My Trip to the Belfast ME Goodwill, Memorial Day Weekend

So over the Memorial Day Weekend, my family and I took a trip out to Belfast, ME. This is where one of my favorite Goodwills in all of Maine resides. 

I'll be honest, this wasn't my most productive visit to the Belfast Goodwill, and considering the length of the trip out there, that was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't find any toys that really got me all that excited, but I did find a couple of game items that were pretty fun... and the rest of my finds were mostly book related. (It occurs to me now that this was not the most compelling way to sell this post and keep you reading on the edge of your seat. But... let's take a look anyway. 

I found this adaptation of RAMBO First Blood Part II for .99 cents... which to be honest, I'm questioning why I even brought it home. I think I just get excited any time I find movie adaptations nowadays... and this felt like it shouldn't be left behind. I've never seen a Rambo film in my life... nor am I really interested in seeing one. But here we are. 

I was completely surprised when I pulled this "Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" off the shelf... and ecstatic! I've always wanted to break into the old-school Disney comics stories that the Duck Tales series were drawn from, and I hear that this volume is not only an excellent entry point... but an excellent book in and of itself. I paid 1.99 for this collected edition from Gemstone! 

A couple of great Choose Your Own adventure books! I seriously doubt I'll read through Playoff Champion... but I'm a collector so you know... gotta have! Heh... heh. But Beyond the Great Wall? I'll give that one a test-drive for sure!

More CYOA! This time the Mystery of Chimney Rock, which looks excellent, and old-school... and a "Find Your Fate Adventure" starring none other than Indiana Jones in the Lost Treasure of Sheba. Indy in a CYOA (style) book!!! I'm on a roll with the licensed gaming books baby! Especially since I found that Star Trek Which Way book last Payday Friday!

And closing out the CYOA craziness are these two "Dragonlark" Choose Your Own Adventure Books, Your Very Own Robot, and Indian Trail which are much more recent books and contain full-color illustrations. At first I was going to turn my nose up at these Dragonlark books, but I've actually found them to be pretty fun. All of my CYOA finds were .99 cents apiece.

Also .99 cents apiece were these three Little Golden Books. A couple of Richard Scarry classics in Duck and His Friends and Chipmunk's ABC. I was kind of a sucker for Raggedy Ann and Andy as a kid so I also snapped up this copy of Five Birthdays in a Row. Blame it on the nostalgia, blame it on obsession, or even blame it on the shiny spines I guess... but my LGB collection just keeps growing and growing.

Random assortment of other things here, the most exciting for me being The Count's Number Parade which is yet another old Sesame Street book I didn't already own. The Nestle Nesquik "It's Legendary" comic was put out by DC and was apparently a free giveaway at Wal-Mart in 2012. It's a truly bizarre little story involving an airship driven by anthropomorphic milk cartons and the Quik Bunny. They get attacked by sour milk air pirates. Garfield's Scary Tales is a book I may already own in paperback, but I couldn't pass up a hardcover copy of it either way. 

I can't figure out exactly how old this Snoopy and Friends Sticker Album is... because all of the trademark info inside it is from the 60's. But my guess is that its actually from the 80's? Not sure. Either way, I've done some soul-searching recently and I've discovered something: I'm really not a Snoopy fan. Not a Peanuts fan in general. Nope. They just don't do it for me. I know that's the nearest to sacrilege a geek can get... But they just don't do it for me. "Why did you buy this thing then?" You may ask... and I will tell you I may not be a fan of Charlie Brown and co... But I AM a sticker album fan. I miss these things! I can't find anything like these out in stores anymore! I used to have about a half-dozen of them as a kid. I'd love to have a couple for my boys to keep stickers in. They must be out there somewhere, right? Specialty shops, or craft stores, or educational toy stores or some other nonsense... I'll keep my eyes peeled. 

One of my absolute FAVORITE finds of this trip: Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future which is a sort of storybook/novelization of the TV movie of the same name that kicked off the old TV series starring the Titular Max Headroom. I was a big fan of Max when I was a kid. LOVED him. I was much more aware of him as an advertising mascot than as a sci-fi A.I. character... but that was enough for me. This was one of the few finds I made at the Belfast Goodwill where I gasped a little when I picked it up.

Next up we have this USA for Africa "We Are The World" 45. 

This single came out in 1985 and I remember hearing it A LOT. It brings me crashing back into my childhood in a big way. For those of you who may not know what the deal with this is... it was this incredible collaboration between a WHOLE LOT of artists including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, and most of the Jackson family, just to name a handful. Even actor Dan Aykroyd pitched in and sang. It was all in an effort to raise money for African famine relief. It was most notable though for being a crossover of talent so huge that it has since only been rivalled by the Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue anti-drugs special. Yeah. It's that big.

