Another Snap-on Thrift Store Find

  I go to different thrift stores a few times a week. I always checkout the selection of hats. In the past I have acquired quite a few Snap-On Tools branded merchandise at thrift stores. I have found a winter jacket, a hoodie and a few different hats. Yesterday I acquired another hat.
  I decided to venture off to The Salvation Army yesterday to kill some time. So as usual I went to check out the hats. Not hoping to find anything good, they put out some new hats. Some were literally new with the tags. While rummaging through the hat rack I saw a black Snap-On Owner's Edition hat for $1.99. I own a handful of Snap-On tools that belonged to my father so I had to have this hat. This hat was priced right at $1.99. I did see a blue Aarons hat for $1.99 as well that was new with tags but I decided to just get the Snap-On hat. On the back of the hat it says their old slogan Snap-On There Is A Difference. Where do I know that slogan from? I've seen it on my 2001 Snap-On Catalog.
 

I Finally Got A Team Issued NASCAR Hat

  If you are a NASCAR fan like me, you probably own some racing hats. Unfortunately today, not all hats are available to the public. Years ago if a driver had a certain hat, they sold such hats. Today drivers don't just have one sponsor for the whole season, some have multiple sponsors that alternate during the season. So these other sponsors usually don't have hats made up for the fans to buy. They are usually team issued. Which means they are only given out to employees of a race team.

My Team issued hat.

  Now I am a fan of Michael Annett. I love his TMC Transportation sponsored car. Michael Annett's father, Harold Annett, owns TMC Transportation. However as you may have guessed, JR Motorsports doesn't sell TMC Transportation racing hats. I've been trying to track a TMC Transportation racing hat for a while now. They hardly ever come up for sale. A few days ago I was browsing eBay and I saw a Michael Annett TMC Transportation, Darlington throwback hat. I've seen this hat on eBay before and it was a whopping $32.99. I wasn't going to pay $32.99 for a team issued hat. To my surprise the hat was 40% off making the hat $19.79! At 40% off I could finally pull the trigger and buy the hat.
  Team issued hats can be expensive on eBay. You have to check often to see what pops up from time to time. I've seen Chip Ganassi Racing 5.11 Tactical hats go for as much as a brand new 59Fifty fitted goes for. I like mesh hats but there is no way I would spend $35 on a trucker hat. So this hat is one of my Christmas presents from my Aunt. She gave me a $50 MasterCard gift card for Christmas.  So I will be buying more stuff on eBay with the gift card. I'm done on the team issued hats.

Reunited At Last

My Long Lost trucks

  Today I was told to bring down an old cradle toy out of the attic for my niece. So I did just that. To my surprise was, 4 missing Hot Wheels Monster Jam trucks. I thought these trucks were lost for good. I haven't seen them in years. I thought the trucks were long gone. My niece wanted the trucks but since they were mine, I was not going to give them up. You see I collected the Hot Wheels Monster Jam line and these 4 trucks were some of my first trucks that I owned. These trucks were the short hub metal based ones. These are also more desirable to collectors. Anyway these 4 trucks were Five-O, Hot Wheels, Team Meents and The Incredible Hulk. I never thought I would hold these trucks in my hand again. It's good to be reunited with old toys.

I Found my 22nd Super Treasure Hunt car Today

 I collect Hot Wheels Cars. That's a given. Pretty much every collector is hungry for a Super Treasure Hunt car. You're lucky if you only find one in your lifetime. You're even luckier if you find 22 of them in your lifetime. Best part is I never bought one online. I found every single one of my Super Treasure Hunt cars in a store. The only one I never found in a store was the 2001 Panoz LMP that I bought at the Farmer's Market for $1. The seller had no idea what he even had.

My 22nd Super Treasure Hunt Car

 So today I had a huge trash bag full of store bags that had been sitting around my house for what seemed like an eternity. Mom told me to take them to Walmart to place them in their plastic bag recycling bin. Not a problem at all. As with every trip to Walmart, there has to be a trip to the toy dept. That's a given. So I went to the diecast section and noticed that they must have freshly stocked a new case of Hot Wheels cars, seeing the pegs filled up with a 2019 A-Case.
  I searched the pegs looking for the Super Treasure Hunt 90 Honda Civic EF. This particular Super Treasure Hunt Car is really hard to spot. This car blends right in with the regular version. You need to pay attention to the detail of any white 90 Honda Civic EF from the 2019 lineup for the Super Treasure Hunt. So how hard is it to tell apart the Super from the basic? Well for one, they are almost painted identically. It doesn't help that they are also both painted white. While the Super is painted in a pearl white color, it's still hard to spot.  One thing that sets them apart is the wheels. All Super Treasure Hunt cars have Real Rider rubber tires. If you aren't sure just check the wheels on the Civic.
  So I was so happy when I did a double check and saw 2 90 Honda Civic EF's. One was the regular and the other was a Super. I couldn't believe it. I found my 22nd Super! I went to purchase the car in the Automotive section. I later went home and placed it in a Car Keeper protector and hung it on my wall with the rest of my Super Treasure Hunt cars. So far I found 4 this year. I found 2 from 2017, 1 from 2018, and the first of 2019. I hope to find more next year or sooner. The hunt will continue.

I Dodged a Bullet at a Garage Sale

  I love going to garage sales. In fact there is one that I frequent just about every week. The lady who was having the garage sale had a Kirby G4 vacuum cleaner. She told me that she paid a lot of money for it back in the 90s. She initially wanted $40 for it and eventually said $5. I never pulled the trigger on the used vacuum. $5 for a used Kirby is a steal right? Well it might have been a steal but it was also a huge money pit.
  In fact the Kirby was missing a majority of it's parts. It was missing a cord screw, the brushroll and the rug plate and most importantly the belt. You can't simply use a Kirby without the belt. It's all in the belt lifter. Anyway I kept on joking to my Mom that I was going to get her a better vacuum than her Shark. I kept on at it for weeks. My mother wouldn't let me bring the vacuum into her home if I had bought it. In reality the metal head of this Kirby was really dusty. It had a nice layer of grime on top of it. It wouldn't even pass a white glove inspection.
  So I did some calculations to see how much of a money pit this vacuum was. The parts were as follows.

