SHAKE THE DEW OFF YOUR....BACK...

See what I did there?  I apologize in advance for the HORRIBLE photos as my camera and phone suck.  I have a new phone, just gotta program it to take photos.  Ughh....

So with that said I found this little guy at the swap meet.

A Star Wars Dewback!  I think he is a micro machine or something.  He is really small.  Perfect for setting up on top of the ole TV.  He just reeks awesomeness.  I like little finds like this.  I just read the underside of it and it says 1996 Action Fleet.  This is something I was TOTALLY not interested in back in the day.  BUT....since I am starving for anything down here it I do like it even though the little tyke is based off of the REDO of the Dewback.  He looks good on the TV next to my Wampa from the same series.

I talked to the Swap Meet guy.  He has agreed to hang onto Marvel Universe figures for me to sell to me first.  Pretty cool huh?  Anyway this was from today and he will have the honor of hanging out in front of the TV.

CUSTOM SECTAURS!

Ever since I saw a pic of the HYVE playset I wasn't too jazzed about that.  But I WAS about the glove.  The idea that you could take your hand and make it a monster intrigued me.

 So my sewing gal sewed one for me.  I admit it looks more like a Giant Bear than a Spider.  I think she needed to use a bit longer hairs on it.

BUT it is extremely cool!  I am having her work on a plant one from the Star Trek Mission to Gamma set.  What do you guys think?  Does it look like the Sectaurs spider glove or no?

WWF CUSTOM NWO TED DIBIASE

I am not so happy with this custom.  The suit is too loose.  I will probably send it back and have her tighten it up.

Ted Dibiase was the 5th member of the NWO I believe.  He was the money man behind the NWO until Bischoff wanted to be in on it and Dibiase was removed.

LITTLE GODZIRRA!

I am doing ok by collecting my childhood toys again.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  Found this little gem down here with my MING purchase.

I found the Marx IronMan which I have already painted and the rare Godzilla from Godzilla vs. the Triceplithon I had as a kid.  I cannot remember the name of the other monster so I pulled a Paul Kirby from Jurassic Park 3 and will just call him a Tricepliplotz...or something.

Anyways I am so happy to have these.  I would LOVE to find the other Marx Marvel heroes someday.

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A BUZZCHUCK BUT A JEDI MASTER...

 That is right!  BuzzChuck sent me Yoda!  A real Yoda!  After I got this figure initially in 1980 I took him down to the creek in the front of our house and had a fun day playing Dagobah.  My friends were so jealous that that was the last happy memory I had.

My buried alive will have to substitute for a Dagobah.  I gotta get one one day.

WWF CUSTOM SANTINO MARELLA!

Yeah I know.  This guy sucks....

 He sucks in real life but I made him kind of like an Italian Rocky type guy.

My gal even sewed the flag on the back.

Guess who dropped by the cantina?

MING!  From Flash Gordon!  I found this guy down here and am SO jazzed I have a figure from my youth again.  Ming was really insistant on wanting to try the Bloody Mary.

Dear Lord, I have a phone camera and a real camera.  Both are crap.  Can I have a REAL camera this year?

WWF CUSTOM DUSTY RHODES

I was not around during Dusty Rhodes time in WCW.  I only knew him from his polka dot WWF days.  But I had this Jakks WCW Rhodes...Oh what to do...

So I put him in his WCW robe.  I think it looks great and one of wifey's favorites.

WWF CUSTOM LOS CONQUISTADORES!

I thought it was insane they were wrestling at the Survivor Series 1989 I think it was.  A jobber tag team.  I had a few Chris Benoit figures left over and I did not want to sell them now as they will probably in 10 more years be worth something.   So I made them into this tag team.

My gal did a great job on the masks and suits.  Kudos to her!

MCFARLANE MONSTERS!

I saw that John Clawful had these and the opportunity presented itself to get some so I had to!  I mean heck, I have a Monster Cafe right?  I put them right into the display case.  I have FINALLY a new camera.  

Yeah the pics are blurry....Oh well.  I was shooting through the glass.  First up is Dracula.  Wowie!  Very detailed Creature of the night.

The Werewolf and the hunter are next.  I like it alot.  I have NO idea why the tree opens up though.

Ah, the Frankenstein monster with Igor.  What can I say about this but COOL!

Last but not least is the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  This one I like the least but I do like the size of it.

Since McFarlane does his stuff SO delicately I decided to glue all my together.  Like model kits.  I will not be playing with these.

I HATE this camera.  $24 down the drain.  $24 for blurry shots.  It is a brand new piece of junk...

THANKS AGAIN TO BUZZCHUCK!

Action Figure Adventures did it again.  Buzzchuck was so kind as to send my poor butt in Mexico something.

