Sat next to Geo for like 10 hours before Toy Karma II. Waited in the snow for 8 hours outside of Rotofugi for the Gargamel show. I don't really think that stuff is "weird" though, we all do stuff like that. I have no weird stories, no one I know personally really collects toys so no weird favors to do. Everyone else just wants trades or money. Trust me, I'd do some weird shit for a few major wants. REAL WEIRD. Vader Dako? Oh man, we could make a new internet meme with the weird junk I'd do for that.
That's harsh! I got to meet some real fuckin' freaks and asshats in toy lines too . . . the author of this thread for one!
It's sort of strange to think about the fact that spending an entire paycheck on a toy does not seem weird to many a 'brainer.
I used to go home looking and smelling of (bad meat) on a regular basis! Haha! But yeah....someone help me out with a bad meat or dead meat Nag!
Ha! I was gonna mention if just "paying for a toy" (at some of our ages doesn't count as weirdest/craziest thing
David and Sun-Min had announced on the old Uglydoll forum, that they were launching their new toy, Little Bony (based on a Japanese TV morning show for kids to wake up by--sort of like Sesame Street). He said there'd be a special toy give-away to the FIRST person to appear at this given address.... in South Korea! It so happened that my brother was working with the Army Corp. in Seoul at the time, so I sent him an email to beg beg beg him to get the toy for me . Like a trooper, he promised. The toy give-away would be at 7am., and so he had to take a TWO hour train ride (one way), to find the address. He showed up, but the streets were empty, and the address was to a porridge cafe. He called me up stateside, a bit confused. I was in a hospital exam room at the time (gowned! ), waiting for the doctor to pop in. He wanted me to recheck the give away time, and the hospital computer was right there! Fortunately, they didn't password protect them in those days. Got on the internet, checked the time, it was correct, told my brother. He waited for another 15 mins. and presto! David's brother-in-law opened the door, and gave a red paper box, covered with sketches by Sun-Min herself , to my brother (the only crazy person to make that long journey in the wee hours of the morning!), and in it, contained a Little Bony plush in a plastic capsule, as well as a Bony Dog plush, and some stickers! He called me back, with the prize in hand! I was sooooo HAPPY! Did the happy dance inside, and then 10 more mins. later, the doctor popped in, none the wiser! Then my brother had to take another 2 hour train ride back home. I love my brother! P.S. My poor brother couldn't figure out what all that FUSS was about, after he looked at the contents in the box.... but then, he knows he has a weird sister...
^^^ Yeah, that's a cool story. You owe him big for that one! Nooob shopping mistake on my trip to Japan years ago . Picked up one of those giant ass Marusan reissue Godzilla's from Psycholdelia in Osaka (first port of call) and then had to lug it around with suitcase, two carry bags of vinyl LPs, new sneakers, a flat packed prespex riser and other miscellaneous toys. My girlfriend thought i was nuts. I basically used by bag as a trolley. Then took the Shinkansen to Tokyo, then to the hotel to Shinjuku, then on to Machiya. All via the train system with multiple platform changes and walks from stations. Thankfully two DHL Jumbo boxes came to my rescue for my trip home. oh well, gotta be in it to win it!
God I really feel for you. I dont know if I could have handled that. and Andy of course I am, it's the common ground that made us get along.
Il_Muffino, Deadbone, and Yuck! Yeppers! My brother has always spoiled me rotten , but he's way too much on the serious side. He really is a goodie, and I still treasure the red box and the toys to this day
^ so, techically, it's your brother who went through the craziness for you. that doesn't count there needs to be personal suffering! but he's a nice guy in person. i couldn't resolve his real personality with his odd forum persona.
