Updating my Monster High Collection

It's been a while since I posted.  I just don't have t.   time and sometimes energy.    But, I was really excited with my most recent MH find.

I was shopping at a local Big Lots yestetday and found Sweet Screams Ghoulia for $12.  The Sweet Screams subline of dolls was a Target exclusive.    There are 4 dolls in this set:Frankie, Draculara, Ghoulia, and Abby.  Ghoulia was the only one available,  but hoping to find the others at other Big Lot stores.

I also picked up Porter and Vandella from the Haunted.  Porter is new, but Vandella i have haf since Christmas. I love her!  The detail on her peg leg is awesome!   I also have Lorna and Marisol.   I have had them since last year's Black Friday .

Monster High Collection update-SDCC 2014 and others

It has been awhile since I talked about Monster High dolls.  For the most part, I am pretty much over them.  I am limiting myself to only a few.   Mattle has flooded the market with too many mediocre dolls.    It seems the creative spark that made the doll line so interesting is bogged down in the money making machine.

Yesterday, I had a huge box waiting on me.  It was my SDCC 2014 Monster High exclusive set.  I am so thankful to my best friend from high school and his husband for undertaking the task of attempting to get the dolls for me.  I am impressed with this year's set.  It is actually one of the nicest SDCC MH sets.  The box is huge!  It is detailed nicely with a built in locker to hold accessories for the pair.  Manny has to be the largest of all the Monster High dolls.   Which makes Iris look to be about the same height as possibly Twyla.   One detail that sells me on Iris is her matching shoes and purse.  I love the eyeball design.

Currently, there is only one doll I am still looking for, Slow Mo.   I have never seen him in stores.  Of course, I don't spend much time actively hunting them.  I figure, eventually, he will turn up.  They are still packing the guys one to a box.
I did find the Target 5 pack with him  .  But, the last 2 5 packs I purchased, I got on clearance for 29.99.   I am willing to take the chance and wait it out to save some money.  The Target 5 packs have increased a few dollars each year.  They are becoming ridiculously priced.






Jane Boolittle, interesting idea for a character. She is the daughter of a witch doctor.  However, with
Mattle shipping cases of nothing but her, she is turning into a hardcore shelf warmer. Which is really sad considering she is a beautiful doll.  I have one that I opened and one still in box.
 I really love Honey Swamp (not pictured) and Viperine.   I have had these dolls since Christmas but haven't really haven't had the interest or time to comment about them.
Of the four new characters in the Frights, Camera, Action line they are the most interesting.  The others, Elizabat and Clawdia Wolf are boring.  Target has been having great clearances  lately on shelf warming MH dolls.  Hopefully, those will soon see clearance price, then I will pick them up.

 I am just going to briefly mention a few other dolls that I have picked up in the past few months.  I haven't taken pictures of those, so I will try to get them added quickly.  I have made the decision to only collect new characters.
I no longer buy the dolls that are considered budget lines and I am trying to avoid rehashed dolls just in different clothing.  Most of the budget line dolls that I had in my collection were donated this past Christmas to the Salvation Army Angel Tree.
There are some new characters coming soon that were shown at Comic Con.  And I have to say, several of them I am really excited about.  I will have to see them in person before I make the decision to add them to the collection.


 However, when it comes to dolls on clearance (especially at Target) I will pick a few up.  Either to  add to my personal collection or save for the upcoming holiday season.


Pictures will be coming soon of the following dolls:

Walmart exclusive Frights, Camera, Action Operetta.  I love the deco styling of her clothing.

Thanks to an Easter sell, I got the 13 wishes party dolls.  The dolls were on sale for $9. In addition to the low price, they were also included in a bogo 50% off deal.

I am sure that I have a few more tucked away in the closet that I am going to kick myself for not taking pictures of.  For a complete look at my collection, please visit my Monster High collection post.  

Trading Post

All of the items pictured are currently up for sale or trade.  Please let me know if you are interested in anything.   For purchases, I accept paypal only and US shipping only.  All packages are shipped via USPS with tracking.  

I know have more items to trade, just haven't taken all of the pictures, but this will at least get this started.  I mainly collect Star Wars, Transformers, looking for a few Ghostbuster figures, Food Fighters, Crash Test Dummies, and anything weird, wonderful, or unusual.

