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I’m an oldschool sci-fi geek when my schedule affords it, which should hardly come as a surprise. The weirdly simple or alternately overcomplicated approaches to scientific exploration, the attention to the space-age aesthetics of high-tech devices, and the general awesome strangeness of it all. I dig it.

And of course, when anyone is asked to name a black and white sci-fi hero, Buck Rogers is one of the first that will come to mind. Even my college dorm has a barely-functioning ‘Buck Rogers And The Planet Of Zoom‘ arcade game in the basement. What I’m saying is that the dude’s been a fixture in the sci-fi lexicon and culture itself for countless years. So, why has it taken so long to get a real action figure of this famous hero? We really got a Mr. Bean figure before we got Buck Rogers?

It was worth the wait. GoHero’s been giving us glimpses into the production process of their impossibly cool 12” Buck Rogers for a very long time now, adding extra features, fixing minute aspects of the figure, and finally, releasing him into the world. It’s a labor of love by GoHero’s Steve Forde, because the process definitely hasn’t been that easy. That happens when parts of your action figure are made of glass and their guts are made of fancy computers.

This is definitely one of my most anticipated toys of the year, and like many people in the flagging economy, I’ve severely cut back on my collecting. Buck Rogers, however, still had to happen. I can give up a few tiny Iron Men for this. Food? Food is for the weak.

Buck arrives in a wooden box, much like the previously released Buck Rogers Disintegrator Pistol, making the two pieces complement each other even in their packaging. The retro-awesome is revealed as you slide the front panel upwards to reveal the figure inside. The front panel itself has been burnt with the Buck Rogers logo, as well as the specific edition number of your figure. Mine is #675 our of 1000. Classiest packaging of the year, by the way – but I’m a total sucker for wood anyhow.

Inside, the figure itself rests in plastic packaging. Because of shipping issues from the overseas factory, the glass dome that rests over Buck’s head was shipped separately, but can still be stored within the plastic frame that the figure sits in. The removal and replacement of the figure in the package is supremely easy. The package itself contains a set of gloved hands, a holster to loop onto Buck’s belt, his die-cast iconic Disintegrator Pistol, a helmet, a certificate of authenticity, and a USB cable with some instructions. But why would an action figure need a USB cable? Because it is amazing is why. We’ll get to that part in a moment.

The figure itself has a great 1/6th scale body, and there are a LOT of them out there. Sideshow, Enterbay, Hot Toys, Medicom, Triad Toys – everyone’s got a 1/6th scale body. This one, which is proprietary to GoHero, is highly flexible, and I found no joints that wouldn’t to exactly what I wanted them to. While a few are a little wiggly, it doesn’t affect poseability, ultimately. The portrait of Buster Crabbe is incredibly solid and leaves nothing to be desired. It’s really just a stupendous figure.

The clothing is also immaculately detailed and finely sewn together. The pilot pants and red shirt are very impressive and fit the figure very well. The boots and ‘leather’ vest are both made of a thin rubber, as are the extra gloved hands. I didn’t attempt to remove either, because I just didn’t want to test the elasticity of the rubber. I was gentle, and had no problems, nor do I anticipate any. None of this impedes figure motion either, which is a feat.

To put the gloves on the figure, you pop off the existing bare hands and slip the gloves onto the pegs which are left. It takes some considerable skill and force to thread the new hands onto the pegs, but it can be done with a minimum of profanity. The helmet is slipped on very easily, and the holster is also placed on the figure’s belt once it’s unlatched and threaded through a loop or two. The awesome glass dome, however, is another thing entirely.

It’s a beautiful addition to the figure, and probably the first time that real glass has been used as a major figure component. It’s a serious coup towards giving the figure some real veracity, it’s bold, and it didn’t come without its trials. My giant monkey hands just can’t get it onto the figure securely. The glass dome is surrounded by a rubber lining around the bottom, which is both decorative and functional, as it has two minuscule straps which can be buckled under the figure’s armpits to hold it in place. This rubber is held onto the glass with a wire wrapped and soldered around it, and set into a groove. Fair enough, however, is the fact that the dome can rest rather comfortably on the shoulders of Buck, without the stretching and prodding necessary to buckle the straps. I love the realness of actual tiny buckles, though I would not object to a snap or a magnet.

