League Post: Top 10

I can't even remember the last time I participated in a League of Extraordinary Bloggers post... so I figure it's about time. I picked a nice one too:

Pretty straightforward and simple. Come up with a Top 10 list! So what am I going to go 10-1 on here? I thought I'd talk about: 

The top 10 mini-figures in my personal collection at this time. (This means my top 10 could literally change tomorrow, but for today, this is it.) So here we go! 

First, Some Honorable Mentions:

All of these guys came VERY close to making it on the list... but ultimately, they all lost out to the rest of the guys below (Actually, I lied. One of these guys did make his way into the top 10!!! Jeez! He's insufferable! I must have either included him here by mistake, or else he PLOTTED his way into the list somehow without me realizing it!!!)

10. Kenner's Real Ghostbusters Gulper Ghost

Thought I'd go ahead and get these guys out of the way out of the gate. I could fill more than half of my list with the six mini-figures I owned as a kid that I made an obsessive Super Hero team out of. Instead I thought I would pick my (current) favorite of the six and let him represent the whole group in his way. And that would be Blob. Yes, he is more popularly known as "Gulper Ghost" and he was packed in with the original Egon Spengler action figure from the Real Ghostbusters line. But to me, Blob was the "Thing" to my super-group. He was the monster with a heart of gold. He was a shapechanger, made of slime, and he is probably the absolute only character out of the six pictured above who is absolutely 100% genuinely the original figure I grew up with from the very beginning. All the others were replaced when I was a kid because I broke or lost them, or replaced as an adult with repros or bought online (the only other one I can't be sure of is the blue Teri-Bull, who might be the original... or may be a replacement after I lost mine as a kid). 

9. Fisher-Price Imaginext Plankton

Oh how I love Plankton. He is the absolute most neurotic and self-loathing villain in the history of kids' cartoons. Full of self-loathing and pure envy, Plankton has cooked up more self-destructive plots than any wily coyote or prehistoric squirrel could dream of. And the look and feel of this Imaginext figure is simply brilliant. Putting tiny little plankton up at the top of the imaginext body as if piloting a robot is a perfect design, and I applaud whomever it was at Fisher-Price that came up with the concept, especially considering that Plankton can detach from the main body on a little roller-skate-style cart for a quick getaway. 

8. Hasbro Super Hero Squad Kang the Conqueror

Gosh, Hasbro had so many (now defunct) mini-figure lines that were going strong just a few years ago. Super Hero Squad (Marvel), Galactic Heroes (Star Wars), Combat Heroes (GI Joe), Robot Heroes (Transformers), and Adventure Heroes (Indiana Jones) are all great toylines. And I wanted to include some from ever line... but I decided to choose just one to represent them all. And that figure turned out to be Kang here. He is decidedly NOT a favorite character of mine in the comics. But this mini-figure? The color scheme, the stance of feet and pose of the guns, the grin on his face that tells you just EXACTLY how many f*cks he gives? All perfect. He just looks like he means business. Thanos and Iron Man and Thor and Kitty Pryde all have some pretty great figures dedicated to them as well, but Kang the Conqueror just NAILS it. 

7. Pint from a Cheap Bag of Skeleton Pirate Toys I Found This One Time

Back in January of 2013 I did a whole post on a set of cheapy-charlie Skeleton Pirate figures that I bought for .99 cents at a salvage/overstock store. I wrote silly backstories for all of the skeletal pirate crew, and I don't think I've ever had so much fun writing a post for this blog. But I did it because I genuinely LOVE this cheap-@$$ set of pirates, and I wanted at least one of them to be on this list. Back in 2013 I gave this little guy the name "Shorty" but he disagreed with me and insisted that his name is actually "Pint" which makes so much more sense in a perfectly ironic sort of way. See, he's pint-sized, and he's holding a pint of grog... so yeah. And I LOVE HIM. How many undead alcoholic kids toys can you name? Yeah. I thought so.

6. Applause California Raisins Michael Jackson

I honestly debated with myself for a very long time over which Raisin to include in this list. I ended up on Michael Jackson here because he is a personal favorite, and arguably the most recognizable and prolific of all the characters represented by Applause in plastic. I had to track this one down on eBay as the final one I really wanted for my collection. I have such great memories of hunting for these figures in specialty shops when I was a kid. Stores more like Hallmark stores and gift shops than your traditional toy stores. I was never into the smaller figures they produces for Hardees, though I had a handful of those as a kid as well.

