Comic Book Men go to the Ren Fair

This weeks episode of Comic Book Men starts off with the boys talking about solving personal problems for their customers. I would imagine that spoilers would be one of the worst things about working in a comic store. Customers would probably talk about comics, movies, and TV shows you haven't seen or read yet.

They cut away to the the boys sitting with Kevin Smith around the mics and they start taking about the rarest item ever in the Secret Stash. It was a Mego Elastic Hulk, similar to Stretch Arm-Strong. The owner claimed there are only 13 left in existence and his is the only one in mint condition. He had the box, the instructions, and he oils the rubber skin on the Hulk off and on to keep it from drying out and cracking.

The next customer brought in an original Spider-Man splash page - by John Romita Jr.It was a really nice piece and Walt bought it to resell.

The boys from the Stash joined Jason Mewes at the New York Renaissance Fair. They met up with the knights and went through the tests to be knighted. The entire time they were there the "characters" from the Fair picked on Ming.

The first challenge the boys were put up to was axe throwing The first couple of guys to try sucked. Mike and Jay were pretty good. The next challenge they had the guys try was to ring a bell by swinging a hammer. Most of the guys didn't come off as being to strong, but Bryan was able to ring the bell.


Next the guys got to throw tomatoes at Jason Mewes. I'm not really sure what the point was, but it was kind of funny.

Finally the guy had to sword fight with some girls. It was clearly choreographed and full of sexual innuendos.  The sword fighting vixens declared that the guys were ready to meet the Queen. The Queen then knighted the Clerks of the Stash.

The final customer into the Stash this episode brought in some props from the newer Battle Star Galactica show. Walt passed on the items, partly because he's not a Battle Star fan, but also because the Stash doesn't specialize in props.

It was a decent episode, but I would have rather seen more fun stuff come into the Stash. It felt a lot like the Zombie Run episode from last season.

In the world of comics...

I've been reading a lot of comics lately, and I felt like posting about some of them. I don't usually do reviews of specific issues and I'm going to try to avoid just recounting the main plot points of the books. I must declare that there may be some spoilers, so read at your own risk.

I've been a fan of GI Joe: A Real American Hero since it was a Marvel book back in the 80's. I don't own every issue, but a good majority of them. I rarely see any of the 90's issues I'm missing at comic stores or shows. I was very excited when IDW started the series again right were it left off with the original author Larry Hama. This month they just hit issue #200 (counting both the Marvel and IDW issues).

The most recent story line involved Cobra invading the Pitt and a small team of Joes using guerrilla tactics to drive them out. It's been pretty exciting. S.L. Gallant has done a nice job with the art work. I enjoy all the little touches he included. He tends to draw the characters in their classic uniforms, but on occasions there a unusual visual references like Cobra Commander wearing his Sigma 6 Battle Armor in issue 200. I have notice a couple of mistakes in the art were characters got mixed up. In issue 200, Zap and Long Range are talking to each other, but the bubbles are mixed up. I don't really know if this is the artist or letterer's fault. They need a die-hard Joe fan for an editor.


The next book I've been reading and really enjoying is Superior Spider-Man. If you don't know the basic plot you've been under a rock. They even made a joke on the Big Bang Theory about Dr. Octopus's mind being in Peter Parker's body. I've been reading the series from the start and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to see a fresh take on a famous character. It's a lot like Jean Paul Valley replacing Bruce Wayne during Knight Fall. Upgrading the suit and trying to be a better hero. The series is about to wrap up, and I knew it wouldn't last when they started it. I enjoyed the ride, but obviously Marvel will want Peter Parker's mind back in his body just in time for the release of the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 film.

I have to admit, after the past year of Superior Spider-Man I was excited to see the original costume again.


The last comic book I want to talk about is actually a collection of older issues reprinted in a really nice hardcover book. Batman by Doug Moench & Kelley Jones Vol 1 is a collection of 90's Batman monthly issues from after the Knight Fall series, but before the Cataclysm event. The book's title includes Vol 1, so I assume they will be releasing a 2nd volume containing more of these issues.

All the issues in the book were written by my good friend, Doug Moench with art by Kelley Jones. So there stories have dark and spooky artwork. Kelley's Batman has long ears and a crazy cape. These issue have very unique art, but feature other characters like Swamp Thing and Deadman that work so well with Kelley's style.

