THRIFTY FIGURES PART 1.

Hi there.

Animation nerd, aspiring fiction author, former thrift shopper, and collector of "valuable" (to me) toys and figures here.

I once had a mighty collection of "Masters of the Universe," "G.I. Joe," and "Real Ghostbusters" figures/vehicles/playsets.

Being born in '84 also made me late to the party in collecting most of these things FIRSThand (Big Wheel, Toy Stores, etc.)

That made my mother and I ANTIQUE, THRIFT and COLLECTIBLE hunters!

Travel with me now as we do some exploring to my past.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

I was born in '84

That put me at a minor setback as an avid viewer of "He-Man (and the Masters of the Universe)" or of the Sunbow years of "G.I. Joe: ARAH."

If I was born in 84, "He-Man..." premeired on TV in 83 (and the Mattel figures that I desperately sought were from at least one, if not TWO, years EARLIER than THAT).

I DISCOVERED these adventures and my love for animation and for action figures in 1986; or, by now, I'd definitely be behind the curve if I resorted to firsthand stores where I lovingly unboxed these figures myself (then chewed on their weapons).

Long story short, MY first "Masters of the Universe" figures were BATTLE-ARMOR He-Man and ...Skeletor.

THIS, without antique stores, would have ruled out such figures as Ram Man, Battle Cat, Man-at-Arms, Stratos, Trap Jaw, Tri-Klops, Mer-Man, or the ORIGINAL He-Man and Skeletor.

It is THANKS TO antique stores that, one day, I could acquire Stratos (albeit with no wings), Merman (no dagger), Tri-Klops (no sword), and my personal favorite Evil Warrior-in-Filmation-turned-Good-Guy-During-Play, Trap Jaw (no belt NOR weapon attachments; albeit that the arm that HELD the weapon attachments already made a nifty looking cannon so that I could pretend that he at least had his blaster).

I remember when mom innocently came home to lovingly present me with Ram Man (no hatchet); albeit that, unbeknownst to her, I had just witnessed a rather traumatic (to a three year old's eyes) episode of He-Man that left me CONVINCED that the lovably buffoonish human battering ram had been INJURED (for someone who watched He-Man, She-Ra, G.I. Joe, and the like, I did NOT like seeing the animated characters hurt; not the bad guys until it could be established that they were robots or something and CERTAINLY NEVER the heroes).

Anyway, I eventually came around and gently accepted the figure of Ram Man as gently and gingerly as a three-year-old boy was about to accept a SPRING-LOADED action figure/projectile.

There was another day when mom presented me with someone I'll call 0Klops (Tri-Klops with no armor, no sword, NOR any eyepiece so that he looked like someone who'd just been involved in a very graphic medical accident). I was probably twelve by now and recognized the figure; mom didn't. I thanked her for the token and put him with my other figures.

THEN, she came home with "Mer-Beast" (Mer Man's body, head, and legs; albeit with Beast Man's arms). Again, she was convinced that she had found a "new" figure. I gently described that the figure had been fodder tossed into an antique store, took the figure anyway, and he went right in with the rest of the characters.

Antiquing also allowed me to find Castle Grayskull (no trainer, cannons, or weapons rack) and Snake Mountain (no net, nor chains).

The PLAYSETS may not have looked the cleanest; the figures, for their parts, were not complete but I WAS rather particular that they weren't broken either.

I did eventually find opportunities to scrounge through weapons and I DID produce one wing for Stratos and a sword for Tri-Klops (albeit the tiny plastic grip that went over the knuckles was missing). Nevertheless, NO antique store could ever allow me to find Trap Jaw's belt for storing his arm attachments; let alone any of said weapons.

Some GREAT antiquing adventures included when I found Orko or Mer-Man (both of whom I had hunted for since I was a child and could now rest easily with my spoils) or the Horde Trooper and Sorceress (both of whom I was ECSTATIC to find out even EXISTED in plastic form!)

Then, I walked into a Niles antique/collectible shop that would very quickly become my favorite antique store for easily the next decade. I had stepped STRAIGHT into my childhood. Thundercats Figures! G.I. Joes (with at least SOME accessories)! Tex Hex and Sandstorm (Bravestarr)! Tracy, the Gorilla (Filmation's Ghostbusters [Oh wow; the Ghostbusters that I WATCHED had its own toy line too] Okay, Tracy was never my favorite character but, hey, I've gotta get this too; even WITHOUT a backpack or Ghost Gummer...)! Then, the creme-de-my-collecting-experience (as far as "He-Man..." went)...

There, in a plastic bag and in as many pieces as possible, was MODULOK of the Evil Horde! He didn't have his gun. Limbs may or may not have been missing/been repeated to make up for what was missing (Modulok's gimmick WAS very much to add arms, legs, and torsos in any number of forms). I HAD the figure; a figure that (like Mer Man and Orko) I had seen on many a display insert inside of "Masters..." vehicles that I had acquired firsthand and, consequently, had hunted for for YEARS.

