Happy Birthday To Someone Special I know!

Ah, that one day a year that's all about me. As someone who has roved this earth for f....many years, I have always stood by one philosophy as I got older and started working; It's important to buy yourself something you really, really want for your birthday. You work hard for your money. You push onward and upward to keep a roof over your head, the utilities on, food on the table and balance a family along with all of their needs and wants (for some of us). As such, it's important on that one day that's all about you to say, "Thank you for being me!" Why not do so with a gift? As Master Shake himself said, "It's my gift to me, from me, for being me." That's not a bad credo to have.

This year, I may have gone a little overboard. While I normally don't have a problem with buying myself something "big", that has usually hovered around the $200.00 to $300.00 mark. This year, I managed to double that number. With a huge smile on my face, I'll just say, "Oops." What else can I say? My birthday just so happened to coincide with a bonus from work. The bills were paid, the savings were put away. So, I spent (part of) it.

So without further ado and no more trying to pretend like I'm sorry for buying what I bought, join me for a look.

Queue music...

...And photos... 

It's The Real Ghostbusters from Kenner! Hooray!

Egon Spengler!

Peter Venkman!

Ray Stanz!

Winston Zeddemore!

Along with their infamous Ecto-1!

And let's not forget that awesome, Awesome, AWESOME Firehouse Playset!

I of course wanted the original 1984 figures with their complete and unbroken proton packs - Which was also proving a bit challenging. It was during these early stages of looking that I quickly found out that Winston Zeddemore was going to be the most most difficult to track down. Additionally, it was going to be a chore to find loose ones that had complete and unbroken proton packs. Turns out, the beams on them are prone to be broken. This in conjunction with good paint jobs wasn't going to be a quick find and purchase. In other words, no overnight / instant collection. No, this was going to take patience.

This task proved to be all the more difficult due to the high value of carded figures. Unlike prior figures which I have simply shelled out a little extra to ensure completeness and mint condition on the card, Ghostbuster figures can run upwards of two to three hundred dollars a piece on the card. That's not the kind of figure I'm going to buy just to open.

I found a complete set of the four Ghostbusters in one listing with their ghosts and unbroken packs, but the paint job was pretty poor. Particularly in the faces which had faded / rubbed off. It took a great deal to resist throwing a bid in as the minutes ticked down on the listing. Fortunately I was able to hold off and while I was sad to miss out, my lesson in patience paid off.

A few days later I came across a listing from Far Point Toys. Not only were all four of the team members there along with their ghosts and unbroken pack, but the listing also included Slimer, Stay Puft and a handful of other ghosts. While it was pricey, this was for certain the listing I was looking for. Still, I held off a few days to really consider the cost and think it through. Once I was certain, I took the plunge. After receiving the box, I'm glad I did.

Admittedly I had to look at a reference photo / cardback for the figures to match up their packs and ghouls (I'll point those out below).

I kind of like how each character got their own color jumpsuit and that it's not out of the ordinary colors...At least not in the first line up.

I also have to point out those glasses on Egon's face. That was exactly what I was talking about when referring to the cool ones included on Funko's Scrooge McDuck figure. Toy companies don't tend to put much effort into characters wearing glasses. For the purposes of Egon though, they work because in the show he was always glancing over them rather than through them.

Getting Ecto-1 proved to be a little bit of a challenge as I couldn't find any one complete car. Either the top seat, hook or doors were missing. I even came across one where the seat inside the car was MIA.

I finally ended up having to purchase a car with all doors, the seat on top and the hook separately. I may have ended up paying more for these pieces separately than I would have if I held out for a complete one, but overall I'm happy with my purchase.

The Firehouse Playset was actually the easiest to get. There were a quite a few available on ebay in 100% complete / unbroken condition. This made getting the right one for me was fairly easy. I made sure to pick the one that had the best Ghostbusters sign on the front of the building.

I didn't end up taking as many photos of the car or playset on their own as I was too eager to set everything up and play. Here's how everything turned out.

That back view (above) of the Firehouse with everything set up is so epic. I never imagined it would look this good. So much going on that it's almost sensory overload. Everything fit perfectly in place as if it was designed to be that way.

The purple ghoul in the front originally came packed in with Ray and the red one came with Winston.

Bad-to-the-Bone was a figure I really didn't know I wanted until I had him. In fact, all the ghosts I got with this lot were fun to set up around the Firehouse and play with.