1. Rug Plate-$14.99
2. Brushroll-$34.95
3. Belt-$5.50
4. Cord Screw-$2.98
5. Pack of  9 Bags-$17.99
6. Light Bulb-$1.98
7. Hose-$49.50

The total cost would have been  $132.89 minus shipping costs. Anyway I did return to that garage sale to find out that someone actually bought that Kirby G4. I was relieved that somebody actually spent $5 on a money pit. Sure Kirby's are great vacuum cleaners but that one at the garage sale was a bad buy. Who knows what other parts it may have needed. What if It didn't work? Then what do I do? I would be out of $5. There is always the Kirby Factory Rebuild Program. Did you know that if you are not the original owner of the Kirby, you can still have the vacuum rebuilt? In fact if you aren't the original owner and want to get it rebuilt, you're going to pay a lot more than the original owner would pay. I checked out the rate for non original owners and it was $350! That's an insane amount of money to get a vacuum cleaner rebuilt. I would never consider spending that. My dad wouldn't even spend that kind of money on rebuilding a vacuum. He repaired appliances for a living and he didn't work on vacuums though. He would think that $350 to rebuild a 20 year old vacuum would be a waste of money.
  In the long run, I saved myself a lot of aggravation and headaches by not buying that Kirby G4. My wallet even thanked me. I like USA made vacuum cleaners, so If I were to spend the money on one that is made here in the USA I would buy a Sanitaire or a Hoover commercial vacuum.

Dialogue Tracks on Soundtracks

  If you are a huge fan of Lady Gaga, you probably already know that the soundtrack for A Star Is Born contains dialogue tracks. As a matter of fact 14 of the 34 tracks on this soundtrack consist of dialogue tracks. Dialogue tracks have no place on a soundtrack album at all.
  First off dialogue tracks ruin the listening experience of the soundtrack. They interrupt the chain and flow of the songs. First you hear a song and then wham, you start to hear talking, I like my soundtracks to contain zero dialogue tracks on them. I am a film score aficionado and I like to hear the instrumental music, I didn't pay for a CD to listen to talking, I bought it to listen to the film score. I didn't buy the Academy Award Winning score for The Hateful Eight because it contained dialogue tracks. I usually try to buy the Oscar for Best Original Score winners on CD but having dialogue tracks is a no-no for me.
 On a side note I do own two of The Simpsons soundtracks and they do contain a ton of dialogue tracks on them. Some of the song tracks have dialogue before the song starts. I'm not a fan of that at all but if I wanted to hear dialogue from The Simpsons, I would just go watch it on TV. But that's my opinion on that.
  I also have The Brave Little Toaster soundtrack by David Newman. Unfortunately however two of the score tracks contain dialogue on them. If I remember correctly Percepto Records didn't have the isolated instrumental score tracks available to them without dialogue on them. I don't understand why they couldn't have just rerecorded those two score cues so they wouldn't have the dialogue on them. Is it that hard to rerecord 2 measly score cues. It's annoying but I tend to drown out the dialogue whenever I listen to The Brave Little Toaster soundtrack.
  If I want to hear dialogue on a CD I would just go buy a spoken word album instead.

Disney Movies That Need Proper Blu-Ray Releases

  Disney is one of those companies that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love some of their movies but, they don't see them the same way that I do. I have several favorite Disney movies that are in dire need of a proper Blu-Ray release. It seems like Disney likes to neglect these films by treating them like a bastard stepchild.
  One of my favorite movies that Disney has distributed is The Brave Little Toaster (1987). It is a common misconception that The Brave Little Toaster is a Disney movie. Technically speaking, it wasn't made by Disney. It was made by Hyperion Animation with The Kushner-Locke Company. Disney only bought the distribution rights to the film. However due to Disney purchasing the distribution rights, they scrapped the theatrical release of The Brave Little Toaster. Instead of releasing it in theaters, it debuted on The Disney Channel and then went straight to video.
  The Brave Little Toaster was made in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. However this film hasn't been seen in widescreen since it was screened at Sundance Film Festival. Every DVD of this film is in fullscreen. The region 1 DVD has a very bad transfer that shakes. This movie has a cult following. It's timeless and needs a proper anamorphic widescreen HD transfer. In 2017 The Brave Little Toaster turned 30 years old. Disney didn't acknowledge this film turning 30 and never honored it with a proper DVD or Blu-Ray release in it's original aspect ratio. People would buy that in a heartbeat. Even the director, Jerry Rees expressed interest in a proper DVD release. He had no say in the DVD release that Disney put out. I really want to see this movie get a proper anamorphic widescreen release. It deserves it. I guess Disney hates money.
  Another one of my favorite Disney movies from the 90s is A Goofy Movie (1995). I remember going to see this one when it came out in theaters. If it wasn't for this movie I wouldn't be interested in AMC Pacers. Goofy's car in this movie is an AMC Pacer wagon. All car things aside here, A Goofy Movie also has a cult following among fans. Just like The Brave Little Toaster, A Goofy Movie has never received a proper anamorphic widescreen release or a Blu-Ray. In fact it's only been released in fullscreen format. In 2015, the 20th anniversary of it's release Disney neglected to give A Goofy Movie a proper release on Blu-Ray. I do believe this movie was planned on having a Blu-Ray release as a double feature with it's direct to video sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000) but somehow it got put on the back burner by Disney. Again Disney apparently hates money.
  The third movie that needs a proper Blu-Ray release is Disney's Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.(1993). This film is a remake of The Incredible Journey that came out in 1963. The remake is more well known than the original version. In fact this movie has never gotten a widescreen release in physical form. I think a widescreen version was released to the digital streaming market and, I heard that there was a widescreen DVD that was released in Mexico? I could be wrong about Mexico getting a widescreen DVD release but I did read that somewhere online. I can't remember the site offhand. Ironically the film's sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Fransisco was given a proper Widescreen DVD release whereas the original only has a fullscreen release. Again with this film having a cult following, it's time for it to see a proper HD Blu-Ray Release.
  Since Disney owns Star Wars, they need to do one thing to please the fans, release the original unaltered Trilogy on Blu-Ray. Many years ago the unaltered theatrical versions got released on DVD but there was one major problem, they were in non-anamorphic widescreen and on top of that the transfers were pretty bad. Disney would be really stupid to not release the original unaltered Star Wars Trilogy on Blu-Ray. They are practically sitting on a goldmine here. Star Wars fans would kill to have a proper Blu-Ray release of the unaltered trilogy. I don't know why Disney hasn't done this yet. I know there is a bootleg called the Despecialized trilogy out there but we need a proper release from Disney.
  C'mon Disney step up your game and just Shut Up and Take My Money already!

