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Journal Archives from November 2007
 
GI Joe 25th Shipwreck

Friend of the Preserve, The Abyss, put it best when he said "Of course I love Shipwreck! Every red-blooded American loves Shipwreck!". That is exactly 100% true here at the Preserve, and today we feature the GI Joe 25th Anniversary Shipwreck figure, in all of his impossible-to-find-in-stores glory.


Hector X. Delgado is the man, and anyone who 'can splice a line, fry powdered eggs in the tooth of a gale and eat them, tell taller tales than a Senate Appropriations committee and take a three day liberty in Thule, Greenland and come back smiling' I want to have on my team.
Posted by charlie on November 30th 2007
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Atari Force Mr. T ad

The new Atari Force comics have delivered the goods, and everyone needs to check out this amazing two-page spread for the 1983 NBC Saturday morning lineup.


What an amazing lineup that set of pages represents. Everyone who has seen it so far remarks in particular on Thundarr, in particular that it was awesome. I think it's time to do a little research and secure some of those episodes for Preserve's sake.

Today we have an Internet Aneurysm that results from a search for 'nubian spider man', and gives us this amazing gem. An awesome behind the scenes picture from an awesome film. You LOSE, good DAY sir!
Posted by charlie on November 29th 2007
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UncleCast #15

A new UncleCast has been produced, and is available for your consumption! We enjoy chronicling Conan the Destroyer, as well as the destruction of THX-1138 by its creator, George Lucas. Also touched upon is the successful hunt for Masterpiece Starscream, and some thoughts on the leaked themes of Botcon 2008. Enjoy!
Posted by charlie on November 28th 2007
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Target SW AT-ST battle packs

Yesterday at Target, the two Target Exclusive AT-ST gigantic $50 battle packs were seen to have hit the shelves, and they are gorgeous. That price tag buys you a hand full of figures, some of them new to the line, as well as the AT-ST itself, and at least in the Endor pack you get a speeder bike and some logs to go along with! Really decent sets, and Target exclusives, so if you're interested get there and pick them up.

Today, friend of the Preserve, Steen, has contributed a full set of Atari Force comics to the archives:


These comics have a special gaming tie-in that everyone should know about - and that is to the Atari 2600, where some of the games had small pack-in comics which were Atari Force! Granted a different cast of characters, but this series of 20 full sized issues was the spiritual and loose-plot successor to those minis. This discussion reminds me...why isn't there a 2600 section on the Preserve? No excuse - I'll see what can be done!
Posted by charlie on November 27th 2007
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GI Joe 25th Firefly

Let's get back in the saddle with the GI Joe 25th Anniversary updates, and today take a look at Firefly:


Another great figure from the past, brought to new life in stunning detail! Click the image above for expanded information about this figure.

Black Friday was, I hope, an event that most readers of the Preserve were able to avoid, unless partaken to observe the madness first hand as a grim form of entertainment. The long post-holiday drive today provided a clear view of an amazing number of Target branded semi-trucks on the highways, even a great number more than WalMart vehicles - since those appear to be the default only remaining retailers I guess that gives some insight into how the holiday sales season has been so far! At that rate they should be restocked momentarily, and with luck we might even see wave 4 of the GI Joes soon.
Posted by charlie on November 26th 2007
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Captain Power Collection

In lieu of having much solid photographic content this week, we continue boldly forward with another eBay watch. This is one of the higher-priced ones again, but with some good reason, as it constitues a pretty solid and complete Captain Power collection, all in one go - even the Power Base! The lack of original boxes for the toys is the one big detractor to me, but it is still a great collection with some nice photos. That'll make a wonderful gift for someone, and it'll be interesting to see who is willing to fight for it up until the final hammer.
Posted by charlie on November 25th 2007
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eBay Watch - tCats

Today we have an eBay watch, in particular for an amazing condition Snarf plush figure, and in general for the rest of the collection that is being sold off as well by that same seller. In looking at the items up for sale, their amazing condition, and the clear unfamiliarity of the person selling them, I asked myself 'so who died that this person got their hands on this collection'.

