Goodwill Geek Mailbag: A Package from Miss M!!!

Long overdue is my reporting on this wonderful piece of mail that I received... a package from my good friend Miss M over at Diary of a Dorkette!!! Miss M and I have both recently begun podcasting with Geek Fallout, which is a part of the Atomic Geeks Network. SO I get to talk to her a lot more now and she never fails to impress! We've also been package-pals (not as dirty as it sounds) for a while now, sending boxes back and forth filled with lots of awesome goodies we think the other may enjoy. So I was pretty ecstatic when this showed up: 

Be careful. This box may melt your face off Arc-of-the-Covenant-Style. But let's throw on our sunglasses and check out what she sent me anyway... 'kay?

Let's start with this koosh yo-yo thing that straps to your wrist. I threw this on, grabbed my hackey-sack, got a bandana on my australian shepard and went to the park to toss him a frisbee... because that is my lifestyle. No. Actually, I pretty much spent a good half-hour wanging this koosh ball around my cave and knocking random sh*t over. Most. Exciting. Half-hour. That room. Has seen. And a TMNT skateboard and ramp set from McDonalds!

A hot piece of brother and sister action! Wait... No. First we have Johnny Storm from the 2008 Marvel Legends Ares BAF line. And a Jessica Alba as Sue Storm action figure that, funny enough, is the same one I bought for my daughter when the movie came out back in 2005. They look pretty rad together right?

Next up is this set of Men In Black Burger King toys from 1998. The set on the left is pretty disgusting actually. You fit the little guy with the green goo INSIDE the big blue guy. Yeah. And then there's the hangar looking thing with the peek-a-boo creature poppin out the top. Creeper. 

Miss M knows I like a good, goofy food mascot toy... and these guys for Sonic, called "Brown Bag Juniors" are right up my alley! I don't have a Sonic around where I live, so these are a great get! I do want to mention that Sonic could have stepped up their game a little and come up with a better mascot than a brown paper bag. Honestly Sonic. 

Some miscellaneous fast food vehicles. One pull-back, one dump truck that becomes a horrific open-mawed monster, and a race car that, less threateningly, becomes a pen. 

Random handful of action figures. The original puffy-faced Batman action figure from the 1989 film, and a couple of Happy Meal toys, including a Beast Wars Transformer and a Small Soldier. 

Some toys from Bobby's World! Howie Mandel's 90's kid's show got a set of Happy Meal toys that showcased different fantasies of Bobby's being lived out, as his wagon transforms into a racecar and his pool toy becomes a sub.

Miss M also knows I like me some creepy creepy... turkey jokes? There's a LOT of eclectic reading material in this pile... from ghost stories to... talking turkey..?  Miss M knows that I like me some creepy short story anthologies, and holiday books!

Two of my FAVORITE items in this whole package are these Jack in the Box mascot "Jack" toys. My brain melted a little bit when I pulled these out and beheld them. There isn't a Jack in the Box restaurant anywhere near here... and I absolutely ADORE their ad campaigns. The character of Jack is irreverent, only very mildly creepy, and always unexpected. Being able to add these to my shelf of fast food ephemera is a real treat!

Next up is this trio of Toy Biz X-Men from the mid 90's. Captive Sabretooth, Weapon X Wolverine, and Mutant Armor Beast. Once you get out of the first two waves of the X-Men action figures from Toy Biz I started to lose a bit of interest... I do appreciate the insanity of lines like the Mutant Armor subset though, and the details on both Sabretooth and Wolvie are pretty great though! What really got me squealing though was these:

Toy Biz Storm and Magneto from the very first wave of X-Men figures! I FLIPPED OUT when I realized Miss M had bestowed these action figures upon me!!! Storm was one of a very small handful of female action figures I owned as a kid, and I treasured her for it! Magneto was never really an A-list villain when I became familiar with the X-Men as a kid. He was just sort of easing out of his position as Headmaster at the New Mutants school and taking his place as a member of the Hellfire club... but he wasn't really doing much villainy at the time. Even Emma Frost was starting to lighten up a bit by this point. And by the time he became the leader of the Acolytes I wasn't as faithful to the main X-books as I once had been. But as an adult I have developed a true love for all things Magneto, and I was astounded to have this old fave back in hand. But then I pulled this out of the box: 

Pure. Sex. In black leather. Longshot!!! This is a Marvel Legends figure from 2006, and it features one of my all-time favorite X-Men characters, Longshot! Longshot is from "my" X-Men. When Inferno was starting out, and I was discovering the X-Men for the first time, the entire world believed them dead, they were invisible to all electronic means of detection, and they had a home-base in Australia that they had taken over from the cyborg Reavers. Longshot was a member of the team alongside Dazzler, Rogue, Storm, Colossus, Havok, Wolverine, and Psylocke (who was still a purple haired british woman at the time, not an Asian ninja sex-doll).  Longshot left the team shortly after, and was not heard from again for a very long time, but he brought plenty of mythos to the table, introducing the X-Men to a couple of their weirdest and yet enduring villains: Mojo and Spiral. 

I can't thank Miss M enough for this spectacular package!!! I always appreciate getting neat toys in the mail from good friends, and Miss M is definitely that. Don't forget to check us out over at Geek Fallout, with our other good friend Brian, the Trash Man from Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture, and the regular hosts, Chris, Evan, and Rich! 

