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

King Arthur and the Knights of Justice - Lord Viper

I recently saw a tweet that stated that the best things of the 90's were really just backwash from the 80's. I'm still not sure if that is true but it does come up here with King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. It didn't last long but I loved it, especially that theme song! Definitely brought back feelings of Boorman's Excalibur. Also, the Round Table and Suit Up moments felt a lot like M.A.S.K. The biggest connection might be Masters of the Universe. A lot of the same voice actors from the New Adventures of He-Man show up in this series. Garry Chalk, who played He-Man in the New Adventures and Man at Arms in the 200X MYP series plays our main henchman and leader of the Warlords, Lord Viper. Also, let's not forget the Black Wing/Stratos similarities: One further connection, is that Mattel also created the toys for the short lived series. The figures were close in scale to both the vintage line and the New Adventures. The Horde Slime Pit was ev...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gamerztek 8-Bit HD and Gaming Relics custom cases

I'm still a fan of retro video games which probably doesn't surprise anyone since I still collect retro toys. When I play, I normally use the Retron 5 as my console because I love being able to save my progress at any point while using my cartridges. However, Retron 5 doesn't recognize a lot of multicarts and it also can't load game cheats for homebrews or game hacks. To compensate, I had been using Retro Bit's Retro Trio with an upscaler for HDMI. Its a great system and worked well but I decided it was time to upgrade to a console with a better HDMI output. After doing my online research, I decided to go with the 8-Bit HD. These are not the best screenshots as it is just me using my phone but I was blown away by the difference this made. Everything was very crisp. The console itself is very cheap. I bought it on Amazon for $30. It appears that I got the last one but I'm sharing the link for when they restock. Its also available in a lot of other pla...
Post a Comment
Read more

Figures Toy Company Robin

  After finding a Mego-esque Batman, I, of course, needed a Robin. There were a lot of choices available. Mego had their original version as well as their latest figure and Figures Toy Company had a few of their own, one of which proved to be exactly what I wanted.  Again, my huge inspiration for most things Batman comes from the Jorge Luis Garcia Lopez Style Guide pictures. As far as the head and costume went, I loved it, but I found the legs to be lacking. So I switched those items onto a DC Retro Action body and it turned out pretty well. Just being athletically toned really helps this figure to stand out. The more of these figures I get, the more I love them. And being someone who loves to customize, the possibilities can at times feel limitless. I look forward to adding to my Gotham City collection.
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

Toy Biz Sentinel

Any X-Men fan will agree on how cool the Sentinels are. They would rank in the top 10 of any X-Men villain list, easily. And if you poll X-Men the Animated Series fans, they will tell you how great the first season was with the premiere episode, Night of the Sentinels and the season finale, The Final Decision. The entire show was sold to us on the danger of these machine menaces. For whatever reason, I was never able to ahold of one of the Sentinel figures as a kid. We were just bombarded with so much coolness growing up that it was hard to get everything out there. Luckily, my adulthood has been filled with second chances. I picked up my first Sentinel this fall from Ebay. It was in wonderful condition and I can't wait to pick up a few more. Just really cool toys. Retractable capture claw snatches Mutants and reels them in. Hitting the head reveals mutants being held captive inside the Sentinel. Poor Morph. The left fist can be launched to smas...
Post a Comment
Read more