Two Days of Awesome Yard Sale Finds (TMNT, GI Joe, Star Wars, Marvel, Precious Places)

Another fairly successful weekend out yard saling, on both Saturday and Sunday. People are really cleaning house for the end of yard sale season so there were tons of them, didn't even come close to having enough time to make it to all of them in the area. Question though, what the hell is with all the people who spend the money to advertise in the paper, take the time to hang up signs, and then just, nothing, no yard sale? Encountered soooo many of those this weekend, one was en entire community sale that had zero participants. Luckily I didn't drive too far for most of the abandoned ones.

One of the first stops of Saturday, I picked up a bag of Fisher Price Little People and Little Tikes Toddle Tots for a quarter. There was a Fisher Price parking garage but I knew it wasn't worth much after seeing it in a search recently, as well as some old Disney and Hannah Barbera puzzles that I almost got. I've looked up old puzzles before and never really found any that were worth anything, I'm always hoping for ones from my favorite lines though, like the ones I found this spring in NH.

Found some of the more modern Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the last of the acceptable Turtles in my opinion, and even these are pushing it. They just keep getting simpler and more childish. I think the only logical place to go from here is infant Turtles, oh no, don't anybody go pitching that to Playmates, please. I got these at a dollar a piece, kind of a lot considering they're only worth about $3 a piece, max, but they're kinda cool. I hate to admit it, but I might keep these guys for display since I now have I think three of the four Turtles, multiple Shredders, April, Foot Clan and now Splinter, Metalhead, Slash, Leatherhead and Rat King as well.

Next yard sale, they had tons of CDs and some cassettes, including some 1990s hip-hop which is right up my alley. So I had to grab still sealed cassette singles of Capone N Noreaga's T.O.N.Y. from their first album, and The Set-Up sampler from Loud Records featuring some of the all time greats Wu-Tang, Xzibit, Mobb Deep, Big Pun and Dead Prez. Don't know how much the sampler is worth because I can't find it for sale anywhere, let alone sealed, but the other one is worth about $10. I paid a dollar a piece. Might keep these as memorabilia, I've been considering doing a display of some of my favorite music from back then since it played such a large role in my life.

Then, as I ran out of time because I had to pick up my wife from work for lunch, I ran into the Brewer High School yard sale to benefit the football team. And there was a giant tote of toys, five for a dollar. I poked through it beside a little girl and her mom for about five minutes and had to go, without sifting through the bottom of the box, dammit. I ended up grabbing a couple GI Joe Valor vs Venom figures from the 2005 line (Night Creeper and Sand Viper), a movie Dr Doom, an Iron Man, and a Nickelodeon Michelangelo because I couldn't remember if I had him already, I did. Wish I'd had more time but I was already running late when I got there. I did manage to pick my wife up on time by the way. And now I'm gonna have to buy the boxes of toys from Goodwill and Salvation Army when whatever doesn't sell gets donated.

On Sunday, my wife wanted to go yard saling on her day off, so we hit a bunch of Sunday only sales, and a few I missed yesterday due to time constraints. Didn't find much but I did grab a salad bowl full of some random toys for a dollar, they just wanted them gone. Among the batch was an Elite Rey Mysterio figure from 2011, worth about $10, that is if I decide to sell him. He'd be worth about $40 if he were in better condition and had his accessories. There were also a few modern Star Wars figures, Five Nights At Freddy's, a Minecraft horse, of course some McDonalds toys, and some other random pieces I'll have to look up. And from another yard sale, from the free pile, my wife grabbed a stack of magazines, two of which had my girls Hillary Duff and Gina Rodriguez on them. And I grabbed two more cassette singles, of the R&B variety from the early 90s, All-4-One's I Swear and Shai's If I Ever Fall In Love. Overall, an awesome weekend of yard sales.