I almost left this package of Hildebrandt Brothers art collectors cards behind. But I honestly really like these cards, and I had a bunch of them back in the 90's when they were originally released. Plus anything with a pink tag on it was half off! So I got these for .99 cents. 

I wasn't disappointed! There's a lot of really fun art featured in these sets. There are a couple of different serieses mixed together in this pile but they're all from the Hildebrants. Really love the giant cat-whale thing in the front-most card there. Also pictured are some Star Wars, Ravenloft, and Greek Mythology artwork. 

My son actually discovered these Shirttails ball-in-the-hole puzzle/game things in the package. I have no idea if these are actually vintage or not, (the packaging seems to sort of indicate not...) but since they feature an assortment of characters from a show I really enjoyed as a kid... it didn't matter to me one bit either way. Which leads to to the final and most exciting find of the day... this "board" game: 

Hangman from Milton Bradley, circa 1976! And look who graces the cover of the box with his spooky presence! Vincent Price!!! I have literally not even untaped the cover of the box to check the contents. That is how much I love this box art. I would have bought the box empty. There's a commercial on youtube starring Mr. Price himself, that is embedding disabled... but you should check it out here.

Look at this sinisterly smarmy man. Look deep into those confidently creepy eyes. He wants to see you dancing on air... swaying in the breeze. 

That's it for me tonight kids! I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Goodwill Mailbag: CRPechonick Strikes!!!

So last time I got on here, it was to thank Miss M for the incredible gift package she sent me... and this blog post is going to be along a similar vein. I recently received a package from CRPechonick (Charles Raymond Pechonick) of Geek Show Ink fame, and boy... was it a doozy! Back when I received a package from the Trash Man over at Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture, I commented on the fact that I needed to track down the last 3 rings in the set of 9 DCU chromatic Lanterns' rings so I could have a complete set. This prompted Mr. Pechonick to volunteer to help track them down for me.

Well that snowballed a bit from this:

Into this:

I forgot to get the rings in this picture with everything else.

Charles Pechonick obviously pays attention because he knows almost all my weaknesses. Let's take a look at all the great stuff he sent me, shall we? 

First up, there was a slew of random mini-figure goodness included. From left to right here we have representation from almost everything I like: A Shock figurine from the Nightmare Before Christmas, a Daredevil micro figure, a Brain Christmas figurine from Pinky and the Brain of Animaniancs fame, good ol' Donald Duck himself, Kim Possible (looking kick-ass), a Clone Trooper micro figure, and a Farmer Grover. Could not possibly be happier with this lot if I TRIED.

This stand-off between Funko Mini Merle Dixon and Funko Mini Tank Walker and Funko Mini Bicycle Girl was brought to me by CRPechonick!!! I don't think anything has ever made me happier than that cute little half-bodied zombie dragging it's cute little desiccated entrails across the top of my desk. Adorable!

Also included were these Peanuts books. I am looking forward to checking these out... as I do not traditionally read a whole lot of Peanuts stuff. These look old and awesome. 

Also included in the package were these two Vampire novels by David Wellington. Of the Monster Island fame (which I featured here on the blog as a part of my Halloween countdown) which I still haven't read yet. I can't wait to take a bite out of these!!! 

Heh.

It got a little bit harder to categorize stuff as I went along, so I sort of lumped some of this stuff together to photograph it. Please pretend that the Dr. Who novel has something to do with the Batman merchandise. Here's a novel starring the Tom Baker Dr. Who, a set of The Batman "shoe charms" and a set of four Batman button/pins. These will be opened and applied to the ceiling of my car. I'm sorry if that devaluates them or something... but it's what I do with buttons. The charms will go in my nipples. 

I'm just kidding! I don't have nipples. 

Who does have nipples? The Hulk. As in the Incredible Hulk. Included in the package was this five-part mini-series "Ghosts of the Future" which I have never read before. This was just before the whole Onslaught debacle took place, so you can sort of see that Thor is wearing possibly one of the worst costumes they EVER gave him. But I'm curious to see what this mini is all about, even despite that. 

A couple of neon Darth heads (I believe these may be some sort of Easter egg variant-things? Maybe? Doesn't matter. I love them. Day-glo Vader? Yes please) and a wind-up TOMY robot for m'collection of robots. I love this little guy. Easily one of my favorite items in the whole box. 

