Saturday, June 22, 2013

Huge Monster High update- 13 wishes Twyla, Howleen, Lagoon and more!!

Tonight, was a huge Monster High shopping spree!   I knew that the new 13 Wishes dolls had finally started popping up in the US at Toys R Us.  So I just had the feeling that I needed to stop in and see what they had.       Well, my hunch paid off big time!!

I picked up the new 13 Wishes Twyla, Lagoona, Howleen, and the new classroom 2 pk with Cleo and Ghoulia.

I love Twyla.  I am having a hard time not opening her.   I think compared to some of the other dolls in the Monster High line, she is a little on the plain side.  But her eyes do glow in the dark, which I think is a great feature for the daughter of the Boogieman to have.   I also love her pet, it's a dust bunny.

I am not sure if I like the Lagoona's bright yellow hair.  It just seems so harsh for her.   But, I do love her dress and accessories.  Neptuna is purple instead of the usual pink.
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Sorry for all of the glare in these photos.  I took most of these while I was still in the store.   I love the new Cleo in the classroom 2 packs.   Her hair has a hint of purple in it.  Which I think is a nice change for her.

I also like the new Howleen with her pink hair.  I think it softens her look, instead of the bright orange from the Wolf Sister 2 pk.   Her pet, Cushion, also matches her pink hair.





It took going to 2 Toys R Us stores to find the Heath and Abbey 2 pack.   I managed to pick up the last Heath and Abbey 2 pack at this store.   Everybody and their momma is after this set.    I think they did a good job on Heath.   It looks a lot like the character in the cartoon webisodes and specials.

I am going to have to be watching  all of the stores closely. I know that I will have to pick up another set because my daughter is going to flip out when she sees these.   Hopefully, I can keep them hidden until birthday or Christmas.

I did however pass on getting the 13 Wishes Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura.   Toys R Us has those dolls priced at $30 each.   They are lovely, but overpriced.  I haven't decided if I want to pick them up or not.   I honestly am kind of tired of rehashed dolls.  I am seriously considering just buying the basic new character dolls and maybe one or two of my favorites from sub-lines with in the Monster High brand.  Hopefully, these dolls will start showing up at Target and Walmart soon.

My next stop was  Target.  If you haven't checked your local Target stores, run don't walk.   The Skull Shores 5 pks have been marked down to $29.99 (original price $54.99).   My store did not have the red clearance stickers on the 5 packs, so be sure to scan them.   I am so glad that I waited this set out!    According to the signage, the sale price is good until the 29th (6/29/13)

I actually went ahead and picked up 2 of the Skull Shores set.   At its current price, it was worth it.

Frankie's vanity and Abbey's bed at my store were marked down to $13.98 each (original price $19.99).  I have heard some reports that other stores had marked them down to $10.    The newest basic fashion packs are also clearance priced at $3.99 (original price $5.99).   These items are all pictured below in the giant group shot of everything we picked up these evening.






My last stop of the night was Walgreens and not for anything Monster High related.   I have been looking for these little DC Superhero dolls.    There are 4 in series 1.     I am still looking for Wonder Woman and Bat Girl.

For $5, they are reasonably priced.   They have the sleepy baby doll eyes, so when they are laying down, their eyes close.   I am hoping I can find the other 2 at another Walgreens store possibly tomorrow, so I can complete this set rather quickly.


As always, when I find new Monster High dolls, I update my collection post.   You can check out the rest of my Monster High collection there.  




Thursday, June 20, 2013

Franken Furby is ALIVE!

My mom has been leading the charge to get her garage and attic cleaned out.  Which has been great for me and my kiddos.  They are completely in heaven because of all the old toys that have been re-found.  Just the other day, they found an original Furby in one of the closets.

Not having gotten into the new Furby craze, they were curious about it.  At first glance, I thought it was just a case of dead batteries.  So of course, we changed out batteries but the stupid thing still would not come to life.   We tried the reset button and smacking it around a couple of times too no luck.

