There's an antique mall out in Brewer, ME that I've only dropped in on a couple of times now, and this post to follow reflects the second visit I've made out there. It's a fun place to check out once in awhile, as the stock doesn't really change frequently enough for me to make the trip out there more than maybe once or twice a year. But when I do, man the finds are fun!
Here's a quick glimpse at everything I brought home from The Old Schoolhouse. But let's take a closer look, shall we?
First up, I already had a capeless version of this same Shadow action figure. But since this one HAS the cape, I couldn't pass it up, This is pretty much the one action figure from the line put out to support the 1994 Alec Baldwin film that actually just looks like the character without any weird bells or whistles. Would I love it if I had the pistols that go along with this shadowy hero? Yes I would. But at least now I have an action figure that represents the character as he should look.
This Miss Piggy in repose is a Benjamina Gunn Muppets Treasure Island Happy Meal toy from 1996. I love the look of this toy, and the colors are amazing. So far I have Piggy and Fozzie from this set, and I honestly wouldn't mind tracking down the rest. I made the mistake of finding and passing over a Gonzo toy from this same line about a year before this, and have been kicking myself ever since!
This little Green fellow is an "Outer Terrestrial Creature" toy produced by Marty Toys back in 1983. This guys name is "Mooky" and on top of being a bendy toy, he's preternaturally top-heavy due to a special "Somersault Action" that these toys had, which basically meant that if you toppled them over, they flipped. I absolutely ADORE weird old toy lines like the one Mooky here comes from. It's precisely these kinds of discoveries that keep me picking through old junk as a hobby.
This might not strike you as ridiculously exciting... but for me, finding this 1996 Burger King wind-up "Scud" toy from the original Toy Story movie was a dream come true. I've been eye-balling these things on eBay for years now, and all because I wanted a Scud toy of an approximately appropriate scale to display with my Toy Story Buddies collection:
And this Scud fits the bill perfectly. (P.S. If anyone has an extra Etch-a-Sketch with Chickenman, Snake-and-Robot 2-pack, or any mini toys of the mutant toys from the first film... contact me. There's only like 5 toys left that I want or need to finish this collection off).
I used to religiously track down the M&M tubes every Christmas JUST for the ornaments on top. I don't do it anymore because they don't really make them either a.) new every year... they just recucle old designs repeatedly... or b.) they don't make them at all. Couldn't spot any M&M ornament tubes at ALL this past year... -sob-. So finding this little brown M&M skier really made my day!!! I feel like the brown M&M's are seriously underrepresented in toy/ornament form, since the reds and yellows and greens are so much more festive... so this guy really stands out!
I am now 1/6th closer to having a complete set of Fisher Price Little People to represent each of the Village people. I could literally NOT be more excited than I am about this fact. Look at this guy! I apologize if this toy is seen as horrifically racist. I really do. But it came from a time when toys like this were beloved.
And I belove him.
Please don't hate me.
I am not afraid to admit that I adore Marge Simpson. Probably to an inappropriate degree. And disturbingly, there is a whole LOT of inappropriate material out there on the internet (please, for the love of all that is good... do NOT Google it, as some of it will just make you lose faith in humanity) to support a man with my kind of carnal cartoon lust. Fortunately, I don't need to go looking because my collection of Marge Simpsons toys is growing healthily, (can the jokes you pervs) thank you very much. I now proudly own two of the toys from this, the very first line of Burger King Kids Club premiums to feature the Simpsons.
There was also a handful of fun books to be had while I was picking around the Old Schoolhouse too! This Bugs Bunny's Adventures copyrighted from 1948 is practically an illustrated chapter book. I picked this up with a friend in mind.
I will never not buy illustrated adaptations of Garfield TV specials. This one is from Garfield On the Town, which was the second special to star Garfield. In this one, he meets his mother and the rest of his extended family, and learns to be (somewhat) thankful for the life he leads with Jon and Odie. If this was being produced today, you wouldn't see the cigarette butts on the ground near Garfield's feet. Just a random observation.
Have I mentioned my undying love for Punky Brewster on this blog before? I think I have. So finding a kids' book dedicated to one of her animated adventures (with Glomer in the mix!) would obviously be a Holy Grail for me. So I brought it home.
