Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere!

Okay, I may not have "millions" of unusual small creatures lurking everywhere, but I have 53 of them.  That's a start.

While I was thrift store shopping for cool toys the other day I came across a big sack of M.U.S.C.L.E. men.  They aren't something I normally collect, but there were 53 M.U.S.C.L.E.guys, plus a few other figures, all for less than 3 bucks.  At that price, I couldn't resist.  I set them up on an Imaginext Space Station playset that I bought at the same store for less than 4 bucks.  Check them out after the break!

My Trip to the Flea Market

My Trip to the Flea Market

aka "A Tale of Two Batmen" 

When I buy used and vintage toys, I typically either buy them online from eBay or locally in Las Vegas from Savers thrift stores (there is one in walking distance from my home, and another about a block from where I work).  However, I keep seeing awesome stuff online that people find at flea markets and swap meets, plus I have fond memories of the swap meets I used to go to as a kid in Southern California.  I used to always find weird and wonderful stuff at them.  So, the other week I had a Saturday off of work and I decided to take a trip to "Broadacres Marketplace and Event Center," the big flea market/swap meet here in Las Vegas.

Big Butt Jeans

So I headed across town to Broadacres, which is actually not in Las Vegas itself, but in the city of North Las Vegas (yes, the city directly north of Las Vegas is creatively named "North Las Vegas").  When I got there, I found the place was really crowded, with tons of families and little kids running around everywhere.  I figured that was a good thing, though.  If this place was that popular, there must be some good stuff to be found there.  I spent a few hours walking around the grounds, checking out all of the booths.  They've got a lot off odd junk for sale there.  The big thing I noticed were tons of booths selling jeans designed to make a women's butts look big.  I guess when a woman asks you, "do these jeans make my butt look big," you're supposed to say "yes" now?  When did that happen?  Anyhow, besides the big butt jeans, they're were lots of other cheap looking t-shirts, jewelry and other clothes for sale.  

I saw some no-name big screen plasma TVs for sale, but I can't imagine what your motivation would be to buy a TV at a swap meet when you can get them so cheap a Walmart and whatnot these days.  There was even some used car dealership inside the swap meet selling cars and trucks.  I also saw tons of rusted broken down looking tools piled everywhere for sale, that honestly looked to me like stuff that was dug out of the trash.  In fact, a lot of the stuff I saw for sale, I mean, at least half, looked like absolute junk, like something that someone had left on the curb for the trashmen to pick up. 

Bandas de Musica

There were several different vendors selling peanuts that were being freshly roasted out of like, old oil drums or something.  The smoke coming from those things gave me a headache.  But I noticed that all the people who were buying those nuts had big smiles on their faces, so I guess those peanuts must be pretty good.  There were also lots of opportunities to buy churros, cold beers, and other snacks and drinks, plus a whole area off to one side with a variety of food booths.  And there is an area with tables and chairs were you can eat while watching live music.  I guess it's usually, like, Mexican Mariachi or Tejano music (I don't really know much about this type of music, so forgive me if I'm not labeling it correctly), but they occasionally have rock or country music as well.

But What About The Toys?

But what about the toys, you ask?  After all, that's what I was looking for.  Well, there actually were lots of toys for sale.  There were many vendors selling new toys, but they were pretty much all crap toys, like generic wrestlers, boxes of shoddy looking bootleg superhero action figures that had Marvel, DC, and Dragonball characters all in the same package, or really cheap stuff that you can find at dollar stores.  However, there was one booth that had vintage and new carded action figures.  They had some modern DC Direct action figures, some classic Teenage Mutant Turtle figures, and a ton of The Simpsons toys.  They didn't have anything that was looking to collect, though, which was a bummer, but the prices I saw all looked pretty good for this stuff.

Aside from that, though, there were lots of people selling loose toys and action figures.  Some booths were nothing but toys, some were a little bit of this, a little bit of that, with toys scattered among everything else they were selling.  Quite a few booths just had a bucket full of loose action figures sitting in the front of their booth that you could dig around in to see if you could find anything cool.  Most of the toys I saw were junk, like broken Happy Meal toys and things like that.  But, with so many loose toys to go through, I figured I could probably find a few hidden gems hidden among them.  I had visions dancing around in my head of finding some cool vintage toys, like Super Powers, Masters of the Universe, Mego figures, or maybe some vehicles, or playsets (especially a Batcave, how cool would that be?), or maybe some cool newer toys as well, who knows?  So I spent several hours walking up and down the marketplace, making sure I checked every booth there was for cool toys.  At the end of the day, I was exhausted, sweaty, had a killer headache, and my feet hurt.  But, all that would be worth it if I found some awesome toys, right?  Well, here's what I left with:

