That's me on the right. Given the t-shirt, I'm guessing this was taken in 1982, putting me at 9 or 10. Already playing D&D for a couple years - my "Stranger Things" era self.
Galaga
Just thought I’d leave this here. Scored a new Galaga PR at the local barcade last weekend. Original machine, not that modern turbo abomination.
Cellar Excavations
I took advantage of the heatwave we’re experiencing in the midwest today to descend into my box-filled cellar in search of one in particular: the fabled D&D box. After getting covered Indy-style in cobwebs, I finally located it and nearly sprained my back carrying it up the stairs.
I have other things to get to today, so to paraphrase Quint, “We’re gonna need a bigger post.” Unfortunately, my DM’s Guide is missing from the box, and I have no idea why. Must be a trap to convince me to keep excavations going.
These, I’d forgotten about entirely:
And this was one of the things I’d really been hoping to rediscover. I can’t remember how old I was, but my guess would be around ten or eleven. Detailed photos of the contents will be coming soon…
Who dares enter The Cave of the Unknown!
Video Nasties
I stumbled on this quite by accident while I was browsing YouTube for videos of the Damned performing their song “Nasty.” It’s a 1987 clip of Siskell and Ebert discussing the current state of extreme horror films. The entire time I watched it, all I could think was that if they could see the future of the sub-genre – series like Saw and Hostel – they’d have probably run screaming from their studio. Also, note the brief inclusion of a then-embryonic Blockbuster Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzD5DxF3LcI
Thanksgiving Resurrection
No, I didn’t forget about this blog. And I certainly didn’t run out of items to post about. But summer happened, and between driving around in my 1955 Dodge, and getting back into playing ice hockey again after a 20-year hiatus, I wasn’t really into spending a lot of time digging around inside the house. But now that it’s chilly out again, it’s another story.
I happened to spot a small box near the bottom of my cellar stairs which had a distinctive Kenner logo visible, so I decided to bring it upstairs and bust it open to celebrate Thanksgiving. And boy am I glad I did!
Let’s start out with this bendy fellow…
Name: Stripe
Occupation: Gremlin
This is what happens when you feed your Mogwai after midnight, jackass.
He looks cool from behind, too. Quite the paint job.
Copyright Warner Bros, 1984, LJN Toys Ltd.
So after that, let’s move on the the Kenner logo I’d mentioned. It was part of this, which I’m pretty sure was a Sears exclusive:
Basically a punched cardboard diorama, which came with Han Solo (Bespin Outfit), Dengar, Ugnaught, and Lobot. But sorry Mario, your diorama is in another box:
Alright, I admit that was disappointing. An empty box. Once I find Cloud City, I’ll definitely post it. But let me make up for the empty box with this:
Certainly this can’t be empty, right? Right. It contains about 1/3 of my total collection (the other 2/3 of which is located in Darth Vader’s head somewhere).
Hey look, there’s Han and the Ugnaught from the Cloud City playset! Second level:
The Gamorrean Guard is so fat, putting his arm up is the only way to fit him into one of those cases. That’s right, I’m fat-shaming the Gamorrean Guard. And also, notice that Lando was not the only black guy in Bespin. There was one more, and he was a guard.
Ok, what’s next. This box was a bit of a random grab bag, but a really cool one, in my book. This next one was bought when I was a teenager, and I’d started to develop more of an eye for collecting. Hence the close-to-pristine state of it…
Back before Playmates had their highly-successful Star Trek toy line, Galoob put out theirs, which was not so successful. I managed to snag a bunch of it though, including this baby. Opened, but not really touched.
Still rubberband-wrapped in her instructions, like a warm cozy blanket:
And now, a slight change of pace. Despite the fact that they’re still in the packaging (and notice the yellowing of it), there three actually WERE removed and played with. I just, well, saved the packaging. Because I was that kid.
Strongheart (Good Paladin), Warduke (Evil Fighter), and Northlord (Great Barbarian). Strongheart didn’t need no stinking shield, because his heart was strong, and he was GOOD.
Warduke was… ok, he just had the coolest equipment of all of them. Bad guys always get the best uniforms. Armor on only half my body, because I’m some kind of badass gladiator or something. And tell me that batwing helmet wasn’t inspired by Erol Otus…
And then there’s Northlord. So much kit was awesome for an action figure, but he’d have needed a squire or bag of holding to take it all with him everywhere:
Prices, for the curious. Warduke’s was peeled off (probably a gift), but Strongheart was $2.99 at Fay’s Drugs:
And Northlord (probably since he was big and had more stuff) was $4.97 at Bradlee’s (a northeast discount store similar to K-Mart which has long since gone under).
And the reverse sides, all of which are identical except for proof-of-purchase value:
Strongheart and Warduke were each worth 2 points, but big ol’ Northlord was 3.
I’m not sure who did the artwork (it doesn’t look like one of the usual TSR crew), but it still wasn’t half bad:
Alright. It’s grand finale time. This was the one thing I was happiest to see in that box.
That’s right. Merlin. The grand daddy of hand-held electronic games.
And THIS box isn’t empty:
So, there was something rattling around inside of it. I remember hearing it way back when, but I never had the guts to try to open it up and make sure it wasn’t an electronic component (resistor? capacitor? Ack!) that had worked itself loose. But I’m older and supposedly wiser now, so I removed the two simple screws holding it together.
