Toy Hunting in the White Mountains (Lord Zedd, Soundwave,TMNT, Go-Bots, MOTU)

While in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, celebrating my wife's birthday and working on my off-trail waterfall book series, I made a few discoveries I hadn't set out to find, in the form of toys. After dipping my feet in an ice cold stream for some waterfall pictures, we made our way to the Gorham Walmart so I could limp all the way to the back and check out the toy department. I swear I am an adult, despite the fact that every store we go to, the first place I head is toys. And then I get mad if they have the nerve not to have a toy section.

To my surprise, they had the Power Rangers Lightning Collection, they're usually a few months behind there, even more so than Bangor. But they must have just put it out because they had a full case, including my man Lord Zedd. Yes, I just bought him a couple days ago but I grabbed another one, either for display or to resell, haven't decided yet. I might just keep this one and return the one I bought in Bangor because his package was a little scuffed up.

And a few steps down the aisle, the brand new Transformers Siege War For Cybertron Soundwave figure. If you ask me, $30 is a little steep for this scale but he looks so dope, I knew I was getting him the second I saw the prototype images. Add to that the fact that his packaging is beautiful and he'll go perfectly next to Megatron.

A couple days later, I was browsing the antique shops in Littleton NH, looking for old maps and postcards, which I did find a few I just had to have, when I stumbled upon something I wasn't expecting. On the basement level of the Purple Peacock, there was a table full of comic books and jigsaw puzzles. I could tell immediately by the colors of the boxes, there was something good in there. You know that feeling, like a Spidey sense tingling? You just know.

Masters Of The Universe, I snatched that up so fast I might have left burn marks on it. Nope, looks like we're okay, no burns. Battle Armor He-Man and Man-At-Arms fighting Faker, Whiplash, Mer Man and Skeletor, hell freakin' yeah! I also spotted a Ninja Turtles puzzle with my favorite, Shredder, and Krang as they watch Raphael fight a Foot Soldier. I'll buy Shredder merchandise any day, which reminds me, whatever happened to my Shredder watch? And then, Go-Bots! How often do you see Go-Bots anything? And one of my all time favorites, Cop-Tur, in both robot and helicopter form. Yes, someone actually likes the Go-Bots.

I grabbed them all for $8 a piece. Not exactly a great deal but how often do you see these? Had they been a little cheaper, I probably would have picked up a second TMNT and Go-Bots puzzle, neither of which had my favorite characters on them.

The Hunt Continues... (Shredder, Jannetty, Styles, Lord Zedd)

The toy hunt continues. For the past two months I've been out of action with a herniated disc which caused sciatica. I'm finally up and moving around again after a long and painful two months. Yes, that means I missed the Bangor and Bar Harbor Comic Cons as well as the ToyFest show at the Portland mall. I can finally walk and sit and drive and just stand in general so I'm back on the hunt for toys.

My first stop of the day brought me to Salvation Army where I picked up a TMNT Talkin' Shredder figure from the 2012 line. He still talks, in fact he won't shut up, every time I touch him he's threatening me and he's the Shredder so I'm a little intimidated. I really dislike these newer turtles lines, I don't understand how they can be less detailed than the originals, but I love the Shredder design here and he was always my favorite. I wanted this figure back when he first came out but I couldn't afford to spend money on toys at the time so I'm glad to finally add him to the collection, and for only a dollar, you can't beat that.

And for the first time in two months, I finally made it back to the Bangor Market Bazaar to see what my buddies Mike and Bobby had going on at Northeast Collectibles. Sounds like I didn't miss much at the Bangor and Bar Harbor Comic Cons, Northeast Collectibles was the only toy dealer at either show. I would have been severely disappointed because I was expecting multiple dealers, Maine really needs to step its game up. After talking some business, I picked up a couple figures from the $5 wrestling bin.

I grabbed the Jakks Classic series Marty Jannetty which I'd had my eye on since I first came across him int he bucket but he was extremely dirty so I kept passing. I don't know what these kids do to their wrestling figures but mine never looked like that, I mean poor Jannetty looked like Shredder literally scared the s**t out of him. I've been wanting that figure since it came out back in 2005 as part of the Walmart exclusive 3 pack with Jim The Anvil Neidhart and Tito Santana. And after a little bath and scrubbing with the magic eraser, he's looking fresh and clean, except his boots which are still a little grungy.

I also grabbed an AJ Styles from his early TNA days. I always wanted a Styles from Toybiz's TNA line that from 2005 through 2007 but never actually saw one in the store at the time. To be honest, I didn't even know this version existed and can't figure out when this repaint was released. I've seen him on eBay before and loved the green and black trunks but had no idea he had an action feature, I guess the earlier figures in the line had them. A lever on his back moves his arms up and down, I don't remember any of the later TNA figures having action features. His joints are all a bit loose, common with Toybiz figures, but I managed to stand him up without much trouble and I finally have a Toybiz TNA AJ Styles to add to my collection.

Next stop of the day was Walmart, never a good idea on a Saturday afternoon. Since being back on my feet, I've been checking Walmart and Target every chance I get for the new 6" Power Rangers line. Today I figured I was one step closer because they had the empty pegs for them with the little out of stock sticker, those weren't there a couple days ago. Now, I've seen this before and found the box of figures int he top stock right above their pegs so I decided to look up and boom, 6" Lightning Collection Power Rangers. I grabbed the box down and opened it up and there he was, the short packed Lord Zedd.

Now, I was never a fan of the Power Rangers but my friends watched it so I was familiar. The bad guys were almost kinda cool but for the first season, the pink ranger Kimberly was about the only part of the show I liked. And then season 2 hit with a new bad guy leader, Lord Zedd. I don't know what his skin is or what happened to it but man this dude looks bad ass. I recently got the vintage figure I'd wanted back in 1995 but was secretly hoping for an updated version, and then I found out he was on his way. And now he's part of my collection. The package is a little damaged, it amazes me how Walmart manages to damage nearly all their figures when they're still in their sealed case, how is his package scuffed up and scratched? Luckily I'm not a mint collector kind of guy, I just want to own it, and now I do. And it turns out my girl Kimberly is slated for series 2, can't wait.