Toys I shouldn't take for granted...
I was dusting my collection last week, and took some time to reflect on a few figure lines I bought long ago...some even at brick & mortar stores(!) to put the chronology in perspective...and some I acquired the very earliest pre-WWW days of the Internet. I tend to walk by them everyday, but ignore them and largely take them for granted. Some are now worth some cash, assuming you could find any for sale. Others are (still) relatively worthless, but I enjoy them anyhow.
For instance, I have one of those vintage Pulsar figures, still in great shape. I wanted this guy (and Hypnos) desperately when I was a kid. Pulsar looked fabulous, compared to my spindly, little GIJoes & monkey-armed Captain Actions. Pulsar was larger than the standard 1:6, had groovy hair, and a mesomorphic bod with broad shoulders that any superhero would envy. (Not to mention his cool transparent chest with pumping heart!) Too bad Pulsar was articulated so poorly, and sported truly useless hands that could hold nothing. Big Jim had similar, useless hands, but I had to pick up a few of BJ's Wolf Pack, just for the Jack Kirby box art!
In retrospect, I'm especially fond of my ReBoot figures. What a great show! I wish it had become far more popular. Anyone else a fan of the ReBoot CGI cartoon?
http://www.toymania.com/features/irwin/irwintoy_reboot.shtml
IMHO, his Canadian cartoon was quietly torpedoed by Disney, who owned the affiliate network ReBoot was shown on here in the States. This was around the time that the first Toy Story movie was in the theaters, and Disney was hawking it as "the first totally CGI show" so they stuck ReBoot on at 5:30am on Saturdays, effectively dooming it to obscurity. I'm especially fond of the Canadian-only release of Bob's car:
http://reboot.wikia.com/wiki/Bob%27s_Car
I never saw Bob's "upgraded car" for sale, but prefer its original look anyhow. I also owned the ReBoot Exoskeleton at one time, but it was simply too big to coexist on my shelves. 
I remember when I bought my large, diecast Starscream figure...not because I cared for the Transformers cartoon (why would advanced robotic lifeforms from a galaxy far, far away want to come to Earth, disguised as dump trucks? And why could the bad guy transform, not into a vehicle, but into a giant, floating luger?), but because Stascream seemed identical to Robotech transforming jets. I bought the Matchbox versions of other large Robotech mechas also, like the large SDF-1.
Ultraman, anyone? I went on an Ultraman kick in the late 80s, including some obscure 1:6 scale models with rubber suits that are still in one piece!
I'm also glad I picked up some Dragon sets when I did...like the X-15 pilot and Apollo astronaut outfits. Remember those 1:6 Blackhawk costumes? I'm glad I snared these way back when.
Centurians? Visionaries? I picked up many on clearance, but sold them off by & by...
