Archive for January, 2013



Arcade Cabinets: Asteroids (1979) and Asteroids Deluxe (1981)

Asteroids cabinet

asteroids side art

asteroids side art-2

AD Marquee

AD control panel

AD side art

AD cabinet

AD cabinet-2

AD flyer

(Images via Giant Bomb, The Artwork Doctor, Game on Grafix, aaarpinball.comvidiotarcade.com, Emu Paradise, The Arcade Flyer Project)

Arcade Zen (1981 – 1982)

Arcade 1981

1981 (photo source unknown)

What a line-up. That’s Asteroids Deluxe on the right. (Click to enlarge.)

Arcade 1982

January 27, 1982. (Ann E. Yow/Seattle Times)

That’s a lot of hair! And what’s with the guy wearing a jacket but no shirt?

(Photos via Vintage Photos 2012 and Seattle Washington Archive)

Hell Demon Reading Comic Book, 1979

Grim Reaper Reading Comic

Miamicon, April 6, 1979

Warlord #23

(First image via Seattle Washington Archive/eBay)

Clown Reading Comic Book, 1972

Clown Reading Comic 11-24-72

Press photo: November 24, 1972

Marvel Premiere #6

(First image via Vintage Photos 2012/eBay)

The Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album (Troubador Press, 1979)

All Denim, All the Time: Andre Gower Edition

Andre Gower CotS

Andre Gower Denim

My wife is always telling me about the major crush she had on Andre Gower, so much so that I now get really irritated and jealous when she talks about the crush she had (has, let’s be honest) on the guy. Gower was in the ’80s classic The Monster Squad (1987), for those of you who don’t know. You might remember the scene in which the longstanding metaphysical debate over whether or not Wolfman has nards is settled once and for all.

Gower was also in Circus of the Stars, a surprisingly long-running show in which the stars of the day dressed up in embarrassing outfits and performed—you guessed it—circus stunts.

Anyway, I sprung the top photo on my wife one night as she was going on about “Andre” and said, triumphantly, “This is the guy you have a crush on?”

She spluttered something about Circus of the Stars not counting, then calmly pulled up the current-ish picture below and said, smugly, “Yeah, this is the guy I have a crush on.”

Andre Gower IMDB

Andre Gower: one.

2 Warps to Neptune: zero.

(Images via Totally Awesome Teen Pinups and Magazines and IMDb)

What the Future Looked Like: Forbidden Planet (1956)

Is it not beautiful?

(All images via thefoxling‘s awesome Forbidden Planet Flickr set)

I Can Has Genetically Engineered Rhino?

This should be a caption contest.

(Via the 1982 book The Kids’ Whole Future Catalog via Paleofuture)

Star Wars Kenner Ads (1978 – 1980)

Star Wars Kenner Ad-3

Star Wars Kenner Ad-4

Star Wars Kenner Ad-1

Star Wars Kenner Ad-2

Who wrote this stuff? Check out the description of R5-D4 in the second to last ad:

One of the incredible number of droids human inginuity devised. R5D4 was a highly sophisticated, semi-sentient, pro-grammable droid capable of independent action & limited decision making capability.

And how about Snaggletooth, who “stands at a deadly 2¾” high!”?

Not that I cared at the time. I just wanted them all.

(Images via Kenyatabks/eBay)

Planet of the Apes Trading Cards (1969, 1975)

POTA Box 1969

PotA Trading Cards-4

PotA Trading Cards-5

PotA Trading Cards-6

PotA Trading Cards

PotA Trading Cards-2

PotA Trading Cards-3

PotA Trading Cards-9

PotA Trading Cards-10

The first four images are from the 1969 set. All others are from the 1975 set that came out with the release of the Planet of the Apes TV series—actually, the cards debuted after the short-lived show was cancelled (in December of 1974). Both sets were released by Topps.

My strongest memory of the Planet of the Apes movies is watching them in after-school daycare. All the kids (and a teacher or two) would huddle around the tiny TV, totally mesmerized. I would keep looking for my mom out of the corner of my eye so that when she showed up I could beg her to let me stay. The movies would play in the same slot, consecutively, throughout the week.

I’m not sure there was a greater influence on a kid’s world than syndication and having to choose between 13 channels.


Pages

Archives

Categories

Donate Button

Join 1,118 other subscribers