Since we honestly have nothing better to do during the summer, we made it our goal for the day to get the Furby working.
After some online research, I found out that the problem might be in the tiny motor. Which apparently seems to be a common problem among the older Furbys.   Thanks to some helpful youtube videos the kids and I got it pulled apart.   It is kind of a strange task, skinning a Furby.   But once, you get it skinned, it is fairly easy to get to the motor.

After about 5 minutes of alternating between spinning the motor and gear, holding a pin on the reset button, it finally kicked in and started talking.

I'm not sure if it was a great idea to get it working again.  They are kind of annoying.  It is funny, I don't remember it being that annoying, but I don't remember doing a lot with a Furby to begin with.

Oh well, needless to say, we met our goal for the day and the kids have been fairly entertained by their "new" Furby.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Flea Market Finds- She-Ra, M.A.S.K figures, and Battle Beast

This past Saturday, was a great day at the flea market.  I have kind of given up on the Goodwill lately.  It is having a summer time drought.

At the flea market though, there  were about 10 different sellers with booths full of toys.  What was interesting was the huge amount of TMNT collections that were for sale this week. We stopped and looked at them, but  I can't decide if I want to add more to my TMNT collection or not.   Some figures are really cool while others are just meh.   So while I passed on the TMNTs, I did pick up these items.


First up,  She-Ra figures.   This is the first time I have ever really found She-Ra figures outside of a  con.   They just don't seem to turn up often at the flea market.  For $6, I got a Beau who is really rough, Glimmer, and Catra.   The Double Trouble pictured with the group came from our trip last week to Fanboy Expo but is lined up to get cleaned with the rest of her friends.

I love these figures!  First off, they are colorful and well sculpted.  Beau looks like a miniature Ken doll.   Double Trouble has a spin wheel in her back to change her face.  I am hoping to find some accessory pieces, I would really love to find Catra's skirt.




I also picked up 3 MASK figures ( Iguana, Alex Sector, Nash Gorey)  I had Condor when I was a kid.  Hopefully, it will get unearthed in the great attic clean out.   I used to love this cartoon when I was younger. It was the first cartoon that was on after school.  It had one of the best cartoon intros ever!  Why aren't cartoons like this anymore?



My last purchase of the day was another Battle Beast.   I really don't remember these from when I was a kid. I picked up a few at the Goodwill and ever since then, when I see them I pick them up.    I love little figures like these for their great details.   This is #18  Rubberneck Giraffe.





Monday, June 10, 2013

Toy Rescue



I haven't been able to blog much lately, but I just had to share these finds. My "donate happy" mother called me yesterday morning. She told me that my dad was working on cleaning out the attic and that there was a couple of boxes of stuff that was mine. She wanted me to come look through it and decide if it was anything I wanted or donate it.

So of course, I jump in my car and rush over there. My mother has a history of getting rid of the good toys. This is the woman I have to thank for the loss of my original Death Star playset, which was an awesome Christmas gift.   Yes, I am still a little bitter over that, but I will be ok.

I get over to the house and what was one box, actually turned out to be 3 boxes. What was in these boxes overjoyed me. I had thought several of these items had been lost to the ages and/or several moves during my childhood, but somehow they survived.  
First find,  a naked 8 inch Mego Superman.   I remember getting this Superman doll very clearly.  I remember there used to be this little store on the corner near my grandparent's home. I guess it was the 70s equivalent to a Dollar General. But, I don't remember the name of it.  My grandfather and I used to take walks down to the store  to return glass drink bottles.  Well, on one of our walks down to this store, he bought me Superman.   

I remember playing with this doll.  He got mixed in with the Barbie crowd very quickly.  He had such great articulation, I paired him with my ballerina Barbie.  I thought he would make a great ballet dancer.   I am sure some of you guys are gringing at that.  Superman did his heroic deeds but was also a part time ballet dancer.    


