Vintage Toy Sales Flyers

When I first started teaching high school (2005-06) I was cleaning up and came across some very old news papers. I paged through the papers and found some old sale flyers that included some toys. I clipped a few of the ads out and save them.

 

Stuffed Ninja Turtles - I never had these, but they were every where in the late 80's.

Lite-Brite and Show Beam cartoon projector - The GIJoe refill pack for the Lite-Brite I bought at NJCC last weekend reminded me I had these old ads to post about. I never knew anyone who had a cartoon projector.

Remote-controlled wrecker - Are kids today into R/C cars? I don't notice them in stores or see commercials for them much, but they seem a lot like playing a video game. TYCO, that's how you spell RC! (not sure if this is a TYCO product, but that slogan still pops into my head every time I think about an R/C car.

Getting Ready for Back to School

Some of my long time readers may know that I'm a middle school & high school teacher. I've been putting in a lot of time over at school this week getting my classroom set up and decorated. I previously blogged about some of the nerdy stuff in my classroom.

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes posters. I like how the art work on these posters connect to one another.

I have a really tiny office area in my classroom and I have a bunch of toys on the shelves in there. All the Star Wars Happy Meal toys were given to me by one of my co-workers. Some of the PotF 2 Star Wars figures came from a lot I picked up at It's a Toy Show.

I've had the Mr. T. bust/stamp since the early 80's. Once in a while I put a stamp on a kids paper with it. One of my students game me the Star Wars pens that came in cereal.

Several years ago during Spirit Week the these for each hall was a decade. So when the kids were cleaning up the hall way decorations after the contest I asked the 80's kids If I could have the Orko they made.

The guys from Toy Pizza  were giving out Guardians of the Galaxy toys to fans that came to the FYE event. After they gave everything away they had the nicely decorated shipper box that Hasbro had sent them the GotG toys in. They didn't want the box anymore so I asked if I could have it.

The box opens up to make a cool toy store display. So I cut off the image of all the Guardians as well as this large Rocket Raccoon.

Last but not least, my 2014 Star Wars calendar.

GI Joe Hawk v4 - GI Joe

Due to military promotions, and later copyright issues the character Hawk has had several different names printed on his packaging. This figure known as GI Joe Hawk v4 came in a cool box set of figures celebrating the 25th anniversary of GI Joe: A Real American Hero. His design is based on the 2nd Hawk figure from 1986 who was featured in the original cartoon series.

Hawk is wearing a leather jacket and camouflage pants. His accessories include a helmet, pistol, backpack, and a figure stand. I took this photo of Hawk in the snow during the winter. I really like this figure, and this is the uniform I picture Hawk wearing when I think of the character.

Riddler - Toy Biz

In the early 90's the Batman movie toy line morphed into DC Super Heroes. This expanded line saw many rehashes of Super Powers figures as well as some new characters. Riddler was a new character in the USA, put out by Toy Biz. He's dressed in his green question mark covered footie pajamas. The outfit is tied together with light purple gloves and belt. This was the outfit the Riddler had worn for many years at the time, and was also featured as a figure in the DCUC line.

The Riddler has no action features, but did come with an accessory. He came with a little piece of paper that had riddles printed on it. The paper could be separated into six clues. I thought he was kind of a lame action figure as a kid and passed on him. I bought him at an indoor flea market in college when we need him to appear in an episode of our stop motion series, Animation Creation.

Reptilian - Thundercats Miniature

The toy company LJN produce the large Thundercats action figures in the 80's as well as a line of miniature PVC figures. One of the more obscure characters who got a mini-figure but not a full sized action figure was Reptilian. This green-skinned lizard-man dressed in a yellow toga can be seen in the opening sequence as well as a couple times through out the series. At the beginning of the Thundercats series they establish that there are lots of mutants of each race (lizard, monkey, jackal) but the "main" mutants are all we really see later in the show. I really like the miniature line, but they are had to find, especially with their weapons. Reptilian should have a spiked ball tied to a handle by a bit of string. I bought this guy at a yard sale as a kid, but a while after the Thundercats had been out of toy store.

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.

