The Call of the Wild

It's time to get something off my chest.

I want to be good. I really do. The natural man gets to me though. I'm like a comedian looking for someone, anyone, to laugh at my joke. I try to get away from my past, from the things that beset me...try to move forward...be a better person.

I often find myself driving down certain roads, looking for my next fix. I know I should turn back but the pull is too great. I've already been to the bank and withdrawn $100 cash in small bills. I keep rolling, when I should probably be getting home. All the signs are there that I'm heading down the right road for the reason that will take my money. About the time I start to come to my senses, I notice what I've been looking for.

I pull up and and nod to the nameless gatekeeper of my satisfaction. I look around nervously. Part of me hoping I haven't missed out but the other part hoping I have. That's when I realize they have what I need and I'll be going down the rabbit hole after all.

Toys cleaned out of Junior's closet. Baseball cards from Billy's shoebox. An old Nintendo in a box with ten games.

"Oh please let there be a Darth Vader Lego figure at the bottom of this quarter box."

"Maybe a 1977 Dale Murphy rookie is in here with these mid-80s Topps cards."

"Oh my gosh! Zombies Ate My Neighbors for Super Nintendo!"

I tried to be good. I tried to focus on my studies in law school. But the pull to hunt yard sales, flea markets and junk shops is in my blood.

I've fallen off the wagon.

That means it's time for more Flea Market Flippers. For those of you who forgot the rules, well, there are none. I just show you my hand, how much I paid and, if you want, guess which item[s] will sell for the most on ebay (generally within a week). Here are some of my finds this week.

Leather gun belt with holster. Paid $5 from a weird guy selling out of a storage unit:

Hasbro G.I. Joe MOBAT Tank 1982 (missing battery cover). Paid $2 from flea market vendor:

5 lot Pepsi DC Super Heroes 1976 glasses. Paid $40 for a lot of 30 character glasses, so that would make this lot about $6.67 ($1.33333333 a piece). This was from the same guy at the storage unit. I answered an ad from craigslist for some Warner Bros. and Underdog/Rocky the Flying Squirrel glasses from the 70s and the guy wanted me to meet him at the storage unit to look at them. The super hero glasses were with them (unadvertised) and we took them all. I admit, I was a little worried to meet up with a strange guy on a Saturday afternoon at a storage locker in the middle of nowhere. I told my wife that's where the police should look for my body after the 3 days I was considered R.U.N.N.O.F.T was up:

Final FMF (for now)

For all of you waiting for the season ending grand finale of FMF, here it is, in all it's edge of your seat, cliff-hangerism. I'll probably be hanging it up for a while as I'm starting law school next week. so both of you who stumbled upon this weird blog I say thanks and come back soon (even though we will be closed for the winter).

Vintage Green Tiger Bank made in Japan - paid $1.00. Sold for nada (That's 0 dollars American).

1983 Universal Pictures Rocky III Thunderlips figure (eat your vitamins and say your prayers, it's actually Hulk Hogan) - paid $1.00. Sold for $0. A guy did contact me and wants to buy it for $8.

1999 Hasbro Pokemon Jumbo Pikachu Plush - paid $1.00. Sold for (see: next sentence). I worried about this one because it had 6 watchers and no bids with 12 hours left, so I pulled the auction. After I ended it early, a guy messaged me wondering if I was going to relist it. I told him maybe and he said he lived just down the road from me and wondered if we could meet and him buy it for $20. I agreed.

Now just imagine you're driving down the road and you see a beat up Nissan Altima and a trashed Saturn parked all alone in an empty lot (ok, "parked all alone in an empty lot" is redundant but I'm trying to paint a vivid picture here). Two grown men are there exchanging Jacksons (ok, 1 Jackson) for a jumbo stuffed toy. I would think something from a Far Side cartoon was going down. I digress. Back to our regularly scheduled FMF.

1992 Applause Stego Plush - paid $1.00. Sold for .99 cents. Very disappointed but some grandma from MN was very happy.

Talisman: The Magical Quest Board Game - paid $5.00 divided by a suitcase full of junk. Sold for $26.00

1968-71 Frito Lay Premiums 'W.C. Fields' and 'Frito Bandito' pencil toppers - paid about a nickel apiece. Sold for a total of $76.64 (cue Hallelujah Chorus). Remember these are PENCIL ERASERS!!!! No bigger than a quarter. The Blue Frito Bandito sold by itself for $46.00! This is the stuff that makes flippin' so much fun.

Thanks for looking!

PMF on FMF

Flea Market Flippers Results & FMF-O-Rama!!!