Hey It's That Guy Actor of the Day: Mike Starr

  I thought I would try a new type of post where every day I try to think of a Hey it's that guy actor. I'll do my best to try to remember new ones so I have a few of them lined up. I thought for my inaugural Hey It's That Guy Actor of the day, It would be no other than Mike Starr.
  Now this Mike Starr shouldn't be confused with the other Mike Starr, who is the late bassist for the band Alice in Chains. This is the actor we are talking about here. Now that I cleared up the confusion between the actor and the musician we can now proceed to talking about the actor.
  Mike Starr is the epitome of Hey It's That Guy actors. You recognize his face for being in a lot of movies, but you don't know his name. Mike Starr has been in a lot of hit movies and TV shows mostly playing bit parts. He is a typecast actor who seems to always be cast as a henchman or a thug of some sort. Some of the well known movies he starred in are as follows.

Mike Starr

1. The Bodyguard 
2. Dumb and Dumber
3. Goodfellas
4. Ed Wood
5. Jersey Girl
6. Miller's Crossing
7. The Last Dragon 
8. The Ice Harvest
9. Baby's Day Out
10. Uncle Buck
11. Born on the Fourth of July
12. Elvis has Left the Building

  In addition to his many movies that he had a part in, he also has had many roles in TV shows. Again mostly these roles were one time appearances. Some of the well known TV shows Mike Starr has been in.

1. Law and Order (He played various characters three times)
2. 3rd Rock from the Sun
3. Home Improvement
4. Ed (appeared in 45 Episodes)
5. The West Wing
6. Law and Order Criminal Intent
7. Without a Trace
8. Joan of Arcadia (4 Episodes)
9. NCIS
10. CSI NY
11. The Office
12. Days of Our Lives (5 Episodes)
13. Law and Order SVU
14. The Young and The Restless (30 Episodes)
15. Chicago Fire (5 Episodes)

That Time Sears Tried to Fix My Father's Adjustable Wrench

  Many years ago when my father still had his appliance repair business, he bought a majority of his tools at Sears. In fact Sears once had a store in Hazleton, PA. It closed way before I was born but I have heard stories about Sears being where the Hazleton Shopping Center is on Broad Street. There is now a UPS Store and an Urgent Care clinic there now. In fact the garage bays are still there as well. I'm not going into detail about the Sears and their history in Hazleton.
  Where was I going with this? Oh yes, the story my Dad told me about when he tired to get his Craftsman Adjustable Wrench warrantied for a new one. You see the thumb adjuster wheel on my Dad's adjustable wrench had somehow fallen out. Everyone practically knows that Craftsman Tools have a lifetime warranty. However they tried to give my Dad the runaround. Instead of exchanging the wrench for a new one, they tried to fix it. That's right, they tried to repair it instead of giving him a new wrench.
  According to my father, the Sears employee had attempted to fix the wrench by hitting the thumb adjuster wheel back into the wrench with a hammer. My father was quite annoyed at this bull that the Sears employee tried to do. My father told the employee that he shouldn't attempt to fix the wrench. The employee didn't listen to my dad at first. I remember my father telling me that the employee tried several times to place the thumb adjuster back into the hammer. My father had enough of this rigamarole from the Sears employee, that he demanded him to just give him a new adjustable wrench. The employee gave in to my father's request and exchanged the broken wrench for a new one.
  I find this story funny because this all could have been avoided if the employee would have noticed that there was a screw holding the thumb adjuster wheel in place in the wrench this all could have been avoided. You see I was going through my father's Craftsman Tools today in the garage when I noticed his 12 inch adjustable wrench. The wrench was made by JH Williams which is ironically now the industrial brand of Snap-On Tools. The wrench has a JW stamp on it. Although when this wrench was made by JH Williams, they weren't bought by Snap-On then.
   Anyway my father would later go on to buy Snap-On Tools in the 1970s to I guess the 90s as far as his business records go. I have a master list of when he purchased his Snap-On's. On that list is a Snap-On adjustable wrench. My father never had any warranty issued when it came to Snap-On tools. I believe the only time he had to wait for a replacement was for his magnetic shank for his soft grip ratcheting screwdriver. The reason being for the wait was because the Snap-On dealer was just getting started and being trained by a veteran Snap-On dealer. My dad had to wait a week for the new shank. My father didn't have a shop anymore so he had it delivered to his friends gas station. If you are wondering if we still own the Snap-On adjustable wrench, sadly we don't. We only have a handful of Snap-On tools left. I prefer the Snap-On Tools over Craftsman any day.

Well That Was Fast

  About a week ago I signed up for Team Valvoline Rewards where you can earn points to get cool merchandise. You can sign up here https://team.valvoline.com/. Anyway I wanted the hat since I love hats. I eventually did everything that I could to earn points in order to get the Team Valvoline hat. The hat was 7500 points. A little steep but you can earn a lot of points fast. You can add your cars that you have to earn points. You even get points for signing up which helps boost your start. You can take tests to earn points too. There were 2 hats that were available and one was a flat brimmed hat that said Never Idle. Both were 7500 points which is weird considering the beanie is 8000 points. Well last Sunday I redeemed my 7500 points for the hat. It said please wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. What is this the 1980s? Are shipping and processing this backed up with the major technological advances that we have in this glorious modern society? I was prepared to wait out the 6 to 8 weeks for my hat but I was shocked when I brought in the mail today.
  So I went to check for mail today and we got 3 packages, my brother ended up with 2 of them. The other one was mine. What was in that padded envelope for me? It was my Team Valvoline hat that I sent away for 6 days ago.
  I couldn't believe that it came with in 6 days. I don't know where or how they came up with the estimate of 6 to 8 weeks for delivery for the hat. I doubt orders would be that backed up that you have to wait 6 to 8 weeks to get your item. Still nonetheless I did get the hat without having to wait a month to get it. I'm going to save up for the other hat. I don't have enough points for it yet.

An Ultimate List of My Greatest Thrift Store Finds

  I frequently shop at thrift stores. Every time I step inside one, it's a whole new adventure. Over the many trips I have made to thrift stores, I have bought some interesting items. I never compiled a list of what were the ultimate finds but, I will try to recall all of my so called greatest finds. This list will mostly consist of various articles of clothing, a ton of hats, Toys, CD's and some oddball items. This list won't be in any particular order of when I found them. I don't remember what I paid for some of the items so I will try to remember what I had paid for them. So hold on to your butts, you are going to be amazed at my ultimate finds.