One other tremendous aspect is the jetpack, which slips into the rubber vest. It’s sleek and beautiful, and with the press of a button, it lights up bright red. What more do you need to know? Glowing jetpack. Boom.

But what’s this about a USB cord? See, the ATOMedia 12” body actually contains a 1GB MP3 player, and in this case, it is preprogrammed with a whole mess of Buck Rogers radio programs. By sneaking a finger under the tight vest, you can switch the internal player on and control it with an external remote. The included USB cable can be used to load up the MP3 player with any music or programs of your choice, and you can even directly record your own voice into the figure. It’s a little bit of innovative madness, and when you need to charge him up, the USB cord is used once again, transmitting power right into the internal battery. The speaker quality is solid for an action figure – but I guess there’s no real standard for that established just yet. Everything is perfectly clear, and it’s really a whole surreal experience to have these sounds emerging from this guy. Yet another first from GoHero, who are really revolutionizing the genre.

Buck Rogers is a nearly perfect action figure experience. Check out the gallery right here on CQ to see many, many more photos of this guy – aided by a stand from Enterbay to get some of the fancier poses goin’. When you have a dome of glass delicately balanced on your head, it sometimes helps to have a stand to support your figure, lest disaster strike and you run crying into your room and kick at the sheets until it all goes away in a sobbing miasma of defeat. But enough about my nightly routine. It’s worth the investment – be careful, and you’ll have a stellar space hero to display for as long as you can imagine.

I have warned you about collecting, and the obsession it can become. Now let me tell you how these things work. I’ve laid out some of my collections in past articles,  from the normal accumulation of keys that starts in a dresser drawer, and winds up in the garage where it no longer crowds out your tidy-whities, to the paranormal depression glass ice buckets that I collect. I started only wanting a showy bucket for our Deco room bar, and you know, one bucket would have been enough. But when a better one is spotted it gets added and soon becomes a collection.  One of our readers replied to my past blog on ice buckets, asking about hotel buckets, an item which I had no intention of collecting. Nonetheless, it sent me on a search for my first one of that ilk. Thank goodness I haven’t found one yet that I could justify buying.

Last Saturday, Wifey and I made a little list of yard sales in and around our village from our local newspaper, the daily paper and Craig’s List, with not many listed that didn’t start and end with baby clothes. As a last resort, I checked some of the not so local locations in the daily and found one in an upscale suburb. Antiques were listed and off we went looking for treasures for Wifie’s to sell.

While earlier than the listed start time I saw a crowd already leaving as we pulled up to the sale. We waved to several dealers we often see at estate, yard sales and flea markets. When we went up the drive, even the seller was a familiar face. Wifey found some bargains, and pointed me toward an object in the back of the garage. I pride myself on being mechanically savvy, but it took more than a second look to see what this collector had for sale. I reported back to wifey that while the item was rare the price was higher than I would spend and I didn’t want to expand on a rather simple collection.

The owner, hearing our discussion, came over to prod us, asking if we knew what it was, showing off the drawers full of spare pieces, and giving us the provenance on where it came from and its age. We thanked him and started to leave, when he suggested we could make an offer. I hesitated long enough to get him to illicit an offer, which was very fair and we had our latest purchase for my key collecting.

Now I’ve had suggestions on moderation, counseling, intervention and if necessarily an exorcism and I still bought this Yale & Towne key cutting machine. And it’s a beauty, from an old local hardware store that closed, it’s mounted on its original wood base with two drawers for key blanks, completely functioning, hand operated and all original.

The added attraction to the piece is my affection for antique hardware. Yale & Towne is definitely a familiar manufacturer. While not a collection in the normal sense, I started picking up door knobs and backplates to replace inexpensive newer knobs when we bought an old cottage style home. At first buying every kind I saw and when finally settling on a style, I found I had lots of extra hardware for wifey to resell. That I continue to find and wifey continues to sell hardware, shows the intense interest in this as an antique collectible.

