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.

Thrift Find- Books, books, and more books.

My favorite Goodwill has officially entered the Lanard zone.   I know I have complained about this before, but good lord! it has been a dry spell, except for the books.    The books have been really good lately.   We picked up 2 first edition Harry Potter books, 3 Goosebump paperbacks,  these 2 big 80s treasures and an old school reading book from 1966.  


I thought I would share these fun retro throwbacks!   I loved watching Alf when I was a kid.  I don't remember any story books like this one though.  The illustrations aren't that great, but it is a typical Alf adventure.
Gremlins 2 was a laughable sequel to the original Gremlins.  Still, Gizmo is freaking awesome!!   The mutant gremlins were entertaining.  

I didn't take pictures of all the books that I have picked up the last 2 weeks.    I was really excited to pick up a few Goosebump books.   My son has really fallen in  love with those books.    I never read them as a kid.   I guess at the point they were popular, I was too old for them.  

I keep hoping some decent toys will show up soon.  

The Dark Path of My Little Ponies - Collection Picture Post

I am a child of the 80's and I remember when the My Little Ponies came out.  I never cared for them.  Matter of fact, I really hated them.  I wasn't that horse crazy girl who begged for a pony every time my birthday came around.    My biggest question about them has always been, what exactly is the purpose of a my little pony?

Well recently, we got some ponies from the bags o' fun at the Goodwill.  A few days later,  we picked up some more at the flea market.  The plan was to clean up and style the ponies hair.   We would then list the ponies in one of the doll groups I belong to for sale or trade.  Two things happened:   A.) my little girl decided that she didn't want to sell or trade them.   and
B. )  I found that the simple act of brushing their hair is relaxing.  I guess it is their simplicity that has help keep this toy line thriving.  I have been sucked in by their cuteness!  The ponies have sort of mesmerized me.   I find myself becoming more interested in the line as I research and identify the ponies we have.  In researching the ponies, I have really learned a lot about the toys. Some of the ponies we picked up are considered hard to find.   I never realized how many years the pony line has run and all of the types of ponies.

I am kind of like my daughter and finding that I don't really want to sell them.   Secretly, every time I walk in a Goodwill, I hope to find at least one.     Just yesterday, we came home with a custom bag o' fun full of nothing but ponies.( Yes, I re-pack the bags o' fun more to my personal liking.)  Surprisingly, we have yet to get any duplicate ponies.   We have only been collecting MLPs for about a month and half now.  And, well they have grown on me, especially the generation 1 ponies.  The ones I so hated in my childhood.

Generation 1  refers to ponies made between the years of 1983-1992.

The first pony in our collection is a G1 Blosson.    Blossom is one of the original 6 ponies.   This Blossom was in rough shape when we got her.  After a good soak and a lot of scrubbing, I finally got her cleaned.   There is some damage around the tail area.  But after  a good comb out, I think she looks pretty good for a well loved 30 year  old toy.

The next few G1 ponies were in even worse shape compared to Blossom.   These poor little ponies fell victim to bad bang trims and some bad custom makeup.



Parasol was a mail order rainbow pony from 1982-83.   She is a soft pink color with glittery umbrellas on her back haunches.  Overall, she cleaned up well.  There is still a few ink marks on her. She lost the first 5 strands of mane.  Hopefully, I can find some hair to match and re-root those few strands.

Sunbeam is a G1 unicorn.  It is pale blue with white and a streak of yellow hair.  It has a glittery sun for a cutie mark.   This one cleaned up rather well.  No ink marks or cut hair.

Melody is a pegasus pony with glittery musical notes.   This one had a big letter H written on her and took  a lot of work to clean.   Thankfully, she has all of her hair.














Sealight the Sea Pony  The Sea Ponies, I get the idea.  But, they are just really strange looking.   They are not free standing unless you have their display shell.   I am not sure if they were supposed to be some sort of bath toy.  There really isn't any other way to play with them.

 Sealight is from 1982 and would have a large green sea shell.

Peach Blossom and Honeysuckle are Flutter Ponies.    Sadly, though they no longer have their wings.   These ponies are G1, year 4 dated 1986 Hasbro.

