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| LEGO Star Wars / The Visual Dictionary : 4 of 5 | |
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2.17.2010
7:12 AM | Link0 comments |
 Thanks to that first X-Wing set that I bought myself a few years ago, the majority of my LEGO toys are Star Wars vehicles, so my pal Melinda knew this book would be a great Christmas gift for me! This unique book is history of every Star Wars set that LEGO has produced, as well as a cool overview of the various ships and crafts of the Star Wars universe in general, overflowing with images and detailed information! Each page is a huge photo spread with various parts labeled to cover both Star Wars and LEGO trivia, making this a book that's fun to just study and drool over (since it really makes you want to buy and build more kits!). I loved the long timeline showing the incredible number of sets that LEGO has produced covering all of the movies and The Clone Wars series, and it's interesting to compare old and new models of the same ships (which always seem to get better). Of course, there's also lots of attention given to LEGO minifigs (I can't believe how many have been made!), and the book itself actually includes a limited edition (only available with this book) Luke minifig (wearing his medal from the end of Episode IV) encased in the cover, where mine will safely stay! The book includes a fascinating interview with the LEGO Star Wars team in Denmark who design all these wonderful toys (talk about a dream job!). They mention how they try to create models based on various price points (often determined by weighing the finished toy, something I never knew), and that each design has to be sent to LucasFilm for approval. There's also a photo of an unreleased set of the rebel base on Yavin which looks so awesome! Finally, there's a short section of fan creations, which are just spectacular (and amazingly huge). I wish I could go back in time and build some of the sets I missed, but this book definitely inspires me to keep up to date on all the current LEGO Star Wars releases!
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| Hanging PEZ on Elfa | |
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1.29.2010
11:50 AM | Link0 comments |
 Recently I've received a few questions about my PEZ display method, so here's a little more info to make things clear. I've been really happy with this idea, so I'm happy to share!Racks: For as long as I've collected PEZ, I've used John Thompson's excellent PEZ display racks. I don't think he currently has a website, but please contact him by email for pricing. These racks are pre-drilled with holes for hanging, and they are quite easy to hang by themselves with two little nails (I used this method when I first started collecting). If you're OK with lining up lots of little nails on your wall, then you definitely don't need to read further. However, someday you might want to move some shelves around, which is why I decided to try another way to hang them. Elfa: My solution was to use the Elfa system, but without Elfa shelves! Since Elfa is sold piece by piece, it's easy to buy or order just what you need from the Container Store. The minimum you will need is one horizontal hanging bar and two vertical uprights (I have several sets of these now, but I have a lot of PEZ!). The final piece of the puzzle is how to hang the PEZ racks on the Elfa uprights. S-hooks: The answer is to get a package of S-hooks from any hardware store. I don't even know what these are normally used for, but they are basically just a little piece of metal bent in the shape of an "S". One end of the "S" goes into the slot on the Elfa upright, and the other end goes into the PEZ rack. I had to bend the hooks a little bit (to stretch out the "S"), but this was easy with pliers. The advantage of this method is I can move whole racks of PEZ up and down the uprights to anywhere I want, which is great if you are reorganizing your collection. You can also space them far apart or really close to make more room. And since the Elfa uprights have perfectly aligned slots, you know your shelves are always level and perfectly aligned with each other! I've posted a couple photos on Flickr to help visualize this method. Have fun displaying your PEZ, everyone!  View photos: PEZ on Elfa
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| Looking at LEGO | |
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1.08.2010
7:03 PM | Link0 comments |
 A few days ago I decided to use a cool website called Brickset to keep track of my growing LEGO collection, and I was kind of surprised that I already have 21 sets! I can still remember buying the Star Wars X-Wing on a whim, which was the beginning of my adult LEGO renaissance, and being amazed at the incredible design (especially the gears and rubber bands that allow the wings to change position). Of course, some of these sets are gifts from my pals and family, but I’ve done a nice job of collecting sets all by myself! Right now all of them are still assembled and on display in my Toy Museum, but eventually I’m going to have to take some apart and either store them or give them away. The first to go will be the Ferrari F430, which I only got since I wanted to build a car for the first time, and the Star Destroyer, which is the most flimsy set I own, regardless of its coolness. I’m always keeping my eye open for new sets (especially Star Wars vehicles), but I think this year I would love to get into LEGO Mindstorms. It’s an expensive investment, but the idea is that I would continually re-use the set to build new robotic projects, since there are so many plans on the web and in books ready to take on (I don’t really have the urge to create anything myself, but I love following directions). Hopefully I won’t go too LEGO crazy this year and eat up all of my museum shelf space!