Our source of information comes from this book, Antique Hardware by H. Weber Wilson. While the book has a short history of the Yale hardware,  I was able to learn more about the company that made this wonderful key cutter from Wikipedia. While we associate Yale & Towne with household locks, it was their bank locks and commercial hardware that brought fame to the company. One of Wifey’s recent sales included this latch set from the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and it was a rarity!

So on we go, with each item collected taking me further from recovery, but loving every minute of my addiction.

Yale Blout photo was taken by Eusebius (Guillaume Piolle). GNU Free Documentation License, 

I’d never heard of it before, but Tiltin’ Milton tripped my trigger — a great name, screaming retro graphics, and a corny rhyming tagline:

Don’t Tilt Milton While He’s Snoozin’
I’ll Be Winnin’, You’ll Be Losin’

Tiltin' Milton Vintage Game Box

I didn’t care if the box has signs of water damage and too-securely (and paper-damagingly) taped shut to see if it had all the pieces. I’m an old school gaming girl; I love such adventures into unknown board game territory.

And I’m a cheap old broad too — who can pass up a 50 cent thrift store find? (Don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m lucky enough to score the nifty thrifty!)

Because this new edition of an old game is part of my “Old Games I Make People Play” collection, once home, the family was assembled to play. And we discovered this is a board-less vintage game.

1968 Tiltin' Milton Game by Ideal

The game instructions, including the list of pieces, are printed inside the game box lid; from there we learned that while our new old game was not complete, it could still be played well-enough. We have the large plastic “Milton,” his hammock, and the tree to place it on. Of the 10 “large objects,” we have 9; of the 10 “accessory objects,” we have 8 (one of the 8 is damaged, but as the eyeglasses just “sit” on the newspaper, it still works).

The object of this 2 or more person game is to place things on the large plastic Milton who sleeps in his precarious hammock — without tiltin’ Milton so much that he falls to the ground.

Trying Not To Do Too Much Tiltin' Of Milton

It is both as simple and as difficult as it sounds. Simple in that there’s not too much strategy involved other than how to best balance the game pieces; difficult because you are forced to follow the game rules and the laws of gravity.

Oops! Someone's Been Tiltin' Milton!

The first player chooses any “large” object on Milton by placing the peg of the object into one of holes in Milton’s body — and their turn ends. “Note: Players may hold Milton or the hammock, with one hand, when placing objects.”

The next person to play places the relevant “accessory” object, as shown inside the box lid (shown below), onto the “large” object and then also places another large object on Milton before their turn ends.

Tiltin Milton Game Piece "Object Pairing" Diagram

Play continues like that of the second player until Milton is tilted out of his hammock; the player who causes this event to occur is eliminated from the game. All objects are removed from Milton, and he is replaced in his hammock for play to begin again — minus the player who sent Milton tiltin’ too far — until only one player remains. That player is the winner.

Tiltin Milton Game By Ideal Toys

While this game was manufactured before makers printed suggested ages on the boxes, this 1969 Ideal Toy ad illustrates that the game was suggested for 5 year olds; call us five year olds, because we had a fun time, playing two games.

Close-Up Of Tiltin Milton Game In 1969 Ideal Toys Ad

It’s not my favorite game, but it’s certainly an easy to set-up and take down game with a short enough duration that allows you to squeeze in a quick game before dinner or bedtime. I’d actually like to get the missing pieces — however this game isn’t so easy to come by.

Tiltin’ Milton (No. 2352-3) is a big plastic board-less game which was produced by Ideal Toy Corporation in 1968 — part of Ideal’s 1960’s foray into games. In terms of collecting context, Ideal went into the manufacture of games in a big, elaborate way, making games that were more like toys with large 3-D plastic pieces that relied more on mechanical designs than traditional board game play. (I was unable to find out for certain, but it’s a fair bet that Marvin Glass was actually behind Titltin Milton.) These 3-D plastic board-less (or at least less board-based) games are iconic and even early games which didn’t fare so well at the time are rather popular with collectors.

While I won’t go so far as some sellers and say it’s “RARE” (in all caps yet!), the Tiltin Milton Game certainly isn’t über common. I presume this is because it was one of the few 3-D plastic-dominant games Ideal did not have much success with, so few games were made, let alone sold and valued enough to be saved. Despite eBay sellers listing the game from $50 to over $230, past sales of the game show of the two listed, only one sold — and that for $6.99. (But these prices are a snapshot of “today” and who knows what the future holds for Milton?)

