Velociraptor - Jurrasic Park PVC

This Velociraptor figure has been in my collection for years. He's a solid PVC figure and was released around the time of the original Jurassic Park film. To quite the old commercials, "Look for the mark of Jurassic Park".  There is a small JP logo on his back thigh.

Dino-Riders Stegosaurus

The Dino-Riders Stegosaurus is one of the largest and coolest dinosaur toys I've ever owned. There were many cool toy lines from my childhood that I only ever owned a few figures from. While others I was obsessed with and had almost everything. Dino-Riders were really cool, but a line I only had a few toys from. My best friend growing up, Derek, got a duplicate of the Stego one year for his birthday and instead of exchanging it he gave me the 2nd one. It blow me away... it was a concept I couldn't wrap my young brain around. Giving away this awesome toy instead of exchanging it for another awesome toy. Derek happened to have almost all the Dino-Riders including all the big ones with the electronic walking features.

The Stegosaurus is so incredibly well detailed. Just look at the awesome skin texture. Combined with his cool Motorized Walking Action this dino was ready for riding. He's at least twice, if not three times bigger than any of the other Dino-Rider toys I owned. He also came with two figures (Tark & Vega). Both of which are missing along with my MASK figures ever since I moved. It's been 5 years... I've given up hope of finding them in a box somewhere.

Here is the Stegosaurus' bio card that my mom clipped of his package for me back in the day.

Check out the Stego all armored up and ready for battle. He comes with a large silver piece of armor that fits over his plates. Attached to the armor are some guns, missiles, and pods for the riders.

He also came with blue back leg guard plus an additional spike piece for his tail. Unfortunately the years in storage since my childhood haven't been to kind to Mr. Stego's accessories. Some of the tabs and pins on Dino-Riders toys were very small. One of the red missiles and one of the gray and red quad guns have broken tabs.

Flea Market Finds #34

Over the weekend I stopped by an indoor flea market with some toy collecting friends. I think I was the only person to buy anything there, I sent $0.50 on a Robbie Sinclair figure from the Jim Henson Dinosaur show. These figures were made by Hasbro. As a kid I had Earl, Fran, Baby, and Earl's boss. I never had the two teens, but not they are the only ones I own. It's cool that Robbie came with a skate board and basketball, but he doesn't interact with his accessories very well.

I love the Rampaging Trilobites detail on the back of his varsity jacket.



I used to pretend that the Ninja Turtles figure of Mondo Gecko (who also came with a skateboard) was Robbie when I played with my Dinosaurs.

NJCC - August 2014

Sunday Morning before heading to the final day of the FYE event I went down to Cherry Hill, NJ for the New Jersey Collectors Convention. I know a lot of the dealers at the show and pretty much all of my toy collector friends who live locally attend the show.

The day before while eating lunch after the FYE costume contest, my fiend Rose kept talking about how big the box to Eternia was. My buddy Nick and I cracked up when we saw the box at NJCC. So of course the "how big is it?" jokes started up again.

Hey, look it's Jen the executive producer of the Breaux Show buying more Strawberry Shortcake toys.

 Boss Fight Studio was at NJCC again showing off stuff they did for the GI Joe collectors club as well as their new H.A.C.K.S. figures pictured above.

I got my most desired MOTU Classics figure as well as the only giant I was missing from the line. Wundar was the club exclusive figure from the first year of the MOTUC subscription. He's based on a mysterious figure know as both Savage He-Man and Wonder Bread He-man. He comes with a whole Power Sword, half Power Sword, black Zodac armor and gun, and a loaf of bread. I also picked up Tytus who I originally passed on, but now that I have almost the entire line it's goofy to not have him. I'd need to check to make sure, but I think the Green Goddess is the only MOTUC figure I still need.

 I'm a big fan of all the weird tie-in merchandise for 80's properties, so I couldn't pass up this sealed set of Lite-Brite picture refills featuring GI Joe.

Some of the images you can create are pretty cool, others are kind of duds.

Scareglow is one of the vintage Masters of the Universe figure I've wanted the most. Now I need to hunt down his cape and weapon. I also picked up this super clean vintage R2-D2. The one I have in my collection currently is pretty beat up from being played with by myself as a kid.