I haven't started rereading these issues yet, but I can't wait. I remember getting copies of the issues from Doug each month when I'd go over to play with his son, Derek. I have extremely vivid memories of getting some of the issues, and I always really enjoyed the times I got to meet artist Kelley Jones and inker John Beatty who worked on these issues.

Ninja Turtles Lot @ Sellersville Aucton

 Today I went up to the toy sale at Sellersville Auction. My buddy Paul wanted to hang out so I met him up there. Everybody who buys or sells toys in my area is at Sellersville whenever they are having a toy sale. I saw half the vendors from Retro Con and NJCC buying stuff there today. This place was even featured on Toy Hunter last season. My buddy Greg, who collects Super Powers toys meet up with me also to hang out.

They had 790 some lots to sell today. Everything from trains to Lego to comics to action figures. They had two Silverhawks Maraj ships as well as two Cobra Terror Drome playsets up for sale. I didn't have the winning bid on any of them, but they were the items I was most interested in. They had several carded vintage Star Wars figures as well.

I did end up making one purchase, a lot containing random Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise for $20. It's nothing to get to excited about, but it's fun to buy something if you hang out all day at an auction.

The item that most excited me in the lot was a Winton Cake Pan. I have a few other licensed cake pans in my collection. They hang on the one wall in my kitchen. The paper insert is in kind of rough shape, but that's not that important to me. There is a little bit of a ding in the pan, but I've already pushed it back out part way, and I think I can finish fixing it up pretty well.

The lot contained two TMNT Thermoses. The art featuring Raphael on them is identical, but they have different colored lids. I'm going to have to do some research to find out which one is correct, or if it came in both colors. There was Leonardo Pez dispenser which is carded, but the bubble is lifting. There is also a pack of TMNT gummy snacks for use with a creepy crawlers oven. This is from the 2000's relaunch turtles line.

I got VHS tapes of the first two live action Turtles films as well as a tape of one of the cartoon episodes. I also got a sealed set of plastic Ninja Turtles cookie cutters. I know we would have used them with Play-Dough when I was a kid. There is one cookie cutter of each turtle in the set.

 I got another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Collectors Case. The case is in really awesome shape and includes the tray inside to hold the toys. I get a set of four Turtle medallions. They have little clips on the back, I think they clip onto shoe laces somehow after you tie your shoes. I remember seeing other things like them in the 80's. I also got three vintage plastic adhesive bandages featuring the turtles. I'm tempted to open one up and see if they are still sticky.

The lot also included two kids sized fanny packs. I used to always wear my fanny pack to go to yard sales and flea markets when I was a kid. Of course they were in style back then. I even had a Turtles one as a kid, but it was different from both of these. I think I sold it for $5 on ebay in 2002. I wonder if my niece would use one of these? She's only two. The one in the lower left has some pretty unorthodox turtle art on it. The one item in the lot that really took me by surprise was the handkerchief below. It was folded up and in a plastic bag that was taped up in the lot, so I didn't see the full thing until after I won the auction. It features the four Turtles, Shredder, Wingding, and Ray Fillet. It uses the same art work as a Colorform set I had as a kid. There is also a baby turtle at each corners.

There was another similar lot that had licensed merchandise from several 80's brands that I wanted to bid on, but my buddy Paul stated bidding on it. I didn't want to fight him for it. I ended up buying these He-Man party favor ball games off of him. We gave these out as favors at my Birthday party when I was pretty young. He got a couple of other cool things including a He-Man kid's sized art smock, Ewoks Kite, Rainbow Brite Puzzle, and Voltron Underoos (sealed).

Iceberg v1 - GI Joe '86

Iceberg was the third cold weather specialist to join the GI Joe roster. Joining the ranks of Snow Job and Frostbite, Iceberg is often over looked. Iceberg didn't come with the crazy array of accessories Snow Job came with, and he's not the driver to one of the coolest vehicles ever made for the GI Joe brand. He's just a guy in a snow suit armed with a really long rifle.

Frostbite is dressed in a white snowsuit with a light blue torso. He has some light green details like straps and holders on his uniform. Many of the other 1986 GI Joes came with loads of accessories, but Iceberg didn't even get a backpack. He's got a lot of great detailing on his sculpt. Like many arctic troopers, often times loose specimens are yellowed from exposure to the sun.

