2 Warps to Neptune is an attempt to document the experiences, ideas, and artifacts—the entire cultural and physical landscape, really—that defined a generation of kids in the ’70s and ’80s. My focus is on how a confluence of cultural forces—Star Wars and the resulting sci-fi boom, D&D and the fantasy boom, the evolution of the comic book industry, the video game and personal computer revolutions—gave rise to the original geek.
My thesis is that geek culture, as it’s called today, was largely inherited from the anti-establishment youth of the 1960s, whose discontent with the world as it stood led to an embrace of speculative fantasies such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. There was also a general advance (or retreat) into psychedelics and the occult at the same time. With all of that in mind, I talk quite a bit about the artists, publishers, and personalities who acted as a kind of conduit through which kids of the ’70s and ’80s were exposed to the styles and attitudes of the counterculture ’60s.
2 Warps to Neptune is currently on hiatus. Please check out my new project, We Are the Mutants.
You can reach me at 2warpstoneptune@gmail.com.
2 Warps to Neptune 
So very well done. It seems that 40 is the new 50 for us ’70s kids, as I’ve noticed quite a wealth of flashback-oriented “good olde days” material (including my own) getting posted up lately. It’s even beginning to show itself in the consumer market—brands targeting 40-somethings by obscure and not-so-obscure references to ’70s and ’80s pop culture.
Keep up the great work. I’ll definitely be hanging around.
Thanks, Greg. Why not target us, right? Our parents bought it for us the first time around, and now we have our own money. There’s something both amazing and disturbing about growing up when we did…
I love this blog. I discovered it about a month ago and come back almost daily. I was born in December of 68, so this is my sweetspot as well. I have always been a sucker for the good old days and enjoy blogs like these. Even with all the advances that my kids enjoy now, I feel sorry that they did not have the childhood that I had.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks so much for the compliment, Mike. I’ll keep it up as long as I can!
Your site is filled with all types of great throwbacks! Would you be interested in contributing to beyondthegamer.com? I would be totally honored to have you aboard. You can contact me through the about page. Hope to hear from you!
Aw yeah, Warpz gettin’ propz! Woo hoo!
Your site is my new obsession! I was born in 1974, and as I grow older the nostalgia I feel for the late 70’s-early 80’s era continues to grow (how long is an “era”, anyway?). This site is a time-warp: I can almost hear the Journey on the radio, can almost taste Burger Chef hamburgers and smell the plastic of a new action figure… Keep it up!
Thanks a million, Don. Much appreciated!
Love the goonies reference!
It’s all over once we ride up Troy’s bucket…
I never knew the people pictured here personally, but I *know* these people. From their Battlestar Galactica bed sheets, to their Space 1999 Eagle spaceships, to their Black Hole Trapper Keeper, this was me and my pals. I found myself almost recognizing people I’ve never known in these pictures. Now I know what nostalgia really feels like. Thanks so much.
Thank you for the big compliment. It means a lot to me. It’s important to me that the site be about us, collectively.
I was starting to think that some of my friends were thinking that I was either making some of this stuff up or that I had a ‘unique’ memory of the 70s and 80s. Then I saw your site and there it was. The evidence. All of it. Artifacts on display from a kick-ass time in history. Thanks for making such a brilliant site. Feel free to visit blitter dot com (where I’m quite sure you’ll feel right at home).
Thanks! I do love artifacts: digging them up, dusting them off, trying to figure out why they were made, how they work, what they say about the time…
I’ll check out Blitter, for sure.
Sounds like my story just change that first line a little:
I was born in 1971 and grew up in the middle class Northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Welcome, Ed! Enjoy the Tang and wood paneling… And the giant ship model in the garage that dad is never going to finish.
1973 here. This is a great site, just discovered it tonight. Keep up the great work 🙂
Thanks for watching!
Fellow 1972, here. I should be tackling my “to do” list, but instead I’m GLUED to your site. It’s probably wrong for a 41 y.o. woman to want the Godzilla/Tricephalon playset, but I don’t care. Thank you so much for putting this blog together – it’s a gem!
Ha. We’ll always want that Godzilla playset, and we’ll never really care if other people think we’re weird because of it. That’s one of the reasons we’re so awesome.
Thanks for the comment and the compliment!
Ok, born in 1977 here, so I recognize a lot of this stuff – but some of it is new. The love of Thundarr the Barbarian is great to see, though. Man, Jack Kirby was just the best. But I digress from my actual question – did you name the blog “2 warps to Neptune” as a reference to the old arcade game “Gyruss” ? I worked at an arcade in the 1990s and waxed poetically about that game and the general heyday of video game arcades that was the 1970s and 1980s. Great blog!
Thanks, Darik! Yup, I got “2 Warps to Neptune” from Gyruss, one of my fave arcade games.
Another 1972 here, but I grew up in Northeast Tennessee. I came for the pics of the 1978 Sears catalog and stayed for the obscure 70s and 80s references. You really took me back to a great time in my life. I had forgotten all about the show Double Trouble until I saw it on your blog. I do remember watching it with my brother when it aired. It seemed all our favorite shows were doomed for cancellation (i.e. Brady Brides, Manimal, Quark, etc). Maybe we just had terrible taste in television?
Anyway, terrific blog. You have made my day. I’m now off to look for Buck Rogers. That Erin Grey really did it for me.
Thanks for visiting, Matt! I’ll take our television shows any day. Does no one else DVR The Love Boat??
Just found your blog today — it’s fantastic, so much interesting stuff and lots of nostalgia. Thank you for taking the effort to document all this — it’s giving me hours of reading!
You’re welcome! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
hello from europe/ France, 1972 circa. your searches are so enthusiast. it’s a pleasure to see how the kids of america grew up (while we were kind of harassed with eastern europe/ussr lifestyle..). arcades, toys, design, great to read you !
Merci, Fred! Thanks for reading and commenting.
Howdy,
I Just wanted to thank you for such an amazing blog! I was a young child in the early 80’s and this website is time machine back to that beloved era. 🙂
Thanks again,
Eric
Thanks, Eric! Appreciate it.
Absolutely love this site. Almost every entry gets an “Oh, yeah! I remember that,” response from me. From Micronauts to all the old D&D toys. What great memories. Thank you!
Hey, thanks!
Bravo! A heroic effort to have collected images of such ephemera, but also kudos to suggest a (credible) hypothesis as to why the 70s/80s were so instrumental in forging the world we have now.
Thanks so much, James. I’m starting another project soon that will be a more serious exploration of the foundations of Cold War era culture. Stay tuned.
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I just discovered your blog and spent 3 fantastic days going through every single post. For the love of god please go back to updating it. One of the best blogs I’ve ever seen.
I am terrified by everything here. It’s an avalanche of American awful; a curated cringe. Yet, I cannot look away. It’s all so hideously compelling and beautiful, in its own bizarre way. What could have driven you to this? Who hurt you? Advertising? Popular Culture? Episcopalians? All of it… in totality? Don’t stop! I want MORE!!! MORE Hideous tract homes! MORE Tragic design choices! MORE iffy electronics! MORE cheap, incendiary kid’s pajamas, bedding and drapes with Blockbuster movie graphics, you can’t get within 12 feet of an open flame!!! Yes! YES!!! YYYYEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!