DC Super Friends HeroWorld Batman and Batman: Brave and the Bold (Attack Sub?) Batman

Two Batman action figures.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to add a few more Batmen to my toy collection.  But I routinely find figures just as good at the thrift store by my house.  This was SO not worth all the time and energy I expended, just to come out with these two toys.  Yes, I would probably have paid twice as much for them I had bought them on eBay, but I could have done that at home, while sitting on my ass, and not waste half of my day doing it.  So, I don't know, maybe I just went on a bad day?  Maybe, I just had unrealistic expectations?

That same day, feeling disappointed with my shopping trip, I decided to walk to the Savers by my house.  Ten minutes later, I was walking out the door with this awesome Imaginext Batcave:

Imaginext Batcave

A Batcave!  Yes!  It was missing all of the loose pieces, but I was okay with that, it's still really neat!  Plus, it turns out that Mattel sells replacement parts for some of their toys from their website, so I placed an order for those, and I'll make a more detailed post about this Batcave when those pieces arrive.  I'm going to end up having the complete Batcave for about 1/4th the price of a new one.  Sweet.

So in conclusion, the flea market sucked, but the day was saved by a visit to the thrift store.  So hooray for thrift stores!  

Postscript:  You know what's sad?  Despite the fact that I had a horrible time at the flea market, a part of me still wants to go back!  Those visions of elusive toys still keep dancing around in my head.  If I do go back, I'll make sure and try those roasted peanuts.  I'll probably pass on the big butt jeans, though.

Thrift Store Thursdays: Batman! Batman! Batman!

Thrift Store Thursdays: Batman!  Batman!  Batman!

Hi Folks!  Joshua "The Atomic Robot" Raymond here, welcoming you to the latest addition of Thrift Store Thursdays, where I share my latest scores of used toys and other pop culture memorabilia from thrift stores, eBay, garage sales, flea markets and wherever I else I find them.

This week I've got Batman on the brain.  Why?  Because we are just a few days away from Toy Fair, where a whole line-up of Adam West/Batman 1966 toys are going to be revealed.  I can't wait to see them!  In the meantime, though, I thought it would be fun to check out some OTHER Batman toys.  Most of these I picked up in a lot on eBay, except for the Super Powers Batmobile, which I purchased separately on eBay, and some of the Happy Meal toys, which I picked up at thrift stores.  Let's check them out...

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Mini Figures

First up is a whole mess of Batman: The Brave and the Bold mini figures.  I think these were originally Happy Meal toys. From left to right we have: Batman, The Spectre, Two-Face, Black Manta, The Penguin, A Bat-Robot, Solomon Grundy, and The Joker.  In the middle is a pile of duplicate figures.

Happy Meal Action Figures, Plus Batmobiles

Here are some more Happy Meal action figures.  These ones are larger, maybe around 3 inches or so.  From left to right: Animated Series Batman, Brave and the Bold Batman, Brave and the Bold (I think) Superman, and Brave and the Bold Joker.  In front of these guys are a trio of Batman: The Brave and the Bold Batmobiles.

Batman Action Figures

From left to right: Some kind of silver knight Batman (with a sword and shield), some kind of weird armor Batman (kind of reminds me of Azrael), A copper colored Batman from Batman (1989) or Batman Returns, and a Batman/Bruce Wayne figure with a removable outfit.

Bruce Wayne Figure With Bat-Armor, and Without

Motorcycles

A trio of motorcycles, featuring a Joker "chopper," A sleek Batcycle, and a Joker motorcycle with detachable sidecar.

The Joker Motorcycle With Sidecar Detached

Penguin Power

Here's a flock of Penguins, featuring a Penguin Umbrella Plane, two animal penguins, and two "The Penguin" action figures with umbrellas.

The Penguin Umbrella Plane

Some Miscellaneous Bat-Junk

I'm not really sure what these two items are.  The green one has wheels on the bottom, like it's supposed to be a car or something.  The black one might be some weird kind of jetpack, maybe.  They both have holes with springs in them on their fronts, suggesting they once shot missiles of some sort.

Batmobiles

Batmobiles!  In the middle is a miniature Tim Burton Batmobile.  On the left is the regular sized Tim Burton Batmobile.  On the right is a Super Powers Batmobile.

