Book Of Boba Fett

 

So I haven't gotten a chance to actually sit down and watching the first episode yet, but I must admit that the poster released recently intrigues me.

I don't know who's idea at Disney it was to team up everyone's favorite bounty hunter with DEVO, but man am I pumped for that! I dig the futuristic helmet they gave the band. It feels like Star Wars, but it's also clearly a throwback to their patented style hats.

Great job, Disney! Maybe there's hope for you after all.

Are we not hunters? We are DEVO! D-E-V-O!!!!!!

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Retro Spins: Culture Club - Colour By Numbers

Culture Club's impact in 80's pop culture was massive. Their first two albums, Kissing To Be Clever (1982) and Colour By Numbers (1983) featured multiple chart toppers, a handful of which went to number one. As such, it's a shame it was so brief.

For a band which had so much going for them, it was disappointing to see them fall apart between 1984 and 1986. Their third album, Waking Up With The House On Fire (1984) was poorly received, and failed to provide much commercial success. It didn't help that Boy George had been struggling with an addiction to heroin. From there, album sales continued to plummet with their last entry in the 80's, From Luxury To Heartache (1986). This album did even worse than the prior.

So let's forget about those last two albums, for now anyway. Instead, I want to focus on what I think is probably their most successful album of all time, 1983's Colour By Numbers. It features hits such as; Karma Chameleon, It's A Miracle, Church Of The Poison Mind and Miss Me Blind.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Stormkeeper, I didn't personally find much more here. The rest of the album is a little boring. Further, the remaining tracks simply can't hold a candle to the powerhouse of the singles. It makes them almost feel like throw away songs.

As a whole, it was okay, but it didn't wow me. I was actually really surprised by that. I honestly expected to be blown away.

I'm still very interested in hearing more from the band. Mostly the latter 80's albums, which I don't think I've ever heard before. More so because of Freddie Mercury praising Boy George as a singer to watch. In that regard, I want to really believe there is much more to the band than just the hits.

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Christmas 2021: Part II

 

With the kids gone, it was time for my girl and I to have a little quite time, and enjoy our own Christmas.

We started our day by ordering some breakfast from Panera. Well, sort of. While my girl got a bagel with cream cheese, I ordered a turkey bacon bravo sandwich. We had so many eggs from the pizzas the past couple days that I was sick of all breakfast related foods.

After eating, we let the dog do his thing with some Christmas treats and new toys.

He still has several more treats, but the toys did not survive the day.

With the dog fully content, we proceeded with opening the gifts from each other.

The Christmas elves must have been talking with each other because my girl filled in the two blanks of Amazing Spider-Man comics my brother didn't get. She also got me this awesome Archie: 80 Years of Christmas digest.

I'm not sure where she found this cool G.I. Joe beer can, but its pretty awesome. This is a legit can from the 1980's by Schell's Brewery. I'd never heard of it until today, and have no clue if it was intended to be related to the Hasbro license.

I also got this amazing Probe Droid from the 1980's Turret & Probot Playset from Kenner's The Empire Strikes Back line. I toyed (no pun intended) around with adding this one to my vintage collection, but never did. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore.

You can't have Christmas without great snacks that you wouldn't normally buy year round. This year I got some Pocky, S'more Moose Munch, caramel apple coffee, and a Walker's rich fruit pudding. I can never finish the latter, it's simply too big. But, man, do I love trying.

One of the things I have been kicking around in my head is that when I redo my kitchen, I'm going to do it in an homage to the Fallout series. This will include red plates and utensils, as well as appliances. To help me in starting with that, I got all of these great Fallout themed items.

Above is the re-released Jones Soda Nuka-Cola Quantum and two drinking glasses. Below is the official cookbook, a new coffee mug, and some hand towels.

I also got these awesome metal signs to hang up.

This is a great start in implementing my plan!

Last up, I got two more cartoon series on DVD, and a couple CD's!

Beetlejuice and Heathcliff will fit in nicely among my collection, and are ones I have been eager to revisit. I'm so incredibly backlogged though, so I don't know when I'm going to get to these. I may have to bump them up on the watch list.

These two CD's in the "Now" collection are awesome on so many levels. First and foremost, I have to correct myself. While it may look like two CD's, each one is actually five discs. What makes these so great is that the title, "Forgotten 80's" is no joke. There are so many obscure and great tracks from artists that never saw an official CD release, or if they did are stupid expensive. This is a great way to fill in so many of those gaps. Each set contains a whopping one hundred songs!