And this was the cause of the rattling. Not sure where it came from, but it’s obviously not electronic, so I was relieved.
Yeah, so I could post multiple shots of all the user manual. But let’s admit, that’s not why anyone is still reading, right? No… this is why:
And this:
Ok, so the suspense would be tangible if you’d been there, but you get to see the results after a couple quick sentences. Unfortunately, until I figure out how to post video here, you don’t get to hear the result, or see it interactively. But there was no smoke, and this bit of 1978 handheld technology fired up like a champ:
So now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be mixing up a dirty martini and playing blackjack against a 36-year-old friend who could whup your iPhone’s behind.
Regional TV Kid’s Shows
Ah, they just don’t make them like this anymore…
Disco Sucks. Long Live Disco.
I was out doing a little record shopping today at the local antique mall, and ran into this gem for one whole US dollar. I also picked up a nice Rush “2112” and Queen “Jazz”, but this one needs to be shown off here. I swear I can remember hearing this on the radio the summer of 1978. Gotta love the booty-bumpin’ Flash Gordon-esque artwork by “Rodriguez.” I bet 2W2N knows more about him than I do…
Wooden Swords: A Tale of Two Generations
I’d originally planned on a follow-up post my my last entry, featuring a bunch of my favorite die-cast cars – Matchbox, Hot Wheels, Corgi, and maybe even one or two others. But something else caught my eye, and it felt like I should post about them instead.
So far, the focus of this blog has been on store-bought toys from my childhood. But I did have another kind of toy – the hand-made kind. When I was young, I had some made for me by my father (who is also still in possession of a lot of his own childhood toys, so I suppose that trait runs in the family), and some I made for myself as I got older.
Today, I’m going to focus on two wooden swords. I’m not sure if kids still make wooden swords these days, or if political correctness and safety-consciousness made made them all but extinct. But in my youth, as well as my father’s, young children constructed swords of wood, to have adventures, battle their friends, and defeat invisible monsters (as well as the occasional tree).
The first sword was constructed by my father, in what I’m assuming would be somewhere between 1955 and 1959. It is a longsword, of the type favored by the Knights of the Round Table, or Robin and his Merry Men. It is light, ornate, and for a kid, extremely well-crafted. I’m in my 40s now, and I probably couldn’t match the woodburning on the hilt and pommel. The other sword is mine – a two-hander, a zweihander, nothing subtle or intricate. I made it from old broken hockey sticks, probably in 1984 or so. I was in the midst of Dungeons and Dragons then, and a two-hander was the most damage one could get out of a sword, so that’s what I chose to construct. It was built for sheer brute strength – to not break what smashed against my friends’ swords, or against the numerous tree limbs I struck down with it. A weapon for Conan, not Launcelot.
That’s mine on the left – 52″ of former hockey stick, transfixed by a hilt made of the same and attached with crude nails. My father’s is light and actually balanced like a real sword, at 37″ long.
I think he actually hand-whittled his blade. I did nothing to mine, short of painting it:
A side-by-side of the two grips. Longsword versus zweihander:
Detail of the woodburning. I’m still impressed.
Whereas mine has no ornamentation besides friction tape. This was built to whack things, not to look pretty:
The carefully-carved tip of of father’s sword, in sharp contrast (ha!) to the blunted and paint-scraped tip of mine:
I visited my sister for the holidays, and noted some hand-made swords in my nephews’ possession, but they were covered in the safety foam preferred by SCA types. Every generation evolves, I suppose. At least they made them themselves.
Matchbox: Adventure 2000 Series (The future according to the 1970s)
I saw the post over at 2 Warps to Neptune about the Matchbox series known as Adventure 2000. I have three of the ones he pictured, as well as a carry case featuring one of them. But mine all predate the 1977 date he gave – I get the feeling Matchbox grabbed a few earlier vehicles which had the right look and repackaged/rebranded them later on to fit in with the new line.
First, my 1976 case, which features the Planet Scout vehicle in the artwork (upper right):
Yes, if you’re wondering, that is indeed a Jaws 2 sticker. Because why not?:
And now the vehicles. They made them in more than green:
The Hovercraft, 1972. Plastic bottom, not die-cast:
The Planet Scout, 1975:
The Cosmobile, 1975:
The Black Hole: The Illustrated Adaptation of the Exciting Film.
I decided to do an in-depth entry on one of the items that was only briefly pictured in my Christmas 1983 Time Capsule post – an illustrated (i.e. comic book) adaptation of Walt Disney’s The Black Hole. It was produced in 1979, and put out by Golden Books. I probably got it through a school book club, but I can’t guarantee that. The price on the cover says $1.50. There’s absolutely no information anywhere in is as to who adapted it, drew it, inked it, or anything. The two things of note to me are how they visually changed some of the characters – Harry Booth and Rhinehart barely resemble the actual actors – and how they handled the ending. I’m not doing any further commentary, except to apologize for my phone camera’s occasional blurriness. It was difficult to hold the book open with one hand and hold the camera steady enough to shoot with the other. And now…
Contra Dextra Avenue 