Peach Blossom is in good condition but Honeysuckle has some damage on her leg and it looks like she got zebra striped with a pink highlighter.  Her hair is also really super frizzy. I am still working to tame her mane.

Bunnyhop is a Precious Pocket Pony (G1).  This one is really cute. The cutie mark is a wand.  Attached to the string is a little pink rabbit that comes out of the hat.

The picture doesn't do this one justice.  It's hair is much nicer looking now.  It had just gotten a long bath and a scrub with a magic eraser. 

This is Pretty Puff (G1).  She is from the Secret Surprise line.   I was really excited to find this one complete.  The saddle is the lid for a secret compartment.

This one was also in really good shape.  It is dated 1990 Hasbro.

This is Pretty Beat (G1) from the Rockin Beat Pony line.  Her retro colors really date her.  The colors kind of remind me of those old Caboodle make-up carriers.   This one is complete with its guitar hair brush.

It is dated Hasbro 1990.




That is all of the Generation 1 ponies that we have found  so far.   The rest of the ponies pictured are Generation 3.



The first G3 is a Toys R Us Birthday Flower Pony, September Aster.   This one is a rare exception.  This one my daughter actually got as a prize from a little festival we went to.  Come to find out it is one of the harder to find ponies.












This is Port-o-bella  which comes from a K-Mart exclusive 2 pk.

The other ponies in our growing collection are common, but still they are growing on me.

We have Twirlerina,  a Pegasus pony with a bow cutie mark.

Extra long hair Dibble-Dabble is one of the Jewel Ponies.   Her hair was a hot mess and took a lot of work to get brushed out.

Her cutie mark is a paint pallet with a gem stone in the center.

This one is Citrus Sweetie.  In researching, I found out that this one is supposed to be scented.   It still has a little bit of scent but it is very faint.

This one is Star Beam.   There are 2 versions of this particular pony.   There is a regular release and a discount store release.  This is the regular release.  The difference in the 2 is the fancy hoof.











Snow'el is a Target exclusive pony.   Interestingly,  there is a pegasus pony with the same name and another pony with named Mittens with the same cutie mark.









                             

                  Strawberry Reef

Tea Lily is a baby pony.   She appears in 3 MLP sets.   One is an Avon exclusive, another is a JC Penney exclusive set.

The last set is a discount chain 3 pack.      In that set, you got Tea Lily, Sweetberry (pictured with Tea Lily) and Peach Surprise.

This is the first time that I have actually found ponies that go together in the same place.

Fairy Fun was released as a Halloween pony.    She should have a set of fairy wings that would complete her.

Soda Float is supposed to be scented like root beer.   This is the second pony in our collection that at one time was scented.

This is one of the many versions of Pinkie Pie.   This particular one has Pinkie Pie and some balloons on the leg.









Not Pictured:
Pink SunSparkle-  Is a baby pony that when released came out with the Celebration Castle.   She was also included in an exclusive Target 3 pack.
We also have Bunches of Fun.  She is another pink pony with a bouquet of flowers on her back haunches.   She is currently undergoing restoration.   She got painted with either blue glitter paint or glitter glue.   It is taking a little bit more work then I expected to get her in good condition.

Like my Monster High collection post, I will update this post as we add more ponies to our collection.   For now, I don't think the ponies will be going up for sell or trade.  I see us adding more to our collection soon.

Thrift Find: Hasbro Battle Beast

I found these little figures today.   I thought that my son might enjoy them.    I researched them and found that they are called Battle Beast made by Hasbro in the 1980s.  

They originated in Japan and then marketed in America. The line was actually a spin off of Transformers.    Each figure has a symbol earth, wood, or fire and could be used to play a rock, paper scissors type game.

There are 4 series of Battle Beast.  Series 1-3 are numbered 1-76.    The Battle Beast pictured are: #6.  Triple Threat Snake,  #16. Sly Fox, and #33. Major Moose.

You can check out all of the Battle Beast on Toy Archive.   There are several that I would love to find.  I especially love # 41,22, 18.

Grand total for these little guys.  $.75

Thrift Find: President's Day Sale at the Goodwill today

With it being President's Day the entire Goodwill store was 50% off.    It was a lite toy day.   I picked up a few things that I am hoping I will be able to re-sale.    I also got a 2002 Transformer that will be added to the tribe from a bag o'fun.

