So I Walked Into A Bookstore The Other Day...

Don't you hate it when you go out some place, not looking to pick anything up, yet you walk out spending a some of your hard earned green backs? Neither do I.

I went to pick up some photos over by Union Square yesterday. Since I was in the area I decided to stop off in Barnes N Noble to use their facilities and see if there was anything interesting.While there, I stopped by the section that had POP figures. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything there so I moved along. While passing by this section where the Walking Dead stuff was, tucked between a couple of zombies I found this cool Spider-Man item:

Not sure where I would put this as I don't own a computer monitor, but it's going to look pretty sweet with the rest of my Spider-Man Funko collection.

So, I went to pay for the Spider-Man computer sitter when I noticed a huge display of POP figures right by the registers. Yeah, go ahead and put a huge collection of items that I'm going to want to purchase right by the register. Genius.

While standing on line, I peruse the Funko Pops on display when I saw them right next to each other. I knew it was fate that they would be coming home with me.

Anytime I can pick up a new Luke Skywalker item for my Skywalker collection, I am grabbing it. I had heard of a new Luke Skywalker POP in his Hoth gear paired up with a Wampa and I saw it at Barnes N Noble, but I decided to pass on it as it was a bit pricey. But I did find this Luke solo (No, not Han), so he came home with me.

But Luke was not alone. Right next to him was a POP I had been looking for:

Spider-Man, of course. Duh.

I had been looking for this Amazing Spider-Man 2 POP ever since the movie came out, yet I had trouble finding it. I was all set to order it from eBay like I did with the first Spidey POP, but lucky for me, he and Luke were chilling out, waiting for this sexy geek to grab them both and bring them home.

Since I'm here, Let's take a look at Spidey out of the box and check him out.

Right off the bat, I love the sculpt on this POP. unlike the last Spider-Man, the web lines are not colored in, but it doesn't take anything away from this figure. The Spider symbol is also larger on this POP then the last one as well.

Check out the eyes on him. Awesome job Funko.

Here's the back of Spidey. The paint on this figure is fantastic. There is nary a sploch, messed up line or anything negative to say about the paint application on this POP.

Heck, I even like the Spider on his back.

I always said two Spideys are better than one. I initially thought that the blue on the ASM 2 was lighter, but that isn't the case. The eyes are also wider on this POP. To tell you guys the truth, I can't decide which POP I like better. To me, both have great qualities that I love and because of that, I'm not going to even try to figure out which I like better, so NAHHHH!

What made this trip to Barnes N Noble even sweeter was that I had a 30 % off coupon, so this sweet shopping spree cost me less than $20.00. As Mel Brooks once said, "It's Good To Be The King".

I May Be Biased, But This Is An Awesome Bobblehead.

Yeah, I may be a bit Spider-Man crazy these days. Everything I've bought has been Spider-Man related. From figures to comics to statues to cups, I have been on the hunt for anything that has the Web Head's face plastered all over it. Must have something to do with the movie that was just released. Yes, I did see it and yes, I loved it. I won't say anything in case anyone who's reading this hasn't seen it. I will say that I strongly feel that this is the best Spider-Man movie period. Was it perfect? No, but the positives far out weigh the negatives. I will be seeing it again.

So, I'm sure by now you guys are wondering what bobblehead I bought. If you guessed it is Spider-Man related, your a winner of a No Prize.

A few months back I showed a preview picture of a Spider-Man bobblehead that NECA was releasing in April. I had seen it in the stores, but always left it behind. This past Friday, I couldn't resist it any longer. Plus, the price was better than I had seen in other stores and finally picked it up.

I love the box the bobblehead comes in. You have a classic John Romita-ish Spider-Man drawing in the upper left hand corner with a huge picture of the bobblehead your getting. This box is not in the greatest shape. Stupid me for not noticing it until I got home. I guess I was just too giddy about picking this up.

Look at how cool this bobblehead is. Classic Spidey pose, low to the ground. His left hand looks like it's getting ready to spin a web. I love how the sculpting looks vintage 1970's Spider-Man. This is just a great looking bobblehead.

