My VINTAGE Action Figure Collection: JRNY to K-Mart Plaza!!!

[BrandonDaCollector]

Yeah, I have a lot of bittersweet moments of My own too I do remember you talking about your Sectaurs. I don't know the whole story other than the trash bag. Did you think that Sectaurs was better than SW and your other stuff at the time then you released you were wrong? Is that the case?

Oh I love First Blood, one of the best action movies ever with one of My most fave movie scores too. The other Rambo films are good also, even the last/recent ones.

Actually I didn't know Rambo maybe in G.I.Joe. I didn't know about your custom Rocky either. I'll go check it out. Thanks PB

[packerbacker180]

I'm honestly not sure the reasoning. I was probably 9 or 10, so there probably wasn't a reason other than I want shiny new toys, lol. I remember around that time my cousins got in to Sectaurs, and I know my parents didn't exactly have a lot of money back then so maybe it was a way to afford them? It may've been a case of just having lost interest in old toys, or really liking something new. I won't pretend like any of the stuff I sold was in great condition. Most were probably beat up and incomplete like most heavily played with toys of that era. I did keep all my Secret Wars and Superpowers figures, though. Not sure where they are in my parents' house though,

[BrandonDaCollector]

I see, that makes sense. Well maybe one day you could go to your parents' house and find them Secret Wars & Superpowers and find a little gold mine? Ya never know PB

[packerbacker180]

Nah, most of the accessories are missing. Capes are long gone. I'm sure Daredevil's face is completely red by now. I know there are a few vehicles, Caps helicopter, Doom roller, and the helipad and Doom castle. Always wished I still had the Hall of Justice. I remember coloring the JLA mural on the back of it with crayon, lol. I've had dreams of walking in to the local thrift stores and finding one cheap. Never understood why it was yellow instead of white. I'd definitely paint it if I had one today...

[BrandonDaCollector]

Huh, shame PB Yeah, that was great. If you could get one I'm sure you could do a great job

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here we go, here is another vintage department store feature that is very important to Me. This time the store is none other than GrandPa Pidgeons I have talked about them off and on within the topic and just recently in My Coleco Sectaurs & Rambo showcase because as I noted before, I got Sergeant Havoc from that tremendously fun store I will provide a special vid at the end of this showcase but please allow Me to tell you why this store is so special to Me.



There was many great stores that My Grandparents and Mom took Me too when I was a youngster like the previously showcased Venture & Ben Franklin's! Of course there was Target and My great local K-Mart that I have mentioned many times. There are another handful of stores that I absolutely loved too like Woolworths, ah man we had two great ones. My Grandma's friend Judy's huge store down the street from My fave of the two Woolworths which I gotta one day talk about her awesome store and of course the Bizaar all on the same street but this is for another time Anyway, GrandPa's was a terrific alternative to stores like Venture & K-Mart. They had everything they had and then some. We had 2 locations: 1 was at Chippewa/Watson and the other was in South County. They were taken-over by Value City (see more about that in the vid below in a little while). They are still in business as I speak. My Mom worked at the Chippewa/Watson location of Value City and it was extremely hard on her because of darn commissions It was so sad because not long before this it was GrandPa's and we just shopped there They would only have a tiny amount of toys while some figures were actually Jakks's WWF/WWE nWo after they had just acquired WCW. This was no where near to warrant Me to even remotely like them over GrandPa's......not by a LONG SHOT

