THRIFTY FIGURES PART 2

Welcome to "Thrifty Figures Part 2."

Oh; you don't remember a Part ONE (written for a Challenge well over two months ago)?

How silly of me.

Here's a little link...

https://vocal.media/geeks/thrifty-figures-part-1

Okay, great; here we go...

My mother raised me on antiquing adventures to find some of my favorite figures.

Soon, I was adding to my G.I. Joe figure collections; along with when I could occasionally find a Masters of the Universe figure or weapon, or M.A.S.K. vehicle (occasionally a standalone "driver"), or Real Ghostbusters ghost/vehicle, or rebuilding my Thundercats figure collection from scratch.

The thrill of the hunt in brick-and-mortar shops was cool; for a while.

Then again, eventually, I got older and realized that there were SPECIFIC figures that I was chasing; SPECIFIC figures that I just was NOT finding in Antique Stores (the day that I finally found Snake-Eyes or Duke or Zartan in antique stores or my haul of SEVERAL G.I. Joe figures from ONE trip to Shipshewana notwithstanding).

Travel with me into the world of Ebay and online shopping (from this day forward, my bank account was never the same).

(*I since turned around and sold ALL of these collections [at a complete LOSS] five or six years ago now. THIS is all that I can remember at this time).

SILVERHAWKS

Talleee-Hawwwk!

Wings of silver; nerves of steel...

Sorry; I'm okay now.

As with MOST of my action figure collections, these were based on a cartoon franchise that was appointment viewing for me when I was little (even more so than their far more successful companion, Thundercats; but that's neither here nor there).

So "Kenner" had come along with an action figure line based on the...

SILVERHAWWWKS!

Partly metal, partly real...

Okay; NOW I've got that part out of my system. (What would be an at-times-mediocre action cartoon WITHOUT an extremely catchy, flashy intro to hook the viewer in in the first place?)

Okay, so I'd been four years old when I figured that the Silverhawks even had a toyline (I found "Bluegrass" [their pilot] with "Hot Licks" [his amp] at Kaybee Toys one year and he became my "Christmas" present that year. This was 1988 and toward the end of the figure line).

So, for ages, my sole "Silverhawks" figure was not only a lone hero but, as the only one without wings, my least favorite hero.

Eventually, Bluegrass's chrome paint began to chip with age and I had to add to the collection. A red-letter antiquing day included finding Quicksilver and Tally-Hawk and Steelwill and Stronghold in a brick-and-mortar, Allegan antique store.

I needed MORE! (Besides, by then, Stronghold's talon had chipped and the paint on Steelwill's arm was chipping as I had accidentally thought that, maybe, just maybe, the companion bird should SIT ON THE SILVERHAWK'S WRIST! [whoops]).

My very first Ebay finds were Mumbo-Jumbo and Buzzsaw (two Silverhawks enemies and members of the evil Mon*Star's mob).

THAT opened the can of worms of the ease of shopping on Ebay. The hunt was on for such favorite Silverhawks as the Copper Kidd and Steelheart.

Success! (PLEASE don't ask how much I paid for either).

Then I found Mon*Star himself and my favorite members of his mob, Mo-Lec-U-Lar and Hardware.

THEN I decided, what the heck, I have THESE Silverhawks heroes; why not COMPLETE the heroic line of brawn???

Believe it or not, my BIGGEST mistake wasn't in how much money I eventually spent FINDING these figures; it was turning around and selling them at an absolute LOSS!

G.I. JOE

Ebay allowed me to find a plethora of G.I. Joe weapons and vehicles; maybe even some of my childhood figures.

Figure wise: I remember replacing my old Lightfoot; and finding Hit and Run, Wild Weasel, Cobra Eel, and the 25th Anniversary figures of Snake-Eyes and Timber, Zartan, Flint, and Lady Jaye.

Accessories: I found Zartan's swampskier and other accessories and Zanzibar's Air Skiff.

There HAVE TO have been some backpacks and guns built in here somewhere too. I sold ALL of my G.I. Joes way back in 2014, I think.

Vehicles: I found the H.A.V.O.C. to couple with Crosscountry, a Cobra Ferret for the Crimson Twins to go up against Tiger Force Dusty and Outback on the Tiger Paw, a Cobra Fang helicopter, the Swampfire for the Dreadnoks, the TIGER FORCE variation of the Dragonfly helicopter for Wildbill (I wasn't QUITE willing to splurge on the REAL Dragonfly) and some kind of miniature Cobra "outpost."

That's what I remember about "G.I. Joe" and Ebay for me.

"Now you know; and KNOWING is HALF the battle!"

BRAVESTARR

ANOTHER excellent, and severely under-appreciated, cartoon (it would turn into Filmation's final cartoon SERIES).

Mattel ALSO produced an excellent toy line far larger, and more durable, than most other figures at the time.

I had purchased Marshall Bravestarr and Thirty-Thirty firsthand at either a Meijer or Target in what-might-have-been Holland thanks to a "Grandma-" shopping trip (Then, I managed to lose Thirty-Thirty shortly thereafter).

I found the likes of Handlebar, Sandstorm, and Tex Hex in antique stores.