And let's not forget what got this whole ball rolling, okay? Here is my complete DCU Lanterns collection, with my set of rings included. They go in order by ROYGBIV as they should. AS ALL THINGS SHOULD. I have no idea why this collection obsesses me so... I don't even really follow the Green Lantern comics. I do love the idea of color-based powers, and an emotional spectrum that reflects that... I know the system they developed for the comics is sort of flawed... but it's a pretty great idea. And it made the whole idea of a "Green" themed superhero seem a little less arbitrary... ANYWAY. 

THANK YOU CRPechonick!!! I cannot thank you enough for this incredible pile of loot. You can definitely expect to see a package of thanks wending its way back atcha sometime in the future. You were incredibly generous with this bounty, and it humbles me to think that someone could just decide to give away a box full of goodies on a whim "just because". You're pretty awesome in my book. All you reading this be sure to head over to Geek Show Ink and check out the blog, and look at some of CRPechonick's impressive artwork over at his deviantart gallery as well! 

That's it for me today folks! I'll be back with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies before you know it! Until then, Happy Hunting!

A Random Handful of Goodwill Goodies: The BIG Toy Post

Hey everybody! Welcome back! This time here on Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks I'm going to show off a random handful of toys I've recently found at Goodwill. 

First up is this sandwich baggy full of little plastic Indians. I apologize if this use of the term Indians is considered offensive to any of you out there, but "little plastic Native Americans" just doesn't have the same ring... and is probably way more PC than these little figures probably warrant. Do they even make these any more? These figures don't look too old, but I have no real way of telling. I almost didn't buy these little guys, but I have a weakness for mini-figs of any kind, and the classic plastic-playset variety especially hold a warm and snuggly place in my heart. As you may be able to see in the picture, I paid .99 cents for these guys. They come in six different sculpts and 4 different colors. And I love them. 

These are the only toys in this post that I did not in fact buy at a Goodwill. I got them at a thrift store called Nice Twice in Ellsworth, ME that I have mentioned here on the blog before. Specifically, the post featuring the 80's/90's comic books and ads on here not long ago. Anyway, these are two Tiny Toons Adventures Happy Meal toys and one 101 Dalmation toy (that I am going to only look at pig-side up so I can pretend it is a Tiny Toon toy). The gimmick to these is that they flip over to reveal a second character in a different vehicle. I didn't match my pictures up well at all, so I'll just let you know, the first car from the first picture is the bottom of the second car in the second picture, and vice versa. The third car in both pictures is a match. Easy! I find it bizarre that the exact same gimmick was used for two different properties from two opposing animation houses. These three cars were .50 cents apiece. 

These three toys were in a grab-bag together for .99 cents at the Bangor, ME Goodwill. I have a pseudo-collection of those translucent Ben 10 Happy Meal toys packed away somewhere and I liked the look of this guy so I decided I'd keep it going. I do wish that you couldn't see Ben in the middle of the alien. I really just like pretending these big clear-plastic aliens are Ben-free.The snake from Kung Fu Panda I already own so I gave this one to my kids to play with. The long, brown, segmented dragon I just really liked the look of... until I got home and realized it was from the live-action Last Airbender movie. I still like the toy... but it feels tainted somehow. He was the real reason I picked up the grab-bag in the first place, honestly. The Ben 10 toy was just a butter on the bread. Ah, well. 

These next two items I paid .99 cents apiece for. The first is a little Tic-Tac-Toe game that reminded me of a doll's version of Toss-Across. It's Tic-Tac-Toe, so you can't really go wrong. I'm keeping it in the random-toys-and-boredom-busters drawer (which I've blogged about. Click on the picture below) of my desk:

 

Because it's the sort of thing I can grab and play with for 10 minutes when I need a distraction (because I am SO short on distractions in the Goodwill Geek Cave) and some time to kill. The other toy next to the Tic-Tac-Toe game is a Nickelodeon Applause-gun-toy-thing. Pull the trigger and the yellow plastic hands clap together, while an applause sign simultaneously pops up. This went in my distraction drawer as well.

I found this little green Cyclops guy for .99 cents. He looks like he's a collectible urban vinyl mini-figure... but is actually a toy from the "Children's Place". That pricey kid's clothing store at the mall. I haven't been able to find any other information other than the stamp on the back of his head. I don't know if they made others in a series or what. The little green plastic Indian was included for scale purposes only... no cyclopes (or Indians) were injured in the making of this blog entry. 

I found this set of magnets in a sandwich bag for .99 cents. No idea what they originally came with, but no searches have turned anything up yet. I thought maybe one of those Klutz sets... but no. The paper-clips and the little metal rod to the bottom left are definitely pieces of the set, because the paper-clips are way too heavy-gauge to be used as actual paper-clips. Their like little tiny paper-weight paper-clips.