So that's it for tonight kids, but I'll be back soon with Geeky Goodwill Goodies before you know it! Until then, Happy Hunting!
It's League of Extraordinary Bloggers time once again kids!!! And this time around, the topic is one that's extremely near and dear to this second-hand-aholic:
By my very nature I am always on the hunt for toys and books and other geeky items as old and as (more importantly) CHEAP as possible. As the title of the blog would suggest, I do most of my "hunting" at Goodwill. But I don't limit my searches to this. I frequent antique stores, flea markets, rummage sales, thrift shops, and almost most importantly... the yard and/or garage sale.
What's BIZARRE about this topic coming up this week is that just this past weekend I went to one of the only yard-sales I actually made it out to this season. It was only a few houses down from my own, so I could walk there. Now, I've been under the weather with some pretty serious crud lately, so even a quick jaunt was kind of risk... but I was going stir-crazy in the house and... and... YARD SALE you guys!
As I left my lawn to head down the road, my daughter warned me that she had already been down and it was "just some old lady" and that I shouldn't even bother. I almost didn't go. I almost stayed home. Honestly, I probably should have stayed home. But I went down anyway, the lure of such a close yard-sale beckoning me down the street like a siren's song.
Come check my s**t out y'all.
And THIS my dear readers... is what I found when I got down there:
This glorious tub of action figures from the 80's and 90's. Literally jumped into my arms like an old cat at a shelter and purred its way into my heart... and my wallet. The guy wanted 60 bucks for the whole tote. I countered with 30. We settled on 40 in the end... and I'm still not sure it was the deal I was looking for... but damn if I didn't get a whole lot of plastic goodness in there that I am SOOO excited about.
In fact, there was SO much stuff in that bin that I decided to break it up into a series of posts even before I saw what this week's topic was going to be. If I paid that much for this stuff... I was sure as hell going to get my blogging value out of it.
Today's post is going to be dedicated to some of the cooler, random things I found in that tub. Stuff I like a lot, or stuff I never knew I wanted until I got it in this tub. There's a few morts in the mix for sure... but I'll get to those another time. I won't link all of the posts about what I found in this bin on the League page... but I will link to them here on this page, so if you're discovering this page through Cool and Collected, you can see what else I found later when I post about it.
This is literally how I felt when I got that bin home. I hadn't even looked at all the toys in there yet! I gave it a general paw-around and saw so much stuff that made my jaw drop that I just wanted to get it home! So like Scrooge up there... let's dive in!
Do you remember The Pirates of Dark-Water? Well I do. I remember it fondly. I honestly think it was a bit before it's time, style-wise, which is why it didn't flourish. I think if they'd tried to revive this series around the time the first Pirates of the Caribbean was coming out, it would have had more of a fighting chance. Finding this threesome (well, foursome if you count extra-Ren) was extremely exciting for me.
Here we have Ioz on the left and Ren on the right. These are two of the heroes from the show. Their goal was to track down 13 magical treasures that needed to be brought together to stop a dark force that was creating "dark water" that was slowly destroying their world.
This is Bloth. He's from the "People of Wal-Mart" tumblr. Just kidding! But I've seen people in similar outfits on there. Bloth is an evil pirate captain who wants to collect the 13 treasures for his own greedy purposes. He's a real jerk. But man is his top sexy. And it takes a confident man to pull off those calf-high flip-flops he's rocking.
Then we have this trio of weirdos. I think the Battle Troll on the far left was one of the more enticing toys in that bin. There was just so much STUFF in there that he really stood out in angry red and gold. Of course you can see there were other cool toys in there as well.
On the left here you'll see Sir Trollohad of the second series of Battle Trolls that came out. I HATED trolls back when they were a "thing" but I think I NEED to track down some of the other Battle Trolls in the series. The King Koopa figure is actually from a Nintendo Trophy, released in 1988 titled "Bowser Guards Princess Toadstool". He would normally be sitting on a red-brick base and holding a pink-dressed princess on his left hand. But y'know? I like him just the way he is.
