I found out late yesterday that my mother was planning on attending a giant flea market event about 60 miles from us. It's advertised as 1000 shops under one roof.
I asked her to look for any cheap ARAH GIJOE figures. She said she'd call me if she found anything.
She calls me in the afternoon to tell me she has found six figures. One is green with black boots and a red star on his fur cap.
I recognize her description of Big Bear and she tells me it's marked $3. She says there is another figure with tan arms and a beret, also $3.
A third figure has an orange holster, I didn't have my guidebook handy, but for some reason I was thinking Annihilator.
At this point I was thinking there is two figures and the other four are fifty cents each. I rationalize since I didn't get to go to the one flea market I always go to, six figures for eight bucks isn't that bad. She gets them for me and says she'll keep looking for me.
She finally gets home after 11PM and I ran next door to see what she bought me.
She explains the guy noticed one figure was loose, so he knocked off $2. I'm thinking a buck a figure is real good.
I open the plastic bag and the first little plastic box appears. I can feel another plastic box at the bottom-these are the ones like the 'Star Cases' but are for a single figure with gear. Inside in a position that would make Big Brawler envious are Skidmark and Windmill. Now I know what the orange holster was on.
Skids has a broken crotch and minor paint scratches. Windmill has a loose o-ring & left knee and lookslike his knuckles are split. The box has a $3.00 sticker.
I open the other box that has a $3 sticker on it and find Big Bear and a v1 Dial-Tone. Dial-Tone is a little lose with some minor paint scratches. Big Bear has one 'split' knuckle paint scratch and his head is a little loose. He looks like he stepped off of somebody's display shelf. Very nice.
The last box looked like it was meant to hold baseball cards and had a $2 sticker on it. I tilted it towards the light and almost dropped it in shock. Inside was a v1 Flint that has some mior paint scuffs on his beret and a small section of his hair. He has no trace of looseness to him. He looked like he was just de-carded.
What really threw me through a loop was the second figure in the box...
...a 82/83 swivel arm Cobra Officer.
This was the 'loose' figure the guy took two bucks off for.
I noticed some blue showing through the mask where his mouth and nose are, and somebody had done a half-way decent job repainting the Cobra sigil on his chest. His o-ring was on it's last legs. (that might be a pun)
I went home and replaced the o-ring. I shook it by holding the head and there was no wiggle, no looseness of any kind.
So I'm sitting here at my desk, looking at a 15-16 year old figure, in almost pristine condition, and I think I am experiecing some giddiness. I must pinch myself.
OUCH!I just had to share this with my friends here at joecustoms.
C'mon, group hug...
PS-Thanx, Mom!
Six bucks!!!!!!
I was so ready for a pig chompin' Rancor 