We finished the day by ordering some Indian food, and settling in with Don't Look Up. This movie may boast a star studded cast, and even has some funny moments. However, quite frankly it's a very depressing movie. Overall, I didn't enjoy this one.

My goal is to finish the night off on a more positive note, and for that, I'm turning to the Netflix film, Klaus. I'm also going to flip through my new cookbook while watching it.

Though we had some up and down moments with the kids, overall it was a great visit, and an enjoyable Christmas. It's sad that it's over, but also relieving at the same time.

I hope that all of you had an equally great holiday. Here's to you, your family, and to a new year on the horizon. Merry Christmas!

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Cartoons Of The 80's: 1989

 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, if you celebrate it, or week, if you don't. Today, I'm wrapping up my series based on a decade long era of cartoons. So with little to no delay, let's jump into the cartoons of 1989. 

Title: Beetlejuice
Air Date: September 1989 0 December 1991
Seasons: Four
Episodes: Ninety-Four
DVD Release: Yes

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

Yes, the one and only, and based on the highly popular Tim Burton film, it's...Well...duh, Beetlejuice.

By 1989, my cartoon watching was pretty much done and over with. I was full on hooked to the Nintendo Entertainment System, and that got the majority of my television attention. In hindsight, I'm pretty bummed out that I missed such an iconic cartoon, so thank goodness it's available on DVD. This one was actually on my Christmas list for my girl, and though I'm writing this post in advance to the holiday, fingers are crossed it will be under the tree.

Title: The California Raisin Show
Air Date: September - December 1989
Seasons: One
Episodes: Thirteen
DVD Release: Yes

Man, The California Raisins were a massive success in the 80's and early 90's. Who know then a series of singing claymation raisins could take the world by such a storm?

Their success led to a short lived animated series in 1989. However, this was a traditionally animated series, featuring the Raisins, and of course, music.

This series has indeed been released on DVD, and it's quite a collection to get. The California Raisins Collection not only features all thirteen episodes of the series, but commercials and two additional claymation shorts.

Title: Camp Candy
Air Date: September 1989 - September 1992
Seasons: Three
Episodes: Forty
DVD Release: No

John Candy as a camp counselor at his own surname camp, starring John Candy himself? Yes please! Think Earnest Goes To Camp, and then extended over forty animated episodes. It was formulaic at its best, but in a good way.

Well, at least I think it was a good way. I mean, it did last for three seasons, all of which I missed completely. Sadly, I don't have the opportunity to catch up on this series, as it's never been released on DVD. Darn.

Title: Captain N: The Game Master
Air Date: September 1989 - October 1991
Seasons: Three
Episodes: Thirty-Four
DVD Release: Yes

For someone as big into Nintendo as I was, you would think this was a series I tuned into every week to get my fill of iconic NES characters in cartoon form. Whereas the truth of the matter is that this wasn't on my radar in the slightest. I don't think I even knew it existed until about a decade ago, if even.

The entire series has been released across a couple DVD sets. However, both are out of print, and very expensive. Fortunately for me, my girlfriend got me the first set a few years ago, and I was graced with the opportunity to place a very low starting bid on a listing about a year ago for the second series, that nobody else bid on, and I won. SCORE!

Title: Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers
Air Date: March 1989 - November 1990
Seasons: Three
Episodes: Sixty-Five
DVD Release: Sort Of

Though I may not have watched many cartoons in 1989, The Disney Afternoon was a block I rarely missed. Among the classics of DuckTales, Tale Spin, and The Adventures Of The Gummi Bears was Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers.

Unfortunately for people like me, who would love to have this entire series on DVD, Disney has only released two volumes which contain fifty-one of the sixty-five episodes. Why so few episodes were given the shaft is beyond me. While I would say that since the episodes that have been released came out too long ago for Disney to release the remaining episodes, they did eventually do this with DuckTales. So, fingers are still crossed.

Title: Dink, The Little Dinosaur
Air Date: September 1989 - November 1990
Seasons: Two
Episodes: Twenty-One
DVD Release: Yes

Full of positivity and friendship, Dink, The Little Dinosaur was a family friendly dinosaur series which rode the coattails of The Land Before Time. When it wasn't spreading a message of positivity, it was teaching children through educational segments.

Dink was released on DVD in full in 2017 through Warner Archive, and remains available now. If you're looking for a lighthearted series to add to your 80's collection, this one may very well be for you!