And then we have this guy. He looks like Rocksteady on steroids if the steroids were first treated with mutagen. This guys actual name is "Hoof" and he's from the Todd McFarlane toys "Total Chaos" series. I'm not a Todd McFarlane fan at all... but I love some of his toys. This one is just amazing.
So now my little green Halloween Troll has a big red buddy to hang out with. Aaaaand! The turtles have a new enemy to be wary of. I think they look GREAT together.
Next up we have a random trio of warriors who are ready to FIGHT! At first I got REALLY excited because I thought the guy on the far left was a Hamato Yoshi figure... and he is in fact from the TMNT line... but not a pre-mutation Splinter (or his owner... or whatever)...
He is in fact a Kenshin figure from the time traveling third TMNT live-action film. Plus... Yay! Captain Planet!!! He's our hero. Gonna take pollution down to zero! I was never a huge Captain Planet fan... but I watched it. I liked the concept of the five different heroes with power rings based on elements coming together to summon the ultimate hero of Cap-P. Even if the show did sometimes have some creepy... kind of invasive "morals" from time to time.
The guy on the far right is Vortex from the Double Dragon line. I'm not a huge Double Dragon fan, to be honest, but I love the figures. I just bought a pair of the main heroes a few months back, and now I have their spinning ally to add to my shelf. Plus, his spin-attack action still works!!!
And in the last batch of figures I'm showcasing in this first post, I have these three oddballs. A video game villain, a movie pulp-hero's alter-ego, and a... Creepy Crawler?
Again, as a pretty much non-gamer geek, I was not familiar with the Mega Man villain Guts-Man. He's a super strong robot, but more importantly, he's colorful, he's huge, and he's just a TON of fun. Next to him here we have a "Commantis" figure from a Creepy Crawlers action figure line. I didn't even know that Creepy Crawlers HAD action figures. Guess what! There was a cartoon show as well. No idea. I like this guy's look. His color scheme and that grin! He looks like he's a Captain Planet villain or something.
And who's this shy little guy? Why that's Lamont Cranston, ater-ego of the pulp-noir action hero The Shadow! Why does his head retract into his torso like George Costanza's junk in the ocean? His head slides down so you can fit a different head over it to "transform" him into the Shadow. Why they had to make the process so elaborate and convoluted (leaving us with a ridiculously introverted tuxedo-clad guy) when they could have just slid an accessory over his head and torso? Only the Shadow knows!
So begins the epic telling of the Yardsale Bin of 2013!!! Keep your eyes peeled here on Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks in the future to see more of its MAAAAAAAAGICAL contents!!!
In the meantime, let's see what some of my fellow league members are counting among their epic finds:
Okay... it's League of Extraordinary Bloggers time once again! This week we're talking about something near and dear to my heart... but I'm ashamed to admit it.
So... as Brian mentions over at Cool & Collected, I suggested this topic.
Problem is, once I really got thinking about it there are few things that I am really ashamed to admit I like. I collect old Happy Meal toys and Little Golden books for crying out loud. I listen to Prince in a non-ironic way, keep They Might Be Giants CDs in my car proudly, and squeal with excitement when I see movies like Legend or Ladyhawk are on. For most people outside the Geek-o-sphere, I can't really get any lower. Within the Geek-o-sphere this is pretty tame, run-of-the-mill, someone's-top-10-favorites kind of stuff honestly.
So I really had to dig. And man, once you unearth some things... you just can't rebury them. I decided to focus on 10 movies that I am the nearest thing to ashamed (even in geek circles... and in a couple of cases, especially in geek circles...) to admit I like. We're not even going to get into my undying love for Paula Abdul, my penchant for watching Celebrity Apprentice, or the fact that I can sing the theme-song to iCarly without even really having to think about it all that hard (I do have a 12 year old daughter, so I can at least explain that one if hard pressed)...
So here they are in no particular order:
1. The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.
I think we can all agree that this movie is complete $#!+. Pretty much universally panned across the board, even (I imagine) by those involved in its creation, the Garbage Pail Kids movie is terrible to look at, terrible to try to follow as a story with any kind of internal logic... and terrible for your soul.
