Hollywood Treasure: “Hunger For District 12” via Tank Girl, the BumbleBee and Yoda!

Welcome back Hollywood Treasure fans,

Season two of Hollywood Treasure is rolling on to episode three, “Hunger for District 12”!

In this episode, the Profiles in History team is once again on the hunt for crazy finds to pull in equally crazy bids at their official auctions! Before continuing my review we include clips from this episode and a sneak peak of the next courtesy of Syfy.

We begin with Joe Maddalena, the owner of Profiles in History, driving with fellow Profiles team member “Head of Acquisitions” Brian Chanes on an adventure heading out to “George Sack’s Inventory Center” (what appears to be a junkyard) to find some possible items to consign.

Word has it that George has stashed rare items there carefully hidden amongst hundreds of vehicles and assorted artifacts.

The reason Sack’s junkyard, errr, treasure trove is significant lies in the myriad of film-used vehicles that now lay to rest in the sea of sun-drenched metal.

We meet George, a film stuntman famous for jackknifing trucks, takes them around, displaying a truck from Fast and Furious and the signature tank from Tank Girl.

Though Joe is impressed with George’s “personal Tank Girl tank”, he states that the bigger and less useable items like these are in everyday life, the less likely they are to sell at auction.

After going on a bit of a hike, much to the chagrin of Joe who was not looking for a work out, it was then we come upon one of the most iconic movie cars in the last few years, the “BumbleBee” from the Transformers film series. The yellow Camaro has two black stripes and other key details fans would recognize, such as the “BeeOtch” air freshener and disco ball in the rear view mirror! The detail of teh find definitely peaks Joe’s interest.

George reveals that he obtained the car through a friend who won it at a studio auction and here it was.

Though intrigued, Joe is skeptical. He asks George if it was studio used, since this would be an easy car to replicate. Bumblebee’s current owner, George, promptly fetches the paperwork to authenticate the vehicle.

George then  encourages Joe to take it for a spin, since the Profiles owner doubts the condition of the car, even though the goosebump-inducing car, as he puts it, looks to have seen better days.

Joe and Brian take a short joy ride in Bumblebee, which runs like a top and stops on a dime (holy car analogies, Batman) and now it comes down to the matter of money. George does not want to put this up for auction, but rather to sell it to Joe outright to do with it what he wishes.

We start the “bidding” at $35,000 via George’s estimate, but Joe counters with $20,000. George insists that Bumblebee has to be worth at least $25,000 but Joe says he cannot do it.

At this point, it seems George is getting a little impatient, perhaps compiled from Joe’s inquiries throughout the day to him or for seriously doubting the authenticity of the car earlier.

George voices his exasperation. “If you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money!”

The whole time during this verbal exchange, the two men are circling the car akin to a wolf hovering over a wounded sheep.

The final decision comes down to a  $22,000 offer from George and Joe agrees to pay the amount for the character-filled BumbleBee Transformers Camaro.

Brian is complemented for his find and the next step is to get the word out to potential bidders that they have for the car. This will occur a bit later.

Inside the Profiles in History office, employee Tracey McCall approaches Joe with a potential new consignment she is very excited about – the original Yoda puppet from Star Wars.

Joe is skeptical, as he says that any remaining memorabilia of that caliber would belong to Lucas himself or people who had some sort of direct involvement with Yoda such as Stuart Freeborn or Frank Oz. Tracey does not seem surprised Joe once again doubts her, but she says it is not impossible this could be real.

We meet Toby Froud, owner of the Yoda puppet, who claims his mom Wendy made the rehearsal puppet he has out on display. Joe states he is very well versed in Star Wars facts and has never heard this before.

He asks for proof and with a slight smirk, Brian pulls out a portfolio of photos – his mother is pictured with the likes of Jim Henson and Stuart Freeborn, including a shot of the rehearsal puppet being used as a reference when Yoda was being sculpted.

Joe is in shock, telling Tracey it was a great find, but he was “stumped” as far as an appraisal. Stating it can go anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000, Toby agrees to put Yoda up for bid.

We cut to the time of auction at the Paley Center for our puppet friend – bidding starts at $6,000 and seems to stall at $8,000 then quickly escalates to over $20,000 and Yoda is going once, going twice, “SOLD” at $22,500! Toby afterwards states he is happy a new generation can share in his family heirloom with the story of how Yoda began.

It is now a new, yet rainy day, with Joe and Brian driving Bumblebee to a meeting of the Television Motion Picture Car Club founded by Ken Latka. While at the meeting, Bumblee grabs a lot of attention among such replicas as the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo and KITT from Knight Rider.

Our hero car particularly catches the attention of Ken Latka’s friend Randy Rousseau, who wants to buy the car outright for his son.

Randy quickly picks up on the fact that the Transformers BumbleBee car is screen used and not a replica right off the bat.

Joe states they do not usually sell privately, but after some pressuring, he tells Randy he has a rough estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 as what he would be willing to sell the BumbleBee for.

Randy offers $30,000 cash for the vehicle, but Joe cannot let it go for less than $40,000 since he needs the profit in order to seek out possible future consignments. Joe tries to convince Randy it is worth the money by kiddingly saying there may be some Megan Fox DNA on the opposite seat for his son! As a result of another cool display, Joe ultimately pulls in the sale for forty big ones when he shows Randy that Bumblebee can drive itself!

