Reunited!

[palitoy]

Sorry if this is long but I think it's kind of interesting.

Back in the late nineties, I stumbled upon a Remco Phantom of the Opera figure complete with it's box in a hidden auction. Why was it hidden? Because the listing said "Phanthom of the Opera". I'd have never found it if I hadn't made the same spelling mistake one night. Anyway, I got it for a great deal.

A couple of years later, I had some unpaid renovation bills and was severely frustrated with not being able to find a creature, I sold the entire set on ebay. I regretted doing that.

Flash forward to this summer, my wife and I took a second honeymoon in NYC where I found a MIB Wolfman for a great price. I remember thinking "I wish I hadn't sold that Phantom!" while buying it.

Anyway, a few weeks ago Greg emails me with a collection he bought and says "I think the Phantom used to belong to you" The buyer remembered he got it from Palitoy, somehow. So, I got my bargain Phantom back! He's not in perfect condition but I'm really happy to have him complete my set finally.

[ramsey37]

Complete with his hat and mask, no less! When I had my set, I had to settle for a loose nekkid Phantom. I finally picked up a cheap Dracula, stole his outfit and gave it to my Phantom just the other monsters would stop laughing at him Congrats!
George

[SUP-Ronin]

That's a happy ending, But lets see 'em all together. What up???

[cjefferys]

That's a really cool story. It's never happened to me, but there are more than a couple items that I regret having sold, and I always thought it would be wonderful to somehow re-obtain those exact items again someday. The odds seem very slim, so it's cool to see it can actually happen.

Nice figure BTW. Sure he's not perfect, but the fact that he still has his mask and hat is no small feat. Those pieces missing is usually the killer with this figure.

[palitoy]

I just realized that the auction pic I used to sell the phantom is still up on Megolike.com, funny.

Here is a quick group shot, I'm really running out of room here....

[sauce]

The REMCOs are 2nd after MEGOs for me. I just can't get enough of them! I have not yet started collecting the monsters, but have almost all the heroes.
What a crazy turn of events to get back that PhantHom!!!
Way coool and nutty

[Earth 2 Chris]

That is a cool story Brian. To get the exact same figure back is just a great story.

Didn't you guys say the Dracula artwork there was based on Count Yorga? I saw that source pic of him in a vampire book I picked up a few weeks ago, and I thought "Yep, that's the Remco package art!". I'm always learning cool new facts about these monster lines from you guys. You'll pull me into collecting these yet!

Chris

[vulcan2074]

Palitoy
Thats so Cool. He was Destined to Stay in your Collection
Sammy

[ScottA]

That's so cool B. I was actually talking to Greg about this at the Knoxville show (I went). He mentioned your story to me when I told him about a carded Penguin I had. I had traded it to him and then he sold it to someone who sold it to someone who put it on ebay and I won it. Kinda neat when that happens.

I haven't made the leap to Remcos yet.

[palitoy]

Didn't you guys say the Dracula artwork there was based on Count Yorga? I saw that source pic of him in a vampire book I picked up a few weeks ago, and I thought "Yep, that's the Remco package art!".

Yeah, I'm not 100% on how it went down but the sculptor of these told me that he was just told to do Dracula generic but was given still of Karloff and Chaney for the other monsters, it shows.

I guess the image of Quarry was handy but the doll wasn't based on that. What's weird is the mini monsters card shows Bela, I guess a deal was struck with his son? Although the figure is just as generic.

That's so cool B. I was actually talking to Greg about this at the Knoxville show (I went). He mentioned your story to me when I told him about a carded Penguin I had. I had traded it to him and then he sold it to someone who sold it to someone who put it on ebay and I won it. Kinda neat when that happens.

Ha! Boomarang toys, gotta love it!

[Earth 2 Chris]

I guess the image of Quarry was handy but the doll wasn't based on that. What's weird is the mini monsters card shows Bela, I guess a deal was struck with his son? Although the figure is just as generic.

Yeah, I remember that card art. They gave Bela fangs, which he never had.

Chris

[Marvelmania]

Just goes to show how small our collecting world can be sometimes. Congrats on getting him back and completing the run. That group picture is an awesome sight to behold!

[toys2cool]

Great story Brian,I guess it was meant to be yours

[MegoGeek]

This story has two sunny sides. Thanks to the timing of BrAin finding his long lost Phantom I was able to score a sealed one off eBay a few weeks ago.

We both talked about bidding on it but since I didn't have any of the boxed monsters yet and Phantom was the last one he needed, I gladly laid off. After the talk we actually planned on me bidding on it for him because the seller only shipped to the US. Him getting his old one freed me up to grab the one off eBay and at a great price on top of it.

Who says there is no such thing as Toy Karma?

[Meule]

What a great story (well, the ending anyway), congrats Brian.
The Phantom is the only one missing from my collection and I don't see me scoring him anytime soon, especially not with the hat and mask included