Now, I never DID own Fright Zone and I didn't even KNOW that Eternia had a playset until I was sixteen years old and looking at a collector's guide. By now, I'd NEVER find a decent Eternia in an antique store of all places (not in Michigan, anyway) and EBAY sellers would (rightly) be charging a bit more than I'd be willing to pay (Again, I'm only saying so much about E*Bay in THIS part).

The consolation prize for NO Fright Zone were TWO Slime Pits.

G.I. JOE

If I started hounding my parents or Grandma for "Masters of the Universe" figures (and tapes and books and...) in '86, I wouldn't know that G.I. Joe EXISTED until 1988 (it aired on WGN at the time, opposite Transformers. I watched one and ignored the latter).

Anyway, if I STARTED collecting in '88, my first Joes and Cobras were Muskrat, the Iron Grenadier, Crazy Legs, Lightfoot, the Tiger Force variation of Dusty, the Tiger Paw and Snow Cat vehicles, Law & Order, and Jinx.

...At least the regular Dusty appeared sporadically in G.I. Joe's first season and Law and Order and Jinx were both in the animated movie. But WHERE WERE Muskrat or Lightfoot in my animated adventures??? More importantly, WHERE were Duke, Snake-Eyes, Zartan, and the Chrome-masked Cobra Commander on the TOY STORE SHELVES??? WHY were they not in Big Wheel whenever I looked???

How was I to know (at the age of four) that I was experiencing these episodes NOW thanks to two years worth of reruns while DIC was getting ready to pick up the G.I. Joe animated adventures, with Hasbro's blessing as it continued to pedal more and more figures?

Anyway, it was 90% thanks to my new favorite antique store in Niles, plus a SINGLE trip to Shipshewana with one of my neighborhood best friends and a fellow 'Joe collector at the time, that I could EVER find Zartan, Torch, Buzzer, Ripper, Zandar, Airtight, Quick Kick, Golobulus, Serpentor, Zanzibar, Sgt. Slaughter, and MANY other missing figures.

As to the condition of the figures, many of them may have had ONE accessory (and, if I was really lucky, their backpack). There may have been some broken "crotch" pieces. The Cobra Infantry man was not only without thumbs; I believe that at least one hand didn't have ANY fingers anymore (he was safely home with me and removed from the bag before I realized this or I'd have passed him by). However, I didn't even KNOW about the damage to the O-Rings until long AFTER I had brought some of these figures home and stored them for years (I knew you well, Quick Kick. I just didn't know at the time that I found you in the bottom of the basket in separate parts that this was not only extremely common, but easily fixed. Sorry for turning you into garbage can fodder. Also, a huge thanks to my father and grandmother's loving and patient hands for piecing together so many OTHER figures once we DID discover that these could be fixed. I couldn't have done it myself).

Best G.I. Joe antiquing adventures: finding Zartan (with at least a gun; NO swampskier; NO face mask/attache case; but I now had one of my favorite villains) and Buzzer (my favorite of his Dreadnoks). There was also the day that I found Duke and a Sky-Striker WITH Ace and AT LEAST two missiles. However, even a Sky-Striker didn't trump the day that I found, lo and behold, Snake Eyes (WITH backpack, sword, and gun) AND Timber!

(Hey; I couldn't have been [that much] more than 20 when I was celebrating my spoils that particular day; give me a break).

THUNDERCATS

At one point in my youth, I had a plethora of Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, and Real Ghostbusters figures; AND the Thundercats heroes, minus Panthro!

That was one collection too many for my mother's wisdom and, unbeknownst to me until the day that I asked her to help me find them as they weren't in the toy chest, I was informed that they'd wound up in a yard sale.

(Hey, if she had just ASKED, I'd have negotiated on the Ghostbusters figures; I watched the OTHER Ghostbusters series a lot more than I watched the Real Ghostbusters!)

Anyway, the era of antiquing/thrifting adventures arrived and, lo and behold, I COULD collect from scratch with Lion-O/Snarf, Tigra/Wilykat, Cheetara/Wilykit, and (could it be?) Panthro (Albeit, no weapons; but the JOINTS on the figures themselves were all great).

Oh; and while we were at it, I found Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, Mumm-ra the Mummy, Jackalman, Monkian, Vultureman, Ssslithe, Hammerhand of the Berserkers, AND The Snowman of Hook Mountain on separate adventures. (Wonder of wonders; I found Jackalman RIGHT HERE in South Haven in a downtown antique store!)

REAL GHOSTBUSTERS

Uh; for the most part I found these guys between Big Wheel and KayBee Toys. (Remember the "Haunted Humans..." or "Classic Monsters" lines???)

I did find SOME (including a certain "Green Ghost" unnamed by Kenner as he didn't have a name until the cartoon series) in Niles along with some of the other ghost figures.