On Brian’s verbal command of “Go Bumblebee!”, even though he has to repeat it twice, the car peels off in a straight line, circles around and drives back to them  without a driver in the seat. Joe says the car has a built in special effect only the car’s owner is allowed to know – perhaps it is remote controlled, or it is an early model self-driving car like Google has, or it may just be old-fashioned Hollywood movie magic, but Joe is not telling.

In the next scene, Joe meets up with Tracey. They discuss The Hunger Games, which they are both a fan of. Joe and Tracey therefore head Southeast to see if anything remains from the shoot.

Of interest is that “The Hunger Games” was shot on location in North Carolina due to lower production costs. 

While driving after landing, we are told there was a huge sale and a local bought a lot of the movie items.

They arrive at a bowling alley in Albemarle North Carolina owned by treasure owner Chuck Nance.

Chuck relates that he had linked up with The Hunger Games set dressing director who was close to a clear-out deadline. Chuck made an offer for remaining props and purchased the entire lot. Joe and Tracey immediately get excited at the prospect of scoring swag from The Hunger Games!.

Chuck had bought the warehouse full of items in the September before the film was released and had already liquidated through his auction gallery.

However, Chuck said he had some glassware left. Joe explains the difference between a prop, if the actor used it, but if not, it is just a set decoration.

All seems lost until Chuck pulls out a little box and after the typical, suspense-building break, we are revealed a Mockingjay Pin from The Hunger Games series.

Though Joe is not sure it is screen-used since the back is broken off, he says there is value in it due to being directly from production and eventually finagles the pin by giving Chuck $2000 in cash, haggled down from the $2500 the Pin owner originally wanted. Chuck offers one last gift, telling Tracey and Joe they should check out The Hunger Games location tours and to ask for Tammy.

The two drive off to Dupont State Forest in Cedar Mountain North Carolina to meet Tammy Hopkins, who shows them multiple filming locations from the blockbuster film, plus the ultimate prop of character Katniss Everdeen’s bows and arrow.

Joe and Tracey are excited about the purposely aged bow and exquisitely crafted metal arrows, but Tammy says they will never be for sale even if a million dollars were offered, since they were too important to the fans and the state of North Carolina. “Sometimes, you find an item and it’s already where it belongs,” Joe says right before Tammy offers for him to take a shot with the iconic bow and arrow as a consolation prize for coming by. 

There’s nothing like southern hospitality, so Tammy tells Joe and Tracey that they need to go to District 12, a fictional setting from The Hunger Games story that was on a very real set location.

We segue back to Los Angeles now, where Brian is holding a consultation with a man named Chris Sanger, who has a prop Puzzle Box from Hellraiser.

Brian says authentic cubes have sold for $5000 in the past, so he wanted to be sure this was real before proceeding.

He asks Chris if the friend from a prop house who sold him the cube gave him the name of the person who made it, and the answer is no. Strike one. Was he given any documentation to ensure the authenticity of the object?

Chris sadly says “No”. Strike two.

Brian pulls up a laptop with a high-res image of the real cube and confirms that the borders, lack of wear on the edges and a flipped mirror image bring him to the conclusion that it is not real.

Chris is dejected but pleasant about it, leaving with his, quote, “expensive piece of wood.” Friends don’t sell friends fake props, dude.

Tracey and Joe come upon the 72 acre The Hunger Games village property and meet Ed Phillips, who was there in place of Wade Shepard, the property’s owner who was out of town.

Ed says they were currently asking $1.4 million for the 1920’s textile village. We immediately observe Joe getting antsy.

Once Tracey starts jumping up and down in delight, they finally ask to see the set. We come upon a row of houses and enter Katniss and sister Prim’s house, which are all recognizable to fans.

Joe informs Ed that it is rare to sell properties, but they must transport you somewhere as a fan and this Hunger Games set, including Peeta’s bakery with a missing “p”  due to vandalism from the iconic sign where it says “Pastries”, had major potential.

Joe gets down to business, saying this is Hollywood history – he wants to put it up for auction and it is worth more than $1.4 million.

Ed states they are waiting on an offer from another potential buyer, but he appreciates Profiles’ search for emotional connection with buyers and for that reason, they had a deal. Elated, Tracey and Joe return to Los Angeles to tell the team what they have acquired, skimming over potential ways to go about the future auction and how to go about verifying the Pin they received once the movie was out on BluRay.

Joe refers to The Hunger Games as the “new” Twilight, which is sure to set off a bit of a ruckus in the tumblr online community where fans feud about the two series, but this is still a monumental grab for the auction house.

District 12 is perfect for a fan with deep pockets who wants to enjoy it for their own use, or one business savvy in pop culture who could turn it into the next real-life literary utopia, similar to what Forks, Washington is to Twilight. Regardless, whoever has the cash and wants to bid on any of these items, may the odds be ever in your favor.

Thanks to Kenn for final audio/video and image staging, and many thanks to you for reading and for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency to read about our coverage of Hollywood Treasure!

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Love and regards,

Amanda