Warcraft

A night at the movies

Here is my Warcraft history:  I played the original Warcraft: Orcs & Humans PC game that released in 1994.  In fact, I still have the floppies, manual, and game box for it.  I also played Warcraft 2.  For some reason I skipped Warcraft 3.  And I've played World of Warcraft on and off since early 2005.  I've read some of the Warcraft novels and all of the comics.  So when they announced a Warcraft movie I was excited.  And nervous.  Remember the Dungeons & Dragons movie from 2000?  Ouch.

I finally saw the Warcraft movie last night.  I loved it.  And it was a chance for a couple of my cans to get out of the house.

World of Warcraft was Mtn Dew's Game Fuel in 2009.  I hadn't started collecting cans yet, but fortunately when I did start collecting in 2011, there was a large recycle bin of cans at work that hadn't been turned in for recycling for a couple of years (read about it in this post).  And in that bin I found one of each of the two WoW cans.

There was a blue can for the Alliance (good guys) and a red can for the Horde (bad guys).  They were wild fruit and cherry citrus flavored, respectively.  They are still two of my favorite cans in my collection because of the subject matter and their design.

For the Horde!!!!

The Carnival Returns

 

Four years ago I posted about finding an Olympics Coca-Cola can at the carnival that comes to town every year.  And now, this is the carnival weekend.  Due to my work schedule and other commitments the last couple of days, I didn't get to do my usual perusing of the park to look for discarded soda cans.  But that doesn't mean I didn't get any new cans.

For the last few years, my dad has done overnight guard duty all three nights of the carnival.  He patrols the park from midnight to 8am to make sure no trouble-makers show up while the park is closed.  And this year he noticed a lot of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke lyric cans.  So each night he collected a bag of cans for me.

From night #1

His first night there, he even found an American flag 16 oz can.  I knew they were coming for the 4th of July, and now I already have one.

From night #2

The take from night #2 was a bit smaller and included a few doubles, but there were still plenty of news ones.

Tonight will be the third and final night.  He said he's been seeing a lot of the same cans, so I'm not sure I'll get any new ones tonight.

In the five years I've had my can collection, this is the best haul from the carnival... and I didn't even go there!!!

Cans from a Road Trip

Now that the weather is nice again, it's time to hit the road to see what's at the flea markets and antique malls.  And here's how today went.

No cans at the first store.

The second store wasn't much better... until I found a customer snack area.  A quick look through the soda fridge revealed no cans I needed.  And then I glanced down into the trash and saw Wonder Woman from the Batman V Superman Dr Pepper set.  She's #3 of 5 in the set and now she's mine!






It wasn't until the afternoon that I had my next can sighting.  This one was next to a Mission can (orange soda) that had been turned into a bank and a couple of beer cans.  And a LOT of bottles.

This can was an Upper 10 that looked old enough that Fred Flintstone may have drank it as a teenager.  www.canmuseum.com dates it at 1963.  It wasn't in the best shape but I didn't have it.  I talked her down from $3 to $2.  What a bargain!

The lady that sold the Upper 10 to me mentioned another junk shop up the road, so we made that our next stop.  And as fortune would have it, he had a few Coca-Cola cans for sale.

The first can I bought was an 8 oz Halloween-themed Coca-Cola can from 1999.  Halloween is my favorite holiday and I had no idea Coca-Cola ever had a Halloween can.  So that was an easy buy for $1.

The other can was a 150 mL can from Holland.  The seller was impressed that it still had some soda in it even though it was still sealed.  I showed him why collectors don't like to leave soda in cans:

Notice the brown sludgy substance along the bottom of this can.  That's the little bit of soda that had somehow leaked out over the years.  It made a sticky mess of the can and his display shelf.  I had him pack that can in its own bag and when I got home I drained it and gave it a nice bath:

And to wrap up the day we went to Big Lots, a store that sells discontinued items real cheap.  And that's where I found these cans for less than $5 total.

I would classify this as a successful hunt.  And the best thing is we only had time to go to half the shops we had planned, so that means we'll be taking another trip soon...