Wish List Part 3-Star Wars

Like most of you out there, I am a Star Wars nut. I love the movies and will love nothing more than to throw on the movies over a tub of popcorn and just morph into geek mode. I'm old enough to have seen the original trilogy in the theathers on their first runs. My first memory of Star Wars was walking into the Lowes Paradise on the Grand Concourse in the middle of the movie (you were allowed to walk to see the movie whenever you got there). I remember just standing in the aisle, looking at the huge screen and seeing the Millenium Falcon being dragged into the Death Star. My poor mom, I made her sit through 3 viewing of the movie. My younger sister? She fell asleep before the end of the first showing?? I mean, how the hell do you fall asleep during a piece of cinematic genuis like Star Wars. I still bug her to this day over it. Star Wars was da bomb, Christmas Special aside.

Like most kids, I went all ga ga over the toys Kenner put out. I wanted to have everything. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, it was not to be. I had some things, but not everything like my bratty cousin did. I wish I still had my Star Wars stuff, but alas, my sis made sure of that. I used to play Barbie skydive, which pretty much was me throwing her Barbies, Strawberry Shortcake and Raggedy Ann stuff out of our 6th floor window. Once she got wind of it, I never saw my beloved figures ever again.

Now, my Star Wars collection is currently non exsistant, save for a few things. I am starting to get back into collecting Star Wars only now. I always thought there was too much merchandise, why bother to collect. Then I figured that I would only collect the main characters from the original trilogy. No Episodes 1-3 for me, thank you very much. Give me Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Vader, Fett and the 2 droids any day. So, once I started thinking, I narrowed my must have five items to these choice items:

1-Escape From Death Star Game

Had this game as a kid and loved it. The object of the game was to escape from the trash compactor and make it back to the rebel base first by picking up good force/bad force cards. This was a cool game to have and I would love to be able to get it again

2-Darth Vader Action Figure Carrying Case

I had this:

Then my mom smartened up and got me this:

Loved it. I kept all my figures inside this huge chunk of plastic with Darth Vader staring right back at me. Now, as a Jets fan, I see him and I see an obnoxious Oakland Raiders fan staring back at me, but I can deal with having this back in my collection. I would also love to add the C3pO Carrying Case from Return Of The Jedi as well

3-Kenner 12 inch figures

I had both the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader 12 inch figures. I was having them square off long before they actually did in Empire Strikes Back. Both came with lightsabers and Luke had the grappling hook as well. I would have still had these if it wasnt for a bully at school beating the crap out of me and taking them away. I wish I can say I got him back, but I never did.

I do have the Luke re-issue 12 inch and I love it. Would love to get these, but I think they're a pretty penny. I might look into the Collector's Editions. That Boba Fett is kick ass.

4-Vehicles

I currently have a Tie Fighter, thanks to my buddy, who gave it to me as a gift. The original box is falling apart, but all the pieces are intact. Once I get a place to display, I will be taking it out of the box. Would love to add the following

X-Wing Fighter At-At

This thing was ginormous! I remember my cousin having this and never letting near it.


Landspeeder

And the ship that needs to me in every Star Wars collection, the Millenum Falcon

These toys were awesome. Big, but awesome.

5-Death Star Playset

Remember yesterday when I said that I had one other holy grail? Well, this is it. This piece of awesomeness is the Death Star Playset. 4 levels of plastic/cardboard goodness. A working trash compactor, a working elevator, a missle launcher at the top and a retractable bridge to enact that famous scene when Luke and Leia swing accross the bridge. (We won't talk about the kiss either). As a kid, this was the thing I wanted most in the world, but never got. I think I would put this as my number one holy grail item. I mean, this thing is freaken sweet!

Before I wrap up, I want to take this opportunity to wish the Vets out there a Happy Veteran's Day. Thank you for protecting us and helping keeping it free so us geeks can create blogs to write about toys we have/had/wish we had. May the force be with you all.

Wish List Part 2-The Batman

After Spidey, the character I collect the most of is The Batman. As much as I love the Adam West Batman or the Batman of today, the one I grew up with is the Neil Adams/Superfriends Batman. 4 of the 5 items I will prestent from my wish list are from the 70's and 3 were made by Mego. Again, these are in no particular order.

1-Remco Bat CSF Copter

As a kid, I spent hours playing with this awesome toy. It was a helicopter with Batman stickers on it, attached to a pole, which was attached to a base. It came with cardboard cut outs of villians like Joker and Riddler as well as a small building. All of which got destroyed in no time. I then used it with my Megos and other toys. I do remember trying to lift my plastic General Lee car with it, which resulted in an epic failure.

2-Mego Bat Lab

Honestly, to me, nothing screams Mego than Batman. Mego made so many things for the Caped Crusader to use in his adventures against crime. One of my favorite pieces was this Bat Lab. I remember seeing the commercials for it and begged my mom for one. Of course, I got something else instead. Not sure what it was, but I'm sure I had just as much fun with it. The van also came with a basket attached to a pole for catching crooks and bringing veggies or laundry back to Wayne Manor.

3-Mego Batman Command Console Probably the single coolest looking toy I ever owned as a kid. Look at this thing. A mini bat computer that flashed lights and picked up CB Radio signals. Of course, you couldnt talk back to anyone, but still, this thing was awesome looking and would look great in any Batman collection.

4-Batman Hand Puppet

So nice, I showed it twice. Well, it was an accident and I didnt know how to remove the 2nd pic. But it's still cool nonetheless. Other than the Soaky bottle, this is the one piece I will go out of my way to acquire for my Batman collection. Ideal came out with it in 1966, after the success of the Adam West show. Real nice piece.

