League Assignment:Regrets

No wonder Homer Simpson is my favorite Simpsons character. I always have D'oh moments in life. Actually, sometimes, I think my whole life has been one big D'oh! Even with adding to my collection I can be heard to scream D'oh! Like the time I bought a "vintage" New York Jets bank off eBay only to find out after doing some research that the bank in question was actually not a Jets bank. The seller took a football player bank wearing green and slapped Jets stickers on it's helmet. Luckily, I was able to get my money back without an issue.

Ever since I started collecting Batman there has been one piece that I have wanted for a long time. I wouldn't say it's a White Whale, but it's on my top 5 list of wanted Batman items.

That's it. The 1974 Janex Talking Batman Alarm Clock. As a kid, I wanted this pretty bad. I begged and begged and of course I never got it. Once I restarted collecting Batman, it's been something I have wanted to add to the Batman collection. I really think this would look awesome on a shelf with the rest of my Batman goodies.

Last year, at the Super Mega Show, I found a seller with a working one that still spoke. A lot of the clocks you see don't speak anymore, but this one did and he had the box. The seller was selling his for $50.00. I thought it was a little high, so I decided to walk around the dealer room, come back and hit him with a lower number later in the day. When I arrived back to the dealer table he had already sold it. Now, I cannot find a working clock for anything under 75.00 and that is without the box. D'Oh!

Next up on my colossal mistake list are the McFarlane Beatles figures based on the 1965-67 cartoon series that ran on ABC. When these figures were first released, I had the "I will wait a bit, then pick them up" attitude. Of course, my lazy butt never did get those figures and now they don't sell on eBay for under $50.00 individually. The box set goes anywhere from $150.00 to $250.00. Good luck finding them at a toy show. I have never even seen them at a Beatles con. No wonder I am a Nowhere Man. D'oh!

Finally on my Magical Mystery D'oh Tour is the time I left behind a vintage Darth Vader Collector's Case. I was at a flea market with my buddy, George. We came across a table that had a carrying case. I remember having this as a kid and I wanted to buy back a part of my youth. The dealer was selling this for $10.00. Now, I must inform you all that I had just started collecting again at this point and had no idea what vintage toys were going for. I balked at the price and walked away. Now, I know this collector's case is not all that expensive, unless you are going to buy one still with it's packaging. But I know I won't find one again for $10.00 again. The force was NOT strong with me on that day. D'oh!

Knowing what I have learned over the past few years, I know what good deal is and when to pick up an item. This has helped me score some really awesome pieces for my collections and who knows, maybe I will have the opportunity to pick up the items I passed up on at some point. And if I don't then those mistakes will always serve as a reminder that no matter how smart I think I may be, I will always have a bit of Homer Simpson in me. Now, pass me that can of Duff Beer and box of donuts.

Mmmmmmm, donuts.

Take a gander at these fellow Leaguer's blunders and regrets:

http://www.batcavetoyroom.com/2013/10/regretsi-have-few.html

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.mx/2013/10/league-assignment-my-biggest-regret.html

http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2013/10/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers-my.html

http://www.nerdcantina.com/1/post/2013/10/my-biggest-collecting-regret.html

http://coolandcollected.com/this-is-probably-why-i-dont-collect-star-wars-toys/

POP Vinyl 1966 Batmobile NYCC Exclusive

In my last post I had mentioned I wasn't planning on attending this years New York Comic Con, but thanks to a buddy I managed to go for a couple of hours. But since I thought I wasn't going, I friend who was going asked if I wanted anything from the Con. Like a good friend, I greedily accepted his offer to bring back some swag for me.

There was a couple of things I wanted, but there was only one item I really wanted to add to my collection and thanks to my buddy, I have it.

The Funko POP Vinyl 1966 Batmobile NYCC Exclusive. This Batmobile was painted to look like those vintage 1970's Japanese tin Batmobiles. I always wanted one of those, but I'm not paying upwards of $500.00 for one, so this POP is a welcome addition to my Batman/POP collection. Let's take a look at the rest of the box.

Here's one side of the box with the Bat Signal signing over Gotham City. Very 1966 series like.

Back of the box shows the rest of the POP Vinyls in this series and yes, I do plan to pick them all up.

Other side of the box.

And the top of the box. Notice how Batman and the Batmobile is on every side of this box. A glory hound that Batman is, I tell ya.

