A Whole New Bin of Awesome Pt. 3: Closing the Lid

So we're finally hitting the bottom of the Newest Bin of Awesome Stuff to have entered my life this past summer. This last post in the series of three (find part One here and part Two here) will be a sort of random mish-mash that makes up the final pile of stuff. There's a lot of junk in this post, but there are some legitimate awesome finds as well.

I will also finally reveal the toy that caused me to desperately WANT this bin upon seeing it, and finally deciding that paying 25 dollars for the whole lot was a deal I would be CRAZY to pass up... but more on that later.

I know that one of the toys that took me crashing back into my childhood the HARDEST was Dinah here. She is a "Tinosaur" from a 1986 McDonald's Happy Meal. I owned 4 or 5 of the 8 available Tinosaurs back in the day. They were a strange collection of non-licensed PVC characters that were dinosaurs, bizarre looking creatures, and a couple of primitive looking humanoids. Dinah was one of my very favorites, though I got a LOT of flack from other kids for loving her so much. She was generally regarded as either a girls' toy, a babies' toy, or both by my peers. But now I'm a grown-@$$ adult and I can own whatever toys I want. So nyah. 

This guy is named Maggot and he is from the Little Dracula action figure line, based on the cartoon of the same name. I have no idea what his background is... maybe a flasher who has a hard time getting his coat open because he has suction cups for hands? If you're into that sort of thing I guess. He's a fun little guy, but he eventually made his way on to another home.

Also included were these Aliens toys from the mid-90's. The one on the left is the "gorilla alien" and the one on the right is the "Scorpion alien" who unfortunately did not come to me complete. (he explodes when hit and some of his pieces are missing). These also had a new home destined for them as I am not a huge Aliens toys collector.

Next there were these Supernaturals action figures, produced by Tonka back in 1987. I never owned any of these as a kid because quite frankly they scared the pee out of me back then. The tall fellow on the left is a guy named Snakebite, and the shorter guy on the right is Weird Wolf. Snakebite has none of his accesories, including his headpiece, which resembles a cobra's hood, his chest piece, and his weapon. Weird Wolf, being a Ghostling pretty much came as you see him. (I found the holograms to be exceedingly difficult to photograph, so what you see is what you get... sorry).

To round out the action figure collection coming out of the bin, there were these guys from the Bucky O'Hare series. First up we have Bucky himself, and then Bruiser the Berzerker Baboon. I never owned any of the Bucky O'Hare action figures as a kid either, but they looked amazing, and seemed like they would fit in with the TMNT line perfectly. I haven't exactly become OBSESSED with this line, like I have with some others... but I definitely appreciate them and think I will be tracking more of them down in the future.

So here's the whole gang. These were the last of the action figures that I found in the bin.

But that certainly wasn't the end of the fun!!! These two Swamp Thing vehicles from 1990 were produced support the cartoon show. (None of the action figures in these pictures came from this bin... in fact, Swamp-Thing came from Goodwill and Anton Arcane came from an antique mall near here) 

I didn't own the March Buggy (left) or the Bayou Blaster (right) as a kid, but I did have a couple of the Swamp-Thing action figures!

Now for a bit of weird, and in some cases almost heart-breaking stuff. This Real Ghostbusters lunchbox was a huge disappointment considering the damage to the sticker on the front. If it just didn't have that cut going right down through Winston's face, I would have actually been pretty happy even if it was a little water-warped. Sigh.

There was this ancient toy cash register and this old erector set in the bin as well. Nothing I was all that excited by, to be honest. 

The accessories in the pile on the left here are all from the Sectaurs HYVE Playset. When I realized what they were I lamented like a grieving widow that the rest of the set was not including in the bin as well. I don't recognize the RC car from 1985 on the right, and I'm too lazy to spend ALL that time googling it to find out what it is... so feel free to go at it internet!

There was also this collector's case full of rusty old cars as well. Some of them are pretty neat... but most of them are just kid of junky. The items that caught my eye the most were these:

Hip-Hop Big Bird, Grover flying a rocket ship, and a Micro Machine car with monster truck wheels. After some Googling (I wasn't as lazy this time) I discovered it is a Micro Machines Chevrolet 65 Corvette 4×4 Monster Truck. There you go. 