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| Jam-packed Christmas | |
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12.24.2009
7:23 AM | Link0 comments |
 I can't believe how many fun activities my parents and I are cramming into this Christmas vacation, so here's another update on the fun! We went to Bricktown (part of Downtown Oklahoma City) to take a free holiday boat ride on the Oklahoma River and see some of the city Christmas decorations, then enjoyed seeing Avatar at the awesome Warren Theater (accompanied by great food and beer). To add to our casino repertoire, we drove to Tulsa to spend a few hours at the Hard Rock Casino, and it was cool to play some slot machines next to exciting memorabilia like the Jonas Brothers' pants and Britney Spears' miniskirt. Mom & Dad took the plunge and ordered their new kitchen countertop remodeling project, and then we drove to Pauls Valley to visit the truly amazing Toy & Action Figure Museum (which I had read about in Wired). The museum was even better than I thought it would be, and we loved seeing all the toys! During the evenings at home, we've all been opening presents (and I also received some great surprise gifts from my pals), playing bowling on the Wii (Mom is throwing strikes like crazy and can beat Dad now!), and eating Mom's wonderful meals like homemade chili and super nacho! I also got to setup Dad's new universal remote, and I'm really impressed with the results. Today is Christmas Eve and PJ Day, since the snow will be falling later today, so we're going to stay inside and try to play all the Wii games that Santa has been bringing (about ten of them!). The time has been flying by so quickly that we're not going to build the traditional jigsaw puzzle this year, but there's always next year! Merry Christmas, everyone! View photos: Christmas 2009 (Part 2) View photos: Toy & Action Figure Museum
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| Christmas Toys 1978 | |
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12.15.2009
7:06 AM | Link0 comments |
 By the time Christmas of 1978 rolled around, Kenner was cranking out the Star Wars toys by the ton, and of course I had already been collecting Star Wars action figures all year long! My Santa parents took the holiday opportunity to deliver some of the larger Star Wars toys, including the massive Death Star playset, which had a unique design to represent a multi-level “slice” of the space station. I went nuts with this toy, since there was so much to do with it, and I’ll never forget the cool trash compactor (filled with bits of foam garbage). I also got a TIE Fighter (sized so a figure could pilot it), and I loved carefully putting on the decals and then pressing the secret buttons to pop off the wings to simulate battle damage! Aside from action figures, I got the human-sized Stormtrooper Rifle that had some pretty cool firing effects and was a blast to hold. It was definitely a Star Wars extravaganza!But as usual, Santa brought even more amazing stuff, such as Electroman, which was a cool large action figure with a big light on his forehead and sensors to detect movement (he was the same size as the Six Million Dollar Man, so they went well together). I also got the Star Bird Avenger, one of the most innovative space ship toys I can remember, which changed its electronic engine sounds to match the angle of the ship, and it even had fantastic laser sounds and lights. I even got the Star Bird Command Base to go with it! I have no idea how all this stuff fit in my room. After 1978, Dad stopped using the old home movie camera, so I can only dream about the spectacular toys I received in 1979 and beyond. I know that when I read nostalgic toy sites like Plaid Stallions I am constantly reminded of cool stuff that I had, all thanks to my incredible parents (and being a spoiled only child). Every Christmas brings joy and happy surprises, and it’s been fun remembering my childhood treasures! |
| Christmas Toys 1977 | |
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12.10.2009
8:00 AM | Link2 comments |
 When I hear the year 1977 mentioned, I immediately think of Star Wars, so you would think that Santa’s sleigh would have been overflowing with Star Wars toys this year. Actually, the toy companies had no idea that Star Wars would be such a success, so when Christmas rolled around almost nothing was available! However, Santa did manage to get me the Escape from the Death Star board game, which I thought was the coolest piece of cardboard in the whole world (I’m sure I played it a million times with my friends).Instead of Star Wars, 1977 turned out to be the Christmas of the Micronauts! I don’t even remember how I got into these toys, but suddenly they were all I wanted (just like my friends, cousins, and everyone else). Micronauts were a bit more expensive than your average toy, but my Santa parents got me all they could, including individual figures like Acroyear and cool vehicles like the Galactic Cruiser. But my favorites by far were Baron Karza (all black and Vader-esque) and his horse Andromeda, who had fantastic magnetic joints that gave them excellent posability as well as making them interchangeable (so you could turn the two into a centaur!). I was a Micronauts freak for years, and I really wish I had Baron Karza on my toy shelf today! |
