Toy Show Days Make Me Want To Jump In My Yellow Submarine

Today was the monthly toy show in greater Wayne, NJ. I was going to hunt down some goodies to add to the ole' House Of Swag and I was really looking forward to it. My buddy, George had the idea to go and we agreed to meet really early Sunday morning and head over to shift through bins filled with toys, tables displayed with gems and shelves showing off...well, you get the idea here.

Now, I usually don't discuss the journey to said event in my blogs, but because of the title of this entry, I feel compelled to explain myself.

George and I met up at the appointed time at the appointed place and hit the road. After a stop at the bank and gas station, we found ourselves in New Jersey pretty quickly, thanks to my buddy's GPS with the voice of Mr. T guiding us along with a well placed insult here and there. I got comfortable and figured we would be at the toy show in no time at all.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

The Mikey Curse. I'm back, jerky!

Ah yes, my nemesis was back with a vengeance. The curse that loves to throw curveballs at me when I think I have it easy and it was Clayton Kershaw today.

When we hit New Jersey, the sky's literately opened up and down came the torrential downpours. The rain was God awful. at one point, we couldn't see the road ahead of us and had to really slow down. At one point, the rain got so bad that we got off the Garden State Parkway and drove through Paramus looking for a spot to hang out and wait out the rain.

Of course, Paramus's businesses are closed on Sunday's, so as the curse laughed it's ass off, we carried on until the rain finally let up and we were back on the road. We made our destination, no worse for the wear, but already on edge thanks to the impromptu tsunami we drove through. But once we got in, game faces were on. We were shopping and if I can survive that rain, then I could survive the dude wearing the stained Dr. Who t-shirt, blocking the aisle, preventing me from passing.

The toy show had a little bit of everything. Vintage, contemporary, Star Wars, Super Heroes, TV Show Toys, Sci-Fi, DVD's, banks,comic books, and then some. The show was held in one decent sized room and had a pretty good turn out. People were there just buying up a storm and I wanted to get in on the action. As with every show, there was bargains to be had and there was dealers who was overpricing their wares. One table was selling an Avengers Hulk figure for $50.00, which is laughable.

Some real nice stuff on this table. As far as I know, that can of soda was not for sale.

As much as I would have killed to have those Beatles figures, this was one of those overpriced tables, so I didn't ask what he was asking for them. One day, they will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine.

So, what did I get?

Glad you asked.

My first pick up of the day. I went in to the show with a game plan of Batman, Spider-Man, any affordable Beatles and if I could find it, that LJN Roddy Piper figure. As soon as I walked in, George spotted a table selling vintage paperbacks and found this one for me. I have been wanting this 1966 paperback novelization of the TV series for a while and $5.00 later, I finally had one.

Another table had a box of 1.00 items and after looking through the box, I came away with this late 80's, early 90's Batman Pez dispenser.

Another vintage Batman item I have been wanting for a while. I know the lithography on this cup could have been better, but since it's 47 years old I could live with it. Plus, at $ 5.00, I could sleep better at night. Of course, after walking a little further, I saw the same cup, in pristine condition. I heard the Mikey curse laugh at me again and call me a moron.

At one table, I bought a few items.

I can never pass up anything Simpsons and at $1.00 a piece, they were coming home with me.

If I could say I have buyers remorse over anything I picked up today, it was over this vintage Batman item.

Not exactly in the very best condition. Again, it was a Bat-item I wanted for a while, so I pulled the trigger on it, figuring I could clean it up a bit when I got home. What I failed to realize until I got back in the car was there was a small, broken off piece behind the right ear. The curse strikes again.

I also got this neat mint carded Spider-Man bendie figure from the same dealer. Probably, along with the Batman paperback, one of my favorite pick ups of the day. I had paired this with the vintage Batman squirt gun and got a great deal for both which made me agree before I even throughly looked at the squirt gun. Oh well, I can display it in a way that no one will ever know until I can get an upgrade. Shhhhhhhhhh.

The day didn't end there. After getting lost in North Jersey trying to get back (The Curse representing!) and making it back to Westchester, we made Toys R Us the final stop of our day and I was able to pick up these goodies.

If there are three things I love in this world, it's Batman, the Batmobile and candy. This little guy has all three so I happily bought it. I will be eating the candy as I do not want any unwelcome bugs in the House Of Swag.

My final purchase was this Captain Action base figure. You long time readers might remember I bought the Spider-Man costume and accessories last year and had needed a Capt. Action figure to display it. The figure had been $39.99 for the longest time. So when I saw it today at $16.00, I grabbed it and I can throw on the Spidey outfit and display it once I have my shelving up.

