Best Week Ever (the Toy Version) and the Spread Good Karma Giveaway

I don't know about my best toy week ever -- I've had a lot of great weeks -- but one of the more memorable ones happened when I first encountered the Nickelodeon TMNT line in July. Upon hearing that the TMNT figures had hit the area, I called the closest TRU -- whereupon the employee told me that they had an entire endcap chock full of the toys. And yet, when I got there 30 minutes later, there was only a single Shredder left. Then, due to a tip on the forums, I checked Target's online tool to find that most of the local Targets in the area had the figures -- so I went about calling them and kept hearing the same refrain: we can't put them out until blahblah date. Eventually I just went to the nearest one (without calling; I happened to be going there anyway) and asked one of the toy guys about the figures -- and he went to the back and got the case for me! I didn't leave with a huge haul (just the four Turtles and April), but it was kinda amazing to see a fresh case and have my pick. I must have been in elementary school the last time I was present for a case opening, and it just felt brilliant. I'm almost tempted to buy full cases of toys just to experience it.

I hope it's OK to repeat my Facebook comment; but, hey, it was my Best (recent) Toy Weekend! Starting a couple weeks ago, I was sicker than I'd been in a looong time, preventing me from running a 5k with my son & going to a specialty toy shop in Anaheim, CA. Fortunately, my wife went with my son to take him to the race & then the toy shop, from where she called me to ask what figures I'd like. She came home with the new MU Hulk, Modular Armor Iron Man, a GI Joe Cobra Trooper, a Zombie Viper, a Star Wars Vintage collection Dengar, a concept version Stormtrooper & a Renegades Firefly (wow, that looks like I'm bragging - oops). Not a bad haul for having not been able to leave the house, but I think I kinda shot my toy allowance for a couple months :)

I recently started collecting Marvel Universe (3.75" line) just a couple of months ago and wanted to build a Sentinel squad, however I couldn't afford to buy them at $50+ each and I wanted at least three. A few weeks back I ordered one, in the classic colors of course, from BBTS and figured I'd just have to order the other two further down the line when they fit into the budget. The following week I was on a toy hunt looking for the final piece to complete my Movie Masters Batsignal, Ra's al Ghul. I went to all the usual stores in my area when I finally arrived at my last stop for the day, Kmart. No sign of Ra's. Disappointed and empty-handed, I began the "long walk" back to my car. I glanced over to the Marshalls in the same shopping center and hesitated walking over there. It was very hot that day and I never find anything worth buying at that particular store. Anyway, I decided to walk in, just to look around. Well, when I made my way to the toy section, I noticed it had expanded compared to previous visits. There were lots of Star Wars items, a few red H.I.S.S. tanks, among the usual items. I looked around and to my surprise there was a Marvel Masterworks box on the bottom shelf. I picked it up and when I pulled back the top flap discovered it was the classic colored version of the Sentinel! I'm 30 years old and at that moment I had the same great feeling as when I was a kid and found something new at a toy store. It was fantastic and one of the best toy experiences I've had since I started collecting as an adult!

For the past number of weekends, I've been holding an estate sale after the passing of my grandmother. In addition to the possessions she left behind, I have sold off quite a few of my own useless objects. Some toys, some not. During the sale, I'd given away many a free "Ghost Obi-Wan" POTF2 figure to the delight of some lucky kids. Now that the sale is near its conclusion, I managed to place a substantial order for myself this past weekend. It included the new Venture Bros 3 3/4" figures that I'd been drooling over since they were revealed. Oh, it feels so good to be collecting once again.

My best "toy week" ever was a few years ago when the Wal-Mart exclusive Giant-Man series was coming out. At the time, the closest Wal-Mart was around 15 miles away from me, so I didn't go very often. One Friday I was at my computer checking out EBay and there were some of the Giant-Man Legends showing up on there. So, on a whim, I decided to jump in my car and make the 20 minute trek to Wally-World. I wasn't really expecting to find anything, but low and behold there they were. You can't imagine how happy I was to see those awesome clamshells full of plastic goodness hanging on the pegs when I came around the corner. Someone had gotten there before me, but they still had the ones I really wanted, Thor, Havok, Captain Britain and Ant-Man. Someone had hidden the last Ant-Man behind some old Spider-Man Classics figs, but I got lucky and happened to spot him as I was about to leave. Then a few days later (the following Wednesday), I was at another Wal-Mart that was even further away in the other direction, but it happens to be near my LCS, so I used to stop in there on Wednesdays. So, that day I went in and they had all of the Marvel Legends Face-Off Series 1 figures. So, in the course of 5 days, I added 10 new Marvel Legends figures to my collection. I still remember it fondly as my favorite toy week ever.

It's been a good weekend for toys, since I learned about a chain of closeout stores that carry Mattycollector closeout product! I found 2 of the stores that aren't very close, but I was able to check them out and pick up Movie Masters Green Man and Kilowog for $17 each and a Movie Masters Bank Robber Joker for $10. Not great figures, but a really cool find considering they were online and SDCC exclusives. In addition to that, at TJ Maxx I found a few of the goofy Green Lantern Movie Masters that I never saw reach store pegs. Silly toys, but worth checking out at $4 and hopefully I'll find enough to build that crazy Parallax. Young Justice 6" Atremis was also on clearance for $7. Feel Good Toy Weekend: Grabbing a bunch of Matty stuff for super cheap without paying shipping on anything. Feels like you got away with a crime. Also found Walmart's 6" Amazing Spider-Man figures on the way back from one of the trips. They probably won't be tough to find in the long run, but it felt great picking up all 3 at once considering the Avengers had been tough for me to track down. Most importantly, my daughter got fixated on the notion of having a Littlest Pet Shop whale and I found one at the closeout store after I'd been checking every regular retail store I'd been too for the past few months. Grabbed my boy a huge Samurai Power Ranger that I know he'll flip out over. Pretty good toy week, I'd say.

She should pre-order the Anne Hathaway Hot Toys Catwoman figure, it looks fantastic!

My sister is a huge Anne Hathaway fan who enjoyed TDKR, and it felt great to help her get a hold of a Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters Catwoman (goggles up). She loves the thing to death; it might just be her favorite toy. She even gave me her CnC piece so I could finish the Batsignal.

Today was the a great day for toys. I built a bookcase last week and spent hours today displaying and playing with my figures. It was a like a thousand chirstmases at once.

I'm honestly not a serious toy collector but I really enjoy SDCC! I really like the S.H. Figuarts line for DBZ and my first one was the SDCC exclusive Goku.