 Below are a few treasure I dug out of a dollar bin. Mumm-Ra from Thundercats. Nighstalker the evil mechanical horse from MOTU, Super Mario Bros. movie version Luigi, and the sister from Jim Henson's Dinosaurs.

Mark Bellomo was at the show so I talked with him a bit. He's a treasure trove of toy knowledge. I picked up volumes 3, 4, & 5 of the Complete GI Joe comic series that he's working on. This series collects all the issues of the Marvel comic with all kinds of cool notes and facts. A really great way to read the comic.

One of the vendors was selling a bunch of mint Star Vipers sealed in their little bubbles. He bought them off a former Hasbro employee in Rhode Island.

Last but not least, the ever important parts! I love digging though parts bins for pieces I need to complete toys I already own.  JUMP jetpack, VAMP steering wheel, VAMP mark II gas cans and doors, Spirit v1 backpack and gun, Viper backpack, Lt. Falcon gun, Typewriter and Record Player from the M.A.S.H. TV show playset, Beachhead's ammo satchel (soft version), Cobra-La Royal Guard communicator, 4-LOM gun, Ewok staff, Snow Cat windshield wiper, and Raptor's bird.

Pteranodon - Dino-Riders

The Pteranodon was the first and only bad guy Dino-Rider I owned as a kid. I had a few of the good guys, but I really thought the bad guys looked cool with their Dinosaurs wearing the brain boxes.

The Pteranodon has an articulated beak as wells as a wing flapping action which can be activated by pressing the button on its back.

The back of the package contained a little information card about the dinosaur. You can see that the prototype that was photographed for the packaging has a slightly different paint scheme. The prototype is also shown with a black flying stand while the actual toy came with a clear base.

 Along with the stand the Pteranodon came with a seat, two wing guns, the brain box and a Rider. All my MASK and Dino-Riders figures went missing when I moved. I'm not sure what happened to Rasp, but he was a green skinned snakeman with a black uniform with some purple details.

Flea Market Finds #28

Today we visited the Garden State to see what kind of treasures we could find at the flea market. On our way we saw a hitch (for towing a trailer) laying in the middle of the highway. My buddy Dave said "I'd give $30 for that at the flea market". So we got off at the next exit and got turned around. The particular exit we used wasn't real great for getting off and back on the same road. By the time we got on the road again going in the correct direction to drive past the hitch again someone had hit it and broke it. I can't image that didn't mess up their tire. Dave pulled over and threw it in the bed of the truck. Our fellow flea marketer Ray will have to weld it up for him. So the day started off with a free find.

 

I spend six dollars today and come home with a nice hall. I picked up a copy of the Empire Strikes Back story book. Wild Boar from GI Joe was grabbed because he is in great shape, and how can you pass up an army builder. His little Destro logo on his shoulder is perfect. Also from GI Joe I picked up another RAM motorcycle. I loved that thing as a kid and buy everyone I see. I got a Jokerz from Batman Beyond. Unfortunately his jacket tails are broken off. He still displays nicely on a shelf. I also picked up two small figures from Tyco's Dino-Riders. Aries is in the blue and Quark is decked out in camouflage.

Barrel of Little Plastic Men

So I have this big barrel of plastic figures, and I've been meaning to photograph and post about some of the figures for a while now. Due to the fact that I have hundereds of other toy also photographed and waiting to be posted about I never seem to get around to these guys.


I personally hate "themes" for a week. I like to have a lot of variety to what I post about. Unfortunately unless I put my nose to the grindstone this barrel will take me forever. So I'm gong to be focusing a little here.


I know I won't post exclusively about the barrel, because tomorrow night there will be a Masters of the Universe themed episode of Toy Hunters and I'll want to post about that.


Anyway, this is a big old hard pretzel barrel that houses all my cowboys, Indians, army men, and many other things. It's so old the clear plastic is yellowing. I tried to do some research on these figures so I can post some decent information. Unfortunately many of the figures have no real markings on them making it hard to find out much.

