Awesome, but what does it mean? He’s going home to play D&D by himself because the other kids are total dicks? You can’t DM yourself, buddy. I tried it, believe me. And the Basic Set had only one very short solo adventure.
Archive Page 143
Dungeons & Dragons Commercial: ‘Products of Your Imagination’ (1983)
Published March 7, 2012 Commercials , D&D Leave a CommentDisney’s The Black Hole: Toys and Models
Published March 6, 2012 Black Hole, The , Commercials , Model Kits 1 Comment
I’m excessively fond of The Black Hole (1979). No, it wasn’t Star Wars, but it was a clever riff on Verne’s classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and the story literally revolves around the most mysterious phenomenon in the universe. The sets and the visuals are amazing, the good guys and robots likable (if corny), and the bad robot awesomely sinister. The merchandise campaign was massive, and I’ll catalog as much of it as I can in multiple posts.
The action figures were well done, but, because this was a Disney movie, guns were included only with the Robot Sentry and S.T.A.R. figures. How did they expect the good guys to win in a firefight?
There were also these creepy 12″ dolls, which I never quite understood.
The models, still much sought after, will cost you more than anything else in the line. What to do if I had to choose between the Cygnus and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea‘s Seaview?
There was also a Fisher-Price Movie Viewer (see it via Toys You Had) and a slew of unreleased toys that you can check out at bugeyedmonster. And let’s not forget the commercials, courtesy of Megomuseum’s brilliant YouTube Channel.
TSR’s Endless Quest series came out in 1982, and was promptly lapped up by D&D-heads everywhere. The “Pick-A-Path to Adventure” tag was a direct rip-off of the hugely successful Choose Your Own Adventure line, which I also loved, but Endless Quest was grittier and had cooler cover art (the covers above are by Larry Elmore).
Thanks to Demian Katz for the book cover images, and for providing a comprehensive database of the series, including a summary and review of each volume. Some ads below.
Arcade Zen
Published March 3, 2012 '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , Video Arcades , Video Games 1 Comment
Lloyd N Phillips/Flickr
Oh yeah. Can you hear A Flock of Seagulls in the background?
rbglasson/Flickr
Killer line-up of games here. Crystal Castles was psychedelic, man… Oops, that’s not Crystal Castles, that’s a game called Circus Charlie.
conrado4/Flickr
Introducing… the acid wash (a.k.a stone wash) pinch roll. An ’80s classic.
conrado4/Flickr
The pinch roll with high-tops.
conrado4/Flickr
Bermuda shorts and those stupid hats. What were they called?
G. J. Charlet III/Flickr
1983 Chuck E. Cheese’s birthday party outing. Get in the van, kids!
Arcade Cabinets: Tempest (1981)
Published February 29, 2012 Arcade Cabinets/Coin-Ops , Atari , Video Games 4 Comments
(Images via Game on Grafix, arcarc.xmission.com, T3 Design, Gunaxin, The-Tim, farbish.com, VGChartz, and The Arcade Flyer Archive)
Arcade Zen
Published February 28, 2012 '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , Video Arcades , Video Games 2 Comments
Rad Arcade/Flickr
Were jean shorts really this cool? No, they were not. What the hell were we thinking?
Rad Arcade/Flickr
If you think the symmetry of these lined up Tempests is beautiful…
Rad Arcade/Flickr
… then check out this action.
Rad Arcade/Flickr
I really like this long shot. The best arcades had a labyrinthine quality. They gave us spaces to ourselves.
Rad Arcade/Flickr
I don’t know where this came from, but I like it, and I can’t wait to find out what the other “rules” are.
Daves Portfolio/Flickr
This is one of the most iconic shots in the lot, taken in East Sussex, England, in 1983. I don’t recognize any of the machines behind Defender.
Rad Arcade/Flickr
Damn it! Rule number 1 is cut off!
Rad Arcade/Flickr
Yay!
Neato Coolville/Flickr
From the first issue of the Disney Channel Magazine in 1983. It’s the Disneyland Starcade! No Discs of Tron sightings—yet.
babyfella2007/Flickr
“Now pimpin’ ain’t easy but it’s necessary, so I’m chasin’ bitches like Tom chased Jerry…”
Phillie Casablanca/Flickr
Battlezone sighting. Admit it, that viewer was really unsanitary.
elcaarchives/Flickr
The half shirt! With the short shorts. And Star Castle, remember that game? It was one of my favorites, and I’d totally forgotten about it until now.
Image via deadmalls.com
Image via Historic Palm Beach
Arcade Zen
Published February 25, 2012 '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , Video Arcades , Video Games 4 CommentsAll of the photos in this installment are via Rad Arcade’s Vintage Arcade Pictures and Magazine Scans set on Flickr. The set makes up more than half of the Growing Up In Arcades group and is a hugely important cultural document.
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(1) Damn, it’s hard out there for a pimp. (2) How awesome is that raised platform in the background? Talk about product placement. That’s Tempest on the left, so this must be at least ’81. I think that’s Turbo on the right, which also came out in ’81. (Click on the pics for a bigger image.)
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Ladies and Gentlemen, we are floating in space.
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Check out what’s playing on the big screen in the background.
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“Here comes John Travolta. Let me just flash my bell-bottoms…”
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“Over here, John!”
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The wall art. Gnarly.
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What a great shot. I knew kids that never skipped school to go to the arcade. I just wasn’t one of them.
Arcade Cabinets: Gyruss (1983)
Published February 25, 2012 Arcade Cabinets/Coin-Ops , Video Games Leave a Comment
(Images via eBay, mamedb.com, Dragon’s Lair Fans, Game on Grafix, Artwork Doctor, Joystix, and The Arcade Flyer Archive)
2 Warps to Neptune 