Title: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Series 2)
Air Date: January - September 1989 - January 1992
Seasons: Two
Episodes: Forty-Four
DVD Release: Yes

Technically a continuation of the original G.I. Joe series, the 1989 DIC Enterprises show is often considered its own iteration. While the show started out on a high note, it soon started to falter under corny dialog and over the top scenarios that simply couldn't sustain the weight that was G.I. Joe.

The entire second series was released across two volumes on DVD, and remains in print to this day. Because it's the least popular of the two series, these particular DVD"s don't tent to cost too much. Then again, neither do the first series discs.

Title: The Karate Kid
Air Date: September - December 1989
Seasons: One
Episodes: Thirteen
DVD Release: No

The Karate Kid is one of my favorite franchises of the 80's. I dig the second film just as much as the first, and enjoy the closure that part three provides.

The cartoon abandons the stories and world established in the live action film in lieu of an action / adventure motif. While it sometimes falters to silliness, it manages to capture the characters well, which ultimately keeps it afloat.

Of all the 80's cartoons out there, this is one of my top five which has never been released on DVD, and it really stinks that it hasn't. This would be a day one purchase if it ever came to fruition. 

Title: McGee And Me!
Air Date: June 1989 - June 1995
Seasons: One
Episodes: Twelve
DVD Release: Possibly

Part live action, part animation, all Christian programming. There weren't many religious shows that hit the airways in syndication, but McGee And Me stood toe to toe with them.

If you were a fan of this show, you'd probably be happy to find out that there are a ton of DVD releases for it. It's because of this that I can't figure out if the series has been released, or if this is a different iteration of the series. I'm still digging into this one for confirmation.

Title: Ring Raiders
Air Date: September - October 1989
Seasons: One
Episodes: Five
DVD Release: No

Based on the toy line created by Matchbox, Ring Raiders first started out as a two hour special, and developed into a short live five episode series. Tons of action, swarming aircraft, unique characters, all set to the background of a world on the brink of war in 1998, Ring Raiders definitely delivered on the excitement factor.

Sadly, the series has never been released on DVD, and there have been no announcements to do so. This one may end up being a forgotten treasure.

Title: Rude Dog And The Dweebs
Air Date: September - December 1989
Seasons: Thirteen
Episodes: One
DVD Release: No

Rude Dog and the Dweebs was a series I never watched. I knew about it, and vaguely remembered it leading up to this post, but overall, it wasn't for me. The character was initially used as the logo for a line of surf and skateboard related items by Sun Sportswear before they marketed the character into his own cartoon. It was a cat versus dog kind of show, all set across the backdrop of Beverly Hills, the perfect place to surf the beach or skate the boardwalks.

The show has never been released on DVD, but there is hope for those needing a home video fix. Select episodes have been released on VHS throughout the late 80's and 90's.

Title: The Simpsons
Air Date: December 1989 - Ongoing
Seasons: Thirty-Three and Counting
Episodes: Seven Hundred Twenty-Eight and Counting
DVD Release: Sort Of

The Simpsons was revolutionary when it hit airways in 1989. It was raw, edgy, and funny. It was how family's really acted, but television was afraid to portray it. The series broke the mold of traditional sitcoms, not only in its style, but also substance.

While it's long since run its course for me, it remains one of the most popular shows of all time, with no end seemingly in sight.

Only the first twenty seasons have been released on DVD, and with things going full on digital these days, there's no reason to believe that any further individual seasons will come out. However, I have no doubts that when the series finally comes to an end that some form of last hooray full release will hit shelves. Probably for about a thousand dollars when it's all said and done. But again, who knows when that will be.

Title: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
Air Date: September - December 1989
Seasons: One
Episodes: Fifty-Two
DVD Release: Sort Of

In 1989, Nintendo was king of the home consoles, and it only seemed natural to transfer this popularity from eight bit pixels to cartoon series. Featuring WWF superstar Captain Lou Albano as Mario, and Danny Wells as Luigi, the show offered a hybrid of live action segments intercut with cartoon shorts. This not only made the characters feel all the more real, but gave DIC Entertainment the opportunity to use popular actors, actresses, sports players, and pop music artists as guest stars.

If that wasn't enough to appeal, the show also incorporated segments of The Legend Of Zelda. Though these were strictly animated shorts.

Sadly, while you can get the cartoons on DVD, the most sought after Shout Factory releases are out of print. NCircle obtained the rights to release the show in 2012, but in doing so removed the the live action segments. Further, you have to buy the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend Of Zelda cartoons separately.