With law school right around the corner, I've been really busy so I'm taking a lazy route with my writings this week. But my laziness is your gain! After this weeks results, we'll have a FMF-O-RAMA!

Here are last weeks results:

Jurassic Park Baby T-Rex (it's actually a Velociraptor) - Paid $.50 cents. Sold for $5.75

1964 Ashland Products Elephant Squeaker Toy - Paid $3.00. Did not Sell (Carrie wanted it)

1971 Mattel Talk up Doll - Paid $1.00. Sold for $36.00

And this weeks junk. If there was ever a week to post what you think the results will be, this would be it. Some neat stuff:

Vintage Green Tiger Bank made in Japan (paid .50)

(I love this next one)

1983 Universal Pictures Rocky III 'Thunderlips' action figure (aka Hulk Hogan) (paid $1.00)

1999 Hasbro Pokemon Jumbo Pikachu plush (paid $1.00)

1992 Applause Stegosaurus plush (paid $1.00)

Talisman: The Magical Quest Game board Game (In a suitcase full of stuff I paid $5.00 for)

(And one of my favorite things I've ever found)

1968-71 Frito-Lay Premiums 'W.C. Fields' and 'Frito Bandito' pencil toppers (in a box of stuff I paid $1.00 for)

Bad Parenting Skills + This week's FMF

Emma, our 14 year-old, asked if she could have a cupcake. My response:

"Go ask mom; I don't want to be the bad parent."

Bella (13 year-old) chimes in, "Dad, that is being a bad parent."

Yep, I have terrible parenting skills. My biggest terrible parenting skill is lying to my children.

"Dad, where were you?"

"I saw a bear riding a motorcycle and decided to wrestle him."

"Dad, where are you going?"

"The whoopin' store. Do you want one?"

"Dad, where is Ghana?"

"It's a place where bats go to the bathroom."

I won't post some of the more awful things I've said. While most dad's are teaching their kids to be smart, I'm afraid I'm teaching my kids to be smart-alecs. This isn't something I started out doing. In the beginning of my parenting years, I only wanted to confuse my children. You know, teach them that chairs are tables and vice-versa. I wanted them to be scared to eat at McDonald's because of the groundclown they serve (OK, that one should go in the 'lie' category). I figured if I hugged trees and talked about wealth redistribution, they would rebel in their teen years and become Republicans.

So to my children, I say I'm sorry. Hugging Bella while passing gas is not cool. I should have never told Abey he sold on eBay and that he would be shipped with delivery confirmation. I'm sorry Forrest for telling you that the Colorado Rockies hide their steroids under 1st base. Nathan, you didn't really come from the circus (that one may actually be true). Guys, I didn't really escape from a Japanese enemy combatant detention center.

I feel better now. And to reward you kids; tomorrow DISNEY WORLD!!!! You know, that place that sells toys, clothes, groceries and you can get the oil changed in your car.

On to FMF (Flea Market Flippers)

This was a strange week as far as the hunt was concerned. Here are last week's results:

Vintage G.I. Joe H.I.S.S. driver. Paid .10 cents. Sold for .99 cents.

1959 Whitman "Little Black Sambo" children's book. Paid $2.00. Sold for $16.50

14 Wrestling vhs videos. Paid $2.00. Sold for $32.73

This week's offerings:

Jurassic Park Baby T-Rex:

1964 Ashland Products Elephant Squeaker toy:

1971 Mattel Talk Up doll:

Movie Snob (Not walking like an Egyptian) + FMF!

My family thinks I am too picky with my movies. That may need a little explaining. I don't watch R rated or higher. That's an automatic. The nose turning I'm talking about relates to the retread garbage that Hollywood continuously pumps out.

My snobbery probably started with the movie Stargate. I remember walking away thinking that someone mailed that one in. This disappointment was followed several years later with The Mummy, then pretty much every summer blockbuster after that. I've seen a few of the blockbuster movies this year and so far I'm not impressed.

Super 8 - eh. All I could think about was the 'Bad Robot' logo at the beginning and wanting to come home and watch Abram's 'Star Trek' on Netflix (I did. See below for scale worthiness).

Cars 2 - Saturday morning cartoon.

X-Men: First Class - I fell asleep during the climax.

Thor - I have a rule. If I think about the movie the next day, I like it. I didn't remember I'd seen that movie until now.