Hey! I WAS suffering...LOTS ! I was waiting in the exam room, afraid the doc was going to walk in on me, using his computer, and I was really afraid there for a second, that I sent my poor brother on a wild goosey toy chase. Especially when he said the streets were empty! And, I was really afraid there would be another toy geek/geekess out there, claiming the prize before my brother got there (after the looooong train ride). So, technically I was having a wee anxiety attack, having orchestrated and participated in all of that madness. I have to hand it to my brother though, he did go through a lot of time and trouble to accommodate his princess of a sister... Ok, how about this one... Uglycon 2 was held in San Francisco, at the now departed GR store . I actually lived in SF at the time, but i reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wanted a handmade Sun-Min Ugly Plushie, which were by then, getting really really really scarce. We all knew that unless we were amongst the first to show up at the show, there would be no pie for us! We were all trying to figure out what time should we form a line, outside of the gallery. Prior to this show, fans did NOT camp out overnight. I went a little crazy with anxiety, and convinced my poor Ex, that we NEEDED to book a room at the Red Victorian, in the Haight, which was just around the corner from the GR gallery. Welp, someone posted on the Uglydoll forum, that he'd already secured FIRST place in line, at midnightish. I went a little crazy about that, and tried to convince my long suffering Ex, that we needed to get in line.... NOW! He begged for a couple of hours of sleep first, before we braved the cccccccold. It was winter in SF (ok, you Easties, pls don't laugh, this CA gal is a total weather wimp! ). So at 2:00 am, we bundled up, mini Babo and Minimum Wage DEMANDED to come along, we walked around the corner and..... ergh! There was a small line of people already forming. We were 9th and 10th in line, and then 30 mins later, and a LOT of swearing by people pulling up in cars and seeing the line, there were at least 50 more people (I think after being 15th, you stood little chance of getting the Ugly Pie! ). My Ex and I frooooooooooooze! It dipped into the 40's I'm told, but luckily no winds. There was a lot of talk into the wee morning hours, but we all fell silent about 6am (seems the coldest then). Lots of suffering there! Good thing we did rent a room at the Red Vic, as people needed to use the "facilities" in the middle of the night, so there were lots of fans tip toeing upstairs and downstairs in the B&B, and no one knew the wiser either! Minimum Wage and mini Babo tries to keep my Ex warm PROOF positive that i suffered! I had on 3 sweaters, a windproof fleece, and my Ex's heavy denim jacket, lined with thick wool, and I was still FREEZING! ... not to mention blankies (two), and two head scarves as well. Here is the front of the line! Don't mess with Uglydoll fans, we might look soft and plushie, but we are really SERIOUS! ...er, no, that's not me, unfortunately I can't sew to save my life! GR even passed out free COOKIES!!! to pacify the restless Ugly "mob" When the store opened, they didn't want us to wait around all day, so they passed out numbered tickets (and cookies), so we could disband and grab showers and something to eat. We all reassembled at night with great excitement! So I did actually come away with a piece of the pie... I adopted handmades by Sun-Min, Green Poe (the large batty thingy), and Ugly Ghost (the big gray blobbie)... Also a framed sketch of Babo thumbing it to "cookie land", And YES! I was in heaven! ...and of course, David was really sweet, patient, and accommodating to all of the fans The End! P.S. Uglycon 2 was ironically called "Sleepy Chilly" (after the Sleepy Chilly Ice Bat plushies, that were exclusively sold at the show). We certainly were sleepy AND chilly!
Back in 99' when the hype was building for Star Wars Ep. 1 I was a big Star Wars collector. I would hit up stores in my area almost everyday looking for the new waves of figures. Well one of my missions on a day off from work was to Target, as I'm looking around in the action figure area I watch a guy pull a huge shrink wrapped palate from the back room. I really don't pay attention to it till he drags it closer to me and I can see large labels saying "Kenner Star Wars, Do Not open till (Date I don't remember but it was 2 or 3 weeks from then)" I watch the guy pull out his knife and slit the shrink wrap on the palate. I walk up and ask him if he is about to stock the items... He replies with a yes, and proceed to grab 2 cases of figures. He then asks why I want them if I don't know whats in the box? I reply with "its cool", and hustle my ass to the check out just in time to see the guy getting yelled at for bringing that stuff out of the back room by a manager. I make it to the checkout with my 2 sealed cases and the casher scans the side of the case and it is not found in the system. Real quick I bust out my pocket knife slit open the box and pull out one figure, It rings up and I tell her 12 are in the case and I have 2 cases! I run to my car looking over my shoulder the whole time. Kept what I wanted... sold the rest that night.
Haha, thats great, I completely remember the hype for Ep.1 being partially fueled by products starting to surface. A friend of mine had an inflatable chair very earlier, of which I was envious, lol. I was 13 when Ep. 1 came out, and had been collect POTF figures from the original trilogy. I seem to remember the Ep. 1 figures getting released (officially) before the film came out, and of course I wanted them all. I remember in my area, Darth Maul was the only figure I wasn't able to grab for a few visits to the store, though I got lucky and was able to grab one when they were stocking.
You know, I thought I didn't have any of these, but I realized I kind of do, if you count this as a "toy" (its ceramic). I just posted it on the flatwoods thread, but I'll put it here too because its pretty weird!
Nice! I used to hit up Wal-Mart every night when I got off work (I was working 2nd Shift). I picked up lots of good stuff on those late night runs and I became friends with one of the stock guys. He would give me a heads up when they got new stuff in and would even hold back stuff for me. I still have 2-3 sealed cases of figures. Those were fun times
