Video: Hardware Wars!

I just found out earlier today that the classic "Star Wars" parody, "Hardware Wars," is available on YouTube... so here it is for your viewing convenience!

Part 1:



Part 2:



Jon

Sunday Funnies: How to Draw Alfred E. Neuman!

This week's entry in "How to Draw 50 Famous Characters" (which I should mention, not all of the 50 will get featured -- some are just a bit too obscure for my tastes) is Mad Magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman!



You may need to click on the picture to see the full size.

Jon

Heroes World Catalog #1, Pages 4-5!

Just a short installment on the Heroes World Catalog this time!



Aren't those clocks great? I wish I had some photos of them to share with you... unfortunately, the closest I have is this one:



Which is very cool, but still, it's not one of those!

The marionettes, on the other hand? Those I have!



OK, this isn't the Batman one seen above... this one came out in '66, and was previously featured on this blog when I was posting either the Sears Wish Book or Montgomery Ward's catalogs from the 1960s!

Here's the real puppets advertised above:





I even have a pic of the Superman one out of the box!





These puppets are VERY Mego-like... heck, the costume on the Superman puppet looks almost exactly like the 12" Mego figure's costume! I don't know who made them.



I have even less of the stuff on this page to show photos of... don't have those shorts or the book in my photo-files... but there should be at least one of those squirt-guns...

...or at least, I thought I had some... but while I do have several super-hero squirt guns in my photo files (like this rather disturbing one... ...) I don't seem to have any of the ones pictured above!

Guess I need to consider creating some kind of customized new search on eBay, eh?

Jon

Flashback: It's... Superman?

Originally posted October 26,2005:

superman costume
Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

OK, so here's the first public look at my Superman costume... and frankly, it came out better than I expected, given I was making it by hand.

Had I more time -- and a sewing machine that would cooperate with me -- I'm sure it would've looked better!

More photos will be coming forth, especially of Krypto and I both in costume!

I tell ya... next year, maybe I'll be able to rework this a bit, and I think instead of boot covers, I'll spend the $35 plus postage and buy some superhero boots!

Jon


Notes:

Obviously, this was the first year for the Superman costume, which I also wore on the following Halloween! This past Halloween, we didn't do any dress-up thing at all our selves (although Tristan wore a Spider-Man costume for the foster kids' Halloween party). Likewise, Krypto didn't wear his cape this past Halloween, either!

My plan had originally been to upgrade one piece of the costume each year. For 2006, I actually bought boots (instead of wearing the really bad-looking ones you see in the photo) to wear... and for 2007, my plan had originally been to upgrade the cape (the one I'm wearing above was actually made from a heavier material than I originally wanted, so it didn't flow well in the breeze... I also wanted it a bit wider -- I would've redone Krypto's cape in the same material), and I planned on redoing the belt, too... but as they say, the best-laid plans...

By the next time I wear it, I hope to not only do those upgrades, but will hopefully be in better shape myself! It would be nice to wear the costume and not need the "muscles" I created for it.

Jon

Coming Distractions!

So... as I said the other day, we put an offer in on a house. That particular offer (full price, the bank who's foreclosed on the house pays the closing costs) was countered with a slightly higher price, plus they pay closing.

It was a no-brainer for us... we accepted the counteroffer, dependent on the inspection (which is happening on Tuesday) and there not being a problem with the financing, and we should be closing sometime next month!

Naturally, when it's time to move, there will likely be a day or two where I won't get a chance to post, since I'll have to pack up the office here, and then get it set up at the new house. I'll try to give you as much notice as possible there!

Jon

Found on eBay: Major Matt Mason, Models and Monkees!

Here's some more Major Matt Mason classics from Mattel, as... Found on eBay!



This recon jet pack should look familiar... MMM was pictured using it on one of the products I featured last time around!



Doesn't this look like it inspired the exo-suit Sigourney Weaver used at the end of Aliens?



