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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Pop Culture League Challenge: Buying Blind




     Blind buys irritate me, but I can't seem to stop taking chances-from the $.25 gumball styled machines in the front of the big box stores to the fancy blind packed collectibles of now, it's very tantalizing. That drop of a quarter to win the expensive prize, only to discover you won... a ball of lint, basically. Or Cereal prizes, or Cracker-Jack Prizes. I've done them all.

     The expression is "Pig in a Poke"- you buy something sight unseen and hope it is what you wanted.

     So the Gumball style machines are where I think I started on this. I remember clearly my middle school library had machines that held blocky miniature football helmets or erasers shaped like spaceships and I still think that was odd. The Woolco or K-mart had a machine with replica rockets which were essentially a cardboard tube with a decal, a nose section and an engine section. I loved those.

     I don't really remember cereal prizes that I wanted, except maybe the cars from Wacky Races. I remember holding onto a Cracker-Jack toy for years that was a purple, flat, roundish six-legged bug with hex-nuts for eyes(as I recall it). Nowadays what you get in Cracker-Jacks is a temporary tattoo-something ephemeral and fleeting. The aftertaste of the stale caramel popcorn lasts longer. And yes, I realize I have just dealt myself another "old man card" by my use of the word "nowadays".

     The most recent Blind items I have dug into were the Minecraft Mini-figures. With the addition of a hot wheels minecart. I love it!



 and the Minions blind bags from MegaBlocks.

Proudly serving their new Big bad Guy!

and messing with his phone...


I picked a few of the blind-bagged Transformers 30th anniversary Chibi styled figured, but after my third TF Prime Optimus, they lost their shine a bit. My luck ain't that hot on those.



    Funny story- My local Walmart has blind-packed DC Bombshells.


I happened to notice that someone had meticulously opened every can and checked the contents looking for(I assume) Harley Quinn because she was not present-Yes, I looked, too. Who wouldn't? Anyway, what I did find, and bring to the managers attention were the three empty containers-someone had walked off with the figures and left the cans for another (unwary) person to buy. I pictured the mess for Walmart customer service and that luckless person and did my good deed for the day.

Other Blind Buyers


   

3 comments:

  1. dang ,wacky races cereal premium came before my time.I remember a few good ones coming out in the late 70's though.

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  2. I'm always amazed at how popular Minecraft has become.I mean,the graphics of the game are barely PS1 worthy,but kids and adults still flock to it.I watch my daughter play It and its is pretty cool,i guess,being able to build your own homes and villages.

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  3. My kids love those Minecraft mini figure blind boxes. When they discovered the recent hot Wheels mine cars their minds were officially blown.

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