Hey Gamers and Browsers!
Helen here, bringing you another thrift blog! Let me start this entry by saying that my local Goodwill has produced some pretty decent finds lately. In the last week, I’ve actually spent a few dollars on some very cool pieces of geekery. Keep this in mind though, the three major “score” days that I had were book-ended by about five “bust” days. It’s like my mom always says, “You have to go every day to get the good stuff”. As usual, Mom is always right. For this thrift blog, I also visited a few out-of-state thrift stores when visiting my grandparents. Now, without further ado, let’s see what treasures I have unearthed!
Pickups:
Trip #1:
The first item I’d like to showcase is this vintage Yu-Gi-Oh fleece blanket! Some might not consider a fifteen-(or so)-year-old item to be vintage, but seeing as I have fond Yu-Gi-Oh memories from my childhood, I would definitely consider this blanket to fit my definition of vintage. While the blanket itself is in pretty good condition, the tag is too faded to read, likely from repeated washing over the years. If I had to place an age on this blanket, as stated previously, I’d guess it’s about fifteen years old (2003). It could be older, however, due to the way Yugi is dressed. On this blanket, Yugi is wearing his original Duelist Kingdom outfit that he wore during the first season of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. If this is truly Duelist Kingdom-era merchandise, that might place the blanket closer to seventeen years old (2001). Finding any Yu-Gi-Oh items at a thrift shop is exciting, as they don’t seem to pop up very often. $4.50 for a blanket, I feel, is a little high, but if Yami Yugi’s face is on it, I’ll b-b-b-b-b-b-buy! (heh)
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On the same thrifting trip, I found a complete-in-box copy of Guitar Hero III for the PlayStation 2. Aaron said that finding the original Guitar Hero or Guitar Hero II would have been more exciting, but my first ever Guitar Hero game WAS GH III, so I was very excited to see this complete set! The guitar controller was still sealed in it’s plastic wrappings and all straps, stickers and instructions were included as well. This set must have sat in someone’s closet for ten years before it was donated. Even though I still have all of my Guitar Hero equipment for the XBOX 360, I don’t have any of the original boxes anymore, so this complete-in-box set will make an excellent shelf sitter in my game room. The entire box set only set me back $6.
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Total spent on this nostalgia trip: $10.50
Trip #2:
Trip 2 yielded the best finds I’ve found in months. I am so excited to share them with you!
As a plush enthusiast, I always check out the bins of stuffed animals at any thrift store that I visit. I’ve done this ever since I was a kid, because I’ve scored MANY a video game plush from these giant bins. As a matter of fact, most of the Pokemon stuffed 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 of my favorite franchises. I reached down into the bin and pulled out a brand new Amy Rose plush from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise! Shockingly enough, this is one of the new Tomy-licensed plushies from the newest Sonic merchandise line. What was this doing at the Goodwill, brand new with tags for .99? Upon closer inspection of the plush, Amy had a “SALVAGE” sticker placed on her tag and some pink paint stains on the back of her head. While not enough paint to ruin the plush, this toy definitely couldn’t be sold by Target (the original distributor) anymore. When things get damaged or don’t sell at Target, Target donates these items to Goodwill and Goodwill sells them at reduced prices. This Amy plush retails at $14.99, I know this because I have two other plush from this set that I bought new at Target this past spring. Even with a stained back-of-the-head, this plush was still worth .99. Though I couldn’t get the paint stains off, Amy still looks great with my other Tomy Sonic plushies. Side note: Do you guys have any tips for getting paint stains off of fabric? I used soap/water, hairspray and even gasoline, yet the stain still persisted. Even so, I was happy to pick up this plush for the crazy low price of .99!
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***A word of advice for you thrifters at home, whenever you see a “SALVAGE” sticker or an “AS IS” sticker on something, be sure to thoroughly inspect the item. This almost always means that something is missing or broken. Buyer beware!***
This next item up is a COMPLETE copy of SORRY! Pokemon Edition! Around the turn of the millennia (during the height of Pokemania), it seemed like everyone had access to the Pokemon license, and popular board game manufacturer Milton-Bradley was no exception. During Pokemania, Milton-Bradley released multiple Pokemon-licensed board games. These games resembled their original counterparts with the only difference being that the Pokemon licensed editions of the games (as expected), featured Pokemon art and usually a (slightly) modified gameplay experience to better incorporate the Pokemon motif. Between my boyfriend and I, we already had Pokemon Yahtzee and Pokemon Monopoly, but what we didn’t have was...Pokemon SORRY! I was very excited to find this game hidden in the board game section of my local Goodwill. I love the game, SORRY! but I didn’t actually know that a Pokemon edition of SORRY! Existed. I’m sure you can imagine my excitement and surprise when I found this. After a quick count of the pieces and cards, I just had to pick up this board game for the low price of $3. Score!