Let's take Batman and the Batmobile out for closer inspection and get smelling salts for those who fainted when I said I would take the POP out of the box.

Once out of the box, I have to say this figure and the Batmobile is awesome. Yes, it's not the classic black Batmobile that we all know and love, but I love that the designers of this figure thought outside the box to create this blue Batmobile.

I actually did not realize that the figure came out of the Batmobile. I thought this was one piece. The fact that I get a figure and the car is a terrific bonus.

I absolutely love this figure. The paint job is fantastic. The colors are exact to the colors Batman wore on the TV series. The belt was sculpted to look exactly the same as the one Adam West wore on the TV series.

Here's the back of the figure where you can see some imperfections on the paint job. It's fine. I will be keeping this in the box anyway.

The Batmobile looks fantastic. The iconic Bat symbol is on the side of the car as well as on the wheels. The red racing stripe is still there as well. The red really pops out with the blue background.

One weird thing. When I took out the Batmobile from it's box, it was pretty dusty. I have never seen that before.

The front of the Batmobile shows off the head lights and the bubble windshields.

The back shows off the exhaust pipes, the flame launcher and the back lights. It's missing the parachute though.

In the car, we just have the steering wheel. Makes it easier to just go I guess.

With each release, I am becoming more of a POP Vinyl fan and I absolutely love this NYCC exclusive. I will be keeping this in it's box as I will grab the regular release Batmobile POP when I see it and have that out on the shelf.

If you are planning on picking this up, I would wait a bit. I saw this on eBay and the asking price was $300.00. Give it a month or so. The prices should go down.

What I wouldn't give to have a Bat Cave playset to go along with the Batmobile. Anyone have the number to Funko's developmental department?

New York Comic Con

I resigned myself to the fact that I would be missing New York Comic Con this year. I was actually fine with it. I am saving my pennies for my trip to Los Angeles to see my baby at the end of the month, so I wasn't even thinking about trying to find a way in this year.

Then, around 4:30 PM Friday afternoon my buddy, Jose, texted me asking me to call him. I ran to my desk at the office and called him back. Turns out he had weekend passes and his friend cancelled for that evening and he wanted to know if I wanted to go.

Um, yeah.

So, after I got off work, I met up with Jose in front of Jacobs Javitz Center and in we went. Jose runs a website called Talking About Games, which talks about makeup and hair styles. Nah, it's a video game website. You can check out the website at talkingaboutgames.com.

Ok, enough of the props. On to the pictures.

I'm pretty much going to let the pictures do the talking here. Unfortunately, since time was limited, I didn't get to see everything I wanted, which is fine. I ha a blast in the time I was there and hope I can make another Comic Con in the future. If you are on my Facebook page, you already seen these, but if you aren't (shame one you), here they are.

Walking up to the entrance

.
I would kill to own this.

This too.

I love this poster

Snootchie Bootchies

I still need that Art FX Batman statue.

Love these bust banks.

My favorite booth was the Toyworth booth, which displayed some sweet vintage stuff.

Check out that awesome vintage Batman and the Justice League playset. Drool.

Sweet vintage looking Spidey card from Hallmark.

Awesome Batman stuff. I want them all!

I will be reading this when it's released. I believe it's going to be put out by Dark Horse.

Lola from Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. made an appearance.

We end with Neil Adams. One day, I will have a commissioned Batman piece from Neil. Unfortunately, at $300.00 a pop, that will be a long way off.

Again, I want to thank my buddy, Jose from Talking About Games for the pass to get in. I really enjoyed looking at all the cool stuff. Go check out his website and listen to his podcast as well. I will guest on it one day and knowing the two of us, you never know what will come out of our mouths.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

What Do You Think?

Can You Help A Poor American Who's Down On His Luck?

I love that bit from a Bugs Bunny Cartoon. Always wanted to use it here in someway.

Back on June 3rd, 2009, I wrote my first entry for the "Sexy Geek's House Of Swag". Originally, it was intended to be a sports blog, covering my sports card addiction as well as showing off any autograph, figurine pick ups and posting any views on what was going on in the sports world.

Obviously, something happened on the way to Heaven.