If you have anything to trade, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

Some toy show finds

This weekend we went to a local toy show,   Lately, I have been into picking up Ghostbuster figures.  I have almost completed a set of Filmation Ghostbuster figures. But, I am still working on the Real Ghostbuster figures.

I picked up several of the Movie Monsters and some of the Haunted Human figures.  



I now have 4 of the movie monsters and 6 of the haunted humans.  Once I get the last few figures I need, I think my Ghostbuster collection will be complete.  I am not going to collect all of the different versions of the guys.  Of course, I  say that now.  who knows?  I will probably change my mind.





I also picked up a Remco Dracula to go with my Frankenstien.  He isn't in the best of shape but I am happy to add him to the collection.  The Phantom and Creature are my current fixations.  I am wanting to add those to my collection soon.




My last pick up at the toy show was a G1 Peachy MLP.   I don't know why I picked her up.  I have this love/hate relationship with MLPs, but when I see them, I just can't resist rescuing them.

Happy Star Wars Day

I just want to wish all of the Star Wars fans out there a Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you!  and beware the revenge of the 5th.

Recent toy finds! part 1

It has been forever since I blogged here about any of my toys.   I started a Tumblr, which I really have liked.  I don't feel obligated to wax poetically about what I find.  Just a quick picture and a few words.  It's great!

 I started this blog because the newest and closest Goodwill store was a treasure chest.  Well, that dried up fast.  I haven't found anything in that store in about 6 months. I know people donate toys.   But, this store never has any toys (action figures, naked Barbies, nothing!)   It fluctuates from looking like a Target clearance aisle to empty shelves.  You can hear the crickets.

My husband has gotten better about going to the flea market with me.  Convincing my husband to branch out and travel a little to other flea markets is still a tough sell.   But lately, his best friend has been on a quest to find Visionary toys.  That has helped my cause greatly!

Alright, so enough chit chat.  Let's get to the good stuff.  

First up are the items from my local flea market.

The burning question- To open or not to open?  So far, I haven't opened them.  I am dying to know what is inside other then an almost 30 year old piece of gum.    I got these from an older gentleman who was selling different packs of cards.  He said, " those really are some ugly critters on those cards."   I got the 2 packs for a $1 plus a few loose cards he said I could have because those were the only ones he had.

I got a Charon from Clash of the Titans.   I picked it up thinking it's a cool figure.  He was kind of an impulse buy because the price was good.  Lately, I have been picking up more movie monsters, Ghostbusters, etc.  I thought he might blend in well with them. I was wrong.

 Do you have those toys you just can't connect with?  I had him 2 days and sold him.   He was creeping me out and next to Mr. Staypuft's infectious smile, he just was bringing down the rest of the shelf.

Speaking of movie monsters, I found this 1980 Frankenstien hidden away in the bottom of a box buried under Happy Meal toys. Originally, I dismissed him as one of the Universal Monster toys from Burger King.  But on closer inspection, I realized he was awesome!  I was thrilled to get him.   This is the non glowing version.  I would love to find more of these, especially The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Phantom of the Opera.




Last weekend, we skipped the flea market and went to a toy show.  Most of the ones in our area are usually really small and kind of hit or miss.  This one was awesome!  I saw so many things that I "needed" and wanted.  I had to stop myself from grabbing arm loads and pick just certain items.

As much as I saw that I wanted, I was really selective and didn't as much as my husband did.  He hit the mother load on Walking Dead figures.  Although not all of his figures came from the toy show.

Like I said, I have been picking up the Real Ghostbusters.    But I could not pass these up.   Nobody from my circle of friends remembers the Filmation Ghostbusters.

I vividly remember this cartoon, the characters, everything about it.   I would watch it on WGN.  My grandmother had cable at her house.  And that channel had all the great cartoons in the afternoon!

As a kid, I never had any of these figures or any of the Real Ghostbuster figures.  I guess that is why I have been buying them up lately.

If you aren't familiar with the characters, the tall robot/skeleton looking guy is Prime Evil.  The girl is Futura.  And the green faced character is Fib Face. You can turn his head around and change his face.

