Skip to main content

Vintage Masters of the Universe - Commemorative Man at Arms and Zodac, Horde Trooper, Moss Man, Roboto, Sy-Klone, and Stratos

A new vintage toy shop opened up in my area this week. I'm not going to mention names but I didn't have a great time.

A few weeks ago, a toy shop that I had frequented in the past began to share the posts of a new store that was opening near their location. As the pictures scrolled across my feed, my anticipation began to build. Just the thought of a new vintage toy store gave me the excitement that I used to have when I had birthday money to spend as a child. You know the feeling, it's the joy of open ended opportunities just being a fingertip away.

As the days continued on, my joy began to turn into concern, no price tags. The store was posting lots of great stuff but there wasn't a single price listing to be seen. I don't know about you, but I have always found that disconcerting. I understand that the vintage toy industry has really become a sellers' market these days. I also completely understand that a brick and mortar store has to pay their bills so I already expect to pay a much higher price than I would from an online seller. However, I feel a seller should at least be out in the open about what their expectations are. Either way, I tried to put my worries out of my head and just be ready to enjoy the experience.

The 8 AM alarm went off on my cell phone and I was off to prepare for my journey. The store was about 45 minutes away from my home so I planned my morning around this trip. I printed off shipping labels for my recently sold items on Ebay, dropped them off at the post office, grabbed a McDonalds breakfast and hit the open road.

As I ventured into my destination, I took moment just to smile while my eyes took in the hundreds of great memories that hung across the walls: G.I. Joe, Silverhawks, Star Wars, Toy Biz Marvel, Transformers, and, my quarry for the day, Masters of the Universe.

Complete in Box Castle Grayskull, Snake Mountain, and the Fright Zone.

Loose but complete Eternia.

Lots of carded 200X and some loose vintage.

I walked up to the owner, shook his hand, and thanked him for bringing us a new shop. It's a risky venture and I truly appreciated him for it. Then, I took some time just to walk around and admire the memories before zeroing in on things I would want to purchase. After narrowing it down, I asked the man in charge how much he was expecting for certain things. Some prices I expected and some surprised me, but there were a few I genuinely liked.

He also had some things that were being sold by his co-owner but he went ahead and gave me a price that I agreed with but I had to wait for his partner to come in to the shop. I browsed a few minutes more before he also arrived. The two owners chatted about business a moment before he motioned his partner my way. He let him know that I was interested in purchasing one of his items and then quoted a price that was double what he told me.

It took a moment for that to sink in. I kindly asked if he misspoke and reminded him of the price he gave me. He laughingly shook his head and disagreed. I apologized, mentioning that I must have misheard. I went ahead and purchased two loose figures instead and decided to try my luck at the neighboring stores.

Now, maybe it was an honest mistake and maybe he was trying to intentionally snag me with a switch up. Either way, my thoughts went right back to my ill at ease concerns from earlier. I don't think I will be doing business with this gentleman again.

On to some more positive news, the other shops had some great finds - including mint on card commemorative figures! I decided to spend the exact amount I had intended at the new shop with the more intentionally honest store. I am very glad that I did because the owner mentioned that he had some more MOTU stuff in the back that he was going to bring up in the next few weeks.

My buys:

 - Commemorative Man at Arms and Zodac











Master Mechanics


Brothers in Arms


Cosmic Rivals


I know some people might be upset with me for opening these up but I've never been a mint on card collector. Now had these been original 82s, I wouldn't have even purchased them. Am I a monster? Maybe, but I'm not completely awful. I don't know why, but the fact that these came with a warranty just kind of makes me chuckle.


- Loose Roboto, Sy-Klone, Moss Man, Stratos, and Horde Trooper







The life we save.






A bit of the old 200X ultra violence? Honestly, this blaster was way too heavy for the MOTUC Man at Arms. I might try to get a true 200X version and see how compatible it is with this vintage Man at Arms.


Heroic Warriors?


Or Masters of the Universe?