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This thrifting trip must have been absolutely blessed by the gaming fairies because just as I was leaving with my Amy Rose plush and board game in hand, one of the Goodwill employees wheeled out a new cart of wares and my eyes instantly landed on a very shiny box full of…..Yu-Gi-Oh cards! My Goodwill has a tendency to charge stupid-high prices for any trading card game that comes through their donation center but that day I got lucky, because this entire tin of one-hundred cards or so was only $3. Not to mention, this tin also included a rule book and a very sturdy player’s mat. Inside this tin, there were multiple holographic cards, some (reprint) first edition cards and some limited edition cards. While I haven’t played the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG (trading card game) in years, I am a huge fan of the card game and still have all my cards from when I was a kid. The Yu-Gi-Oh TCG is very special to my heart because my Dad taught me how to play it many years ago. My Dad was actually with me on this thrifting trip, and we had quite a good time sifting through the cards in the middle of the Goodwill. Needless to say, this was a great pickup and an amazing thrift haul over all!
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(Also pictured is a rainbow poop emoji plush for my GSD and a cute striped messenger bag)
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Doesn't Amy look nice with Chao, Sonic, and Super Sonic? 🙂
Total spent on the geeky goods: $6.99
Trip #3:
Trip number three yielded something yellow, nerdy, and wearable! Any guesses? How about vintage Pikachu slippers? I seriously couldn't believe my luck with this find because the slippers were in my size! I was over the moon to see 9/10 printed on the bottom of these slippers. Normally, when you see Pokemon slippers, they’re always tiny because more often than not, they’re kiddie slippers. I checked the tag in these slippers and they are officially licensed by Nintendo/ Game Freak (but not by The Pokemon Company International, which attests to their age) with a copyright date of 2002. Wow! These slippers do not look 16 years old. They haven’t hardly been worn at all--which is perfect for me! Of course, they need to be sanitized and aired out before I wear them, but I anticipate having toasty Pikachu feet this coming winter. My favorite thing about these slippers has to be the heel of the shoe, because they feature Pikachu’s signature stripes and lightning bolt tail--awesome! This attention to detail is what makes these slippers extra special. The $2.50 price tag just made them even more special. 🙂
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The same thrift trip yielded a Nintendo DS game! Nintendo DS is one of my all-time favorite video game consoles to collect for and thankfully our Goodwill tends to price NDS games fairly cheaply (for the time being, at least…) All alone on a little wares cart, amidst a massive pile of school supplies, was a facedown game card. “Please don’t let it be a little kids game” I remember thinking. Seriously, all I ever find at Goodwill for NDS are Disney and little kids games. I turn over the game card to find a favorite of mine, Animal Crossing: Wild World. Released by Nintendo in 2005, Animal Crossing Wild World is the first portable installation in the Animal Crossing franchise. For those of you unfamiliar with Animal Crossing, this a “slice of life” simulator in which you (a human) move in to a town with animal residents. These games are super fun and I highly recommend them if life simulation games are your cup of tea! Now, I actually already have a complete (box, cartridge, manual) copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World, but for $3, I just couldn’t leave the game at Goodwill, so I picked it up. I might keep it, or I might trade it at MoGameCon III in a few weeks. We’ll see.
During this trip, I also picked up a few school supplies for my classroom, including a 40-pack of Crayola Twistable crayons for only $1.99. Again, this was another great haul.
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Geeky goodness total: $5.50
Introducing…(a new section I’d like to add to my thrift blogs)
Stuff I didn’t pick up, but I still thought was interesting! (Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?)
The following items are interesting things I found while on my thrifting adventures, but I did not purchase. Enjoy!
Item #1:
A complete in box PlayStation 1 racing wheel--This item is as described. It’s a racing wheel controller that could be used in conjunction with the original PlayStation. Honestly, I think the $12 price tag was fair, but I, personally, am not a huge PlayStation collector (Sega and Nintendo are my favorites). Additionally, this racing wheel controller came in a huge box (like a foot and a half by a foot and a half) and I just don’t have space for it. This would be a nice addition to an OG PlayStation collection, however, and I bet it would be loads of fun with the Test Drive games.
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Item #2:
A Nickelodeon bowling ball...? Okay, this wins the “weirdest thing found at a thrift store” award. This bowling ball (donning Spongebob’s likeness) came in it’s own officially licensed Nickelodeon Bowling Party ball bag. At $6, this was a total steal, seeing as real bowling balls can fetch a pretty hefty price tag. While I love Nickelodeon, I don’t think I would ever add a bowling ball to my collection. Scratch that--find me an officially licensed Pokemon or Sonic the Hedgehog bowling ball and I’ll buy that. Haha
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Item #3 (I probably should have picked this one up, honestly.)
This is a music sampler disc promoting Tony Hawk’s Underground 2. This sampler CD contains single songs from The Doors, Jimmy Eat World, The Ramones, and a bunch of other bands perceived as “skater bands” (I guess). In hindsight, I should have picked this up, as I actually enjoy all of those bands. Oh well! The best thing about this disc, hands down, is the fact that it includes a free Napster trial. That really dates this piece of vintage gaming software and I absolutely love it. As seen in the picture, this disc was $2.99.
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If you’ve read to this point, you’re a real trooper and I appreciate you. Thanks so much for being part of my adventures and I hope you have as much thrift-store luck as I’ve had lately. Be excellent to each other and happy hunting!
Hopefully I’ll see some of you guys at MoGameCon next weekend!
If you see us, come say hi!
Signing off for now,
Helen