Batzarro - DC Universe Classics

I only subscribed to Matty Collector's Club Infinite Earth for one year. Batzarro was one of the figures offered in the subscription. He certainly isn't a character that attracted me to the sub, but at least I like him enough to open him. About half of the figures just ended up in storage right away. I'm not really surprised the sub didn't go though for this year. The DC Universe is so large, and most people prefer certain decades or factions withing the Universe. It's hard to please everyone with character selections.

 Batzarro is dressed in a gray and black bat-suit. The large bat logo on his chest is up-side-down along with his belt. All the pockets on his belt are open. His cowl has no eye slits making him unable to see. Batzarro has a huge goofy grin and very pale skin. He came with one accessory, a batarang.

Toy Hunter buys for a Museum

Jordan is at it again. Digging though basements and toy chest to find rare items that can be displayed at the Hall of Heroes.

Jordan and Steve started off the episode by talking about the Battle Cat riding toy he bought last episode. After getting a call from Alan at the Hall of Heroes, Jordan had this weeks quest of finding old super heroes merchandise.

In walked in a customer with some old tin toys and a very cool metal Batmobile. The guy just wanted to get his stuff appraised. They had belonged to his grandfather.

Jordan headed off to Ohio to look for some toys. He first met up with a father and son team who had a huge Masters of the Universe collection. Unfortunately the guy opened up pretty much all the figures to save on storage space. Even the sealed vehicles had damaged packages. Toy Hunter gave Star Ship Eternia a nice showing. They explained how it's from the relaunched line, and one of the few popular pieces from that 90's version of He-Man. Jordan and his buddy Dave ended up picking up a close to complete set of Masters of the Universe toys for a little over $6,000.

Next Jordan and Dave went to Jamie's house to see his enormous Superman collection. One of the first items they showed off was a Superman string puppet display. Next they looked at a set of model sheets from the Hanna Barbara Super Friends cartoon. Then the boys found a non Superman item to try to buy. A little statue of Captain Marvel (Shazam!) from the 1940's molded in plastic.

Jordan and Dave finish their trek to see the Hall of Heroes comic book and toy museum. This place has comics, toys, and animation cels all related to super heroes. I may have to plan a trip some day. I'd enjoy looking around. I wonder what the owner of the museum, Alan, does for a living. Running a small museum can't have a huge pay check.

Jordan's first couple of finds did not impress Alan. The Captain Marvel statue was a hit and Jordan got his big sale. I enjoyed the fact that his weeks big client was a museum instead of a celebrity.

Batman Foil Stickers

Well, I called out sick today from work. I started getting a cold on Sunday. I felt pretty crappy most of today, so you're getting a quicky post today. My Mom bought me these stickers in the late 90's at a card and gift shop near where I grew up. The pack contained two identical sheets. Below is a compete sheet, other were used on some of my notebooks in High School. I had a couple of sheets of paper that I decorated with bits of art and stickers and I would move them from one clear view binder to another each school year.

The set contains 5 different Batman stickers, a Bat-symbol, a text logo sticker, and several small bat stickers. They have some very 90's color swatches behind Batman, but the foil effect sees very 80's.

Comic Book Men promote the CGC

This episode started off with a debate over the ending of the War of the Worlds movie. They didn't really specify which version they were talking about.

Kevin Smith wastes no time asking what the best thing to walk into the Secret Stash was. Walt starts drooling over some silver age comics. They showed off some amazing books. Walt suggested that the guy get the best of the books graded. The guy really didn't know what he had, so Walt agreed to call in a buddy of his to pick through the collection and identify which books the guy should invent in having graded.

The next customer brought in the terrible TurboMan figure from Jingle All the Way. Jake Loyd, who would later play a young Anakin Skywalker was the main kid in the film. It's not a great film, and the figure sucked as well.

The next customer brought in some sports memorabilia. Wayne Gretzky items. Walt really wanted to buy the collector plates and figures for Kevin, since he's such a huge hockey fan.

The episode wrapped up with the expert comic book grader stopping by the Stash. This segment felt a little like it was just an ad for CGC. I understand grading stuff so you know the condition, but it's a comic. If you can't open it what's the point. Once they grade them they are sealed in a plastic slab.