1. Vietnam War Era, US Army AG-274 Quarpel Raincoat. 
2. Vietnam War Era US Army Gabardine Overcoat.
3. Snap-On Tools RA Winter Jacket
4. Snap-On Tools Hoodie
5. Snap-On Tools Full Foam Hat from the 1980s
6. Snap-On Tools Mesh hat from the 1980s
7. Snap-On Tools Camouflage hat where the pattern consists of all tools.
8. UPS Brown Uniform Mesh Hat
9. UPS Brown  Uniform non-mesh hat 
10. FreshDirect Delivery Driver Uniform tri-season jacket.
11. Texaco Havoline down puffy vest from the 80s
12. Texaco Spring Jacket
13. A Hat autographed by Ed Kinney and the late Bruce Sarver
14. A Tide Racing hat just like the one Travis Kvapil wore
15. Forrest Gump Score Soundtrack by Alan Silvestri
16. The Punisher Score by Carlo Siliotto 
17. B-Day 2 disc deluxe edition
18. Ridge Racer for PS1
19. Hanna Soundtrack
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Cargill hat
21. Jet Moto 2 for PS1
22. A sealed CD copy of Adam Lambert's debut album For Your Entertainment
23. An official Make America Great Again hat
24. Matco Tools Racing hat
25. Crisco Racing hat from the 1980s
26. A vintage US Mail uniform hat
27. 2009 New York Yankees World Series 59Fifty
28. OneMain Financial Racing hat
29. Con-Way Central Express (CCX) Mesh hat
30. Dunbar Armored Uniform Mesh hat
31. International Trucks Eagle hat
32. Wegman's Mesh uniform hat
33. Nine Inch Nails The Slip CD
34. Nine Inch Nails Year Zero Remixed CD
35. Nine Inch Nails Lights In The Sky Tour hat
36. Castrol Edge hat
37. White Castrol GTX Hat like the one John Force used to wear
38. Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons snapback hat autographed by the mascot The Grump
39. Hummer hat
40. Mr. Peanut Baseball hat
41. Budweiser Football jersey
42. Mazda Polo shirt
43. Call 811 hat
44. Vintage Hot Wheels Stutz Blackhawk blackwall
45. Coach Bylsma Bobblehead
46. Hyundai coffee mug
47. Yuengling Pint Glass
48. 2 Cutty Sark scotch tumblers
49. A Realtor lapel pin
50. Vintage Michelin down winter jacket
51. A stress reliever shaped like a London Taxi
52. A Wells Fargo Stress Reliever shaped like a Stagecoach
53. A Car Fox stuffed animal
54. A Mattress Man stuffed animal
55. Serta Counting Sheep Plush #1
56. Serta Counting Sheep Plush #5
57. Serta Counting Sheep Plush #60
58. Texaco 1919 GMC Tanker chrome edition bank
59. Humble Oil 1925 Kenworth Tanker bank. (This bank started my truck bank collection)
60. A Saturn of Wyoming Valley Coffee Mug

Another Great Vintage Hat Haul

  I had a brief moment to stop in The Salvation Army yesterday. I had low hopes of finding anything good on a Monday. However it was like I died and went to Heaven. You see, I love vintage trucker hats. I love them when they are from the 1980s and early 90s. Yesterday The Salvation Army put out a ton of brand new deadstock trucker hats. If you don't know what deadstock means, I'll explain. Deadstock means it is a vintage new and unworn item of clothing. New Old Stock, you get the picture.

The 2 Snap-on Hats pictured with a Snap-on truck bank

  I didn't have a lot of time to look around the whole store. I just managed to check out all of the vintage hats. There were 3 different Marlboro hats. They were $1.99 each. There was one Marlboro Team Penske IndyCar hat that was really dusty but still new. There was a few hats that were a bit dusty. It wasn't worth going home and trying to brush off the hats. However most of the hats were $0.99 each so that was great. So as I rummaged through the hats, I found 3 that really interested me. 2 of the hats were Snap-on Tools hats probably from the 1980s. Judging by the Snap-on logo on the 2 hats was a dead giveaway that they were from the late 80s. I love Snap-on tools. I love collecting anything associated with them. Finding 2 unworn Snap-on hats from the 80s for $0.99 each made me really happy.
  One Snap-on hat was a mesh hat. The second hat was a full foam hat with a patch that said America's Best Snap-on. I was amazed at the condition of the 2 Snap-on hats. Since they both had foam crowns, and given their age, none of the foam was falling out of the hats. You have to watch out when you buy vintage hats with foam crowns that the foam isn't rotting out of it. I once bought a mesh hat where that happened. If they weren't stored properly you are going to have a major problem.
  The third and final hat was a brand new unworn AutoZone trucker hat. It still had the barcode under the brim! I used to have that same AutoZone hat when I was a little boy. I can't recall what exactly happened to it. I was glad to see one again so i had to have it for nostalgic purposes. I could have gone overboard buying up all of the vintage hats but I showed some restraint and only spent $2.97 total.

The Best $6 Hot Wheels Haul

 I was lucky enough to be able to get to the local weekly farmers market today. I rarely get a chance to go up there because of how hectic our schedule is. I usually allocate $10 to spend on cars. So today I only spent $6. There is one particular seller that I always buy from. Today I bought a lot of loose cars from him. He gave me a deal at $0.50 each for the loose cars. Two of those loose cars were ex-Corgi castings. As I posted before, I love ex-Corgi castings. I'm on a mission to track them all down. Finding 2 Fire Eater II and Flame Stopper II was a shock. I've been looking for those 2 fire trucks for years. Now I have them to add to my ex-Corgi castings collection. Buying Flame Stopper II and Fire Eater II brought my ex-Corgi collection up to 16 cars. The hunt will still ensure for a good while.
  In addition to the 2 ex-Corgi cars, I bought a 1977 Blackwall Letter Getter. I already had a Letter Getter in my collection but it is in really rough shape. The fact that I found one that was in near perfect condition for $0.50 was a steal. I bought another blackwall Pontiac J2000, a Pontiac Fiero 2M4, a 1995 Model Series Dodge Ram 1500. I also bought a third blackwall, Minitrek from 1981. I bought that one because it is allegedly based on a Toyota Chinook camper but it is an unlicensed casting.
  Now out of the whole batch of cars that I had purchased, only 2 of them were MOC. Back in 2012, I bought the First Edition Bentley Continental Supersports. However the one that I originally bought was severely defective. It had very poor quality control where the windshield was loose and you could push it down. The car had black streaks on the white paint. The car looked like it scraped the wall at Daytona. I don't know why I never bothered to get it replaced right away in 2012. I guess it wasn't really necessary. So when I was at the Farmers Market, I immediately spotted the First Edition Bentley that I needed to replace. So all of those cars came to $5 from my favorite seller.
  The final $1 that I spent on car was a 1996 First Editions Ford Mustang GT. I already have this car in my collection but it was the blue one that came with the McDonald's playset. I try to collect all of the licensed First Editions cars if I can find them. Hot Wheels had retired this Mustang GT in the Final Run Series back in 2003 so it's a shame they no longer make this car. In the long run this $6 may be the best $6 that I have ever spent on Hot Wheels cars.

