Monster High Update- Found Headless Headmistress Bloodgood today

My local TRU finally got their shipment of Headmistress Bloodgood.  

I was really excited to find her today.     For the most part, I really like her.   She seems to be about the same size Nefera.   I am having a hard time because I really want to open her and pose her holding her head.

I am not wild about Nightmare.  I know she is the daughter of the Headless Horseman, but I just don't care for the horse.   I really wish that Mattel would package her without it. Maybe it will grow on me, but I highly doubt it.
The other thing that I don't like about this doll is a Toys R Us exclusive, which automatically makes it overpriced at 42.99, like everything else from Toys R Us.  But you can't have a Monster High collection without Bloodgood.

I have added her to my Monster High collection post.

A quick post about nothing.

It has been a few days since I have posted anything, well, sadly I haven't found much of anything exciting to post about.   I have picked up a few retro collection Hot Wheels that I will have to post about later on.   But, I am hoping this weekend will change my slump.  The family and I will be attending a convention this weekend, so hopefully the vendors will have some great items.  

I also have a friend who is visiting family this week in Michigan.   I have armed them with some pictures of the newest Monster High dolls that are slowly hitting stores.  Between the  two of us, surely something awesome will turn up.

Collection Picture Post- R2-D2 rules the world!

I never realized how many R2-D2s I had until my husband (well, boyfriend at the time) pointed the fact out.   Back then, if you had asked me about my Star Wars collection, I would have talked about how Princess Leia was my favorite character.   I would have been happy to show my vintage carded Leia figures.    But, quietly a little droid began to dominate my collection.

Since we had the flood, we have spent a lot of time unpacking everything.  My R2s are finally back to normal for the most part. This is shelf #1.  This shelf has most of my vintage R2 items, along with items from the mid 90s to present.   2 of my most beloved R2s are on this shelf.

One of my oldest R2 is my original vintage figure that was mine when I was a kid.   As you can see, he has some authentic battle damage.   I used to carry him and my Princess Leia around everywhere. Leia fared better then R2 did.   

The other beloved R2 is my vintage bank (peeking out from behind the Jawa beanie).  I don't exactly remember the whole story on how  I got it.  I vaguely remember my aunt opening a checking, savings, or maybe a Christmas Club account at one of the local banks.   I think that if you did that or deposited so much into the account, you had your choice of  coin banks.   It was the late 70's so I around 3 or 4  years old.   I can vaguely remember being in the bank  and I kind of remember a sign advertising the giveaway.  Sadly my aunt passed away several years ago, but I know she would remember the whole story behind it.

Another notable item on is the plastic cup (the one with a Jawa sitting on it).   That was my cup as kid.   I also at one time had a matching cereal bowl.   I have had to rescue that cup from my donation happy mother several times.    The first time was back in the 80s, it somehow got damaged in the dish washer, which of course meant that it needed to be donated.  (rescue #1)  sadly, somehow the bowl got away.    Years later, the cup got stuck at the back of a cabinet, forgotten.   We were moving and my mother insisted that she needed to get some new plates and  glasses, all the others would be donated (rescue #2)    Finally,  I just got smart and tucked the cup away in my dresser drawer and thankfully I have had it ever since.




I have a wide range of sizes present in my R2 collection.  The smallest coming from the Star Wars Micro Machine sets.  At only about 1/2 inch tall he is hard to see in the crowd.  

Shelf  #2 isn't completely full of R2s yet.   They share some space with C-3PO, but that will soon be changing.  I am not the biggest fan of 3PO and he is taking up some valuable real estate.  My husband always asks me, " how are you going to fit anymore on those shelves?"    The answer is very simple.   A.) There is always room for 1 more. and B.) when I run out of room, we will put up another shelf.  He just doesn't realize that I have given each placement careful thought and consideration.

As a Mother's Day gift, my husband and son got me this MOC R2.  It is pretty special for multiple reasons.   I keep it under lock and key so nothing can happen to it.   Thankfully, my kiddos are good about understanding what MOC means (I guess we have taught them well)   It is other people's kids I am worried about.   

