Ain't No Party Like a Pokemon Party !!!

My son turned 7 last weekend and we had a Pokemon themed party !! His obsession for the last year has been Pokemon and it translated well into the party theme. There were Pokemon decorations galore including homemade Pokeball plates !!

Pokemon themed napkins !!

 My wife made homemade Pokeballs for a Easter Egg type hunt for prizes !

The kids got to beat Pikachu until he burst candy !!

Pokeball Cupcakes !!

(By now you should know that my wife is VERY creative :)

Even a Pokemon Candle !!

A sticker book was one of his gifts but ... 

I got him a Charizard EX !!

Last year about this time he got a few cards from some kids at school. He liked them a lot so we invested some of last years B'day money in a Plasma Freeze box set to get him started. Of course he needed someone to play against and show him the rules, so I dived in and learned the game. Using my vintage game playing knowledge I guided him along to learn the ins and outs of Pokemon.

Fast forward a year later and I'm hooked......

I never played CCGs before as I had a snobbish attitude toward them for some reason. After a year of playing I have to admit I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Not only do I get to play something with my son, I get to get back into playing mode :)

I know, the game has been around for a long time but its just gotten to me. My obsessive personality kicked in and the collecting has been going hardcore. Both of our collections have grown quite large. Even though we have books and cases for the good cards, they get used for playing. To me that's one of the best parts, not just having a card that collects dust, but using them to play the game.

The Charizard EX is a set up for the M-Charizard I'll have to acquire for him some time down the road. I wound up getting a Mega Kangaskhan of my own and will need a Mega for Jr to keep up. Its a fun game and I'm looking forward to lots more challenges, hopefully making some memories for my son that he can look back at one day like the ones I have of my childhood :)

I Shall Return !!!

For those of you that may be wondering why the posts have stopped .....

My work schedule along with the Spring semester completely stifled my free time, along with the fact that my collection is still in boxes from moving to our new house. I do miss the dialog with my fellow collectors and resolve to pick up where I left off.

Needless to say I still have a lot of toys to write about and some are scheduled to be sold off to concentrate on vintage toys from my youth.

I will be back and am amazed that even though I have had no activity over the last few months the spambots still have been crawling me like lice .....

In 1982: GI Joe Steeler was Straight and Armed with a Suprise !!

In 1982; Hasbro rolled out the GI Joe line to a generation craving the next great 3 3/4 toy line that would supplant Star Wars as the top of the line. GI Joe went on to become one of the greatest toy lines ever created and even with a few "bumps" in the road it is still being produced today.

 

The initial roll out by Hasbro was first and arguably the best.

Were there many flashy offerings ? No. Were there Ninjas ? Technically not yet. Were there plenty of toys that could spur the imagination of pre-adolescent boys ? YES !!

It was the start of things to come. The first wave had the short lived "Straight Arms" that preceeded the greatest running change to be implemented into a toy line; the "Swivel Arm Battle Grip".

 

Steeler was included in that first offering. He came packaged as the driver of the Motorized Battle Tank (MOBAT). It was the tank of the GI Joe team. It was self propelled and all kinds of awesome !!

 

Steeler himself is different from his teammates. The M.O. of Hasbro was to re-use and re-paint in the first line. That said, even though he is created from a "Flash" head and "Zap" waist and legs; the torso and arms are unique to Steeler. Also, he got the cool "Snake Eyes" Uzi and a binocular attachment for his helmet that was unique as well.

 

The chest piece is unique and detailed. I always loved the pistol holster, it just looks bad ass !

The arms are unique to Steeler which is a grand departure from the rest of the line. His are adorned with a gold paint app to his left bicep. But the coolest feature is the little pouch on his wrists which are completely unique to this mold.

Here is the 83' version with swiveling arms but no wrist pouches. Uh oh, looks like he has the dreaded "Broken Crotch Syndrome".   ouch ......

 

 

I did not get the MOBAT and Steeler in the first wave. The price must have been too high for me to get it right off the bat, but I managed to get the rest of the line in its entirety before the second run started. I got the MOBAT the next year with Steeler and his swivelin arms. That tank became a mainstay of my battles. C'mon, it the frikin' tank ! You had to use it ! I managed to get the straight arm version recently pretty cheap on eBay and was pleasantly surprised to see the wrist pouches. I never knew the difference til now and its a neat little bit of detail that sets him apart. I'm unsure if the wrists were used for any other figures but if my memory serves me correctly; they remain unique to Steeler and his Straight Arms.

David Brockie AKA Oderus Urungus of GWAR Dead at 50 R.I.P.

Saddened to hear the news of David Brockie's passing today. Brockie, who personified Oderus Urungus of the all time great band GWAR, was an extremely creative mind and always a delight to listen to in interviews. GWAR has remained one of my all time favorite bands even in my (now) older age.

Sex-scuse me :) but my first experience with the band was listening to Scumdogs of the Universe which hooked me in right away. I tracked down a cassette (remember those ?) of Hell-O at Home of the Hits (Buffalo Elmwood) and it remains to this day one of my all time favorite albums. My VHS (making me feel old now) tape of Live from Antarctica was worn to unwatchable from the gazillion times I played it.

Circa 1992; when the band announced that they would be playing locally supporting the America Must Be Destroyed album; myself, two friends and the girl I would eventually marry (our first date and have been together ever since) saw them live and in the raw ! What a show. Its been a long time but I still remember the blood and urine flowing :)

A lot of people don't see the humor in the band and its show, but for those of us who do, this is the end of an era. GWAR is a groundbreaking band that introduced a great many metal heads to the humor of violence and bloodshed on a level that only the truly free of mind can appreciate.

RIP David Brockie; thanks for the memories.

If you want to know more go to the GWAR website through this link and enjoy:

http://www.gwar.net/

In Honor of the Sochi Olympics: C64 Winter Games and Nikolai Volkoff !!

In honor of today's opening ceremonies in Sochi, Russia; I offer you two of my all time favorite memories:

 

A Vintage Star Wars Inflatable Lightsaber or Expensive Flashlight ?

WAAAAYYYY back in the day, Kenner's Star Wars line of toys was an all encompassing imagination bonanza. The first line of figures and toys came through in 1978 and what kid didn't want a LIGHTSABER !!!

 

Kenner's offerings that year gave us this:

 

The Star Wars Inflatable Lightsaber !!

Its Wrasslin Wednesday with Classic Piper's Pit Footage - The Coconut Incident !

Its Wrasslin Wednesday !! While there has been a Blizzard up here in the Buffalo area, I've been warming my thoughts with classic WWF footage.

 

This is an absolute gem !!

 

A classic episode of Piper's Pit with Roddy attacking Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. This is Roddy Piper at his best, antagonizing the "Face" and enraging the fans.