Show off your Weekly Finds.

[Mike Scott]

Another calendar will turn up. Keep on Monsterin'.

Not for 5 bucks, though.

[Monsters For Sale]

Huh?

I mis-read your post.

[Mike Scott]

Hey! I didn't even know there was a 1976 one! Anybody know of any others that match these?

[horrorhunter]

Got these in the mail today. I can't believe I finally landed a set of the Vari-Vue Universal Monsters Flicker Rings.


These all have the red background. The Mummy and Dracula rings have a small bit of wear but still look good. The other four have virtually no wear. I've been drooling over these things for a long time so I thought I'd send the eBay seller a message with an offer. To my surprise she lowered the BIN price to $500 shipped and I pulled the trigger. I know the set technically includes two Casper rings but those are very low priority for me. If I find them cheap I'll probably pick 'em up at some point with the display card. The UniMons are what I was really after. I also like the flicker rings with the Don Post mask images, but these Vari-Vue Universal Monsters Flickers are my favorites, especially The Creature! 

[Mike Scott]

Got these in the mail today. I can't believe I finally landed a set of the Vari-Vue Universal Monsters Flicker Rings.

Congratulations! I never knew anybody who bought a whole set at once! $500 is practically a steal!

[Mord]

 The last complete set I saw was at a toy collector's show for $1,500. Congratulations, Michael (HH), you're truly deserving of this.

[horrorhunter]

Congratulations! I never knew anybody who bought a whole set at once! $500 is practically a steal!

Thanks, Mike. The seller had them listed at $750 and then offered them on sale for $600. I messaged her that they are certainly worth the $600 but all I can afford right now is $500. To my surprise she messaged me back that she was in a selling mood and lowered the BIN to $500. It was a real strain financially but I figured if I was ever going to get a set I should just get them. I know prices have dropped on flicker rings in the last few years but they kind of leveled off at about $100-$150 a ring. I really love getting the whole set in the red background and in nice condition for a little over 83 bucks a ring postpaid. Buying them one at a time is expensive and you have to wait forever to get all six with the same color background. I'm a happy Monsterkid over here. 

[horrorhunter]

The last complete set I saw was at a toy collector's show for $1,500. Congratulations, Michael (HH), you're truly deserving of this.

Thanks, pal. This was one of my grails. Now if I can just swing a Marx Frankie Robot and a Strange Frankie Candy Bucket one of these days. The monstering continues... 

[Mord]

Thanks, pal. This was one of my grails. Now if I can just swing a Marx Frankie Robot and a Strange Frankie Candy Bucket one of these days. The monstering continues... 

Those are what I call the holy trinity. I have a beautiful, MIB Marx Frankie but am missing the rest. As a kid I remember pumping every bit of change I got into gumball machines to get those rings. The chrome would always come off when I wore them, so I ate it (for some monsterkid reason). If it's lead paint, then my belly must be lead-lined. Do you know if all the chrome is still on the rings?

[Mike Scott]

Those are what I call the holy trinity.

Phooey! The Holy Trinity is:

Mint on Mint AHI Male Creature
Mint in Mint Hasbro Creature Paint-by-Numbers
Mint in Bag SPP Creature Wall Plaque

[Mord]

Phooey! The Holy Trinity is:

Mint on Mint AHI Male Creature
Mint in Mint Hasbro Creature Paint-by-Numbers
Mint in Bag SPP Creature Wall Plaque

I detect a theme in your Trinity.

[Monsters For Sale]

I detect a theme in your Trinity.

He likes mint?

[Mike Scott]

He likes mint?

The best hotels have Mint On Pillow.

[Mord]

The best hotels have Mint On Pillow.

...and a nude chambermaid on the sheets.

[horrorhunter]

  Those are what I call the holy trinity. I have a beautiful, MIB Marx Frankie but am missing the rest. As a kid I remember pumping every bit of change I got into gumball machines to get those rings. The chrome would always come off when I wore them, so I ate it (for some monsterkid reason). If it's lead paint, then my belly must be lead-lined. Do you know if all the chrome is still on the rings?

That's what I meant by "wear" in my description. The Dracula and Mummy ring have a small bit of chrome loss but you have to look hard to see it. The other four are near perfect (I won't say "Mint", I'm a comic/monster mag guy and I know what that really means) with so little possible chrome loss that you would need good magnification to find it. Most of the chrome flicker rings I've seen auction pictures of have at least minimal chrome loss so I'm pretty happy with these.

I've tried to get one or more of these rings before when the rare eBay auction for them would happen but I nearly always got outbid. Most of the time they only get listed as Buy It Now for hefty prices. I figured it might literally take years and still lotsa greenbacks to get a set of six in decent shape with matching backgrounds by waiting for auctions and actually bidding aggressively enough to stand a decent chance of winning. Then you have the shipping costs that come with most auctions- most sellers don't offer free shipping when they take a chance with an auction. The last time I remember these rings coming up at auction was several months back and a seller had a ring paired with a Marx figure for each auction. Condition on some of the rings was hard to tell as the pics weren't really plain but I bid on several of them. The only one I won was the Creature combo and I paid out the wazoo on that because it was last and I was tired of getting outbid. If I remember correctly a couple of those rings went fairly cheaply- maybe around $60-$70 with the rings and accompanying Marx figures in varying conditions. I decided then waiting on auction chaos is not the way to go if you want a nice flicker ring set.

That MIB Marx Frankie is huge. Congrats on landing that. There are many high tier monster items that I would love to own but I guess my #1 would be a MIB Haunted Hulk. Fat chance I'll ever even see one, and I'm very proud of my loose one. More grails for me are the MPC Target Set, MPC Pop-Top 8-Pack, and MOC MPC Unbreakable Weird Monsters. There are always things to want I guess.

Oh yeah- Safety Tip: Don't eat chrome.