The Bargain Bin

Continuing on from my last blog, "Spring and Sushi, but of course," after enjoying some cranberries and grass, I made my way to Wal-Mart to order my allergy meds. It would take about an hour, I was told, so I made myself at home. At one point I found myself rummaging through the "2 for $11" DVD bins; this is another reason, by the way, that I like Wal-Mart. I was absolutely elated to find a collection of "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" set of two DVDs carrying the fan selected 10 best episodes (or so the case tells us—of course, it does have the "Evil Seed" episode, which has always been one of my favorites). And then, when I found "Short Circuit," well, allergies or no allergies, it was a "chalk one up in the win column" kinda day.

As a side note, since then the Brazilian and I have been watching He-Man everyday and loving life. It's great; I know the He-Man opening verbatim and start every thrilling episode narrating along with He-Man. She does the same—in Portuguese. Indeed, so taken is she with He-Man that she actually got mildly annoyed when I suggested we watch "Short Circuit" last night instead of our typical He-Man diet. (By the way, what the hell happened to Steve Guttenberg? Police Academy and its 82 sequals, Cocoon, Short Circuit, Three Men and a Baby, and Three Men and a Little Lady—and poof! Gone.) Six or seven months from now we fully plan on starting junior's world with a healthy regimen of "By the power of Grayskull…"

One thing I find funny is how Skeletor has become my favorite character instead of He-Man, if for nothing else than his laugh, which is simply priceless. He-Man's too goodie goodie, but Skeletor is a riot!

While we're on the subject, here are some vexing questions that—being now an adult—I'm no longer afraid to ask:

Why is Adam such a freakin' wimp? I mean, he's just as buff as his alter ego He-Man. Come to think of it, everybody else is as buff as He-Man. Uhhh…gangs anybody?
Who's hotter, Teela or the Sorceress?
What the hell is that thing that sticks up across the neck of Man-at-Arms uniform?
Orko?
This discovered treasure really got me into an 80s cartoon kinda mood. So the other day, when I googled something like "Smurfs DVDs" or something to that effect, I found the Holy Grail of cartoons: a complete set of every single Smurfs episode (as long as it contains the episode where a choice few Smurfs are selected to travel to the four corners of the Earth in order to obtain the four elements—earth, wind, fire, and water—so, if memory serves me right, Hefty Smurf can be saved from turning into stone, I'll be a happy man) known to man, and for only $29.95. However, I'm not sure how "official" it is, meaning it likely comes with no pretty plastic case but probably only some generic white sleeve or something. Still, it's quite a coup, bootleg or no. And as a bonus I also purchased 88 episodes of Duck Tales along with 60-some episodes of Gummi Bears for $15.95 and $12.95, respectively. Every Saturday morning for the next two years or so is set. And that's if I watch each episode only once. I was planning on putting off buying them for another month or two, but the Brazilian was getting impatient—"Scotchie, just order!"—and, well, OK, it didn't take too much encouragement, I ordered them.

After pulling in my two prizes from the DVD bargain bin, and an hour having elapsed, I headed back to the pharmacy window to pick up my meds, where I would receive a surprise...and a mood change…