Thrifted Treasures - Part 3

Hello and welcome to parte tres of thrifted treasures!

Since my last blog post I have shifted from languid student life to having an actual adult job, so my time for toys has decreased significantly. Even so I'm not planning on giving up and alas - here I am!

I have not been able to rummage through thrift stores as much as I would like, but luckily nothing stops me from treasure hunting at my dad's place! He's quite the hunter so treasures keep on coming even if I don't move a muscle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In my childhood Hello Kitty was more so known for primary colors rather than pink, which is evident in this finger puppet trio from 1988. I cannot believe in how good condition these figures are despite their age! The Kitty herself, the mother (named Mary, I believe) and the sister Mimmy all seem brand new. I know for sure that the set is missing at least the father, both grandparents and three of Kitty's friends but I don't really mind - I'm already glad to have both the sisters (sister power!).

Zizzlinger princesses are always very very very welcome additions to my collection and I'm super happy to announce I got two more! Secondary outfits are my weak spot and Cinderella's mice-made pink dress is one of my all time favorites. So cute! So glittery! I really need to get my hands on a wedding dress one.

These tree stampers are causing me a bit of trouble. I know for sure that they are legit in my pocket merch by MEG but I can't find any information about in my pocket stampers ever been made. Any knowledge on the subject is sincerely welcome. Apparently puppy in my pockets come with a yellow stamp and jungle in my pockets with a green one.

I recently noticed that the Dolci Preziosi surprise egg pencil toppers (that I adore and collect with a passion) come both painted and non-painted (i.e. are just the right colored plastic). After this revelation I decided that I like the painted figures more just because they look better quality-wise but the figures that I had for toys before all this manic collecting and am not willing to pass on are all plasticky ones. So apparently I am now collecting both versions. The right side Clefairy and Pichu are panted and the left side figures are not. Which ones do you prefer?

Also, I noticed that Topps Pokémon figures can have color variations too. Uh oh. The Chatots in the background are clearly painted with a different shade of yellow and black/grey. I have no idea if this is common in Topps figures but as far as I know I haven't run into any differently colored figures before. For now, I'm keeping both and thinking that the other one is an accidental makeshift shiny ಠ◡ಠ.

I also got my hands on two electronic Pikachus that were made 15 years apart. The skinny-chu is a happy meal toy from 2011 and the chubby-chu is a Hasbro toy from 1997. Can you guess which one's still working? Light, sound and all (hint: it's not by McDonalds).

What else. Finnish summer has been sorta rubbish/ sorta ok thus far but I managed to compensate for the lack of photography sessions by putting my loyal Wacom tablet and Photoshop back to use. I also finally started watching Sailor Moon Crystal if you couldn't already tell. Moon prism power maaaake-up!

Until next time fellow sailor senshis! (and other people too, I don't mind if you don't enjoy magical girls [...much]).

✿Tuuli

Thrifted Treasures - part 2

There's a big, biannual flea market event taking place at my home town this weekend which is why I've lately been purposely avoiding thrifting. However, a few weeks ago a local child welfare organization hosted an all-things-children thrift event that was just too good to pass. Also, I might have bought a little something something online... Anyways, I have plenty to show in this second coming of TT!

The child welfare event took place at a shopping mall and was swarming with people from the moment the doors opened. Luckily, most shoppers were mainly interested in children's clothes and I could dig through the toy bins in peace. I could have easily spent triple the amount of money I spent, but I kept my cool and stayed reasonable. Well done me!

First, I found a set of fourteen PokéKids in very good condition. Fourteen! For 6 euros! Most often I see kids priced at 2 € a figure. There was even an attack figure in the lot (see my previous post on kid figures) so I was a pretty happy camper after finding these.

These five figures were amazingly from the same release, which is the Best Wishes: Pignite Set from 2011. Comically, the sets name character Pignite, the coffin Pokémon Cofagrigus and the multiplying Pokémon Reuniclus are all rocking the same pose. Purrloin and Darmanitan, on the other hand, have the same exact eyebrow shape and are both eye-candy worthy with their pretty colors. All of these, except for Cofagrigus, are the only Kid figures made of their representative Pokémon.