(And then the following week, while out yard saling and not finding anything, I spotted a pink and white box in someone's trash, a dollhouse. I turned around and grabbed it, knowing sometimes boxes are worth money, I know I'd pay for an empty box for items I love. Well, turns out it wasn't empty, the dollhouse was still in it. In 1989-1990, Fisher Price released a line called Precious Places, where magnets moved the figures around the houses and shops and sidewalks, and it turns out they're quite rare and worth a bit of money. This box not only has the Magic Key Mansion, it also has a buttload of furniture and accessories, the Ballet Studio, the Nursery Cottage, sidewalk pieces, figures galore, even the instruction manual. In other words, I just found a goldmine sitting in someone's trashcan. I'm tempted to hang onto this just because it's so cool but it's a rare piece, none of them even on eBay, just the parts, so I'll sell it and let it go to someone who will appreciate it. And I'll make at least $150 off of it. Not bad at all for garbage.)

Couple Goodwill Finds (Sesame Street & Zoids)

I went out tonight to grab a few things at Walmart and of course stopped at Goodwill along the way. Found a couple cool items for $2 a piece, including a Sesame Street playset made by Playskool in 1984. I never had this as a kid but my sister and I always wanted it, I think it was at the doctor's office we used to go to. It's a bit dirty and doesn't come with any of its accessories but I'll clean it up and probably display it, I don't think it's worth too much in its condition.

I also found a Zoids model figure named Gusak, some sort of scorpion creature. They were past my time when they blew up in America but I remember hearing about them. It's still in box and not even used, I just figured it was in there assembled. Looks like it's worth $15 or more. I don't know anything about Zoids but I know it's got a following and there's only a couple of them listed on eBay.

Yard Sale Bust & Thrift Store Haul (TMNT, WWE, Star Wars, Spider-Man and more)

So I hit up a bunch of yard sales today, but it seems my string of good luck has finally ended... well, as far as yard sales go. Didn't buy a single thing at them today, but I also stopped at all four thrift stores and bought a buttload of toys at two of them. Salvation Army came through today with a $5 bag of mostly Ninja Turtles, a TMNT Samurai War Horse, Spiderman Monster Spider, a 1989 Shazam vhs to resell and a vintage Power Rangers Pink Ranger vhs, with Kimberly on the cover. Saw it there last week and passed on it but the look she was giving me, for 50 cents, how could I possibly say no?

Snatched up the bag of toys with Ninja Turtles from all different time periods, ranging from the original Splinter, the 2002 Splinter, Wacky Action Shredder, which I own but he's one of my favorites, some mini Turtles figures, a couple newer Turtles, a kind of rare 2002 movie Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, a Scooby Doo figure, Digimon, Dragonball Z and you guessed it, McDonalds toys. For once, I think the actual toys outnumbered the McDonalds garbage, though it's close. Just did the tally, yep, McDonalds lost for the first time ever.

The vintage Splinter makes up for the one I found a couple weeks ago with the missing hand, I already have his weapons, just need his robe now. And the 2002 Splinter will go nicely with the set of four complete 2002 Turtles I got this summer. Had no plan of collecting these but now that I have them, I want Shredder to go with them because that's a dope figure. I didn't even see the vintage Wacky Action Shredder in this bag until I emptied it out, he was shoved in the middle. Not sure if I'm going to keep him, since I already have him complete, maybe for a custom? One of my favorite figures from the line because he looked kind of like he did in the cartoon.

I honestly didn't even know the $1 horse was TMNT when I bought it, I was thinking it was Skeleton Warriors, maybe a horse the good guys rode. But it turns out there's only that one skeleton horse in the line, which I'm wishing I didn't get rid of because it's so badass. Aside from the horse, I also had one of the figures I'm wishing I held onto, Baron Dark. But this horse ended up being the Samurai War Horse from the 3rd TMNT movie in 1993. You know, I still have not seen that movie. I'm told I'm not missing out on much.

I also picked up the Spiderman Web Trap series Monster Spider figure from 1997, my favorite era of Spiderman cartoon, actually, technically the only superhero cartoon I was ever into. I had a few of the figures from that time period, which I foolishly sold, but I was too old for toys at that point in my childhood. Didn't stop me from wanting them though! This is one I probably wouldn't have bought back then, I like the regular figures that look like they do on the screen, but for $1, I couldn't pass him up, not sure if he's for my collection or to resell.

