Bridgeview Community Center,
Bridgeview, IL
November 5, 2006
Story and Photos by Chris Rhoads (dustrho)
TWO SCOUT
WALKERS AND A RONTO
Hey troopers, chalk up one more event to the Dewback Patrol menu, as
this trooper hit up the Bridgeview Toy Show for a second time this
year. Seeing as it was a good time
back in March this year, I decided it would be fun tackling this
event once more. My friend Jeff (aka Darth Berger), his son and I
would make the trip out there.
At approximately 0930 we loaded up his Dewback and began our journey
to score some good Star Wars products. The one nice thing about this
trip is that it only took us approximately thirty minutes to get
there, instead of the much longer drive to the comparable "big"
shows such as Wizard World Chicago in Rosemont. Once we arrived it
was time to start our hunt for Star Wars toys. I only had $60 in my
wallet and was hoping that it would be enough to satisfy my time
there.
Admission
only cost us $3 each, and since Berger drove I covered the cost of
his admission (children under 10 were free). After paying for entry
we filled out these free raffle tickets, as they were giving away
some Star Wars and G.I. Joe toys. I honestly didn't pay much
attention to this, as I almost never win anything. However, we were
hopeful and deposited our completed tickets in the drawing boxes.
We
walked around a corner and there were approximately 30-40 vendors
setup with all sorts of goodness, many of which had Star Wars toys.
Before we could make it onto the main floor we walked through the
hallway of Star Wars cardboard cutout stands. There was Darth Vader,
Princess Leia, Yoda and more, and if it weren't for the fact that
they're so big I would have purchased a couple of them as they were
priced pretty cheap.
I
must have spent almost thirty minutes at the first dealers table, as
he had the most amount of vintage Star Wars toys I've seen any
dealer have at any toy show or convention. He had so many vintage
figures that I was flat out in awe. What was most exciting was that
he was selling most of those figures for about $3 each, and thanks
to those great prices I picked up 13 vintage Imperial soldiers and
one Rebel medical droid. I was really happy with the deals this
gentleman had at his table, and most of my $60 was now out of my
pocket. I still had 30+ tables to hit still, and I was almost
regretting not walking around the place first to scope things out,
but I just had a feeling that I would be in good shape going
forward.
There
were many dealers selling Star Wars goods, but they were selling
everything at outrageous prices. One was selling the San Diego
Comic-Con 501st trooper for $75, but luckily I got mine for much
less than that. Another dealer was selling all the new figures for
$15 and up, which is what they usually go for at toy shows, flea
markets and conventions, so that wasn't too much of a shock to me.
And the one that struck me the most was this guy who was trying to
sell figures like Scorch for $35! I've seen that guy at a few shows
in the past, and he has scalper written all over his face. Those are
the kind of guys that will hopefully get theirs in the end.
Thirty
minutes later at one of the last dealer tables I stopped at, this
guy happened to know two of my friends from the Midwest Garrison.
Talk about a small world!, and he also lives pretty close to me. He
had all sorts of different toy lines for sale, but the items that
stood out from the rest were all the vintage vehicles and figures he
had for sale. Since I had purchased about $45 in vintage figures
from that first dealer, I chose to only investigate the deals on the
vehicles he had. He had the Imperial Shuttle for $200 that came with
the box, and both of them were in close to mint condition as you
could get. He had a really nice Jawa sandcrawler for sale, but
seeing as I'm not much of a Jawa fan I chose to pass on that. Two
items that I did end up buying from the guy were two Scout Walkers
(AT-ST) that only set me back $7 each. They're both missing their
top hatches and the gun that sits up there, but I'm going to
customize these (whenever I find some free time). I'll give them a
fresh paint job and see if there are any modifications I could do to
them.
SUMMARY
It was another successful mission for us, and for only spending $60
at the place (minus the admission fee) I thought it was an
outstanding deal for what I was able to take home with me. The place
was jam-packed with people by the time we left, and I'm sure others
had just as much fun and success as we did. The dealers were more
than friendly, most were willing to listen to offers, and there was
plenty of Star Wars toys to go around for everybody. United We Find!
PHOTO GALLERIES To see the two photo galleries
below just click on the corresponding links.
Admission
only cost us $3 each, and since Berger drove I covered the cost of
his admission (children under 10 were free). After paying for entry
we filled out these free raffle tickets, as they were giving away
some Star Wars and G.I. Joe toys. I honestly didn't pay much
attention to this, as I almost never win anything. However, we were
hopeful and deposited our completed tickets in the drawing boxes.
We
walked around a corner and there were approximately 30-40 vendors
setup with all sorts of goodness, many of which had Star Wars toys.
Before we could make it onto the main floor we walked through the
hallway of Star Wars cardboard cutout stands. There was Darth Vader,
Princess Leia, Yoda and more, and if it weren't for the fact that
they're so big I would have purchased a couple of them as they were
priced pretty cheap.
I
must have spent almost thirty minutes at the first dealers table, as
he had the most amount of vintage Star Wars toys I've seen any
dealer have at any toy show or convention. He had so many vintage
figures that I was flat out in awe. What was most exciting was that
he was selling most of those figures for about $3 each, and thanks
to those great prices I picked up 13 vintage Imperial soldiers and
one Rebel medical droid. I was really happy with the deals this
gentleman had at his table, and most of my $60 was now out of my
pocket. I still had 30+ tables to hit still, and I was almost
regretting not walking around the place first to scope things out,
but I just had a feeling that I would be in good shape going
forward.
There
were many dealers selling Star Wars goods, but they were selling
everything at outrageous prices. One was selling the San Diego
Comic-Con 501st trooper for $75, but luckily I got mine for much
less than that. Another dealer was selling all the new figures for
$15 and up, which is what they usually go for at toy shows, flea
markets and conventions, so that wasn't too much of a shock to me.
And the one that struck me the most was this guy who was trying to
sell figures like Scorch for $35! I've seen that guy at a few shows
in the past, and he has scalper written all over his face. Those are
the kind of guys that will hopefully get theirs in the end.
Thirty
minutes later at one of the last dealer tables I stopped at, this
guy happened to know two of my friends from the Midwest Garrison.
Talk about a small world!, and he also lives pretty close to me. He
had all sorts of different toy lines for sale, but the items that
stood out from the rest were all the vintage vehicles and figures he
had for sale. Since I had purchased about $45 in vintage figures
from that first dealer, I chose to only investigate the deals on the
vehicles he had. He had the Imperial Shuttle for $200 that came with
the box, and both of them were in close to mint condition as you
could get. He had a really nice Jawa sandcrawler for sale, but
seeing as I'm not much of a Jawa fan I chose to pass on that. Two
items that I did end up buying from the guy were two Scout Walkers
(AT-ST) that only set me back $7 each. They're both missing their
top hatches and the gun that sits up there, but I'm going to
customize these (whenever I find some free time). I'll give them a
fresh paint job and see if there are any modifications I could do to
them.