Toy Bender

July 4th is here and I’d like to wish all my readers in the United States happy Independence Day, because it is America’s birthday today. For the rest of you, I guess you can just sit on it. For today’s extra update I sat and asked myself “What does Independence Day mean to us as toy collectors?” And all I could come up with was the freedom to buy stupid pieces of plastic that serve no good whatsoever. Okay, it’s a stretch but I think we can make it work. Anyway, I present this birthday cake to America in gratitude:

It may not be one of those fancy nerd cakes of today, but it came from 1983 and it’s full of heart. In fact, I’m still looking for the cake pan that makes these cakes, but I don’t feel like buying one from eBay for fifty bucks. I like the fond memories of my childhood R2-D2 cake, but really not fifty dollars like.

As a favor to me, please be safe this 4th of July. I don’t want any readers losing their hands in fireworks accidents and I especially don’t want any G.I. Joes to lose their lives in a fireworks “accident”. They’ve fought to preserve your freedom, the least you can do is to preserve their tiny plastic bodies.

Finally, if you’re interested I posted the classic “Cold Slither” episode of G.I. Joe on The Robot’s Pajamas in order to celebrate the 4th of July via cartoons.

Today marks a milestone for both the internet and the toy collecting community as a whole, because this is the 1000th post on Toybender. Please join me in a round of self congratulatory applause. I’m also giving myself the cool stamp. If any post deserves it, it’s this one:

Back when I floated the idea of a toy collecting blog to the 451 Press Blogging Overlords way back in October of 2006, I never thought that this place would be as successful as it has been. Sure it’s had it’s downs, but the good times have been really good. I’ve had several articles hit big on social media sites like Digg, Stumble, and I’ve even it a few times on Fark, which is really cool. My greatest achievement though has been the Joes for Tots contest, which I’m planning on bringing back this year, even bigger and better than before. I can’t begin to describe how good it felt when I got pictures of you guys and gals helping kids out.

Speaking of you cats, the existence of Toy Bender has led me to “meeting” a whole lot of people that I’ve glad to have known. I’d make a big list here, but I don’t want to leave anyone out. I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to establish friendships through here that I never would have otherwise had. I also want to thank you if you’ve ever left a comment or sent an email my way. Seriously, when you leave a comment an angel gets it’s wings. So thank you my loyal supporters and legions of unquestioning followers. I believe someone has a word that describes you:

Thanks, Rick.

Other 451 Blogs that Have Hit 1000: Fiction Scribe, Food History

Okay, I got some links for you and if you don’t click on them you’re seriously not cool. Okay, maybe the peer pressure thing won’t work. Still, you might be interested in the links below, so check them out if you will.

Item: Speaking of cool things that I wrote on Poe Ghostal’s site, I did another Show and Tell over there showing off my super awesome AT-TE. I love his Show and Tell feature. Anyone can submit something, so why don’t you go over there and email him some pics of your favorite toy to show it off to the rest of the world?

Item: One of the winners of the Snarf Giveaway contest, a fine upstanding citizen named Newt, posted a review of said Snarf. It’s entertaining to see someone actually review these things.

Item: Hasbro has got some new Star Wars Wal-Mart exclusive three packs. I wrote about them on Poe Ghostal’s site, so if you’re interested in seeing what they are and what I think about them, then by all means check it out.

Item: Over on Robot’s PJs I ask, “What Will Suck More? Transformers 2 or G.I. Joe.” Check it out and tell me what you think. I don’t know when I’m going to see Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, but it will be reluctantly.

Item: Ten more Geek Arguments. Read and argue away!

You may have noticed that I’m occasionally late with updates on Toy Bender lately. This is mostly due to the fact that I’m currently looking for apartments in Milwaukee, which is roughly two and a half hours drive away from where I’m currently staying. We (the wife and I) think we may have found a place today and the only reason I’m sharing it here is that I’m excited, because for the first time ever we may have a spare room. You don’t know what kind of joy this brings to me. Sure, it might be a shared room meaning the wife could have a study area, but the main reasons for having the spare room is for a place to display my toys.