The back looks great in the classic red and blue colors of the Wall Crawler. Love that big red spider on the back of his costume. I almost bought a t-shirt in this color blue with the red spider in front on the chest. Very cool shirt. I will pick it up eventually. The base may look dusty, but I'm guessing its from the packaging. This bobblehead is packaged inside styrofoam that covers the bobblehead from both sides. That was one snug bug.

Nothing great on the bottom of the base. Just the Marvel and NECA logos as well as their website addresses. Also, Spidey was made in China.

I think this bobblehead might be one of the best Spider-Man bobbles produced. NECA did a fantastic job with this one. This was not the only one in this line. I have seen Iron Man and Thor on the shelves of my local comic book shops and they also look fantastic. But for my money, and again maybe I am biased, but the Spider-Man bobble is the best of the three and it may be the best looking Spider-Man bobblehead ever made. This one is going to look great on the shelf.

It's Official. I Have Bats In My Bobblehead Collection

I have been looking all over for the new toys based on the 1966 Batman TV series and had been coming up short. Toys R Us, my local comic book stores, Walmart, Target, no store I went to had anything I wanted.

But, as you can guess from the title of this blog entry, I did find something to add to my Batman collection. So, what did I find?

I was on my way to a friend's pre bachelor party and I was a bit early. I hit Midtown Comics Grand Central location to look around. I was actually planning on grabbing the New 52 figure I saw a few weeks ago, but when I got there it was sold. So I was looking around and I found something just as good and bought it.

I came across the Funko Batman Wacky Wobbler bobblehead and snatched it without thinking twice. Midtown also had Robin, Catwoman and Joker. At some point, I will have to get those for the collection, but for now, I have Batman and I am quite happy with that.

It looks like most of the Batman stuff will have similar artwork. I dig the one on the box. It screams TV Series with the KaPow's and Biff's.

I love the back of this box. There are pictures from the TV Series of all the characters who were made into bobbleheads as well as a drawing of the Batmobile and the Bat signal.

Batman and Robin walking up the side of a building always makes me think of the TV Series.

The top has a picture of Batman drawn similar to the way he's drawn in the beginning of the show.

The box is very nice. Almost makes me want to keep it in the box....almost.

My first impressions are that this is a terrific bobblehead. It's going to look great on my bobblehead shelf.

Close up of Adam's face. Love the colors here. The blues and black look great and the sculpting on this bobble is done very well. Definitely has a great likeness to Adam West.

Love the sculpting on the utility belt as well as the muscle or lack there of one. The emblem is dead on to the one he wore on the show. Again, the color scheme is great. The grey and the blue is also spot on to what he wore in the show.

Here is a shot of the back of the bobble. Love the lines sculpted in the cape.

The base is gold with Batman painted on in black. I like that it's painted on as opposed to Funko placing a sticker here.

The bobblehead looks great. I do have complaints though. The paint job was not done very well. My bobble head has a lot of imperfections.

Right on the shoulder is a paint mark.

The back of the head has a bunch of little painting botches. Terrible job by the Funko company on this bobblehead.

Paint perfections aside, I do really like this bobblehead. The likeness to Adam West as well as the sculpting and color schemes are well done. I'm hoping that maybe I just picked a bad bobblehead. I have other Funko bobbleheads and they came out great. That won't stop me from getting the rest in this series. Having seen them up close, I know that they are also well done and I cannot wait to be able to add them to this Batman in my bobblehead collection. Because of the paint job, I would only give the bobblehead 4 out of 5 stars. Everything else is well done and would make a great addition to any bobblehead/Batman collection.

From The "Oh, This I Have To Have" Department

So, while I was on the NECA boards, looking for information on the release dates for the large scale '66 Batman and the 1989 Batman figures (No release date, yet). I started looking around the site at some of the other stuff NECA will be releasing. It was my first time on their site. I liked what I saw. I'm going to be looking out for the 1966 Batman Heroclix stuff that NECA will be releasing and I have to hunt down their Batman bobbleheads from Dark Knight Rises as well as their classic Batman bobbles.