And on that note, we wrap up our look at cartoons of the 80's. I hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane. There's one more Retro Spin post coming tomorrow, but that will wrap up 2021 at The Toy Box.

This series of posts encompasses the following:

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989

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Christmas 2021: Part I

 

I know I promised more posts today, but holy cow, I was not expecting the bigness that this Christmas was to be. It was an incredibly full day that left no room for Blogging.

Everything kicked off with the kids making a breakfast pizza for us all.

The pie started with a layer of queso cheese spread across the curst. This was topped with tatter tots, bacon, red peppers, cheese, and eggs. When it was all baked up, they served it with a side of salsa. It was really delicious, which was surprising to me because I am not a fan of bacon.

After breakfast, we enjoyed some time opening our stockings.

Stockings are traditionally stuffed with assorted small gifts and candy. Mine was nothing short of this as well, but I only photographed the two biggest highlights from it (above).

After opening these, we decided to call our respective family members, and this included me calling my mom. We have a tradition of opening our gifts to each other together over the phone. This year I got this awesome complete collection of Inspector Gadget.

The kids then wanted to open the presents they had under the tree, and this is where things got a little overwhelming. How to put this...

When I say kids, I mean her son and his wife. The two of them met when going through a difficult period in their lives which saw them both briefly homeless. They both have severe mental disabilities, and while they've managed to get themselves stable, they don't have much. Well, my girl decided she was going to rectify this in 2021, and this resulted in her buying so many gifts that it took them a whopping three hours to open. Mind you, these were just the gifts from her to them. I didn't even bother putting what I got them under the tree because there wasn't any room.

They gave me this awesome complete series of the 80's Dennis the Menace cartoon. Love it! My classic cartoon collection is coming along nicely.

By the time they got done opening their gifts it was around 1:30 PM. Needing a little down time and break from everything, we decided to all sit down and watch The Matrix: Resurrections on HBOMax. 

It honestly wasn't bad, though it's definitely one of those movies you need to pay complete attention to if you want to keep up. There's room for a sequel by the end of it, and I can honestly say that it was good enough that I would check that out.

What I particularly liked about it was how it was handled as a whole. It paid homage to the original, building on it at the same time, while not just rebooting it. There's a reason why things are the way they are, and it works well. Would I have liked to have seen Lawrence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving in their respective roles? Absolutely. However, their recasting works well, and again, there's a reason for it.

After the flick, I brought my presents down for the kids and gave them to them to open. I then sent them on a scavenger hunt around the house with each envelope having a clue to the next. Inside each one was a gift card to a fast food joint.

For dinner I stepped into the kitchen to show my stuff. The end result was bone in prime rib, a recipe my mom used to make called those potatoes, whole roasted carrots and fresh baked rolls.

After letting dinner settle, I busted out the finale, these two delicious cakes that I made the day before.

With everyone miserably full, we called it a day, sending the kids on their way. My girl and I finished the night off by calling my brother and opening the gifts we got for each other over the phone. As usual, my brother went overboard, being very generous.

He filled five of the seven gaps in the issues I was missing form 100 - 199 in my Amazing Spider-Man collection. Just two more to go, and I'll have a consecutive run from issue 86 - 441. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Lastly, my brother got me the new Game & Watch Legend Of Zelda. He got me the Super Mario Bros. one last year, and I have to admit, I really dig these things.

I really hope that Nintendo keeps going with this series. There are so many classic games from the NES that could be released this way. This particular gem has both the classic NES games, The Legend of Zelda, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, as well as the original Gameboy game, The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening. As an added bonus, it also has a classic Game & Watch style game called, Vermin.

My girl and I still have gifts for each other. However, we are both so incredibly exhausted at this point. We'll have to get around to these another day, which is fine by me. I love drawing out Christmas as long as possible.

Until then, I hope you all hade a Merry Christmas! God bless.

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Merry Christmas To Me

 

You work hard all year for your money. You manage your responsibilities well, and you pay all your bills. So what better way to say, "Congratulations," to yourself then to give yourself a little something under the tree.

This year, my gifts to me, from me, took a whole lot of thinking and consideration. In fact, it took so much thought that I was surprised that the second item even arrived on time. It was looking like it wouldn't get here until the following Monday, then suddenly changed status to out for delivery on the 23rd.

I can now set up all my Drednoks, and have them play around on their brand new Thunder Machine!

This thing is so rad! You can pack so many figures in, on, and around it!

Yikes, how would you like to be stuck on a road trip with these lot?