I *think* that I might have purchased a replacement "...Bravestarr" off of Ebay; though I know that I searched long and hard for Thirty-Thirty, his steed, or for Thunderstick, my favorite of the outlaws, at a REASONABLE price (says the guy scouring Ebay for long out of production, extremely valuable figures that may or may not be in the advertised condition).

...Who knew that (OF COURSE) the "chases" for my collection would be the most under-produced and turn out to be the most valuable/consistently-expensive? I passed them by. (This was before my MOTU Classics collecting days, so it was still a little easier for me to look at something plastic and desirable and say "No...")

(FILMATION'S) GHOSTBUSTERS

"When there's something strange in the neighborhood; who you gonna call...?"

NOT the (GHOSTBUSTERS!) that I had made appointment viewing in my youth.

Okay; I was in my late teens and antiquing one day before I ever knew that Schaper had made a toy line based on the FILMATION version of Ghostbusters (the one with the gorilla).

"LET'S GOHHH, GHOHHHST-BUSTERRRS!"

Yeah; THAT one.

Anyway, I walked out of that store that day with Tracy, the Gorilla as my FIRST Filmation's Ghostbusters figure. I later found Fib-Face, one of Prime Evil's ghosts, and an (incomplete) vehicle of some sort.

I needed more; and antiquing on a fluke wasn't doing it.

Enter E*Bay.

Soon, I'd added Prime Evil (with his fairly rare cape), Brat-a-Rat, Scared Stiff (a "robot ghost" [sic]) and Fangster (a werewolf).

My favorite characters from the cartoon were complete...

M.A.S.K./MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND (sic)

...and now I can hear the theme song again.

...It's time to address a great Kenner TOY line before I begin subjecting you to lyrics all over again.

Once again, my collecting experience with M.A.S.K. when I was little was one vehicle/figure, thanks to (you guessed it) a Grandma-run. (By the time that I had discovered that M.A.S.K. had a toyline, my take-away of the day was the "Raven" corvette/sea plane with Calhoun Burnes and Gulliver Mask).

Antiquing adventures allowed me to find the Piranha cycle and sidecar/submarine with Sly Rax, the Jackhammer 4x4 tank (maybe no Cliff Dagger; DEFINITELY no Torch Mask), the Gator Jeep/Boat (no Dusty Hayes or Backlash Mask), Condor Motorcycle/Helicopter (no blades, no Brad Turner, no mask), and the Stinger GTO/Tank IN BOX. (I also saw a "Rhino" in box but, in my young stupidity, PASSED IT BY).

Enter Ebay; and my chance to find Thunderhawk Camaro/Jet with Matt Tracker and Spectrum Mask, Vampire Street bike/Jet with Floyd Malloy and Buckshot Mask, Firecracker Truck/Tank with Hondo MacLean and Blaster Mask, and (the creme de my collection) Manta Car/Jet with Vanessa Warfield and Whip Mask. I also found the missing drivers and masks to pair off with their respective vehicles (oh, and Buddy Hawkes with Penetrator Mask to serve as Firecracker's copilot; just like the TV Series).

THUNDERCATS

I turned to antique stores to rebuild my collection of Thundercats heroes from my younger days.

I went to E*BAY to find their respective weapons; and ADD some of the Evil Mutants, Grune, the Destroyer, Ben Gali, the Thundercats architect character, and (the creme-de-THIS-collecting experience) Jaga, the Wise!

(Hmm; maybe if I had some of said wisdom, I'd have sold the figures for a PROFIT rather than to understand how hard Ebay PRICES were for shoppers and to take pity on them; at a roughly 75-80% LOSS).

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Here we go! My very first action figure collection in the form of "Masters of the Universe" just became my CURRENT collecting experience of "Masters of the Universe CLASSICS" (NOW, my bank account will never be the same).

Antiquing allowed me to collect my favorite figures.

E*BAY gave me access to an outlet to find their WEAPONS (Tri-Klops's Sword, another wing for Stratos, and, FINALLY, not only Trap Jaw's utility belt but all of his arm attachments. Hey, "Trappy" was always my favorite evil warrior; he DESERVED to be complete).

Additionally, I used E*Bay to find Hordak's Mantisaur steed and Multi-Bot to go alongside Modulok.

My old "Masters of the Universe" collection, just like all of my OTHER old collections, is long gone now.

What do I have left...?

Just like I was several years late to find some of my "Masters..." or "G.I. Joes" at retail stores, I was several years late to the party in collecting the "Masters of the Universe Classics" figures direct from Matty.

Hello, Ebay, my old friend, in allowing me to build my collection; and, you're welcome, sellers, for paying your prices off of very little comparison shopping if I find a figure that I'm REALLY after.

This has been "Thrifty Figures: The Ebay Years" to go right along with "Thrifty Figures: Antique Stores" Next time, a glance into my mind over some of my physical losses when I was being slightly more fiscally responsible and consistently said "nah, I don't think so..." to Ebay impulse buys that kept crossing my interest...

'Til next time...

The author, Mr. Kent Brindley, needs to retrain himself in stinginess and saying "no" to more impulse buys.

Hey, it could happen.

Thanks for reading.

Read and Heart if you please.

The Tip Jar is always open; and appreciated.