| Christmas Toys 1976 | |
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12.03.2009
12:23 PM | Link0 comments |
 Although every Christmas I've written about so far was fantastic (and we haven't even got to Star Wars toys yet), I think if I had to pick one Christmas morning to live again it would have to be 1976. Every toy I received that year was simply spectacular, and I'm not the only one who thinks so, judging from all the fond memories other people have written on the web! I guess I'll begin with the biggest LEGO set I've ever owned (I remember it included lots of large green bases which were so useful), followed by the absolutely huge Earthquake Tower (a very strange toy when you think about it, but I liked it because it was almost as tall as me!). To add to my Star Trek collection, I got a cool Controlled Space Flight toy so I could fly the Enterprise (with a propeller!) around in circles, plus the magnificent Mission to Gamma VI playset for my Mego Star Trek action figures! It was such a beautiful set with a giant mouth (which reminded me of the episode The Apple), with a rubber band trap and a "living" plant monster (a green glove!). Next was practically a whole collection of Six Million Dollar Man toys in one shot, including the Steve Austin figure himself, the incredibly-named Bionic Transport and Repair Station (which was a big rocket), and the awesome Mission Control Center, with its cleverly designed inflatable dome structure! I had so much fun putting these together, applying decals and attaching tubes. But there's still more! This same year I also received the Space 1999 Eagle (definitely a Holy Grail for many collectors), which was so giant you had to fly it around with two hands. I was crazy about Space 1999 as a kid (I even drew my own comics of the show), so I really enjoyed this toy, and every time I'm in my parents' garage I am taunted by the original box (which is being used for storage)!But even with all of these great gifts, the best was yet to come with my beloved Star Trek Tricorder. This was the one toy I wanted the most that year, and my parents decided to pull the same trick from A Christmas Story by hiding it until the very end of Christmas morning. I can remember pulling back the drapes and seeing Kirk and Spock on that box, and I can't express how much I loved that souped-up cassette recorder! Throughout the year I began to record my own pretend radio shows (with lots of help from Dad), and of course I had a lot of Star Trek adventures as well. I'm kind of overwhelmed just writing about all this fun. What a Christmas! |
| Christmas Toys 1975 | |
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11.30.2009
11:51 AM | Link0 comments |
 I think the toys I remembering playing with the most throughout my childhood would be my Mego 8-inch action figures, which had incredible cloth clothing and plastic accessories. I had so many of these I can’t even begin to count, including almost all of the super heroes and villains, as well as characters from Star Trek and Planet of the Apes! In fact, I loved them so much, I’ve recently been collecting reproductions of these classic toys) In 1975, Santa brought not just one, but two gigantic Mego playsets to use with my figures, starting with the USS Enterprise. This representation of the bridge included control panels and the captain’s chair, changeable view screen images, and the totally creative Transporter effect (which let you spin a figure around quickly, then press a button to make them disappear!). Next was the Batcave, which was so much fun to play with since it provided an official garage for my Batmobile. Mego worked so many details into this set, such as the Batpole and Batsignal, and there was even a collapsing road sign on the secret entrance! Santa also brought a rare and interesting piece of Disney park memorabilia that year, since I got the Haunted Mansion Board Game that so many collectors are after today. I remember really enjoying this game, and the artwork was really cool (now if I only knew where it went!). Along with other smaller toys, I also got a simple little game called Bas-Ket which let you launch ping pong balls into nets (which I just discovered can still be bought today). I remember playing this one with Dad, but the main reason it deserves mentioning is because I think it’s been buried in my parents’ garage for years, so someday I may get to play it again!