5. Character Toys Scooby-Doo Mystery Mates Velma Dinkley 

I didn't have to consider for very long whether I would include Velma in this list or not. I would have KILLED as a child to own a mini-figure (or ANY figure, for that matter) of Velma. As the nerdy brains of Mystery Inc., Velma was the plain-jane compared to Daphne Blake's ginger bombshell. And THAT was why I was so deeply, madly in love with her! I actually love that I own the entire Mystery Inc. gang from the Character Toys Mystery Mates line, even if I did have to track Fred and Daphne down on eBay. 

4. Mini-Mates Real Ghostbusters Boogieman

As diverse as I really wanted this list to be, I just had to include another Ghostbusters themed mini figure. Mainly because THIS was the figure that finally got me to buy a Mini-Mates line and LOVE it. Overall, I do NOT like Mini-Mates. But when I saw how spot-on they had reproduced the characters and that THE BOOGIEMAN (their spelling, not mine) was included? I snapped up all four of the main Ghostbusters, and the Janine/Slimer "ready for bustin'" 2-pack. And I have THIS GUY on my shelf. He is one of the creepiest villains from the show and he just kept coming back! Seeing him on the show with his giant teeth, his doorframe-stretching body, his hooves and spiked hair, and his malignant bow-tie just gave me chills. 

3. Garfield in Disguise PVC from BULLY Toys

I was randomly trawling through eBay on day when I discovered this toy. It actually came on a keychain (but that was the nature of the 80's, where they would take any random PVC figurine, drill an eye-hook into its brain, and call it a keychain) but I quickly removed that and put him on my shelf. Apparently this figure was produced in the 80's by a German company called Bully. So it was most likely not produced and sold here in the states? I don't know. I had never seen it before, and in all my googling since then I have not found another like it. But for me, Garfield IS my childhood Halloween. I was never a big Charlie Brown fan, to be honest, and the Holiday specials I clamored for were the ones starring this lazy orange lasagna-eating cat. So having him in his Halloween costume, sitting on my shelf is a singular delight. 

2. Reis O'Brien Customized Dex-Starr (Imaginext Catwoman Accessory)

THIS right here ladies and gentlemen, is one of my absolute favorite possessions. I wrote about it when I originally got it, back in January of last year (that was a big January for the blog, I guess). But long-story-short, I am obsessed with the idea of the multi-chromatic Lantern Leagues. The Greens, the Indigoes, the Reds, you name it. I don't read the books regularly, but I love collecting the mini-figures. The various concepts behind the powers and colors and emotions are such a cool idea that I decided early on that I NEEDED a Dex-Starr. And when I found the Imaginext Catwoman figure, and it included an awesome black-cat figurine that looked like it was supposed to be Dex-Starr... I knew I had to get someone to customize it for me. And that someone turned out to be Reis O'Brien, who once ran the (now dormant) Dork Horde blog, and now works MAKING TOYS over at Funko! I traded Reis some of my duplicate California Raisins and he painted a little black cat figurine into Dex-Starr for me! He is honestly THE highlight of all my Lantern mini-figures. 

1. Funko Horror Classics Mystery Mini SAM from Trick R' Treat

There is no other mini-figure I own that I love as much as this one. He's perfect in every way. He's menacing, he's adorable, he's Halloween in all its glory, he's angular and stylized but not in an annoying way, and he is one of my hands-down-absolute-favorite pop-culture icons. Sam from Trick R' Treat is one of the most perfect visualizations of a Halloween horror villain ever conceived. And even with his big stitched-on smile and button eyes, the menace in that jagged crescent of lollipop is still unmistakable. Sam here just makes me smile. There is not a day goes by that I don't glance at him or pick him up to give him a closer look. The day I found him (at Hot Topic) I actually found 2 of him on my first try. I wasn't disappointed to find the duplicate though, as I quickly turned the second one into a Christmas tree ornament, wearing a little Santa's hat. More than nostalgia, more than the cool custom seen above, more than Saturday morning cartoons... I love Halloween, and Sam IS Halloween in every sense of that phrase. And this toy is AWESOME.  

So that's my top ten! Let's see what the other League Members counted down from 10 for: 

- Knives Tales gives us a list of her Top 10 Short Stories!

