Two Lovely Ladies and Some Vintage Goodness (Pink Ranger, She-Ra, TMNT, Dino Riders)

My parents came up to visit for my birthday and we went to Acadia both days, finishing up the final hikes I needed to complete The Acadia You Haven't Seen 2. Since they have a Newbury Comics at the mall down there, I gave them a little birthday list, just in case. If you're wondering, I had five figures on it, She-Ra from the ReAction line, Shadow Weaver, Evil Lyn and Evil Seed from the Super 7 retro MOTU line, and Power Rangers Lightning Collection Pink Ranger, because Kimberly was hands down the best part of the show. But the night before they arrived, at Walmart, there she was, in all her pink glory. That didn't come out as I meant it to sound. Oh well. I grabbed her just in case my parents didn't find her down there. And it's a good thing I did because the worker there told them they wouldn't be getting it in. I have been waiting for this figure since 1993, that head flipping one looked nothing like her.

When my parents got here, they brought a little box of my stuff they'd found here and there around the house. I always look forward to my box of treasures, which are getting smaller and smaller because I've already found almost everything. But this time around there were two amazing finds, which I already knew about since my dad told me when he found them, but seeing them in person is always so exhilarating. I couldn't remember what my TMNT pencil case looked like and couldn't find the same one online when he told me about it, so that one was kind of a surprise. I remember having this back in kindergarten.

The other item was one I honestly didn't even remember being in existence. I looked it up a month or so ago when he was describing it to me and sure enough, there was a Dino Riders minicomic. It was part of the care package you got upon joining the fan club, which I don't remember being a part of but I have the comic, the cards, even the iron-on patch to prove it, so I guess I was. Probably didn't remember the minicomic because I didn't know how to read them when I was younger. By younger I mean I didn't finally figure out how to properly read a comic book until my teen years. Shut up, they were confusing, alright, with little bubbles and captions and shut up. But whoa, this thing is dope as hell. And now I know how to read it.

To go along with my childhood treasures, they got me a couple presents as well. I got some huckleberry jam because I love that stuff and they get it for me every time they go out west, a My Pillow because I was jealous of my mom's last time they were up here in the spring, and the She-Ra ReAction figure! I've been waiting for her, she's even got a spot on the wall under He-Man, Skeletor and Scareglow. Yes, yes, the ReActions are kind of stupid, but that artwork. And it's She-Ra, the way she looked in the cartoon. She-Ra and Kimberly, don't uh, don't mind me, I just have to go into the other room, with my toys, for a little while. You can all let yourselves out. I'm busy, we'll talk more later.

A Week Of Stuff To Sell (Bakugan, Calico Critters, Witcher, Wonder Woman, Barbie)

Well, not much for me this past week, but between yard sales and thrift stores and even another piece from the trash, I've found a number of items to sell. At the Brewer Goodwill I picked up a bag of  Bakugan balls for a couple dollars, which ended up selling for $25. I probably could have gotten a little more if I knew the names of the individual pieces, but that was way outside of my abilities, believe me, I tried.

That same day I also picked up a Bakugan figure for a dollar who later sold for $10. Don't know anything about this line at all but through lots of research, I was able to figure out who he was. Way too much work for $10.

Couple days later, at Salvation Army I picked up some more items to sell. There were a couple buildings that I recognized as Calico Critters, they might be worth a little something, well, after I clean them up.

I also grabbed a Nature World Arctic Playset iceberg that I've had my eye on for a while. I kept telling myself the next time I bought something there, I'd get it. If it doesn't sell, I might paint it and use it to display little Masters Of The Universe figures, it does look rather Snake Mountain-esque.

A few days later I picked up a strategy guide for The Witcher 3 video game. This thing is beautiful, $8 but it's hardcover, excellent condition, and the game actually looks really cool. It turns out there's a show coming soon so I'll wait until then to sell it, a little closer to the holidays. The last one sold for $30 so I should easily make my money back. (update: it sold for $56)

At a church yard sale I got a talking Wonder Woman figure for a dollar, despite it being in the $0.25 bucket, but whatever, they were little old church ladies. I planned on throwing her in my growing superhero lot but listed her at $5 and she sold pretty quickly.

That same day, in the trash pile at one of the yard sales, my wife spotted something pink so we picked it up. Turns out it's a Barbie Pet Care Center. It's actually in really good condition and might get $10 or so, not bad for literal garbage. It's no Precious Places dollhouse but hey, still a free playset.

Oh and not toy related but I also bought a Christmas village fountain at Walmart that I missed out on last year. This year I got it early and it was still the last one left. It's the only one I've found that's an actual working fountain, it even lights up. Do I have a Christmas village to display it in? No, but I want one after writing a novel about it last year, so this is my first piece.