All right! GIRD yourselves. For beyond this point you will witness the two items that MADE me buy this bin in the first place. These were the nails in the coffin. The straws that bro the camel's back. These were the selling points for me. 

First up we have Talking Robie from Radio Shack. Back when I was a kid, I owned a Robie Jr. and I LOVED that thing! I actually dented the bubble over his head but it did not deter my love for him in any way, shape, or form. This is not the same robot of course, but it is a direct relative, and all of these robots had a kind of uniform style and appearance that makes them lovable in the same way. This guy is proudly displayed on my shelf as a testament to childhood and all the over-hyped toys that didn't work that great but still made it magical. 

And finally, this motherf**ker. Metlar of the Inhumanoids!!! I always DESPERATELY wanted to own Metlar as a kid, but for some reason I never got him. Castle Grayskull, yes. Ewok tree village, yes. Metlar... hell no. But I own him NOW!!! Metlar was a giant lava-spewing BASTARD who would flatten you as much as look at you. I remember being TERRIFIED of the inhumanoids, but watching it anyway. I mostly watched it paired up with Jem and the Holograms, and some other cartoon shorts-episodes. Fest your eyes ladies and gentlemen:

Now, full disclosure: Metlar's head is broken completely off. I have to just rest it on his shoulders and set him up for display. He is no long fit for play... but I don't care!!! I am so psyched to own this piece of 80's childhood HISTORY!!!!

So that's it folks! That's the entire contents of the Bin of Awesome. Hope you liked falling down this rabbit hole with me!

That's it for tonight kids! But I'll be back with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough! So until then, Happy Hunting!

Halloween Countdown Day 27: Goodwill Finds!

There are only 3 days between today and the BIG day ladies and Gentlemen! That means this will probably be my last straight-up "Stuff I Bought at Goodwill" post between now and then, because I'll be focusing more on the festivities around the house and just sort of rounding up anything else I've got to share before the night arrives. So let's take one last look at some Halloween-y items I've picked up at Goodwill! 

Possessions: Unclean Getaway from Oni Press is a fun little graphic novel starring a young girl possessed by a demon. This girl is added to a collection of supernatural characters including a poltergeist, a haunted jukebox, the ghost of a headless woman, and a talking, glowing sphere. The story is all about the demon Gurgazon the Unclean who has been added to the collection at the Llewellyn-Vane House for Captured Spirits and Ghostly Curiosities, and who desperately wants to escape. It has a distinct "Great Escape" meets "Perhapanauts" vibe, but almost more for the YA reader set. It was definitely a cool little tale, and one I'll probably check out the following three volumes for. 

"...MORE OF THE NIGHT HE CAME HOME." Ha! I thought I had never seen this movie, but after picking it up at Goodwill and watching it, I realized I must have seen it. I guess this one gets kind of a bad rap... but sitting and watching it back-to-back with the first Halloween, I have to say I kind of enjoyed this one more. There was more going on, the characters were a little more fleshed out, and the pacing was a little more to my liking. It could simply be that I hadn't seen it in so long that it felt new and fresh compared to the very familiar-to-me first film. After rewatching the original Halloween again this year with my daughter, I realized something: There are still some great scenes and classic moments that horror fans NEED to experience, but at times I found myself almost... bored. Sure, parts of the Hospital setting in part 2 (and some of the kill scenes) feel a little hackneyed and hokey... but it does have a nice consistent vibe to it. I don't think it deserves the bad rap it seems to have in some circles. 

Here we have a "Panther Alien" from the early 90's Alien action figure line. Sadly, he did not come with his projectile, which apparently was some sort of firable parasite creature, but he's still pretty neat. As much as I can admire his sleek frame and interesting pose, not being much of a fan of the oddball Alien figures of various different genuses and species, I passed this guy on to a new home almost immediately. 

As we leave the city limits of Halloweentown and move on to other things... we find this novelization of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome! "He's a lone warrior in a world gone mad! She is the only power in a land of fear." I have not seen Thunderdome in many a year, but I remember it being weird, and disturbing, and really liking it a lot. Again, its a movie that seems to get a bad rap in most reviews I've heard or read, but I don't get it. Finding a novelization of the film really made my day! 