The greatest find of the day was this bag.   I saw another lady looking at it and was just hoping that she would put it back.  Luckily, she decided against it and I swooped it up.  It has a very bohemian quality about it.  I fell in love with it.

Believe me, I have been showing to anybody and everybody who would look and listen.     I don't really think the bag has been used that much.   Maybe somebody brought it home as a souvenir from a trip?   I picture it belonging to a gobal explorer.   The bag is leather on the inside, sides, and trim.   Looking at the leather inside, it isn't scuffed at all.  

 The buckles and closure are made of brass.  I am wanting to polish them up.   The tapestry looks to be handmade and possible South American.

The picture doesn't really do it justice. The colors in the tapestry are lovely.   It has a beauty and a richness that just can't be found in anything massed produced.   That is a funny statement coming from a mass produced toy addict.    I guess this bag provides some needed contrast to all of the my toy posting.   

With everything in the store being 50% off today, I got the bag for the grand total of $2.25.  

Thrift Find- G1 Transformer Camshaft and a Go-bot

I would like to thank the mother of a thirty something year old child, who recently cleaned out her attic.    She donated her son's Transformers (at least I am assuming they belonged to her son).   Friday seems to be my day to find these Transformers.   But, I didn't just find a Transformer.   I also found Transformer's infamous K-Mart cousin, a Go-bot.

Now, I am not going to get into a debate over which are superior.  I know which camp I sit firmly in.  I always liked the Transformers.  Let's face it, Go-bots just weren't the same.  But that's ok, I have a growing respect for them.    I am going to focus more on the Go-bot because honestly, I don't think I have seen Go-Bot  since the 80's.    

This is South Claw.   It  is from the Monsterous line.    There are 6 in this set, when combined they make one giant robot.   

 In its alternate form it looks like some sort of  Pterodactyl.   They don't really transform, they just kind of neatly fold up.   I do have to say, one thing the Go-Bots have going for them is they are much easier to "transform".    Overall, I think he is pretty cool and  I am thrilled to find it.  

It is marked 1985 Bandai.  This confused me because I thought the Go-Bot line was made by Tonka.     They were made by Tonka, but the story gets complicated.   

In 1991, Hasbro bought Tonka and its subsidiaries including Kenner.   Hasbro acquired all of Tonka's intellectual properties, which would include the Go-Bot names and storylines.  But, The rights to the toys are still owned by Bandai.  It was only licensed to Tonka and therefore not part of the buy out.    You can read more about the Go-bot franchise here.   

so in a way the Transformers and Go-Bots really are cousins.

It took me a little bit to identify Camshaft.   I originally thought it was Blue Streak, but I knew the car models were not the same.   It is dated 1984.  Camshaft is from the Generation 1, series 2.    

The only downer to this figure is his head is missing.  But a Transformer is a Transformer.  It looks cool in its alt mode.   Still, I am happy to welcome it into my little robot tribe.    

Grand total for today's find: $ 2.25

The cost of a bag o'fun.   My little girl was happy because the bag also had some My Little Ponies.   As best I can tell, they are generation 3 MLPs.     I am not sure what the purpose of a My Little Pony is.   I was never a fan as a kid.  

Thrift Find- Master's of the UniverseGrizzlor and Kobra Khan

I am not sure if Friday is the day for vintage toys at the Goodwill or not. But, it seems like every Friday, I have good luck.    Today's thrift find is Grizzlor and Kobra Khan from Master's of the Universe.
 Grand total for these hulking beasts of badness, $2.25.   I purchased them in one of the infamous Goodwill Bags O' Fun.    

Lets take a look at Grizzlor.



He was added to the Master's of the Universe toy line in 1985.    Grizzlor was one of Hordack's henchmen.   Let's just say that he isn't the brightest of bulbs in the cartoon.  However, the MoU comic books tell a different story.

 If Chewbacca and King Kong had a love child, I think this is what you might get.   He has a full mane of plush faux brown fur.  Which by the way, he was bathed and had a blow dry.   No one wants second hand, nappy faux fur.