Not the best and not the worst episode. I did enjoy seeing the really old comics. I don't really care about the sports stuff, and the one toy in the episode was crappy.

Flea Market Finds #20

Despite how nice it was outside yesterday, it was a chilly day at the flea market. My buddy Dave and I hit up two different flea markets. I bought some tools at the first, and wasn't sure if there would be Flea Market Finds post this week, and then I found a few treasures digging around in boxes.

First up is a shiny Rocky the Red Ranger figure for the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Movie toy line. He has the Ape Power Coin on his torso. I previously picked up the Blue and Yellow movie Rangers. I'm on my way to having the whole team.

On the smaller side, I picked up Cliff Dagger one of the villians from MASK. I also found a Son of Godzilla figure. He doesn't feature any articulation but is still a cool little figure. I dropped $2 for these three figures. Not a bad start to the Spring Flea Marketing season.

Hydro Assault Joker

Hydro Assault Joker was released as part of the New Adventures of Batman toy line. He was a characters from the Mission Masters 2 sub series of that line. This particular figure is also a repaint. The Joker is dressed in a red or maroon version of his suit. He is wearing a yellow shirt and green & red striped pants. He seems almost like an homage to the Kenner Sky Escape Joker from the Dark Knight Collection. He even has the same bright blue gloves.

Hydro Assault Joker came into my collection several years ago when my mom trash picked a large plastic toy box for me that was full of Batman Beyond toys and Power Ranger figures. So I don't have any of his accessories. He originally came with a large waster squirting cannon with backpack and a gas mask that looks like big grinning smile.

Like I previously mentioned, this is a repaint of another Joker figure who wore his traditional purple. The original version was released in the early days of the Batman Animated Series toyline as the standard Joker figure. This sculpt was also released in a blue suit as Pogo Stick Joker.

Zodak - MOTUC

Zodak is the modernized version of the classic Cosmic Enforcer. Mattel (with the help of Mike Young Productions, I assume) changed Zodac from a burly white guy, to Zodak a tatted up black dude. I actually thought Zodak was very cool in the 200x cartoon. He kicked some serious butt. The MOTU Classics figure is basically a repaint figure with a new weapon. It was nice that Mattel was able to work this figure in the line. He sort of tested the water for other repaint characters.

Zodak has bright blue tattoos painted on his skin. In the cartoon they would glow giving him a powered up apearance. Zodak also frequenly removed his helmet in the cartoon, but it took several years of  the line before they were able to release an alternate head, packed in with Strobos.

Zodak's one accessory is a staff that shares a lot of the same details as Zodac's gun. I like this 200x styled boots and loin cloth. They make his stand out from many of the furry underpants wearing heroes.

Toy Hunter helps out the NFL

Jordanwas in Detroit for a meeting with Isaiah Indonesia of the Detroit Lions. Isaiah has recently started his own comic book called the Protectors. He wants Jordan to be a consultant on the action figure line for his property.

Jordan want to explain the three most important things about action figures to Isaiah, Articulation, Costuming, and Size.

I feel like Accessories and Action Features are pretty important. I'm also not a big fan of costuming on my toys, because I like their cloths to be sculpted on the figure in most cases.

Jordan's buddy Dave took him to a toy shop where they picked through toy dealer Dennis' stock. Jordan found the awesome MASK playset Boulder Hill. Then he bought a handful of loose figures to show to Isaiah. He bought a vintage 12" GI Joe, a Mego Superman, and a Kenner Super Powers Green Lantern. He was also able to pick an Ewok stuffed animal that was a promotional item during the release of Star Wars Special Edition.

Dennis invited Jordan and Dave to go with him to Swimming Pool and Toy store that has a lot of old stock. Almost immediately Jordan picked up a set of perfectly mint on card Bo and Luke Duke figures from Ducks of Hazard. Jordan was able to pick up several color your own poster sets featuring 70's movies like Jaws, Superman, and Star Wars. Along with a few other random things, Jordan also bought carded Gumby and Pokey figure. I'm a big fan because I love stop motion animation.

