What was your 'grail' as a kid?

I've been dwelling on stuff like this lately - over Labor Day weekend I dug up some of my last boxes from action figure collection (had them since they were new in the 90's) and sold 54 Star Wars POTF toys & 33 Spawn toys all MOC

My only things that I wanted strongly & never wound up getting were:

- Neo Geo: In the day's of Sega Saturn & Dreamcast, I lived down the road from the arcade. They had 2 Neo Geo cabinets, and the gas station at the end of my street also had one as well. If I wasn't playing Final Fantasy Tactics or Phantasy Star Online, I was fighting on Capcom or SNK titles. That's when I decided that I needed a Neo Geo cabinet - the AVS or CD home console just wouldn't do. Thank goodness I never got one before, because I had a room mate steal pretty much all of my belongings during a move & I know this would have disappeared.

- My Pet Monster: The commercials for these guys haunted me. The products/packaging on the shelves when toy shopping mocked me. I don't know how I never got this, I got (what felt like) a ton of action figures per year, why couldn't I get a plush monster in shackles?


- Scott Bernard Armored Cyclone: I was introduced to this toy, and the TV show Robotech, via Sci-Fi Expos, toy collector trade-shows, and toy/figure magainze & Animerica. This guy was no Valkyrie, and I had no idea who he was or why his bike transformed into a suit - but I knew I wanted him. Since I was about a decade or so late to the game, neither me nor my mother could ever foot his bill. Scott Bernard was a big heartbreaker to see at EVERY show/convention.

And finally...

- Pepsi R2D2 cooler: needs no explanation, I just wanted this in my room so bad, but everyone always had crazy prices on him at shows so he never got adopted. FWIW, I would still buy one in a heartbeat for a couple hundred bucks if found.

- Pepsi R2D2 cooler: needs no explanation.

Damn, would have loved a crack at some of those POTF figures you cleared out. I actually have that cooler for sale, but as it is located on Vancouver Island, it is a pretty hard sell for someone to come pick it up.

And finally...

- Pepsi R2D2 cooler: needs no explanation, I just wanted this in my room so bad, but everyone always had crazy prices on him at shows so he never got adopted. FWIW, I would still buy one in a heartbeat for a couple hundred bucks if found.

I'm pretty sure my father in law has one of these sitting in his basement. He's not one to part with things though...
If for some reason it escapes the clutches of his house, I'll let you know.

And finally...

- Pepsi R2D2 cooler: needs no explanation, I just wanted this in my room so bad, but everyone always had crazy prices on him at shows so he never got adopted. FWIW, I would still buy one in a heartbeat for a couple hundred bucks if found.

I'm pretty sure my father in law has one of these sitting in his basement. He's not one to part with things though...
If for some reason it escapes the clutches of his house, I'll let you know.

A few years back, I was out in Michigan on a fishing trip and found one of those R2s dumped in the woods in the middle of nowhere, it was a little beat up. But still pretty cool, to just stumble upon it in the middle of nowhere.

oh yeah, that one was on top of my want list too ! still hesitating to buy one sometimes

Always loved watching Force Five when I was a kid. Had some of the Shogun Warrior Jumbos. But mainly I had the 5 inch and 3 inch die-cast releases from that series. All of them went to toy heaven from being heavily abused when I was a kid. I bought this original Mattel Shogun Warrior Dragun, which I found MIB at a toy convention when I lived in Texas in 2004. Some dealer had an unopen case of them from a warehouse find. Only wanted $35 each for them. Gave me a deal at $30 each since I bought 4 of them. Dragun was one of my holy grail when I was a kid.

My beautiful Dragun still MIB in it's box:

Shogun Warriors Dragun by chimply toy collectibles

I bought this original Mattel Shogun Warrior Dragun, which I found MIB at a toy convention when I lived in Texas in 2004. Some dealer had an unopen case of them from a warehouse find. Only wanted $35 each for them. Gave me a deal at $30 each since I bought 4 of them.

Dude, that's nuts! Very nice deal - was that at Wizard World Texas out in Dallas?