Let's get back to were we began. I'm probably the only one in St. Louis or even Missouri for that matter that's talking about them or even thinkin' about'em...such a pathetic shame I first remembered GrandPa's from the middle part of the 80s. The Chippewa/Watson store was kinda close to Crestwood (I have talked about that great area in very recent times - unfortunately now a ghost town). Across the street was My Grandparents' fave BBQ restaurant called Hayden's BBQ (I remember going there many times because I loved their BBQ hot-dogs and I told the pretty short-blond haired waitress/co-owner that My Grandparents was gonna get Me My GB Ecto-1 & Firehouse at K-B in Crestwood...wow, I was only about 7 or so ---Hayden's went out of business only a few short years after this)! There was also a big railroad track next to GrandPa's that they removed sometime later in-between 89 - 91 or something like that They had one heck of a jewelry department, it was so bright and colorful with reddish glass cases. Oh the toy isles were wonderful. I remember the Chippewa/Watson had the Dino-Riders...a ton of them! I had mentioned this before when I showcased Mine months ago. They had a lot and I believe they had the Raptor, the T-Rex and maybe even the Brontosaurus! I got some cool WWF stuff here too. My Grandparents had already gotten Me the WCW figures by Galoob at K-Mart and possibly other places but they had'em too. In fact, there was 1 lonely Arn Anderson (check him out in My Vintage Wrestling Topic) in the corner in 1990. He would stay there for years...I believe till 94 if I recall correctly I mean talk about unwanted They had Kenner's Ghostbusters and so much more. Here is a SPOILER cause I'm gonna showcase them in the near future and they are Kenner's MEGA FORCE They had a ton of'em and My Grandparents got Me what they could :bounce: My Mom got Me My very VERY FIRST Terminator Endoskeleton figure by Kenner (I will showcase them in time) there too (that was so cool!) so yeah, they had the Terminator series as well! Also they had a tremendous selection of video games One day My Grandma took Me there in 94 and got Me several Sega Genesis games when they had a big sale! Now at the South County store, it was a bit different, I believe it was also a larger building too. They had a ton of stuff. Me and My Mom would go to stores after dusk/twilight ad especially there late at night...loved shopping after dark They had tons of action figures from most lines in the early to mid 90s like G.I. Joes but some big memorable moments there was that they had Trendmasters' Tarzan figures. I stayed there for a long time looking at the them on several occasions and couldn't put'em down because I just adored their packaging and how they looked. I never got any back then cause I was foolish but redeemed that stupid decision in 2020 when I finally got the special 9 pack, you can see them in My Recent Acquirements Topic! I just loved going to both locations, I have extremely fond memories of both'em. I may have not told everything but that is all that is on My mind at the moment. They were huge stores and were really a Walmart-like store before all of the Walmart craze & obsession of what was yet to come but arguably even better in so many ways



Here is the video, they guy has all the info that you need to know



So there it is, now after seeing the video, you know the info. There is so many people that has no idea how wonderful they were and how fun it was to shop there or just being thee ad looking around at all the fun stuff. Only older mid-westerners like Myself will know and I am very fortunate to have experienced it many, many times

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this special of GrandPa Pidgeons There is gonna be more stores that I will present in the near future as I said earlier on but it's gonna be difficult because the material is gonna be quite hard to come by but they are very crucial to Me so I will find a way to do it! I will be showcasing more great Vintage Action Figures soon so keep a look out. In the mean time you can check out some older showcases I have done within the last several weeks, I'm sure there's something you may have missed. Until the next showcase, I'll see you around

[packerbacker180]

Neat, never heard of them. I miss having more store options. Now it's Walmart or Target, really.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Thanks Yep, there was a great amount of choices to go shopping. Oh I do too Really that's it, just Walmart or Target. Really ahame

Thanks for posting in My topics PB especially this one

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here we go with My next showcase, it's gonna be a treat to behold because it will be a very unique one compared to all My others within the great topic of Mine. The majority of these will be from fast food burger joints, restaurants and places. This was some more great stuff that I found down the basement quite recently