There was also a grab-bag I picked up that had these three handsome fellows included: a couple different versions of Raphael from the mid-2000's toy line, and a PVC figurine of Robbie from the Dinosaurs sitcom! The Raph on the left does a backflip if you bend him over at the mid-section. The Raph on the right is from the 200's series of toys, a Cave-Turtle character. 

A handful of Sesame Street books in A Visit to the Sesame Street Museum, Show and Tell, The Tool Box Book, and Who Am I? These are all nice classic-feeling Sesame Street books.

And keeping in line with the Sesame Street theme, we have this set of cookie cutters! Big Bird, Prairie Dawn, Grover, Bert, Ernie, and Elmo, all in different modes of transportation. Not sure if these are true cookie cutters or if they came with a play-doh set or something, but either way I picked up a little baggie of them for .99 cents.

Some more Jim Henson-themed books in a Fraggle story and a Muppet Babies story.

This was an interesting find. "Little Toot from Walt Disney's Melody Time" on a vinyl record. This just caught my eye and had to come home with me.

Couple of other random properties here in kids' book form. A Garfield book I already have a copy of that I will probably send off to a friend, and a "Ring Raiders: Doom on Ice" book. Ring Raiders were toyline released by Matchbox back in '89 and consisted of jets that you wore on rings on your fingers. There was also a cartoon show to advertise... I mean to tell the story behind Ring Raiders.

This is a set of Tupperware stencils from the 80's. My wife already owns a complete set of these (missing the yellow case) from when she was a kid. I don't know exactly what I plan on doing with these... but letting my kids play with them is the first idea that springs to mind. Which... is admittedly unusual for me.

So there you have it! I'll be back soon with more Gutturally Growling Goodwill Goodies... so until then, Happy Haunting!

Another Trip to Dreamcatcher (From Last November Actually)

Do you ever lose pictures on your hard-drive and just completely forget about them? I do. I do a lot actually. And that is how I forgot to post about a trip I made to the Dream Catcher Antique Mall last November, and it's a real shame too. I found some AWESOME stuff on this trip. But instead of just letting it be a shame, I decided to go ahead and talk about it anyway! So let's hop into the wayback machine and check it out shall we? 

I don't remember the prices I paid for anything at this point... but I know I got a pretty good deal on these two Fisher Price Adventure People from the early 80's. These fellas are, from left to right, Clawtron and Brainoid. I can honestly tell you that I LOVE the Adventure People line, even the standard "civilian" type characters... but ESPECIALLY these trippy Star Wars knock-off characters.

I wanted to get a bit more of a close-up of Brainoid's... well... brain here. I discovered that he is incredibly hard to photograph clearly, and this was the best I could do. The brain sort of rattles around in the helmet if you shake it, but not completely, as it is attached to a loose peg that allows it to move without letting it go completely crazy. I am hard pressed to tell you about another action figure as old and as awesome as this one. I am completely in love with this guy! 

Similarly goofy and gorgeous is this green bendy alien character! His name is Hondu and he is from "The Other World" line of toys from Arco back in the early 80's. This picture of him is just terrible and believe it or not, this is after I tweaked the colors a bit to make him not-quite so luminescent. (You can see him a little better in the group shot at the end). I love Hondu and I really like The Other World Toyline. It never fails. Just when I think I know all about all the different, weird, out-there action figure lines of days past... something like this pops up and reminds me of my ignorance. 

This familiar looking fellow is a 1994 Alien Vs. Predator 2-pack figure. He originally came with a PRedator to face off against. Up to this point I had not had a nice iconic-looking basic Xenomorph to put on my shelves. I really like the look of this toy, from the sculpt and detail down to the pose. He's actually not super poseable, as him limbs are all angled to pretty much just let him stand in one position. You can see from the photo that he desperately needed a good cleaning as well. Overall he makes an awesome addition to my monster shelf.