This is a rare case where I find a toy at the Goodwill and it has its accessories!   Grizzlor was paired up with a cross-bow.   However, after some research, it isn't his.    The cross-bow pictured is actually Leech's.     I found a website with both pictured.  Mattel is notorious for recycling parts, so this is no surprise.  They are the same weapon.  Just different colored plastic.


Lets take a look at Kobra Khan.   

Kobra Khan was added to the Master's of the Universe line in 1984.    The awesome play value on this figure is, you remove his head, fill him with water, and spray his "sleep mist" at your opponents.   I have tested him and he still sprays water.

Kobra Khan isn't the most stunning of He-Man figures.   Compared to Grizzlor, he is just kind of plain.    Still, I am happy to add them to the collection.

I am curious if there might be more He-Man figures lurking around this particular Goodwill.   More Bags 'O Fun to search through.

Thrift Find: Transformers G2 Scrapper Constructicon

For the last couple of weeks, I have been making a weekly trip to our local Goodwill store.  This store just recently opened, which I am not sure if it's good or bad.   It is really close to home and work.  So whenever I get a free minute, I go check it out.

They have really been keeping it stocked with some great merchandise, compared to the other GW in town.  I picked up a generation 2 Constructicon.   It is missing some stickers and its accessory pieces.   This is the third Transformer I have picked up at this store.   All have been priced .50.    You can read about the other Transformers I purchased here.

When I was younger, my mom hated buying me toys.   She desperately wanted me to play with baby dolls but I just wasn't into that.  I loved my Barbie dolls, but I couldn't stand baby dolls.  Not to mention, that I also  loved all the Star Wars, GI Joes, and Transformers I could get my hands on.    She hated buying "boy toys".    One Christmas, I got the Autobot Blaster.  That was the only one that I ever had.  I have been slowly picking up vintage Transformers.

On this trip, I also picked up a really cool pair of Woodies sandals.   I googled them and found out that they retail for about $40 and are hand painted.    I scoped these out for weeks.  As a general rule, I don't buy shoes at the Goodwill.  But, for some bizarre reason, I just couldn't resist these.

I would look at them and put them back.  This went on for several weeks.  I would try to hide them, but at the Goodwill that is virtually impossible.  I am surprised they were still there.  Finally, green was the color of the day and I got them half price.    I don't really think they have been worn.  They have been properly Lysoled and sanitized.   Now, if the weather will just warm up.

Thrift Find: It's raining vintage Transformers (G1 Metroplex & Onslaught)

The weather today wasn't the greatest for thrift treasure hunting.    We have been blessed with sleet and freezing rain today.  But, the Goodwill has been raining vintage Transformers.    This is the second time in about 2 weeks that I have found some generation 1 Transformers.      Today's grand total for the pair was $1. 

These two are in played with condition.   Onslaught especially has a lot of sticker wear and missing accessory pieces.    A side from the Transformers featured in the cartoon, my knowledge of them is greatly lacking.   I had to Google information on both of these robots.

Metroplex when transformed is actually a city.  This is surprisingly one of the easier to transform.   There is a helipad for a helicopter, parking spaces.  The city scale is more suited to the mini-bots.  I need to find some mini-bots.   He is missing Six Guns, Slammer, and Scamper.


From what I have read, this Metroplex is the second version.  In order to cut costs, Hasbro replaced chrome thighs and rubber wheels with stickers with plastic wheels.

Onslaught is a Combaticon.   I love his motto, " The mind is the greatest weapon".   He has 3 modes, robot, vehicle, and battle station mode.     Onslaught is the leader of the Combaticons and when together they form Bruticus.   Like I said, I am missing the accessory pieces.   There is a chest plate that completes him in robot mode.   For the price, I am not going to complain.  I think they are awesome.

Despite the weather, I scored a great find today.

Flea Market Find- Harry Potter, Disney lunchbox, and the batmobile

I thought I would share a few of my recent flea market finds.  I picked these up 2 weekends ago at a flea market up in NC.

The first is a vintage 1976  Disney World metal lunch box.  It is in well used condition.  But I just absolutely fell in love with it.  I should take some more pictures of it. The back has this great graphic of the Country Bears.  The sides depict different rides and dattractions at Disney World.   I paid $8 for it.  I think it will make a great display/storage piece.

