Zombie Guides thread about the Whale box in teh street got me thinking.

Where's the weirdest place you've found a GI Joe collectible?

Two stories come to mind for me:

1. My first day at my first real job after college, I was nervously being escorted through the cubicle farm and introduced to the staff - mostly old ladies - and I take a double take when I see a GI Joe Mortal Kombat Goro figure http://www.yojoe.com/archive/actfig/mk/2goro.jpg hanging out of a planter on this ladies file cabinet. It took me weeks to dare to inquire. She caught it from a float during a Mardi Gras parade and had no idea what it was. When I left that job, they threw me a going away party and she gave it to me.

2. I was at the James Dean museum in his hometown of Fairmont, Indiana, and they had a flea market in the basement - very odd place for a flea market - and in there I found GI Joe Roller Skates with Falcon on the side.
Beats anything in the gift shop!

JAME DEAN'S GI JOE ROLLER SKATES

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Heh - I'm shocked, CJack - I expected to see "in the butt" or something similar. This being one of your threads and all........

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In his defense...CJack did say "weirdest place you've found a collectible" not "weirdest place you store your collectibles"

Kama

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As far as best collectible I've seen at random, so far it's been this epic '83 lunchbox at a flea market in Jonesboro, GA. Without canteen, of course.

http://www.yojoe.com/archive/lunchboxes/82lbox.shtml

Not that it is worth a goldmine or anything, just cool to see again and in a "antiques" dealer's booth, not a regular collector/scalper's setup.

This though is one I'd like to find at random:

http://www.yojoe.com/archive/nottoys/costume82.shtml

Just b/c i always remember my brother had that costume one year and I was extremely jealous lol

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I have those costumes MIB in small, medium, and large. It's a bit redundant but I could never break the set.
I saw them for months in a locked booth at a flea market - just out of reach - glaring in my face - and then I happened to go by one day when the guy was clearing everything out. He also had the 1982 plate/cup/bowl set - minty - but he raped me so hard on the costumes I couldn't afford the plate set.

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...what size are those skates?

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I half expected to see at least one 'Skidmark in my underwear' post, but so far so good.



I found a BTR Duke in a box of auto parts at a flea market.

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You mean like the back of a volkswagon?

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Yep. Oddly enough, thats where he keeps Skidmark AND Long Arm.

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And Deep Six

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Two events come to mind.

London, 1992. Friend I was staying with and I found this "mom and pop" toy shop in an outlying community (downwind from a fish shop, unfortunately), that had the British exclusive versions of Spirit and Mutt that were released around the same time as Slaughter's Marauders, which were never released in England. I didn't even know these figures existed! The shop looked like a toy store and an attic had exploded. Weird little place, but I was glad for the figures.

On another occasion I was visiting my relatives in Maryland, and they like to explore these out of the way places that look (and possibly were) built around Colonial times. One of these had been turned into some sort of antique and knick-knack shop, and completely out of place there was one of the 1998 three-packs -- years after its original release -- I think it was the Navy Seal one with Wet-Suit, Torpedo, and Shipwreck. This was sort of cool since that was one of the sets I'd written the file cards for and my name was on the package!

I found a USS Flagg kite at a gas station out in the middle of nowhere about 3-4 years ago. Now I hope I find the MIB toy to match the kite.

I saw some Action Force figures at a Truck Stop in Limon, CO a LONG time ago. Didn't pick any up cause I didn't have the money. If I had only known.

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