- Go Play Listen gives us a Top 10 of the DVDs on their shelf! 

- D.I. Treasures gives us a rundown of Top 10 Cereals!

- Awake Oh Sleeper treats us to a Top 10 Movie Monsters! 

- Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture shows of a Top 10 Videos!

- AEIOU and Sometimes Why delivers the Top 10 Songs that would have been great additions to the Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack!

That's all I've got for tonight kids! I'll be back soon with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting! 

Another Trip to the Dreamcatcher Antique Mall

So, I made yet another trip to the Dreamcatcher Antiques Mall recently, and I came out with a handful of fun items:

Here's a look at the entire haul, but let's break it down piece by piece, shall we? 

First up I have this 1989 Bumblebee Transformer. He was either a part of the Pretenders line of the Legends line of that ear, according to the Transformers Wiki. Bumblebee was actually one of my favorite characters on the show as a kid. The odd characters were always my favorites on any show... it was the soldier and warriors and tough guys that didn't really appeal to me at that age. 

Here he is in car mode. Apparently all I'm missing now is the gigantic gun turret that you usually find innocuously installed on the roof of most Volkswagen Beetles. (Man, does he NEED a good cleaning)

Meet Becky. Becky is a Fisher Price Adventure Person... and a total hottie. She is a scuba diver. I get really distracted when Becky's around. Becky is also the name of my Aunt. So... that got weird fast. I absolutely LOVE the Fisher Price Adventure People line. I only owned one as a kid because they were a little bit before my time (I had the X-Ray Man figure) but I really appreciate the design and simplicity of these little folk as an adult collector. 

Next up is what I thought at first was a Hotwheels Batmobile from the Tim Burton movie... but I was mistaken. This baby is solid rubber! It was released in 1992 to support the Batman Returns movie, and was produced by Applause... you know... the guys who made all those PVC figures with the thick, rubbery paint? They did everything from the California Raisins to Sesame Street to Disney's Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (can you tell I'm looking around my cave trying to think of figurines Applause produced?) To me, this just makes this thing that much cooler! The wheels are on pins and do actually roll, so this isn't just a solid hunk of rubber. Bumblebee, Becky, and the Batmobile up there all cost me just one American Dollar as a GROUP!!! They were all in a .50 cent bin but the guy at the register just grunted and charged me buy 2 get 1 free. Boy what a momentous occasion in my life! 

The star of this shot is the TSR PVC Bugbear figure standing front and center. I just wanted to include Warduke and Strongheart because they are the only other TSR toys from the 80's I own. Strongheart I bought in a grab-bag at Goodwill a long while back... and Warduke was a very recent gift from my wife's cousin's husband, who actually won him from the Garage Sale of awesome. Anyway... the Bugbear's supposed to be the star of the show here, so let's focus on him. I'm still not totally clear if the action figures and the PVC monsters were all meant to be part of the same toy line... but now that I know of their existence... I may be tracking more of these down. He was three dollars on his own. 

And finally, I brought home this Vampire the Masquerade players guide... which I already own. But it was only five dollars, and I have an idea of where this might be headed, so I snapped it up. All of the items you see here cost me just a hair under 9 dollars. There were two other items that I'm not revealing because I bought them as a surprise gift for a friend, and those brought my total up to 15 dollars. 

That's all I have for today kids! I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting. 

Yardsale Bin Pt. 4: The Rest of the Best (?)

All right... this bin I found at a yard sale last September has been an EPIC in the making for this blog. This is the fourth installment in the series, and believe it or not, I still have one more to go!!! (Be sure to see what I included in parts One, Two, and Three)

The last two posts had a certain kind of focus or theme to them, and this one is much the same. I'm going to showcase the last of the super-hero action figures that were in the bin, be they Marvel or DC. 

First up we have a couple of classic characters from a couple of classic lines.

Here is Captain America from the Secret Wars toy line in 1984. He was originally packed with a lenticular shield, but mine is sans this accessory. His paint job has also seen better days, but I still can't help but smile when I look at this guy. I had an Iron Man figure from this line when I was growing up, and he was a favorite member of the forces of good, fighting against the legions of Hordak. Seeing Cap here in the bin got my hopes up that I might also find good ol' shell-head, but alas, he was not included. Still, a pretty welcome addition to my collection. 