Then I saw a bobblehead I have to have.

Is this thing freaking cool or what?

I already have 2 other Spider-Man bobbleheads and I know this one will look look fantastic next to them. I just love that he is crouched down in position to spin his web. The classic Romita look of the bobble makes this a must have in my Spidey collection. 

There was no release date for this figure (shocker!) so I will have to keep my eyes peeled for it. I'm sure the comic shops I frequent will have this on their shelves by the end of the year. This might make a snazzy Christmas gift for a certain sexy geek. Or I'll just save my pennies and pick it up when I see it. Either way, I will definately be adding this awesome looking bobblehead to my Spider-Man collection.

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare Some Room?

I spent a better part of last weekend doing some much needed clearing up of my room. I did this for a few reasons. A-My room had gotten really cluttered. B-I wanted to swap out stuff I had in my closet for future blogs for stuff I had already shown. C-I wanted to see what I had. What should have taken a few hours had taken a couple of days and it was shocking and frustrating.

I had boxes and bags on my dresser, chair, desk and other places in my room, so I packed all of the stuff and opened my closet door to put all my stuff away. When I opened my closet, I realized I had a problem that you would think you could only find in cartoons or comedies. My closet was already filled with boxes upon boxes of sports cards, unopened and opened figures, as well as boxes for most of my bobbleheads. That is when I realized I was in big trouble.

I had just about run out of room and I was stuck holding the bag, literally.

What started out as collecting what I liked had turned into an episode of Hoarders, starring The Sexy Geek. It was an unplanned and most unwanted appearance. I had to figure out what had happened and how I could stop this slippery slope I was on before I was left blubbering over an intervention by friends and family because I was sneaking in a moldy issue of Amazing Spider-Man #500 and a Mego Robin with a broken leg...wait I have one already. Oh God, Help me! (drops to my knees, crying hysterical as I hold Robin in my arms, whispering to him that everything would be O.K)

Alright, seriously, I know how I got here and it's a pretty simple explanation. What started as my collecting stuff I actually loved grew into my picking up something of anything I remotely liked. I have my sports collection which consists of anything Yankees, Jets, Knicks, Islanders and Devils as well as a few player collections. In my sports collections, I have cards (a lot of cards), autographs, bobbleheads, figures, pins, yearbooks, programs and other stuff I can't remember. My pop culture collection consists of Batman, Spider-Man, The Beatles, The Monkees, Luke Skywalker/Star Wars and Back To The Future.

Now, the problem is not only do I have a large collection of stuff that I like, but I have managed to start side collections of stuff I that while I like, don't have the attachments that I have to my favorites. For instance, I love KISS, but did I really need to buy a huge Love Gun Mister? It's never even been out of the box. Granted, the box is wrecked, which is why I got it for half off at Spencer's, but I honestly didn't need it nor have I used it. Plus, I really don't go out of my way for KISS stuff anymore.  I have a side Iron Man collection. I was never a huge Iron Man fan when I read the comics. I fell in love with the character after I watched the movies and then started reading the books. I'm a huge WWE fan and I never even started a collection save for a few Roddy Piper and Steve Austin figures. Imagine how messed up I would be if I had?

Because I really cannot afford a storage room, I have some boxes and rubber maid bins that have toys, video tapes, autographs, books and other items. I also have my T.V., DVD's, Blu Ray's, clothes and other things. As you can imagine, room is very limited in my area. I'm lucky I have room to move around right now, but if I keep adding stuff I may not.

What I am going to have to do is step back and take a bit of a break from collecting. Reestablish my collecting goals and focus on that. Anything else, I may either put away, trade or sell. I would have to figure out just what I would be willing to part with. That will not be easy. I always did not want to be the collector you all saw on Collector Intervention that would have a hard time letting go of a piece, but the more I think about what I may or may not part with, I can now understand why they always had a problem with letting go. But I also realize I need to take control before the collection takes control of me.