In any case, it seems like it will be awhile before I find my missing pieces at an affordable price. So, if you should find yourself with a spare Tiltin’ Milton tree branch, eyeglasses, ice cubes, &/or sandwich…

Meanwhile, I continue to play without a full deck with a few missing pieces.

Playing Tiltin' Milton

It could just be my perception that ephemera is vanishing from antique stores and antique malls (sometimes not finding what you seek makes your perception a bit jaded) — but I don’t think so.

I can hardly remember the last time I saw a booth at an antique shop that was all vintage magazines &/or ephemera. Sure, maybe there’s a shoe box of postcards, a little wicker basket of antique photographs, some single page ads carefully shorn from old magazines and then placed in plastic sleeves, you can find vintage cook booklets and some other advertising pieces scattered here and there… And of course, there’s the obligatory stack of vintage Life and Popular Mechanics magazines. But it’s pretty rare when you find a whole booth devoted entirely to vintage magazines and ephemera — I know, I look! I long to sit my butt down on the floor and spend as long as it takes to tenderly page through old paper, looking for treasures to take home.

In fact, the old paper pickin’s are slim everywhere. Thrift shops, rummage sales, flea markets barely have token offerings. It’s like the whole world believes what the auctioneer and appraisal folks say, that old paper has no value. *snort*

There are plenty of ephemera collectors and ephemera obsessives who will tell you differently.

CW Magazines Storefront, Fargo, ND

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that there’s an honest-to-goodness brick and mortar shop dedicated to vintage magazines right here in Fargo, North Dakota! No, wait; you don’t need to imagine — I’m only too happy to tell you.

I. Am. Thrilled.

(I know you expect multiple exclamation points to punctuate my giddiness; but actually, I’m quite seriously delirious when it comes to collecting my vintage magazines and ephemera.)

About three months ago, Troy Pedersen, an eBay PowerSeller with an online eBay store, Collectors World Magazines, opened CW Magazines at 1200 1st Avenue N. here in Fargo. (Locals will also rejoice that CW Magazines is right next to where B.D.S. Books, the long-time old downtown classic used bookstore, has relocated; you need not waste anytime traveling to explore the two places.) CW Magazines has other ephemera, but, as the tagline on his business cards say, it’s primarily “Your Vintage Magazine Store.” (I may take that to heart too much, believing it’s mine, all mine; but then again, I am sharing its location and secrets with you.)

Inside CW Magazines, Vintage Magazine Shop

At first glance, the store may not look like much, if you’re into fancy boutique displays; it may not look as pretty as the magazine racks at Barnes & Nobel’s. But this is vintage paper. It doesn’t lend itself to the same neat displays. It doesn’t even lend itself to organization — but Pedersen’s done a fine job. Most boxes and stacks have been sorted by title and arranged by date. This, one presumes, helps those who know what issues they are after. Me? I just want to browse through it; I rarely know what I want until I see it.

And that’s the most beautiful thing about CW Magazines: You can take your time and browse.

If you’re not a vintage magazine collector or ephemera nut, you might not understand…

But let’s imagine you’ve been feeling for quite some time now, that if only you could still remember the 10 ways to Andy Gibb’s heart, your romantic life wouldn’t be the mess it is — but you can’t remember what issue of Tiger Beat that was in! Well, now you can browse through the stacks at CW Magazines and find out if any of those issues hold that article — and the clues to restoring your love life.

Or maybe you don’t know what the difference between Rouge and Cavalier — hey, not all men’s mags are the same you know. Need a little design inspiration? Flipping through the pages is the only way you can ascertain if a magazine issue is the right one for you.

In all these scenarios, what you are looking for is either too subjective or too obscure (maybe both?) for even the best of dealers to be able to present for you online. Let’s be fair; as much as we wish sellers would retype the entire text online so that we could read it and spiders could spider it (thus allowing search engines to produce it for us), and that all the images would be scanned for us to see and judge them ourselves, it’s too much to ask. (Plus, the prices would increase as sellers should be compensated for their time.) So the best option is the delicious opportunity to pour through the old paper yourself. And you can — and should — do this at CW Magazines.

