You’re not a toy Kal-El, you’re a statue—but you’ll fit in with the rest of them

A couple nights ago while flipping thru the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, I came across a blurb about Supergirl coming to television this fall. Wait, really? I jumped on the ol’ internet to see if I could find anything more, and yowza! The good folks at CBS have committed to a full series.

That wasn’t good enough though, I needed to know more—so I began searching through some comic & sci-fi message boards (I once frequented) for anything super-related, and that’s when I stumbled upon this discussion:

• Does anyone know where I can get the Superman statue ‘Departure from Krypton’? It was issued around 15 years ago and features Jor-El and Lara preparing to send baby Kal-El to Earth.
• Dude that one’s pretty rare. Plenty of other Superman statues though!
• There’s one on Ebay right now for $600 MIB
• A guy in Italy has one for 350.00 but without the box.
• I don’t want it without the box.

I googled his statue, and right away thought I remember buying something similar to this many years ago… I then spent 15 minutes tearing my closets apart looking for it, but all I came up with was a Star Trek model kit I’d bought back in 2002 and never put together and a classic Batmobile that’s been sitting on my top shelf for the last 10 years. Still, I know I had a couple nerd-toys from some years back, packed away in my storage locker in the basement.

I hopped down there, but aside from a couple bags of Christmas decorations, old textbooks & a very dusty suitcase, everything else was in a dozen or so taped cardboard boxes. With no recollection of their contents, I had no choice but to bring those cartons upstairs for a better look.

• Trendmasters Jupiter 2 spaceship from ‘Lost in Space’ (with lights & sound)
• Spindrift spaceship model kit from ‘Land of the Giants’
• Captain Kirk 9” resin figure model kit
• Jupiter 2 model kit from the 1998 movie ‘Lost in Space’
• Medicom Rocketeer V2.0
• Superman ‘Departure from Krypton’ cold-cast porcelain statue
• “Classic” Jupiter 2 model kit from the 1960s tv show ‘Lost in Space’
• ELITE 1966 Batmobile from Hot Wheels
• Scorpion spaceship model kit from ‘Star Trek Nemesis’
• Batmobile model kit from Johnny Lightning

First of all, I couldn’t believe I owned half these damn toys; it’s been years since I bought any of this stuff.  Intrigued that I had that “quite rare” Superman statue after all (and MIB—mint in box), I thought I’d look up the rest of these items on Ebay & see if they’re worth anything too.

It turns out they’re all listed on Ebay, most of them for unremarkable prices and pretty much what I paid for them “back in the day”—give or take a little more. But along with that pricey Superman statue, I was surprised to see the asking amounts on these 3 items (that I own mint):


This Trendmaster Jupiter 2 from the mid-1990s is considered a rare item, and is listed from $400-$600.00; one guy is selling a used one for $525.00. I got mine for $40.00 in 1995

A Limited-Edition Medicom Rocketeer from Japan, Version 2.0 sells from $438-$575.00. Version 1 sits in my bedroom on my bookcase; I’ve got Version 2 still mint in box!

Hot Wheels issued a Limited-Edition 1:18 Batmobile based on the tv show some years back—I bought mine for around $40.00, they now sell from $150.00-200.00. I really want to open this bad boy up!



Okay, so now what—do I wrap these treasures back up and pack ‘em away again? Declare myself too old for these nerdy toys and list them on Ebay? Or do I say ‘to hell with everything’ and start ripping open some fifteen year old goodies?

And one more thing; as I was sitting here, looking at this pile of gold, it hit me—I ALSO OWN LIMITED EDITION PLANET OF THE APES FIGURES, so where are they?!  My teepee is only so big, they’ve gotta be here somewhere