Target Finally Paid Off Today

  I rarely get to go to Target since the nearest one is 25 miles from me. Today I was able to go for once. Today's Target Run had paid off. I collect Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Recently if you are in the Hot Wheels collector community you might know that the Hot Wheels Batman The Animated Series Batmobile has been hitting the shelves at Target stores. I absolutely love Batman The Animated Series. It was one of my favorite TV shows growing up in the 90s. I still have all of my old Kenner figures and own the complete series on DVD. I would need to get at least 2 of these Batmobile's for my collection. Why 2? Well I'll open one up and keep the other MOC to hang on my Hollywood car wall. In addition to the Animated Series Batmobile hitting Target shelves was King Cuda which I also was able to get. It turns out they had 2 Batmobile's and 1 King Cuda left.
  What takes the cake though is the 4th car that I got today, The Matchbox Jurassic World Legacy Collection Jeep #12, the one with the Soft top variant. Everytime I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Target to find this exclusive vehicle, there would be Zero single Legacy Collection cars on the shelf. They might have had the 5 pack but they didn't have any singles. The Legacy Collection is a Target Exclusive by the way. I really dislike store exclusives. They are a pain to get a hold of and make collecting more frustrating. Anyway Jeep #12 was the last one left they had of this Jeep. Fun fact, Jeep #12 was the Jeep Dennis Nedry took to get the embryo's to the East Dock.

Another Great Vintage Thrift Store Find

  I love shopping at thrift stores. I am kind of semi retired from buying unnecessary items such as jackets and different clothing to test my shop scissors on. I do pop in thrift stores quite often enough to see a lot of interesting items.
  Yesterday I decided to venture to The Salvation Army. I didn't get a chance to get there on Wednesday so I decided to go on Saturday. My week was really busy so I didn't have time to go until Saturday. So I go inside to immediately look at the hats that they have. I like to see if they have anything new or interesting when it comes to hats. So I walk to the men's dept and look at the hat shelf and I immediately spotted a vintage US Mail winter hat. Yikes! This has got to be too good to be true. So I grabbed the hat and checked the price. It was $0.99! Well I know what I'm getting.
  I was dead set on getting this vintage hat. I needed it badly. So I looked around at other various things and saw some more hats for sale but they weren't worth getting. So I passed on them. I went to the basement section to look at the various stuff they had for sale there. I spotted a wicker shotgun thingy that was unusual. I didn't check the price but it was really strange to see that. I looked at the appliance shelf to see if that vintage check writer machine was still there. To my surprise it was still there. I wonder how long that will rot on the shelf. I have a vintage check writer that I found in my attic so I have no need for the one at The Salvation Army.
  So I ventured back to the main floor and purchased my US Mail hat. I did really good on buying this hat. I checked to see what people want for hats like this on eBay and they want $30+ for a hat like this. Some things that I have noticed about this hat is that it was made by Some's Uniforms in Paramus, NJ. The hat is also Union made by the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, a defunct union. I'm not a big fan of Unions but I have to admit that this hat is cool. It's really a great piece to my Made in the USA hat collection.

I Finally Got Public Enemy Number 1.

  I'm a Hot Wheels collector among many things. For years there was one car that has eluded me. You see ever since I first saw the Mercedes 300TD Collector # 606 from 1997 in a book, I've always wanted that car. I love station wagons so having this car in my collection made sense. This car isn't like other Hot Wheels cars. Why is that? Well for one thing, this wagon isn't technically a Hot Wheels car. It's an ex-Corgi casting. Back in the early 1990s Mattel bought out Mettoy which was the makers of the iconic Corgi brand of diecast. So Mattel had acquired a bunch of old Corgi castings and released them as Hot Wheels cars for a brief amount of years in the late 90s. In fact most ex-Corgi castings were only released once such as the 300TD.
  For years I've been going to the local farmers market to look for this car from the various sellers who sell Hot Wheels cars. I've been fortunate to find other ex-Corgi cars that I've wanted. The Mercedes 300TD has always eluded me, until a few weeks ago. Ironically I didn't get the car at the farmers market, I got it in a Reddit trade.

  I am a Reddit member who is mostly active in the subreddit r/HotWheels. I've been fortunate enough to engage in several trades with other members there. Buying those non super Treasure Hunt cars have paid off so far. I'm very grateful for buying that Pink Cadillac Sixteen Regular Treasure Hunt car because it enabled me to get the Mercedes 300TD. I was originally trading the Cadillac Sixteen for the Matchbox Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe. The other member asked if there was any other car I was looking for. So going out on a limb, I asked if he had the Mercedes 300TD. I was in luck, he had it. So we traded cars and I ended up with the Mercedes 300TD that I've wanted badly for years. It's such a quirky car. I love it because you can automatically tell it isn't a Hot Wheels design. Heck even it says on the carding, European Styling. This car is one of the most obscure Hot Wheels cars out there. Not because it's an ex Corgi car but because it is a station wagon. Many years ago Station Wagons just weren't popular in Hot Wheels form. Now they are getting quite popular. Now Hot Wheels has given us collectors many wagons in recent years such as a Chevelle Wagon and a Skyline Wagon. Will this 300TD make a comeback some day? I highly doubt it will ever see a mainline release ever again. So I'm glad I have this One Hit Wonder Hot Wheels car.

A Look Back at Jurassic Park III Human Figures.

  In honor of Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom being in theaters now, I decided to look back at Jurassic Park III Human Figures. I have a love hate relationship with this toyline as well as the movie itself. By the time Jurassic Park III was in development, Kenner who previously made the toys for the previous two Jurassic Park Films had been shut down by Hasbro in 2000. Kenner was purchased by Hasbro back in 1991.
  So since Kenner was closed down in 2000, the Jurassic Park license went to Hasbro. A year before Kenner was shut down, Hasbro released a line of repainted Kenner Jurassic Park figures in a line called Jurassic Park Dinosaurs. The human figures were a mish mash of parts from different figures. Some figures used old heads from the Jurassic Park Dino trackers line with The Lost World Series 2 Ajay Sidu's body or simply repainted InGen hunter figures. That was Kenner's last breath with the Jurassic Park License.