I was excited to see them in the wilds, other then Ebay, I haven't seen them much.  They were my biggest purchase from the show.   I picked up a few vintage Star Wars figures to fill in some gaps.  I only need about 15 more to complete my set.

Lastly, my Ebay obsessions.  Since I can't find any Crash Test Dummy action figures anywhere, I turn to Ebay.   I love Skid the Kid, Hubcat, and Bumper.   Thanks to Eric at Toyriffic and his Halloween post about Hubcat, my obsession began.  Since then,  my baby army has grown!  I am up to 3 loose Skids with car seat, 1 loose Skid with car seat and stroller (which should arrive any day now), 1 Skid the Kid MOC, 2 Bumpers, and 1 Hubcat.

Seriously, if you don't have one of these in your collection, get one!   They are hilarious, ridiculously cute, and slightly inappropriate.  What more could you ask for?

I also got one of my grail figures that I have been wanting for some time.  I finally picked up a Marion Ravenwood, from  ROTLA.  She has her monkey, though he isn't in this picture.

Her skirt is loose and there is some paint wear on her shoes.  To me, she is perfect.


I have more find to share.  Hopefully, since it is spring break I can post more this week.

Salacious has 2 new outfits

When we went to Disney World over the Thanksgiving holiday, I picked up this awesome Salacious Crumb.   I think Disney has quickly learned how to market to Star Wars fans.   I could not resist when I saw Crumb sitting by a register wearing a very princess like pink tiara.   I bought both.  

Every now and then, I get bored and create new outfits for him.   First off, he got the tacky Christmas sweater.  This year's sweater will be much tackier.  I just didn't have enough time to make it super tacky.  

Now he has his tea time outfit and a Valentine sweater.  I have been trying to think of different outfits that I could create.  I am kind of leaning toward something out of the Village People.   Maybe a cowboy or indian, construction worker, I don't know.  I haven't decided yet.  Something will strike me sooner or later.

Tiny Dinosaurs

This week, my local Goodwill have been a bit dino heavy.  I nabbed another Jurassic Park velociraptor out of a bag of fun.   I loved those dinosaurs in the movie.   I just couldn't resist pairing them up with some friends and this Little Golden Book, "Tiny Dinosaurs".

cross posted on my Tumblr.

Bitchy Miss Daisies and a bear

Is anyone else glad that Christmas is finally over?   I know that sounds awful, but I am.  For those of you with dysfunctional families, I suppose you can appreciate and understand why.   I don't see gift giving as a competition.  But, I found out this year, apparently it is.

 There is always one family member that is difficult to shop for.   For the most part, I spend a better part of the year thinking of something for my dad.  My dad grew up poor.  My grandparents were farmers, so Christmas wasn't full of wants.  It was filled more with practical gifts that were needed. Toys were somewhat of a luxury.

Since becoming a self sufficient adult, when shopping for my dad, I try to select gifts that he normally wouldn't buy for himself.    One thing that my dad has always wanted was a Big Al from the Country Bears. I have randomly search Ebay to see what was available.   None of them were all that, so I would pass on auctions.  My husband wasn't convinced that he really wanted one. Ok, so with all this said,  this leads me further into my story.

Over Thanksgiving, myself, husband, kids, mom, dad, and sister all packed up the family trucksters to go to Disney World for a week.    While we were at the Magic Kingdom, my dad announced to the our group, that he wanted to go see the Country Bears and Hall of Presidents.    After that was said, I looked at my husband with the "see!, I told you so" look.  While in line for Pirates, I found 2 auctions that were worth watching.  Later in the week, I won the auction and the bear arrived the Monday after we got back.

 Big Al is in perfect condition. This was made by the California Stuffed Toy Co. which closed in the mid to late 80s.  It has all of its original tags.  The clothing, which is made of felt has some fading, but I mainly think that is due to the age.   I remember this version of the bear being available during the 80s.

I didn't really share with my mom or sister that I got the bear.  I didn't think that it would be a big deal.  It was our gift to him from the kids.  So, Christmas Eve, we go over to my parent's home for dinner and opening presents.  It turned out to be the last gift he opened and his reaction to it was priceless.  My dad almost cried.   I was really touched by his reaction and it was one of the few moments, this whole holiday season, that filled me with some Christmas spirit.

