Not Dead... Just not Blogging Much Right Now

It has been... a rough year so far. And I don't mean the "Man it sucks that David Bowie and Prince died..." kind of rough (although aaarrrggghhh!!!). I mean the "Wow, I may be changing absolutely everything about my life in the next few months and my entire future is uncertain..." kind of rough.

My collection has taken a major hit as my lifestyle has changed, and so has the cave. I would say I have dumped a good 65% of the collection that once stood here in the Goodwill Geek Cave. My trips to Goodwill have dropped off significantly. In fact, in the past almost-four-months I only started going back out thrifting in maybe the last two weeks or so at all.

If you've been following my Instagram account, you'll know that I've certainly still been collecting toys (I know it's lazy blogging to just screen capture my Instagram pics and repost them here... but I'm cutting myself some slack... Please follow suit.):

I've certainly been adding more Funk POPS! to my current collection. Roller-Derby Harley Quinn, April O'Neil, Snakeyes, Cobra Commander, Ms. Pac-Man, FN-2187, Watson, and Sherlock all came home within the last month or so. Other recent additions not pictured here: Pinhead, Twisty the Clown (from American Horror Story: Freakshow), and the Crow. 

My daughter and I have started collecting Tsum Tsum toys together. These little guys are addictive! She loves them and there are characters that I consider must-haves like Perry the Platypus, Eeyore, Stitch, and Baymax. Since I had a HUUUUGe crush on the Little Mermaid when I was younger, I wanted hers, and Dumbo, the Chesire Cat and Bing-Bong were too cool upon noticing them that I decided I NEEDED them. The classic Disney characters like Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy don't really do much for me, and neither does Olaf from Frozen... but I gotta have complete stacks of three. It's a weird thing for me with these toys. Also not pictured are recent additions, Hiro (Big Hero 6), Flounder, and Scrump (Lilo's doll from Lilo & Stitch)

I'm more in love with these two new Bebop and Rocksteady action figures from the new movie line than I care to admit. I genuinely feel like these are the Bebop and Rocksteady that we DESERVED on the Nicktoon. The Nicktoon and I are not currently speaking anyway. My interest dropped off intensely when the Turtles took off into space and left behind everything they've spent the last few seasons developing. I am in no way interested in seeing either of the recent live-action TMNT movies, but I'm developing a taste for nice looking action figures based on moves I have no intention of seeing (more on this later).

I like the new Force Awakens Galactic Heroes figures from Hasbro. They don't go well with my classic Galactic Heroes figures from years ago... but I don't feel like they all need to interact anyway. New generation of Star Wars heroes... new generation of minifigures to represent them (not pictured are Captain Phasma and the First Order Stormtrooper figures I also own... and I am still hunting for the Kylo Ren single pack).

I've started a new love affair with Marvel Legends figures too. Until recently, I only owned a handful of figures, mostly gifts from friends or stuff I found at Goodwill. I tracked down a complete set of the Guardians of the Galaxy figures when those came out, but haven't really felt the need beyond those. And then... I got Captain Marvel sometime last year... and then Spider-Man 2099 was a MUST HAVE. And then the beautiful Spider-Gwen! After her, I picked up The Scarlet Witch and Machine Man on clearance. And at this point I own 14 of these things.

I am verrrry selective when it comes to what characters I want to add to the flock however. But I think if they do a 6 inch Spider-Man Noir, I will have to own that puppy.

Also pictured here are a couple of Wonder Woman toys. As I mentioned with Bebop and Rocksteady above, I've been falling in love with some toys that represent movies I have no intention of seeing. All of the Wonder Woman toys from the new Batman vs. Superman lines fall firmly into this category. I love Wonder Woman, and I really love the design of the character in these toys. I even snagged a PEZ dispenser!

I haven't completely lost my will to thrift... I hit the antique mall a couple of times in the past few months, and found some really fun stuff, like these puffy Michale Jackson stickers, and this old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Dragonlance Adventures Hardcover! (I also got REALLY vicious trimming down my roleplaying manual collection... maybe a little too vicious. I'm regretting some of the stuff I dumped... but I think I'll be fine in the long run.) 

