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JordanGreywolf In reply to twosheds1 [2015-09-14 15:28:52 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!  I used to have a lot better luck with thrift stores back when we had some that would put out random parts of toys in a nickel-and-dime bin (or, okay, maybe 25 cents -- it seemed to vary based on the whim of the store staff) -- there would be stuff like a plastic gun or wing broken off of a ship, or individual parts from some sort of construction set mixed in with more complete toys.  However, now everything is either in a big grab bag (with everything from Hot Wheels to infant toys mixed together with very little rhyme or reason) or else intact enough that it's large enough for someone to write the price on the toy itself in MAGIC MARKER (sometimes right on the front/top -- argh!).  (Fortunately on that last part, I usually plan to re-paint these things anyway.)  And I don't think there's any particular logic to the pricing.  But then, I see gutted computer boxes in the store listed for /more than it would cost for me to buy a brand-new desktop system at Best Buy/.  

Most of the time, I find nothing of use at all, but I'm mostly there to look at the used-book selection anyway.  (Books are priced based on whether they're softcover -- $1 -- or hardcover -- $2 -- without regard for much of anything else.  As of our last visit, we finally managed to collect a complete set of the Lemony Snicket "Series of Unfortunate Event" books in decent condition, and I've even found some Japanese-language books, including a Buck-Tick coffee-table book with a remix CD.  That, and the occasional cheesy Star Wars "Expanded Universe" novel on the cheap, for stuck-in-the-airport reading.  That sort of thing.)

So there's a real randomness to it, but I think that's part of the "treasure hunt" appeal -- that elusive hope of finding a "treasure in the trash."  In this case, I got the play set for $1 (usually anything playset-sized -- no matter how abused or broken -- gets priced at $5-$10), and I picked it up originally just for a "conveyor belt" piece that I thought would be great as decoration for a Hirst Arts 3D Robo Rally board.  (Too large to actually be in the playable area, but big and cartoony enough to serve as decoration off the sides of the board in "no-bots'-land.")  And then I found myself using bits and pieces off of it to decorate some sci-fi tiles and such, and at last I used the "shell" of the toy itself as a building facade.  (The other side of it is visible in my Nuka-Cola Truck pictures.)  Various elements are crossly out of scale (the control panels, the chain link fence) but it still conveys the general sense of a building of some sort with lots of corrugated steel panels, with few specifics (such as, say, a front door) that would really nail down the scale.

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