The 2022 Flea Market Kickoff
Well it’s finally here! Opening day of the 2022 flea market season! If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you know that no matter what else I have going on in life, I never miss the first day. Sure I’ll miss 95% of the rest of the season because I’m too lazy and decided to sleep in after watching old Facts of Life reruns the night before, but never that first day!
It’s always a good time whether I find stuff or not. Familiar vendors, new vendors, old stuff, new stuff and usually a lot of wild banter and takes about new movies, world events and collectibles I never would expect to hear. Everyone’s usually in a great mood after a long, depressing and tiring winter sucks the life out of us, so what better way to put winter behind us for good and finally get out of the house and through dirty bins of old records and dusty VHS tapes?
Lots of wild stuff today. A lot of it I left behind only because I’m currently on a tight budget with two major conventions on the horizon so while, yes, I WANTED a vintage McDonaldsLand playset with authentic Mayor McCheese figure, I couldn’t justify dragging it home. Decided to keep it cheap this year and if I was bringing home anything it HAD to be GOLD…
Well, that didn’t last as long as I had hoped. I caved and bought crap. Cool crap but still crap! Let’s get this walk of shame over with so I can get back to wondering why I can’t afford avocados but I can afford a buncha vhs that I’ll never watch.
MOONWALKER VHS:
First up was Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, which was a fairly major event back in 1988. This was Michael’s chance to go as crazy and ridiculous and make a movie that maybe movie studios wouldn’t want to take a gamble on. Michael was still cool but he started to kinda cool down and started getting labels of being weird and eccentric around this time. Although, transforming into a giant 90 foot Transformer and disposing of Joe Pesci (and his rad ponytail) prolly didn’t help those detractors. Moonwalker was a real spectacle and really fun piece of 1980s pop culture. And hey, it spawned that cool video game where dances with zombies and mobsters!
THE DUKE OF DOUBT CUP:
Recently, The Purple Stuff Podcast did an episode dedicated to Burger King promotions and characters of the past and one of my favorite things to come out of that episode was The Duke of Doubt! The Douche Duke of Doubt was essentially the BK equivalent to the Hamburgler mixed with a player hating Riddler. He’d just go around trolling and hating on The Burger King and everyone else he’d come in contact with and find some silly way to be proven wrong. He’s really a complete tool and for some reason the King never expelled him from his kingdom. Which is great because I’m obsessed with his goofy method of being an obnoxious, whiny troll while Resembling Iola Boyland from Mama’s Family. So when I had the chance to purchase this very loved and well used cup, I handed over my dollar and walked away the happiest guy in the world. Plus how can I say no to drinkware with THIS logo:
That logo equals happiness No doubting that!
Rasslin Figures:
So of course I wasn’t gonna leave a Sid figure behind. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of that facial sculpt but I must own any and all Sid stuff. It’s like a rule or something. Plus the fact that I was wearing my Sycho Sid shirt randomly was a very big sign that I needed it.
Rikishi though? Well, I did it for The Rock. That and because the seller had Sid’s vest on Rikishi and I knew for a fact this guy wouldn’t just let me have the vest. So now I’m stuck with The Kish backing dat ass up!
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS PROMO PHOTOS(90/91):
Now this is why I got out of bed!!! A collection of promotional press photos from Universal Studios Hollywood!! I’m a HUGE fan of Universal Studios and especially from that era, so to find these lot of beautiful promo photos (2 bucks each but the guy wanted them gone so he told me to take all of them for 10) was a nice treat. I was hoping to find a Jaws or Ghostbusters photo in the lot but the Back To the Future, ET, KongFrontation and Star Trek photos were nothing to sneeze at!!! All very unique and great reminders of Universal in its glory days!
And yes that Kong photo is going in The Wizard collection. I associate that ride with The Wizard just as much as I do the park itself!
THE BUG MUG:
Well…this may have been THE find of the day!
I believe these were sent to video stores to help promote released of upcoming movies or possibly distributed within the company itself. The Nest was a horror movie from 1988 about killer roaches and wasn’t the biggest success in the world(but has gone on to become a very popular cult classic!) so there’s not a ton of vintage memorabilia out there. I’ve seen video label mugs before but never something for so obscure!
Wait it gets better as you go deeper.
A ROACH ON THE BOTTOM OF THE CUP! OH MY GOSH THIS A GEM AND I WANT TO BE BURIED WITH IT. TAKE IT FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS.
So to say this was a successful first trip of the season, is an understatement. My hopes were low. I was just hoping to see some Alf stuff and find a wrestling figure. Didn’t expect to walk away with such fun and unique stuff!
Let the flea marketing begin! Holy hunting!
-Chad