Well, I guess the answer is that Anthony Ray Lindgren died, and this was his great collection which is now meeting the hard streets of eBay. I think this must be the same story and the same collection as the 'million dollar transformers auction' from some months back. Guess dude's collection is still being liquidated...sad stuff. Check out the 'other items' link from the Snarf auction page to see what's on the block - some rare pieces and high prices there.
Posted by charlie on November 24th 2007
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Black Friday 2007

Black Friday Report: Breaking with my long standing tradition of leaving Black Friday to the seething hoards, most likely because the one-two-three punch of Hasbro's marquee franchises this year, I excitedly ventured out to a KB Toys in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts at the hour of *midnight* ... so the very earliest Black Friday possible opening. I was delighted to note on the KB flyer from today that 'select stores open at 12AM' and further delighted that one was not all that far away. The line at 11:30PM, when I arrived full of turkey, stuffing and apple pie, was comically long given the desolate nature of everything around this wet and dreary strip mall. At least 40 people were standing about in the cold, and you really have to wonder when customer #1 lined up.

The real draw that KB was running today was a 'buy one get one free' on their entire stock of video games. A pretty good deal, right? Well, I know that it varies store by store, but I think that KB doesn't always have the best selection of games, and I predicted that all of us early shoppers would simply be greeted by a wall of 'Hamsterz!' for the DS. Either way, I figured it was a good chance to check out the Black Friday, as well as the possible Gi Joe offerings in a new KB, since the Red Ninja from wave 3 still eludes me!

The benevolent KB folks opened the doors at 11:48 - a far sight kinder than the few late-night events I've attended at the power-tripping GameStop, and the line poured into the store. I had to stop and laugh at the giant, industrial, can-engulf-and-smother-a-teenager, clear plastic sack, emblazoned with their corporate logo, that everyone was handed upon entry to the store. Frantic parents were already stuffing all manner of basketballs and playskool toys into their sacks - I assume these things were on sale but you really never know given how crazy people get around this time of year. I stopped by the video games just long enough to see someone with a copy of, no joke, Hamsterz and a desolate look on their face which gave me the full picture. Heading to the rear of the unfamiliar store provided a similar experience - I guess I was hoping for a higher level of stock on the much celebrated Black Friday. The utter lack of Joes, well - simply a Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes (forgot to check the Timber color - oh no!) had me down as well, though I noticed that a huge stack of the Star Wars Saga vintage tribute figures were 50% off. Having not picked up any of these yet, I snagged all 6 in the series for a pretty good price. On the way to the counter, a break in the madness presented itself around the videogame hovel, and I discovered the only mildly palatable items to be PSP Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins and PSP Taito Legends Power-Up, which allowed me to at least take advantage of their BOGOF offer.

While not a record breaking score or anything, it was fun to see some of the madness first hand, and since it was so late/early, and just one store, it was manageable. There was what appeared to be a rent-a-cop wandering around the store, trying to look interested in the legos, so I guess that's a good idea for a frantic midnight sale event. Most things seemed under control, though a favorite quote of the night was some guy talking to his girlfriend "I've had three people shove me out of the way already - I mean, are there not enough toys in this store for everyone" as well as "OOF! HEY!" as a woman was body-checked into the counter full of impulse buy items by the registers, as a shopper fled with their purchases, cascading motorized lollipops and YuGiOH cards to the floor. Muttered chants of 'fight' didn't even catch the notice of LaFours, but at least we tried. I think that the rest of Friday will be well spent playing Ghosts 'N Goblins and eating left over turkey - I hope everyone can do the same!
Posted by charlie on November 23rd 2007
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Thanksgiving 2007

From all of us here at the Preserve

Happy Thanksgiving!



(Steen, friend of the Preserve, has made a slightly more professional version!)

John Madden, Turducken and Football, that image really gets the job done. Also, so the pets don't feel left out, there's this wonderful product that can brighten their Thanksgiving as well.