You might not think this is a big deal, but consider this: during the last two years of living in California I only had a tiny area in my walk in closet where I had free reign for displaying my toys. Yep, here I was running the coolest toy collecting blog in the solar system and I didn’t have much of a collection for the world to see. This was due to the fact we had a roommate and I shared the other bedroom with the wife. The both of us had some stuff out, but I totally think that a main bedroom shouldn’t really be the place for all the toys in the universe when you’re married, it should be a sort of semi-neutral zone if you will. I dunno, maybe that’s just me.

By the way, I’d be interested in seeing what others could come up with to answer the question, “What toy is Virgina Wolf thinking about?” Here’s a pic of her with a blank thought balloon after the more tag:

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Item: Are you going to the G.I. Joe Convention in Kansas City this year? Or how about San Diego Comic Con? I’m looking for some photos and possibly news stories to put on Toy Bender. I can even pay you a little for your efforts (no, not in Snarves). Shoot an email to Paul.toybender@gmail.com if you’re interested.

Item: If you don’t read Poe Ghostal’s blog, you’re a bloody fool. Not only is it a great blog on it’s own, but I’m trying to semi-regularly post there. That’s right, you get bonus Paul! Fairly recently I shared a couple of my favorite toys on his “Show and Tell” feature that you should check out. I’ll be sharing more as time goes on, so be sure to keep checking out his blog.

Item: Are you on Facebook? Are you a fan of the Toy Bender Facebook page? If not, by all means please become a fan. I’m keeping it as a place to update you on all things Toy Bender as well as a repository for interesting pictures that you might have missed on here in the past. Also, in possible future contests fans of the page will get extra entries.

Item: The “other” blog I write for, The Robtot’s Pajamas, is humming along nicely. It’s the home of all the non-toy (and sometimes toy) related posts that don’t fit here. Please drop by if you haven’t seen it or been there in awhile.

Item: If you haven’t put your entry in for the free Snarf yet, be sure to do so soon. I’ll be picking the winner this next week.

You know I’ve done my fair share of making fun of nerds that ask Hasbro questions, so it’s only fair that the readers of Toy Bender (or Toy Bendwarriors as you are otherwise known) get to ask some of their own. That’s why I’m putting this feeler out there to both tickle your naughty bits and gauge your interest in whether or not you want to take part in the Star Wars Hasbro Question and Answer sessions.

Questions for the next round are due by 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 2nd. If you feel like you have a question for Hasbro’s Star Wars team put it in a comment below and I’ll do my best to pass it along to them. My only request is that they be A. Respectful and B. Not hideously cringe worthy. I’ve got a reputation to uphold here, people. Although if you do ask a super nerd question we will get to laugh at you, so go nuts. Also keep in mind that they usualy don’t answer questions like, “When is this figure coming out?” so you might not want to even bother with something like that.

I might be able to come up with some questions, but I’m not really sure what I’d ask. Perhaps something like, “Can you please re-release Darth Reven in huge quantities so I don’t have to buy him for fifteen dollars loose on eBay?”, but I’m sure I already know the answer to that one.

I have all the Snarves (plural of Snarf). Don’t believe me? Well feast your eyes on this:

What you see there is 100 Snarf pencil grippers/toppers. Here’s an up close view:

Why do I have all these Snarves? Well, after selling some toys on Dinosaur Toy Vault I thought that I might want to find other stuff that I could sell. I ran across a wholesaler and I got a great deal on all the Snarf pencil toppers ever. I don’t think it’s crazy to think other people would want a Snarf from Thundercats pencil topper, considering the Thundercats was one of the coolest cartoons in the eighties. In fact, I think I should share my Snarf wealth, so I’m going to give away Snarves to friends and family as well as to five of you awesome readers!

If you want a groovy Snarf pencil topper all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me which Thundercats character is your favorite and why. If you’ve switched favorite characters throughout your life, I’d actually rather hear which one you liked when you were a kid. Five random, lucky people will get their hands on their own Snarf. Be sure to leave your actual email when you leave a comment!