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| Christmas Toys 1974 | |
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11.17.2009
12:20 PM | Link0 comments |
 Santa decided to go for quantity this year, so I got a huge variety of great toys, starting with lots of board games (which meant that Mom & Dad had to play with me a lot, being an only child). I loved the Rube Goldberg magic of Mouse Trap (one of the best games ever that's still sold today), and more often just built the contraption to see it work rather than follow the actual rules! I also got a fun memory matching game called Husker Du (Dad enjoys memory games, so we played that for years), and believe it or not, a board game inspired by the TV series Emergency. Moving on to bigger toys (the tree was dwarfed by the huge boxes my toys came in that year!), there was Skittle Bowling (a sequel to Skittle Pool that I got the previous year), a giant Texaco Service Station playset, a cute Snoopy and his doghouse toy, and the awesome Ricochet Racers, which were cars you could actually fire out of big rifle-like launchers! Finally, I got some practical/educational stuff, starting with a real typewriter (which I really wanted from the way I'm hugging it in the home movie!) that I used to type letters to my cousin Tom Bill in Ohio, plus one of those cool Science Explorer circuit sets that let you connect wires to make LEDs light up or create sounds. My musical encouragement continued with an almost full-size toy guitar, and a future toy addiction was born in 1974 because I got my first giant LEGO set that kept me busy for hours a day!
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| Three Small Things 11.14.09 | |
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11.14.2009
3:39 PM | Link0 comments |
 I've never really figured out why I'm such a big fan of Planet of the Apes, but it seems I'm always discovering ape books or collectibles that I want to get my hands on! A few months ago I read about the Planet of the Apes Ultra Detail Figures by Japanese toy manufacturer Medicom that were released in 2000. This series is so amazing not only because they are incredibly accurate (they really do look like the actual actors), but because they span all of the movies! They are no longer in production, but some of the figures (such as the Apeonauts from Escape from the Planet of the Apes) are easy to find at online toy stores, so I ordered a few just for fun. Of course, as soon as I had them I decided to buy more, starting from the cheapest to the rarest, exhausting all the regular stores and eventually finishing up on eBay. Now the last few apes are on their way to my toy museum! All ape maniacs should definitely consider hunting down these fantastic toys! View photos: Planet of the Apes toysI've really been enjoying the latest update to my Apple TV, not only because the new interface is such a welcome change, but because I love checking out the huge variety of internet radio stations! Every morning I like to hear a little reading music, and there are so many classical stations available that I've been trying a new one every day for a few weeks now. I know there's a million ways to listen to streaming music, but I really like the convenience of using my remote to get the music flowing. I still think I may end up getting a Mac Mini sometime next year so I'll have complete flexibility to watch all forms of streaming and downloaded video, but I'm going to miss the consumer polish of the Apple TV, so I'm not in a hurry to switch. My latest favorite way to fill a few spare minutes is to click Wikipedia's random article link and learn something new! On Wikipedia's site, this link appears in the left navigation column, and you can click it all day long and be amazed at the stuff that comes up! The other day I started reading about the Chinese Room argument (which I had never heard of) and got totally absorbed in the philosophy of computer AI! Labels: apes, apple, photos, small things, toys |
| Christmas Toys 1973 | |
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11.10.2009
7:56 AM | Link0 comments |
 The next Christmas in this series should be 1972, but that remains a mystery year regarding toys from Santa! Dad had to go overseas with the Air Force during the holidays, so there are some home movies of family gifts (the usual underwear) that we opened early that year, but no footage of the toy haul. I bet I got some great stuff, too! It doesn't really matter, though, since I completely scored in 1973 with so many toys that I can barely mention them all!The most cherished toy of the bunch was my Ready Ranger Backpack, which was a clunky orange and blue plastic box (worn on your back) that opened up to reveal all kinds of pretend equipment for high-tech wilderness adventure, fighting fires, spying, or something like that (I was never quite clear on the mission!). I completely loved all the doo-dads and the way they collapsed into the case, and I was so excited about it that this is the only toy I remember getting up in the middle of the night to play with by flashlight! (This is a good time to mention that I'm a huge fan of PlaidStallions.com, the absolute best site on the web for 70s toys memories!) There were many other toys to enjoy in 1973, most of them huge, like the original Skittle Pool, the Big Jim Sports Camper and figures (I had lots of fun with these, but they look incredibly goofy now!), a semi-remote control spaceship called Solo Flight, a set of Tonka road construction vehicles, the Visible Man model (with removable intestines and liver and such), and finally a giant Mickey Mouse ventriloquist doll that probably could have paid off my mortgage if I still had it! What an incredible year for Christmas fun! |
| Christmas Toys 1971 | |
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11.05.2009
11:53 AM | Link0 comments |
 This year's Christmas was pretty unique, since my parents and I spent the holiday season with my Dad's family in Ohio and Kentucky. This meant that my Santa-parents had to covertly hide all of my presents in the back of the car for the drive, and I never suspected since I was a dedicated Santa-believer who was convinced Santa knew where I would be waking up on Christmas morning! Along with my huge stocking, I received several classic games this year, including Don't Break the Ice and Operation, plus some kind of interesting battle tops game. But the best gift of 1971 was my Fisher Price Family Play Farm set! This gift was wrapped and under the tree before Christmas, and I would actually sit in the rocking chair with the huge box in my lap and kind of sing songs about how great this present was going to be (how embarrassing!). I loved toys that had a million pieces, so I was thrilled with all the farm animals, the family, fence pieces, the silo, and of course the giant barn with the classic door that made a cow moo when it opened! Lots of people have fond memories of this fantastic toy, but it's not easy to find really good photos of the vintage version (Fisher-Price still makes a similar set, but the design has been updated). But I was still able to find this great page dedicated to the vintage set, as well as some nice images on Flickr!