Action Features

The Tim Burton Batmobile has a trunk that opens, and some missile launcher looking things on the hood.

Super Powers Batmobile

This Super Powers Batmobile has pop-up headlights, a pop-out battering ram, and pincers that pop out of the rear to capture criminals.  I bought this on eBay, and when it arrived, it was a lot more damaged and beat up than I thought it would be.  It's got a lot of scratches, is popping apart at the seams, it's missing the steering wheel, and one of the windows is broken.  The description on eBay wasn't really deceptive, but they took photos from just the right angles that made it look nicer than it was.  Still, I only paid a couple of buck for it, so I was satisfied with the purchase.  It'll do for now, until I can get a nicer one for my collection.


Well, that's it for this edition of Thrift Store Thursdays.  Check back in the next few days for more info on the 1966 Batman toys.  I'll be writing about them when I get some more info.  Same Bat-Time.  Same Bat-Channel.

Thrift Store Thursdays: Vader Mania, Imaginext, Batman, Bart Simpson, and More!

Thrift Store Thursdays: Vader Mania, Imaginext, Batman, Bart Simpson, and More!

Hi!  Welcome to the fourth edition of Thrift Store Thursdays!  I apologize to anyone who stopped by last Thursday and was disappointed by the lack of a Thrift Store Thursday post.  I got kind of busy last week, and my blog posts suffered.  Sorry about that.  I'm going to try and get a few blog posts done ahead of time, so that won't happen again in the future.  Now let's check out my latest thrift shop scores...

Bat Transportation

First up is a bevy of  Bat-vehicles.  On the left is a Batman (sadly unremoveable) on a Bat-cycle.  I like the color scheme on this one, the blue paint job with an orange windshield reminds me of the Super Powers Batmobile.

Next up is a Batman: The Brave and the Bold Action League Batmobile.  It originally came with a couple of Batman mini-figures to ride in it.  I'm going to have to dig through my collection of loose Batman toys and see if I have any who can fit in it.

On the right is another Imaginext Batmobile.  This one has a pincher claw thing that pops out of the grill to capture bad guys with.  Now that I think of it, didn't the Super Powers Batmobile do the same thing?  I'm going to have to pull mine out of the toy box and play with it.  Maybe it'll be on next week's Thrift Store Thursday.

Action Figures

Next up is a whole mess of fun action figures.  From left to right we've got:

• Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  He has a head that can retract into his shell.
• Some kind of Predator action figure.  Not one of the cool new ones from Neca, this looks like one from the 1980s.
• Gill-Man, aka The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  I think this is a Burger King premium, but I'm not sure.  I'll have to look it up.
• The first of two "Watchmen the Movie" action figures I scored in this trip is the Original Owl Man.
• Next is Batman from Batman the Animated Series in one of his many variant costumes.
• My second Watchmen find of the day is The Comedian.
• Plastic Man.  This looks like a Batman the Brave and the Bold Happy Meal toy.
• Finally we have Clayface from Batman the Animated Series.  He's a pretty cool figure, but he's missing the spiked ball that shoots out of his hand.  However, Batman's head fits in there pretty well...

Clayface sucks Batman's head up his clay hole.

Vader Mania

On the left is a Darth Vader knock off, according to the package he came in, his name is "Spacebot."  I get a kick out of oddball Star Wars knock off toys like this.  I'm thinking it might be something I collect more of in the future.

On the right, is a plastic Darth Vader mask.  For some reason these things are always in the thrift store near my house.

In the middle is my most awesome Darth Vader find.  It's a vintage Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader action figure carrying case.  I use to have one of these when I was a kid but that one is long gone.  So I was totally stoked to see this thing sitting on the toy shelf of the thrift store by my house.  There there weren't any action figures inside, of course, but I did find a couple of vintage blasters inside the accessory compartment, so that was a sweet bonus.

Imaginext Firehouse

Lately I've been on the lookout for Imaginext toys.  This week my search paid off when I found this sweet Imaginext firehouse.   I scooped this up as soon as I saw it.  But, after I brought it home I realized I had no place to put it!  So now it's just sitting on my bedroom floor until I can figure out what I'm going to do with it.  I may need to rethink buying larger playsets like this in the future.

Along with the firehouse, I found two Imaginext figures, as well as an odd Playskool (I think) Spider-Man figure that's pretty much in the same scale as the Imaginext guys.  I say he's odd, because he is sculpted without a mask, and with a hole torn in his costume's knee.  So, he's like a battle-damaged Spider-Man, I guess.  But he has a big smile on his face, which is totally at odds with his battle-damage.  He's in way too good of a mood for someone who just got beat up.