That's all I've got for tonight kids! I'll be back soon with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Halloween Countdown Day 26: Target and Halloween Pt. 2

I am horribly ill today, and not sure what I've got, but I seem to be feeling better than I was this morning at least. Either way, I will be making this brief. Luckily I've seen the retro-styled General Mills Monster Cereals ALL OVER the internet. Target is the only place you can get these old-style boxes. 

There's no such thing as a Monster cereal I don't enjoy. And while my favorite is still Count Chocula, I have lots of room in my heart for the Berry flavors as well. 

Fruity Yummy Mummy is probably my favorite of the newly re-released cereals. I dig that Orange cream! The cherry's not bad, but it's not my favorite.

Here's a look at the monster trivia on the side of all five boxes.

The comic panel from the back of the box. I really like the modern incarnations of the characters too!

I also picked up a mixed four-pack of the Jones Halloween flavored sodas. Red licorice was tasty... candy corn was not. 

Caramel Apple had a weird after-taste but was still pretty good. I have to say hands down that Blood Orange was my absolute favorite flavor out of the four. Love the can art on these too. Artwork-wise I can't really pick a favorite... but that dangling eye had me at hello. 

Anyway... I've seen a ton of stuff about these items online, but I still wanted to share them on here, and not feeling well... I don't feel too obligated to write much more. I highly recommend these food items to any fan of Halloween. 

That's it for tonight Mademoiselle's and Monsieurs! I will be back soon with more Gastrointestinal Goodwill Goodies (groooooossss...) So until then, Happy Haunting!

Still Alive... Here's some stuff from Goodwill to prove it

Things have been hectic around my home and work lately, with lots of crazy stuff, health stuff, money stuff, kid stuff, etc. to worry about and keep my attention away from blogging. I'm basically just getting on here long enough to prove I'm not dead. Luckily, I have some pictures of some stuff I picked up at the Brewer, ME Goodwill last November. Yep. Last November. I photograph stuff and either sit on it for a while for a slow day, or just forget about it. I think this stuff was a little of both. 

First up as a HUGE grab-bag I paid 3.99 for. Inside it was all you see above. There's a squeaky manatee that makes the most AMAZING squeaky noise you have ever HEARD and a tiny yellow plastic maraca with a smiley face on it.There's a weird truck with a bunch of cereal mascot heads attached to it, including Tony the Tiger, Sam the Toucan, Dig'em the Honey Smacks Frog, and (on the side you can't see) Snap, Crackle, and Pop, the Rice Crispies guys. A handful of PEZ dispensers, a green plastic alligator squirt gun, a Dotty Dog doll from the Get-Along-Gang series (I looooooved these guys when I was a kid, and I had a TON of Montgomery Moose toys)The weird triangle thing in the top right corner is a sort of spinning top toy on wheels. There's a set of plastic army men, an orange plastic monkey, some Pokemon Happy Meal toys, some Batman Brave and the Bold Happy Meal toys, and finally a single M.U.S.C.L.E. Thing figure, smack-dab in the middle. A handful of these items I was really excited about, and the rest are all pretty fun to either give to my kids or pass along to other geeks, etc. I take the manatee at random intervals and just squeeze the ever-loving heck out of it. 

Next up we have a couple of Golden Books. But one of them (Peter Pan in Tinker Bell and the Pirates) is actually a Big Little Golden Book! 

These aren't lined up perfectly, but this gives you a pretty good idea of how much of a size difference there is. The smaller of the two books is I Think That It is Wonderful and other poems from Sesame Street. If you don't already know about my dual vintage Sesame Street and vintage Little Golden Books obsessions, let this post be your introduction to those. As usual, these kids' books were .99 cents apiece. 

Finally, look at this. I was severely conflicted picking this up at Goodwill. I don't consider myself to be too deeply entrenched in gender-role nonsense... but I felt weird picking up a doll for myself. I don't collect dolls. But if you'll please notice, this is a mother-effing PUNKY BRESWTER DOLL!!! This isn't just some sticky, dirty old Baby Alive that I'm going to cradle in my arms when I sleep at night. This is different. I mean, maybe the world is blind. Or just a little unkind... I don't know. Seems you can't be sure of anything anymore. But I'll tell you, that day at Goodwill when I turned around, I saw the the girl who turns my world around. Her spirit lifted me right off the ground. So... I bought her. for 2.99. I already have plans for what to do with her. 

Nothing dirty or sticky. Just making sure you all understand that. This is not that kind of blog. 

I'll be back soon with more Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting! 

Hostess With the Mostess...?

So I've already lapsed on my commitment to keep posting everyday, even through a move from house to house. In fact, I'm really not sure I can keep things up after today for a little while. I may have to take a brief hiatus from blogging, though it really burns me to do so. Hell, I even had to make my bi-weekly trip to goodwill TODAY because tomorrow afternoon (Payday Friday!!!) is going to be full of moving furniture.

So up is down, left is right, and all has gone to hell. We're talking some real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. 40 years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats... living together! MASS HYSTERIA!

So with all that going on, I thought I'd just focus on another single item that I found at goodwill, and that I love. Here's a hint to what it might be:

And just so you know... even the Goodwill Geek is not Goodwill Ga-Ga enough to buy second-hand foodstuffs. 

See what this wondrous item might be after the jump!