 He included a note.  I had no idea what I was going to find here.

 A Gi Joe lego guy, a squishy TMNT, a puff Ghostbusters character, and some trooper I have no idea who it is.  Thanks so much.  Not my bag of tea but I will pass it on to the lover's of the franchise.

 Ghostbusters.  I avoided these like the plague back in the day.  After watching the Retroblasters review of the figs...They are a little too cartoony for my tastes.  But again, I will pass them onto those that like the cartoon.

Now we are speaking my language.  Although the 2nd part of Gremlins was vastly inferior to the first one IMO, I still love movie cards.  I am going to get a baseball card plastic holder book one day.  These will be the first entries!

The best is yet to come!  He sent me other stuff that is awesome!  This is the preview!

ELVIRA NUMBER TWO!

Yeah we finally got another Elvira!  Acts the same as the first one.  Heck they are identical.  Maybe a brother from another mother...

I will not be overfeeding her like I did Elvira one.  I just kept putting cockroaches, grasshoppers etc. in there because I would never see her eat.  She is a hunter.  Like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park.  She wants to hunt, not be fed.

Giddy up!

Controversial Thursday- Failing school

I was a horrible student.  I don't think I ever studied for a test.  Since I was from a broken home not much was expected of me.  And I wouldn't have it any other way...

I have none of my original report cards...or school work....or books etc.  All of my youth was destroyed in the fire from 1991 that someone punk had set in my home.

But I dreaded getting a report card.  Every single time.  I was a C student for sure.  I felt afterschool studying was for the birds.  I had no time for it.  They already had me for many hours during the day where I missed cartoons and playtime etc.  and they were NOT going to be getting time after school for any shenanigans of studying extra.  My life was spent in the worlds of Gi Joe, Heman, Dukes of Hazzard, the A-Team, and Different Strokes.

Exactly Sweet Suga Brown....I had no time for it.  Cobra Commander had just ordered a full on Hiss tank invasion of the GI Joe Headquarters!  I didn't need to learn about history!  The Joes needed someone to lead the charge!  Roadblock and Snake Eyes weren't enough!

I never thought about the consequences of my future if I didn't study.  Really I didn't.  I was in the NOW.  Playtime, comic book reading, show watching etc.  Like the Big Bang Theory I was debating whether or not Hulk could lift Thor's hammer being the strongest one there is!  Now if there was a test about THAT....Surely I would have passed with flying colors and would have danced my report card into my father to see his gleaming smile.

How I graduated I will never know.  How I got accepted into college I will never know.  How I started my own restaurant in another country and have it be moderately successful I will never know.  But I do know this.
I owe none of it to learning anything at school!

Let's face it.  The educators FAILED at getting me the start in life.  All they ever did was to make me feel bad with this.

The reason for this blogpost was because I had a dream about getting these again.  F me?  No my dear "educators".....F YOU!

I learned more in the real world than I ever did in a classroom.  Making kids recite and memorize crap does not prepare them for life at all.  My education to be a good father came from Phillip Drummond, to know the Norse and  Greek Gods from reading Thor, that everyone has girl trouble from Spider Man.  

By all accounts of the school system I should have been a failure at life, to be in prison or worse just going by their grading system.  I was not interested in their version of school.  However today I feel MUCH smarter.  I would love to have the brain I have now to go back and ace their "tests".  I find history etc. pretty interesting now.  It still doesn't compete with a bound volume of the Showcase JLA though for pure entertainment value.

But I am here.  I made it.  I do not drink, smoke etc. I own my own house, bought and paid for that I won't be a slave paying it off for more years.  I am surely not a grade A fat ass like my old elementary school chums that did study hard.  They never took care of their bodies.  I did.  

Who has time for school when one is doing this?

This pic isn't mine but it was my childhood!

INDY, WHY DOES THE FLOOR MOVE?

Go ahead and press play....

Hand me your torch....Well what can I say about this one?  You have seen everyone else's pictures.  But I finally after all these years have this again.  The kids stole it from me back in the day.

I am in shock of having the Well of Souls again.  I love it.  Raiders of the lost ark...My father went to see it without me and came home to tell me all about it.  At first I wasn't the least bit interested...Until he got to the Tarantulas...I probably got my tarantula Elvira because of that movie.  I wanted to go see it.  I was hooked.  Wow what a film!  I had it all.  This and the Streets of Cairo playset etc.  I plan on making one of my art pieces one day about the film.

This is quite a thrill.  As much as the Cantina in thrillness.  However the new Indiana Jones ark by Hasbro rules this one.  But you cannot beat the nostalgia factor with this puppy!  There is Marion, Toht, and Indy himself!  I cannot believe I have this in my possession again!