And something that we have to be thankful about today is that the folks over at Blizzard, or at least a particular genius in their marketing department, seems to share a gene in common with the madness that drives the Preserve. Their new ads, available on their movie download page, feature Mr. T and Shatner. I can't imagine that I would have done it any differently with the might and money of a huge company behind me,
Posted by charlie on November 22nd 2007
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Transformers 2007 Elita-One Scout

We need to finish up the Target Exclusive Scout figures from the Transformers Movie 2007 toy line. We finish strongly with a very important figure - not only one of the very very rare female Autobots, but in particular Elita-One, the very first from the cannon of the series.


Her bio is hilarious - Hasbro really outdid themselves on it. You should click the image above and read more for a little bio-writer humor.

In gaming news, Contra 4 has just been released for the Nintendo DS. For fans of the original classic NES titles, and really who among us can claim not to be, this is really worth picking up. It's true to the originals, from the awesome manual to the graphics and the kickin' music, and is hard as hell to top it all off! You owe it to yourself to check this title out for some vintage goodness.

Target Watch: As of this morning, Target has sold three copies of Rock Band, and have three still in visible stock. Not too shabby for a $170 item, but also not 100% flying off the shelves. I'm sure Black Friday will take care of whatever remains. Action figure wise, as usual there were no GI Joe 25th Anniversary figures to be had, though they're doing a nice job (or, Hasbro is, rather) of keeping the Voyager class Transformers stocked up. At least some kids will be able to get those for Christmas this year, if anyone even cares this long after the movie made such a big splash this summer.
Posted by charlie on November 21st 2007
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Transformers 2007 Armorhide exlusive

Update: This morning's Target Watch features 6 giant copies of the newly released Rock Band, which rings in at just shy of $170. This price buys you the game, a guitar, bass, full drum kit and microphone. All preliminary reports indicate that the game is fantastic, and given that the newly released Guitar Hero III cost about $100 with the game and one guitar, the price seems more than reasonable. Certainly it makes an awesome Christmas gift, as we enter that season. I have to imagine that it will be hard to keep on the shelves, and it is probably something to get sooner rather than later if you are interested. The only drawback I can see is that the xBox 360 version comes with a *wired* guitar, not wireless. It should be compatible with your other xBox 360 hardware, though, so if you purchased the new Guitar Hero III set and got the wireless Les Paul, you are all good to go. It even comes with a nice 4-port USB hub, so everyone can jack in and rock out.

Nearly finished with the Target Exclusive scout figures from the 2007 Transformers line of toys, today we feature Armorhide, another repaint from 2005's Cybertron line of figures.


By all accounts this is an excellent figure - far greater than it might appear through the packaging. Sadly due to my latter day insistence on keeping things sealed unless the budget allows for a duplicate, I have not yet tested that assertion, though with the once hard to find wave 3 Target scouts pouring off the pegs, I predict we might see some deep price cuts on or shortly after the dreaded Black Friday which is super fast approaching.

In interesting eBay Watch news, there is a pair of carded, apparently very good condition Jewel Lords on the block for about another 24 hours. They're a little out of my price range already, but are a very fine set for anyone who enjoys Rock Lords as much as we all do here at the Preserve.
Posted by charlie on November 20th 2007
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Lazer Tag Joins the Preserve

Today we joyously add a long overdue series to the Preserve! Tugging the same heart strings as the Captain Power franchise, with the awesome promise of shooting 'lazers' at your friends and relatives, Worlds of Wonder brought us, in late 1986, the most styling of gear, blinkingest of lights, and blastingrific sound effects in the form of Lazer Tag!


A recent expedition to the Preserve back storage unearthed this stupendous lot of Lazer Tag gear, and boxes to boot! I was astonished when I rudely flipped the 'on' switch of the helmet and it sprang into cacophonous life, both scaring the bejesus out of me and slamming home 21 year old memories like a brick to the subconscious. You really never forget that plastic headgear.

The Lazer Tag section will be built out in time, as all other sections of the Preserve, so tingle in eager anticipation for the marketing copy and product codes which lie waiting in the near future!
Posted by charlie on November 19th 2007
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Air Raid Target Exclusive

It's almost a certainty that the current push to get all the summer Transformers toys posted properly will be thwarted by the release of the new series of figures before the job is complete, but hey, it's always nice to leverage Murphy's Law. Today we have another Target Exclusive, one of the three Scout class figures released about a month ago.


