The Adventures of Clawtron in San Diego!

Hey, kids! It's me, Reis, reporting from sunny San Diego, California, where I'm halfway through my work trip. I know I said that the blog would remain "radio silent" until I got back, but I found some down time and I just couldn't resist a little blogging. I have so much to show you guys, but all in good time.

Today, I just wanted to show off some pics. Inspired by Chunky B's Gonk Adventures, I decided to bring along one of my new favorite figures, Clawtron (from the Fisher Price Adventure People) and let him have a little vacation too!

So sit back and enjoy Part 1 of The Adventures of Clawtron in San Diego!

The day we left Seattle, was rainy and cloudy, as usual, and Clawtron was more than a little anxious to get on the plane.

Once on the plane, I had to explain to Clawtron that despite him being programed to pilot and navigate over 7,000 known airborne conveyances in the galaxy, he was not allowed to fly this plane.

So I did my best to keep him occupied and we shared a snack of sesame sticks and dried cranberries together.

But that wasn't enough, so as soon as we landed and met up with my friend, we all went out for burgers. Clawtron was thrilled.

He spent the first couple of days meeting the locals.

And despite his frightening countenance, it turns out that he's rather quite good with children.

Clawtron has been joining me on my daily breaks (this being a working vacation, after all) to to the Starbucks down the block, where I give my eyes a rest from the computer screens and get some other ideas sketched out. 

One new favorite pastime that Clawtron has been embracing with me is our new-found love for collecting those squashed pennies that you get at tourist traps. And believe me, they're everywhere down here!

You can't go to San Diego without going to the zoo and here I managed to snap a pick of Clawtron admiring the elephants from atop the tour bus.

Thanks to a visit to my first California swap meet (which I have heard are collector's paradises), I managed to pick up a couple of friends for Clawtron to hang out with while working. So now, he and Mutt talk a lot about motorcycles and the weird little green dude, just seems to be happy to listen to them. (I don't know who he is, so if anyone can tell me, that would be much appreciated.)

And to wrap things up for now, I thought I'd end Part 1 with a shot of Clawtron hanging out with my recently acquired Lego minifigs. Woot! Woot! Series 4!

Anyway, I'm here for another week, so I'll see you all again soon with more Adventures of Clawtron in San Diego, plus some killer toy pics from the swap meet, and a closer look at some of the awesome toys I've scored.

Adios, mi amigos!

The Randomest Cheap-o eBay Haul EVER!

Some of you may not know this about me, but I like to buy toys on eBay. No, no... it's true. If I don't watch it, I can kill an entire afternoon trolling for cool action figure lots and hunting down good deals. And recently, I managed to win one of the most random assortments of toys I have ever seen, causing me to imagine some mom emptying out her grown son's old toy box and lumping together anything that was roughly humanoid in shape, made of plastic and under 4" tall and throwing them all up on eBay as one big bundle to see if anyone bites.

Well, I bit.

About $10 plush shipping later, I was the proud owner of a mish-mash of action figures from all walks of toydom. And here they are...

Look at that insane collection! Clearly some guy around my age is, at this very moment, saying to his mother, "You sold my WHAT?!" Sorry, dude.

First up are the figures that led me to this find, a Kenner Super Powers Flash and an Aquaman. As you all know, I scored some killer Super Powers dudes a while back and am now kind of on a kick about them. Seriously, I would have paid ten clams just for these two figures alone, so I figure that the rest of the haul is gravy. 

Next up we have some classic Fisher Price Adventure People. Despite there simplicity, I find these guys quite charming. Of course, these dudes, a swingin' swim instructor, a banana colored scuba guy and a motorcyclist with no motorcycle, may not be the best examples of the more shining characters in this line, but read on...

These are the most kick ass figures of the line! You all saw two of them the other day, such was my excitement of finally owning a Clawtron and X-ray lady again that I just had to post them. In the middle is one of my favorites from bygone years, the green headed space traveler who's name escapes me right now. I actually already have this guy and his classic one-man space fighter, thanks to Bubbashelby, but this one is in super duper condition and will get added to the mighty shelf of nostalgia. Now I just need to get an X-ray man!

Seriously, people... how pimp is Clawtron?

There were also other singular oddities in this bunch, like this vintage Mego Pocket Heroes Zod, who spends a lot of time ordering my other figures to kneel before him, a Planet of the Apes parachuting orangutan and some Star Trek dude. I don't know... Bones? No idea who he is, but he's sporting the same lovely shade of banana as the Fisher Price scuba instructor.

And what jumble of random toys would be complete without two Gargamels and a Waldorf? I actually had the Gargamel in the middle, who originally came with a little Azrael (which I now have to find). And doesn't Waldorf look like he's going, "Oh, puh-leeeze!"

And, of course, one single random plastic cowboy. Why not.

Ahhh... Action figure lots like this bring me way too much joy. Something about kicking back and looking over them that sends me back to the days when I toted around my cherished cowboy boot box, filled to the top with a willy nilly collection of figures. As I would put them away at night, an Indiana Jones next to several Smurfs, a Snake Eyes next to one of the Duke boys, a Cyclon next to an R2D2, I would imagine that they would talk about today's earlier adventure, going back over the exciting parts, telling my Remco Wolfman that he'd get his chance next time and everyone keeping a wary eye on Warduke.

I wonder what these figures will talk about tonight? One thing is for sure, I imagine there will be a lot of, "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

Random Toy Pic #12