Dude, that's nuts! Very nice deal - was that at Wizard World Texas out in Dallas?

It was just some semi-annual toy show held about 20 minutes away from San Antonio.

As a kid...and up to now!



*Pic stolen from Collection DX

man it kills me to see these 80's robots again..Voltes V, Mospeda...I was buying all those up as a young punk in Pittsburgh 20 years ago. I sold most of them to pay medical bills for a family member about 10 years ago. All were mint because I was an adult when I bought them.

I think somebody already mentioned for us continental US kids in the 70's any Ultraman or Godzilla toys were "grails". They just didn't exist unless you had a family member that travelled to Japan. I had to make do with the few crappy dinosaur figures available.

Defintly the full size Voltron figure set. The damn thing was epic. Never got it I also loved the GI Joe tiger force vehicles. So bad ass.

Saw this at the Mandarake Grand Chaos over the weekend. While not a true 'grail' of mine as a kid, this would have had me in the thrawls of ecstasy nonetheless to receive. Pity I couldn't fork out the money for it now to relive lost childhood fantasies A Japanese version to boot, can't get much better for me to drool over.

It wasn't my grail, but I got the set for this card when it came out for something like $14. Thank God for Charles Barkley because now I have a Michael Jordan rookie card

nice!
i had like 3 years where i would bust my allowance on packs of cards.
my prime year was the jordan-less year. sad. sets became worthless quick.

oh yeah, that one was on top of my want list too ! still hesitating to buy one sometimes

ah... Gakken Cyclone. nice toy. Can be found for around $100-$150 on eBay. Was going to finally get one, but opted to spend a wee bit more on the Masterpiece version

I believe I have at least one of these MIP stored away somewhere. I used to collect the Aliens figures.

When I was a kid I wanted this Mission to Gamma VI Star Trek playset soooo badly. The great thing was that I actually got it for
Christmas when I was 6. Another great thing was that I already had Captain Kirk and Spock Mego figures. I played with
this thing all of the time and I didn't even watch the show. I just thought the toys were awesome.


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I actually just saw that Mego set for the first time on fleabay couple weeks back, and fell in love with it. I absolutely love playsets, and I can see how this one would provide hours of fun. It is just too bad these things are so costly to get a hold of nowadays, but I think that speaks to their great quality (and the imagination of earlier generations I might add) if the childhood love of us all endures enough to drive a market for them.

This was my grail. I used to dream of this thing. Never got one



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Also would spend hours staring at the pages of the catalog. The Interplanetary headquarters used to fascinate me.

Space 1999 Eagle Transport by Mattel. I played with this every day and watched the show like it was my job:

Wow, I've never seen one of those. Awesome

I had a green Dinky diecast eagle transport that got really beat up from playing in the garden

I had the blue Eagle Freighter, with the removable barrels. A friend of the family brought one over for me one day, for no reason whatsoever! She just thought I'd like it and she was right - I loved it, actually!
We had one of those heat registers that came out of the wall, like a radiator but square and gas powered, and later the same day I left my new favorite toy in the world on top of it when I laid down to take a nap on the couch. Guess what happened?
It got nice and chilly and...

No amount of wishing and praying could unmelt those precious barrels. Stupid kid.

I had the blue Eagle Freighter, with the removable barrels. A friend of the family brought one over for me one day, for no reason whatsoever! She just thought I'd like it and she was right - I loved it, actually! We had one of those heat registers that came out of the wall, like a radiator but square and gas powered, and later the same day I left my new favorite toy in the world on top of it when I laid down to take a nap on the couch. Guess what happened? It got nice and chilly and... No amount of wishing and praying could unmelt those precious barrels. Stupid kid.

Damn. Sad story. It didn't even last out the day.

Damn Jay, me too. Still brings a tear to my eye looking at that. No American toy coulld ever feel the way that Japanese diecast did. I got the little guy but I recently saw this big guy in Coop's collection and almost keeled over. So sick.

As a kid...and up to now!



*Pic stolen from Collection DX

I have that Eagle Transporter but in white.