Leage of Extraordinary Bloggers Post: Star Trek!

I've managed to find about 10 minutes to squeeze in a quick post for my favorite weekly feature (that I miss dearly), and this week's assignment is simply titled Star Trek.

Unfortunately, I have never been a fan of Star Trek. Despite my penchant for green women, Star Trek has never really impressed me.

The original series bored me as a kid, the Next Generation stuff was even worse (and it was crammed down my throat thanks to a Trekker roommate), and pretty much all of the movies were lame-o (although Wrath of Khan had its moments).

However, I did honestly enjoyed the latest reboot movie, and look forward to the new one. So I guess my distaste for Star Trek is 100%.

Still, I wracked my brain trying to think of something Trek-ish that I could post, and the only thing that I could come up with is a quick pic of the only remotely Star Trek related collectibles I own; my Captain Snoopy and Woodspock Funko Wacky Wobblers...

And I gotta be honest, I only have these because I'm a Peanuts fan.

But that just goes to show how powerful the legacy of Star Trek is; When a person who actively avoids and is inherently repulsed by a certain franchise and he still ends up with at least a couple of collectibles on his shelf touch by the very thing he tried to avoid. Star Trek, whether I like it or not, is everywhere.

Live Long and Prosper.

From the other League Trekkies...

Fortune & Glory Days
AEIOU & Sometimes Why?
Infinite Hollywood

Zombie Captain America Custom Funko Pop!

Hey guys! I just wanted to share a quick shot of my latest custom Funko Pop. This time I whipped up a Zombie Captain America from the Marvel Zombies graphic novel.

Hope you all dig him!

By the way, if you haven't read the Marvel Zombies books, I strongly suggest that you remedy that as soon as possible. They're tons of fun!

Vintage Disney Wonderful World Lunch Box!

So, my vintage lunch box addiction has gone full-blown. I'm in deep, people. I don't exactly know what it is that I I suddenly love about them. Perhaps it's that I've been working on tin products for the past few years and I'm starting to see the artistry in the graphics and embossing. Or maybe I just like how they look all lined up on my shelves.

Either way, you guys and gals can count on a lot more lunch-box-centric posts from me in the coming months.

My latest acquisition is this beauty of a lunch box from 1980 featuring Disney's heavy hitters within Disney World backdrops.

The front shows Mickey acting as the engineer of an old-timey railroad engine, accompanied by Pluto and only one of Donald's nephews, which is weird to think that Huey, Dewey and Louey went out and did stuff on their own every now and then. Where are the other two? At the dentist? Freaks me out.

The flip side is less exciting and I guess they were trying to promote some ice skating show. Still, that's a lot of showgirl thigh to be showing on a kids lunch box.

What I really love are the side graphics, which serve as a virtual tour of Walt Disney World. Under the handle we see  Mickey, Donald, Pluto and two of the three nephews gettin' all space-agey in a rocket ride.

We also get to see Goofy acting goofy in front of a hippopotamus...

Here's a beautiful scene of Donald going through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Incidentally, this happens to be one of my favorite scenes on the Disneyland version of the ride.

But my favorite has to be the shot of Mickey running in mortal terror from a few Haunted Mansion ghosts...

Now, unlike most of my vintage lunch boxes, this bad boy came with a Thermos. The graphics echo the scenes from the lunch box, with more pirates, hippos, trains and ghosts.

I normally don't care about the Thermos, but if I do get one with my vintage lunch box scores, I much prefer these cylindrical ones with the graphics all the way around.

I scored this baby for about $20, but it looks like a million bucks on my shelf.

Many more lunch boxes to come!

May the 4th Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day, everybody!

Things Are Gettin' Kinda Sketchy Around Here...

Hey, kids! Just thought I'd take a quick moment to share some art. If you can call it that.

Since starting at Funko, I've quickly developed this urge to see just about every pop culture character I can think of in Pop! form. Unfortunately, things like licensing issues, low collector interest or whatnot keep us from being able to officially make them.

Also, time is an issue. I don't have the time to design full digital renderings of every Pop! that pops (no pun intended) into my head, so I've started carrying a sketchbook with me for the sole purpose of just getting the rough ideas out of my noodle and onto some paper.

Each of these sketches has only taken me around 10 minutes or so to draw, so I admit they are rather sloppy, but I thought it would be fun to share anyway.

Hope you dig 'em. I'm sure there will be more in the future.

Again, I must stress that these are just sketches that I did for fun! Just because I sketched them, that doesn't mean that Pops of these character are or are not coming out one day. If I don't say that, the rumor mill will start rolling unecessarily. And we can't have that.

See ya!

HELP! I Can't Find This Toy!

Hey gang! I turn to you, my intrepid fellow nerds, to help me find this exceedingly obscure toy from my youth.

I have been searching for years for these particular toys and I'm just about to give up.

Here's the skinny...

Way back in the late '70s (probably '77 or '78), my mom came home from the grocery store with this dinky little rack toy package that she bought for me just because she thought the toys inside were cute. And what they were, were these little stackable plastic men and each one had a different profession; a fireman, a policeman, an astronaut, etc.

I absolutely loved these little dudes and would kill to find them again.

The closest thing I have ever found was this...

The little robots in the toy above are the EXACT same size and shape of the little guys I'm looking for. But, again, mine were little human city workers.

The ones I had were carded in a similar fashion. They were just a cheap grocery store rack toy.

Anyway, if anyone knows what these are, knows where I can find some or has any helpful information whatsoever, please let me know!

Thanks, kids!

It's Toy Show Time and I Went a Little Crazy!

Hey fellow Hordytes! Sorry I haven't been blogging much. Work and personal life has just got me slammed. I really do miss you all.

This past weekend, I did manage to find a couple of hours to hit up our local twice-yearly Lake City Toy Show and I just wanted to quickly post my scores. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to blog about them all in greater detail at some point. God knows when that will be. But I can hope.

Also, sorry for the crappy pics. I just snapped these with my phone really quickly.

 First up, I made some pretty decent scores in the Star Wars department, snatching up two vintage Kenner figures I needed for $1 each, a vintage Micro Collection set for $5 (complete!) and a Power of the Force Oola, because even though I hate the POF line, green chicks are hot.

Another personal epic find for me was this lemon yellow Empire Gnome, which was a line of Smurf knock-offs that came out in the late '70s and early '80s. I had a couple and loved them. Now they're hella rare.

And speaking of Smurfs, I just couldn't resist these guys at $1 a piece...

But where things got crazy was when I, a person who has never bought a vintage lunch box in his life (except for my Dukes of Hazzard one), ended up catching lunch box fever with the purchase of these 5 beauties...

So, it looks like I'm a vintage lunch box collector now. Oh boy. I'm going to try and fight this, but man, they look sweet on my shelves...

Anyway, that's my latest score.

Truth is, I've been piling up all kinds of toys and comics and other cool things that I keep wanting to blog about, but just haven't found the time lately. Hopefully, I'll get around to them all eventually.

In the meantime, I hope you all are doing great out there!

Thanks for joining me on this little moment of show and tell. :)