The winners will be announced sometime next week. If you don’t happen to win, you could always buy one from Dinosaur Toy Vault for cheap. It’s not like I don’t have a lot of them…

For some reason I can’t get on the internet anymore. I went out of my way to stop at Atlanta Bread Company* in order to just catch up a little. Toy Bender will be back as soon as I can figure out just what the heck is wrong with my regular connection. In the meantime you should probably soothe the pain of not having updates from me by watching this video of Air Supply:

*Free advertising for the people that give me free WiFi. Screw you, Starbucks!

For today’s update I decided to collect a couple of awesome things I found elsewhere and direct you to them. Yep, it’s a link post, but I really don’t have that much to share otherwise.

1. Great White Snark is giving away Season 1 of the Transformers on DVD. Yeah, GIVING IT AWAY! Attention PR people, I could give away stuff too!

2. I wrote a long ass article about how kids have it easy this days when it comes to lightsaber wielding Star Wars action figures. I put it up on Poe Ghostal’s blog, so go over there and read it if you haven’t already. Why didn’t I post it here? Not to punish you, that’s for sure. I’m still kind of smarting over the whole labor issue so I’m spreading my sweet sauce around. Plus, Poe Ghostal’s site really needs more Star Wars related loving.

3. This Man-E-Faces paper toy is beyond awesome.

4. The G.I. Joe game based on the upcoming movie has got some promising images, simply due to the fact that there’s a lot of toy and cartoon inspired vehicles in it. You’re not fooling me game makers! My licensed game suck alert is going off full force on this game. It will take a lot of positive reviews for me to give it a shot. Speaking of G.I. Joe games, the DS version was also previewed on IGN and again, not being fooled until I see some reviews.

Okay, I will seriously stop bothering you guys/gals about this after this post. I’ve added even more items to my online toy store, Dinosaur Toy Vault. I’m no longer going to list items on here or update them. Yeah, I may highlight something on here to remind you I have stuff for sale, but having multiple posts on Toy Bender showing off my crap is too confusing and annoying for you. So from now on, if you want something that I’m selling go to Dinosaur Toy Vault and look around. You can even subscribe to my stuff via an RSS feed (found in each category).

Like I said before, if you see something you like email me before you buy at Paul.toybender@gmail.com and let me know who you are and what you are looking at. I will hook you up with a discount or throw in a cool freebie, because you are awesome. I’m still open to offers as well if you find my prices completely disagreeable.

And here’s a big square full of stuff I’m trying to sell. Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day everyone. I hope you hugged a veteran today and/or didn’t start any wars. I’ve got just a few items to take care of and then we’ll get back to the usual whatever we do here…

Item: I’ve gone ahead and created a toy store on eCrater.com, so I’d like to officially introduce the Dinosaur Toy Vault. I don’t know if I’ll actually sell anything there, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Mostly it’s the stuff I’ve listed here, but I’m planning to add more items in the next few days. If you want to buy anything from me there and you’re a Toy Bender fan just let me know via email. I’ll give you a discount or a cool freebie when you order.

Oh by the way, our friend Esbat has a toy site there as well so be sure to check out Toy Tyrant.com.

Item: The Toy Aisle That Time Forgot contest winner is… Wes from Scary Crayon. Congrats Wes! Sorry for everyone who didn’t win, best of luck on the next contest I run.

If you haven’t read the article that spawned the contest, head on over to Poe Ghostal’s site right now.

Item: Those of us who used to read the blog Geek Creek Canyon by our friend Monte were left cold and alone when it suddenly disappeared. It was nice to see Monte leave a comment here the other day and even nicer to know that he’s going on a grand adventure across the sea. Have fun Monte, and drop us a line from time to time to let us know how things are going!