Series 1 Alan Grant

  Now fast forward 2 years ahead to 2001. Hasbro now has the license instead of Kenner. So Hasbro decided it was a good idea to get rid of the iconic Kenner scale that their Jurassic Park figures were known for, Kenner's Jurassic Park human figures were 4.5 inches tall. Hasbro made their Jurassic Park III figures 3.75 inches. This was a massive shrink in height. In addition to the change in height, Hasbro thought it was a good idea to make the human figures have tattered and torn clothing. Ok this is something new, I guess they want to simulate the humans surviving a plane crash into a tree in Isla Sorna. It's a good idea but the figures look stupid with tattered clothing.
  Series 1 of the humans contained, Alan Grant, Billy Brennan, Amanda Kirby, Eric Kirby and a Military General. This line lacked a lot of interesting characters. Hasbro missed the ball by not
making figures of Udesky, Nash and Cooper, the 3 mercenaries hired by the Kirby's to help find their son. I mean who wouldn't want a figure of Michael Jeter?
  Series 2 contained 3 human figures, an Alan Grant without tattered clothes, Paul Kirby and the most WTF action figure in the history of this toy franchise, the Military Diver. That's right Hasbro made a

The Diver

military diver that was not a part of the plot of Jurassic Park III whatsoever. I have a soft spot for the military diver figure because I used to use him when I would play search and rescue with my action figures. I never associated him with Jurassic Park.

All Terrain Dino Trapper

  Then there was the figures that came with the vehicles and playsets. There was an Alan Grant that came with a motorcycle. Ok let's stop here for a second and talk about what is wrong with this figure and vehicle. Nobody used a motorcycle at all in Jurassic Park III! Again WTF was Hasbro thinking when they greenlighted this? This was a very bad idea! Excuse the JPIII reference there, I couldn't resist making it. Then there was the All Terrain Dino Trapper vehicle that came with a Billy Brennan figure. This vehicle was utter nonsensical bullcrap. I understand they didn't have any specialized outfitted vehicles when they went to Isla Sorna but this vehicle crosses the damn line.
  For vehicles they could have made an airplane like the Beechcraft Super King Air 200 that the Kirby's chartered to get to Isla Sorna. An airplane would have made a lot of sense. The airplane could have had a battle damage feature like previous Jurassic Park vehicles included. They could have had the airplane's wings pop off and the nose of the fuselage fall off. You know from when the Spinosaurus attacked the plane when it crashed into the tree.

Air Heli-Sabre Marine Copter.

  Speaking of vehicles the final vehicle made the most sense out of them all, the Air Heli-Sabre Marine Copter. This vehicle kinda spoiled the ending but it made sense because the Marine Corps showed up at the end of Jurassic Park III to rescue the Kirby's. This vehicle included a really cool pilot figure. This figure is in his G-suit and his head is a fighter pilot helmet and oxygen mask. The pilot doesn't contain any tattered clothing at all. However only 5 Human figures from this line didn't have tattered clothing.
  The 4 main figures that didn't have ripped clothing were, Series 2 Alan Grant, The Marine Copter Pilot, and Military General from series 1 and Billy Brennan that came with the all Terrain Dino Trapper.

The Dino Tracking Set

  However there is a fifth figure that is not like the other four that I have mentioned, This figure is not discussed too often in the Jurassic Park action figure collector community. This figure is really rare. It was a Walmart store exclusive. This figure is the 4.5 inch human figure's last stand. This was the last time there would ever be a 4.5 Inch Jurassic Park Human figure. What makes this Dino Tracker figure so odd is that it is an repaint of Harpoon Harrison from the Jurassic Park Dino Trackers line from 1993. Harpoon Harrison and all of the other Dino Trackers and Dino Raiders were completely fictional and are not canon at all. What makes this Harpoon Harrison repaint so unusual is that Hasbro repainted him in a Hispanic skin tone. No other Jurassic Park figure had ever been given a different skin color. I am proud owner of this Harpoon Harrison Repaint and I love it. He used to go on many adventures with my Kenner Batman figures, I would use him as a guide. Here's some food for thought, could this Harpoon Harrison figure be attempting to represent Enrique Cardoso who ran the illegal Dino-Soar parasailing operation? I mean he could be, but I'll leave that with you to decide.

Today's interesting Thrifting adventure.

 I went to the independent thrift store today to look around and it paid off. I went to look at the hats today to see if there was anything new. I was in luck there was some new hats. In today's assortment of hats they had 2 Hummer unstructured hats. One was green and the later was black. You don't run across Hummer merchandise too often. So for $0.95 I couldn't pass up the black hat for my car company hat collection. I collect hats from different car companies. So I was lacking a Hummer hat for a long time. You see when GM discontinued Hummer they never put any of the official licensed Hummer merchandise on clearance unlike what they did for Saturn. Years ago I wanted to buy a Hummer Trucker hat, It was $20. This was during GM's restructuring when they received the government bailout. I couldn't pull the trigger on a $20 Trucker hat. I ended up paying $0.95 for the Hummer hat. I couldn't complain.

The Glass that I saw.

  Next I ventured a few feet from the hat rack to look at the glassware. I can't buy anymore glassware from thrift stores. We currently have no need for more glassware. I love seeing beer glasses with company logos on them at thrift stores. You tend to see a lot of different beer branded glassware. I guess people get them for free and donate them. Most of the glassware like that almost always look brand new. I did see an old Terry Labonte Slim Jim Beer mug. However it was $3.95. Too much for my price point.
  I then spotted a Marlboro Adventure Team duffel bag for $4.95. I picked it up and inspected it for a second. I didn't bother to open it up. It was too small for my taste. I wonder how many packs of cigarettes somebody had to smoke in order to send away for that?
  I then ventured off to look at the CD selection to see if they had anything good. I've had decent luck when it comes to finding good CD's here. In the past I've found a ton of film score CD's. In fact the other day I stopped by this thrift store for a quick second and found a Jan Lewan CD. You may have heard of Jan Lewan because they made a movie about his Ponzi Scheme called The Polka King starring Jack Black. You may not know this but Jan Lewan lived here in Hazleton, PA. He no longer lives here in PA. In fact the CD I bought titled Jan Lewan and His Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Polka Album in 1995. However Jan Lewan lost out to Walter Ostanek Band that year.
  So today I hit big on CD's again. Today I spotted a 2 disc deluxe edition that I have been on the lookout for. It was Beyonce B-Day 2 disc Deluxe edition. Not bad for $0.50. I looked forever for that at the local record store for that deluxe edition for years and I only ever seen the single disc version. So I checked the 2 discs for scratches and didn't see any. I checked the CD's again and spotted Ashley Tisdale's debut album Headstrong. As usual I checked the disc for any scratches. I was in luck, there wasn't any scratches. However I did have to wipe them down with eyeglass cleaner spray.
  So I did good today, I only paid $2 for all three things. Not too shabby in my opinion.

