Suction Cups

I have a friend at work who recently accused me of having the super power of making boring, everyday stories seem slightly interesting.


And I admit, perhaps my type of stories aren't the roller coasters of adventure that I think they are. But... they're my stories and I'm gonna tell them anyway.

Like this one. It's awkward.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my new comic book sanctuary and the concept of focusing the collection. I've been sticking to that idea pretty well as I set up the sanctuary. And I started the sanctuary with the most important display. A glass case full of licensing stuff from the 1970's.


But the case is heavy. And it loads from the back. You need a key to open it, and there's the constant danger of scratching the hard wood floors when swiveling the case out to add stuff to it.


It's quite the quandary.

When I first populated the case and carefully swiveled it back into place, this terrible tragedy happened.


All the Super Friends lined up and posing. Except for Wonder Woman, who took a nose dive. HEAVY SIGH! This would not do. What if I got something new for the collection? Or found something boxed up for years that really belonged on display?


Vaguely inappropriate Wonder Woman scissors?


DEFINITELY inappropriate Wonder Woman scissors. How can I not display these? But the case is set up already! What to do? What to do?


What could be the solution to such a devastatingly perplexing, first-world problem?


Lorie, as always came up with the solution. And when she first suggested it, I was more than a little dubious.


Suction cups? Really? But would they hold my weight?

Lorie went on to explain the devices wouldn't be used to scale buildings, as I had immediately assumed. But instead, I could attach them to the top piece of glass in the case and remove it, populating my antique dollies from above.

I was a little worried that my natural clumsiness would bring this operation to a disastrous end. So I enlisted some help.


She was dubious too.

What? I'm going to ask Ashton to help?? We've SEEN what he can do.


This was just the lawn mower, folks. On the first lawn mowing of the season, no less. No No... my go-to "Collection Assistant" is my overly OCD daughter, Katie.

Just what an eleven year old girl aspires too.

So we got the suction cups attached.


Katie nervously took hold...


... and... IT WORKED!


Worked very well, I might add. So we took some things out and played for awhile.


And then we set up some displays.





















Afterwards, we got the glass back on with no problem at all.


That may not have seemed like a pulse-pounding adventure to you folks, but it certainly had my heart racing a little.

Thanks,
DCD

The Robe

This year for Christmas, my wife Lorie got me two major gifts that I wanted to share with you briefly. The first is a Mego Batgirl. For those of you unfamiliar, Mego is the toy company that produced super hero action figures in the 1970’s. They were GI Joe-esque in that they were articulated dolls with removable clothing and often many accessories. This Mego Batgirl is missing a lot, but I still love it. I’ve been able to order pieces for it from a noted Mego restoration outfit to complete it for display. So I’ll be eagerly adding her to my Mego display once my new comic room is set up. Look forward to that post.

Second is a robe. A robe with super heroes on it. A child’s robe. With pictures of Batman, Superman, and Captain Marvel. The robe is from the late seventies and had to be acquired through eBay from an antique dealer in California.

Here’s a picture of the robe, held by my go-to model for such things.


And after seeing the robe on display on Instagram and recognizing its significance, my mother sent this:


That’s me in 1978… wearing the same robe on Christmas morning and sporting a magnificent haircut. You see… it’s not just a robe. It’s a freaking time machine to my childhood. I’ll (most likely) never wear the robe. But I can display it and maybe even get this picture framed for my wall. So many thanks to my wife for getting me the robe and many thanks to my mother for sending the picture.

NOW….

HOWEVER…

Let’s look at that picture again. The one from Christmas morning, 1978.


I’ve asked my mother to go ahead and forward any pictures she might stumble upon with me and my old toys. I don’t really think the old toys bit registers on my mother, as this is the first time I remember seeing this particular picture.

You’ll notice several of Mego’s Micronauts figures spread on the floor in front of me? I treasured the Micronauts that year, as they were the big thing for boys in 1978. And there you can see in my Father’s ever-present Christmas morning “trash box” the discarded packaging for these Mego figures. Also, you’ll notice I’m holding a boxed Mego Micronauts Giant Acroyear. I’m sure your sharp eye recognized these details.

Also, on the other side of me, are several Corgi character cars from the seventies. I can make out the Charlie’s Angels van, James Bond’s car from Moonraker, and a packaging boasting Spider-Man. I can also make out a “Heroes in Action” figure, which was a little soldier that when you twisted his waist made machine gun sounds. And there on top of it all was one of my favorites. A Matchbox Mobile Action Command police car with figure… still in package. That was a cool figure that saw hours of play. And when I lost all his accessories and his police car, I simply made-believe he was the Atom.


You can read more about Micronauts here.

You can see more about the Mobile Action Command here.

Thanks,
DCD