HasLab H.I.S.S. Tank - Funded In Less Than A Day!

 

Is that a record?

The HasLab H.I.S.S. Tank for the G.I. Joe Classified line went live this morning, and was funded before the day even ended!

Not only did the backer's show how much they wanted this thing, but they did so at such a pace that the Early Bird incentive which needed to be met by July 6, 2022, was surpassed before the sun went down on day one! With this, the vehicle has not only been funded in full, but will now include an additional bonus figure, the H.I.S.S. Tactician. Mind you, this is in addition to the already included H.I.S.S. Driver!

Hasbro has promised four additional stretch goals at 10,000, 12,000, 14,000, and 16,000 backers. With 8,735 supporters as of this write up, all of these may not be a problem for Classified fans to reach. At this rate, we'll be there before the weekend!

Did you back the G.I. Joe Classified H.I.S.S. Tank?

 ***UPDATE***

9,881 supporters as of 7:30 AM (EST) on June 30, 2022.

***UPDATE***

With 10,038 backers reached by 9:45 AM on June 30, 2022, we've made it to the first stretch goal. Now we just have to wait for Hasbro to wake up, and actually tell us what that is.

In a surprising additional update, Hasbro Pulse billed my payment method today for the G.I. Joe Collab Snake Eyes: Zero Point Edition. I've had that thing on pre-order since January 30, 2021, and it is FINALLY shipping!

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: Foreigner - Insider Information



After my initial listening session of Foreigner's album, 4, I had high hopes for a return visit to the band. I admit, out of error, it came time to listen to Insider Information. I say it was an error because my initial intent was to jump into 1984's Agent Provocateur, but accidentally started up 1987's Insider Information. Oops.

The album hooked me right from the start with Heart Turns To Stone, and though it lost me a bit with track two, redeemed itself with one of my all time favorites from the band, Say You Will, AKA track three. This raised the bar considerably and I was ready for a fantastic listening session for the remainder of the album.

Track four surprised me with a hit I had forgotten about completely from my youth, I Don't Want To Live Without You. This got added to my shuffle list.

Counting Every Minute, AKA track five, was kind of a dud. However, this immediately picked up with the title track Insider Information.

The Beat Of My Heart somewhat kept up the momentum, but was honestly just okay in the long run. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't add it to my shuffle list. I felt the same way about the follow up song, Face To Face. At this point, the album was starting to taper off a bit.

The last two tracks, Out Of The Blue and A Night To Remember, were pretty big duds for me. I actually ended up skipping both the tracks around the midway point because I just didn't feel like subjecting myself to them.

Overall, it wasn't a bad album, but it definitely went on a roller coaster with the ups and downs. I can't say it left me with the same excited feeling to hear more from the band, such as 4 did. However, I won't say I hated it. It was okay. The high notes were high and the lower were low. I'll leave it at that.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Super Mario Bros And Captain N: The Game Master On DVD

 

It's stated that by 1990 thirty percent of households owned a Nintendo Entertainment System. Based on Statistia, there were ninety-three million households in America. That's an estimated twenty-seven million Nintendo owners, many of which who were children.

Bottom line, Nintendo was big, and the company behind some of the most notable video games of the 1980's weren't about to leave money on the table. Kids were big business, and they knew it. With names like Mario, Luigi, Zelda, Link, Mega Man, Simon Belmont, and various others being common place topics on the average schoolyard playground, it was no doubt that these iconic characters were household names across the country. 

With Saturday morning, and weekday cartoons still in the prime of their popularity, it seemed only a natural transition for both worlds to collide. No, it wasn't a new concept. Shows like Saturday Supercade and Pac-Man already had major success in the early 80's. Rather, what was to come would just be the next iteration.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

The first to come was The Super Mario Bros. Super Show in 1989. What made this cartoon a unique concept was its melding of live action segments, which often featured guest stars, intermixed with animated shorts that stared the popular cast of the video game.

Fans of WWF and Nintendo found themselves in a win / win situation with Captain Lou Albino taking on the roll of Mario for both the live action and (voiced) animated segments. His co-star, but relatively unknown to most kids, was, Danny Wells. The seasoned actor portrayed Luigi in both live and animated iterations.

Each hour long show started off with the live action portions being set up for a varying circumstance, which would play out as the episode progressed. These were broken up by animated shorts of both Super Mario Bros., and The Legend Of Zelda. Additionally, when originally aired, the show also included animated sections overlaid by a popular hit from musical artists of the era. However, these were removed when the series was released on DVD, and overlaid with instrumental music.

In total, there were fifty-two episodes over one season which aired each weekday, all of which contained an all new Super Mario Bros. themed short. However, there were only thirteen The Legend Of Zelda cartoons (which only aired on Fridays), and these were repeatedly re-run throughout the series.

Shout Factory restored both the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and The Legend Of Zelda, releasing them both in 2006. Super Mario Bros. encompassed two volumes, and included the full live action segment, as well as the Mario and Lugi cartoon short. Because Shout also released all thirteen episodes of Zelda, these segments were not included within the Mario episodes, forcing you to have to buy both if you wanted the whole shebang.

NCircle obtained the rights to both series in 2012, and released them all again on DVD. However, to many fans disappointment, they removed the live action segments, retaining only the animated shorts. As such, the Shout Factory releases remain the more coveted versions for fans to purchase.

Captain N: The Game Master

While initially unrelated to the above series, but released within the same period, Captain N: The Game Master featured brand new character, Kevin Keene, and his dog Duke, as they traverse Video World, helping their Nintendo themed friends, Princess Lana, Simon Belmont, Kid Icarus, and Mega Man in their plight against Mother Brain, and her henchmen. These villains too were popular characters from the 8-bit era, King Hoppo, Eggplant Wizard, and Doctor Wiley. Other villains included Donkey Kong, Alucard, Ganon, and other Castlevania themed monsters.