The second level of the playset is now the domain of both halves of H2 Ghost.

Slimer! Surrounded by his many bits of rubbery food which came with the figure.

While I really like this figure, I have to admit it was a shame that (1) he can't hold any of the food accessories in his hands and (2) even if he could, there's no articulation in the elbows to bend the arms towards his mouth to simulate him eating. Much like my thoughts on The A-Team, accessories which are rendered to "set pieces" because they can't be held in the figure's hand are a waste.

Still...Love that sculpt on the figure! Classic character right there!

Here's the other two ghouls which came packed in with the Ghosbuster figures - The yellow one with Egon and the blue with Peter.

Gotta have that containment unit for the ghosts!

Bug-Eye Ghost is hanging out on the rooftop with Stay Puft and the gang. Due to his size, this was really the best place for him once everything else was in place.

I love the detail on the side of the building. All the windows and brickwork. It's fun! Especially with everything set up where you can see things going on inside.

I love how Ecto-1 can come blasting through the double doors of the Firehouse. Well, sort of anyway. For starters, the doors are fragile, so you're not going to want to do that too many times (if at all). Second, you have to remove the black chair on the top of the car to make it fit.

I wish the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was as big (if not bigger) as the Firehouse Playset. That would have been epic! While this tiny one captures the look of the figure, the spirit of it (no pun intended) is lost when he can essentially be slapped in the face by one of the Ghostbusters.

He's not so intimidating in this size...More so just coming in for a hug. Still love him though.

I ended up getting an additional glow in the dark pack with the figures. This originally came with the Ecto-Glow figures released in 1991. It makes for a nice set piece (so to speak), but I won't actively be seeking out any other figures.

While having a Louis and Janine figure would be fun, there's really no room to display them anywhere. The playset is pretty filled up. Well...I suppose I could put one next to the railing of each floor and move the mini ghouls back or to somewhere else.

No, I better not. That would just open the floodgates for me to justify buying more figures.

Until I decide if I'm going to dive further into this line, that wraps it up for my birthday gift to me...Well, sort of. Check back later for more exciting birthday fun.

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Ended Up Opening My Kenner Beetlejuice Toys

From my post earlier today, I mentioned I wasn't going to open my Beetlejuice figures until I figured out what I wanted to do with them, display wise. Well, as antsy as I get, that didn't last long.

To be fair, the figures were all but falling off the cards already.

 Wow, these things suck. Between the minimal articulation and predetermined pose from the sculpt, you really can't do anything with these figures. Worst of all, the thing doesn't even fit right on the vehicle - again, due to the predetermined pose. Beetlejuice is nowhere near those handlebars.

The vehicle itself looks cool, and has a lot of play features, but it's too big for the figures. These figures would seriously have to be eight to ten inches tall in order to be properly proportionate to it. Knee and elbow joints would be a welcomed addition too so you could actually pose the figure on the bike properly.

Because the figures can't interact with it, it's kind of useless to the line. Which is a shame, because as I said, it really does look cool.

The stickers sat in the box for so long that they literally dried out and separated from the paper. I'm going to need some rubber cement to make this happen - If I bother at all at this point. Truthfully, it may just all go to the trash. I'm not thrilled with this toy line at all.

It's no wonder this toy line crashed and burned so fast. It's garbage! Oversized vehicles with stiff posed figures which can't interact with each other. Cool in theory, poor in execution. All of this equates to a pretty big failure from Kenner.

It's a sad day when the best thing to come with a toy is the catalog which advertises other toys you should have bought instead. Seriously though, this little booklet which came with the vehicle is pretty awesome. Tons of great toys from 1990 inside...and more Beetlejuice.

Based on a comment for this post, here are the pages of the catalog. 

On a side note, I was able to pick up a Vanishing Vault, which you can see in the pages of the catalog above, for fairly cheap. I'll see if when I display the figure the way I am imagining it if it looks better. As for the cycle, probably won't be be keeping.

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Next Stop, The Great Strasburg Emporium

I've been spending a lot of time on the road these past few days, and today wasn't going to be an exception. My travels today took me to The Great Strasburg Emporium.

Though this place is massive, I didn't snap as many photos as I could. Mainly because the majority of this 52,000 square foot, 60+ vendor location specialized more so in antiques such as furniture, containers (tin or glass) and other various items you would find at a standard flea market.