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| Christmas Toys 1970 | |
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10.30.2009
10:43 AM | Link0 comments |
 Christmas this year was dominated by probably the physically largest gift I ever received! My Santa parents figured a four-year old should learn how to drive, so they got me a kiddie-sized dune buggy! It was a beautiful, red, battery-powered monster (none of those crappy pedal cars for me!) with real working headlights, and it could actually go forward and reverse. I remember driving it around the house (mostly from seeing myself in home movies), and I think I was stunned speechless by the whole thing! In addition to my "real" wheels, I also got a set of several Hot Wheels cars, a wind-up walking Charlie Brown (that I always made Mom wind-up for me), and another toy piano (I either needed an upgrade, or maybe I had broken the piano I got in 1967). There was also a toy rifle and William Tell dart game, and finally my highly anticipated stocking. According to the video evidence, apparently I was super excited about getting Chuckles candy this year!
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| Christmas Toys 1969 | |
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10.26.2009
11:08 AM | Link1 comments |
 I'm sure Santa brought me lots of other toys for my third Christmas, but the space under the tree was dominated by three big ones! I got a classic red wagon with cool wooden sideboards (my huge teddy bear from 1967 was sitting in it), and a fantastic school desk with an attached seat and a flip-top that was filled with art supplies, plastic alphabet letters, and all kinds of other fun (and educational) stuff. But the best gift of all was my Show'N Tell Phono-Viewer, probably one of the most entertaining toys ever (and I'm not the only one who feels that way - my pal Barron also loved his Show'N Tell). I guess kids today would get a portable DVD player, but in 1969 this was serious tech! The Show'N Tell looked like a TV with a record player on top, but it played filmstrips that were vertically inserted into the top. As the record played, the filmstrip would advance to the next frame in sync with the story, so it was like a magical TV show! I know I spent hours and hours watching the same things over and over, but what is truly amazing is the titles that were available. Believe it or not, I had filmstrips of literary classics like Moby Dick and even Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and I can actually remember them (I know for a fact I was a little spooked by watching Juliet die). I'm really thankful that my Santa parents gave me such a wonderful gift, and I'm proud to have been a Shakespeare fan at only three-years old! By the way, I discovered some fantastic scans of an old Show'N Tell catalog, so you can see the incredible variety of filmstrips that were sold. I wish I could watch these today!
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| Christmas Toys 1968 | |
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10.23.2009
11:50 AM | Link0 comments |
 Moving on to my second Christmas, Santa continued to focus on some classic toys that every kid should have. The biggest gift of 1968 was my red tricycle, which I rode both inside and outside! Of course, I peddled it around on Christmas morning, and I know throughout the year I often tried to ride it in the backyard, where it would always get stuck in the grass. I also got the usual wooden board with pegs that could be hammered through, as well as a plastic horse (that one seems a little unusual, but I'll just call it my first action figure!). Another interesting gift that year was a toy phone - of course, kids today get toy cell phones, but mine was a big rotary model! I'm sure I pretended to call Santa Claus or someone like that with it. This year marked the start of my love for "giant mesh Christmas stockings full of junk", which always had a million little plastic toys and all kinds of candy, and I started getting one of those every year after that (it seemed like they kept getting bigger, too!). I wonder if they still sell those?