More Toys and Games

Here's a handful of fun pop culture goodies.  First up is a giant sized Bart Simpson Taking Pez dispenser.  Then I have a Justice League animated series puzzle.  I always worry when I buy something like this at a thrift store that it will be missing pieces, but this one is complete.  I'm slowly accumulating a collection of animated Justice League action figures on my thrift store shopping trips.  I think it might be cool to assemble and frame this puzzle, and then pose my figures in front of it.  Last up in this group is a big green Gumby!  I love Gumby.  I've already got Gumby and Pokey in a smaller size (I think I've had those ones since the 1980s), but this guy is about twice as big.  Now I guess I'll have to be on the lookout for a jumbo sized Pokey to complete the set.

Whale Bones

This is a kind of weird, but also kind of interesting, Burger King toy.  It's a whale made of translucent plastic, that you can open up to find a whale skeleton inside.  In my pictures, you can see the whale bones clearly through the shell, but that's due to the flash on my camera.  Under normal light it's only barely visible, and the effect is pretty cool.  I'm not sure what the deal is supposed to be with this toy... is it supposed to be educational, or is it supposed to be creepy?  I don't know, but I like it.

The Penguin Army Continues to Grow

Finishing things up today is the latest penguin in my Penguin Army.  Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm going to have to gather all of my penguins together, along with my "The Penguin" (Batman villain) action figures, for a group photo.

Alright, that's it for this week.  I was just looking at my previous Thrift Store Thursday post from two weeks ago, and saw that I mentioned my Imaginext Joker Van.  Somehow that completely slipped my mind when I was taking photos for this post.  I'll try and remember to get it next week.  In fact, I might go for a 100% Batman post next Thursday, unless I find something else even cooler when I go shopping this weekend.  Either way, I hope to see you back next time!

Thrift Store Thursdays: Loads of Batman, Plus Spider-Man, Star Trek, and More

Thrift Store Thursdays

It's week three of Thrift Store Thursdays!  Are you ready?  Have you mentally prepared yourself?

No?

Uhh... well, that's fine, I guess.

This week, I've got a bunch of Batman stuff, plus a handful of Spider-Man toys, and a random assortment of other goodies.  Let's check it out!

Nick Fury and Spider-Man

 First up, I've got a couple of oversized Marvel characters.  On the left is a 10 inch Nick Fury action figure.  He's a bit sloppy looking, if you ask me... like they just took a 3.75 inch figure and blew it up, without adding any extra details to his sculpt.  Still, a fun thrift store find for a couple of bucks, especially when he came with a bunch of other figures.

On the right is an odd 12 inch Spider-Man.  At first, I wasn't sure what to make of him.  He has a button on his side and when I pressed it, weird, distorted voice sounds came out.  I thought it was a "talking" Spider-Man whose voice recordings were damaged, and then I realized what he really was: a Spider-Man walkie-talkie!

Left: Spider-Man "action" figures.  Right: Spider-Man yo-yo.

Next up is more Spider-Man toys.  I found a trio of strange Spider-Man action figures.  One of them has suction cups on his hands, and I'm guessing it's a Happy Meal toy.  The one that's standing up straight has arms that move at the shoulders, but not the elbows.  You can pose him with his hands behind his back, or in front, and that's it.  The Spider-man on the ground is in a permanent sitting position, and can't stand up.  He looks like he was originally riding a motorcycle, and some kid tore him off.  My final Spider-Man toy is a Spider-Man yo-yo, still in the package.

Star Fleet Battles Strategy Game

Here is an interesting find, a "Star Fleet Battles" strategy game from the 1970s.  I love the box art on this.  Even though it's clearly based on Star Trek, the words "Star Trek" appear nowhere on the package, so I thought it was some kind of bootleg product.  An internet search showed that it actually is licensed, but with an odd licensing agreement that doesn't let them use the name.  And apparently this is a reasonably popular game, and people still play it today.

Miscellaneous Characters

Here's a random assortment of characters.  On the left is a Homer Simpson as Frankenstein's Monster toy.  This is a good find for me, because I collect Frankenstein toys.  Now I have to my eyes peeled for the Marge Simpson as The Bride of Frankenstein figure.  Then there is some kind of fantasy warrior or sorcerer woman.  I have no idea who she is.  After that is a fun astronaut figurine, and Anakin "I'm a whiny, annoying little biz-natch who tried to ruin one of the coolest villains in movie history" Skywalker.