I still haven't lost my taste for random crap either! I love this little Teen Titans GO! minifigure pack, and as Poe Dameron demonstrates here, I am still collecting Star Wars Action figures. I picked up the Kroenen and K-9 figures the same day as the puffy stickers and Dragonlance book above.

Even with all the adapting I've been doing to events in my life recently, I've managed to have an adventure or two. I didn't go to Monster Mania in New Jersey this year, even after purchasing my tickets, but I did get to go to a local comic convention in Bangor Maine. 

 It was my very first convention ever, and it was a blast!

 My friend Brandon came along for two reasons: 1) He is a classic game collector! NES, Super NES, Genesis, you name it, and Brandon collects it. I have a weekly date with him at his place where we play old games and bitch about our problems. (I'll fill you in on reason #2 in a bit)

 I loved the geeky photo opportunities! Here I am with the TARDIS and R2-D2.

There were Mandalorians in greater numbers than I expected in attendance...

 As well as different chapters of Ghostbusters.

Brandon was determined to meet Troy "Mini-Me" Verner. The above picture (the best shot I got IMO) is of Troy warning me not to take the picture yet because Brandon's card had not been run through yet. 

 Here's the official, "legal" shot. Brandon had had high hopes that he could get Troy to hang off his arm or sit on his shoulders or something... but he immediately got the vibe that these requests might be frowned upon. I also sneaked a shot of Troy from afar TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT while taking shots of the convention floor.

This booth was magical. It featured several vintage roleplaying game accessories, including the mounts for the Warduke and Strongheart vintage action figures, the "Good Destrier" and "Evil Nightmare" toys. 

I had to physically peel myself away from this table! Of course, when the guy saw me ogling his supplies, he let me know he had a box full of action figures under the table that he would let me pick through (more on that later...).

There was a healthy but-not-overwhelming amount of cosplay. Lots of Whovians because Colin Baker (the 6th Doctor Who) was in attendance... but still a lot of cool costumes and ideas.

I was particularly infatuated with this table of custom designer toys. I was severely tempted to buy this 40 dollar Muck Monster... but ultimately couldn't pull the trigger.

In the end, I walked away with this one eyed fellow from the same table. He was 5 bucks and adorable so he came with me. Limbless as he may be, he helped me wave goodbye to good old Paul Bunyan as I headed to Chili's for lunch with Brandon. 

This was the pile of stuff I ended up bringing home with me from the con... some respectable loot. Some Secret Wars figures, a Robo Cop with his helmet... a Super Powers Flash, a vintage Lando Calrissian, a Sectaurs figure, a Dreadnok, a pile of TPBs and dollar bin comics... AND a Hook Horror action figure to add to my D&D vintage collection!!!

I'm going to end this here because I've already gone way longer than I had planned to. Don't know when I'll be back again... or IF I'll be back again. I'm not going to quit blogging... but in the near future my blogging goals may be changing. My life goals certainly have. We shall see. No promises then, about being back soon with more Goodwill Goodies. But I will certainly still wish you Happy Hunting!

Random Reads: Starlog Magazines from 1984!!!

All right... the time has come. I am officially getting ready to delete the content from Really Rather Random Guy (dot blogspot dot com) and in preparing for that, I wanted to import a bunch of the content that I know will then be lost forever, by bringing the posts over here to Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks (dot blogspot dot com). So, with that in mind, I thought I would preface these entries with the fact that they are indeed OLD blog posts from an OLD, now DEFUNCT blog, and cross my fingers and hope that folks will still want to read them.

This post was originally published back on February 7th, 2014.

I've mentioned Scottie's Books on more than one occasion in the past, and almost never fail to find something fun when I go in there. A few weeks ago I stopped in and found a couple of issues of Starlog magazine for a few dollars apiece. 

Back in the day I was never a fan of Starlog as I associated it too much with Fangoria which scared me so badly as a child that it made me physically ill to even see on the newsstand. That last sentence probably sounds like an exaggeration, but I assure you it was not. I was shocked when I googled it to find out that it actually only went out of print in 2009 which feels way too recent. 