But when I was 9 years old, I was addicted to GPK, and I owned the movie magazine that went to this movie, and I wore it out looking at it. I drove my family insane with the obsession that was the Garbage Pail Kids. And it is the sense of nostalgia I have for this film, seen through the eyes of a lovesick 9 year old that will forever carve out a foul-smelling home in my heart for this $#!+ sandwich of a film.
2. Joe Vs. The Volcano
This one I make absolutely no apologies for. I love this movie. Is it cool to like this movie now? Is it some sort of underground cult hit that I am not aware of yet? I honestly wish it was but I just don't think it is. From the infernal hell of Joe's workplace at the beginning of the film, to the myriad of bizarre roles that Meg Ryan plays in this film, the the soda-worshiping natives of the volcanic island at the end, everything just sings to me.
Every part of the movie that takes place on the Luggage raft (pictured above) is cinematic gold.
I love this movie genuinely and unashamedly (well, a little ashamedly, to be honest, because it made this list) and at it's best it's a bizarre post-modern fairy tale about the hero's journey. At it's worst it it has Meg Ryan reciting a 14 word poem in a weird voice... twice.
3. Hudson Hawk
Hudson Hawk is another one of those movies that I just don't think it will ever be "cool" to be a fan of. But I don't care. This movie is insane. It is balls to the walls full of ridiculous sequences, more villains than you can even attempt to count, and action sequences that even the characters participating in the story can't believe.
Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello are a joy (for me and me alone apparently) to watch as they come up with insane solutions to death traps, murderous gangs named after candy-bars, and heist scenes they literally sing their way through. Andie Macdowell has to talk to the dolphins now. Richard E. Grant and Sandra Bernhard as the scene-chewing villains make me laugh every time... and Bruce Willis Moonlights his way through the whole thing with his playboy smirk firmly in place and So. Many. Earrings.
4. Fright Night 2
The collective gasp of the internet is palpable... even here in the past, when I wrote this. Yes. I love the sequel to Fright Night. I find it colorful, funny, and full of the same kind of charm that the first movie had. I do NOT feel that the second movie is a form of sacrilege. I love the gang of vampires and ghouls that accompanies the leading lady vamp in this one. There's the roller-skating vamp, the wolf-vamp whose weakness is roses, and the manservant who spends the film identifying the Latin terms for various insects... and then eating them. I love that Charlie's at risk this time around, Peter Vincent's world is taken away from him, and Charlie's new girlfriend is a kick-ass chick. I love that there is a direct connection between the vampires in this film, and the last film. I love the atmosphere, the story, and the return to a world I love to watch on screen.
5. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Most people don't really care about this movie one way or the other... but when you express strong positive feelings towards it, it's like a psychic venom you've just sprayed into their eyes. But I really enjoy this movie. The cast of interesting pirates, the monsters, the action sequences, the excellent villain played by Michelle Pfeiffer, all of this make for an entertaining adventure film I can pop in to keep my kids (and myself) entertained. WHY other people seem to hate this movie is beyond me. Is it Brad Pitt's voice acting? It's not great... but it passes.
6. The Shadow
I love the visuals and the tone of this film. I think it's mostly reviled and hated for all the wrong reasons. It was just sort of... put out at the wrong time to be honest. I liked the off-kilter performances, and the crazy neo-pulp style they came up with that felt like the Shadow was a creature of both the time he was originally created, and the mad action of the post-Demolition Man era. Baldwin's Shadow comes off a s a bit crazy, a little out of control what with his weird rubber-ized face and insane cackling. But for me the whole thing is a crazy love-in of pulp/pop mash-ups with villains like the psychic last descendent of Ghengis Khan, and an invisible Hotel in the midst of a metropolis. Ian McKellan, Tim Curry, Alec Baldwin... I love the cast, and the (yes sometimes) goofy and/or over the top performances and dialogue they toss around in this movie. For some reason I always want to watch Billy Zane's Phantom movie right along with this one (they came out a couple of years apart). But I never do.