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| Christmas Toys 1967 | |
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10.20.2009
12:29 PM | Link0 comments |
 It might be a little early to start writing about Christmas, but I thought I'd get started on this series of posts just to be sure I finish it before December 25th! Since my dad used to be a real home movie buff, I'm extremely lucky to have tons of magical childhood events captured on film, which includes reel after reel of me ripping open toys in my pajamas on Christmas morning. It's so much fun to study these Christmas movies and try to figure out what all the gifts are (which is sometimes difficult due to film quality), and I absolutely love reminiscing about all the fantastic classic toys I enjoyed, thanks to my extremely generous Santa parents! So I'm going to mention the main toys of each of my early Christmases, and I plan to cover at least 1967 through 1978.I was born in January 1967, so by December 1967 I was old enough to do more than gurgle, and I got lots of classic baby toys that most people will remember, starting with the standard Fisher-Price Corn Popper (I can't believe they have been making that toy since 1957 and you can still buy it!). I also had the typical pole with rings on it (which I kept trying to eat like doughnuts), a wind-up music box "radio", a pretty cool fire engine to push around, a weird ball filled with chickens that would peck as you moved it, plus a huge teddy bear that was bigger than me! I also got a toy piano and a wind-up drummer boy, which no doubt got me interested in music right away. Of course, during most of the morning I ended up playing with boxes and Christmas ornaments more than the toys. As I "grow up", I'll have lots more to say about my beloved toys, but 1967 was just about the best first Christmas anyone could ever want! |
| Perfect PEZ shelves | |
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4.18.2009
7:24 AM | Link4 comments |
 Last weekend I spent several hours reorganizing my PEZ collection, which was a lot of work, but also a ton of fun! I have one wall of my toy museum room devoted to PEZ, but it was becoming dangerously full, so I had to take action to make room for future collecting. I realized that I could fit four more PEZ display racks way up on top (next to the ceiling), so I decided to move around every single dispenser to put them into logical groups (Disney PEZ turned out to be the largest grouping by far!). Since I had to use a ladder to get to these new top racks, I decided to put the holiday and other color variation dispensers at the top (they are kind of the least interesting to me, except for the original Santa Claus PEZ from Mom that started my whole collection!), and then work my way down with everything else. I put just a few things into storage, like some cheap Party Favors and Body Parts, since they were just taking up room and weren't really "true" PEZ. I also squished everything to get as many dispensers on each rack as possible, and now I'm happy to say I have several racks completely empty for future PEZ! I really enjoyed making my collection look great - reorganizing is about the only way I get to "play" with my toys!While I'm on the subject, I've written about my PEZ display method before, but I want to mention it again since I think it's really convenient (and I haven't read about anyone else doing it this way!). I use the fantastic PEZ racks available from John Thompson Acrylic Displays, but I hang them from Elfa shelving uprights using cheap S-hooks from the hardware store. With this method, I only had to hang the Elfa crossbar at the top and hang the uprights once. After that, I can move racks around whenever I want (even full of PEZ), and I'm always guaranteed they are horizontally level. It's really easy and looks great! View photos: PEZ Racks Before & After
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| Star Trek view screens | |
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1.27.2009
12:54 PM | Link0 comments |
 Another bit of nostalgia I discovered over Christmas was the view screen cards from my Star Trek Enterprise Bridge playset for my Mego Star Trek action figures. My Star Trek figures were some of my favorite toys (back before Star Wars toys took over), which is why I've been enjoying buying the new reproductions recently! The bridge playset, which I got for Christmas back in 1975, was mostly vinyl-covered cardboard for the walls, along with some plastic consoles and the captain's chair, plus the cool Transporter feature that was pretty ingenious. It's hard to explain, but you could spin a figure around in a chamber and push a red button to make them "disappear" or a green button to bring them back!The view screen had two pegs that you could use to hang a card to represent what the crew was seeing on their latest adventure, and even though my playset is long gone, for some reason I saved a couple of these two-sided cards. The quality of the artwork is downright appalling, but I never gave it a second thought back in 1975! Actually, the same toy company making the reproduction figures is coming out with a reproduction bridge playset very soon. I wasn't planning on buying it, since it requires a lot of display space, but every time I look at the picture the temptation is overwhelming! View photos: Mego Enterprise View Screen Cards
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| Star Trek stands | |
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4.12.2008
5:17 PM | Link0 comments |