Since I normally wouldn't have been interested in Starlog in the past, I didn't even pick these up when I initially saw them, and then finally I saw the word "Gremlins" on the covers of both magazines, and that pretty much did it for me. Upon closer examination I saw features inckuding Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, The Neverending Story, Cloak and Dagger, Muppets Take Manhatten, and the Last Starfighter. And this was all just from a cursory scan of the covers. (Completely ignoring the Buckaroo Bonzai and Conan the Destroyer photos on the covers) I didn't even open the poly-bags on these until I got them home. 

Now, I'm going about this a bit bass-ackwardsly because I'm actually featuring shots of issue #86 first (with the cover shot of Buckaroo) and then I'm going to get to #85 second. Honestly, I don't even have a particularly good reason for that. But look at the fold out poster in the front of issue #86! Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom! or, as the kids nowadays are wont to call it, "STARLOG Science Fiction Classic #20". And check out the facing-page ad! A Star Trek III tabletop paper-and-dice game that is "a simulation of Starship combat in the final frontier" which I highly doubt could possibly be as intense as they are hoping you'll think it is. 

You guys... YOU GUYS. A Cloak & Dagger article! Now admittedly, it's a pretty light piece, being a plot synopsis, list of actors in the film, and a mention of the inspirations and creative team behind the movie... but YOU GUYS. Once upon a time, people could just go out and buy magazines with articles about Cloak & Dagger in them??? I want to go to there. 

Then this. "Dan O'Herlihy: Full-time actor, part-time iguana." Actually, the other issue I picked up had a Starfighter article in it as well, but in a crushing moment of disappointment I realized that the issue had somehow been printed without a page #59/60! It was a pretty in-depth article, too! In fact, page 59 was the second half of an article about Robert Zemeckis trying to turn "The Shadow" into a feature film... in 1984!!! Instead we got the Alec Baldwin version (which I am actually a fan of) 10 years later. But I can't help but wonder... Anyway... Yeah... Dan O'Herlihy. Moving on. 

There was a pretty great feature on the special effects behind the Rancor... This stuff has probably been archived and bandied about by die-hard-hardcore Star Wars fans for decades now, but did that awesome concept art up in the top left corner! 

An interview/focus piece on "nebbish, ner, & famous hoser" Rick Moranis! I love the caption under his photo: "Moranis as nebbish in Ghostbusters". Which pretty much sums it in the weirdest way possible. I like how the photo also seems to be Moranis in a very out-of-character moment. No trace of Tully in there at all, even though he's obviously in costume. 

And article about "The Brother from Another Planet" Someone honestly tell me if this was worth watching. I think it's on Netflix right now. That's... all I've got to say about this. 

GREMLINS!!!! That is all. 

Aaand an article on the Neverending story. I can rest in peace now. 

Okay, so onto issue #85 (With Conan on the cover and tragically missing a VITAL page...) here we have a very nice gatefold Bladerunner poster or as it is known more commonly, "STARLOG Science Fiction Classic #19".

Not surprisingly, there was a big Conan the Destroyer article. With lots of greasy half-naked people flex-posing. This didn't really do a lot for me (also, I hope, not surprisingly). 

Aaand then I pooped my pants. In this article, Jim Henson is talking about a little film called "Labyrinth" which they are currently developing with Brian Froud. None of the cast members have been cast at this time. It boggles (Hoggle!!!) the mind to think back on a time when Labyrinth was still just... just... an IDEA. 

There was a Harlan Ellison article that would not have made sense to me before I started watching Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated with my boys. As Harlan Ellison has just always looked like this to me:

And nothing like this:

Because Harlan Ellison is EXACTLY the kind of Scooby-Doo celebrity guest
that the kids these days are going to feel is relevant.
(I know, this one was for the adults... but still, weird, right?)

The article is all about Harlan Ellison's effect on the sci-fi landscape, not just as an author, but as an editor, as a personality, as an educator, and as a bona fide creative genius celebrity madman. It was a nice read. 

MORE Gremlins!!! This time focusing on Joe Dante instead of Chris Columbus. 

And to wrap it all up, a nice Ivan Reitman piece with lots of focus on Ghostbusters. Phew! 

All in all, I never knew what a great treasure trove of old pop-culture goodness a couple old issues of Starlog could be... but I will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for more copies in the wild from now on!!!

That's it for tonight kids, but I'll be randomly popping up on here in the future, so keep your peepers peeled!