Action Figure Stockpile

Today is an example of why it's necessary to make regular visits to St. Vinnie's. You never know what may have turned up in the past couple of days. If I decided to stay home and take a nap instead, I would have missed greatness. The lesson is therefore get your lazy ass out of bed. I did, and found an action figure stockpile in the process. Though there was an entire box full of them, I narrowed it down to the four which mattered most to me.

The Terminator!

No longer the Governator.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, sent back in time by the adult John Connor to protect the young John Connor from the T-1000. Yes, I'm referring to Terminator 2, and if you didn't know that, you should stop reading right now and watch the first two Terminator movies. I'll wait.

Okay, now that we're all on the same page, this is an action figure released along with T2 in 1991 by Kenner. The figure is an apparent tie-in with the final scene from the film, where Arnie is getting his ass kicked by the T-1000. The figure displays what could be called "battle damage," although they embellished a bit in that department. For example, a "metal" rod comes out of Arnie's fist, and I sure don't remember him doing that in the movie. It makes him more like Wolverine. The cool part is that it's in the right position for you to use Arnie to flip off other action figures before beating the plastic shit out of them. Oh, and that whole arm detaches, but it's supposed to, for some reason.

I love the first two Terminator movies, so it was an easy pick out of the box. I believe this is the first action figure I have modeled in the likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and if there's anybody in the real world who has enough manly clout to be an action figure, it's him. My only question is why they chose to put him in a maroon colored undershirt. Why not blue, or any colors other than maroon, pink, or purple? At least the bandolier and gunshot wounds partially make up for his wardrobe malfunction.

Cost of T-800 Figure: $.74

Cell from Dragonball Z!

In case you missed one of the defining cornerstones of my generation, here it is for you now. Dragonball Z was the absolute shit from the time I was in 5th grade until probably 8th grade. All of my friends watched it. One friend would even call me daily after the show was over so we could have a discussion about it. Yeah, it was kind of a big deal.

Dragonball Z, or DBZ for short, turned up in the American culture at large when it appeared on Toonami, the Cartoon Network block of bad ass shows for adolescent boys hungry for action packed cartoons. Getting into all the specific details and background of the show would take forever, so I'll just leave it at the fact that we got everything we wanted and more from DBZ. I mean, the show was 99% battle, and always kept us coming back for more.

Cell was a character who came towards the later part of the DBZ series. Like every major villain that appeared on the show, he was the strongest that the heroes had ever faced up to that point. Cell was some kind of genetically created organism, and to increase his power, he had to absorb a couple of powerful androids, who were actually only created to be absorbed by Cell. Yeah, it was kind of a weird plot line.

Cell himself was a big asshole, of course, and was eventually defeated. His green color always made me think of guacamole. That's about all I have to say about ol' Cell.

Cost of Cell: $.96

Mekaneck!

Finally, something as monumental as Masters of the Universe/He-Man is able to become a part of my blog. It's a close second to the Ninja Turtles for largest cool factor from childhood. Not to mention, Masters of the Universe came first, and had what was probably the most inventive action figure line to date. The names were very inventive, they were well crafted,  a good number the figures had an interesting special skill, and on top of it all they simply looked cool. They still do, which is why I buy them.

Masters of the Universe figures, made by Mattel, came before my time. Mekaneck here, for example, is from 1983, which makes him one of the earlier figures in the line. Luckily for me, I had older cousins who owned a good number of the figures and were nice enough to let me play with them. Thus, some of my earliest memories involve one of these figures in my tiny hand, and for me, that's an ideal place to begin my life's timeline. I've changed less since then than I probably realize.

This is not the first Mekanek action figure I've owned. In fact, I may now have more of him than anybody else. He must've been a popular figure in his time, hence the reason he keeps turning up at every thrift store I shop at. I can see why. He's got those cool silver glasses and a red pointed head, not to mention his neck extends when you turn him at the waste. Put him in a cool display box with a couple fancy weapons and you've got a sale on your hands, bucko. They just don't make action figures like this anymore. No wonder the kids are all such bastards.

Cost of Mekaneck: $.96

Another Battlestar Galactica Figure!

I am also this man's God

I thought that this figure had a familiar shape, and sure enough when I picked him up, I saw the same "1978 Univ. Studios" that I saw on Friday. I quickly grabbed him, and was that much closer to having a collection of Battlestar Galactica action figures from 1978.

For whatever reason, this guy, Commander Adama, was in a completely different place from his partner. While the first Battlestar Galactica figure was near the front of the store in a plastic bag and priced for over a dollar, this guy was in the back with the toys, unmarked and in a bin with other random toys. They had to come in together, so why the separation and vast difference in price? My only guess is because this guy is old, and no one will pay a dollar fifty for an action figure of an old man.

Much like the other Battlestar figure I found, this one originally came with a jacket, which can be viewed here.

Cost of Commander Adama: $.25

That does it for the Monday edition. Check back at the end of the week to see me lose a few more of the precious pillars on which my sanity rests.