Here we have a Mr. Freeze from the third series of DC Super Powers action figure line. I don't have a lot to say about this one as I didn't have it as a kid and I wasn't a huge Super Powers fan, unfortunately. I had a few of the ones pertaining to the Batman action figures, like the Joker, Penguin, Robin, Two-Face, and a few others. Unfortunately this Mr. Freeze is missing his helmet, some hoses, and his freeze ray. 

All right! Here are a trio of Marvel action figures! 

First up we have this Toybiz Archangel. I also received one of these from Miss M about 2 months after buying this bin. The one she sent me was in MUCH better condition, so this one flew off to a new home shortly after that. (True story: I found ANOTHER Archangel action figure at Goodwill only about a week ago, missing his wings completely. I opted to leave him there... but it has almost literally been raining Archangels around here for a while.)

This handsome devil is the Hulk villain, the Leader! I really like the idea behind the Leader. The idea that the gamma radiation that made the Hulk a rage monster and gave him super strength could do the same thing to someone else's BRAIN. I love this guy's translucent head! My research online revealed that he was from the 1997 Smash & Crash line, and was originally included with some sort of battle-bot. He used to have juice in his head that would pump around and make his brain look all gross but it has long since leaked out or dried up. Either way I really like the color and look of this action figure! 

This is X-Men 2099 villain Brimstone Love! He was the creator of the Theater of Pain... a sort of torture-as-performance-art sort of thing. He was a badass and possibly a mutant who had... devil? powers? He could summon magma, create illusions, was super strong, and looked the part physically... so the whole thing was very Dante-does-DUNE-ish. I have a soft spot for this villain as a big fan of the X-Men 2099 series. The cape you see him wearing here was a random one included in the bin, and not his actual red cape (though it is very similar, so he's keeping it). 

Here's another pile of 90's Marvel might... but this time it's ALL X-related. I lumped these all together because they sort of epitomize the 90's x-machine, with its buckles and pouches and extra padding galore. I'm not really in love with any of these figures, to be honest.   

First up we have X-Force era Cannonball, in his Externals-period costume. This is not really my favorite X-Era by any means. I collected and read X-Force through this period, but it was far from my favorite book even back then. This figure is even less impressive to me than the design in the books at the time. I NEVER understood the aviator goggles (even though they have survived through several costume changes right up to today). Sam Guthrie is invulnerable to harm when he is blasting through the air. Why would he need eye protection? And those ones on his forehead are so tiny I doubt they'd do much... and they can't move down off his forehead as they are sculpted on. I'm just picking now, I know. 

One of my absolute LEAST favorite X-Villains of all time, Omega Red had tentacles and basically killed people with his B.O. (Sorry... "Death spores" Suuuure.) He was also russian. I never liked him and every time he showed up he just made less sense and was less relevant than the last time. 

Cable is one of those characters that I have always had a love/hate relationship with. He heralded the end of everything I loved about the New Mutants, and was the absolute epitome of the 90's bad-ass with giant guns, cybernetics, and a costume made up more of pouches and straps than anything a superhero would normally have worn. The character's main saving grace was the fact that he wasn't a complete moron, and he has been put to much better use in the years since then he was at inception. This action figure is both hideous and kind of cool in even parts. 

Another 90's gun-toting badass, Bishop here is a tiny die-cast figurine from back when that used to be a thing. Believe it or not though, I do actually like Bishop quite a bit. I think because he put a new and interesting dynamic into the X-Men at the time. He wasn't the leader of the team, and instead was forced to get his militaristic attitudes and his comfortability with murder and suicide as battle tactics under control. I remember a Danger Room session where simulation-Apocalypse has Bishop in his clutches and is using him as leverage against the other X-Men. Bishop simply places a gun to the side of his OWN head and tells faux-Apocalypse he is more than willing to blow his own head off rather than be used to force his team-mates into compromising. The exact line evades me right now but at one point Bishop tells holo-Apocalypse that he'll be tasting Bishop's brains on his lips. That kind of stuck with me. I hate that he has now been turned into a homicidal maniac villain. That's so cliche.

Next up is this legion of Batmen, possibly a mix of figures from both the first and second Tim Burton films. These are all those famously ridiculed variant costumes the 90's became famous for: 

As demonstrated awesomely by this clip from Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Front and center are the two Batmen from the first Tim Burton Batman film. The one on the left here is the original "fat-face" Batman that I personally felt like looked more like Michael Keaton in the movie. He was the one I actually had as a kid. The one on the right replaced fat-face after a while because they supposedly wanted a sculpt that looked more like the actor. The capes in the other picture here don't go to ANY of the capeless Batmen pictured in any of these photos as far as I can tell. 

