposable cash at the time.

I think the figure looks great, and is a great representation of the G1 Megatron that we all love.  But I do have a few gripes about this figure.  The first will be apparent in the next photo.

That is one hell of a paint error!  I wish I would’ve noticed this before I bought it, or else I would’ve bought the other available Megatron(as long as the paint was better).  My second gripe is the rub sign almost came off.  It’s a sticker, and it was moving when pressure was applied to it.  I may have to super glue it to the figure to make sure it’s not lost in the future.

And my final gripe…

Is the orange cap on the barrel necessary?!  The original G1 figure was made of die-cast metal and was a full size gun, so I can understand the confusion in mistaking it for a real gun.  But is there any chance that anyone would confuse this tiny, very plastic looking toy for a real gun?

Still, I’m happy to add this Megatron to the collection.  And I’d say he’s worth picking up if you can find him.

Random Quickie #5 – 1984 G1 Megatron Instruction Manual

“Instruction Booklet” would be a more correct term.  But anyway.  We’ll take a look back to how even instruction manuals in the eighties were cool.

If you’ve read any of my Transformers reviews, you know that I feel the instruction manuals are pretty much useless.  But, back in the eighties, the manuals were a lot more pleasing to the eye.  Check this out.

I got this in a trade a couple of months ago, from Brian over at Cool and Collected.  I love Transformers, but I wanted this booklet for a more sentimental reason.  Megatron was my first ever Transformer.  Actually, my younger brother and I both received our own Megatrons on Christmas eve of  ’84 or ’85.  It’ll be a while before I’m able to score the figure on the secondary market(complete versions sell for $80+), but this is pretty cool for now.

Oh!  One other thing.  These old manuals use diagrams from the figures themselves, and look to be somewhat informative to the transformation process.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Wal-Mart Exclusive Bumblebee

While I thought the latest Transformers movie was good…I haven’t been so impressed with the toys.  To me, the transformations are kind of complicated.  There are also some features(not with all the figures), that I do not like.  These are a few reasons I why I do not particularly like any of the movie themed figures.  The figure we will be looking at today is only the second movie figure(from all 3 movies), that I have ever bought.  I bought this mere hours before I saw the new movie.

Now this is a movie figure that I can live with!  I don’t mind the current ranks of the Autobots and Decepticons…I just don’t like the toys.  Even though he can’t speak(the way everyone else does), I’ve always thought movie Bumblebee had a lot of personality.  And I really like the new Camaros.  But the Prime reason(see what I did there?), I purchased this figure, were the two numbers you see on his roof and doors.

1984!  That was the year that Transformers debuted here in the States.  This figure was made for people in my age group who grew up on the show.  Of course some new fans and kids will get this figure, but I would bet that more would be purchased by my generation.  When I first saw this online, I made it a mission to find this figure.  There was also a Wal-Mart exclusive Sideswipe, but he wasn’t of much interest to me.  Of course this had to be a pain in the ass to transform, and I’m not sure if I got it 100% correct, but it looks pretty good.

But, before we get to the good shots…let me show you what he looks like underneath before you transform him.

I’m happy that he’s not as visible from other angles!  If you take a look at the first shot of Bumblebee out of the package, you can see his feet underneath.  But he doesn’t look too shabby in robot mode.

While not entirely pleased, I think this was a nice gesture from Hasbro.  And just as what we were told at Christmas time(and I still think), it’s the thought that counts.

Yard Sale Finds #8 and Some Other Stuff

While this weekend wasn’t all that great for yard/garage-saling, it was a nice end to an awesome week.

Earlier this week, a co-worker brought me this.

On a break at work, we had gotten on the topic of video games.  Long story short, I was given what you see above.  It’s an Atari 2600, 2 joysticks(I know they’re not the original ones), and 11 games.  The games are, Grand Prix, Centipede, Q-Bert, Donkey Kong Jr., Ms. Pac-Man, Missile Command, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Battlezone, Mouse Trap and Defender.  90% of the games are classics!  We’ve been doing some cleaning out and rearranging stuff at my place, so I haven’t been able to play any of them yet.  I’m looking forward to playing the god-awful Pac-Man port for this system.  The Atari 2600 was the first home console I had ever played.  It’s reign came to an end when the NES came into my life somewhere around 1985-86.

Yesterday we decided to hit the road and look for garage sales.  There were a few quick showers in the early afternoon, and that may have been why we didn’t see many sales.  At the sales we were able to find, the wares were plentiful, but of no interest to me.  The upside was, I didn’t spend much.

Everything pictured came to a grand total of $2.25.  I bought Sorry! for a few reasons.  I don’t know how old the one I had growing up was, but this one (1972) looks just like it.  And secondly because it’s a fun game to play.  The Snoopy book was 50 cents, but it’s classic Snoopy.  I found the awesome little Batman at a church sale for 25 cents!  The colors look great, the sculpt is fun, and best of all, he has a cloth cape!  The Santa Clause is a Hallmark Holiday Magic ornament that plugs into a light strand an lights up.  It looks pretty neat, and if it works, the 50 cents I paid was a hell of a deal!  There’s one other thing I want to mention about Sorry!, and that is that this particular ones game tokens look like they’ve barely been used.

What really sealed the deal of this being an awesome week, is what we’ll be looking at next.

It’s been said that good things come to those who wait.  I’ve been really patient.  And that patience finally paid off!

🙂  🙂  🙂  🙂  🙂  🙂  🙂

Our plan for yesterday was to look for garage sales in areas that are a little further from where we live.  Going outside of our local area adds a newness to the hunt.  Different people with different stuff.  While the area was new to us for yard sales, we were familiar with the area.  I found Wheeljack in this area’s Wal-Mart.  I wish my local Wal-Mart had the toy selection I saw yesterday.  I will be making subsequent trips to this store.

There was an incredible selection of Transformers, and there were 2 of these left.  I have been looking for this figure for months!  I checked many stores with no luck.  On Amazon and Ebay, this guy is selling for over $25.00!  That’s ridiculous for a new toy, and I refuse to pay an inflated price for an imaginary premium.

The head sculpt looks better than the G1 Wheeljack, and the body of the alt-mode had to be modified for legal reasons.  Still, it looks great, and is my favorite in the Generations line thus far.  The funny thing is that the instructions were actually helpful with the transformation(this is a first).  Wheeljack looks great in either mode.  His car design is sporty and sleek.

It looks just as nice as the original.  In robot mode, the head sculpt looks exactly like he did in the G1 cartoon.  His G1 counterpart is a great toy, but the head just isn’t right.  This one improves on the original, without taking away anything.

Even though I got him after almost everyone else did, I’m still happy to own this.  This gets a 10 out of 10 in my book.  Congrats to Hasbro, for getting this one right!

I have some great stuff in the pipeline, and if I can learn how update a little less erratically, we’ll see see it in the coming days.  Wish me luck!