Next are some Happy Meal toys that were all together in a Grab-Bag for 2.99. It was a weird but pretty awesome assortment of items. First up is this "magic box" Star Wars thing, which gives the illusion that if you look in the left side of the box, it is full of Darth Vader's floating, disembodied head, and if you look in the right side, it is Yoda's floating, disembodied head. The whole thing is done with mirrors and half-heads, but I'll never give away that secret. Shhh. It's magic. 

I found the effing thing incredibly hard to photograph as well. These were the best out of something like 20 shots I took of each side. After that, I just picked the best two from each lot and ran with them. You guys already know what Vader and Yoda look like. Just deal with this.

Here is a cute little Bernard toy from either the Rescuers or the Rescuers Down Under. Not sure which. Look at him! This might just get made into a Christmas ornament... I don't know if it was a Happy Meal toy or what. He's hollow plastic, and there's a great big hole in the bottom of that cheese... making me wonder if he was the cap to something... I just don't know. 

Here is a cute little Bartok toy! Remember him? He's the little albino bat who sidekicks for Rasputin the Mad Monk in the Don Bluth Anastasia film. I don't remember liking that movie all that much, but I can't remember why. Apparently it did very well. I do however, happen to be one of about 3 people in the world who enjoy the utterly weird direct-to-dvd spin-off/sequel: Bartok The Magnificent! At first I assumed this might be a toy from that sequel, but upon examining the packaging (This also turned out to be a Burger King Kid's club toy) I realized this must be Rasputin's eye that Bartok is hugging. Pull it out of his paws and a string causes Bartok to shake violently until the eye reels itself back in. Bizarre. I'm going to have to go back and re-watch both movies at some point soon I think. 

Next in the bag was this Peanuts toy from a Wendy's Kid's Meal! It's pretty basic... but pretty awesome in all the right ways. I'm a casual Peanuts fan in that I like the Holiday specials, and I like Snoopy. This dog-house toy has three little sliders on the back end that let you slide up three different, iconic images of Snoopy into view. The first is Snoopy asleep on top of the house. 

The second is Snoopy in his classic Flying Ace get-up and the third shows Snoopy and Woodstock sharing a care-free dance together. The real struggle here was deciding which picture to put on display. I went with the Fling Ace since I like him from the Great Pumpkin special... but then it hit me... I CAN CHANGE IT AT ANY TIME!!! I did a little Snoopy dance myself I was so excited. 

 

The last toy in the bag was another Burger King's Kid's club premium. And it may just be one of the weirdest toys I now own. It is a Nickelodeon 1999 Kid's Choice Awards toy featuring Rosie O'Donell under what is supposed to be a tank of Nick's trademark slime. I own a Rosie O'Donell toy you guys. And I kind of adore it. The slime in the tank above her has dried up in the 14 years since it was put in there... so that's a little disappointing. What I ended up with is a Rosie O'Donnell perpetually staring up at the sky, as if paranoid a low-flying sea-gull is going to "gel" her hair. 

Inside the Grab-Bag, the Snoopy, Rosie, and Bartok toys were all in their original Fast Food Packaging. I shucked and saved the baggies and inserts though. Take a look. 

Moving swiftly on, I paid .99 cents for this alien that I know for a fact originally came from a Dollar store. Why buy it then? Because I haven't seen them in the Dollar Store for a very long time now, and I always meant to pick one up. So instead I got it from goodwill. No prob, Bob. He's about as tall as a GI Joe figure. And he's sort of adorrifying. That's adorable and horrifying squished together. I thought I just made it up but a quick Google search proves me completely wrong.

Here's a Diego toy from one of the Ice Age sets. I haven't looked to see which one. But it's pretty faithful to his appearance in the first one, and that's all I really care about, as that first film is the only one I've ever really enjoyed. I got him for .99 cents. 

Here's a bobble-headed Chewie after he's just taken over a wind-up AT-ST in the battle of Toy Endor. I actually bought this one for my son, but thought I'd show it off on here before letting him have it. Got it for .99 cents. 

Why what's this thing all secretively sealed and ominous looking? Is it full of gold? Is it full of severed human ears? (I really suck at playing What's-The-MacGuffin?) Let's look shall we? 

Well let me show you! It's a 1985 Playskool Poppon' Pals Sesame Street toy! Sort of an activity toy with different latches, buttons, levers and dials used to make the characters pop out of hiding. 5 of my favorite Sesame Street Muppets are waiting to be discovered! 1.99 for this little piece of history!

So there. A TON of toys featured today, all bought at different Goodwills on different days, all gathered together for one big post! 

That's it for me tonight guys! I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!