After finding out that all the Kaybee stores would be closing, we made it our mission to make a pilgrimage to one before time ran out. We made our destination a Kaybee Liquidators located 45 minutes north and set a date. As fate would have it, we got there on the last day, during their last few hours of business...
This was all that remained of the shelf space. Everything left in the store was 25¢.
Goodbye, Kaybee, ye shall be missed.
Here you can see how gutted the place was by the time we got there.
Here you can see all the wares they had left, and the greed in our eyes start to rise.
When all was said and done, we loaded up.
Nothing washes down a ridiculous toy-buying spree like a Denny's Grand Slamwich.
THE DAMAGES:
Mostly what they had left where wrestling toys, which at first I resisted, but as time wore on my standards dropped lower and lower, until I was just piling weird crap into a cart. I'm glad I did to, because at 25¢ for everything in the store, these purchases simply didn't add up. Everything I bought is detailed in the list below...
These little guys are great. They may just be the most articulated 3 and ¾" figures currently available. They also fit in great with your other toys in case Luke Skywalker or G.I. Joe ever needs to wrestle with someone. Plus, each figure comes with part of a build-an-environment. Just 3 of these guys came with enough peices to build have this cage-thing . Pictured here are The Boogeyman, Umaga, CM Punk, and The Miz. It should be noted that The Miz got his start appearing on The Real World and then going into wrestling. By comparing the date-stamps of the two figures I bought of him, I have deduced that he's been in the game for at least 10 years.
The rest of the figures we bought were the bulk of what remained at the store: 6" wrestling figures. We started out basing our purchases of them on facial-expression hilarity, but as time wore on our standards became more lax and arbitrary.
Ehh, the names of either of these figures escapes me. All you need to know is that they're rockin' the business attire bruiser look. Plus that briefcase? It fires out contracts.
Up next are Nuncio and JBL
Nuncio comes complete with a classic folding-chair accessory that maintains an imprint after you bash it into a figure's face.
And JBL comes with a safe accessory that opens when it's slammed on a figures head. I hope this kind of stuff actually happens in wrestling.
Here we have Micheal Shelton and I forget who's on the ladder there. I just call him Grumpy Gus because of his sad/hurt facial expression.
And lastly we have Mr. Kennedy (with microphone) and once again The Miz.
Although I've never liked wrestling, I have to admit that these figures are fun and well-made. I can definitely see why they seem to have bottomless popularity. The characters and articulation on these gives you a limitless combination of ways to mash them together. And keep in mind that these figures are mostly current and run about $10-$12 dollars a pop, making these garage-sale prices an insane deal even for the uninterested. My only regret? Not buying more.
Up next we have Faith from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer line. I don't know much about the show, but I'm guessing she goes from good to evil to good, just like about everyone else on the show. At any rate, this figure is ready for ass-kicking, sporting a handsome leather jacket, metal pipe, and weird bloodied ceremonial dagger-thing.
Faith's sleeves can also be removed to give her a fresh look and to keep her under-arms aired-out while she's using her bow accessory. All in all, a very nice figure.
This one is a real gem. Hemorah here was a smog monster from one of Godzilla's worst movies, and the original $10 asking price was highway robbery for what is essentially an unarticulated dog toy. But for 25¢ it's AWESOME. HEMORAH! here looks great just chillin' out on your shelf and being a baffling blob of Japanese quirkiness.
Next we have the Red Ranger. This strange dino-themed Ranger was the only selection available, and did not come with any weapons despite all the figures on his cardback having them. He does have a weird amountt of leg articulation, though, and I suppose his dino armor is pointing enough to act as a weapon. And, c'mon, he's a master of martial arts, so he doesn't even need it...
Also, the Red Ranger and Hemorah are locked in a never-ending battle.
There were multiples of this one Spawn figure left, Soldier of Ra. Spawn has had so many series and adventures he's scrapping the bottom of the barrel with this Egyptian-themed wave. Soldier of Ra is the most generic Mummy-esqe character from the line up, and thus the least desirable. But at least this makes him a nice generic Egyptian monster to pit your adventurers with. Plus he does have some serviceable arm articulation for a McFarlane brand figure...
...not to mention pretty great sculpting.
Here's a left-over gem from the Rocky toyline. Long gone were any recognizable figures from the line like Mr. T, Hulk Hogan, or Rocky himself, and all that remained was Rocky's Russian adversary's wife-- Ludmilla Drago. Even though she has no one from the movies to hang out with, she fits in well with the wrestling figures being made by the same company. Plus she can convert from business attire...
...to ass-kicking chic!
And here we have Rock Band figures. Now, these just came out and are also commanding a high premium, begging the question: why didn't the Kaybee guy just Ebay this stuff? Oh, well, they can't have been too popular if they had this big of a selection left. Looks like this line of brittle, ill-articulated figures won't been a saving grace for the struggling McFarlane toy company. Still, they're fun and current and they look good together.
And finally we have David Ortiz and Derek Jeter. I'm actually a little disappointed with these guys...they sport a fair amount of articulation, but their feet are oddly positioned forcing them to completely rely on their stand for support. Thus crushing my dreams of David Ortiz wailing on a Skeleton Warrior with his baseball bat.
At the end of the day, all this stuff cost, like, 5 or 6 bucks, less than any one toy that we bought would have cost us by conventional standards. Ultimately I would have traded any deal to keep Kaybee open a little longer, but as far as send-off's go, we did it in style.
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