Jordan and Dave went on to a  another collector's house for one last pick. Tim had a really nice display in his house and some interesting items. First Jordan bought a Starsky & Hutch R/C Car. Then he bought an unusual game called Bop-a-Bear, which is similar to Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots. Finally they dug enough to find Tim's Sectaurs toys. There were several pristine boxed toys including a sealed Hyve Playset.

Finally Jordan and Dave headed over to Ford Field to meet up with Isaiah again to show off the different design features between a 12" GI Joe, Mego Superman, and Super Power GL.It will be interesting to see what type of Articulation, Costuming, and Size  will be used for the final toy line after all of Jordan's consulting.

Rhino - Marvel Universe

Most of the Marvel Universe figures I own are X-Men characters. Spider-Man is my favorite individual Marvel hero, so when I saw this villain I had to have him.  The Rhino is a massive beast of a man. The figure features great sculpted details and a nice dry brushed paint scheme. He also has awesome rhino hooved feet.

I don't know if it was a common problem with this figure or not, but the right fist pulls out of its ball and socket very easily. If I were a kid I would be extremely frustrated that this toy falls apart while playing with him. Rhino is the first Marvel Universe figure I've had this problem with, but I do have a Street Fighter figure  from Jazwares that has the same issue.

The Rhino figure really is a fearsome foe. He's a great figure and a perfect 3D translation of the comic book character. I'd like to find a few more Spider-Villains. In fact, I need to find some X-Villains. I almost exclusively own heroes from the Marvel Universe line.

Bane - Adventues of Batman & Robin

 As a kid I loved Batman: The Animated Series. I watched the show religiously. I didn't really collect the toys because I was growing out of playing with toys and I already owned a lot of characters from the Burton movies. I did own a couple of figures, mainly Combat Belt Batman and Dick Grayson / Robin. Both of these figures I used in my animated show, Action Figure Adventures.

As a kid I wanted to pick up the Bane figure because of my friendship with comic writer Doug Moench. I still remember watching that episode and thinking it was weird that they made him mask have an opening for his mouth. I have a large collection of Bane merchandise and I wanted to add this figure to it, since I never got him back in the day. The comic store wanted way more for him than I really wanted to pay, but they had all their toys 50% off at one point and I snatched him up.

In the cartoon Bane appeared like this figure in the original animated series, but his design was changed for the Batman/Robin episodes So it's interesting that this early costume was packaged on the later style cards.

Bane is dressed in a black leotard over blue tights. He is wearing a black and white wrestler mask. He has a few silver details like his belt and venom dispensing wrist gauntlet. There is a small green tube that connects the gauntlet to the back of his head. If his blue tights were painted black he would appear a little more comic book accurate.

 Along with his wrist gauntlet, Bane also came with a bent I-beam accessory. He has an action feature that allows him to throw the plastic beam. When you raise his arms they lock into place.Then when a button is pressed on the back of his belt his arms quickly swing down releasing the beam.

Bane about to break Batman's back. He looks good posed with this battle damaged dollar store Batman.

Comic Book Men ride the Batcycle

This weeks episode started off by making fun of the Marvel superhero Starfox. There was of course a light jab at Ming for good measure.

The first time they cut away to Kevin Smith and the gang, they were all taking about the various vehicles that have been to the Secret Stash including the 66' Batmobile and General Lee. This of course was a lead=in to the fact that someone recently came by the shop with a '66 Batcycle with sidecar they were trying to sell. The Stash wasn't able to offer the guys money for the cycle, but they asked if they could go for a ride.

The shots of Walt, Ming, Bryan, and Mike taking turns ridding the cycle all kind of looked like a bad green screen job. At the end of the segment you could briefly see the they were sitting on the motorcycle while it was trailered. So, all the riding shots were staged, but not green screened.

Later in the episode a customer brought in a 70's board game featuring Marvel Comic characters. The Amazing Spider-Man & Fantastic Four board game is a pretty simple tie-in product that could have probably been used for any licensed property. There was very little marvel art other than on the box to the game. Walt said he had it as a kid. Walt, Bryan, Ming, and the customer played the game.

During one of the quick segments Kevin Smith had comic artist Greg Capullo on CBM. Greg said the first thing he draws is the neck when he starts Batman. Greg also said that Alfred and Jim Gordan are two of his favorite supporting characters to draw.