Now, I think any kid from the 80s & 90s (of if you are/were a parent then) remembers how cool it was to go to a McDonalds and get a Happy Meal or Kid's Meal and get a cool figure inside and most of the time you never knew which one it was till you opened it up, a type of American "blind packaging" if you will. This was not always the case however if you were like Me and collecting things left and right and needed and/or wanted that specific figure and you asked for that one (I did this many times especially when I collected stuff from Jack in the Box - see My great Universal Monsters section for more on that). It was rather fun back then in the 80s & 90s because burger places would have new offers with toys and figures like every month and as I got older and realizing time I was looking forward to "what's next" Sometimes it was awesome, sometimes just so-so. I would actually continue to collect burger joint toys till the mid 2000s or so because they were still actually coming out with some pretty decent stuff to have. As times were changing it became rather disappointing thus I stopped collecting them altogether or what little was offered

So here is what I found recently

Garfield & Odie and Archie: These guys came from McDonalds. I loved it when they had Garfield stuff. Both figures of the fat cat himself & Odie are detachable and very fun to display and play around with. Archie stays put but his depiction is a cool bumper racer and and is full of excitement! Got these in 87 & 88



Peanuts' Snoopy & Woofles the Dog: Amazing I never opened up this wonderful looking Snoopy from McDonalds. I do not plan to any time either. Also here is Woofles the Dog from White Castle. He was always a fun and original character of theirs! I got both of these fun canines in 1989...the last of the great days of the 80s




Kissyfur the Bear & Floyd the Gator: These guys were from McDonalds in 1985 They were from the short lived Phil Mendez cartoon Kissyfur.



Smurfs, California Raisin & Lance Lips: All of these guys came from Hardee's. These were made by Applause and Scheich. Lance was always a very strange one of Tang & General Mills.



Fraggle Rock: Ah, My favorites. I always loved them, arguably more than Sesame Street and even the Muppets. It was something they were originally on HBO back in the day and they are making a comeback as I speak. It was truly special to watch them then These came from McDonalds and boy I remember how fun it was getting them. There is Gobo, Mokey and Wembley and Boober Fraggle!



SPECIAL BONUS!

Fraggle Rock Mini Record: Oh yes, I found this as well. My Mom got Me this along with many other mini vinyl records for Me way back when...look at this true cool classic. This isn't one of those reprints or new remakes of trying to bring those times back...this is "REAL VINTAGE" deal what I have here




The Copyrights!






SPECIAL Video!

Fraggle Rock intro!



UPDATE! Here is the very fun Fraggle Rock McDonald's commercial (thanks to PB)



Now as to who My favorite burger joint of them all was. I always wanted McDonalds and seemed like they had the best offerings in happy meals. However, I loved Hardees and especially White Castle just as much. In fact, WC was always really the funnest because of their small size food and so forth. If you haven't seen it within My topic, earlier on during Halloween time last year I posted a great Hardee's Ghostbusters and an awesome Godzilla special from White Castle Oh man I loved it back then So see, I loved them too If you haven't seen it in My topic make sure you do, you don't wanna miss that cool event I posted

Well, there we go, wow such classic stuff I found. I have more fast food vintage stuff to showcase in the future. I believe I also have more Fraggle Rock, Garfield, California Raisins and more characters to continue this showcase even further In fact I have some really special McDonalds figures to showcase in the future even Batman. I hope you enjoyed it Next up will be a very brief but very fun and extremely surprising showcase and it will the last of My recent findings then I will get back on track to My original progression. It will be soon too, until then I'll see you around

[packerbacker180]

Trust me, McDonald's toy suck today compared to years ago. A month or so ago my kids got a toy made of cardboard. They were so disappointed I actually wrote McDonald's and told them what a disappointing crappy toy it was, lol. They did respond saying they'd pass it on to their development department. The Fraggles and the Muppet Babies were my favorite Happy Meal toys from childhood. Though sometimes the spaceship was cool. Remember those?



I remember many of these toys. Not Kissyfur, though. I remember the cartoon, not the toys. Fraggle Rock was a fav. I almost included the Bells of Fraggle Rock when discussing Christmas cartoons but left it off. Another great show in HBO. Nowadays, HBO is just the same movies over and over again. I don't understand how these "premium" channels can have 5-6 different stations and still nothing on.