5-Mego Wayne Foundation

Theres Something about this cardboard/plastic monstrosity that makes me drool. Aside from one other toy that I will mention in another blog, this would be my holy grail. Another piece of Mego goodness that I never owned, but am dying to have in my collection. Not quite sure how I would display it, but rest assured, I would figure something out. One of the more expensive Batman pieces, I rarely see this on ebay for anything less than 300.00.

I really believe Batman had some of the more cooler looking toys. Batmobiles, walkie talkies, costumes, etc. Whatever your budget is, there is something Bat-related you can find. Happy hunting.

Spider-Man Wish List

As the holidays are almost upon us, I always look back on toys I either owned as a kid or always wanted to. Now that I am an adult (will never say grown up, cause we all know otherwise), I can always rebuy or finally add the items to my growing collection.

Over the course of the next several days, I will reveal some of the items on my wish list, by character, sport or whatever else I collect. Today, I will start by showing of the top 5 items on the character I collect the most: Spider-Man. These will be in no particular order.

1-12 Inch Mego Spider-Man

I'm a huge fan of the Mego "World's Greatest Superheroes" line, having had them as a kid and re-collecting them to this day. I own an 8 inch Spidey as well as the mini, plastic Spidey. I have never owned the 12 inch, either as a kid or adult, and I want one. This piece would look great on the Spidey shelf. The figure came with either a solid arm, or one that squirted "webbing", which was just water, I believe.

2-1966 Ideal Spider-Man Hand Puppet

I have never seen one of these in person, yet I want one really, really bad. I have seen the Batman at a flea market earlier this year and came so close to buying it. It was real cool, but the head was held to the vinyl with a safety pin and that made me walk away. I will own it one day as well as this beauty. I'd probably rank it up their as a Holy Grail of mine. I do know it came either boxed or in a plastic bag. I have seen both in packaging on ebay for well over 100.00. If I saw a loose one, for a reasonable price, I'd be on it.

3-1970's Spider-Man Bank

One of my very favorite things I had as a kid was this humongoid plastic bank of Spidey's head and torso. This was one of those pieces, and still is, that looks great on any shelf. As far as I know, only Spidey and Hulk were made, but I could be wrong about that. I had placed a bid on one on ebay, only to lose. Then I check my messages on ebay a few days later, only to find that I had a second chance offer that expired already. Gahhh! I will own this piece again. Oh, and good luck finding one without a hole in the bottom. These banks never had a spot to remove the change you put into it. D'Oh!

4-1970's Spidey Webshooters

These babys are something I wanted sooooooo bad, but never got. I mean, what self respecting Spidey nut wouldnt want these to add to their collection.? But, alas, I never did get them. I even went as far as making my own out of construction paper. I was the only kid in Riverdale, NY running around with paper webshooters. Well, they went well with my homemade Spidey mask, so that's a good thing. The not so good thing? I never, ever see these on ebay.


5-Mego Stretch Action Spider-Man

I hated my cousin. He had EVERYTHING I wanted as a kid. All the megos, all the Kenner Star Wars stuff, Sho-Gun Warriors, Godzilla, etc. He was very smug about who he allowed to play with them and always put a time limit on the play time. I always wished I had his toy box because included in there was all three Mego Stretch Arena superhero dolls, which were a jump on the Stretch Armstrong fad of the 70's. But then again, Batman and Spider-Man are so much cooler than some blonde dude who was made of jelly. Again, I never see these on ebay either.

Of all the Spidey stuff I want, and there are others. Like the Spidey Mobile Crime Lab and the Helicopter and the Mego car and the Energizer Figure that I want. Then again, if it has Spider-Man on it and it's affordable, I want it anyway.

Excelcior!

Its Finally Happened.

Right now, I'm in the laundromat, watching my clothes wrestle each other in the dryer, bored out of my mind. I decided to try to post a picture-less blog to give you all a quick update to what I've been up to the past few weeks. Plus, I get to test this Blogger Android app that I downloaded off the Android Market.

I finally decided that I've had enough of binders. I currently have close to 30 binders that house my Yankees, Jets, Devils, Knicks and Islander cards. I am running out of space to put more binder. Plus, to be honest, I'm thrilled with having to shell out 3-7 bucks a pop for binders, then 15 dollars for 9 pocket pages. With all the cards I pick up during a calender year, I will have to buy a home that has a massive library just to house the binders. Plus, I have close to 15 boxes of cards I have yet to organize. Sheesh!

So, I finally have joined the many masses that are puting their card collections into monster boxes, top loaders and penny sleeves. Not exactly what I wanted when I started collecting again, but with room at a premium, I have no choice.

So, I have started with Topps. I have made dividers from index cards and been moving the base into the box. I plan to keep the inserts in the binders as well as the player collections I have of Mark Teixeira, Martin Brodeur, Mike Bossy, Mark Teixeira and Patrick Ewing.

I'm hoping this works out for me. I'm tired of having to decide how I am storing my cards, especially between my Team Collectors group, trades, box breaks and ebay, I get a lot each month.

I also have been looking to build up my Knicks collection. Of all the teams I collect, they are the team I have the fewest of. So, I've been picking up a few cards as well as some Ewings. Its been coming along nicely and pretty soon, I should have a nice Knicks collection.

Spidey Shelves

Kinda behind schedule on my blogs. My internet went down for a while and I am behind on my work. So today, I thought I would let the pictures tell the story. Here are shots of my Spider-Man collection. It's not the full collection. I have some figures I haven't put up on the shelf yet, but this is most of it.

Enjoy.