Troy Pedersen Inside CW Magazines, Photo By David Samson, The Fargo Forum

On one hand, I’m a bit jealous of Pedersen; he gets to sit all day, pouring through vintage magazines and ephemera, using the internet to research and sell, his day punctuated by visits with other collectors who stop by. What a dream!

But honestly, I don’t want to sell mountains of old paper… I want to keep it all. So all that really matters is that he and his shop are near me — and that it stays open. Because now that I have such pleasures, I don’t think I could take the withdrawal.

If you do know what you are looking for in terms of vintage magazines, back issues, &/or ephemera, feel free to ask him. You can contact Troy Pedersen via email at collectorsworld@cableone.net; or you can call him at the store at 701.799.3493 (Monday through Friday, 9-5 and Saturday, 9-noon).

Photo of Troy Pedersen inside his store taken by David Samson for The Fargo Forum; other photos by CQ’s Derek Dahlsad.

At first glance, I was unconvinced that Sanctuary was anything beyond a Torchwood clone, but without the clever anagrams or handsome swagger of John Barrowman. The DVD cover featuring a team of paranormal explorers defiantly challenging the audience, a team leader with a mysteriously prolonged life and a very dark past, the indoctrination of a newbie, a ridiculously equipped hub of advanced scientific equipment in an unexpected place – all things that would imply a dangerous similarity.

Sanctuary quickly moves into creating its own presence, though, even if it owes a lot to the science fiction shows and films that have preceded it, including the ‘monsters messed up my life and I want answers’ X-Files guy and the ‘menagerie of interesting beasts’ of Hellboy. Born from a limited series of internet shorts (which are repeated with slight variation and presented as the first two episodes), Sanctuary is certainly an interesting series, if only for the ‘what kind of wacky monster are they gonna find next?’ factor.

The series distinguishes itself by being filmed entirely on green screen, with at least ninety percent of the environments and creatures added in post-production. Perhaps it’s the unrealistically cavernous, sweeping interiors of the Sanctuary itself, or maybe it’s the camera angles that seem to come straight from video games, but it’s immediately obvious that the details which the actors are negotiating aren’t quite right. Perhaps this skepticism comes immediately from the thought that any show on the newly-christened ‘SyFy’ network couldn’t afford a set larger than a modest food court, but it’s a show that is very reliant upon technology. The bonus features spend a little time being impressed with all of this technological stuff, but while it’s not a bad show, I still feel like I need a little more convincing. Things all feel way too clean, even when they’re desperately trying to be gritty. Once I let go of my conventional TV wisdom and understand that I’m watching a cartoon, it’s a little more comfortable – but it’s important to remember that while computers can do neat things, they won’t be insulted if you build a set.

The series seems to exist in Gotham City – always dark, always rain-slicked, and with destroyed bridges just left to rot over the city’s rivers for displaced Dr. Zoidbergs to chill out on. It’s like the apocalypse is just around the bend, but again, it’s just a little too perfectly decrepit to be immersive.

Fortunately, the only real aspect of the show, the actors, are solid, and it takes some good actors to create a sympathetic bigfoot and a truly interesting villain. While it promises to be something greater than a ‘monster of the week’ show eventually, at least the monsters have nice personalities, and for what it’s worth, characters are developing. A serious injury sustained in one episode won’t magically vanish by the time the next episode comes around, and the team displays a winning chemistry, and are far, far less obsessively troubled than the Torchwood folks. I’m sorry – the comparisons make themselves.

The DVD set itself is very slick – shiny slipcase, four DVDs in a smart little cardboard folder, episode guide. The set spans thirteen episodes, and with each, the show seems to very slowly develop a little more depth and interest. The final disc is full of extras, including the original webseries, and some brief explorations into behind-the-scenes stuff, a few minutes of outtakes, and a few photos. It has the potential to explode into something enormously exciting and involving as anything I’ve ever seen, based on the exciting premise of protecting and rehabilitating potentially dangerous anomalies, rather than just gunning them all down with laserbeams.

I think that this is an excellent beginning to a series with much potential. Go out and pick it up to see for yourself.