Playmobil Pirate Island

This toy originally came with pirates, a rowboat, and scenery, but it was all long gone when I found this in the thrift store.  I still picked it up though.  I thought it would be cool to pose action figures in front of, and maybe I could use it as a part of a Batcave.

Speaking of Batcaves,  let's move on to my favorite Thrift Store Thursday finds:  Batman stuff!

Batman: The Story of the Dark Knight

Batman: The Story of the Dark Knight is a hardcover children's book that tells the origin of Batman in a series of oversized retro comic, pop art illustrations.  The artwork in this is really great, and it makes for a fun addition to my Batman collection.  The best part of this find was the price I paid for it: 69 cents!

Action Figures and Playset

I found a couple of cool animated Justice League action figures: Batman and Wildcat.  I also found this fun little fold-out "Bat Bunker" playset.  The playset is missing some kind of missile launcher or camera thing that sits on top of it, judging by the pictures I have found online.  It's also missing a Batman action figure that came with it, but I've got PLENTY of Batman action figures, so that is no great loss.  If I ever get around to piecing together a custom Batcave, I think I'll use this playset as my Batcave's garage or repair shop.

Batman Happy Meal Toys

I also scored a handful of Batman Happy meal toys, including a Batman figure that stretches out his cape, a Jokermobile, two Robins on Motorcycles, and a Lego Batman figure, which is not an actual Lego minifigure, but a Happy Meal depiction of one.

Fisher-Price Trio Joker Bot

I guess "Trio" is like Fisher-Price's version of Lego.  Not really as cool as real Lego, but still fun.  This one builds a mech suit for the Joker, and comes with a Joker minifigure.  All the pieces , including the instructions, were loose in a plastic bag.  It had everything I needed to build the Joker-Bot, but it was missing a few pieces needed to build some of the alternate configurations like the helicopter or plane.

Alright!  That's it for week three of Thrift Store Thursdays.  Next week I'll be showing off a couple of Batmobiles and a Joker van I already have in my collection, as well as whatever new stuff I pick up this week  So you next Thursday!.

Thrift Store Thursdays - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game, Imaginext Stuff, and More

Thrift Store Thursdays

Hello, and welcome to week two of Thrift Store Thursdays!  This week I've got a couple of new things I picked up this week, and a couple of things I picked up a month or so ago.  Since I just started writing this column last week, I've got a bit of a backlog of toys to write about, so I'm going to be mixing up stuff I've found recently with stuff that I've had for a few months.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Power Board Game Box Art

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Power Game Board

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Power Game Pieces

My first neat find this week was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Power board game from 1987!  When you buy a used board game at a thrift store, you never know what you're going to find inside.  I've bought a couple of board games in the past at thrift stores that had weird stuff in them,  One time, I found a $20 bill, and another time, I found a crusty old marijuana joint that had probably been in there for twenty years.  Even if they don't have anything weird in them, there is no guarantee that they will have all of their game pieces.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find that this game had almost twice as many pieces as it should have, like the pieces for two games got combined in one box.

Imaginext Super Friends Vehicles

Last week, I found an Imaginext Space Shuttle that I liked a lot.  It got me thinking that I should start collecting more of these toys.  Like a dumbass, I forgot that I already had several of them!  Here are three of my Imaginext vehicles that I bought a month or two ago.  From left to right, I have a Batplane, Bat Helicopter, and a Green Lantern Plane.  I also have an Imaginext Batmobile and Joker Van laying around here somewhere, but I couldn't find them to take pictures, because my toy collection is REALLY disorganized.  Hopefully I will get that sorted in 2013.  When I dig those ones up, I'll put them up in a future Thrift Store Thursday.

Imaginext Island of Lost Creatures Dinosaur Skeleton, and Imaginext Robin

I was on the lookout for some more Imaginext stuff this week and I found some.  I found this awesome "Island of Lost Creatures Dinosaur Skeleton," plus a Robin action figure!  I'm contemplating giving this playset and the space shuttle from last week custom paint jobs, and turning them into a Batplane and a part of the Batcave.  Now I really need to get an Imaginext Batman.  The thrift store also had an Imaginext scuba diver, but he was mixed in with a bag of junk that I didn't want, and I didn't want to pay 4 bucks for one figure, so I passed it by.