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Super 7 Masters of the Universe Trap Jaw and Mer-Man

My fifth Super 7 MOTU set came in the mail today, Trap Jaw and Mer-Man! I've not liked everything in these releases. I think what honestly pulls me in on the figures that I do purchase are the head sculpts. Both of these guys have great faces that are truly upgrades over their vintage counterparts.    The card art is wonderful as always. Again, look at that face. This is the real winning element here, however other parts are not perfect. The hands and feet look like someone took a vintage figure, covered it with sculpey, and painted over it. Otherwise, everything else is fine. Stance problem from Man at Arms and Beast Man is non-existent here.    Trap Jaw is an almost perfect figure, the legs are little thin but I like the rest of the sculpt. Seriously, how great is that face? You'll notice his claw hand is a littler thinner than the vintage claw. Now you have probably noticed the belt. This...
Post a Comment
Read more

Toy Biz DC Superheroes Flash v2, Hawkman, Two Face

I started getting back into the DC Superheroes line early last year. Even though the Kenner Super Powers line is superior in a lot of ways, this line has a nostalgic value for me. Recently, I was able to add three more figures to my collection: Hawkman, Two Face, and the second version of the Flash! Version 2 is a HUGE upgrade over Version 1. V2 Flash doesn't rely on a wind up action feature so it actually has arm articulation. Now Flash can actually do some better posing... let alone throw a punch! V2 Flash also comes with a Quicksilver/Silver Surfer-esqe platform. It even moves forward on its own if you pull it backwards.  Toy Biz vs Kenner. The Kenner figure is obviously the better choice. Just one look at his weapon and his head sculpt and that is obvious. However, there is a dumb charm to the Toy Biz figure and I'm happy to have him. I really like this Two Face figure. He has a winding feature for flipping his...
Post a Comment
Read more

Carry Cases - MOTU, MOTU Deluxe, TMNT Deluxe

Continuing on with my Carry Case collection, I've added some more this month. First up is the Masters of the Universe Collectors Case. It was designed to hold 8 but I easily have about 20 figures inside. Definitely not enough to hold an entire collection but could easily contain one faction. I have the majority of the Heroic Warriors in this one. Makes it easier to find which figures I'm looking for when I change up displays. I love the art on these cases, they alway pick just the right art to capture your imagination and ready your brain for adventure. Now the Deluxe Masters of the Universe Carry Case is quite the upgrade, not only does it hold double the figures but the inside doubles as a playset! Amazingly cool. I have all of my Evil Warriors, Horde and Snakemen inside this one. Finally, the Deluxe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Carry Case. This one is the perfect size for TMNT collectors. It was able to hold b...
Post a Comment
Read more

GoBots: Crasher, Sparky, Rest-Q

Let's just get it out of the way. Transformers is the better show, series, story, idea, etc. Hasbro and Marvel just really knocked it out of the park. The action, drama, and depth of the franchise is pretty unparalleled. Honestly, outside of Iron Giant, how many companies made you genuinely sad about the death of a robot. Skyfire and Optimus, we're looking at you. Moving on, I always loved the GoBots toys. I loved their look, their scale, and their articulation. Yes, they rarely came with accessories but they didn't come across as a brick with moving forearms either. Sorry, Hound. And, for better or worse, they almost always looked like their animated counterpart or better. I won't get into Ironhide or Bumblebee because I'm really not try to put down the Transformers. I'm just suggesting that the GoBots definitely had some strengths. They even had playsets and vehicles, which I'll get into later. (How great would it have been to have a pl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Star Wars Power of the Force Wave 1 Collection

  I've always loved Star Wars. It was something that just always seemed to be a part of my life. I have mentioned before how I was able to benefit greatly from having older cousins who grew out of their need for toys and passed them down to my brother and I. With Star Wars, it was no different. We were given a good 30ish vintage figures as well as a well used Millenium Falcon that was missing quite a few pieces and we loved them.  Just like we did with Masters of the Universe and other toy lines, whenever my brother and I had a chance to visit a garage sale or an antique shop, we looked for more Star Wars stuff to add to our collections. It was the late 80's and early 90's so there weren't really any other options. Eventually, the Justoys Bend-Ems came out. We bought many of these but preferred the figures that were closer to the 3 3/4 scale. That Leia, 3PO, Yoda and R2-D2 filled some nice holes in my collection. The included Topps cards were very cool too. Not long aft...
Post a Comment
Read more