Out in the wild finds

Having a surprise day off I went over to the nearest next biggest city.  While I checked out some other things, I checked out Retro Distortion, a small shop with an assorted variety of toys.    This was my first time there.   I was there before the shop opened but I could see a Rolling Thunder on the front table on the inside of the store.   I was kind of excited to see it.  It was not unlike an experience I had back in the fall of 1998 here in the HQ's hometown where while walking by a downtown shop to see a Cobra Terrordrome in the front window on display (no, I didn't get the Terrordrome, spendy and missing some parts and no real home to bring it at the time. I had a Rolling Thunder that I got from that shop that had the Terrordrome but years later. )

And I can't remember exactly where my Rolling Thunder ended up going, here it is in late 2004 but I think it might have been gone in a trade as early as late 2005!




Today I had to pass on the Rolling Thunder.  As cool as it was to see one in person in this rural area, I just don't think it would do more than sit on a shelf like the one I had did.  Missing the recon car, one side yellow missile, bent antenna and missing chin gun..., at $165 it was way too much for me.  I didn't closely inspect it any further but suspected it matched the play wear on the various figures that surrounded it on the table.

Yes, I overpaid on these.  (I have a thing for small shops and hoped it helped some.)   These are all C65 with various spots of worn paint and loose joints.   But I was there and maybe some future customs or parts upgrade or something.   Still, G.I.Joes out in the wild here, something different.

I picked Gyro Viper since I could definitely use this Cobra pilot, the arms could use replacement but not a bad figure and at $7, it should work.
I have my original Night Creeper Leader that I opened myself but I thought getting this Night Creeper Leader would give me some potential painting opportunities that I would never have attempted on my original figure.   Night Creeper Leader also came with Zartan's (I believe) battle stand.   
I chose the 2008 Collectors Club Gristle to keep as my Gristle over the original one I had.   This is an example of two figures that both had strong qualities I liked when I chose to keep only one.   I still like the 1993 Gristle head more than the 2008 Convention figures head.   I was thinking a head swap, but some hair was worn off the back of the head that I didn't see.   This soft jointed figure was still high-priced at $10.
Dr. Mindbender is a one of those characters I couldn't see my Cobra Commander being able to trust or keep around.   That's why I didn't keep Dr. Mindbender in figure form.   I really like the design on this figure,though, and at $5 this one might be painted (I wouldn't have done this on the C85 one I had before).

Interesting to me is that the seller who brought these into the shop to be sold had the figures (like Gristle below) holding their spring-firing launchers.   These are things I usually put into a spot together rarely to be even look at.

Nothing on the accessory side that was a big score.   This is my first "Gristle" style launcher, however.   My first Gristle (1993) did not have any accessories.

late 1995

There's the new header for the HQ.     Except for the shell of the Stargate All Terrain Cruiser, all of that has been gone for several years.    The old header along with many images were blocked by 3rd party hosting source that I had put many pictures on, so I thought I would grab this scan and use it for awhile.

Not unlike the last entry that was looking at an old film picture, this picture of my old Headquarters is in the same sense.  Not only does it bring back memories of the cool stuff that I don't have any more but also brings back the challenges of reality and being happy with what I had.

On the reality side of the topic is that shelf underneath.  There were two of these small 3-1/2 foot high units that gave me three shelves plus the top, unless I stacked these.  But the potential of the shelves tipping over was too much for me to want to risk.    Of course, these were given to me, used, but that's what the resources for me were like in those days.   Had to get inventive with what was laying around was the mission for the day.

In the picture, the cardboard is supporting the Headquarters, it is almost a "PIT" set up when I was never thinking in those terms in those days.

Major Altitude almost looks really good on his way to the Sky Hawk that sits on top of the landing pad that is covering the jail.

I can only guess if I had any Cobras in the jail cell now, but I think I do as you can see my Crimson Guard Commander "army" and Firefly are after something...., and Pathfinder was taken out already.

To the right of Firefly hidden behind the Headquarters front wall protrusion it almost looks like the Ninja Force Night Creeper.   I am not certain it is but I am shocked that a figure that I really didn't love was used here.  But options were more limited and maybe I just really needed that sneaky ninja to lead the rest?

Dusty and Gung-ho are on the wall and the Badger is in the bay.    Above on the wall is a poster of an SR-71.



Good times.   

I haven't been able to re-capture any of this lately.  Not having hardly anywhere near what I had before does limit potential options but I just haven't been able to get that spark of a simple set up or a few minutes of creativity to just flow.

I could get more stuff but I would not want to get more stuff if it doesn't bring a strong amount of enjoyment?