Some of my favorites in the mid size range are the R2 aquarium, trash can (both still packed away) and vintage toy box.  The toy box I actually gave to my daughter, who is named after a certain Star Wars princess.   I felt that every princess needed her own special R2.

My largest R2s are the Pepsi cooler R2 and our lifesize R2 unit.  

The R2 cooler was an anniversary gift from my husband.  I am easy to shop for.   We both had been wanting to get one and he luckily found a great deal on one.   It seems like we have had it forever!  It gets used any time we have a cook out, birthday party, holiday.   I always love the surprised look of people who have never been to our home and see the giant R2 in the corner of the kitchen.

Our life sized R2 unit has really been a labor of love.   When we were planning our wedding, I had suggested that we have a flower girl and a flower droid.  (yeah, I am nerdy.  that's how I roll)   I wanted an R2 to roll down the isle and shoot out flower petals.  We looked into the plans of

building one but it was scrapped because we wouldn't be able to finish it in time for the wedding and it wouldn't be able to shoot petals.












So a few years later, my husband decided to revisit the idea of building a R2.   It has taken 4 years of on and off building.  But, our R2 unit is now only in need of electronics to make him remote controlled.   Our goal is to get him completed this year.   Still for me, even if we don't get the electronics in him, I love him greeting everyone who walks in our house.

I guess this is the condensed version of my R2 collection.  I still have few packed away and a lot that I didn't even mention.   I still have a few items on my short list that I am still looking for, one of which is the 1980s Wilton cake pan.   I know I can find it easily on Ebay, but damn I just hate those prices.  Eventually, I am just going to have to quit being cheap or either give it up and just be happy with my cookie cutters.

Monster High Update- Found Picture Day Frankie and Lagoona

I finally was able to find the new Picture Day Frankie and Lagoona at my local Target this weekend.   No luck on the new Operetta though.    It has been forever since I have seen anything new in the Monster High isle.

  I am going to be stalking TRU hard so I can pick up Headmistress Bloodgood.   I am hoping to hit the stores early this week on shipment days to
find her.

I really love the new Lagoona.  Her purse reminds me of a puffer fish or maybe even a ball of coral.   Her outfit also has a coral print on it.   But I love the coloring with her.  Lagoona has always been one of my favorites.

The Frankie is nicely dressed, but I just don't get excited over her dolls.   She has never been one of my favorites, so I really just pick her up and put her with the rest of the collection, I don't really ever display the Frankies.


You can check out the rest of my Monster High doll collection.   I try to up date it when I find new dolls.

What is wrong with this picture?

It was a nice weekend to take a quick stroll around the flea market.   This item has totally made my weekend just because it is a hot mess.

So, what is wrong with this picture?

Here is a close up on the face.  My husband was all "I can't believe you bought THAT!"

I like bootleg items, good and bad.  I think they make for some great conversation pieces.  This one is just so awesomely bad, it is funny.  There were 3 all together the Leia, Luke, and a Yoda.   Now I kind of wish I had picked up the Yoda also.

League of Extraordinary Bloggers- Star Trek

League of Extraordinary Bloggers topic of the week:


                                                   

 This isn't a topic I can get excited about.  There are 2 types of people in this world, those that like Star Wars and those that like Star Trek.   I am and forever will be a Star Wars girl.  Growing up, I never could get past the cheesy aliens and seriously bad over acting.  Don't get me wrong, there is always something to be said for the campy and cheesy, but not in this case.   It is just hard to find that grey area in the middle where  the two can coexist peacefully and smudge that line that divides fandoms.   I just believe that the cool kids like Star Wars better.