My Final Toys R Us Purchase.

  Today was a bittersweet day for me. I made my last Toys R Us purchase. I was pondering what kind of toy that purchase would end up being. It was a toss up between a WWE figure, Hot Wheels car or some type of action figure. Well for starters Toys R Us barely had any Hot Wheels cars for that matter. They had a handful but they were all of the same car. Nothing worth getting. They didn't have any Monster Jam 1:64's or new basic Matchbox cars with the exception of the few Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom cars. So buying a diecast was out of the question.
  Now the WWE figure selection was awful. There were a few sporadic figures from 2017's Elite 41 wave. I have all of the flashback figures from that set, so there wasn't a reason to buy any figures. If you wanted a WWE fashion doll, TRU has tons of them. They can't give those away no matter how much they are on clearance for.
  I've been pondering what will happen with all of those unsold WWE Fashion Dolls once Toys R Us goes out of business. Will they end up at Ollies or Five Below, or Big Lots? Who knows for sure. However the WWE Fashion Doll line was a complete failure that really warmed the shelves like crazy. I think Toys R Us overestimated this line thinking it would be a success. It's a huge flop.
  Anyway since it wasn't a Hot Wheels car or WWE figure, I turned my attention to another action figure line, Once Upon a Time. I love ABC's Once Upon a Time. I'm a bit upset that it ended after 7 seasons. It ran it's course. So I decided that I would buy an Emma Swan action figure. Normally this figure is $25. However I was in luck and It was 50% off. So I thought it would be a perfect closure to an end of an era, Once Upon a Time gets cancelled and Toys R Us goes out of business. It was the last purchase I'll ever make at Toys R Us. Thanks for the memories Toys R Us. You will be missed.

My Life has 100% Improved Since I bought that Snap-On Jacket

  Ever since I bought that Snap-On jacket at The Salvation Army, I feel like my life has improved 100% How do I know this for a fact. Well for starters I've been on a lucky streak as of yesterday. I hit the jackpot twice. If you don't already know this by now, I am a Hot Wheels collector. I have hundreds of cars MOC and loose. You're probably wondering where I am headed with this and I'll explain it to you.
  Yesterday my mom sent me into Boscov's to pay her charge card bill. So I happened to check the toy dept just for the heck of it. So it turns out that they just recently restocked Hot Wheels cars. Sadly they weren't 2018 models but they were from last year. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to look through the pegs for a Super Treasure Hunt car. So after browsing the pegs for a couple of minutes a few times over just to be sure there wasn't a treasure hunt car there, I saw something that wasn't like the others. I spotted a 69 Chevelle SS 396.
  I didn't think much of this car at first as I passed over the car a few times that I browsed the pegs. It wasn't until I realized that there was only one of this car on the pegs. Upon this realization that it was a Super Treasure Hunt car, I immediately went to a register to purchase my 19th Super Treasure Hunt car!
  So later on that day I went to the dinner theater to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. At intermission time, they have a 50/50 drawing. Guess what happend? I won the 50/50 raffle! I won $29. So I guess you can call my Snap-on jacket lucky. I'm on an upswing. 

Testing My Promise at the Thrift Store

  I declared yesterday that I am retiring from thrift store shopping. I made a bet with my mom that I won't be buying stuff from thrift stores for a long time after I found the Snap-on Tools jacket. So today I decided to test out my promise that I wouldn't buy anything at a thrift store. Now I didn't venture to The Salvation Army, I went to an independent one. The same one where I've been finding all of those soundtracks.
  Every Tuesday this particular thrift store has everything in the store 25% off with one color 50% off. Today's 50% off color was green tagged. So I totally forgot that it was 25% off today. Well I did test my promise and I held up to it. I did see some real unusual stuff at this thrift store today. I saw 2 cherub table lamps that were $20 each. They reminded me of one that my great aunt had. For $20, that was the last thing I would want to ever buy at a thrift store.
  I then spotted a broken trophy that was missing the top and the name plate. Who even donates a broken trophy to a thrift store? It was the first time I have ever seen a used trophy at a thrift store. I forgot what the price was. I then browsed the clothing racks had a few things in my arms and decided to put them back. My promise can be kept.
  I then looked at the glassware. I like seeing glassware with beer and alcohol brands on them. They did have a few alcohol branded ones. There was an Old Milwaukee goblet and a Miller glass. I did spot 2 Makers Mark martini glasses that were $0.50 that would have been 50% off. I didn't bother buying any. It's ironic that I look for alcohol branded glassware when I don't touch alcohol. The reason I look at them is because we have a bar in our basement.
  So after looking at the glassware I browsed the CD selection. My one weakness the CD selection. I was in luck today, there wasn't anything good to buy today. My wallet is beginning to feel relieved. After browsing the CD's I went on to look at the toys. I spotted some old Jakks-Pacific Titantron Live action figures. I love wrestling figures but these figures were in terrible condition. There wasn't many there but a good majority were missing hands and limbs. They weren't worth buying at all. I did spot a bag of Lincoln Logs for $7something and I put it back on the shelf.
  After browsing the thrift store after making my promise to retire from buying more stuff seemed a bit odd. It seems like I might have relapsed after making the decision to stop buying stuff. I'm not. My decision was to retire from buying things, not browsing. I love to browse thrift stores when they have their sale days. There has been quite a few Family Day's at The Salvation Army where I walked out empty handed. I can resist purchasing things at thrift stores and I will.

Thrift Store Soundtracks.