2011 was not only the year of Pignite but also Servine and Dewott got their own releases. I was really satisfied to find out my bag of Kids came with all the mid-evolutions of the Unova starters! Tranquill is from the Servine set and Victini from the Dewott set. Servine and Dewott figures are, too, the only Servine and Dewott Kids ever made.

I could have sworn this Roselia was an attack figure but sadly it isn't. It is too pretty though! It's from the very first Diamond and Pearl release from 2006 that includes the cute stretchy face Pikachu. Wouldn't mind finding that one too! Quite surprisingly the Magmortar here is, instead, an attack figure (Attack Pokémon Kids DP 2, 2009). Apparently it's about to blast out flamethrower which suits me totally fine don't get me wrong. This Yamask (Best Wishes: Reshiram Zekrom Set, 2010) is also the only Yamask Kid ever made.

Misdreavus is the oldest of the bunch, from the third set of New Pokémon Kids II from 2000. It's "hair" is pretty funky but I don't really mind, especially when it is in such good condition despite the figure's old age. Mime Jr. was the last figure in the Kids bag and it's from the 8th Diamond & Pearl release from 2008.

Mime Jr. is cute, I guess, but truthfully it is the Vaporeon that grabs my attention. I got it from another seller and it was a total steal priced at 1 € INCLUDING a Topps Lucario that I was also missing (see below). Vaporeon is indeed one of the top 25 Pokémon that I mentioned in my PokéKids blog post. This figure is from the National Pokédex 3 set from 2009 but there are in total six different Vaporeon Kids (+ clear versions) and uuuugh I want them all! I am not complaining though - this one is especially nice looking with the puppy-like playful pose. And again, it is in near-mint condition!

Since these new ones make up for most of my still very small Kids collection, I thought I might as well so the rest here too, even if these following Kids are not recent finds.

This Zapdos is by far my oldest Kid and I somewhat consider it as a grail of some sort. It's from 1998, from the fifth release of Kids AND my only clear Kid! AND a legendary. AND from the 1st generation. Oh the possibilities of collecting... Rampardos is in pretty worn-out condition but its pose is super dynamic and it's just fun to look at.  ◕‿◕ It's from the Diamond & Pearl 4 -set, from 2007.

Corsola and Buneary are also from my favorites list ❤ and that Pikachu is one of my favorite Pikachu Kids. I found Corsola and Buneary from a thrift shop that had sooo overpriced them but I still think I would have regretted not buying them. Corsola is from 2000 (New Pokémon Kids II 2) and Buneary is an attack Kid from 2009 (Attack Pokémon Kids DP 2). Oh, and the attack it's making is healing wish (cccuuuute!). The Pikachu I got from my dad ages ago and it's from 2002 (Advance 1 set).

These are all the PokéKids I've found so far. It's actually really exciting to have so few, since my collection could still go anywhere from here. And it still feels really special to find a new one.☺Next I would love to find a grass-type favorite since it's fo sheez my favorite type. Maybe a Bulbasaur or a Cherubi hm hm...

I already know this is going to be a monster of a post so let's keep on going:

The Lucario Topps figure (2007) came with the Vaporeon Kid and I did not have it yet so it was a nice bonus. The teensy Topps Taillow (2005) was a 20 cent find from basically a box of trash. The Koffing is an awesome find - it's from the first release of Tomy's Monster Collection and my second ever MonColle figure! Also, it was cheap, yesss. Besides, how cool is that smokey stand? Love it (even if it's a little too clear to be something that came out of a Koffing, hah)!

My final purchase of the day was one of the Zodiac Hello Kitty figures (by Dolci Preziosi). These came out of Hello Kitty surprise eggs this Easter and I was missing the scorpio, so this was definitely a happy find.

Like I've told, my dad also actively thrifts nice things for me. The credit for this 2009 Topps Hippowdon and the armless and tailless Electivire Zukan goes 100% to him. Zukan figures are really cool: zukan is Japanese for Pokédex and the figures are all in scale according to their Pokédex measurements. Can I just say the Wailord is HUGE!