If I decide to let anything go, I will throw it out to you guys to see if there would be anything anyone wanted. I would rather anything I have would go to a good home and a collector who would appreciate it before I give it to Goodwill or turn to eBay. It sucks that I let things get out of control, but at least I was able to catch the problem before it was too late and that is always a good thing.

A Summer Of Amazing

This summer was a terrific summer for superhero movies. We were treated to not one, not even two, but three major hero releases. The Avengers was the highest grossing of the three, but each movie bought something to the summer blockbuster party. The Avengers was a lot of fun; the ultimate popcorn summer movie. The Dark Knight Rises was as good as The Dark Knight. Then there was The Amazing Spider-Man, which was released between the two big guns.

It's no secret, I was nervous about this movie. Sure, I despised Spider-Man 3 and thought that Sam Rami, Toby McGuire and company took a wrong turn with that release and welcomed the news that Sony was letting everyone from that series go. Then we were told that Sony was rebooting the franchise, which I thought was too soon. Then I saw the actor, Andrew Garfield and thought to myself that Sony was trying to make Spider-Man: Twilight. Then I saw the costume and was not happy with it. Opening night, I walked into that theather with more than some trepidation. I was ready to tear this movie apart. After watching it, I realized I was wrong on all counts. Marc Webb did an amazing (no pun intended...ok, maybe a little pun) job with this movie. Andrew Garfield was spectacular as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and yes, I like the outfit now.To me, this was similar to Batman Begins and hope that the sequal does as well, if not better. I'm very happy to hear that both Marc Webb and Andrew Garfield will return for the next installment and hope to see J.K. Simmons return as J.Jonah Jameson.

Of course, what's a summer of Spider-Man without some new additions to my Spidey collection. I have previously shown off some Spider-Man goodies, but here are some more that I didn't get to show off.



I bought this cup at Spencer's at the beginning of the summer. I was anticipating a hot summer (which it was) and thought this would be a great cup to have to keep my drinks cold, but alas, I never used it. I just loved the John Romita graphics on this cup and could never bring myself to use it. maybe one day.

This is probably my favorite Spider-Man pick up of the summer. Unlike the Marvel Select Spider-Man I grabbed with tons of articulation, this Spidey has very little articulation, yet looks more like the movie Spidey than the Marvel Select figure. I found this figure at Barnes N Noble of all places and never seen it at any Toys R Us, Target or Walmart. I wonder if this was a Barnes N Nobles exclusive or something. That would be weird if it was. I mean, a bookstore figure excusive figure??

I love Spider-Man. I love bobbleheads. This was a union made for me. This is my third Spidey bobblehead and he fits nicely with my other two. I found this...wait a sec. Gotta give credit where it belongs. My buddy George found this for me. We were up in Poughkepsie at a Goodwill and he found this in a bin. The box was busted up, but the bobblehead was in pristine condition. Paid only 5 bucks for it.

 

Not sure if I showed this one before. I found this in a Marshalls. It's a PVC figure. It's a nice little add to the Spidey collection and I didn't really spend a lot on him. Paid 3.99 for it.

Another PVC figure I found and snagged when I saw it. Found this one in Poughkepsie as well, in a Big Lots. Paid 2.00 for this bad boy.

Another Big Lots purchase in, you guessed it, Poughkepsie! I scored some sweet pieces this summer in that Upstate NY town and can't wait to go back again for another toy hunt. This Amazing Spider-Man PVC was only 2.00. But, you already knew that from the rather large sticker on the bubble.

Last, but not least was this gift from my nephew. I love these Pop bobbleheads and this Spider-Man is gorgous. My 4th Spider-Man bobblehead and it will look great on my Spider-Man display once I get it up and running again.

 

This was a great summer. I got to see some awesome movies and picked up some really cool pieces for my toy collection. I'm hoping this fall will be the same. I have an idea of some flea markets I'd like to hit up and hopefully, some toy shows as well. I will be keeping an eye on new releases as well as look for some awesome vintage pieces to add to the collection.

 

Hopefully, your summer as great and hope you guys will add some great pieces to your collections as well this fall.