Off the various Major Matt Mason figures, I'd imagine that this one would have to be the "Holy Grail" (well, maybe Callisto would be it)... if you had the Talking Major Matt Mason and the Talking Command Center, you wouldn't have to say a word while playing with your figures!



Remember when Monogram's Snap-Tite models were all the rage? I think this Tyrannosaurus Rex model was actually a reissue of Aurora's Prehistoric Scenes T-Rex, but I could very well be wrong.



Here's another one of those very cool Transogram licensed games... now, as big a Monkees fan as I am, I would be torn if I happened upon a very affordable copy of this. Why? Because my brother Jeff's wife, Kristi, is also a huge Monkees fan, and I would have to seriously consider buying it for a birthday present for her (especially if my wife Jessi was with me when I bought it, because she and Kristi are so close, you'd think they were sisters!).



Not likely I'll ever come across one cheap enough for me to consider buying, however...



This Monkees item, however, I'd have no problem deciding to give away instead of keeping. It's nice, just not the kind of thing I'd collect for me!



I think this item, the Monkees Flipbook (collect all 16!), is something I'd absoultely keep... at least until I could scan the pictures into the computer and create an animated GIF or something out of them!



I still think that this four-headed talking Monkees handpuppet is THE most bizarre hand-puppet ever offered by Mattel or any other company. I just thought you needed to know that.

Did they not think they could sell four separate puppets, one for each Monkee?



The Monkees were musically compared to the Beatles (not really fairly, if you ask me... but so it goes)... but both foursomes were compared to the Marx Brothers, shown here in a lobby card for Monkey Business!

Next time around on Found on eBay, it's Marvel time!

Jon

Give-A-Show Friday: Pinocchio and !

Still no updates on the Give-A-Show Checklist (could be a while before I get any new sets for my collection)... but there's plenty of Give-A-Show slides to share! Today I'm posting the last two slide sets from the 1960 "Red" series, which was from the first Kenner Give-A-Show set!

First up: A very brief adaptation of Pinocchio!

















And now... Cinderella!

















And that's it for this week... next week, our first feature will co-star Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound!

Jon

Castle of Frankenstein #12, Pages 6-11!

Taking up where I left off in the page-by-page review of Castle of Frankenstein #12...



Page 6 begins two pages of "Frankenstein Mini-Reviews." After each title, I'll include a few words about what the reviewer thought! On the first page, there's reviews for Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (corny but pleasant), Blow-Up (recommended), The Busy Body (dull), Casino Royale (unrealized potential), Castle of Evil (Monogram and PRC used to do these better), Deadlier Than the Male (Entertaining, but not too stylish), The Deadly Bees (several horrific scenes), Death Curse of Tartu (crashing bore), Deathwatch (special recommendation), The Devil's Own (surprisingly effective), Frankenstein Created Woman (better than Evil of Frankenstein), I Deal in Danger (mediocre spy thriler), In Like FLint (slow script), Island of Terror (special recommendation), Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (sporadically amusing), The Mummy's Shroud (uncharacteristicaly banal), Oh Dad Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling so Sad (incredibly botched), Picture Mommy Dead (just another Gordon fizzle), Prehistoric Woman (special recomendation), The Projected Man (fair British sf with routine plot)...

I'm not sure what movies the photos on the page are from.



Page 7 continues the mini-reviews... funny how Frankenstein Created Woman ends up being the dominant image on the two pages, although it wasn't that well reviewed!

The movies reviewed on this page are: Psycho-Circus (circus mystery butchered), Rasputin, the Mad Monk (recommended), Shadow of Evil (fair despite obvious shortening for US), She Freak (Egregious lurid mishmash), Sting of Death (unspeakable grade-D scifi), Thoroughly Modern Millie (special recommendation), Ulysses (overrated attempt), A Violent Journey (special recommendation) and Way, Way Out (fair SF comedy).

An interesting mix of movies, including ones I wouldn't have expected to see here!



