Friday, July 20, 2012

A farewell to arms

So a friend of my wifes came over today with her son.Her son was a quiet ,well behaved child. He carefully walked around in our house looking at things with the interest a fine art lover would have at the Louvre.His mom has told us before that he is teased / bullied relentlessly at school and in his neighborhood so he doesn't go outside much and I can totally relate to that. Their family has been threw a rough couple of years and the money just inst in his moms budget to buy him toys except for a dollar store toy on a rare occasion.I was talking to him and he was telling me about his favorite toys ,his 4 GI Joes .He had a beat to death  green guy in his pocket that he said he takes everywhere he goes and it showed, as hard as I plaid with my Joes as a kid I never wore the face completely smooth on any of them.After thinking about it a bit I ask his mom if it would be ok with her if I gave him a few things and she said it would be fine. With my wife breathing down my back recently to cut down on the plastic tubs an boxes (basically her way of indirectly saying I need to cut down the toys)  I saw this as a chance to make at least a little floor space .When I carried out the big box of GI Joe figures and ask him if he thought he might be able to use them the color drained from his face and I thought he was going to puke.He couldn't say thank you enough as he lugged the box out to the car. Years of gathering those guys probably close to 300 of them and my own son had zero interest in them because they dont have a card game or a cartoon from Japan. A little while ago I stepped out on my front porch and found this :

One lone gun left from my vintage GI Joe figure collection .I looked at it and thought to myself  Oh my gosh what have I done...............
Iv sent that kid out of here with a box that has a hole in it.

13 comments:

  1. Very nice thing you did. However keep this in mind....If anyone brings in a Gi Joe, Star Wars, Marvel Universe they get 8 free beers in my restaurant for ONE figure. Monster Cafe Saltillo baby!

    No seriously good thing you did. I am SURE he had a blast and you probably made a collector for life now. Same thing happened to me when I was a kid. My father´s friends sons showed me around their room when I was 6. They had all of the Aurora monster model kits and I was fascinated by them. I am SURE that helped me want to open a Monster themed cafe. So thanks to the unsung heroes out there in toyland.

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    1. I'm considering moving to Saltillo now. ;)

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    2. Beer for toys..Thats a great idea..I dont know if it it would go over so well here tho..Dont think Ill try it in my Monster Café North Carolina.The Aurora monster models are still awesome after all this time.

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  2. You rock dude!

    The way I got into Joes was very similar...Never even knew about them and my uncle just brings out a cardboard box and says "I have nowhere to put these guys, pick your favorite 25 figures"....boom...like series 2,3 and 4 with cardbacks he saved. Destro, BATS, Serpentor, DialTone, Hawk, Snake Eyes, SnowSerpent, Crimpson Guard, Ice Viper, Viper, Barbeque, Zartan!!! (he worked at K-mart and just helped himself any time a carded fig got damaged or opened and put in the trash...back when toy sections where actual "sections" of stores)

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    1. In the 80's my Aunt worked at Kmart and would sometimes bring me things that had been open or returned that where suppose to be thrown away , thats how I got my Rancor monster that had an Ateam figure wedged in his throat.Back then Kmart was the best place around to get toys.It was a pre barcode scanner store and I once got in trouble for changing price stickers.

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  3. You did a very good thing there Brother and this totally puts a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Toys are for sharing i always say and you really made a huge impact in this kid's life by doing what you did. : )

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    1. Nah I just passed my mess off on an unsuspecting child ;)

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    2. Well you still did great Brother and i would never said no GI Joe lol.

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  4. AWESOME! And I love how the story ends haha. You should keep that one lone gun, to remind you of the awesomeness of your deed :)

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    1. I still have like 6 plastic tubs full of vehicles that are now without the drivers to remind me as well. I thought about giving his the vehicles to but I was afraid it would go from being a gift to a burden if I had.

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  5. That was a fine thing you did and you will never regret it knowing they went to a good home. It's all we really care about - to find someone who will love them as much as we did. You are a live action Toy Stoy 3, Dude!

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    1. Thats true, My son didnt want them and my wife says all the time that when I die 99% of my stuff is going to be sold on the front lawn so it was nice to know it was going to somebody who appreciated it and wasn't just try to sell it for a profit on ebay.

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  6. The bad part to this story?
    His "green GI Joe figure" could be Scifi, but it could also be Golobulus... in which case the gun that dropped out the bottom might have been HIS! lol.

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