  I am a huge fan of thrift stores. I love to look at the CD selections they have to offer. However, the one independent thrift store in town has a good selection of soundtrack CD's lately. On the other hand The Salvation Army has been lacking of any good CD's or a decent selection of them for about a good month or so now which sucks.
  Now at the beginning of the year, the last record store in my town closed up abruptly which doesn't leave anywhere in town to buy new CD's except Walmart which sells edited CD's. I'm in a rut since I will probably have to resort to buying CD's on Amazon now or go out of town to buy new music. Thankfully one thrift store has been good to me when it comes to finding CD's.
  I am a huge film score aficionado. My score CD collection overshadows my pop/rock CD collection. I have over 159 hours of film scores in my library. It's insane. Film score aficionado's are an astute type of collector, they prefer physical copies of scores over digital copies. I'm one of them in that demographic. Now onto the thrift store finds.
  As of recently it seems that the independent thrift store has been getting an unusual amount of soundtracks donated to them. The best part about that is that they were mostly film scores which is right up my alley. Now this thrift store charges $0.50 plus tax for a CD. You can't argue with that price. So when I look at the CD's I always check for the dreaded scratches that CD collectors hate. Fortunately I don't buy them if they looked like someone played frisbee with them.
  Now the past few times I've visited this thrift store in the past month or so, I've walked out of there with a bunch of score albums. My most recent purchase was the best one yet in my opinion. About a week or so ago I had to drop off something at my great aunt's house. She lives across the street from this thrift store. So I decided to do a speed run in there. I looked at the hats, and made a beeline to the CD's. I looked through the CD's and I had spotted some score soundtracks. Jackpot. I had bought at least 5 of them, I bought a Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Don Davis, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Carlo Siliotto.
  The one that took the cake was The Punisher score by Carlo Siliotto. Why is this soundtrack so important and unusual? Well for those of you who don't know your soundtrack record labels, it was a La La Land Records release. Why is this unusual? You never expect to find an out of print La La Land Records soundtrack at a thrift store ever. Never in a million years would I ever expect to find a one of their CD's at a thrift store. For $0.50 you can't go wrong with that. Now I didn't know it was a La La Land Records soundtrack until I got into the car and looked at the spine of the CD case and saw their name of my favorite record label there. I almost had a stroke on the spot when I discovered it was one of their soundtracks. The Punisher wasn't one of their limited editions of a few thousand copies to my knowledge.
  Some of my other soundtrack hauls have included, Backdraft, Matchstick Men, and Black Hawk Down all by Hans Zimmer, I also found all 3 Lord of the Rings scores by Howard Shore and Attack of The Clones by John Williams. I hate the Star Wars prequels but I love John Williams. His scores for the prequels were better than the movies.
  Whoever keeps donating these score CD's is my hero. They are the real MVP here. They share the same passion for film music as I do. If it wasn't for me these score CD's would have been sitting at that thrift store for a long time. I gave them a good home on my soundtrack shelf.

My retirement from thrift store shopping

  Well today it finally happened. I finally found the jacket that I have been looking to find in a thrift store for years now. What special kind of jacket is this you ask? The answer is the elusive Snap-On Tools jacket. I see tons of people wearing these jackets where I live. They are kind of like a Carhartt jacket in a way. They are super cool and, you usually have to buy thousands of dollars worth of Snap-on Tools to get this jacket.
  So today I happened to stop by the Salvation Army to look around for anything of interest. I looked at the hat selection which was super barren today. The hat selection is kind of crappy nowadays. I then detoured over to the toy section that happened to have 2 huge bags of toy cars. I looked over the bags of toy cars to see if there was anything in there that was worth buying. Sadly there wasn't any car that I needed out of those 2 bags. Some old lady in a wheelchair asked me to get her down a K'nex Faris Wheel that was on a top shelf. I said I would get if down for her and I did.

A jacket similar to the one I bought

  After I helped the old woman I decided I would look at the jackets just for the heck of it and it paid off. As I sifted through all of the jackets, I spotted a grey jacket with an American flag patch on the left sleeve, I thought to myself that this has to be a Snap-on Tools jacket. I picked up the jacket off the rack and saw that it said Snap-on on it. I froze up upon seeing a Snap-on Tools jacket. I saw the price which was $14.99 green tag. Pink tags were on sale today.
  I didn't want to take any chances on passing up this jacket since I always wanted one. My dad used to buy Snap-on Tools when he had his business, he never got a jacket though. I looked at the size tag of the jacket and it was a Large. Great, it's just my size. Just to be sure, I went to the fitting room and tried it on. The jacket fit like a glove. Great my wish came true. So I decided against buying those 2 bags full of toy cars for the Snap-on jacket. It never occurred to me to look at the price of the 2 bags of cars.
  When I arrived home from the Salvation Army, I told my mom of my final purchase and she didn't believe me since she knows that I will be there next week. As of this jacket find I can finally retire from shopping at thrift stores for the time being. I found the jacket that I've always wanted today. It was a dream come true. In the past I have found several different Snap-on Tools items at thrift stores, a red hoodie with the Snap-on S logo on it and a Snap-on camouflage hat with a tool camouflage pattern on it.
  So as of today I am official retiring from shopping at thrift stores. It's been an exciting run. I've had the wonderful opportunity to buy a plethora of good stuff. From an antique Tonka Jeep to obscure NASCAR hat's, to lots of wonderful CD's. and even a NIN Hat, and even some truck banks. Now it's time to say goodbye to the Salvation Army for the time being. It was a fun run.
  Will this be the last thrift store purchase in my lifetime? Probably not. I'm retiring from buying jackets. It won't stop me from buying CDs though. That's another post.

Now That Mattel has the Jurassic Park License

  If you are following the toy industry or are a fan of Jurassic Park merchandise, you probably heard that Hasbro no longer has the Jurassic Park License. This is good news. Why so? Well for starters Mattel has a superior product compared to Hasbro. Mattel outdoes Hasbro in terms of scale and detail.
  Ever since Jurassic Park III came out and Hasbro made toys from that movie, they were never the same. You see in 1997 when The Lost World Jurassic Park came out the action figures of the humans and the dinosaurs were a lot bigger than their Jurassic Park III counterparts. When the third installment came out, Hasbro shrunk the figures down drastically. Instead of being around 4/1/2 inches they became 3.75 inches. That's a huge difference in scale. It seems that in 2001 and onward that Hasbro tended to get really really lazy when it came to scale unlike when Kenner still made them.
  Now onto Mattel getting the license. This is good news for both action figure collectors of the Humans and Hot Wheels collectors because this has so much potential for great toys. Mattel could make a Jurassic Park Movie Masters line that is in scale with the DC Multiverse line. This means we could get movie accurate versions of the human characters and versions of characters that Kenner bothered to make such as John Hammond.
  As for Hot Wheels this means we could possibly get scale diecasts of some of the iconic vehicles from the Jurassic Park franchise. We could see a Ford Explorer, Jeep Wrangler, Mercedes-Benz ML320's from The Lost World Jurassic Park and some of the InGen hunter vehicles from The Lost World. This is some amazing potential that I would love to see in the Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment line. Jurassic Park would fit right in with that line perfectly.