However, if one looked hard enough, you could find a nook here and there of toys, records and CD's. Here's what I found that at least intrigued me enough to poke around.

There were a lot of records to be found, and though I didn't spend a whole lot of time digging around in them, I pulled two gems immediately from the first set of boxes I looked through. However, since I had them both already, I left them there. Still, at $12.00 each, they weren't badly priced.

 Little John Records were a ten cents budget priced five inch record for children back in the 50's which featured little jingles or Christmas music. I found this bag which contained two inside for $7.50. While this was a bit overpriced for this type of thing, I told myself if nothing else I would buy them so I didn't go away empty handed.

...I didn't end up buying them, hint, hint.

There was no one central location for things because each set of stuff belonged to a certain vendor. As such, you really had to look everywhere to find hidden gems. In my searching around, I found a few sections of toys, but most of them were, sorry to say, junk.

I spent a few minutes digging through these boxes of comics before realizing the majority of them were ten cent throw away's from the 90's, but yet priced at about $1.00 (or more) per book.

It was when I found this area that I clapped my hands together and said, "Great, now we're talking." It was small, but there were wonderful things to be found.

Had there been a Dick Tracy figure to go with them, I very well may have bought the Police Cruiser and Get Away Car on the back of the table in the below photo.

 Congo...Not so much. Not my thing.

Oh how I considered this one until I saw the $200.00 price tag.

 I strayed away from the above section for a while and came across some more stuff...

...Then returned back to finish shooting photos and actually make a purchase.

 These Beetlejuice figures called to me pretty hard, which is odd considering the toys were never on my radar. I think I was honestly just getting itchy to buy something so I wouldn't leave empty handed.

Then I turned around and saw...C.O.P.S.! Mint in packages no less.

Then I looked even further and saw the prices of said figures. $35.00 to $50.00. Whoo, that felt steep.

I walked away and took another lap to really consider things. I wanted to buy something, no doubt about that, but I was either going to take the plunge and toss some serious cash at C.O.P.S. or cheap out and buy the more budget friendly, $10.00 each, Beetlejuice figures and vehciles.

 As I circled back to the table to make a decision, I noticed this pretty cool Joker cookie jar in a cabinet. It didn't intrigue me beyond snapping a photo.

So, what did I end up buying? Well, I compromised. After looking up a few C.O.P.S. figures on ebay, I found that it would be foolish to pay the price the seller was asking for some of them, but not all of them.

I ended up getting the leader of the C.O.P.S. team, Bullet-Proof. 

In searching for him on ebay, I found two things out. 1) As of this writing there are zero Bullet-Proof figures available for purchase / bid. 2) Mint on card figures sell for between $90.00 and $150.00. As such, the asking price of $50.00 on this one was rather reasonable. It pretty much cemented the deal for me.

I don't know that I'm going to rip this one off the card. While I am a fan of opening my toys, something tells me this would be very foolish in this case. I may end up nabbing a Zoloworld protector case and leaving it for display purposes in the package.

I also grabbed two Beetlejuice figures. Why two? Because honestly it would take the two of them to make the Bettlejuice figure I want.

See, the shtick behind these figures from Kenner was that the heads came off to reveal smaller heads inside. Additionally, the larger heads could be interchanged between all the other figures. As such, I don't feel guilty removing the head from Showtime Bettlejuice (above photo on the left) and replacing it with Spinhead Beetlejuice (above photo on the right) to make a normal looking Beetlejuice in his black and white striped suit.

I also picked up the Phantom Flyer, just to have something to put the figure on. Though I really wish it was the Vanishing Vault playset from the line as this would be my ideal way of displaying him.

As you can see on the front and back of the box, even Kenner said, "Change the heads around on the figure to make a normal Beetlejuice figure." Wonder why they never bothered to just release a figure like this.

In hindsight I wish I would have gone ahead and grabbed the rest of the C.O.P.S. figures, even though a few were overpriced. I also wish I would have nabbed those Dick Tracy cars. Oh well, know when to say when, right? At the very least, I may have to track down a Big Boss to sit side by side with Bullet-Proof. I might also try to track down the Vanishing Vault for Beetlejuice so I can display him how I envision him. I probably won't open anything until I make up my mind.

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