A Package from the Trash Man!

You may have noticed by now that I have a habit of waiting waaay too long to thank people for stuff they've sent me. If you haven't noticed this, then you are about to notice. Maybe you're new here. 

So this post is going to be all about a package sent to me by my good friend Brian Farrell, otherwise known as the "Trash Man" curator of the Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture blog. He sends me stuff from time to time, and I return the favor from time to time. Let's dig in and see what he sent to me this time, shall we? 

First up, Brian and I try to help each other out as much as we can. Since he knows I don't frequent comic shops (there are none easily accessible in my area), and this Nebula MiniMate was a comic shop exclusive, I asked Brian if he would snag one for me if he could and save me the cost of going eBay-diving for it. As usual, Brian came through and really did me a solid. I am super appreciative, as this completed my GotG MiniMates collection.

My one complaint with this MiniMates line is that they made a duplicate Sakaar Trooper when they could have made the Collector, Korath, Corpsman Dey or even Nova Prime. There were several criminally overlooked characters that could have been packed in exclusively with Nebula. Oh well, at least the Sakaar Trooper is an army builder, so it works.

Also included was this View-MAster circa 1980-something, and some slides to view, starring none other than Toy Story, Knight Rider and the Muppets!!!

It would be weird if there were no collectors' cards included in a package from Brian, and he did NOT disappoint. I suspect very strongly that this Fright Flicks wax pack was hand-picked for me due to my absolute adoration of Pumpkinhead. I have not opened it. This is one of the wax packs that I will be keeping unopened and intact as an objet d'art.

I DID open the Marvel Universe Series II pack so I could see what characters I got. This series has always stood out in my mind due to some of the cards being illustrated beautifully by Arthur Adams. Thanos, Dr Doom, Speedball, and a battle between the Thing and the Hulk all have Mr. Adams's distinctive art on display.

Brian also knows of my weakness for Choose Your Own Adventure books. So he knew that Museum of the Living Dead, which is a "Plot-It-Yourself Horror Story" and Demons of the Deep which is a "Fighting Fantasy Gamebook" (Steve Jackson of Gurps and Munchkins fame???) would be right up my alley!

Also included were these issues of the (in my opinion) BEST Cloak and Dagger comic book series of all time: Strange Tales Featuring: Cloak & Dagger and Doctor Strange!!! This one even features Power Pack! Three more issues to put towards completing my run!

This Goodebumps-style book may not seem remarkable to you... but if you look closer you see there's just nothing right about this cover at all.

Gah, I bet it smells awful in there. 

Some of the absolute BEST and surprising items in the box were this Battle Beast, "Tarsier Tyrant" and this Monster in My Pocket, "Bigfoot". Both of these toy lines were ones I collected as a lad. Here you can see Tarsier Tyrant about to pimp-slap Bigfoot. 

He owes him money. 

But my absolute FAVORITE items above all else in the box were these three items right here. A 1988 issue of MAD magazine, featuring the California Raisins on the cover, the first California Raisins cassette "The California Raisins Sing the Hit Songs," and a "it-just-occured-to-me-how-weird-this-is-as-an-adult" pin-on button of the California Raisins all climbing into a hot tub together, that I actually owned as a kid. I am a HUGE California Raisins fan. There are few properties that I have such strong and clearly remembered nostalgia for the way I do for the C.R.'s. As a kid, I was obsessed.

So that was the entire package sent to me by the Trash Man, and as usual, he knows what makes me geek out. I wanted to send a proper thank you out to him, for being such a good friend on top of the cool swag.

Be sure to listen to us, along with our buddies Miss M of the Diary of a Dorkette blog, and Jason Roberts of the Nerdy Life of Mine blog on our fledgling podcast Eclectic Mayhem. At this point we're only a few episodes in, but we make up for it with pure insanity.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight kids! I'll be back soon with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies, so until then, Happy Hunting!

A Package From Devin Cönnörs!!!

So I'm horribly overdue on a few things, including the contents of this post... which is a package I received from a fellow named Devin Cönnörs. Devin is a fellow geeky-thrift enthusiast who approached me online with the offer to swap packages. So we did just that! 