The next customer brought in a pristine copy of FOOM Magazine. In the 70's people could subscribe to FOOM if they wanted to get the behind the scenes and inside scoop on comics that we get online today. FOOM stood for Friends of Ol' Marvel. I had not heard of FOOM before, but as a kid I occasionally read Marvel Age, a different publication which served the same purpose. It was pretty cool to see, because the guy had the Hulk envelop the magazine came with along with the poster, stickers, membership card, and other little items.

The boys had a quick conversation about the lame super powers Superman has been shown to have from time to time. They complained about the plastic wrap "S" symbol from Superman 2 and well as other tricks.

The final customer to come into the shop wanted to sell a Back to the Future "OUTATIME" license plate singed by Doc Brown actor Christoper Loyd. The customer wanted an outrageous price , and since the stash doesn't specialize in movie items, Walt had to pass. Considering it's not hard to find the Outatime license plates online and that Christoper Loyd still does conventions this item probably, while is very cool, is not that rare.

Billy: Auto Morphin Power Ranger

 The Auto Morphin Power Ranger figures had special spring loaded chests that could :morph" from teenager with attitude to Power Ranger with the push of a button disguised as the  morpher on his belt.

I only had the Green Ranger as a kid, because he was my favorite... and I was kind of old for toys by the time the original Power Rangers was on TV.

At some point in college, a friend and I came up with an idea for a Power Rangers spoof that was to be another stop motion animated project. I bought a set of Auto Morphin Rangers off ebay, but we never made the video. Years later, my interest in Power Rangers has returned, and now I'm happy to have these in my collection.

I don't think Billy was anybody's favorite Power Ranger, but he played a very important role in the show and the brains and inventor of the team.

 Like all the Auto Morphin Rangers, Billy's Blue Ranger helmet is a little small. His teenager head is a decent likeness to actor David Yost, but none of them were really great. I assume they didn't have actor likeness rights.

Like all the early 90's MMPR toys, the Blue Ranger has a large Triceratops coin paint application on his chest. Not show accurate at all.

Along with his power morpher button on his belt, Billy also has a working holster that can hold his blade blaster weapon. All the Auto Morphin Rangers came with an all white plastic blade blaster weapon in blaster mode. They also came with a silver version of their main power weapon. The Blue Ranger's being the Power Lance. The lance is a bit short, but does break into two pieces. My favorite thing about the silver weapons is that they could connect to form the large weapon that rangers used on occasion to defeat enemies, right before the monsters would grow. I found the lance in a lot of weapons I bought at a flea market.

Cobra Commander v2 - GI Joe '84

The Hooded Cobra Commander, who was only available through a mail away promotion, was my Cobra Commander for all the years I played with GI Joe toys. I mailed away for him as a kid, never saw the battle helmet version and passed on the later battle armor figure. He's dressed in a dark blue formal uniform with a large Cobra logo on his chest. The figure has nice gold details here and there. He came armed with the same pistol as the first version. The gun can clip onto his back which is pretty cool feature.

I found a Storm Shadow head at a yard sale or flea market one time as a kid as well as a spare hooded Cobra Commander. I put the SS head on the CC body and I used to pretend that the Commander insisted his body guard work formal attire. I posted pictures of this custom figure on a now defunct website when I was in high school and someone offered me $35 dollars for the toy. So I sold him.

I always really liked the hooded figure, but when I was picking figures to use in my animated show, Action Figure Adventures (the series), I chose to used the helmeted figure.

The End of the "Little Plastic" Series

Hey, I finally made it through my big barrel of little plastic men. I hope nobody got to bored of the lack of variety here at Action Figure Adventures. I promise to hit some other toy lines again now that this series is wrapped up. I just wanted to hit this topic hard to get it out of the way.

First up today are some 1950's Baseball Players that came as a promotion through Nabisco Cereals. These figures belonged to my Uncle when he was a kid. I'm pretty sure there were more of these when I had them as a kid. the rest must be around somewhere in my parents basement. You can see in the photo, the catcher, umpire, and flanking each side is a fielder. I only have blue players, but there were also yellow ones available. There is some debate as to if these figure were produced by LIDO.

These animals were also my Uncle's as a kid. They may or not all be from the same set. The pig features a "hollow belly", which was seen in farm animals produced by a couple of companies to save on plastic. There was a hollow belly sheep in this set originally as well.