And finally, I picked up a couple of great Little Golden Books! Big Bird's Red Book and Mrs. Brisby and the Magic Stone! I owned the Big Bird book as a kid, and I was thrilled to find a copy of it out and about! The illustrations took me back to my childhood so completely. And the Rats of NIMH book was a very weird and nice surprise. I would not have guessed that this film would have gotten the LGB treatment! I love surprises like this. I try not to trawl through the LGB collecting communities too much because I'm always delighted when I find something like this, (like an Inspector Gadget LGB, or a Darkwing Duck LGB, or a Donny and Marie Osmond LGB...) in the wild!

So here's the whole pile! If I were to hazard a guess back, I would say I probably spent between 10 to 13 dollars on the pile you see above. I remember being pretty pleased to bring them home for whatever I paid. 

That's all I have for tonight kids! Next time around I'll most likely be blogging about one of a couple of awesome packages I've received in the mail recently, so keep your peepers peeled for that! Then I'll be back soon after with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting! 

Halloween Countdown Day 30: All Finished but the Screamin'

So I'll post some stuff tonight, and then I'll try to get pictures of our Halloween night on here before midnight tomorrow, and that's it! 31 (32 if you count October Eve, which I do) consecutive posts for m countdown! Somehow I seem to stick it out better for October than December, but then I'm also less busy in October. So here's some final stuff:

Meant to share these guys LAST year during my Countdown and I don't think I ever got around to it (can't find them on the blog at any rate) so here they are: a couple of Imperial Godzilla-esque toys! One of these, the purple-y blue one, is genuine vintage and belonged to my brother-in-law when he was a kid, although he has no date markings. The other I have no idea when it was manufactured, but it FEELS a lot newer, even though the date on it says 1986, I know they often don't change these dates when they reuse the molds. In fact, I don't know that these are even really genuinely meant to be Godzilla. I feel like they're more knock-off type "Fraud-zillas" that used to get sold cheaply on the bottom shelves of stores like Kay-Bee toys back when they were still around. I bought the green guy for .99 cents.

Found this interesting deck of "Gypsy Witch" fortune telling cards, which couldn't be less magical if they tried. They have almost nothing to do with anything resembling a Tarot card or any other system, but they're fun in and of themselves... sort of. Paid .99 cents for them. I'm always interested in seemingly random forms of fortune-telling. I don't believe in them exactly, I just find it interesting how people build systems of significance around random systems of numbers and patterns. 

Some new additions to the Halloween Cemetary/Village shelf this year. All .99 cents apiece. 

Doctor Freddy here is going to need a finger-blade transplant STAT! I plan on using a dremel to hollow out his fingers and then glue in some needles or something to make him the most dangerous toy I own. He was in a .99 cent grab-bag with a BUNCH of other figures, but most notably this lady: 

A Queen Alien "wrist-watch" whose tail wraps around your wrist for what I can only imagine is the most AWKWARD watch-wearing experience ever. (The digital display is in her chest, and not visible at this angle). She's gone off to a good home, this little Lady here. 

And finally, a set of cardboard coasters I picked up for a Dollar at Target. Not sure what I'll be using these for in years to come, but it sure as heck won't be as coasters. For now, they just sort of decorate the background of one of our Halloween shelves. Love the dapper skull in the top hat the most. I paid 1.00 for the set you see here. 

Awww... Fraud-zillas hugging! What a great way to put the last nail in the coffin-lid of October! I know there's one more post to come, but let's face it, I'm practically dying of some sort of super-flu and I will barely be coherent after a night of chasing my kids around Trick-or-treating... so this may be the last legible sentiment on the blog for some time. I will definitely be taking a little blog break come November, but not for long, because PEOPLE... the packages from friends have been coming in, and I have stuff it would be downright RUDE not to blog about! Stuff from folks like Eric Stettmeier of Toyriffic, Miss M of Diary of a Dorkette, and CRPechonick of Geek Show Ink! So you do have that to look forward to! 

Something's Coming By: Virginia Kroll

Smell of smoke from wood-burning stoves, 

ripe red apples, crushed black cloves, 

crunchy leaves of brown and gold,

pumpkins bigger than I can hold,

spookiest masks I've ever seen--

something's coming--

HALLOWEEN!

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

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!