FYE Day 3 - Toy Pizza

Today was a busy day. I got up early and headed out to the New Jersey Collectors Convention (post coming in the near future). After walking around the Con, buying some toys, talking with friends, and working on a deal for an exciting Masters of the Universe item, I headed back to Woodbridge for the final day of the Grand Re-Opening festivities at FYE.

Before I got there, the store hosted an album signing party for the band Chiodos. There were a few excited fans of he band still circulating when I got there. The next event was the Retro Toy Road Show hosted by Toy Pizza. The guys were in store to meet fans, hand out stickers, and appraise any retro toys people brought with them.

 Cade, Jesse, and Nicky meeting fans and giving away toys.

 

The boys are just as funny and approachable in real life as the appear on their show.

 Jesse was having fun checking out the stuff I bought at NJCC this morning. Being the oldest of the Toy Pizza crew, Jesse and I have the most in common when it comes to toy interests. Jesse took the opportunity to pick up a set of ReAction Terminator figures while at FYE.

 They gave away a lot of Lego and Guardians of the Galaxy toys that were featured on the show. This Rocket mask was left over at the end and so the boys gave it to me for hanging out. Below is one of their promotional stickers signed by the trio.

FYE - 2 days down, 1 to go

I've been hyping up the Grand Re-Opening of the FYE store at the Woodbridge Center in New Jersey. Well the event is finally here. The Grand Opening is a three day event, two of which have passed. Friday night there was an in-store DJ playing music and today was the big Costume Contest among other things. This new store is the first of the re-branded For Your Entertainment. FYE now carries a much wider selection of products than before. Not only do they have movies and music, but not they carry toys, collectables, t-shirts and a whole lot more.

Of course he toys and collectables are my favorite part of the new store.Check out all those ReAction figures. I so wish they made these figure 20-30 years ago. I bought a ton of these. Look for posts in the near future.

Check out my little blurb on the ReAction display. It's pretty cool to see my logo somewhere that I didn't have to post it myself.

I saw this turtle shell backpack in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles section, and the test on the product cracked me up. "Pick your mask & Ninja Tool..." The Turtles no longer use weapons, they use tools.

 I had a lot of fun hanging out with some of my friends today. Rose and Tony came out for the costume contest dressed as Dark Helmet and a Spaceball. My buddy Mike and Nick came out with them as well. Mike is the grumpy looking guy in the center.

Here's a shot of all the Cosplayers. I hope to post a video in the near future showing off all the costumes better. Some of the best ones don't show up well in this photo. There was a really great turn out for the contest and some really great outfits.

Gaston from Beauty & the Beast as well as Hot Mario.

This sign cracked me up, so I had to snap a quick picture. Tomorrow is the big Retro Toy Roadshow hosted by the guys from Toy Pizza. Hopefully we get a good crowd again tomorrow. I can't wait to see what people bring in to have appraised.

Lady Jaye - Kre-o

 Lady Jaye was the second female member of the GI Joe team and is a very popular character due to her portrayal on the Sunbow cartoon show. The character of Lady Jaye as well as her uniform are basically the same between the toy line and cartoon, but the cartoon dropped her baseball cap and changer her javelin gun to hand thrown javelins In the Marvel comic book Lady Jaye is shown with and without her cap. She didn't use either version of the Javelin in the comics too much if my memory serves me..

For the Kre-o line of the GI Joes, Hasbro's version of building blocks mini-figs, Lady Jaye seems to take more cues from the v1 action figure. Here hat is blue instead of black and her backpack is tan instead of green.

 Instead of the green video camera the original figure came with, Kre-o Lady Jaye comes with a black handgun. She's a nice little figure. It would have been really cool if she came with a little Kre-o wig of brown hair so you could display her with and without the hat. The handle on her Javelin gun can be removed and then it looks like her cartoon Javelin.

#GetinonthisFYE - FYE Event this weekend

Hey guys, this weekend is the big Grand Re-Opening of the FYE (For Your Entertainment) at the Woodbridge Mall. If you are local, I'd love to see you there. I know some of my friends will be there, but it would be really cool to meet a couple Action Figure Adventures readers if anybody lives in the PA/NJ/NY area. This is going to be a busy, but fun weekend. I hope to get some great photos of the event to share on here.