I gotta tell you guys, it's been a while since I had a toy haul like the one I had today and it was sweet. The next few months will be a bit tough to have another haul with birthdays, weddings, holidays and a trip out to California upcoming. But if I can add a piece here and there, then I should be content until I can go off on another crazed toy hauling kind of day.

Curse be dammed!

Some New Adds To My Jets PC

This week I was able to add to my New York Jets PC, which I had been neglecting as of late. The adds were in form of a ttm autograph, which kicked off the start of a project I will be working on as well as a late xmas gift from my buddy.

Last year, a coffee table book called The New York Jets: The Complete History was released. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it.

It looks like a decent read and it has some great pictures, many of which I hadn't seen. My friend Mark, who has a similar book about The Mets, suggested I do what he is doing. Mark, also an autograph hound, is trying to get all the players featured in The Mets book to sign the page that they are on. He's doing a very good job with it. He has a lot of signatures in that book. But I wasn't sure I wanted to do that.

For one thing, not a lot of former Jets make as many apperances as the former Mets do. To get that book signed would be a difficult task. And two, how do you display it? I had done this with a wrestling photo book in the 90's to great success. Only problem is I can't really display the pics I got signed. And I have some good ones. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Kerry Von Erich, Owen Hart, Davy Boy Smith, to name a few. Cant really display the book. Just allow people to flip through the pages to see the autos. Plus, I really didn't take care of the book. The outside is in rough shape. I won't take the pages out to display though. Rough shape or not, it will stay as is. It's one of my most prized possessions and will stay as is.

Then, an idea came to me via youtube. One of the guys I sub to, Bloodspawn, is working on a Dallas Cowboys book where he is sending book plates through the mail and sticking the plates by the player's picture. Brilliant idea. I just can't do that with this book as there is no room. It's a history of book and theres a lot of text in this book. So, I came up with another idea. I would send the players labels, have them sign that and I'd stick the lable inside the cover. If I ever see a player who is in the book, I'll have the player sign his page, but for now, ttm'ing is the way to go. So I decided to test it on a player I know signs and it worked like a charm.

Former member of the famed New York Sack Exchange, Marty Lyons, signed the above label/book plate in about 5 days. Once I got it, I stuck it inside the cover on the first page like I planned.

I think it looks great. Plus, there is enough room on the page where I can have 2 rows of autographed book plates, right next to each other going down the page. Oh, and I got something else signed.

Mr. Lyons also signed my throwback mini helmet in silver sharpie. Looks better in person than how it looks on the picture, I promise. Still, I wish I had sent a paint pen instead of a sharpie, especially since he returned the Sharpie.



My other add to the New York Jets collection is something of the vintage variety. I love vintage stuff when it comes to the Yankees, Jets, Spider-Man and Batman. I wish I could afford to buy more. I am always thrilled when I can find a deal on something older to add to my collection. If it's free, even better.

My buddy Mark (there he is again), gave me a late christmas gift of something I had been eyeballing on ebay for a while now. He found it in a flea market for dirt cheap.

He got me this vintage Joe Namath puzzle. It was something I have wanted for a while and was absolutely floored when I saw it. I don't have a lot of Namath collectables in my collection, save for the autographs I have, either certified card or IP. Ever since I watched the HBO documentary this past winter, I have wanted to get some of Namath's merchandise for the Jets PC. This puzzle was one of the things I zeroed in on.

I love the simple lettering, plain white background and pic with the Jets logo airbrushed out.

The seller told my buddy that all the pieces were inside the baggie provided.


The box is a little beat up with some stains and dents, but I don't care. It's mine, mine, allll mine! mwhahahahahaha!...excuse me. Got a bit carried away.

Anyway, it still looks great for displaying purposes once I get a cabinet to display all my Jets goodies in. And believe me, I will be displaying the box along side my signed mini helmets, figures and other Jets suff I have gotten over the years.

The Jets have some real nice vintage stuff out there that I would love to get my hands on. From programs to yearbooks. Pennants to pins, I want it all. My love for Gang Green is almost on level with my feelings for the Yankees. I go back to 1980 with the Jets, when they were still in Shea Stadium. I might be the only Yankees fan who loved Shea. Because of my Jets, my first game at Shea wasn't even a Mets game. It was a Jets game.

So, now that I can cross the puzzle off my list, I can go back to trolling on ebay for other vintage Jets items I can add to the collection. Excuse me. I can hear the "bay" calling.