I've become so picky, my 0-10 scale will only allow movies I like. In other words, I have to actually like the movie for it to have a chance for at least a 1. In the past 5 years only 2 movies have cracked a 7 or higher. Bourne Ultimatum (a guilty pleasure 8) and Dark Knight (a gut wrenching 9). Inception, Taken and Star Trek all made the scale but no higher than 6. Pixar is so good, I gave it it's own scale where they are ranked in order (Cars 2 at the bottom; Incredibles and Ratatouille at the top). Do I have any 10s??? There are 2 - Raiders of the Lost Ark and Master and Commander.

I'm starting to see why my family thinks I'm crazy. Looking back, maybe I had a mummy's curse put on me for dissing movies with pyramids...

Save me Harry Potter 7 part 2, save me!

FMF for the week-

Last weeks offerings were just sad:

Vintage My Little Pony Sleeping Bag - Paid .50 cents. Sold for $10.50 (not bad).

Disney Store Finding Nemo Squirt Plush - Paid .25 cents. DID NOT SELL (crud)

Holliser Cutoff Jeans Shorts - Paid $1.00. Sold for .99 cents (loser)

Hopefully this weeks offerings are better:

Vintage G.I. Joe H.I.S.S. Driver (paid .10 cents)

1959 Whitman "Little Black Sambo" children's book (paid $2.00)

Lot of 14 VHS wrasslin' videos (paid $2.00)

Independence Day Decapitation (& FMF results)

When I was a kid, my dad would sometimes buy fireworks for the 4th of July, though never the big grand ones. One year my parents invited an elderly couple from church over to eat and watch the meager selection of explosives light up the sky (lighted matches thrown in the air were most times more exciting). The one we were most excited for this particular year was the Saturn Missiles, a box of about one dozen tiny firecrackers shooting out of their respective tubes to blow up in rapid succession. With all of us seated behind him, dad lit the fuse. As soon as it was lit the box fell off. Whether it was knocked off or not is unclear but what I do know is that it was pointed right at the elderly couple (and us kids, but that's not as dramatic). In his panic, dad turned to run as the rockets took off. Losing his bearings, he ran right into the neck high clothesline and was, well, clotheslined, completely flipping him on his back. All the while, the Saturn Missiles were flying wildly while everyone hit the deck themselves for cover. If you've seen the Pixar movie, A Bug's Life, this was reminiscent of the circus scene where P.T. Flea (voiced by John Ratzenberger) does "Flaming Death". Pure chaos.

Now, on to Flea Market Flippers!

Last week we had a Rainbow Brite card game, Super Mario DS and Sega Star Control. The Results:

Rainbow Brite Giant Card Game. Paid .10 cents. Sold for $1.84.

Nintendo DS New Super Mario Bros. w/case. Paid $8.00. Sold for $16.50.

Sega Star Control Game complete. Paid $3.00. Sold for $2.47.

As you can see, Mario wins, hands down. Disappointed in in the Sega Game, but it wasn't much of a gamble. This week's FMFs are:

Vintage My Little Pony Sleeping Bag (paid .50 cents):

Disney Store Finding Nemo Squirt Plush (paid .25 cents):

Hollister Cutoff jeans shorts size 0 (paid $1.00):

(Don't know what's going on with the diff. size pics. Oh, well)

Didn't find any video games this week so kind of a bummer. You can check the eBay auctions under my handle, bbohnsfactory.

Results! and New FMF

The results are in from last weeks Flea Market Finds:

Fisher Price Amazing Animals Choo-Choo? Paid $1. Sold for .99 (Booo)

Sega Genesis Splatterhouse II? Paid .18. Sold for $25.89 (Yay)

GBA Pokemon Chaos Black? Paid $8.00. Sold for $30.00. (Yay) Issued refund (Booo)

The Pokemon game sold but eBay cancelled the auction (don't know how they can cancel it after it's over and paid for but they did). The buyer freaked out and demanded a refund, which I obliged. The problem was, eBay has no product specs for this game and I guess that means they feel the game is bootlegged. Either that or a grumpy seller is telling eBay they are bootlegged so they can maximize there own auctions. Whichever it is, I still have the game and need to figure out how to sell it now.

On a happier note, another game from the Sega lot I bought for $10 did well. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist sold for $13.50. I sold 9 games out of the 35+ in the lot for a total of $58.63.

With that said, here are this weeks Flea Market Finds:

Rainbow Brite Giant Card Game, circa 1983 (paid .10)

New Super Mario Bros. for DS (paid $8.00)

Sega Star Control Game Complete (paid $3.00)

Let me know which one will bring the most $$$ ('cuz that's what we are about here at the Piggy Capitalist).