90s Toys Galore At Goodwill Tonight (Mighty Max, Micro Machines, Star Wars, ExoSquad, Optimus +)

Today was a first for me, the first time I had to grab a basket while shopping at Goodwill. And then, the first time I had to say screw the basket and go for a cart, and then bring the cart all the way to the car because it was too much to carry. And yes, I then brought the cart back, I've worked retail for the past fifteen years, until this past year that is. But wow, $35 later and I got the most I've ever purchased from Goodwill in one trip, considering I usually leave empty handed.

Man oh man, where to start. Okay, so right away, on the front table I spotted a bag of Micro Machines and some pewter pieces. Well, the Micro Machines turned out to be not Micro Machines, but actually a knock off named Micro Action Military Magnifiers from Funrise in 1988. A lot of the 'Micro Machines' I had as a kid, and still have because I recently decided not to part with them, were actually Funrise knock offs as well, even the air craft carrier. I had no clue. I actually had some of this collection but not these particular vehicles. I want to sell them because they're worth about $20 for the lot, but I also want to keep them, I'm so torn. Maybe I'll just sell the duplicates.

Same bag, there were a number of pewter pieces made in the early 90s, which explains why it was so heavy. After lots and lots of research, I figured out what some of them are, and we have a Grenadier Julie Guthrie's Fantasy Personalities 859 Chaotic Wizard  who's only worth about $8, a few broken figures I'm not sure of, and a Ral Partha Children Of The Night WAR EAGLE #1, which looks like it's worth about $30. His wing isn't attached but I'm pretty sure it's a part you have to glue on anyway so no big deal. I loved pewter pieces as a kid but they were too 'older kid' for me, so I always planned on collecting them when I got a little older, but never did. Does that mean I'm still a child?
 

Knowing this was quite the score, well, not knowing, just a feeling, I headed down to the toy section. Immediately I could see the red and purple peeking over the top of the aisle. Could it be? Skull Mountain from the Mighty Max line, the playset I just put on my holy grail list of playsets not even a week ago. I didn't have any Mighty Max as a kid, the figures were just too small, I hated my little sister's Polly Pockets. I kept wishing they'd make them in a bigger scale because man were they badass. So I didn't get any, and then Skull Mountain came out and I couldn't just start collecting that late in the line so I never asked for it for Christmas, but always secretly wanted it, despite saying how stupid Mighty Max was. A holy grail piece for $3, hell yeah. There were even two other Mighty Max sets that I of course grabbed because how could I not, Dragon Island and Caught By The Man Eater. No figures with them but I don't care, these are my first ever Mighty Max pieces and the Mountain is cooler than I'd imagined. So stoked to land these!

But the fun didn't stop there, I spotted a whole bunch of ExoSquad vehicles, another line I didn't collect or even know about at the time. Not sure if there was a market for them, at a couple bucks a piece, I just bought everything. I ended up with three vehicles, two exosuits and one figure. Okay, these things are cool, how did I not know about them? Ahh, that's why, the cartoon aired at something stupid like 4:30 in the morning, needless to say it didn't last long. But wow, the story sounds crazy, gonna have to watch and see if I'm selling these or starting a new collection. I hate myself sometimes, lol. Looks like all the pieces together are worth about $40.

No longer able to hold everything, I grabbed a play shopping basket from the shelf, but it overflowed after a couple items. In need of a real basket, I ran to grab one because I was apprehensive about leaving the figures unattended and losing them to the vultures. Luckily, I'm pretty quick. But then I spotted an insane looking Optimus Prime, who turned out to be the Beast Hunters Dragon Assault from 2013. This guy is huge, well over a foot tall. He's not really worth anything but he's awesome and going in my collection. And he filled up the rest of my basket which simply wouldn't do because I found more gems hiding among the shelves of plastic goodness.

Time to switch from basket to shopping cart, this time I was able to lug my overflowing basket to the front, grab a cart and not risk losing any of my treasures. Perfect timing because the vultures began to arrive. So I raced back over like this was Nascar and loaded up Optimus and a strange spaceship thing I wasn't familiar with, also from the 90s. A quick search on my phone, now that I have a phone that can do that, oh yeah, I'm cool enough to have the internet on my phone finally, I figured out it was from Stargate. Not worth much but grabbed it anyway.