7. Mario Brothers
I know you all just clicked over to Pinterest or something... but for those of you left, hear me out. I like the movie. I like how batchit insane it is. I love that it tries to be a post-modern Bladerunner version of an 80's video game. I love that Luigi's ethnicity doesn't even make sense. I love how every effort this movie makes to be cool or funny or intentionally weird fails in spectacular fashion. It completely drains all sense of the natural world from the Mario Brothers world and focuses on the pipes, the fungus, and the reptiles. It's a movie that spends so much of it's time trying to explain a game that is by its very nature completely inexplicable... by creating more questions than answers. And for all these reasons and more I am in love with this movie. I don't care how much you hate it.
8. Sky High
I am fully aware of the fact that this is a schmaltzy, tween-pandering, Disney executive version of teen angst and superheroes. There are no songs, but it might as well by "Sky Highschool Musical (Without Music)". But honestly, I find that this is one of those movies that I will stop and watch when I see it's on Cable (usually on the Disney Channel when I'm searching for Gravity Falls). The characters are all one-note and pastiche, cliched archetypes thrown together around superheroes from all the usual sources. But it's set in a highschool full of superheroes, some of whom have some semi-imaginative takes and visuals on classic powers we all know and love... and Bruce Campbell's in it. So yeah.
9. Love Actually
I can't take full responsibility for this one, actually. My wife makes me watch it every year while we wrap Christmas gifts. BUT I do like it. It is not the pile of crap that everyone seems to think it is. It is NOT a movie in the same vein as "Valentine's Day" or "New Years Eve" or even "He's Just Not That Into You". I think those movies tend to drag this one down in the mud with them and everyone forgets that this one is worth watching. This film has some great comedic performances, a stellar cast, and some moments that genuinely hit the heart in various different ways. It is a genuine exploration of love in all its many, sometimes (more often than not) self-destructive forms. There are no less than 9 different stories to follow over the course of the movie, some heart-breaking, some funny, and some get you in that classic, can't-help-but-love-it kind of romantic comedy way. Plus the performances by Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Rowan Atkinson, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, and Alan Rickman will ensure your genre-film cred will remain untarnished.
10. This is where the crap hits the fan... Joel Schumaker's 2 Batman Films
I sort of just want to hand my Geek membership card over to be incinerated...
But there's something about these two movies that makes me want to watch them. I know they're not good for me... more importantly, I know they're not good for Batman. But when I see them on TV I stop and watch them for awhile. I get a good laugh for the most part. But there's this undeniable appeal for me in these two movies... something that makes them a part of the pop-culture landscape for good or bad. I remember going to see Batman Forever in the theater... and when the bank guard that Batman is trying to save screams "Oh no! It's boiling acid!!!" I knew the movie was completely screwed. But... looking back on it now, I find that line hilarious, as I find the rest of the movie hilarious.
There are even parts of Jim Carrey's performance that I find... entertaining. And when I see the street-bike race in Batman and Robin, I can't help but shout out loud: "Those bad-ass bikers put some bad-ass balloons in the street!"
And Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze is almost beautiful to behold in his silvery sparkly glory. Yes, my love is an ironic love... NOT a genuine love based on craft or acting or plot... but even enjoying these movies for how bad they are is unwelcome when it comes to the Shumacher Batman films. They are to be hated without question, and never brought up in conversation. There is no serious conversation to be had in a movie where the Batmobile climbs up the side of a building... but I'm okay with that. It's a turn-you-brain-off and enjoy the stupid one-liners kind of movie.
So that's it folks. Those are the skeletons in the closet... cinema-wise. I have plenty of other guilty pleasures in literary form (More than a handful of Dean Koontz Books... all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels... oh my God why can't I stop?) and even toy collecting:
I own more of these than I am proud of admitting.
But I'll get to all of those in good time, some day... if anyone is even willing to continue reading this blog.
Let's see what the other members of the League are feeling Guilty about:
- Underscoopfire's Roundtable Voltron shares a massive list of guilty pleasures... some of which make Joel Schumacher's Batman movies look like Nolan's The Dark Knight.
I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodness! (I'm also posting part 2 of the Don Thacker/Motivational Growth Q&A sometime this week, so stay tuned for that) Until then, Happy Hunting!
sE9swmcMt7BQoc59rT)g~~60_35.JPG)
