another day, another pencil sharpener

If you are a big fan of my previous post about hand-cranked pencil sharpeners (see it here), not only are you in luck, you are also a big loser. It's just another wall-mountable pencil sharpener... get over it.

Monkey News

Two different styles of wind-up monkey toys came in just a few hours apart. Wind-ups are definitely a new collection that is happening. You gather 30 or 40 different wind-ups (preferably stored in a large glass jar), crank 'em up, set 'em loose, and you got yourself a party.

Spirograph

Get ready to have your mind fucking blown...

and if you liked the "Magic Graphic" kit (on the right in the above photo), we've got a bonus generic "Spiral Art" for you...

Another collection of Spirographs can be found here.

NES with Super Mario

A Nintendo Entertainment System, with one controller, and the Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt cartridge...

The awesome looks-like-a-monitor-but-is-really-a-tv was purchased by The Jammer for $10 at the competing junk store down the street. You just can't beat a value like that. 

And what's really amazing about this find is that the game worked right away when we put the cartridge in. And, as anybody who still has an old NES around (or has used one in the past 20 years) knows, you usually have to blow on the game and click it around in the system for about 10 minutes before it works properly.

Junk Pirate Archive: Star Trek TV Tray

It has been a pretty slow week as far as blog-worthy donations go, so I'm gonna dig into the vault for a little something...

From the Junk Pirate Archives:

Someone donated a near-mint Star Trek the Motion Picture tin TV tray featuring that lovable Mr. Spock... highly illogical.

Game & Watch: Bombsweeper

Long before Nintendo reinvented itself with the Wii and the Nintendo DS handheld, and even before the greatest selling video game system of all time, Gameboy, was created, Nintendo dominated the handheld video game world with its series of LCD screened Game-&-Watch games. These simple games are still fun and usually work if there isn't corrosion in the battery compartment. 

What we have here is one of my favorites: Bombsweeper from 1987. Recently, but before this blog was started, we also got in Multi Screen Zelda (1989) and Multi Screen Black Jack (1985) (in the original box)! Also in the Junk Pirate vault are Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong II, and the amazing Donkey Kong 3 Micro Vs. System (in the box) with little controllers that fold inside the game. A very regularly updated Game & Watch website with every game in the edition, can be found here. You can play an online Java version of Game & Watch Bombsweeper here.

Madballs!

After years of waiting and concentrating on manifesting it, I finally spotted an old Madball among a big bin of musty toys. It is Screaming Meemie, from the original Series One Toys by AmToy from 1985. This is in excellent condition considering it is 23 years old and made of foam rubber.

Madballs went through two series of 8 balls each, plus a series of 4 larger sports balls (called Super Madballs). They later spawned a comic book, a few cartoon episodes, and other toy products. The New York hardcore band, Madball, was, in fact, named after Madballs toys. A redesigned series of Madballs updates have recently been available in toy stores.

Madballs commercial from 1985

Madballs cartoon: Escape from Orb (part 1)

3 Lava Lamps in 1 Week

We just got 3 (three) lava lamps in 3 non-consecutive days this past week. Two of them came from the same donation. The lights in all three worked, but only the red-and-black one got the molten lava flowing good. Not the biggest collection of Lava Lamps (one of the original "Plug-Ins") we have seen, but a good haul for one week.