Now I gotta get the Cairo Swordsman, Belloq and the gang!

SURPRISE STAR WARS FIGURES!

So a little about me....Since BuzzChuck sent me Walrus Man and Hammerhead my nostalgia factor has been kicked up intensly for vintage Star Wars figures.  I got the Cantina and had it remodeled recently etc.  So I joined a Vintage Star Wars Kenner Facebook group.   I decided to tell my story of how I lost my Star Wars collection.  That my friends, Dale LaValley, Bill Staley and his cousin Shawn broke into my home when Dad and I had moved to Seattle and stole everything and vandalized the house so badly the cleanup crew threw everything away as it was covered in paint etc.

Everything went!  I had everything Star Wars as this happened in 1980.  I had all Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back stuff, 1979 Alien figure, Skedoodle, Little Professor, etc.  My entire Atari 2600 system and all the games I had, My Power Records collection, My Mego collection,

GONE ALL GONE!

So a guy named Anthony Melendez read my story.  He decided since I had the Cantina to send me Greedo.  I was shocked as usual.  I waited a few weeks as that is what I have to do...He sent me much more than a broken old used up Greedo...

 OMG!  A Jawa, Boba Fett, Greedo, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi Won Kenobi!  I was in shock.  They were immaculate AND with their weapons!!!!

I actually came to tears receiving this.  He sent the best.  They are proudly displayed with the Cantina along with Hammerhead, Walrus Man and the Red Snaggletooth and Bib Fortuna I found down here.

I just gotta get the main 10 others and I can put this collection to bed.

CUSTOM WWF KENZO SUZUKI

So I had a WWF Jakks Kenzo Suzuki figure.  I had no idea to even make something for him...Then I saw this pic.

So I thought hmm....Something Oriental would look good on him. 

Something like the above.  I gave this pic to my sewing gal and below is what she made.

WOW!  She blew away my expectations.  This woman is wonderful!  The only bad thing is her daughter has been in the hospital and she has been unable to do anything else for me right now.  I hope that changes soon.  I am getting excited for what else she can do.

League Assignment- You don't know Jack...

But I did see him once!

Let me set the scene.  It was end of May 1996 and I was really looking for a better job.  A brother at the Kingdom Hall showed me his check that he got from the Ritz-Carlton.  WHOA!  It was in the thousand dollar range for a two weeks of work.  My friend's name was John.  He gave me the captain of the waiter's telephone number so I could call and he would let the captain know.  I was a pretty fair waiter.  I had spent a few months as a busboy at another job and moved onto another job at the Corner Cafe as a waiter for the past 6 months.  So I knew what I was doing.

I pestered the captain for a few weeks until they gave me a job interview.  Turns out the 1996 Olympics were in Atlanta so the Ritz needed some extra employees to handle the banquet posistions as NBC had rented the entire hotel for 2 weeks.  So I got a job at the Ritz handling the breakfast banquet section.

That crap was hard!  Had to be there at 5am and work till 12 or so.  I am not an early riser.  BUT NBC had some guests staying with them.  So we got to see in the flesh...Jonathon Silverman the kid who was in Weekend at Bernie's, Helen Hunt and Hank Azaria who were still a couple....And finally this guy...

This is pretty much how he looked at 6am.  Hair uncombed, ratty looking....But it was him!  I was STILL obsessed with the first Batman movie back then.  So I took his empty plate and pocketed his fork.  Yeah, I stole a silver fork from the Ritz-Carlton.  I was kidding among the staff that I was going to auction if off for big bucks because it had Nicholson's food still left on it.

So yeah I do not know Jack.....But I met him ever so briefly.

REMCO FRANKENSTEIN!

I gotta tell ya...I am so happy to get this one.  34 years ago Dale LaValley and my "friends" broke into my house and destroyed it.  Stole all of my toys.  Well I got a little bit back today.  I am an Elephant that never forgets what happens to me.

I never forgot this little 8 inch guy.

 Yes.  I FINALLY have one of the Remco Frankenstein's!  Seeing as I OWN a Monster Cafe the monster community should be sending me this stuff on a regular basis.  I should not have to hunt one down.  So forgive me if I feel a little entitled.  No one else in the world had the balls to do what I did in opening a Monster Cafe!

I almost wanted to cry.  And yeah, he isn't going to be naked for long.  My new sewing gal will sew him up just right.  He will look brand new!  I love restoring old things.

Isn't he the COOLEST thing ever?  I may love this more than my Star Wars Cantina!  I am starting to feel like my old self again!  She sewed him perfectly!  Even managing to get the green turtleneck underneath.  I think I love my new sewing gal.  He is perfect.  The reason in the picture of his pant leg feeling a little short is only the posistion he was in when my friend took the shot.