Now to the part of the story where I need to vent.

So, now that Christmas is a week old, all I have heard for the past 7 days is  my mom and sister bitching about how they couldn't top the bear!   Oh excuse me, I didn't know it was m*&^%# %&*%ing competition.  My mom said, "Next year, I will just let you pick out all of his gifts.  I wasted $200 on a new tv for him."  I didn't realize how badly I pissed in their cereal.

It isn't like the tv won't get watched.  My dad lives and breathes sports (football, baseball, nascar, golf,etc).  If it is televised, the man is watching it.    The bear is just sitting on a shelf.

What bothers me the most, is how petty they are being all because I bought something out of the ordinary.  They have internet.  They know how to shop Ebay.  Get over it!  Do you have family like this? How do you deal with them?

Some new changes

I am making some new changes to my blog.  First off, I changed the name.  I never really liked Retro Toy Safari.  It just wasn't me but at the time I couldn't think of anything better.   Since I collect a lot of R2s, I thought the new name was perfect.  

I also have created a tumblr.     This way if I don't get to write an article here, I can do a quick post on Tumblr via my phone.   The tumblr is just going to be random pictures and items from my collection, especially new finds. 

Please continue to visit me here and now on tumblr

The Salacious Crumb tacky Christmas sweater project

From the title, you probably thought WOW! she is knitting a Salacious Crumb sweater.  Sadly no,  I wish I was that crafty.  We spent our Thanksgiving holiday at Disney World.  Thank you Disney for dropping the cash and purchasing the Star Wars franchise.  For my family, it makes life easy now.  We just give all our money to one company skipping the middle man.  The Star Wars merchandise selection there was awesome!

My favorite Star Wars purchase has been Salacious B. Crumb. I love the background aliens.  I couldn't pass up an almost life sized lizard monkey!  I have had so many facebook friends refer to him as creepy, ugly, and frightening.   Have these people never seen Return of the  Jedi?  How are these people my friends?

I didn't really intend to start dressing it up. But the suggestion was made about mouse ears.  I couldn't find any mouse ears small enough for him, so I bought a rhinestone mickey tiara because everybody wants to be a pretty, pretty, princess from time to time.  

Once the tiara was on, plans for a feather boa and tutu soon followed, but have been put on hold by the ugly Christmas sweater project.  It's Christmas and everybody needs at least one tacky Christmas sweater right?  Honestly, I haven't been much in the holiday mood.  But this has been fun and helped me a little.

Well, tacky Christmas sweaters don't come in lizard monkey sizes or even newborn sizes.  So, (thanks to the Goodwill) I found a cheap and ugly sweater that was a 3-6 months. I feel sorry for the kid who had to wear it originally.   With some minor alterations and major embellishings, we have gotten to this point in the sweater project.

I haven't wanted to spend a lot on, so I have just been using ribbon and scraps from around the house.  I am still looking for more beads and a topper for the tree.  I also need a different color ribbon to finish the packages.  

I would love to do like a 12 days of ugly sweaters for next year and have it be some sort of ongoing holiday project.

I am in love with a Crash Test Dummy! Skid the Kid

So all during the month of October, I was on top of my blogging game.  November hits and BAM!  nothing for almost an entire month.  Its not that I don't have anything to talk about.  I just haven't had the time.

During the Countdown to Halloween, Eric over at Toyriffic did a post talking about a Hubcat he found at a thrift store.  After reading his post, I was curious and had to find these figures.  I remember the Crash Test Dummies line of toys, but never really paid them any attention back in the day.  The Hubcat and Bumper set is a little morbid but so absurd they are awesome.  In his post, Eric also mentioned Skid the Kid. A quick Google search and I was hooked.

After several weeks of stalking ebay, I struck and won a Skid the Kid!!  This figure is ridiculously cute!  Skid sucks his/her thumb.  Skid looks as though it could be dressed in a daisy costume.  The figure originally also came with a little stroller that I believe is kind of like an ejector seat.  My figure didn't come with the stroller so I am on the look out for that as well.

