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.