10 Inch Action Figures

Here's some cool 10 inch action figures I've found.  I didn't buy them all at once.  The Aquaman I found about two or three months ago, the Batman about a month ago, and The Flash was about two weeks ago.  But since they are all the same scale, I thought it would be fun to post them all together.  The Batman might look shorter than the other two, but that's just because he has a wider stance.  His wings fold up in the back, but they still show even when they are folded, and they only look good stretched out, so I'm not sure what the point of it is.

Penguin

 Last, but not least (actually, it kind of is least, now that I think about it...) is another penguin for my Penguin Army.  I really don't buy these penguins on purpose.  It just seems like there is always one hidden in the bags of action figures I buy.  I'm not sure what the deal with this one is.  It kind of looks like it's dancing, or striking a pose.

That's it for now,  but tune in next week, for another exciting edition of Thrift Store Thursdays!

Thrift Store Thursdays - Batman, Superman, Annie Oakley and More!

Thrift Store Thursdays

 Hello!  Welcome to the first edition of Thrift Store Thursdays!  Every Thursday, I'll be showing off the neat used toys, games, and other pop culture stuff I find at thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales and other places.  This week, everything I bought comes from the Savers thrift store near my house.  It's where I get most of my used toys, because it's within walking distance of where I live, so I go there a lot.  But one of my goals for 2013 is to find more cool places to buy used toys here in Las Vegas.  For instance, there is a big swap meet in town every weekend, but I've never been there, because I used to work on the weekends, so I never really had enough time.  But, lately I've been getting Sundays off, so I hope to go check it out soon.   Especially now that the football season is coming to a close, I won't have any excuses to stay home and watch TV.

Batman Action Figures

 Action figures!  They are probably my favorite thing to find, especially Batman action figures.  From left to right, we have some weird looking 1990's (?) cyborg Batman, a Blue Beetle figure from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Bane from the Dark Knight Rises, and a Batman figure from the "The Batman" cartoon series.

Superman Action Figures

Where superheroes are concerned, I mainly collect Batman figures, but I'll branch out to other DC Comics characters as well, when I find a good deal on them.  I'm guessing that these Superman figures are from the Justice League Unlimited line, but I'm not really sure.  From left to right is Superman, Brainiac, and some variant costume Superman.

Superman Pinball Machine

 This was a neat thing to find: A Superman pinball game.  There is a crack in the plastic, but aside from that it is in good shape and working condition.

Millennium Falcon Cockpit Thing

 Millennium Falcon Cockpit Thing!  What is it?  I don't really know, it has buttons you can press, that make little rods pop out of the bottom, and it has a strap on it.  I'm guessing it's one part of a larger toy or game.  I bought it because I think it would make a good diorama piece to display Star Wars or other sci-fi action figures in front of.  And it was only 49 cents!

Another one of my goals for 2013 is build some dioramas or other displays to show off my action figures in.  Right now there just lined up randomly on my shelves, or they're in boxes (that's no fun).  My number one goal for a diorama or display is a Batcave.  I've already bought a few things for that, and I'll probably show them off in a future Thrift Store Thursday post.

Plastic Ray Gun

 This came in a baggy with some of my action figures, but once I got it out of the bag, I thought it was pretty cool.  It makes ray gun sounds, and the piece under the transparent plastic lights up and spins.  What I really like about it is it's "retro" style, like something from an old Buck Rogers comic strip.

Annie Oakley

Now this is cool.  An "Annie Oakley" action figure, still in the box!  It's from Accoutrements Toys.   I've been noticing their toys online for awhile now, they seem to make some really fun and unusual toys, such as action figures based on historical figures, but this is the first thing from them I've owned.

Fisher-Price Imaginext Space Shuttle

 This is a fun Space Shuttle toy.  It lights up, makes various space sounds, has wings that expand outward, a cargo hatch that opens, and a cockpit that opens up.  In a cool coincidence, one of the plastic baggies full of Batman and Superman action figures I bought had an Imaginext figure in there as well, so I have someone to fly it!  I've been thinking about buying the Imaginext Batman toys for a while now, and I think after seeing this Imaginext toy, I'm going to do it.

Penguins

When you buy action figures in thrift stores, they usually bundle them together in baggies, and you get one or two cool figures, and the rest are weird happy meal toys and stuff.  I've got a big box full of reject toys that grows bigger and bigger every week, that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. One thing I get a lot of, for some reason, is toy penguins.  But I just realized that getting an army of little toy penguins could be pretty cool, because I can use them as props for Batman's enemy "The Penguin," so now I'm happy whenever I find one of these in my bags.

Alright!  That's it for "Thrift Store Thursdays" this week.  Hope to see you back next time!