Hometown Farmers Market
Tamaqua, PA
We went to the Hometown Farmers Market today, and the weather was uncharacteristically beautiful for this time of year. More often than not, there's snow on the ground in Northeast PA on March 9th, but it was 74 degrees and sunny in Tamaqua.
There were only a few flea market vendors with tables set up. I didn't buy anything except food, but here are a few of the more interesting toys and other vintage items that were available.
Watching the Toy Story movies gave me a whole different level of appreciation for scenes such as this. Here we have She-Ra and Sweet Bee laying in the hot sun with their legs up and splayed over The Rock's face while Papa Smurf watches. I'm not sure if that scenario has ever come up in fanfiction, but I wouldn't doubt it.
The Rock's 2002 autobiography is flanked by a collection of Trolls in various states of dress, and a copy of the 1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel: Dark Mirror. There was also a Harry Potter children's book along with some toys from the series, and an Allen Iverson bobblehead. Toward the back, you can see some Masters Of The Universe toys, including the figures for Fisto, Jitsu and Battle Armor He-Man. Nearby are two of the horses: Stridor and Night Stalker, and two vehicles: Dragon Walker and Roton. Pretty nice little collection.
The WWF LJN toys immediately jumped out at me from this stand. These figures are Bruno Sammartino, Junkyard Dog, George "The Animal" Steele and Brutus Beefcake, and they're from the mid 1980's. I might have picked up the Bruno if I found it in a box for a dollar, but they were asking ten bucks each. Maybe it's worth that much for a hardcore collector, but I've already got too many vintage toys as it is. In fact, everything at this shop was overpriced. Ten bucks for a used Revenge Of The Sith novel? $30 for a Tonka truck that looks like it had been run over by a real truck? $25 for a beat up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles van from 2006? Get outta here! I didn't even bother taking a closer look at the Heads Up Baseball Stars packs. Based on the other prices, they probably had Harold Reynolds priced like he was Babe Ruth.
If there's anything I regret not buying on this trip, it's these. These "World Champion: The Boxer" action figures were released by a New York company called EToys, which is a division of Etna Products. They're clearly bootleg toys that were meant to capitalize on the Rocky films, which means they were more than likely released in the early 80's.
They were only a dollar each, and I was going to buy the one on the left that looks like it's supposed to be Rocky Balboa, but I was put off by the fact that the package looked like it had been gnawed on by something. Even if it was mint, it's probably best that I didn't buy it. All I would do is take a photo of it for the blog and then stick it in a box where I'd forget about it for the next decade. I've already got more than enough of that cluttering up the house already.
