Village Gate Toy Show March 2017 Report!

Last week meant some hot Monster Mania action, but today meant some straight up toy hunting. That must mean one thing: THE VILLAGE GATE TOY SHOW.


Yeah, I forgot to take a photo of the interior of the show, that's on me. But as a more than fair trade, here's an old magazine featuring Dolly Parton on the cover.


Monster Mania provided some great and surprising temptations in the vendor room but this show is nothing but a gigantic nostalgic trip. Toys from your childhood at every turn. A lot of price gouging but more times than most, bargains out the wazoo! There has never been one of these shows where I've walked away empty handed. It's usually something I've been looking for or, more surprising, something I never knew existed. Today was no different. Let's take a quick gander, shall we?

MY PET MONSTER BOOK:

This wasn't a pick up but local Rochester legend Tony Karakashian actually gifted it to me! The delightful almost-origin story of Monster is a must own for any MPM collectors. I'd love to go more into detail, but I'm saving it for later. You'll thank me later.


HEAVY TRAFFIC BETA:



The first item I picked up was the release of my favorite Ralph Bakshi movie. While owning it on bluray would be the best way to watch this animation classic, owning a BETA copy wasn't something I wanted to pass up. No, I don't have a BETA machine but it's such a flawless package and tape itself! How could I say no?


DRINKWARE:


There's a longtime vendor who specializes in drinking glasses with cartoon or movie characters. So many glasses from Masters of the Universe to MASH to WWF and everything in between. My fiance Laurie is a lifelong Super Mario devotee so she simply had to had to have it. So I bought it for her and she was overjoyed. Which is just one piece! There's a taller glass and a beer mug to be found to complete this drinkware collection. Hopefully sooner than later, the entire set will be completed!


So in return, she picked me up that sweet Batman 89 glass, which I've been eyeballing for a while now! I kinda wanna drink out of it, but that graphic is just so perfect, I'd be terrified of dropping it or it would rub off. One thing is for sure, it looks great in my Batman 89 collection.

The Alf mug. Well, even as a lifelong Alf collector, I can honestly say I have never seen it before. The second I saw it, I knew I had to have it. My google results showed nothing. No way was I walking out without it. So thankfully, my bartering skills were on point and I picked it up for a low price. Oh and I'm totally soaking it and cleaning it to use. No way can I pass up eating a sandwich for lunch while drinking Ecto Cooler out of this!



SUPER POWERS MICRO FIGURES:


 The local wrestling group up in Rochester always has a table to sell some great stuff. Best of all? They're willing to do trades! I had some Funko ReActions that one of the guys had wanted. So what was one of the items that caught my eye? Super Powers Micro Figures. Yes! This SDCC exclusive set from Gentle Giant is a must own. Super Powers is one of my all time favorite toy lines so I simply had to add this to my collection.

Note the figures are actually based on the same molds Kenner used in 1984. Gentle Giant even released giant figures of the same line, a practice they also used for the original Masters of The Universe. Check them out, they're very much worth your time.



REAL GHOSTBUSTERS CARRYING CASE:



My personal favorite of the haul. As my friend Brandon said "what are you gonna do? Carry your figures around in a zip lock bag?". He makes a darn fine point. Carrying cases were a favorite of those kids who had to have every figure and accessory intact. That and very anal parents who got tired of stepping on them.



The trays are in great shape with no crackling, which is a common issue for these. Not only do they hold the figures in fashion, but look like a giant tv dinner tray in doing so. It also doesn't help that Janine looks like a big blob of bubblegum and Luis looks like a fruit roll up. But, despite that, it's still a great carrying case.

Even a nicer touch to this? Egon looks more like Janine or Jillian Holtzman than Egon. Which, if you recall Holtzman's look was inspired Egon's look in the cartoon...



Ok, ok. I know it's a coincidence but at this point, it's become a giant paradox and I'm afraid if I continue, I'll fall into a black hole filled with cartoon characters that don't quite resemble what they should. Ever see those goofy knockoff Bart Simpson shirts? That's what I'm fearing...


So the Village Gate Toy Show was a rousing success and I look forward to the next one in December. I certainly hope you'll join me!


-Chad

To check out some of my previous adventures, check here:

December 2016
March 2016
March 2014





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