Moving the Stargate ship revealed what was clearly a Batman vehicle from the early 90s, from the Batman line I used to collect. Well, maybe collect is too strong of a word, I had a jet, a motorcycle and like five figures, but I knew immediately it was from that line. I just didn't know what the hell that vehicle was supposed to be. Well, it's a Batskiboat, whatever that is. It's missing pieces but still worth about $15 in its current condition. My Batman phase was very short lived and I never got back into it, so this one will end up on eBay, but still, what a find. I wonder if this crazy vehicle actually appeared in the movie.

And then, beside that, a green Alien figure from the 1993 Kenner line, with moveable arms that still move. I had one of the Predator figures from the Kenner line but was never really into the franchise, despite how cool they looked. This is the green translucent version of the Mantis Alien, only worth a couple bucks so I'll keep him for my collection, at least for now. All of this was just icing on the cake after finding the Skull Mountain playset, my pants were still tight over that but I just kept grabbing everything that looked interesting. This was one hell of a 90s collection of toys, and it didn't stop there.

Under a couple of dolls, I spotted the Star Wars Micro Machines Endor playset, my favorite one from the line. I've regretted getting rid of it since the second it sold. If I'd only kept one piece from that collection, this would have been the one, so I figured I'd hunt it down someday, but finding it in the wild is so much more thrilling. And it so happens that the bag of Micro Machines actually had some Star Wars ones in it, including a couple of my favorites, the Boba Fett Slave ship, Luke Skywalker and the Emperor. And I still have some of the pine trees from my original Endor set so it's pretty close to complete. All I need is the satellite dish, one more tree and the logs.

Then, on the endcap, I spotted a vintage Jake The Snake Roberts from the WWF Hasbro line. Of course I have him, but for a dollar, I grabbed him anyway. Aside from Jake Roberts being the freakin' man, and my love of the Hasbro line, so I would have bought him anyway, he was actually my very first WWF figure, the first of many. Okay, fine, many more than many. Not sure why I bought him, since I still have my original, but I did anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll get back to customizing someday and he's a great one to use as a base figure.

Before leaving, I grabbed a giant Playmobil base that filled up the remainder of my cart. I never had any Playmobil pieces as a kid, they were kind of vanilla for me, but I have to admit, they had some awesome playsets. My sister and I wanted a few of them after seeing them for the first time at FAO Schwartz in Boston back in the early 90s, for our GI Joes to play on of course. It's missing all of its parts but I'm sure there's someone out there who has the other pieces and needs the island itself, the trouble will be finding a box big enough to ship it in. Or, who knows, maybe I'll keep it for myself for my GI Joes to play on, if only I had time to play with them.

Okay, I think that sums up everything I found at Goodwill. From there it was on to Oriental Jade to order supper, and I figured why not check out Gamestop at the mall while waiting. And there he was, the Goldar exclusive figure from the Power Rangers Lightning Collection. And damn is this figure beautiful, well, you know, it's Goldar so maybe beautiful isn't the right word but wow, he'll look great next to Lord Zedd, and Kimberly whenever she hits the shelves. Now she will be beautiful. And this has been one hell of an evening for toy hunting.

Brewer Goodwill Finally Comes Through (Warhammer, Imaginext, TMNT Dogpound)

I don't know what it is, some Goodwills just suck. Well, for me at least, but then again I have very specific tastes. The Brewer location is one of them. Of all my years going there, I could probably count my purchases on one hand. Their tiny toy section is somehow always disappointing, today being the exception, sort of.

If you find action figures at the thrift store in Maine, nine times out of ten, it'll be Imaginext, but at least it's better than cars and trucks. So today I bought a big bag of Imaginext figures for a few bucks. They're not worth much, but combined with all the others I've picked up here and there, they make some pretty decent lots that bring in about $10 to $15. Even got some fairly rare figures in here, an alien and some pirates that alone triples the few bucks I spent on the bag.

But I probably would have passed on it had it not been for who was mixed in with the Imaginext figures, Dogpound from Nickelodeon's TMNT. Wasn't sure of it at the time but I was almost positive he was from the Turtles. I have a few of the figures from this series, I think I'm gonna have to watch it before I sell them off, just to make sure I don't fall in love with it and kick myself for selling all the figures I've picked up this summer. (I'm currently binging this show every night. I love it! I now need aaalllll the figures. And luckily it's only a couple years old so they pop up all over the place at yard sales and thrift stores. I'm having fun hunting them down and have a decent collection of them now.)

Aside from the Imaginext and TMNT figures was something you don't see that often, Warhammer figurines. I've never played any of the miniature games like that but have always found them interesting and love looking at them, wishing I had time to play. So I was pretty sure they were Warhammer, I just didn't know if they were worth more than the $2 price tag for the small box of them. I went for it and they paid off. They sold right away for $11, not much but at least they've gone to someone who wants them.