Here also is a fine Internet Aneurysm for you - if you enjoyed Guitar Hero, you'll certainly love Accordion Hero!
Posted by charlie on November 18th 2007
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Silent Burbs

It constantly amazes and delights me that many people have not seen the movie The 'burbs, since that means I have the chance to introduce them to it. Featuring Carrie Fisher and Corey Feldman, two Preserve favorites, it's almost a sure winner.

Another character which was a favorite of mine is the suburban para-military neighbor, played by Bruce Dern. I'd never made an effort to see him in other movies, though I understand he was the go-to for the role of the 'heavy' for years, even being one of the few villains to have killed John Wayne (in The Cowboys, 1972).

Someplace on line recently, I believe in connection with Joel of MST3K fame, I was pointed to another 1972 movie featuring Dern, by the name of Silent Running. So far it looks pretty awesome, I am 15 minutes in and felt I had to write about it! It may seem a slight connection, but such are the things that exciting times are made of, and the more slight the connection the even more precious it becomes!

As a teaser about how awesome this movie looks - they're in a space station, with a bunch of robots, and this was one of the first lines:
"You know, he told me a whole story this morning, about how they're going to re-foliate the Earth...again."

Here is an idea for a movie event - a series of movies which all culminate in actors from the previous movies being together in the final film. For Example:
  • Carrie Fisher: Star Wars
  • Corey Feldman: Goonies
  • Tom Hanks: Mazes and Monsters
  • Bruce Dern: Silent Running
  • Final movie: The 'burbs!

Posted by charlie on November 17th 2007
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Evolution of a Hero

Continuing the fleshing out of the Transformers 2007 Movie line, in a last ditch bid to get it set up properly before Hasbro sees fit to release even more figures, today we continue with a 2-pack.


In particular, this is the 'Evolution of a Hero' Bumblebee 2-pack which was released as a Target Exclusive. It's basically the two Deluxe class Bumblebees that you were able to buy individually, but with some battle damage, and in what I think is a pretty nicely presented box. All things considered, not a great set if you already had the figures, but certainly cool for the folks who have been unable to find Bumblebee on the shelves at all. Sadly Target is probably all but sold out of these figures now, as the Preserve secured this copy two weeks ago, but it's worth a look if you are interested.
Posted by charlie on November 16th 2007
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Captain Power - Scout

Today we add the carded Scout figure to the Captain Power ranks, bringing the forces of good and evil to an evenly matched four warriors each.


This is the Canadian version of the card, as all of the text is dual language. Securing a US card as well will be useful for comparison sake, as it seems that some of the Bio information may be omitted in favor of having enough space for both languages. They certainly have left out the 'Overmind Data File' header and footer blue bars around the bio info, I suspect for the sake of space.

In awesome, fantastic MST3K news - Joel (who played...Joel...on the original seasons of the show) has recently announced that he and the other original cast members are reuniting and will begin producing new riffed movies, complete with silhouettes and all! Well, not sure about robots, but we can hope. Their official site is cinematicTitanic.com and a great interview is available on the official Star Wars site.

Interestingly, the host of the later seasons of MST3K, Mike, has recently started his own similar business called RiffTrax which isn't mentioned at all in Joel's material, so I have to believe that there might be a little tension behind the scenes. Big thanks go to The Chase for this tip!
Posted by charlie on November 15th 2007
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star wars toy haul

Walmart was goodly enough to have restocked a case of the wave 5 figures from the Star Wars Thirtieth Anniversary Collection some moments before I arrived in the store, which is the only thing to explain being able to score some of the highly difficult characters from this line.


I am still completely smitten with the McQuarrie figures, and the Starkiller Hero in this wave is certainly more proof of their coolness. While I might not retain this entire line in the Preserve, due to the near impossibility of collecting the vast and ever growing Star Wars universe, and the enjoyment that a friend of the Preserve will get from these hard to find characters, I suspect I will retain the McQuarrie figures at the very least.

As a follow-up to an eBay watch from several days ago, the auction for the awesome, in box Snarlie-Narlie has ended, and what a finish it had! Ringing in at $306, this cements the marquee position of this part of the Rock Lord universe.