Pages 8 and 9 start off an interview with Stan Lee, conducted by Ted White, which was recently reprinted in an expanded form in Alter Ego! On these pages, Stan talks about starting at Marvel in 1944 or so, and then the early days on Fantastic Four!



The interview with Stan continues on pages 10 and 11, and then is continued on page 60! The two photos are of historical renditions of Thor, accompanied by a Kirby Thor... while the other page has, as you probably guessed, the Spiderman animated series versions of Electro, Mysterio and the Scorpion!

Stan talks about the Sub-Mariner (erroneously listed without the hypen in his name), Sgt. Fury, talks with Sol Brodsky ab out a comics page, and how he concocts a story with the artist!

When I resume here, it's Planet of the Apes time!

Jon

Found on eBay!

Today's post starts out with this interesting mix of Bendys, Jigglers... and hey, isn't that a Mattel Battlstar Galactica alien there, too?



I had one of these Mattel Strange Change toys myself when I was a kid. You'd get these plastic pieces, about the size of a Starburst Fruit Chew, and when you put them in the Strange Changer, it would heat up and the cube would unfold and expand into a little plastic toy! When you were done playing, put it back in, warm it up, and then put it in the compressor to return it to the original cube shape!



Mattel's Thingmaker was even cooler than the Strange Change toy... I'm sure you're aware of what it is, but just in case: You made your own toys with it. You'd get the Thingmaker itself, and put one of the molds (shown above) into it, add the goop in the colors you wanted where you wanted it, and basically bake the goop until it's a hard plastic.



OK, going way off in a different direction... here's the Ben Cooper Mighty Mouse costume! And isn't it really, really wrong on so many levels? I mean, okay, it has a picture of MM on the chest, but that's pretty standard for Ben Cooper costumes... but what's with that polka-dotted thing near the collar? Is that supposed to suggest the cape?



Mighty Mouse licensing seems to be pretty lame, so far as I can tell... does this book even look like it should be a Mighty Mouse story, or was it a rewrite of some other book with a generic lead?

OK, let's go from MM to MMM - i.e., Major Matt Mason!



Yes, Mattel had some of the coolest toys of the 1960s and 1970s (well, aside from Hasbro's GI Joe, Ideal's Motorific, Zeroids and Captain Action, and Kenner's Give-A-Show Projector and related toys, anyway). I've written before how fond I am of Major Matt Mason, and the Astrotrac shown above is one of the several vehicles available for him. It's very cool, eh?



If you've only seen loose MMM figures at toy shows and the like, here's a rare treat: Major Matt Mason on the card! Honestly, I'd completely forgotten he came with that space scooter thing.



The Command Console (see above and below, opened) is probably one of the rarest of MMM items... while I collected pix of this toy line, I think this was one of two that I saw offered during the entire time!



It's a very cool toy... a combination carrying/storage case and playset in one! Plus, you see that ring? That's the talking part... pull the string to hear the phrases.

Kind of makes you wonder what kind of figures and accessories there could've been if Mattel had the Star Trek license in the 1960s for an action figure line, hmmm?



Mattel should be commended for including Major Matt Mason's friend, Jeff Long, in this toy line... had Hasbro done an African-American GI Joe by this point? I'm not sure.



I had no idea that there were any MMM items outside of the action figure line... this mask seems to indicate there was a MMM costume offered!



Major Matt Mason was even offered in variations... compare this pic to the first one in this post, and see if you can spot the differences! But even if it hadn't been different, I would've grabbed this pic to show what the back of the card looked like!



Here's a nice assortment of MMM stuff... well, not all of it is MMM stuff (those space shuttles are a giveaway)...



I think it's very cool that the Major Matt Mason press-out book used a photo of the toys for the cover, don't you?



Here's a Major Matt Mason puzzle, too! And that'll wrap up this installment... more Major Matt Mason stuff next time!

Jon