Collecting pop culture toys, comics, and collectibles collections
Last week’s inaugural Friday Face-Off!was a lot of fun — we talked about Funko Pop! figures. Let’s see if we can keep the ball rolling with this week’s topic. Please no biting, kicking, or hitting below the belt — let’s keep things civil.
Halloween is just around the corner, so…
You can only collect one — which is the movie monster for you?
Classic or current, which movie monster has the best collectibles? Add your comments below.
Th flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and people are hauling their crap out to the driveway hoping to make a buck or two. Yard sale season has arrived!
On Saturday, some small neighborhoods near me were having their community sales. One was an older neighborhood, which I usually do well at, but it was a bust this time. The next neighborhood sale was the kind where everyone brings their stuff to the community center parking lot, and I did much better there. We don’t have flea markets around here, but this kind of yard sale is pretty much the same thing without the professional vendors you might find at a typical flea market. These sales can be hit or miss, but they’re a great way to see a lot of different items in one place. Personally, I prefer home sales because you never know what the seller might have in the attic that they didn’t think to bother to bring out.
So what did I find on this year’s yard sale opening day? Here you go…
Not a bad day’s work.
You have to be early to find Lego kits these days, and I was stoked to get a box of old Star Wars Technic sets. My kids and I will build these to see if they’re complete and then sell them. I paid $20 for the lot, and can probably get that much for just one of the kits — and my kids get to play with them too, so this was a great score!
In past years, I bought the same Rancor pit monster and Heroscape game, and both of those items are easy to sell. The Age of Mythology game has about 10,000 pieces, so it should sell well too. The funny thing about big ugly monster toys at yard sales is that the moms are usually happy to give them away for peanuts — this Rancor set me back $2.
Wilton cake pans are highly collectible, especially when they feature a pop culture character. The 1989 TMNT pan I got was just $2. I sent my wife in to buy this pan, and she had to politely listen to the seller recount her story about how difficult it was for her to make the cake and get the right color icing, but her sacrifice was totally worthwhile.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the other highlights…
Small Soldiers and Gargoyles figures! This seller obviously had kids that are probably off at college. I got all of these for $5, and then this happened…
This large collection of monster figures, mostly from Sideshow Toys, was added for free. Yep. Another case of a mom wanting to just get rid of creepy things. After I bought the action figures and some other toys, the seller brought these monster figures out and said she had been too embarrassed to even put these things out on her yard. Ha! I guess she didn’t want the neighbors to think badly of her kids. Unfortunately, the Freddy is missing a few claws and the Creature is missing a hand, but otherwise, these are all in great shape. Anyone able to identify the large Frankenstein figure in cloth clothes for me?
At the large parking lot sale, a guy had a small box full of comics. I always glance at comics but usually they’re newer ones that I don’t know anything about. I stopped collecting comics in 1990, so when I looked in the box and recognized most of the covers as comics I used to own, I figured I had better take a closer look. It’s amazing to me that these weren’t already gone, because I didn’t find them until late in the morning, in a crowd of hundreds of people. I got the lot for $20, which “I think” was a good deal, since I knew the first Frank Miller Daredevil, and the Avengers Annual with the first appearance of Rogue were some good books.
PRO TIP: When you see price tags on items at a yard sale, that can be a good indicator of an item’s value (hint, hint). At some point in time, someone paid $15 and $20 for these two comics. There’s a good chance their value is even greater now (or not). Just sayin’.
This little guy is probably my favorite fin of the day. My son bought this for me — he obviously knows what I like. Everything else shown above is for sale so if you see something you want, make me an offer, but this guy is definitely NOT for sale.
(If you wanted to know about that JP T-Rex, that will be a story for another day.)
It was a slow week for the League, which I will chalk up to it being Halloween and many of us had more important things to do than blogging, what with all the decorating and candy eating! The League of Extraordinary Bloggers was tasked to write about movie monsters…
Be sure to visit all these great sites and leave a comment or two. Everybody loves feedback!
I was thrilled to see that the Cool & Collected magazine reached its funding goal last week. Thank you to everyone for your support! When the magazine is published, I hope you all feel like a part of the process and recognize many of your friends and fellow League members gracing the pages.
The League is going to revisit a favorite challenge this week — one with a prize, so check back soon!
Remember, to stay a League member in good standing, you should add some links to your fellow League members in your post to help spread the love. I’ll post the new topic later today!
If you’re playing along at home and want to join the League, all you need is a love of pop culture and a blog. Come join the fun, and tell your friends!
It’s Halloween and I have nothing to post! Quick, to the book shelves — I have to find something creepy and scary! Whew, this should do the trick. Here’s a treat for any monster fan — a couple of issues of The Monster Times!
The Monster Times was a tabloid newspaper produced in the 70’s that covered horror, sci-fi, and fantasy movies and comic books. Each issue was packed with photos, artwork, news, and historical information.
I was terrified of biker gangs as a kid.
These newsletters were made in the days of paste-up and I love the look of the layouts. No Photoshop here! The paper stock was a heavyweight newsprint, which unfortunately, gets yellow and brittle with age.
Any publication that covers King Kong and Planet of the Apes is okay in my book. 
Monsters always get the ladies, don’t they?
If only my time machine was working…
Each issue of The Monster Times had a full color pin-up poster like this gem.
It’s Buck’n Flash, man!
Beautiful!
I’ve only tracked down two issues of The Monster Times, but clearly, I need to find more. These are such a great reminder of the monster culture of the time.
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This week, the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is talking about movie monsters, so check us out!
Okay, this is the last one, I promise! It’s almost Halloween, and I just can’t get it off my brain, so this week’s challenge for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is…
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Movie Monsters
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REMEMBER!: The League is always open to new members! Got a blog? Write a post in response to the weekly challenge, and you’ll be included. It’s that easy!
Once you put up a post on your site add a comment below with the URL. Next Monday, I will put up a post here on Cool & Collected with a list of all the contributing blogs. Once that list is posted, if you haven’t already done so, try to incorporate at least three of your fellow League members’ links (but more would be great!) into the article you wrote on your site.
By cross-posting like this, we will help each other out by sending new readers to each other’s sites. Have fun!
(Wondering what the heck this is all about? We’re recruiting for this loose-knit, rag tag crew! Here are the details for contributing to The League.)