 First up, the little plastic army men that came with my Rescue Helicopter that I posted about back at Christmas time. They are made by Tim Mee. Now these figures were finally added to the barrel to live with their plastic army brethren. Lots of great poses. I like the guy holding his M-16 above his head. I assume he's wading though a river.


A lot of the information I found on my plastic soldiers comes from Toy Soldier HQ. You could spend hours sifting through the site. I know I did. From what I can tell the next two photos feature army men that were cereal premiums from Kelloggs. I believe they were made by Lido, even though some of them were copies of Marx toys.

 I always liked he guy ducking but still trying to get a high-five from someone. I've had these guys for years, but I think I picked them up at a yard sale as a kid. The figures were grouped in these two pictures by color. The figures in the lower photo are a brighter green.

 Next up are some Cavemen made by Dimensions for Children (DFC). They are stamped 1980 on the bottom. I bought a few of these guys in two different batches at yard sales as a kid. I also used to have one holding a boulder over his head.

A while ago, my buddy John from Clawful Punch (formerly the Cosmic Arc) sent me a package that contained some bright red cavemen. These newer cavemen are made by Tim Mee based off molds from Processed Plastic. While they aren't the same molds they do remind me of each other.

 I believe the dinosaurs below were also made by DFC and released in the same set as the brown Cavemen. I had tons of these dinosaurs in lots of different colors as a kid. Most of them are very thin or flat. There were other dinosaurs in this line as well.

Pop Culture Valentine Cards

I have been sitting on these fine artifacts for a while now, and then I forgot to write up this post for Valentine's Day. Here is an array of Pop Culture Valentine Cards.from the past 20 years or so.

Mmmmm.... 90's.... X-Men... must be 3rd grade. I was obsessed with the X-Men back then. The Toy Biz toy line had just started, and I had every figure from wave one. I had a subscription to Uncanny X-Men comic book. Everyday at recess Nate Ballard and I played X-Men. He was always Wolverine and I was Iceman. These are a couple of cards left over from a Valentine long gone.

These Batman Valentine Cards are also left over from Elementary School. They feature great art by the late Jim Aparo. I remember giving one of these to my best friend's dad, bat-author Doug Moench. I know there were cards in the set featuring the Joker and Catwoman.

 I've been buying little kids Valentine cards and candy for all the other teachers at the school I work at each year. I fill out the cards and throw them with a piece of candy in each person's mail box. I usually buy them at the dollar store, so they are a year or so out of style. Not that anyone who is getting them minds.

Here are some 2000's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cards. The boxes bring back memories. They always had a couple of extra cards printed on the back of the package. When I was in school the cards came with little envelopes, but now they just get folded in half and held closed with a little sticker.

 Here are a few modern era Batman Valentines. Again these were bought for my co-workers. I didn't buy cards this year because I though for sure we wouldn't have school because they were calling for snow. We ended up having a two hour delay. I guess if I had bought the cards I might have remembered to post about these on the correct day.

Superman Returns, everybody loved that movie right? No, okay. Well Brandon Rauth still makes for some nice eye candy to be featured on a Valentine Card.

One of my closest friends at work is a huge Simpsons fan, so I bought a box of them the one year. I really wish one of them had a train on it and said, "I choo-choo- choose you."

Godzilla Valentines would have been a hit when I was in 1st grade. Everyone in my class was obsessed. I found a box of them a few years ago, but there were no Godzilla movies out at the time and all the art work features photos from the old films. What an odd set to be released in the 2000-teens.

This Jim Henson's Dinosaurs card is left over from Elementary School. I loved that show. I even had a few action figures from the show. I eventually sold them at a yard sale. "Not the mamma!"

I actually picked up a box of 90's Spider-Man Valentines at a thrift store a few years ago. I used them one year for my co-workers, but saved one of each design for my collection of comic related merchandise. These cards were released to go along with the Spider-Man cartoon which I watched every day after school in 5th and 6th grade.

I also picked up a box of Animaniacs cards at the same thrift shop. A couple of my co-workers got a real kick out of my retro Valentines that year. "We're the Warner Brothers. and the Warner Sister!"