Potential Store Display?

That definitely shows signs of being a unit used for one of the store display types. Check out this post and below it (especially Post # 14) for some details of other store display units owned by people on this site:

https://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=33167#forumpost33167

Yeah, this is definitely the head unit from a display kiosk.. and with that “extra barcode” I can say for sure it came from a Blockbuster Video, for I’ve seen a lot of BB rental cases and head units with the same stickers on them over the years (first picture). So I’ll say this one most likely came off of a “Platform” display, since I believe it was exclusive only to Blockbuster Video.

The screws and metal plate behind the eyeshade holder were used to secure the holder directly to the head unit preventing theft of the eyeshade. Not all store displays used this security method though, as there exist displays without this security.

The head units mounted to displays in a number of different ways, some used metal brackets that hooked to the Virtual Boy’s existing stand mount that were then securely fastened to the display by two screws, whilst others (such as yours) simply relied on a rear locking plate for both holding the head unit to the display’s arm and locking it in place (second picture). But I’m still not quite sure what the metal plate with the three screws under the stand mount was used for, maybe it was a way for Nintendo to say “F you” to a successful theif of a display’s head unit, by preventing them from being able to attach it to a normal retail VB stand?

On mega-rare occasions, you might even come across a VB head unit with a completely different base plate than those from any normal retail unit, made from a solid metal (third picture). These can be mounted using only two screws.

I don’t know about it being much more valuable or sought after than a standard VB, being that it’s just the head unit and not the rest of the display. I think it’s one of those things where it wouldn’t increase value a ton, but more of a cool thing for the owner to know about the history of the unit.

VB Boy wrote:

I don’t mind at all!

Cool, just didn’t want to hijack your thread is all.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

I am very interested in seeing this other display.

Well.. here it is! 🙂

It’s smaller than the North American Platform display and the Japanese countertop because it’s baseless, and only uses a single dangling panel to introduce and instruct you on how to operate a Virtual Boy. It even includes its own set of security braces and chains to secure the display.

vuefinder83 wrote:
It even includes its own set of security braces and chains to secure the display.

So are those braces supposed to be screwed directly into a table top?

speedyink wrote:
What else have you been hiding from us? =P

XD

Nooo, I would never hide anything from you guys. The whole reason I became a member here was so I can share my entire Virtual Boy experience with people that share the same passion for it as I do. But there’s just so much VB going on in my head on a daily that once in a while I’ll forget to post something that I’ve been meaning to. But you can bet I’ll post it once I remember what it was that I wanted to post 🙂

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

So are those braces supposed to be screwed directly into a table top?

VB Boy wrote:
I’m assuming that chain would just thread through the legs where the plastic braces kind of make a “hole” in the stand and then it would be bolted down to something?

Your guesses are as good as mine, for unfortunately, these pictures are from an ebay listing that I lost out on a few years ago. It vanished before I could load the funds to my PayPal. But at least I had taken these screenshots before they were erased from ebay’s history. I can also provide a screenshot of the seller’s description of the display below.

But ey, you win some and lose some, right?

Right?! 🙁

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
I actually have the keychain display card, but I didn’t know that it came with the braces and chain to hold down the system on display.

Nice! That thing is rare as hell!

I’ve seen it before twice in my early years of VB collecting, but both times were just the display card only. I had no idea it was part of an actual store display until I saw the above pictures from ebay.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
It seriously looks like somebody just took the two inserts from a Platform Display and made a keychain card out of them.

Can you imagine the confusion consumers had when they read that first step to operate this VB display… “adjust headset height; slide up or down for your eye level”, they must’ve been like WTF?! I wonder if any actually grabbed the head unit and stand then tried raising it up like a tripod? 😀

After pulling out the inserts of my platform display and comparing them more closely with the prints used for the keychain display card, I now notice that a much thicker stock of paper was used when making the two-sided VB display card with keychain. So while it does appear that the display card is two platform display inserts stuck together, each one is on a piece of paper that might be two to three times thicker than the paper used for the platform display inserts. Each platform display insert is rather flimsy, while the keychain card is very sturdy.

I appreciate this info, thanks! 🙂