In the first picture, from left to right, we have what I believe is Thunder Whip Batman, Air-Attack Batman, and another Batman I simply couldn't place. In the second picture, on the left, we have Tec-Shield or Aero-Strike Batman. On the right, Deluxe Blast Shield or Bola-Strike Batman. (Thanks to the Legions of Gotham web-site for their awesome action figures archive!)

 Here are a trio of somewhat less identical-looking Batman action figures. 

This charming fellow is "Future Batman" from the Legends of Batman line. Instead of a cape he had a sort of exoskeleton piece that fit down over his head and shoulders. 

From the figure line for the Batman Forever film, Neon Armor Batman. 

And finally, this frigid figure from the Batman and Robin Movie line... Ice Blast Mr. Freeze

Here's a freaky-tiki foursome! A mix of characters from DC and Marvel! 

I smell tuna melt!

I didn't bother to look up what line this Night Wing figure is from. I have never really been terribly interested in Night Wing. He always seemed like a character that got too big for his britches, got new britches, got replaced by someone who fit the old britches... and then sort of lost relevance. He was kept around because people liked the guy more than they just like Robin... and the problem with that sort of story-telling is that you end up with guys who all used to be Robin stacked up like cord-wood all over your universe. 

Her bewbs have antennae.

Hey! Remember when The Wasp was a weird insect lady all the time? Me either. I had to look it up. I mean... I sort of remember seeing the design back in the day (This version of the Wasp debuted in 1996) but I was never an Avenger fan back in the day, and that was around the time I was quickly losing interest in most of the comics on the market at the time. Apparently this action figure was actually from a Spider-Man line of figures that all featured insect-armor as accessories. The armors could be removed from the characters and put together to create large mutated-looking insects as well. The Wasp's armor/ally was a big mutant lady-wasp that also included her wings.

Groin strain!

A character with some similar issues is Kyle Rayner. He's one of... how many human Green Lanterns in a literal LEGION of Green (and other colored) Lanterns? I count at least 5 different completely human Green Lanterns from Earth. And while I have a soft spot for the character, and the GL legacy... that's just way too many characters to actually keep them all relevant and thriving and vital in our universe. Then add the dozens upon dozens of other alien Green Lantern characters... plus the Red, Yellow, Blue, etc. colored Lanterns, all vying for your time and attention and poor Kyle just kind of looks like a reject from a reboot in the 90's. But I really like the sculpt on this action figure! 

I know... I'm not Magneto. :(

Here is Joseph. Joseph is a young clone of Magneto. That isn't enough to make him into an action figure. So they stuck a sabertooth skull to his shoulder and packed him in with Amphibius of the Savage Land Mutates (whose name they correctly misspelled as "Amphibious" on the package). I don't give a crap about Joseph, honestly. He was a dumb sort of plot development that didn't really seem to have much point. If I had found an Amphibius action figure in this bin however, I would have completely peed my pants:

Oh... what could have been. 

All right. We've come to the end of this post. The last trio of figures this time around (Don't forget, there's one MORE installment in this Yard Sale Bin saga before it's done) are from the animated Batman series of action figures.  

This is Street Jet Bruce Wayne, who came with a racecar-esque vehicle. 

This is Ninja Robin. Sans ninja cape. His right arm is stuck like that. It's spring-loaded so when you push it down it flicks right back up again. I'm guessing to throw something ninja-y. 

And finally... Man-Bat! Man-Bat is a sort of favorite Batman character for me, regardless of how on-the-nose he seems to be, metaphor-wise. But there's just something kick-assingly groovy about anthropomorphic bats, be they Batman villains or TMNT allies or whatever. I think this was one of the most exciting finds for me out of the entire bin, to be honest. I mean, there were a lot of great finds in there... I mean a LOT... but I loves me some Man-Bat. This guy is currently suspended from my ceiling by some string, in mid flight.

All right kids! That was fun! That's all I've got for tonight though. And believe it or not, there's still ONE MORE WHOLE POST worth of toys out of this Yard Sale Bin! But before we get to that, I'll be back with some more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!