Snoopy Bobblehead Night-Yankee vs Toronto Blue Jays 9/19/2012

Last Wednesday I was able to attend the Yankees/Blue Jays game at Yankee Stadium. It was Snoopy Bobblehead Night and I wanted to make sure I got one for my Yankees bobblehead collection, so I took the day off from work. I was the first one through the gates and I was thrilled when I was handed my Snoopy bobblehead. Yes! I had to take the day off from work, but I got the bobblehead.

I went straight to the right field seats for batting practice. The Yankees played the first game of a day/night doubleheader earlier, so I wasn't sure if there would be batting practice. The last time I attended batting practice, I caught a ball. The time before that, I got a ball. I wanted to see if I could make it 3 in a row.

I got to the right field seats and saw Derek Jeter taking hacks along with Alex Rodriguez. During Arod's turn, he launched a ball toward my section. I ran to the spot where I was sure the ball would land and sure enough, I felt the painful slap of rawhide meeting the skin of my hand, causing it to turn red. I did it, I caught ball #3 and from Arod no less. What a moment. What a.... the next thhing I knew, this older gentleman came over and slapped the ball out of my hand. I helplessly watched bounce 3 feet away and into the hands of another adult.

Ok, I realize it was just batting practice, but I will admit I lost it. I yelled I had that. The guy, smugly told me he didn't see my name on the ball. I held up my palm to show the redness so he could see it was in my hand when he smacked it out. He said I didn't close my fingers so it was fair game. I could see I wasn't going to win this arguement, so I walked away. Had that been a home run ball in an actual game, I might not have been so quiet.

It was close to game time and my buddy sent me a text message that he arrived. I wanted to see the look on his face when he saw how cool this bobblehead was and maybe he would think he should have taken a day off as well...until I saw him carrying the box as well. Oh well. Maybe I should have gone to work as well.

The game was a good one. Both the Yankees and Blue Jays scored a run each in their halves of the 2nd inning. That score held until Ichiro singled in Curtis Granderson with the go ahead run in the botom of the 8th. A half inning later, Raphael Soriano closed out the game and we all untucked our shirts for a 2-1 Yankee win.

Now, a look at the goodies

Snoopy looks great in Yankee blue, with pinstripe pants and Yankees cap. I realize it's the same bobblehead that was given out by the San Francisco Giants a year or 2 ago. As a huge Peanuts fan, I am hoping we get Charlie Brown and Lucy as well in the upcoming seasons.

 I think the only difference from the Giants give away, aside from the uniforms, was that Snoopy had a number, which I think was 07 on the back of his unifrom, while the Yankee one just has the MetLife logo. The 07 on the back of Snoopy's uniform was to signify the year the bobblehead was given out.

I also went to the Yankees Clubhouse store and picked up a Mickey Mouse figurine I have been eyeing for the last season or two. Yes, I am a fan of Disney and wanted this figurine to go with the Mickey Mouse All Star figurine I already owned.

Back of the box.

Here's Mickey decked out in the home pinstripes. Like the base he comes in with a small home plate with the Yankees logo on it.

Back of the statue has Mickey sporting 01 and his name on the top. Doesn't Mickey know there are no names on the back of the Yankee uni's? Shame on whoever issued that jersey to you. Now, I need to hunt down the Disney bobbleheads, which would make my Disney Yankee collection complete.

Would have been great to have bought home that Arod ball, but I think I did pretty well regardless. These new additions are going to look great in the Yankee bobblehead/figurine collection. No, they aren't players, but I love adding these to my collection as it diversifies the Yankee shelves and as a collector, I want my collection to differ from another Yankee collector's collection. I think one's collection is an extension of the personality of the collector and my love for cartoons is pretty well represented with Snoopy, Mickey and Woody before them. Now, if only they made Marvel or DC Yankee figurines/Bobbleheads....

Finally, A Yankee Bobblehead SGA

When I heard the Yankees were having a bobblehead give away this season, I was beside myself. As The Rock might say, "Finally, Boobleheads Have Come Back To Yankee Stadium!" I  started the bobblehead collecting only a year ago, long after the Yankees stopped giving them out. The Yankee Legends bobbles were given out at Columbus Clipper games while the Yankees just stuck with the current player.