For the most part, Superman is in good condition.  There is a little damage to his hand, but not terrible.  It looks like I might have been trying to get him to hold something.   The rubber bands are super tight for his age and all of his dancing.   I am looking for his original outfit.  I am not sure if it can be found, but I am hopeful.  I am sure there are more boxes I will get calls about it. If all else fails, there is always Ebay.   If anybody out there has one for sell or possibly trade, please let me know.  We might be able to work out a deal.  I would like to restore him to his original 70s awesomeness.  

My next awesome rescue is: BLASTER!!    I loved Transformers as a kid, but I had to beg for them because "those are boy toys".    Gender means nothing to me when it comes to toys.  I hopefully have instilled this in my children because I hated hearing that as a kid.   Surprisingly, I got him as a Christmas gift.  I think he was ordered from the JC Penney Catalog.   My mom used to order a lot of our Christmas items from there.  

I am so happy to have rescued this from the attic.  OMG! how he ended up there, I don't know.  He is in perfect condition!  I brought him home, cleaned him up and he is now on display with the rest of my Transformer tribe, which has grown since January to include about 30 Transformers and Gobots.  


My kids were thrilled with the other stuff I brought home with me.   I found some more of my original TMNT figures and California Raisins figures.   I showed them one of the commercials on Youtube recently and they just fell in love with them.   I remember loving the raisins, those were some of the greatest commercials.  


Friday, June 7, 2013

Fanboy Expo, autographs and some toys

This past weekend, my family and I went to Fanboy Expo in Knoxville, TN.   This is an annual trip for us.   We really love this con because it is a family friendly event and our kids enjoy it too.   Which makes life a lot easier when you have three kiddos in tow.

This year's Fanboy had some great celebrity guests.  The list included:  Lee Majors,  Joey Lauren Adams, Elvira ( Cassandra Peterson),  Billy Dee Williams, Jeremy Bullock, several signers from "The Walking Dead", and Dirty Sanchez himself, Dustin Diamond, just to name a few.  

Walking by Dustin Diamond's booth, I could not look at him.  All I kept thinking was that someone made a sex tape with Screech!  Why??  I know that whole scandal has been years ago, but still I am just mind boogled by it.   Although, I did hear some attendees say that he was very nice and they were happy that they met him.



My husband was interested in meeting "The Walking Dead" cast members. He recently got into the series  and
decided to start getting a poster autographed.   I personally felt some of them were a little overpriced, especially considering that their characters were no longer on the show.   I am not a fan of the series, so it didn't really interest me.

 The poster was signed by:  Chandler Riggs, Madison Lintz, Daniel Thomas May, Tyler Chase, Sonya Thompson, Theodus Crane, Kylie Syzmanski, Josh Stewart.   He is hoping to add a few more signatures  later in July at another Con.










I was excited to meet Eric Bauersfeld.  He is known for being the voice of Bid Fortuna and Admiral Ackbar.    Since I had the opportunity to meet Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar) last year at this same event, I wanted to get the Ackbar voice actor as well.    It was a rare appearance, since Mr. Bauersfeld is 91 years old.  But he was lovely gentleman and it was truly a pleasure to meet him.   I got this great Ackbar print signed.  Hopefully, Tim Rose will return to a Con somewhere nearby and I can get this piece signed by him as well.


















We also took some pictures with the Batmobile and as an added bonus, someone drove a General Lee to the con.  Can you imagine having a General Lee as your ride?  Sadly though, I saw them park and
they didn't climb out the windows.   As a kid, I always thought that was the best part.


So what kind of toys did we pick up?  Well, I finally broke down and bought the Kenner Preschool Ewok Treehouse.   It is something that I have been wanting for some time, so I got it.  There are a few pieces missing. But with it, I got 8 Ewoks (Wicket included) and parts for both the Ewok Fire Cart and Woodland Cart.


I also picked up a nude Jem and the Holograms Aja doll.   I am hoping that I will be able to trade her for something Monster High or possibly some Barbies.   I also picked up a bag of Gobots,  and a few other miscellaneous figures that I will blog about later.   I haven't really had the chance to clean anything up yet, but more to come on all the goodies from Fanboy Expo