Oh; and I think that, on a fluke, I found Staypuft in Allegan somewhere.

BRAVESTARR

I had Marshal Bravestarr and 30/30 as standalones from his line of figures thanks to a "Grandma-run" to a Meijer/Target/...something in what I think was Holland.

As a child, those two were all that I needed from his series. (Okay; so Thunderstick was my favorite of his enemies, but I didn't know how many figures they'd made).

Along came a family reunion and my younger sister had borrowed 30/30 to bring along and show off.

By the time we figured out that he hadn't come BACK HOME with us, it was too late and he'd most likely been "appropriated" by a cousin.

I could never find 30/30 in an antique store/thrift shop after that day.

I DID find a replacement for Bravestarr, and Tex Hex, and Sandstorm, and Handlebar (They MIGHT have come from Niles but that memory has grown fuzzy with age).

M.A.S.K.

Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (sic) combined the very best elements of G.I. Joe (a well trained group of specialists) and the Transformers (shape-shifting vehicles).

Of course there was a toyline; and accompanying cartoon that I watched religiously.

I had the Raven Corvette/Seaplane (with Calhoun Burns/Gulliver Mask) due to a Grandma purchase at the local hardware store.

It would be the ONLY M.A.S.K. vehicle in my youth; until antiquing could change THAT too.

I found the Stinger GTO/Tank in an Allegan antique store (I had a chance to grab the "Rhino" rig/command center on the same day and I PASSED. IT. BY! Now I see the prices on Ebay for it...).

Other adventures in antiquing allowed me to grab the Piranha motorcycle and sidecar/submarine (Sly Rax with Stiletto Mask), Jackhammer 4x4/Tank (Cliff Dagger/Torch), Gator jeep/boat (Dusty Hayes/Backlash), Condor motorcycle/helicopter (Brad Turner, Hocus-Pocus) and T-Bob, the show's annoying robot sidekick/motorscooter (Scott Trakker, Matt Trakker's disobedient, troublemaking spawn).

By now, I was finding M.A.S.K. vehicles (and a few standalone figures and masks) again in my teen years; THESE were for display/to sell all over again.

C.O.P.S.

Central Organization of Police Specialists; fighting crime in a future time...

Hey; you had to hear it in "Bulletproof's" voice!

C.O.P.S. (n' Crooks) took the two best things that the 80s were known for for kids (a cartoon and a toyline for it to shill) and Hasbro tried to hit it big with its NEXT big thing.

It didn't make it beyond the first couple of waves of figures.

The C.O.P.S. n Crooks figures were much larger than Hasbro's much more successful G.I. Joes and they had CAP-FIRING weapons! (They were also pieced together with O-Rings, just like the 'Joes).

I didn't collect them in my youth as the only figure I ever saw at Big Wheel was someone called "Nightmare" (a nice figure [for a crook] but I just just had never seen him on T.V. I was young and too naive to piece together that C.O.P.S. just MIGHT HAVE had a comic book line too).

Anyway, I passed Nightmare on by in my search for the next "Ghostbusters" monster and held out for the day that I would find Bulletproof, Long-Arm, Big Boss, Berzerko, or maybe Hyena in the local store...

Along came my antiquing/thrifting days and it started with the Crooks Roadster and Turbo Tutone.

Pretty soon thereafter, I found Koo-Koo, Big Boss, Buttons McBoomBoom and Dr. Badvibes (on another day, I even found Badvibes's robot companion, Buzzbomb, and could pair the two together).

The figures didn't have any weapons at all (Badvibes came the closest when I DID finally find Buzzbomb somewhere) and certainly no caps to be shooting around.

Since I was a good teen and just couldn't let the Crooks run rampant, I did finally find Sundown, I-think-Barricade (though his figure looked NOTHING like the animated counterpart and the full mask made him look more like Bullseye, the C.O.P.S. pilot), and a cheaply made blue motorcycle that was supposed to be part of the line and should have been packaged with Highway.

No Bulletproof. No Long-Arm. No Hardtop. No Berzerko. No Hyena. No Nightmare beyond when I appraised him at Big Wheel one day and passed him by. Certainly no Mainframe or Nightshade as Hasbro made a huge mistake in not making the women figures.

...Anyway those were my standout thrift store/antiquing finds.

They're long gone now as my late grandmother who had (along with my mom) aided me in finding many of these figures had an antique store of her own that these eventually ended up at (oh; and the Joe's and Masters of the Universe figures that I had held onto until the very end? I sold them on E*Bay for a pretty substantial mark DOWN from what they were probably worth).

This is part ONE and "The Antiquing/Thrift Store" adventures.

Perhaps a Part TWO and where E*Bay helped me as a collector (let alone seller) could be on its way soon...

*I appreciate any support. If you like what you've read, show it some "LOVE." If you REALLY like what you've read, maybe I'm worth a dollar or two of a tip.

Thank you all.*