The next item I picked up was the  Wizard's Sweets Harry Potter doll.  It is from 2001.  I didn't really start collecting anything Harry Potter related until about 2 years ago.  I picked up a Hagrid and a few other action figure from the first movie at the flea market.    I paid $2 for this Harry.  I love it because he comes with a chocolate frog package and a little frog bracelet that sadly no longer smells like chocolate.   I would love to find the matching Hermione doll.

Lastly, is the Batmobile!   I picked this up at Walmart.  I love Batman and yes, this chick does dig the car.   I recently started picking up the Hot Wheels that are from movies and tv.   I also have the A-Team van and Ecto 1.   I am currently looking for the other versions of the Batmobile and Kitt from Knight Rider.

Admiral Ackbar, The Highlander, and some vintage toys

This is a re-post from October 2012 from my family blog.

This past Saturday, my family and I took a little road trip to Knoxville, TN to attend the Fanboy Expo.   This year the sci-fi convention had some really great celebrity guest in attendance.  For us, we were most excited to meet Adrian Paul from The Highlander tv series and Tim Rose, puppeteer and Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

My husband really loved The Highlander tv series so meeting "Duncan MacLeod" was exciting to him.   I do have to say that I love Adrian Paul's accent.  Listening to him talk during is Q&A session was great.   He was funny and genuinely seemed to enjoy meeting his fans.

I know my husband had wished that he could have spoken with him longer.  DH has always loved The Highlander.   As a gift one year, I bought my husband all 6  seasons on DVD.   We had this epic Highlander marathon one weekend.   That of course was before we had children and our TV got hijacked by Nickelodeon.

We took a short break after meeting Adrian Paul.  His line was the longest of the day for our family.  The kids were ready for a change of pace.    The venue for the event was held at a park, which was great! The kids were able to get outside and run around for a little bit.  After a bite of lunch, they were happy again.

For me, the highlight of our time there, was meeting Tim Rose.   Since, my Star Wars costume is Admiral Ackbar, it was a true pleasure to meet the man who actually portrayed the character. As a puppeteer he has worked on some of my favorite movies.  Return of the Jedi, Howard the Duck (cheesy but awesome), and Dark Crystal.   I went total nerd and brought my costume for 2 reasons.  1.) To get a picture with Mr. Rose and 2.) to enter the costume contest.    I mean, how often do you have to opportunity to meet the actors?

I really wished that I had the opportunity to speak with him a little bit longer.  I would have loved to have learned more from him about being Ackbar.

I am proud to say that I did win  for best costume in the "Best Sci-Fi" category.   I won an autographed poster.  It was signed by a graphic novel artist.  I am totally finding some place to display it.  As far as I am concerned, it is a trophy of sorts.

We did meet several other Star Wars actors.  My husband added their signatures to one of our multi signed pieces.

Of course, you can't go to a con without hitting the vendors area.   I only picked up a few items to add to my assorted toy collections.  My first purchase came in the way of Mr. Staypuft.   I have been fighting starting a Ghostbusters toy collection.  But, I just love that movie so much!  I never had any of the toys as a kid.  So I gave in and got the beloved marshmallow.  He really is in excellent condition.  The color is still white, no yellowing and no marks.

I need 2 more Ghostbuster figures, Slimer, and maybe an Ecto1 for my collection to be complete.

My second purchase was a bag of assorted Harry Potter action figures from the first 2 movies.   I paid $15 for the bag, which was reasonable for the 15 figures it contained.    I finally got a Ron Weasley in Hogwarts robes!  Which to me, made the bag.   I also picked up a Griphook figure and 3 of the Slime Chamber figures (2 Harrys and a Malfoy).   Some of the figures are extras or upgrades to the ones I already own.   I also was able to upgrade my large Hagrid figure by adding his pink umbrella accessory to him.  Now, if I can locate a baby Norbert, he will be complete.

I really love the mini Quiddich Harry and Hagrid figures.  I have been researching  more information on the "mini" figures.   My HP figure short list is growing.  I am now on the look out for a Ginny Weasley mini figure.