4 years later, The Sexy Geek's going strong, but whatever ideas I had about making this a sports blog went out the window when I restarted reading comics, buying toys and reading blogs like Cool And Collected, Batcave Toy Room, and William Bruce West. These three blogs are who I give credit to inspiring me to switch up from sports, which I was really comfortable discussing, to pop culture, which I was not initially, I really still feel like I am relearning everything pop culture, but it has now become such a passion for me that I am re-reading comics I read as a kid, reading comics I missed out on, watching movies, reading books and, more importantly, collecting. After 4 years later, I think I'm doing something right. What that is, I really don't know.

Now that we are in the month of October and 2013 is nearing it's end, I wanted to get some feed back from you guys. Do you enjoy reading the blog? What changes would you make to make it even better? Are there any subjects I should be discussing more? I really want to make this blog one you guys enjoy reading and would love to have more readers come by and take a look

Some of the things I was tinkering with in my head was to maybe add a YouTube page as a companion to the blog, expanding the page with links to trade bait or maybe even moving it to another blog page.

One thing I really would love to do is create a banner for the page. Problem is, I have no artistic skills nor am I handy with Photoshop and I cannot afford someone to create the banner for me. Hopefully, I can figure out how to add the banner before 2014 begins. Again, I am open to suggestions on how I can go about creating one.

Anyway, I'd like to say thanks ahead of time for any suggestions you guys might have for me. I love writing this blog and I want to make it one you guys will continue to enjoy reading for the next few years or for as long as I am able to write it. I have a lot of plans for 2014 and making "The Sexy Geek's House Of Swag" even better is one of them.

League Assignment: Halloween

Another assignment from the League. This one is about one of my very favorite holidays.

Halloween.

Who doesn't love Halloween except, maybe, the Amish. I mean, what's not to love? Candy, costumes, candy, scary movies, candy, tricks or treats, candy, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and did I mention candy?

As a kid, Halloween was a very special occasion. It meant a trip to Woolworth's (Google it, kids) to pick out a Halloween bucket to hold the loot in and a trip to my favorite aisle. The aisle of Ben Cooper Halloween costumes.

For those not in the know, Ben Cooper was a company that manufactured Halloween costumes. They had licenses to turn any character into a Halloween costume. The costumes were basically plastic masks and vinyl smocks with a silk screen image on the front, but during the 50's, 60's and 70's Ben Coopers was synonymous with Halloween.

Thanks to Ben Cooper, you didn't need an imagination. For around $4.00, you could be a Six Million Dollar Man

A Beatle

Or A Damn Dirty Ape

You could be a masked crime fighter

Or something just down right creepy

How parents allowed their kids to dress up as an Alien yet fight for the removal of said toy I will never understand.

Some of my personal favorites costumes are some that I wore as a kid. Allow me to indulge my middle aged geeky self and take a walk down memory lane.

Since two of my favorite heroes are Spider-Man and Batman you would think that I was Spidey and the Caped Crusader for Halloween and you would be correct. Two of my favorite costumes are the Batman and Spider-Man costumes. I believe I was Batman first, then Spider-Man the next year. With the Spider-Man costume, I had the matching Spider-Man Halloween bucket. Batman, I had the usual pumpkin shaped bucket. No matter, that bad boy was filled with candy and when I got to my little Batcave, I ate as much candy as I could before I passed out.

Another year, The Incredible Hulk T.V. series was a huge hit, so I wanted to paint my skin green and wear rags. Thankfully, I was given this instead:

Give me that candy and don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

The last year I remember getting a Ben Cooper, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. So, basically, I asked my mom for this:

And I got this instead:

Is it any wonder why I can be deliciously evil? That's all on you Mom.

I never wore this, but I just think it's freaking sweet and would love to add it to my future Green Hornet collection.

As much as kids today have costumes that look a bit more realistic, I will always have a soft spot for the Ben Cooper outfits. I mean, today's costumes come in a bag. No presentation whatsoever. You guys can keep that. I will just cherish the memories I have of seeing those boxes stacked on the shelves of Woolworths, going home and staring at the graphics on the box. I wish I had some of them. To me, nothing says Halloween like Ben Cooper.

Check out what Halloween means to the other League members:

http://coolandcollected.com/1965-munsters-lunch-box/

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.mx/2013/10/league-assignment-here-comes-halloween.html

http://teamhellions.com/2013/10/09/halloween-the-league/

http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween-countdown-day-7-loeg-here.html

http://nerdoutwithmeblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/this-nerds-favorite-halloween-movies.html

Ask them for some candy and bring it to me!