Also of great interest from eBay, this time specifically with GoBots, was an original licensing kit for the line, complete with company memos and letters, as well as early art samples, and even color specifications! This was a great piece which I'd hoped very much to add to the Preserve - truly a unique item. Sadly I blinked and someone else did not, but at the very least it's worth checking out the pictures while they are still posted.
Posted by charlie on November 14th 2007
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Masterpiece Starscream - success!

Success!





A daring 1am mission of 100 miles round trip nets two of the highly elusive Masterpiece Starscream figures, one for The Uncle and one for the Preserve...the last two figures in the entire store! Exclusive to Walmart, these are almost impossible to find, with stores in the NorthEast getting only 15-18 pieces at most (and only about every third store getting any at all), and were very nearly missed inspite of constant, several times daily, phonecalls to determine arrival dates. Only upon getting the 3rd shift stock clerk on the phone, was the truth uncovered. So, thank you Kitty - you have helped us fight against the scalpers - keep up the awesome work!
Posted by charlie on November 13th 2007
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GI Joe 25th Cobra Legions

As reported on the Preserve several days back, the recently released Cobra Legions 5 pack from the GI Joe 25th Anniversary is really a solid piece and a fantastic tribute. As always, click the image below for expanded information and additional pics.


It's highly likely that the troop-builder collectors will rapidly scour this piece from the shelves given the high percentage of repainted troopers it contains, and really everyone needs at least one giant Cobra logo that plays a fragment of the theme from the movie.
Posted by charlie on November 12th 2007
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Toy Haul full day

After an extensive scouring of the meager offerings for toy sales in this part of the country, which will hopefully be chronicled in an upcoming uncleCast, a very successful outcome was had, as is pictured below!


The intensely elusive GI Joe 25th Anniversary wave 3 yielded two more of it's hard to find figures, of Shipwreck and Firefly, along with the 'no color-change burst' Zartan, providing the Preserve with both variants now. A suitably eclectic and absurd set of merchandise was found on the recent excursion, including two sealed Tron Intelivision cartridges, and a few more Ultimate Galactic Hunt Star Wars figures for good measure. Now if I can just find the Red Ninja, I'll at least be ready for wave 4 of the Joes to start!
Posted by charlie on November 11th 2007
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Wild Zero!

Ok the official word is in, and that word is that the movie Wild Zero rocks the house down. Especially fantastic and highly recommended is the accompanying drinking game that is actually built into the DVD release as an extra - but don't take my word for it! Go see for yourself! That is all.
Posted by charlie on November 10th 2007
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New UncleCast!

It is with unparalleled delight that I present to you, the patient reader, the latest UncleCast to grace the air waves! There have been so many excellent developments in the last two months that it is impossible to entirely catch up, but we have provided updates to the latest in GI Joe 25th anniversary news, as well as some discussion about the difficulty of finding the new Walmart Exclusive Masterpiece Starscream figure. With any luck, we will be able to overcome the technical difficulties which have plagued us of late, and get back on that UncleCast wagon!

In eBay watch news, an auction has just sprung up which peaks my interest in the containers of toys which are all too often overlooked. Namely, a pile of surprisingly vintage Transformers boxes (with some MASK and GoBot seasoning) is up for offer, and might pass enough under the radar to be interesting.
Posted by charlie on November 9th 2007
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STARCOM Starwing and Zartan 25th

For a time, I was reluctant to post any of the GI Joe 25th Anniversary wave 3 figures before the entire wave had been wrung from the desolate, barren wasteland that is my corner of the country. The hunt has proven to be so fruitless and protracted that I feel the time is nearly passed for them to be fresh and new and topical, so we start things out with a bang, and bring you the 25th Anniversary figure of Zartan, Master of Disguise!


Wave three saw a large number of 'variants', with three of the five figures in the wave featuring some detail which existed in two versions, one of course being harder to find. Interestingly, as more of this wave has shipped (though not my way apparently) what had been seen as the rare versions have in some cases switched. A great example is Shipwreck, who sadly has not yet been found. He comes with either an anchor, or a shark tattoo - and while the anchor was initially touted as being rare, you don't see a lot of 'sharks' posted to ebay, and prices are starting to reflect that truth.