This of course took place right before the Holiday blitz last year, and I've had some trouble getting my butt in gear to report on everything that I'd been meaning to (I still have stuff from as far back as last FATHER'S DAY you guys...) so instead of me continuing to make lame excuses for the rest of this post let us just delve into the stuff he sent me, shall we? 

First up are these cassette tape soundtracks for The Karate Kid Part II and Beverly Hills Cop II. These are just awesome. As I mentioned more than once during my Halloween countdown last year, I have become mildly obsessed with collecting old cassette tapes. Soundtracks, novelty albums, and stuff I listened to back in highschool mostly.

One of the most amazing items included was this 45 record of Cyndi Lauper's "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough. I am a Goonies FREAK and a Cyndi Lauper fan from way back, so this thing made me show my true colors and do the truffle shuffle.

Here's a shot of the back, which includes the classic movie poster artwork, and a b-side recording of "What a Thrill".

This grinning guy is Brick BAzooka from 1998's "Small Soldiers". I was working as a Toy Department manager for Wal-Mart back when this movie was released, so I remember the HUGE toy blitz it was represented by. This one takes me waaaay back.

His name ain't "Bazooka" for nothing. Although I never understood how THIS was less freaky than anything the Gorgonites were capable of. I mean, the soldiers were after the monsters because they were freaks right? So how is this normal exactly?

One of my other absolute favorite items in the box was this stuffed chibi Chewbacca. He now resides in a place of pride on my Star Wars shelf.

Aso included were these awesome buttons and magnets. The Monster House button is lenticular, showing the house attacking the main characters. Then there's the fantastic Freddy Krueger button and the two awesome 8bit Zombie pins (the clawed Power Glove and pixellated zombie) ALL of which ended up on the interior ceiling of my car. The magnets are all made by Devin himself, using bottle caps, art clippings, and adhesive magnets. I think my absolute favorite one is Church from Pet Semetary, and the one that had me most confused was the Freddy from an advertisement for pencil grippers.... and then there's f**ing ROBO-COP.

In the toy department we have Lisa Simpson, Goofy, Luigi in a Mario Kart racer, and a Jack 'o Lantern. I love the Lisa figure, as its from the very first set of Simpsons Burger King kids' meal toys, released back in 1989 here in the US and 1990 in Australia. I already own the Marge Simpson from the same set, so now I just need Homer, Bart, and Maggie!

I have no idea what the toy on the left goes to. I know it has something to do with the Mandalorians (it has one of their symbols) from Star Wars, and I suspect due to the color scheme, it has specifically to do with Boba Fett... but I can't figure it out. I assumed at first it went to the Boba Fett Transformer, but I can't find an image of this piece included in that toy anywhere. Even better, IMO, is this wax pack of "Baby" trading cards!!!

Finally, we have these two Muppets Christmas ornaments, that were in fact included on our Christmas tree this past year! Kermie and Piggy are very welcome additions to our tree for sure! 

I can't thank Devin enough for the awesome items he included in this package! He obviously put a lot of thought into his selections, and I hope he enjoyed the stuff I sent off to him half as much. Be sure to visit his tumblr which he plans to start using to talk about items he's found.

I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies... so until then, Happy Hunting!

Another Package from the Trash Man!

So my bud Brian "The Trash Man" of Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture fame actually sent  me a package awhile back, and I thought maybe I'd finally get around to blogging about it before we all died of old age. Let's dive right into its contents without further ado shall we? 

First up was this Halloween wind-up of a skeleton. LOVE this guy. I actually have a bunch of wind-ups in this same style, and he fits the gang perfectly. He is now a permanent resident of the Geek cave, on my Halloween shelf.

Brian also knows I have a geeky love for Cloak & Dagger, one of the most underrated and under-appreciated power-couples of the Marvel Universe. Included in the package was this awesome tin featuring them on the front.

Hiding inside the tin however was an awesome surprise as well! I believe this was billed as a bookmark back in the day (I actually remember having one or two of these as a kid) but either way, ANY toy that represents the great Ronald McDonald is an awesome item to add to my McDonald-land Collection!