 I've slowed down just a wee bit on my toy collecting, but I'm still buying all of the reproduction Mego Star Trek figures as they are released! I can't even begin to count all the fantastic, 8-inch Mego action figures (with real clothes!) I had as a kid - lots of super heroes, Planet of the Apes, and of course, Star Trek. I love watching home movies of me playing with the Transporter on the Enterprise bridge playset! These new reproductions are incredible, right down to the accessories and packaging, and even though I know I shouldn't open them, holding them in my hands again really makes me feel young. I've been buying mine from BigBadToyStore, and I have six so far, so I decided I should get some stands to display them. I spent forever digging around Google looking for "action figure stands", but I couldn't find anything for 8-inch figures! Finally I stumbled upon a place that had "doll stands", and when I discovered that was the correct term, they were easy to find. When I was a kid I always hated it when people called them dolls instead of action figures, so I guess the term "doll stand" never occured to me! I actually found the perfect stand from an Amazon seller, and they work perfectly. The waist clamp holds the figure snuggly, and it's so nice being able to arrange them without spending an hour getting them to balance. I wish I had these stands when I had all my original figures - but actually, I wish I had still had my original figures even more! View photos: Mego Star Trek
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| Happy PJ Day! | |
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12.22.2007
10:21 PM | Link0 comments |
 Did you know today was PJ Day? I hope everyone enjoyed spending all day in their pajamas like Dad and I did! Each holiday season we always take a day to stay at home all day in our PJs, and today was the day since it was snowy outside. We started the day with Mom's magnificent Eggs Benedict (my favorite breakfast!), and then spent most of the day working on a jigsaw puzzle (another yearly tradition). This year I bought one called Famous Flying Machines, and even though I thought it would be kind of easy, it was actually tough - we only finished about half of it, so I hope we can finish it in the next few days. Dinner was Mom's incredible spaghetti with homemade sauce, plus pecan pie and pipe smoking!Last night we watched 15 years of Christmas home movies, talking through the whole thing, laughing at our young looks, and of course, drooling over all the cool toys that I could sell for thousands of dollars if I had them today! I really miss my Six Million Dollar Man stuff, Star Trek figures, Micronauts (I miss you, Baron Karza!), and Star Wars merchandise (including the Death Star playset, that I just recently saw on sale for over $7000! |
| Ralph McQuarrie concept figures | |
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8.11.2007
7:03 AM | Link0 comments |
 Even though I'm proud that I still have all of my original Star Wars figures, I pretty much stopped collecting them soon after Return of the Jedi was released (although I bought a couple more for fun while I was excited about Revenge of the Sith). But when I heard about the special 30th anniversary Ralph McQuarrie concept designs, I was really intrigued! I used to have this incredible portfolio of Ralph McQuarrie concept paintings way back in 1977, and even though my 10-year-old brain had no idea why everything looked so different, I still spent hours admiring them, so I've had an appreciation for these concept designs for a long time! I decided to buy the concept C-3PO and R2-D2 set that was available at Celebration, but then I quickly realized there were going to be a lot more of these figures, and now I've been trapped into a new collection! Since all of these include a special collector's coin and interesting packaging, I'm actually not going to open them (I definitely want to rip them open to take better photos, but I'm holding back this time!). So far I have the concept droids, Luke (with his gas mask!), Stormtrooper (with lightsaber and shield!), Chewbacca (definitely scary), Boba Fett, plus the Obi-Wan and Yoda set. These figures are pretty limited, so some places are charging up to $35 bucks just to pre-order these guys! I just have to keep my eyes open and stay lucky to keep this collection going. I have to admit it's fun to have something new to track down! View photos: Ralph McQuarrie concept figures
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| Toy museum paradise | |
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5.02.2007
7:25 AM | Link0 comments |
 It's organizational update time! I now have two tall square shelves in the toy room (one on each side of the window), and these are perfect for displaying a Disney Big Fig on the top, so I have a Mickey Mouse on each of them! I completely filled one shelf with my Disney die-cast ride vehicle collection (which hasn't been on display in months), and the other one is basically free for future toys to come. Because of my plan to fill all the walls with toy shelves, I moved anything hanging (such as my animation art) up to the top of the wall (close to the ceiling), and I even got to hang some Disneyland 50th Anniversary merchandise that has been sitting in the closet since I bought it. The room is finally starting to look like a toy museum paradise, and I'm really excited about it! This weekend I worked on the garage, and now its just a matter of figuring out how many garbage days I will need to dump so much junk. I also hung some old posters on the walls out there, so even my garage is going to look cool! In the digital world, I have completely finished moving all of my bookmarks to Delicious (over 1,500 of them), and they are all tagged and ready when I need them. Now Safari just has the things I need on a daily basis, and I think it's great!
