Hey readers, long time no thrift!
I’d like to apologize for my hiatus. Today in the great state of [REDACTED]. It was a whopping one degree outside. Combined with the wind chill, we had a “real feel” of minus twenty degrees. Yikes. Despite the crap weather, my mom and I crawled out of our recently-gutted Taun-Tauns and managed to get out and go thrifting today. I haven’t done much thrifting lately, hence the lull in blog posts. However, I have my fall and winter pickups to share with you and I’m very excited about that. We will start with the most recent pickup.
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Today, Goodwill (I guess) received a gaming shipment from Target, allowing me to snag one of the newer Mario Party games (Star Rush) for the 3DS. The lot that I found included Overwatch for PS4 and Sunset Overdrive for the XBONE. Also shoved into the proverbial “high roller” cabinet at the front of the store were seven copies of the Mass Effect: Andromeda strategy guide. I wonder why they had so many..I guess Andromeda didn’t sell well? Anyway, I typically don’t pay more than $3 for a game at Goodwill, but considering this Mario Party game was brand new..I just couldn’t resist! I played Mario Party DS to completion a few months ago and had a blast doing so! Star Rush is an Amiibo compatible game so this is a fantastic excuse to really let my Amiibo collection grow. I am excited to play this one!!
Total spent: $19.99
In my thrift hiatus, my Mom has continued to uphold the “Secondhand torch” and goes thrifting for games while I impart my knowledge of science and technology to the local youth in the area. Her best score of the fall was this boi right here. (See picture below) She found a minty Crash Bandicoot plush. Bless her heart, when she brought him home for me she said “I think that’s one of the video game characters you like, right? If not, I figured I’d just let Freya (our dog) eat it”. I’m glad she didn’t feed it to the dog because this plush is in fantastic shape! He has his tush and hang tags still attached. Upon inspecting the tag, it would appear that this plush was released in 2004. I think this was right around the time that Crash and Spyro switched games during the GBA era (does anybody even know what I’m referencing?) Upon doing a little more research on Mr. Bandicoot, it would appear that his plushie likeness fetches a pretty penny on eBay, with a similar Crash plush going upwards of $84 on eBay last weekend. Dang son, that’s a lot! Don’t worry readers, I am definitely not a reseller. I am far too much of a collector to want to turn a profit.
Total cost (to my mom--lol)= $1
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“I think that’s one of the video game characters you like, right? If not, I figured I’d just let Freya (our dog) eat it”
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Finally, my brother gets credit for this last acquisition. I wasn’t there when he picked it up (I was busy hunting the Sonic the Hedgehog POP figures at our local shopping mall) but I’ll recount the story the best I can. The Goodwill forty minutes away from us wheels out their new merchandise on big carts. When carts come out, people typically swarm the cart to see what is brand new to the “showroom floor”. My brother, bless his heart, spotted this Toy Factory carnival-sized Zorua Pokemon plush on the cart. Knowing I am a Pokemaniac, he snatched it up for me right away. He actually had people offer him money for the right to buy it. That’s crazy!! My brother could have turned a profit on that toy but instead he bought it for $2 and brought it home for me. What’s special about this line of Pokemon plush is how they are distributed. Toy Factory is a stuffed animal distributor that makes plushies as prizes for places like theme parks and arcades.
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The only way you can aquire this particular brand of plush (to my knowledge) is by winning them. I’ve seen them before at Six Flags and I possess in my collection a few Pokemon plush from Dave and Busters that have this particular branding. This Zorua is about two feet high and stuffed with bean bag-like filler. It has amazing structural integrity, as it is able to stand up on its own. The cherry on top is the fact that this Zorua, like Crash possesses both his hang and tush tag. Zorua matches the Toy Factory Oshawott that I found while thrifting about a year ago. How exciting to have two matching plush from the Pokemon Black and White-era.
The total on this exciting acquisition? $2...to my brother. (Thanks bro!!)
One more fun pickup that made its way into my collection (not from a thrift store) was the Super Mario Cereal recently released by Kellogg's. Thankfully, we were able to resist scalpers and find the cereal at the smaller Wal-Mart about eight minutes away from my house. Huzzah--a win for the good guys!) That Wal-Mart got only TEN boxes. Yikes, Nintendo, that’s not good. We bought three….one to eat, one for my boyfriend to keep and one for my own shelf of intrigue. The cereal is a pretty good 8/10, reminding me of a more flavorful Lucky Charms, with the oat-y pieces donning an artificial blueberry taste. It’s not bad but it’s no Strawberry Bunches of Oats. 😉 I’m sure my boyfriend will be using his box to unlock new things in Mario Odyssey. I’ll get a Switch as soon as a main-series Animal Crossing or Pokemon game is formally announced for the platform. (I know a main-series Pokemon RPG is in the works, but “2018 or later” isn’t imminent enough for me to run out and get one). Anyway, I am very excited to have this piece in my collection.
Now to hunt down those Final Fantasy Cup Noodles…
Until next time, readers. Thrift long and prosper….
-Helntaro
[…] animals in my collection have been picked up from second-hand stores like Goodwill. Most recently, my Mom found me a vintage Crash Bandicoot plush from our local Goodwill. Anyway, back to the plush bins. At the bottom of the bin, I saw a familiar pink character from one […]