It intersects with Dorothy Boulevard

Seen on my morning walk:

On the Road: Pasadena Toy Expo Part 3: The BSG game

One of my finds at that toy show I attended recently is this vintage Battlestar Galactica board game, in great condition and complete:

We have not been able to play this game yet, but here are my first impressions: This looks so generic that I can't help but think there was an existing structure that Parker Brothers altered to "fit" BSG. I doubt this is much fun to play (though I want to play it)!

Yet the box is cool. It is an officially licensed product. It's unfortunate that no images of the show's characters appear anywhere in the packaging, components, or game board, but at least there are Vipers and Cylon Raiders.

Next up: The continuation of my quest for an elusive Galactica 1980 game.

On the Road: Pasadena Toy Expo part 2: What did I actually get?

On Monday, I talked about the Pasadena Toy Expo last weekend in Maryland and "the ones that got away," better described as "the ones that were too expensive for me to even consider if I wanted to go home with more than one thing." Today, let me show off some of the toys I did get. Note that members of our Facebook group saw some of these pics earlier this week!

First up, "Don't Call Me Robby" Robot from Lost in Space in talking ornament form along with an unnamed Dalek. The latter does not talk but does have the awesome plunger thing that is an essential feature for any Dalek.

And here, from left to right, BOTNS icon Willie Stargell (from Greatest Sports Legends), Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, Contract Hall of Famer Bobby Bonilla, and star of The Jeffersons and Diff'rent Strokes Reggie Jackson.

Here is a great assortment of Jetsons figures, and I gotta track down an Elroy and a Mr. Spacely now:

"And THIS...is Jessica Drew!"

"Who are three characters who have never been in my kitchen?" Not much else links these 3, but I love them:

I'll reveal one special acquisition in the Top Ten on Sunday, and I will have more--yes, MORE--items to share next week, but these are some of the cool toys I grabbed last weekend.

On the Road: Pasadena Toy Expo in Maryland

The first official adventure for Mr. and Mrs. Brooks (AKA Friend of the Show Laurie) was a trip to Maryland for the Pasadena Toy Expo, so named because--I have no idea why. It has nothing to do with the Rose Bowl; imagine my embarrassment when I showed up in Pasadena, California expecting to see a toy show.

Fortunately, we were able to turn around and head all the way back across the country to the actual site in Maryland, where over 70 vendors sold toys in all varieties of condition: unopened, new, old, used, and downright gross (Hey, I bought some of those). Fresh off my reading of Rack Toys, I was hoping to find some of the cool 1970s/1980s items pictured in there, or at least similar things. 

We were surprised that there weren't quite as many 1970s/1980s TV/movie toys as we expected. In approximate order of abundance, here are the most common toy categories we found: 1) Funkos 2) Star Wars 3) GI Joe 4) He-Man.  Beyond that, there were a lot of newer wrestling and Marvel Legends, and Lego was popular as well.

There was a lot to see, though, and it was a friendly, inviting atmosphere--crowded but not so packed you couldn't browse with comfort. As far as BOTNS-era TV items, there were more big-ticket items than the loose, affordable ones I would hope to find. Now, I did buy some cool items and will reveal some of those in future posts, but today I want to list some of what was there that I did not buy. 

First, I repeat that we had a fantastic time. Unfortunately, now that we have discovered and appreciated the event, it is moving to a different location next year. It is doubling in size, though, so we might have to try to make it even if it is a longer trip!

Yesterday in the Top 10, I mentioned the Welcome Back Kotter paper dolls, so I won't repeat them here. What follows are some of the cool things that stand out, with pictures taken of similar items from the net and not actual items from the show:

Little Rascals Porky and Buckwheat (Mego)

The Waltons Grandma and Grandpa (Mego)

Charlie's Angels lunchbox

Six Million Dollar Man doll (this one was autographed by Lee Majors)

Bionic Woman doll

The A-Team lunchbox

LJN Hart Foundation

Police Woman doll

MASH action figure (saw several of these at one table):

Welcome Back Kotter Barbarino doll

BOTNS on the Road: The Udvar-Hazy Center

One of the most popular tourist sites in Northern Virginia is the second Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Museum in Chantilly, which has a sprawling site that allows it to house multiple classic aircraft, memorabilia, and even the shuttle Discovery.

My favorite sight, of course, is the display case filled with science fiction and space toys:

Pardon the slight blurriness. Maybe my hand was shaking at the prospect of getting my hands on that sweet Buck Rogers Viewmaster reel! This is just one quadrant of the case, though, which is a great little display.

The whole museum is a nice visit--plenty of parking, unlike the downtown D.C. museums, $15 per car parking fee but no entrance fee, and enough space to not feel crowded.

And it has some cool toys, too!