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| Lifecycle of toys | |
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4.15.2007
11:41 AM | Link0 comments | Yesterday I built a new shelf for my toy room and had a blast loading it up. Now my LEGO sets finally have a place to live! There were a few things that I realized I didn't feel like having on display anymore, so I guess I will move some stuff to my souvenir bins. It really made me think about my whole toy lifecycle. The fact is I love buying stuff - impulse buying toys, CDs, DVDs, books, or whatever is pretty much one of my favorite things to do! Maybe it's because I had tons of toys as an only child, or maybe I like spending money since I was kind of broke in my college days. The reason doesn't really matter - I'm going to keep doing it! After I have fun shopping and buying, then I like displaying things (and taking photos) for awhile. Eventually the newness wears off, but I don't want to just throw things away, so they end up going in my souvenir bins in my garage. I have about five of these huge bins filled with stuff. I'm sure some of it would make some collectors pee their pants, but I really just keep stuff because I'm too lazy to sell it. Someday I will have to get rid of some things - it would be nice to have kids playing with my old toys instead of keeping them captive in boxes! You could look at my collecting habits as a waste of money, but I don't see it that way at all. To me, I'm just renting all of this stuff! I pay the rent, which gives me the joy of having the toy, displaying it, and eventually I say goodbye to it. The money is gone, but the joy remains! |
| Perfect presents | |
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12.12.2006
10:12 PM | Link0 comments |
 I've received some really amazing Christmas gifts from my pals this year! This weekend I gave everyone this year's video project (which was a big success, judging by the laughter!), and they went together to buy me a fantastic new gig bag (for my drum kit hardware), since my old one was a serious pain. The new one is totally amazing and has wheels on it, so it's going to be so convenient! Then tonight, my pal Melinda and I exchanged gifts, and she gave me a beautiful Snow White figurine (part of the Disney Traditions series by Jim Shore)! It has a great folk-art style to it, and looks wonderful with my other Snow White sculptures. She also gave me a little LEGO set to add to my growing collection, too! Christmas is so much fun! Be sure to take a look at my latest Flickr photos, since I just got up-to-date with my latest toys, PEZ, and collectibles. View photos: Disney Collectibles View photos: PEZtastic View photos: Toys on Stage
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| Tons of photos | |
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10.27.2006
10:22 PM | Link0 comments |
 As you probably know, one of my obsessive habits is taking close-up shots of new toys and PEZ dispensers, but I'm often lazy about getting them uploaded to Flickr. I always think it would be cool to upload one or two each day to keep things fresh, but actually I just end up forgetting about shots I took months ago. So, I decided to just catch-up with tons of older photos, so this is a good time to remind you about my ongoing photo sets! Most of the new shots are of PEZ, especially Japanese Mini-PEZ (since I've been buying lots of the sets I missed on eBay lately), but there are also some new toys to see, too. As always, I'm still working on my "technique" - I really want to capture the personality of each toy! View photos: PEZtastic View photos: Toys on Stage
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| Scoop on Mego | |
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5.05.2006
6:03 PM | Link0 comments |
 Every Friday I always look forward to reading Scoop, a really cool email newsletter about collecting and all the geeky stuff I enjoy. My favorite section includes some amazing auction prices for things that recently sold, and often includes PEZ, comic books, or Star Wars figures. Recently there have been several cool Mego action figures, which makes me so nostalgic! I used to play with Mego figures nearly everyday - I had lots of super-heroes (I used to love the Teen Titans, way back when they were nothing like the Teen Titans show today!), Planet of the Apes figures, and of course, Star Trek figures. I've always loved the original Star Trek, and the toys were so much fun, especially the Enterprise Bridge set with it's awesome Transporter simulator. In today's newsletter, they reported that one of the figures I had, the Mugato (an alien guy), went for over $1,400 bucks! Mine wouldn't have been in the package, but it still would be cool to have it. At least I have some home movies of me playing with them at Christmas!
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