I have tried to embrace the Trek.  I  dabbled  with TNG.  It was the 90s is my only excuse and we all have to have a little experimental phase.    Compared to the old series, TNG was vastly more watchable and had more interesting characters.   I enjoyed Data's struggle to become "more human".   When I was in college, I put my nerd cred to the test by writing a paper about gender stereotypes  using Star Trek (original series, TNG, and Voyager) as the basis for my paper and how over time the roles of women had changed within the series.  I was proud of that paper, I did get an A.   I watched a lot of Trek episodes as research, but I still can't call myself a fan.  I did enjoy Voyager, until it turned into the 7 of 9 show.  That series had a different feel to it.   It wasn't stuffy and they weren't necessarily bound by Federation rules per se.

My take on the new movies, well... they are watchable. I think the actors have done a  good job taking the characters making them modern and less campy.  I will never call them my favorites. I wont be whipping out a set of Spock ears in tribute or taking my pet tribble with me.   Most likely my husband and I will go see the new movie on a date night. The reviews seem good, so I probably wont fall asleep like I did during The Hobbit.  

As a Star Wars fan, I am still on the fence about JJ Abrams and this whole "new" Star Wars business.  He has done well with the Trek reboot, but I don't care about Star Trek.  I just don't care about theses characters, I dont care about their conflicts and relationships. I do care about Star Wars and I am just afraid we will be set up for more disappointment, but only time will tell.


So, what does the rest of the League have to say about Star Trek:

Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks lists 5 things  better then Trek.   Totally agree with everything on the list.

The 30ish year old boy  made up for watching Trek by buying Star Wars figures.

FortuneandGloryDays talks Trek Kre-o

Infinite Hollywood gives a nod to Robot Chicken.

and check out the other posts on the League assignment page.  

Heathens at the laundry mat leave good toys behind

Since we had the flood at our house, we have been without a washer.  It is a pain in the ass, but it only takes a little over an hour to get all of our laundry done for the week.    Well, today's trip to the laundry mat was especially entertaining thanks to the  heathen and his clan.

Yeah, you are seeing that correctly. That is a kid playing on top of the washers.  There was another one, both at one point, were running on top of the washers.  I wish I had a gotten a picture of both of them.  I seriously was waiting for one of them to take a header.

As a parent, I am not exactly sure what makes this a good way to entertain your kids.    But, I guess every parent is different.



Thankfully, this family didn't stay much longer after I took this picture.  But in their haste to leave the laundry mat a few little Hot Wheels were left behind.   At first, I was like whatever, nothing terribly special.  Until I took a second look.  One was an older model cop car.  Wait!  What does that say?!!  Hazzard County!!!  Holy Moly!!  the heathens left behind a Roscoe P. Coltrane's cop car.

 I flipped it over, it isn't a Hot Wheels.  It is made by Ertl.   So the heathens have good taste in toys, but they aren't very careful with them (poor training, clearly).  The car is rough but I guess that is to be expected.

So, thank you little heathens who tried to tear down the laundry mat.  You made my trip to the laundry mat a little more entertaining and added a car to my collection.

League of Extraordinary Bloggers- Deserted Island

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers topic for the week is:  

You are stranded for 10 years on a deserted island. You can take with you the following:

One food item (in a never-ending supply), one movie, one game, and one pop culture character. 

Like all the League topics, there are always so many possible things to write about.   This has had me wracking my brain and examining all of the possibilities.  So I am starting with the easiest choices.   

My pop culture character of choice  would be Tattoo from Fantasy Island.  If anyone is going to see "da plane" first, it would be him.  Plus, because he is small think how easy it would be to send him up trees for coconut gathering.     And didn't he always mix cocktails for Mr. Roark?   Maybe we can MacGuyver up our own still and make our own coconut liquor. 

Tattoo is the man you want for backup on a deserted island.  

I have a couple of choices for movies, but if pressed to choose only one, I guess I would go
with The Empire Strikes Back.  A predictable choice, I know.  But, it is my favorite of all the Star Wars movies, possibly my all time favorite movie.   I thought of other movies but none of them can compare with Empire and I know I would tire of them.  Empire is a cozy blanket, that no matter how old, you always love it.

