Toy Hunters

[Ran]

This show was on last night on the Travel Channel. From what I can tell, it is basically the same thing as American Pickers, except it is only one fanboy toy collector/scalper. They showed some cool stuff, especially when he was in Cincinatti. I'm not sure if it is a series or just a 1 time show. Everything he was buying was for New York Comic Con, and they showed Comic Con at the end of the show.

I'm not sure if I'd watch it again. The toys they show were nice, but the guy was annoying as hell.


Edit: Oops. Meant to put this in the TV section.

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

I thought it was pretty fun. Yeah, the guy had that sort of fake-niceness; I'm sure he's not smiling nonstop when there aren't TV cameras around, but he's hosting a show, so whatever.

The rocket-firing Fett, and the fact that a guy bought it for $17,000, was pretty awesome.

It was a one-time thing so far. If it gets good enough ratings/reviews, they might make it a series. I'm not really sure where you go after you've found the holy grail of two different toylines; they can't expect that kind of thing all the time.

[Double Gs Daddy]

IMA HAVETA GIVE THAT FELLER A CALL AN HAVE HIM COME OVER THE HOUSE. THE BOY HAS A ROOM FULLA SHIT UP THERE AND MORE SHIT IN THE BASEMENT AND SOME OUT THE GARAGE. I SWAR, THAT DUMBASS BOY WASTED MORE MONEY ON THEM LITTLE PLASTIC DOLL O' HIS. TWERENT NO WONDER HE TURNED OUT GAY THE WAY HE DID.

[Ran]

Caught an episode of this show tonight. The guy found a Transformer referred to as "Bumblejumper". Basically a Yellow G1 Cliffjumper. He sold it for something like $120. It looked like the Autobot logo on the top of it was a bit worn and the arms were loose. I'm pretty sure I had that one as a kid. It's probably in a landfill.

[anarky]

That was a clusterfuck of sorts. I had Bumblejumper and Cliffbee (the yellow Cliffjumper and red Bumblebee, per their fan names). They were supposedly rare, but I don't recall them actually being rare. My parents got my brother and me both Bumblebees, since they were the same in different colors. Originally, we had a red Cliffjumper, and, when he broke, I could only find the yellow one to replace him. (No, he wasn't Hubcap. Hubcap had an orange face. I remember for years arguing with other folks that there had, indeed, been a red Bumblebee and yellow Cliffjumper, and the yellow Cliffjumper was distinct from Hubcap.) My friends and I always either used them as generics, or we made up new characters for them to be, or, sometimes, pretended that Cliffjumper and Bumblebee had the ability to change colors to go undercover.

I'm sure my Bumblejumper is around somewhere. It was the second version, with the rubsign. (Again, not Hubcap. He pre-dated Hubcap by at least two years.)

Edit: I take it back. "Bumblejumper" is usually used to refer to a figure I never saw, more commonly called "Bumper." He was a third Microman figure with the same transformation scheme, who somehow found himself given an Autobot insignia and tossed on a Cliffjumper card. (It's speculated he may have existed on the Bumblebee card as well, but no evidence has been found.)

Oy vey.

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

I don't know nothin' bout no Bumblejumpers, but I've really liked this show and I'm glad it got made into a series. I met the main guy (Jordan) and the bearded guy (whatever his name is) at CVI, since they had their booth there. They were both nice dudes.

[anarky]

You'd think, in the age of the internet and with geeks running it, there would be an easily-located image of Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, "Bumblejumper," and Hubcap all lined up in a row, in both car and robot modes. (Probably the yellow versions, since Hubcap never came in red.)

It looks like Hubcap wasn't a straight-up recolored Cliffjumper, either.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

You would think so.

[anarky]

That's both Bumblebees and both Cliffjumpers, though. No Bumblejumper or Hubcap.

[Ran]

A toy shop opened up here last month. It is actually across the street from the Pawn Stars shop (by the way, it is waste of time so don't bother going there). I went the first weekend it was open, and they had some decent stuff at reasonable prices. Lots of Star Wars, He-Man, Transformers, & GI Joe. Ended up buying a loose 25th Shipwreck for $5. I went back again today and ended up BS-ing with the owner. He was actually a pretty cool guy. He's starting a "Trade Night", which I might attend at some point.

While we were chatting, he said something about doing shows and I asked him about Toy Hunter. It turns out he knows the guy. A while back, this guy went to New Jersey where the Toy Hunter lives and bought a bunch of carded ESB figures. Afterward, he stopped by the Toy Hunter's shop. Apparently Toy Hunter is kind of nosy and started poking around this guy's truck. He saw the figures and asked where he got them from. He wasn't happy when he found out he got them two blocks away.

So recently, this guy said he got a text from the Toy Hunter. It was something along the line of "HA HA look at what I found in your backyard" and it included a picture of him posing with a boxed GI Joe space shuttle. It turns out Toy Hunter was in Vegas taping his show and got it from a collector this store owner knows.