Raiding the Avengers Wardrobe

You may remember Luke's post from a while ago about his Black Widow costume collector cards, featuring little snippets of Scarlett Johansson's costumes from Iron Man 2 and The Avengers (probably the bits that touched her butt, but I guess we'll never truly know). I'm sure that you, like me, thought 'Oh, Luke. That's so weird. Why would you want to own something that probably touched ScarJo's butt? Stop being weird Luke. You weirdo'.

As I am a curious beast, I thought I'd have a little look on eBay to see what other costume parts were available (not that I'd buy any of course, because as we've already established, that's WEIRD). It was less than five minutes before I was hitting Buy It Now like a crazy fangirl. A crazy WEIRD fangirl.

I mean, how did I ever live without a card featuring a picture of Jeremy Renner awkwardly grimacing and containing a piece of Hawkeye's uniform? I DON'T KNOW. Sadly, this was the first of many as I quickly spiralled out of control, caught in a memorabilia-buying frenzy. Sigh. Join me after the cut for the rest of my Hall of Shame.

Retro Review: Nintendo Game Pack Trading Cards!

This past weekend we ventured to a vintage market where, amongst dusty LP’s, burlesque prints, and fancy hats, I managed to find some sealed packs of classic Nintendo Game Pack trading cards for a mere two dollars a (waxy) pack. I didn’t know what was lurking inside - I didn’t even need to know - all I knew is that I needed them and that I’d force you to hear all about them. Even though, let’s be honest, Nintendo is notoriously sissy. DON’T HIT ME! (Or should that be “ineffectually slap” me?).

Join me after the jump and we will crack these cards open and ROFL at the gloriously retro art and fun to be had inside. Or should I have spent that $4 on a coffee? Let’s find out!

Unboxing the $7 Case of Dark Knight Stickers and Figures!

Now this is weird. Last week I was browsing the Dark Knight section of Australia's aptly named pop culture website Popcultcha and I stumbled across this anomaly. It's a whole case (24 packs) of something called The Dark Knight Collectible Stickers and Figurines and it was marked down to the ridiculously low make-our-storage-problem-your-storage-problem 90% off price of SEVEN DOLLARS. That's a bargain in anyone's language, and seeing as how I was already making an order I added it to my cart even though I didn't really know what it was.

How about we find out together?

That's a pretty big box! This is kind of like finding a treasure chest in an attic! Let's crack it open and see what seven dollars can buy you these days... after the jump!

Two Tiny Pieces of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow Costume.

My father has a small rock from space. He’s quite fascinated by it. It’s amazing to think of where it’s actually been and take delight in the fact that although none of us will probably ever go into space, we can still hold a little piece of it in our hands.

That’s exactly how I feel about this small piece of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow costume...

Join me... after the jump!

Local Toy Fair Haul!: Ewoks! Alf! Rock Lord!??

Every three months, a local community centre here in Western Australia hosts a mini "toy fair", transforming their gym into an Aladdin's cave of both brand new and secondhand toys, collectibles, and crap! It's become customary for me to post my quarterly haul on my own site, but this time it's particularly apt to post it here as I've dug up some rare treasures that the Fruitless Pursuits staff and I have been enthusiastically discussing over the past few weeks.

For example, any guesses as to what this is?...

OH. MY. GOD. See this plasticky blob take on its true form, and plenty more (ALF fans rejoice!) after the jump!

Fruitless Pursuitscast - Episode Two

Since none of us we're impaled by the falling satellite, we celebrated by discussing the latest week in news (and non-news too!) This time the group consisted of Fruitless Pursuits contributors Luke Milton, Mike Taylor, J. Tagmire, and Mike Wickliff.

This week's topics:
-Star Wars: The Old Republic release date
-Gears of War 3
-Diablo 3
-Nerf!
-Vintage Trading Cards
-DC Reboot (and naked Starfire)
-Jim Henson's 75th Birthday
-Mattel's Toy Subscription Service Issues

We're still sorting out our the audio setup, but if you can get past a little distortion, or the occasional robot interruption... give it a listen! Let us know what you think.

Click to stream. Right click to download.
Fruitless Pursuitscast - Episode Two

And finally, the Fruitless Pursuitscast is now available on iTunes! Click the link below to visit our iTunes store page for easy subscriptions and a fancy podcast mini-logo.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fruitless-pursuits/id466336249?uo=4

Under the Man-croscope: the Dubious Merit of Trading Cards.

Imagine the mighty Man-croscope! A highly technical device whose stern gaze turns upon all that you loved and accepted as a child, and heavily scrutinizes it with the steely, unwavering, eyes of a man! Everything you thought you knew will crumble to bitter, nostalgic dust - powerless under the Man-croscope's adult glare!

This week I recklessly turn the Man-croscope on trading cards! You know, those small rectangular pieces of cardboard, randomly packed with a stick of rubbery gum, that you would obsessively and bewilderingly collect as a kid. You couldn't get enough of them! You had to have the whole set! You wasted all your pocket money! You crazy shit!

I collected a ton of trading cards as a kid and a young teen. So while we deconstruct this odd phenomenon, let's take a look at some of the few remaining cards I have left, from my own personal "collection". Like this highly-prized collector's item that I photographed earlier:

I think this card is insinuating that he crapped himself.

I'm not even joking with you. These are all photos of my cards, that I own right now. Check out more of my startling collection after the jump and we'll nitpick things until they're no fun any more!