For my choice in game, I originally thought of Twister.  Because in a head to head game with Tattoo, I would be unbeatable.  But where is the fun in that?  I don't really need the title of Island Twister Champion (10 years straight).   So I went with an old school classic.   I would go with Tetris.  I loved that game as a kid and would play it for hours.  It challenges your mind and your skills.   So it would fill my time nicely.  Tattoo and I can go 2 player head to head while sipping our homemade coconut liquor and eating my next choice.

For me, food was the hardest choice. In the end,  I would say Taco Bell's  Chilito (a.k.a Chili Cheese Burrito)

Why?

Well, there are 2 reasons.    The first being that my husband hates Mexican food and I dearly love I it. So,  it is a rare and wonderful treat.   I usually get it for my birthday and of course, Cinco de Mayo.   Any other time involves complex negotations.

Secondly, this epic burrito has been missing from the Taco Bell menu boards for a long time now. There are websites dedicated to its awesomeness and grass root campaigns to bring it back.   To this day, hardcore fans of this burrito don't know why it disappeared.  It has been probably 5 years since I last had one, because you can some times find it in remote backwater locations.   I don't see it getting old any time soon.

Well, those are my choices.  I can't wait to see what other League members have to share.   Make sure to check out the assignment page as new links are added.

Victoria at vikkiverka wants to be on a deserted island with Rudy Wade.
Daniel at Thirtyishyearoldboy  shares his survival list.  

Happy May 4th!

We celebrated May the 4th by dressing up in Star Wars costumes at city;s annual Spring Fling street festival.     I skipped dressing up this year and just severed as wrangler and support crew.   The crowds were small this year, since the weather has been awful for the last two weeks.!  You would think it is fall, nothing but cold and rain.  

Free comic book day was kind of a wash.  The one store down town near the festival got wiped out in the first hour and was kind of dead the rest of the day.    But, after a day of trooping, we finished the day with some margaritas and Mexican food.  

Thrift Finds of the Week: Batman Return's Batwing and an Insecticon

       I only made 2 quick trips in this week to the Goodwill, both during my lunch hours. Well, like I mentioned last week, my Goodwill has gotten lazy.   They keep cranking out these crappy, overpriced box lots.    Each box was $12.   While some of the items are better suited for a box lot, there actually were some interesting figures, but you couldn't see them clearly and I wasn't going to spend the money  just to get a peek at them.

Since the weather this week has been mostly rainy and perfectly suited to curling up for a good nap.

  I had to snap a picture of this dude.   He got a good 30 minute nap while I was there.   I am not dissing on him because I appreciate the values of a good nap.   That couch must have been awfully comfortable.  

I passed on this. This one is dedicated to  all you hardcore Hulkamaniacs out there.  

The Hulk Hogan Rock 'n' Wrestling VHS it was only $1.   I thought it was a great item.  But not something I would add to my collection.  

The best find of the week was the Batman Return's Turbojet Batwing still with its original box and instruction sheet.  As an added bonus, the instruction sheet for the Wayne Manor/Bat Cave playset was also in the box.    For $2.50, I thought it was a worthy purchase.  

Being that I grew up in the late 70s and 80s, I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that toys from the 90s are 20 years old.  The box has seen some better days.  There is lots of wear and tape.  The original Walmart price tag is still on the box, as well as about 20 Goodwill price tags.



The bags of fun were plentiful this week and actually, surprisingly good.  I picked up a few My Little Ponys which my girls have enjoyed playing with.  But, the best find out of a bag is the G1 Insecticon,  Kickback.    There is some play wear on the wings and stickers.  But overall, it is in great shape.    The G1s were built to last.   I can't say that for the newer Transformers.  They are garbage.   I saw several languishing  in bags, but I have learned my lesson and passed on them.   My Transformer tribe is growing and now I need like 2 or 3 shelves for them.  

This has been one of the best weeks in a long time.