Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
“Marvel Comics yearly reach an incredible 77% of all kids in the United States between 6 and 17.” I have to believe there’s some padding going on, but still, that’s a big number, and I don’t doubt it. Bringing a comic book to school would buy you a class full of friends for a day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emh6OR8fBPU
The Kenner Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back stuff starts at 2:43. Brother and sister demo the Wipeout set at 4:04.
The mother of all Christmas morning Star Wars videos is here.
The Odyssey 2000 (1977) was the 7th iteration of the original Odyssey, the very first home video game console, designed by Ralph H. Baer. As many of you have heard, Baer passed away on December 5th. Pong, though much more popular, was essentially a knock-off of the Odyssey’s Tennis game, and so the history of home consoles begins with Baer, not Bushnell.
The owl calculator is The Little Professor, a “learning aid” that presents mathematical problems for the user to solve. There’s an emulator, if you want to give it a go.
The first photo comes from DudesLife and shows the brothers playing the first commercial home version of Pong, the Sears-exclusive “Tele-Games” Pong.
In the second photo, via Michael Schroeder, dad and son play what looks like Atari’s C-100 Pong, released in 1976. (Pat Schroeder, seen in the poster on the wall, was the first woman from Colorado to be elected to Congress.)
The shot below (source unknown) shows the Super Pong (C-140) box on a Christmas morning in ’76 or ’77. Super Pong featured four games, while the other versions played only one. Compare all the versions at Pong Story.
I know, I know. Your PS4 offers not games but “immersive experiences” that blur the boundary between fantasy and reality, creator and creation. I think that’s really cute! Now, how many screens can you clear on BurgerTime with three chefs, three shakes of pepper, and no way to save your progress?
(Read the whole issue at the Internet Archive.)
Daniel Baker, you are one lucky kid. I arranged the shots in what I think is consecutive order. First, we see the massive AT-AT box unwrapped. Second, dad works diligently to assemble AT-AT while kids opens the Big Trak. Third, kid puts finishing touches on the Walker as assorted Star Wars figures look on. Fourth, the Big Trak (the separately sold Transporter is in the foreground) goes for a pre-programmed spin. Fifth, kid sits on mom’s lap, admiring his toy domain, exhausted by happiness.
More Christmas morning AT-ATs here.
“My old B.B. gun just doesn’t have enough power to kill what I want to shoot.” Yup. The letters are from a Texas newspaper. Lots of Atari and tabletop/mini arcade game mentions, especially Pac-Man, and one brave soul asked for “electronic Dungeons and Dragons.”
The photo is via Corimarti, who nails down the scene: “
It’s also not fair that that gloriously raunchy carpet is not in my house. (MOTU goes best with rust-colored rugs, apparently.)
Here you see the Cobra Stinger, the Cobra Rattler, the Wolverine, and the Dragonfly—some of the most beautiful toys ever produced in arguably the most distinctive toy packaging ever designed. I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see the boxes and cards.
(Photo via Eric Anderson/Flickr)
An epic two-page list the author of Life in Smirley World bestowed upon her soon-to-be destitute grandparents when she was eight or nine. Some thoughts I had while going through all the items:
2 Warps to Neptune 