While the first season of the show was a stand alone, season two paired each episode with The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3, and season three removed these in lieu of Super Mario World. In total, there were thirty-four episodes. More on season two and three below.

Shout Factory also obtained the rights to this show, and released what was called The Complete Series in 2007. However, this was not an entirely true statement, as the discs only contained seasons one and two. This was because "technically", season three was considered a separate show by the copyright holders, who would only allow for the final episodes to be released as a package deal entitled, Captain N: The Game Master And The New Super Mario World, which was also released this same year. More on this below.

Both sets are currently out of print, and on secondary markets, but can be somewhat pricey.

The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3

Changes were made to this all new series airing in 1990, which saw the exit of Captain Lou Albino and Danny Wells, and in general, the omission of live action segments. As a result, most of the animated cast features all new voice actors.

Because the show was based on the third Super Mario game, many of the power ups and characters associated with that particular game were featured. However, the episodes often took place on Earth, in what the characters referred to as, "The real world." Additionally, the series as a whole established a continuity to it, something which was lacking in its predecessors.

The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3 only ran for one season, encompassing twenty-six episodes. When aired as re-runs were separated from Captain N: The Game Master.

Due to the success of prior DVD releases, Shout Factory obtained the rights to the series, and released it in 2007. This series too originally included music segments, most noteworthy from Milli Vanilli. However, these were removed from the DVD, and replaced with music from Captain N. 

The New Super Mario World

Technically, as noted above, the title is Captain N: The Game Master And The New Super Mario World, which aired as season three of Captain N in 1991. The show featured all the voice actors from The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3. However, to remain aligned with the game the series was based on, Toad was removed. What's odd is that he was replaced by an all new, and unrelated character, Oogtar.

Unlike prior series, there was no copyrighted music utilized during any of the episodes. Meaning the unaltered originals could be re-run in syndication, as well as not impact any future home video releases.

Due to the time frame in which it aired, the show is impacted by the Children's Television Act. Basically, the show had to meet certain education restriction in order to apply for license renewals, and also limit direct advertising towards youngsters.

As noted above, Shout Factory released the entire series with the Captain N episodes in 2007. What's interesting about this is that the copyright factor seems to have been forget shortly thereafter, as NCircle would later release just the Super Mario World episodes as their own DVD set in 2012.

Where I think the entire package of these DVD's has an advantage to other cartoons released these days is their overall spectrum of appeal. On one hand, you have 80's cartoon fans who will buy up pretty much any title they can get their hands on. Meanwhile, on the other hand, there is also a lot of appeal to vintage video game collectors. Then there's people like me who have an appreciation for both vintage cartoons and games, making it a win / win across the board.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Order Of Battle: Spider-Man Classics

 

Due to the increasing size of my comic book collection, I have found it necessary to not only break them up by title, but for some of the larger series, by groups. This will be an ongoing post of my Marvel published Spider-Man Classics comic books, as I obtain them. All photos are actual scans.

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 1

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 2

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 3

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 4

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 5

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 6

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 7

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 8

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 9

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 10

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 11

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 12

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 13

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 14

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 15 (Polybagged)

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 15

Spider-Man Classics
Issue 16

For more Order of Battle posts related to my comic book collection, which includes additional Spider-Man related titles, click "HERE".

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince - He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper



Search the Weekly Top 40 in 1988 and you won't find DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince on it anywhere. That's too bad. Fortunately, this was rectified in 1988 when Parents Just Don't Understand won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance.

The album, He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper, is most notable for said hit, Parents Just Don't Understand and A Nightmare On My Street. However, in case you didn't know that the duo had a new album out, they made sure to clue you in with their track, Here We Go Again. The song not only tells you that you should have bought their prior album, but that the new one is out and readily available for purchase. It also clues you in on what the two have been up to.


Not being big into hip hop myself, DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince consist of the majority of my limited exposure to rap. I know that's not a very popular vote among rap purists who don't appreciate the silly nature of the two's music.

At one hour and twelve minutes, I appreciate the dedication to provide a record that gives fans their monies worth. It delivers solid beats, and has a fair amount of catchy songs to tap one's toes to. Being nostalgic minded, I have a soft spot for Human Video Game, which gives us classic hooks from some of the greatest 80's arcade hits.

Overall, it's a decent album, but not one I can see myself wanting to hear repeatedly. Definitely well worth catching up with it after decades since I heard it last.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Just Doodling: Marvel Team-Up

 

I usually just post these drawings, and call it a day, but this one deserves some commentary. Everything, from the lettering, to the comics code symbol was done by hand. While there was an issue 53 of Marvel Team-Up used as reference for a lot of this, there was never a Spider-Ham or Howard the Duck team-up, which would have simply been epic back in the day!

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Order Of Battle: What If And What The..?!

 

Due to the increasing size of my comic book collection, I have found it necessary to not only break them up by title, but for some of the larger series, by groups. This will be an ongoing post of my Marvel published What If... and What The..?! titles, as I obtain them. All photos are actual scans. 

What If
Issue 1

What If
Issue 7

What If
Issue 19

What If
Issue 24

What If
Issue 30

What If
Issue 31

What If
Issue 35

What If
Issue 43

What If
Issue 46

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 2

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 4

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 10

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 17

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 20

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 21

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 25

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 26

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 31

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 35

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 42

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 44

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 49

What If (Volume 2)
Issue 58

What If
Special 1

What The..?!
Issue 1

What The..?!
Issue 3

For more Order of Battle posts related to my comic book collection, which includes additional Spider-Man related titles, click "HERE". 

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.