Then at Goodwill, there were multiple boxes of toys for $8, way too much considering you can't really see what you're getting, and most of the box is garbage. But I could see a few figures I wanted. I tried slipping them out of their box and into the other but there kept being more I wanted so I just bought them both, hoping it'd pay off. Lately, they actually have, sometimes quadrupling what I spend on the box which is usually $5 to $10. Not bad considering I usually spend the seven or so dollars on one figure I want in the box and the rest is just profit.

And I'd say they paid off today. So, which figure drew me in? Well, I had to get the box because it had the Baron Dark Skeleton Warrior figure I was just wishing I still had. How weird is that? I also spotted a John Cena and transforming Rocksteady, which I realized after I already have but oh well. There were a couple of the mini Ninja Turtles, to go along with the ones I just picked up from Salvation Army. Again, how weird is that? There were even accessories to go with figures I got earlier in the year. There was a Beetlejuice, unfortunately missing his regular size head, Mr Freeze, Captain Planet, X-Men's Apocalypse, Bob The Joker's Goon from the original Batman movie, die cast Star Wars vehicles mostly from their Hot Wheels line, the Blue and Black Imaginext Power Rangers, Roman Reigns, Undertaker and Nikki Bella figures, a McDonalds Megatron and a bunch of stuff to sell. The two Mario Kart slots cars alone are worth enough to cover the cost of both $8 boxes which is awesome, made my money back already, anything else is just icing on the cake.

I really wish they put some effort into these boxes, both of them were half full of baby toys, there were even some kids book in there, a roll of tape, they just throw anything in them. Now I'm wondering what was in the third box that didn't look good on the top but who knows what was underneath, man, shoulda bought that one too.

Two Days Of Goodwill Finds (Undertaker, Rock, Shredder, Power Rangers, Little People)

So I had to go to Walmart the past two nights to buy a new router and TV when ours both broke, and of course, along the way, I took a stroll through Goodwill both nights, and found something both times around. On Tuesday night I picked up a vintage Fisher Price Little People airplane from 1980 for $2, along with a small bag of figures from the line for $3. I had the figures as a kid, they're still at my parents house, but not the plane. I bought them to sell, looks like I'll make about $20. With all the random Little People pieces I've been finding lately, I'll probably throw them all in a lot.

On that same trip, I also found some WWE figures for $2 a piece, only two of which I got. There was a dirty Shawn Michaels figure from the Jakks line, which I actually have in package and out, as well as a beat up Randy Orton from the Flex Force kid's line with action features. The two figures I did pick up were an Elite Rock from 2011 and one of the rarest of Mattel's WWE line, the Defining Moments Survivor Series 1996 Undertaker. He unfortunately didn't have any of his accessories but as he is, he's worth upwards of $50 and is in great condition. The Rock, not so much, he's got a bit of a head wound and some major scuff marks which I was able to clean. I plan on keeping both of them anyway, at least for the time being. Can't believe I found one of the rarest figures in the line at a thrift store!

I stopped there again the next day on my way to pick up a new TV and found a box of toys for $5. I didn't want to get it, but there was a Nickelodeon Shredder, the version with his mask off that I've been wanting, so you already know I had to grab it. There were a few other figures in there as well, including some Power Rangers and Batman pieces.

Not much of interest for me in there other than the Shredder figure and a Beast Raider Savage Warrior figure that I made a custom Skeletor out of back in 2005, when I first started customizing figures. The line looked awesome and was available at discount stores like Dollar Tree and Big Lots. I couldn't afford much at the time so the $1 figures were perfect to make a custom MOTU line out of, but I didn't make it very far. I've been hoping to find the figures ever since. Finally found one, and it just so happens to be the one I made a custom out of. Couple of days, couple of awesome finds.