But on Wed, Sept 19th at 7:05pm, against the Blue Jays, The Yankees will be giving away a Snoopy Bobblehead, sponsored by MetLife. The Yankees just released a picture of it this past weekend. The booble looks like the one given away by the San Fransisco Giants, last year I think. The bat is magnetic, so it comes out of Snoopy's paw.

I do like the fact they painted him in the blue Yankee batting practice jersey, with home pinstripe pants and black shoes. He has the Joe Cool look with the sunglasses and Yankee cap. The past few years, The Yankees have been giving out plush Snoopy dolls, so this is a fantastic replacement to that.

I am definately looking forward to the give away and will be buying my ticket in advance and taking the day off work. You can bet there will be a lot of ebay'ers lining up early  as the bobblehead is limited to the first 18,000 fans in attendence. If the Snoopy bobbles given away by the Giants went for a lot on ebay, you can bet that this one might sell for as much, maybe more.

This bobblehead would look great in my collection alongside my custom Woody Yankee bobble and my Mickey Mouse Yankee All Star Statue. I hope the Yankees give away Charlie Brown and Lucy as well in the upcoming seasons to complete the collection.

5/26/2012-Rusty Staub Bobblehead Day

So, yeah. I went to Citi Field again for another Mets bobblehead. I just can't resist a bobblehead, especially if its free. I may not root for the team, but I will display the bobblehead with the other Mets bobbles I already have.

It was a beautiful day for baseball. 80 degrees and sunny. I got to the ballpark to meet my buddy at 10:45 am and got on line. I decided to wear my Jets Neil O'Donnell jersey. I was going to wear my Red Devils Marty Brodeur tshirt to celebrate my Devils making their 5th trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, but I was "advised" not to. When I saw the first 5 Devils tshirts at the game, I kind of regretted the decision. But I had a steady flow of Jets fans complement the jersey. Whenever I go to a Mets game, I always wear a Jets jersey or t shirt because I still remember going to my first Jets game as a kid at Shea and I wear Jets gear to celebrate that.

I had never been to the Pepsi Porch before, so I went to watch a bit of batting practice up there

No balls were hit up there this time, so after an hour, my friend and I went down to hang out a little. Former Met Art Shamsky was signing in the Verizon Area. I wasn't aware of the signing and left the Mets 50th anniversry 8x10 at home, so I didn't wait on line for the auto.

As for the game, Johan Santana pitched a complete game  4 hit shutout as the Mets beat the Padres 9-0 behind home runs by Scott Hairston, Vinny Rottino and a grand slam from Mike Nickeas. During whch, I ate a Tex Mex Burger, Ice Cream and drank a bud and 2 sodas. Yep, quite the fatty. I will be paying for this on the treadmill this week.

Now on to the bobblehead.

Up first is the box, with 2 vintage shots of Staub on the box.

Now the bobblehead. The paint job isn't the greatest, but it's still a pretty nice bobblehead. I think Rusty is wearing one of the Mets road uni's from the 70's/80's. I want to say late 70's because it would keep with the theme of picking Staub for the Met of the 70's bobblehead.

Again, I think it's a pretty nice bobblehead, sponsored by Geico. I just think there were other Mets they could have given this slot to like Tug McGraw or Jerry Koosman.

The next Mets bobblehead give away is of Keith Hernandez. Not sure I will make that one. But knowing me, I will try to make it, I might try to complete the set just for the heck of it. There is no pic of the bobble up on the Mets website just yet, but I'm sure it will be a nice one. I just hope it has Mex wearing the blue Mets road tops instead of the ugly Mets home unis that had the racing stripes going down the sides.

I do have an extra for trade. I found an extra that was left behind. People were also leaving these on the staircase bannisters, but without the bat, so I let my buddy grab those. If intrested, let me know in the comments section. I'm looking for Yankees, Jets, Devils, Knicks, Mascots and HOF player bobbleheads. Would consider a superhero figurine as well.