As for Zartan here, the package will either feature the "Color Changing Face" burst, or not. There are rumors that figures were released without the color changing face at all, but since they are unsubstantiated we are led to conclude that all figures have this feature, regardless of the packaging. Zartan is always a fan favorite, and it's great to see him leading the charge of the third wave.

An additional note about this evolving series - apparently the Flint figure from wave 1 has proven to be very scarce as well as very popular, and it seems that eBay is pegging that piece at around $60. Obviously, with this line, if you see any in the stores and are at all interested, you should really buy one of each figure that they have, as you are not likely to see them again.

Today's eBay Watch features one of the marquee pieces from the Starcom collection, the Starwing, or Six Shooter. This one comes all the way from Italy, and isn't shy about its opening bid, not to mention the postage I assume will be required to get back to the US of A. It's a stretch, but someone may bite on that auction - we'll see.
Posted by charlie on November 8th 2007
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latest Snarlie Narlie

The old favorite of the Rock Lords series, the Snarlie Narlie, has once again reared its furry head, this time complete in the original, never opened box! Today's eBay Watch features this excellent and rare figure from the 1986 toy series, and it is in fantastic and rarely seen condition. Given the sorts of prices we have seen this figure go for in the past, loose, I have to imagine that we will see upwards of $200 for this boxed example. This is one worth watching!
Posted by charlie on November 7th 2007
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McQuarrie Toy Haul

Today's early AM visit to the local Target, and therefore the daily Target Watch, yielded none of the highly sought after GI Joe 25th Anniversary figures, but did turn up the Star Wars McQuarrie Concept SnowTrooper, which is perhaps the most awesome of all the concept figures in the new 30th Anniversary line.


You might have noticed that there are two copies of that Concept figure in today's haul. Let me assure you that the Preserve is light years away from ever even considering 'scalpering' practices, but that the spare figure is for friend of the Preserve, The Abyss, and was purchased in a fit of delight, having never seen a number greater than one (and more often exactly equal to zero) of the Concept figures on the shelf at one time. Also in today's set is the 'torture rack' Han Solo, which was exciting to find as I have been using it as the recent example of how some of the figures in this line come with just a figure and perhaps a small accessory, while some come with an elaborate and absurd extra set of props, all for the same price across the board. Finally I could not resist the temptation to pick up a spare classic Camaro Bumblebee, as it was laid out neatly on the shelf as if for me and me alone. Now I can check out this figure and see for myself if this line has been worth all the time and effort, or at least, if this figure is any good!
Posted by charlie on November 6th 2007
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Captain Power - Power On Energizer

Surfacing from the Preserve archives today is the Captain Power Power On Energizer.


This was another fantastic entry in the Captain Power series, and would fire up when the characters in the show Powered-On into their suits - cool! I always found that the energizing sequence would actually cause one or two damage to my ship while playing along with the episodes. I never determined if this was on purpose, in a nod to the realism of the difficulty or danger of the process for the soldiers, or perhaps just an unfortunate overlap of light patterns with the enemy attacks.
Posted by charlie on November 5th 2007
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DropKick, final Deluxe figure

At least a month after completing the Transformers Movie 2007 Deluxe collection, we finally got the last figure posted today. Dropkick rounds out the tremendously unbalanced Decepticon ranks, and is another tough, dumb soldier:


When we tracked this guy down he was in pretty short supply, but now graces the shelves with the greatest of ease. So goes the fickle nature of the current market - perhaps we might see some of the current figures hang around on the shelves long enough to hit the discount bin, though I wouldn't count on it.