The last but boy oh boy not the least treasures I've thrifted lately are these beautiful Zizzlinger Disney princesses I snatched from a second hand group on Facebook. Zizzlingers are quite hard to explain so it's best that you just watch this video. They were sold back in the day and I'm devastated that I wasn't a toy collector then because these are gorgeous! They are glittery, they are princesses, the sculpts and paint jobs are spot on and each figure looks completely different from the facial expression to the pose. I also adore the "secondary outfits" of Disney princesses and Zizzlingers is all about those from the end scene wedding dresses to the outfits shown for ten seconds during random songs. Aurora's peasant "Briar Rose" dress has to be one of my favorites. I have noticed it's really hard to find Zizzlingers, but that, sort of, makes the hunt even more exciting. I love these to bits.

Hope this wasn't too much of a TL;DR situation. What can I say, I like talking about the things I like.

Anyways, Google Analytics tells me I've got readers all the way from Venezuela to Russia and lots of places in between. Many of you come from e.g. Denmark, Switzerland and the UK. Like I said, I really enjoy the occasional toy-talk, now I just need to get you guys commenting for it to not be one sided. I know you're out there, the ball is in your court!

✿Tuuli

Thrifted Treasures - part 1

Hello peeps!

I thought it was about time for me to start a blog post series, how exciting! I figured it could be somewhat cool to every once in a while show what things I have brought home with me from thrift shops and such. Since I was feeling more practical than creative, I decided to name the series thrifted treasures. Without further ado, let's get started!

These teddy in my pockets (or teddies in my pocket?) I actually sneaked out of my dads convention table. I was eyeing the pair from the get-go and decided that if nobody had purchased them after two days I would have to give them a home. So that I did. The one sitting and holding a sailboat is Harry from the 1995 Bear Watch set and the honey holder is Sarah from the Birthday set. The original Sarah from the Birthday toy set holds a yellow honey jar and this blue colored variation could be found in Kellogg's cereal boxes in 1996 alongside four other color variation teddies from different sets.

Mr. (or Mrs...) Tepig here is from the same convention lot but this one I snatched for myself right away. It is from the McDonald's Pokémon Black and White Happy Meal toy set from 2011. It's tail is supposed to light up, I believe, but mine is out of battery. A totally fixable imperfection, of course.

Picture from McDonald's Wikia

Then to the actual thrift finds. On Easter Saturday I dragged my unwilling sister and boyfriend to go for a little thrift round and maaan was I happy that I did. I found these two maneki-neko Hello Kitties from a Red Cross charity store and they are so insanely awesome that I had to get both. I believe that the yellow one grants good luck with money and the green one with school success but I might be totally wrong and am open for corrections. Google tells me these came from a set of seven and I am missing a pink, white, black, blue and red kitty. Oh and also these are in near perfect condition and cost me 2 €. Happy!

The final sextet came in a bag of figures. The seller had a number of Pokémon figures for sale but unfortunately most of them were clear booties and this bag was by far the best and the only one worth buying. One bag contained a Dragonair kid figure that is high up on my wants list but 5 € was just too salty for one kid and a few worthless bootlegs. The most exciting figures that I got were these Topps candy Heatran and Abomasnow. They are both in near mint condition and these figures from the 2009 Pikachu edition (check out my Topps Pokémon figure blog post if you haven't already) are just so well made, nice and heavy. I once ran into the clear, limited edition version or the set's Pikachu and DIDN'T BUY IT. Yeah what's up with that?

These Topps' Sceptile and Latias were also missing from my collection and thereby great finds. Sceptile is from the 2004 Advanced-2 release and Latias from the 2003 Advanced release which were both underrepresented sets in my collection. Both are also in great condition. Sceptile even looks really cool and the paint job is done very nicely, but Latias looks a little sad for a legendary Pokémon. Come on, look at it. It is also a tad weird that they didn't make a Latios to go with it.

The final two figures in the bag were booties. I found the same Zekrom being sold on various web sites as a "Pokémon Black and White Action Figure" but the figure's paint job is so off that it just can't be legit, right?  The Entei on the other hand is a much clearer case. The actual sculpt is not too bad and the material is quite nice so I'm kind of toying with the idea of getting acrylic paint and turning it into a nice custom.

So there's my first set of thrifted treasures! Right after I took the pictures for this post I made more finds so it might be that part two is out sooner than later. As always, comments and opinions would be great! Also feel free to just leave a hello if you come across this young blog of mine, that would be cool☺

✿Tuuli