Brian knows me well, folks. Included in the package was this CYOA book for younger readers. The Bantam-Skylark books are larger and slimmer than your average paperback CYOA books. I collect them all regardless of size or intended age group, and this one goes very well with my collection.

I remember Paul Chadwick's "Concrete" being a pretty big deal as as a compelling indie comic to follow back in the 90's. I had unfortunately never actually read any of the series. As usual however, Brian is introducing me to new and awesome titles that I've never sought out on my own.

The book that kicked off my entire Creepmas celebration originated from this package of goodies as well! "The Twelve Frights of Christmas" will probably not get read during the actual Christmas season, to be honest. More than likely I'll read it in the dead of February or something... but this is a must-read for me to be sure. Any time you mix murder, mayhem, and merriment: I'm there.

One of the most interesting items in the package was this VHS case. It does NOT include a VHS copy of Dan O'Bannon's 1985 cult classic horror film, "The Return of the Living Dead" It does, on the other hand, contain SO MUCH MORE:

Turns out this is one of the Trash Man's patented VHS surprise packs!!! If you can't see everything icluded, worry not, for we will be taking a closer look below. Just FYI, Brian likes to trade and/or sell these to interested parties. You can contact him through his blog, his Instagram, and through the PPITC Facebook page, all of which I have previously linked to in this very post!

Let's start with the collector's cards. There were some awesome loose "Fright Flicks" cards from Topps included, with scenes from "Day of the Dead," "Fright Night," and "Aliens". There were some unopened packs of "Hook" and "DC Versus Marvel" collector's cards, and a couple of Topps wax packs, featuring "Dick Tracy" and (possibly one of my favorite items from this box)  a "Supergirl" wax pack!!!

Next we have some pogs and mini-stickers. Mr. Teeny! Tiny Toons! TMNT! Gideon, enemy of X-Force and immortal mutant External (except he's dead)!

There was a strong showing of "little plastic guys" too. a Marvel Handful of Heroes Green Goblin, one of those little rubber finger-puppet monsters THAT I LOVE, An Arco Ro-Gun Robot in red, and a little plastic orange dinosaur!!! Nowadays all four of these guys reside on my color coded ROYGBIV, dedicated-to-the-toys-at-the-bottom-of-the-toy-box curio shelf.

Can you find them all?

But that's not it for mini-figure madness in that VHS case! 

I think by far these are two of my absolute favorite items in the entire package from Brian however. We have a Mez-Itz version of the Demon to pal around with my Batman Brave and the Bold Action League version of the Demon... and a Battle Beasts Pew Trid Skunk. I love that the guy wears a gas mask to protect himself from his own stank. Battle Beasts are a big favorite of mine. Big. HUGE.  

Finally, as previously mentioned, Brian knows I'm a sucker for Cloak & Dagger, so an issue of that comic book should come as no surprise. But THIS issue there's ALSO an INFERNO rossover that features the New Mutants!!! So TRIPLE whammy. And he knows that I consider the Australian Outback era of the X-Men to be MY X-Men, so this issue featuring Longshot losing his S**T while Colossus, Havok, Storm, pre-Asian Psylocke, Rogue, and Wolvie all just chalk it up to "crazy ol' Longshot!" is a real treat. I've never read this one, and I don't already have it in my collection. Comic book GOLD folks (for me at least. Your mileage may vary). 

There was also a Super Grover figure in the mix, but for some reason I Can't fathom, I either forgot to photograph him or I've deleted the photo or something. but he's here in this photo, arms raised in a 'V' (and the dead lay in pools of maroon below...) with all the other loot.

CAN NOT THANK BRIAN ENOUGH FOR THIS GREAT PACKAGE. Really very kind and generous of him as usual. He always shows a real thoughtful streak when sending stuff to folks I've noticed. He pays attention and takes note of what people really are about. Thanks again Brian!

That's it for tonight guys! I'll be back soonish or laterish with another post about Geeky Goodwill Goodies (or more stuff I got in the mail from friends, or more stuff from the new bin of AWESOME... we'll see) so until then... Happy Hunting!

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!