Well by popular demand, I present the Toy Bender dealer booth. Imagine you’re in a large show floor packed with aisles of cardboard tables full of toys. The stench of B.O. in the air. In the midst of all these tables is mine. There’s mostly Star Wars stuff with a couple of random things positioned nicely on top of an old Empire Strikes Back bed sheet. I’m stuffing my face full of nachos. My wife is wearing a low cut top to attract more nerds to buy my stuff. Okay, I think the scene is now set.

The items below might not be all of the things I’ll have for sale. There’s quite a few low cost items that may go to actual children. Crazy, I know! I’m also digging through things and making hard decisions over the next few weeks, so if I add more I’ll update.

Please let me know of your interest at: Paul.toybender@gmail.com for anything you see here you like. Shipping will be as low as possible and based on where you live and if you want boxed items loose, so ask me if you want an idea. Also, if you don’t think a price is fair, make me an offer! That’s what you do at conventions! So really, I don’t want to hear if something is too expensive.

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After coming back to Wisconsin I’ve finally been able to start consolidating my collection of toys. You see, I’ve kept most of my toys in my old bedroom. Moving from apartment to apartment would have destroyed the majority of my stuff that I kept in the packaging, so it was just easier to leave it there.

While taking stock of everything that I have, I’ve decided to trying to get rid of a lot of my Star Wars figures as well as a few other miscellaneous toys. I came to this decision because I just have way too many toys and there’s a lot of them that I don’t even like anymore.

As I’ve checked what my things are going for, I’ve become depressed. Don’t get me wrong, I never purchased any of my Star Wars figures thinking they’d be worth money some day, but when I actually need money it’s sad to see that I’d be lucky to get a dollar for many of my figures. Regardless, it’s got to go. To tackle this task in the easiest possible manner and to get as much as I can for it, I’ve come up with three ways to sell my stuff:

1. eBay: There’s a few figures that I think I can get a good price for, so I’ll take my chances with eBay. I really hate the site and all the fees, but I really don’t have any other choice to get the best possible price for my toys.

2. My cousin: The strange thing about housing the majority of your toys in your old bedroom at home is that when your relatives come to visit, they take their kids to the room to admire the toys. One of my cousin’s kids is a nut about Star Wars and is completely in awe of the room. Who better to want to spend his well earned milk money on the figures that aren’t worth more than a buck or two?

3. Brian’s Toys: I’ve only ever purchased a few things from them, but as a generous sponsor to the Toy Bender Toys for Tots contest last year, I feel that they’ll be a trustworthy buyer for a couple of my things that I don’t want to mess around with on eBay. However, I’ve heard that I will be ultimately disappointed by doing this. Would anyone like to give me some input on this?

…if you enjoyed the Friday Roundy Uppy posts that I used to put up on this here blog, it’s new home is on The Robot’s Pajamas.com. That’s right, you get all the same goodness, just on a new home. You even get dinosaur pictures! WTF are you doing? Get over there now!

Side Note: Isn’t that a crazy picture?

It’s been a long time hasn’t it? It took me awhile to dust off this old blog. As you may remember there was a bit of a labor dispute round these parts. Well, that has been settled and I can get back to business. I also moved across country and am now seeking employment in the Midwest which prevented me blogging, but it’s finally time to get back to making your day better. The only “but” that I have to insert is that I need to put it out there that my confidence with the network is rather low still, so I’m going to be kind of testing the waters for a little bit before I can get to full speed. I’d also like to note that I’ve really enjoyed my time away. Guest blogging on Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation is fun and I’d like to continue doing that as well as working occasional with the eminent geek blogger Great White Snark. Furthermore my personal entertainment blog of fun is really humming along on all cylinders (it’s now the new home of Friday Roundy Uppy).

Don’t think I didn’t miss you, though. I seriously missed out on all your great comments here and the community that developed over the years. It’s mainly the reason I came back. Well, that and I’m in serious need for cash and if 451 keeps up with their part of the bargain I won’t have to go and donate blood for grocery money or at least I won’t have to donate my own blood.

So sit back, relax, get out your beer and pretzel rods and have a good time. Except if you’re at work, because that shit will get you fired.