Regarding the second item, that was a complete nine issue set of Secret Wars II. I just haven't opened the box yet to take photos.

***UPDATE*** You can see them "HERE".

While this mini-series has been on my want list for a while, it wasn't a high priority. That is until Disney started talking about casting the Beyonder, and issue number one being his first appearance. I had no interest in this relatively "cheap" set skyrocketing in price for that simple fact, and decided to grab it while it was affordable.

As an "Honorable Mention", I also got my box from Valaverse which (unless there was an error) should contain my six inch Sgt. Slaughter figure.

This figure wasn't intended to be a Christmas gift, but the timing worked out perfectly that it arrived just in time to go under the tree. I'm looking forward to opening this one, and adding it to my Classified series. I just don't see Hasbro making a Sgt. Slaughter figure any time soon, if at all, and this one is pure awesome looking.

More Christmas related posts will come as the day progresses, so if you find yourself with a little down time today, please do feel free to come take a look!

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It's Finally Here!

 

Merry Christmas!

As you fill your day with family, friends, fun and festivities, take a moment to remember the true meaning of the day. The birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praise his name.

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Christmas Eve 2021

 

The tree and stockings are up, the presents are wrapped, and there's nothing left to do but enjoy the day before Christmas. For those of you who caught my Christmas Traditions post last year, you know I'm not about to let this day come and go in the blink of an eye.

With the pandemic hopefully behind us, this year we'll be playing host to Sandy's youngest son and his wife, which should make things fun. Their mom went way overboard for them, but I suppose that's to be expected.

On Christmas I'll be in the kitchen as usual for most of it, making up lunch and dinner. As of this writing, I'm still fine tuning my menu for the day, which doesn't leave me much time to get it together. Fortunately, her kids volunteered to take care of breakfast, so I don't have to worry about that one.

In addition to pacing the day of presents, I've come up with a fun scavenger hunt for her kids. I'll be hiding six envelopes around the house, each one with a clue as to where the next is. To help incentivize them to keep on the hunt, each envelope also has a gift card inside. At the end of it, there will be a twist, which I won't spoil just yet.

What I'm struggling with the most is what movie we'll watch midday. With theaters open, streaming options are not as plentiful as they were last year. Hopefully I'll come up with something because I have zero interest in going to the theater.

Leading up to the day, I also went on my annual trip to Toy Exchange to meet up with my brother and exchange gifts. It was here that I picked up my traditional Christmas Eve item(s). Again, going back to my Christmas Tradition's post, I always give myself a gift on Christmas Eve to help get me through the excitement. This year's selection was awesome, if I do say so myself!

The Cobra S.N.A.K.E. Battle Armor was a "figure" I had wanted to add to my collection for the longest time, but I never took the plunge on ebay. It was just never the right time when I came across one.

Finding this one in the wild, 100% complete, was certainly a no brainer to nab up, and I'm glad to finally have it in my collection. I was a little shocked at how small it was, but I suppose it makes sense considering the size of the figures. Had I known this, I can't help but feel like I would have made it a larger priority to get sooner.

Legendary Wings was a game my brother and I got to rent from the local grocery store back in the day, and while I remember it being difficult, was still fun. I'm trying to be careful with my NES game buying because I have a tendency to get out of control with it, and I really do want to focus on the games we actually had as kids prior to branching out. There are actually only five or six games left on my list from my childhood, so I'm not doing too bad.

This one I did have as a kid, and no, it's not accounted for in my above note of five or six games. I had already deducted The Punisher from the list. This game was so difficult back in the day, but so much fun. It's a side scrolling rail shooter, and one that would have been so much better if it was compatible with the Zapper. Sadly, it wasn't.

While I was at Toy Exchange, I knew I wanted to pick up something Star Wars related, but I didn't know what. I looked at a few vehicles and creatures, but ended up passing on them because I already had my heart set on a G.I. Joe vehicle. Then my eyes caught these two double sided mugs from Deka.

I actually had the one below for the longest time as a kid, and used it to rinse my mouth after brushing. It eventually got incredibly dirty, and thrown out. I'll be adding these to my collection of Burger King glasses, keeping them all in the same display case together.

I had to walk away from Toy Exchange before I ended up with A Cobra Rattler and Serpentor Air Chariot. They're on my list, but not something I needed right away. Of course, I rectified the Air Chariot during my trip to Echo Base.

All of this stuff is awesome, and in and of itself would have made for a fantastic Christmas! I'm fortunate to be blessed with the ability to buy these kinds of things for myself, and thank God for every minute of it.

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