A nice eBay watch for today is a box set of Bill Cosby's Picture Pages. Fortunately we scored one of these several months ago, where 5 of the 6 tapes were still sealed, therefore containing their original Picture Pages booklets, as well as the 6th booklet with the opened tape! It's very hard to find these booklets, and was a real treat to finally discover one. It's unclear if this set includes the books, but it still a great piece, though on the edge of being too pricey, as the zero bids indicate.
Posted by charlie on November 4th 2007
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viva masterpiece starscream

This week at the Preserve has brought several new obsessive missions. The starting gun for the Walmart Exclusive Masterpiece Starscream fired not days previous to now, and reports have been trickling in with figures being scalped in the South and the West, zeroing in like some sort of biological plague on the Northeast lands. While I think that it will be an uphill battle to beat the scalpers, where I have been failing miserably with the GI Joe 25th, I still have high hopes! In fact, the boards over at tfw2005 have a thread going where fellow collectors can help each other out, so if I am lucky enough to stumble upon a pile of them, a good number will go home to the Preserve to be distributed at cost all Robin Hood style!

Amusingly the other fascination for this week just ending was something that was a very late notice on the part of the normally astute Preserve research department, which were the Viva PiƱata Kids Meal toys at Burger King! This promotion ends Saturday, I believe, so if you want to pick up a few fun figures for $1 a piece you still have a few days. They really sucked me in when I realized that each awesome little animal splits in two, and contains one of two toys, both being unique to each figure! A nice twist, and a really great job of product production at the $1 price point! I mainly dig this line because the xbox 360 game is wacky and enjoyable - it's likely that if I watched the cartoon I'd feel otherwise but I'm delighted to suspend the disbelief and enjoy another fine set of toys from the King.
Posted by charlie on November 3rd 2007
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bin find - captain power case

A recent expedition into the Preserve back storage has yielded this excellent Captain Power figure case:


The case is in great shape, and while sadly not packed with Captain Power figures, it *did* contain several parts from the Interlocker Throne that I've been missing, along with the three US release Battle Beast Chariots! The timing of finding this case is certainly excellent, as I very nearly bought its twin on the ol' eBay this week, but for a change timing was solid and things worked out in the cheaper favor.
Posted by charlie on November 2nd 2007
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gi joe 25th anniversary partial wave 3

The hunt for the wave 3 figures in the GI Joe 25th Anniversary line continues to be an exciting focal point, causing an expansion of the radius of coverage for the search well beyond what had, at one time, been considered reasonable. Within this new radius a goodly KB Toys made it known via telephony technology that they had a 'Master of Disguise' hanging around on the pegs, and that they would stash it behind the counter. An hour and some unexpected back woods main road rush hour traffic later, the following excellence was uncovered!:


Not only was Zartan hidden away behind the counter, but Stalker also turned up behind two Cobra Troopers (which I probably should have purchased) as well as the sadly standard sight of Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. It is not the crazy price fetching 'yellow' Stalker variant, but that's fine with me, since it's not for sale either way. Perhaps my continued diligence will pay off in that regard eventually. The additional discovery of an Ultimate Galactic Hunt Han Solo was a nice touch, serving as a solid confirmation that the drive was worth while as far as cool hunt results go.

I also had a chance to investigate every one of the standard big-box stores in this new area, being WalMart, KMart, Target, Best Buy and Toys R Us. While I found basically nothing of note within Transformers, GI Joe or Star Wars (the main coverage series currently), the Toys R Us experience was pleasant and worth relating. Not only did they have three entire isles dedicated to action figures just like the good ol' days, but there was a helpful older dude avidly stocking shelves as I was browsing, who went to great lengths to help me look for Joes.

At checkout, I was met by another friendly fellow who had lots of positive things to say, in particular about their 'Ultimate Toy Drive' for the up coming holiday season. As he put it very well - 'No child should be forgotten at the holidays' and their store is trying to raise $60,000 to contribute to the larger corporate effort! I was more than happy to tack on the $1 they suggested to my purchase of the GI Joe comic 3-pack you see in the picture above. Then, in a perfect holiday moment where my philanthropy is revisited upon me, the friendly clerk asks if I have any McDonalds coupons to use towards my purchase...why I sure do! Having mostly ruined my health and played that dastardly Monopoly game at McDs for most of October, I'd managed to rack up some of their 'instant win' coupons which, awesomely for me, were for Toys R Us! I would have entirely forgotten about them, but it was a magical time at the last great toystore and it turned into a transaction where, I can at least hope, everyone wins.
Posted by charlie on November 1st 2007
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