 The three Indians (Native Americans) pictured above are also from the same time period. In fact, the two figures with bases have "WB" written on the bottom of them. This of course stands for my Uncle's name, Walter Bishop. The third Indian has a bow-legged stance for riding on a horse. The Cowboy below may be from the same set, but I'm not sure. He doesn't have my Uncle's initials on his base, but seems old and matches the color of the Indians. The Cowboy's base is very smooth, while the Indians feature some sculpted details.

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The main focus of this blog is action figures, but I did set it up to showcase my stop motion animated show Action Figure Adventures (the series) see the link under tags.         ---------------->

Anyway, all these posts about little plastic men remind me of one of my favorite stop motion animated movies which is all made using little plastic people. The main characters are Cowboy, Indian, and Horse. The film, which is based on a tv show is call "A Town Called Panic". The people behind the show have a collection of thousands of little plastic figures. They take tons and tons of similar figures and modify them to be in every pose they need out of a character and then give them a quick paint job to make them look like an identical figure. Then though the process of replacement animation they create an action packed story by swapping little plastic figures each frame. Check out the trailer below.

Toy Hunter does England

This is the second recent episode of Toy Hunters that started inside Jordan's store. It give the show a little bit of Comic Book Men or Pawn Stars feel.

Two guys brought in the He-Man stationary riding toy. It's basically a spring rocking horse, but instead of a horse it's Battle Cat. I've always thought it was really cool, but Battle Cat is one of my favorite characters. Jordan and his buddy Steve couldn't agree on a purchase price with the two fellows, so Jordan is going to to broker the piece.

Jordan seems to be building up a collection of Merry Men these days. He took Travis, the young kid dealer, with him to pick toys. They go to see a toy collector, who studied toy design. Jordan bought a set of card Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures including a Krang. Next we purchased a bunch of carded Silverhawks. Travis said they were like Thundercats in space. Jordan said," not really". Then they explained that they were made by the same people. Silver Hawks was LJN & Rankin/Bass trying to cash in on the success of Thundercats. They would try it a third time with Tigersharks. Jordan was excited to buy the Silverhawks, because he is buying toys for Birmingham Comic Con and the Hawks were never released overseas.Jordan also picked up the RoboTech Veritech Fighter.

Jordan takes yet another friend, Dave, with his to England. Dave is an international toy expert. They hit up a couple toy shops. In the first shop they find some Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. We find out the history of Action Man, the British GI Joe. Jordan also buy a Lyon's Made Ice Cream sign that features Star Wars themed treats from the 70's.

At the second shop they visit, which is a record store and toy shop, Jordan and Dave buy a Give a Show projector and slides made by Chad Valley. In American we had the same projector made by another company. Many of the British slides are unique to their country. Finally Jordan finds a real show piece. He buys a complete Batman Equipment Set. The set includes a plastic cowl (almost a helmet), a cape, and utility belt with gadgets.

At the Birmingham Comic Con Jordan learns that the American toys he brought with him sold way better than the English pieces he bought for the show while he was over seas. In the end he brought home some great British merchandise for his store back in New Jersey.

Little Plastic Army Men Accessories

Today is my second-to-last post about all the toy in my Big Barrel of Little Plastic Men. I previously posted about my Tim Mee Rescue Helicopter, but here are some other vehicles and accessories from various plastic Army Men sets. First up are two Humvees and a Tank. I had several other tanks as a kid, most of which were less detailed than the vehicles below. All the other tanks were melted while I was in middle school to make damaged vehicles for the table top battle game Warhammer 40,000.

This satellite truck is more on the detail level of many of the Army Men tanks I melted for terrain features for Warhammer. This truck kind of reminds me of the trucks with mirrors mounted on their backs from the old GI Joe cartoon mini-series. I had a troop transport truck years ago, with a canvas top (molded out of plastic).

These two helicopters are much smaller than the Rescue Chopper. The all green Apache is pretty cool looking. I don't really know the story behind the NASA helicopter. I think I picked it up at a yard sale.

The last group of accessories are all the typical green Army Men props. Sandbag walls, a flag, and fences. I used a few of the flag poles to make flying stands for Warhammer miniatures and other toys years ago.

Keep that flag flying high boys.  I loved playing the Army Men computer game in capture the flag mode back in high school.
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