I am also considering getting this figure carded.  It is just too cute not to have multiples.  I would like to pick up a loose set of Hubcat and Bumper to go with Skid.  But so far, all I have seen are carded figure sets.

My quest continues to find more of these figures.    Thanks Toyriffic for getting me hooked on Crash Test Dummies.

Countdown to Halloween Day #30- Halloween Freebies

Candy isn't the only thing that will be free tomorrow.   There are a lot of restaurants and stores giving away free stuff.


Krispy Kreme Doughnuts-  get a free doughnut when you wear your costume in store.  Offer only  Oct. 31st.

IHOP- Free Scary Pancake for kids on Halloween 7am-12pm

Panada Express- Free Kids Meal when kids wear costume in store.

Outback- Kids eat free with adult entree.

Don't forget that Sonic Drive-In has .50 corn dogs all day long on Halloween.

Chipotle has $3 Boouritos, bowls, salads, or tacos with costume, 4 pm to close.


If you have a Lego store nearby, stop in to get a free Monster Fighter key chain.

Countdown to Halloween day #27: Monster Mash

This is kind of a lazy countdown post.  It is cheesy and fabulous, and completely a Halloween must

Countdown to Halloween Day #26: Updating my Monster High Collection

Friday, I finally found  the last two Power Ghouls at Target.  I picked up Frankie as Voltageous and Toralei as Catastrphe.

My Target has been extremely slow to put these two dolls on the shelf.  I believe it is mainly because they overstocked on Spectra and Clawdeen.  Those two have been shelf warmers for months since their initial release.

This is one of my favorite sub-lines in the whole Monster High franchise.  These dolls are beautifully designed and well thought out.  It reminds me of the Wave 1 dolls that were first released.  They are a breath of fresh air to stale fashion dolls.  Sadly though, I think Monster High is getting a little stale.  I used to stalk the stores hardcore for them, but now I am just kind of ....meh.   I am tired of all the same rehashed characters. It is sad  because they have turned interesting characters into shelf warmers.   I would love to see some interesting new basic dolls.

I have updated my Monster High Collection post with my newest dolls.  It has been awhile since it has been updated.

Countdown to Halloween Day #25: Made Halloween cake pops

The other day, I posted about some Halloween items I picked up at the dollar store.   One of the items was a cake pop press.   The kids had been wanting to test it out.  It worked out perfectly  because I had bought 2 boxes store made cupcakes for their school Fall Festival.   Well, only one box survived.  As I was bringing in groceries, I dropped the second box.

The instructions say to crumble fresh cake and mix with 1/2 gtub of frosting.   I just recycled the cake and  the garish purple and green frosting that topped them.  Once I got it all mixed together, you have to chill your cake and frosting mixture.  After that was done, we made large balls of cake,( about the size of a doughnut hole) and press it into the cake press.


After a couple of test cake balls, I was surprised at how well my dollar store find worked.   It was really easy so I turned the process over to the kids.  They enjoyed the whole process.  Once the shapes are made it suggests chilling or freezing the cake.  We froze ours for about 30 minutes and that seemed to be enough.

I gave the kids some decorating icing tubes and let them decorate as they wanted.  They were thrilled and a few didn't even get decorated.

Countdown to Halloween #24: vintage halloween images

My oldest daughter has a fascination with witches.  I am not sure why.  She loves the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz.   We have been collecting vintage images to print out.   I am not sure what we are going to make with them yet.  But they are really beautiful to look at.   These are a couple of our favorites.  

My newest Lego mini figures

I picked up 4 new Lego figures tonight.   I have been trying to find the Tiki, Gingerbread Man and Elf, but I just always seem to miss them.   Thank you Target for the fresh box on the shelf.

Finally! found a Hot Wheels Enterprise

Yesterday, while I was in Walmart I found 2 Hot Wheels Enterprise and an Arkham Asylum Batmobile.   I was shocked they were actually there!

 I don't collect Hot Wheels per se, but I do like the pop culture and retro collections.   I just never have much luck beating the Hot Wheels "enthusiasts" to the shelves.

Countdown to Halloween Day #23: Ghost in a Jar kids craft

This was a fun little craft that I made with my children this past weekend.  All you need is a jar, some lightweight fabric of gauze, spray, and a battery operated tea light.