Recently a co-worker told me about a new retro toy shop that opened in town. You better believe that's where I took my lunch break that day. There was a ton of great stuff to look at and I had limited time to do so. I will have to go back and take a longer look at some of the stuff in this store. The prices were a little bit all over the place. Some things were priced too high and some were surprisingly affordable. In my haste to squeeze this trip in, I did find a few solid pick-ups in the comic book bins. Here is what I grabbed:
I always love finding some sweet deals on new comic books and you know I couldn't leave without picking up a new TMNT item for the collection. I looked at their selection of vintage TMNT toys and saw a carded Venus for $150! The card was a little beat up and I already have the loose figure, so I passed this up and my wallet thanked me. As I continued looking around, I noticed randomly placed boxes of Non-Sport cards around the store, but something caught my eye more than the others...
Upper Deck Comic Ball Cards: Series #1
Upper Deck Comic Ball Cards: Series #2
Upper Deck Comic Ball Cards: Series #3
Upper Deck Comic Ball Cards: Series #4
Sealed packs of Upper Deck Comic Ball cards! I grabbed one pack from all 4 series for $1 each! I loved these cards as a kid. This was Space Jam before Space Jam existed. Once you collected the whole set, you were treated to a comic book style story that featured the Looney Tunes and some huge names from the 90's spots scene. Included were stars like Ken Griffey Jr., Reggie Jackson, Thurman Thomas & Jerry Rice to name a few. I remember pulling a Wile E Coyote hologram from one of these packs years ago and feeling like I was a Goonie that just discovered the Inferno! Loved these cards then and still love them now! Hopefully, I'll be back soon to see what other treasures I can uncover!
This past weekend the movie Space Jam: A New Legacy debuted in theaters. I was a huge fan of Michael Jordan and in turn the original Space Jam movie. When it was released in 1996 I drug one of my New York Knick loving friends to a showing of Space Jam and he pretty much threatened to kick my butt if the movie sucked. We both left the theater and there was no butt kicking to be had. Needless to say, I was super hyped to see this new installment that took 25 years to make! Myself and my 3 kids decided we would head to the drive in this past Saturday and dub the entire day "Space Jam Day".
We started the day by watching the original Space Jam movie and chowing down on some Space Jam: A New Legacy cereal. The movie was great as usual and the cereal was pretty good too. It tasted like a not so sweet version of Boo-Berry.
Next, we had some chores that needed to get done around the house, so we put on the Space Jam soundtracks and got to work. The "Space Jam: A New Legacy" jams are actually not that bad, but nothing can standup to the greatness of the original which includes Biz Markie (R.I.P.).
Chores were done, so we busted out the Playstation and had a Space Jam: The Video Game Tournament! if you have never played this game before, it is sort of like NBA Jam with Looney Tunes characters. You can view a bit of gameplay in the video below.
It was no surprise that I ended up beating my youngest daughter in the championship game, but she put up a good fight and in her defense I've had 25 years of experience with this game.
After playing some video game hoops, it was time to go outside and play some real hoops. Me and the kids decided to play a modified game of horse where instead of spelling horse we had to spell "Space". After that game we played a game of "Jam". It was really hot outside, so we headed indoors after the game was over.
By this time, we were ready for lunch. My wife whipped up a few boxes of Space Jam: A New Legacy Macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and we drank some Kool-Aid Space Jammers! It was delicious!!
While settling down after lunch, I dug through my long boxes and found the kids my old Space Jam comic book adaptation from DC Comics. My son loved it and asked if he could read the Space Jam: A New Legacy comic, but my girls were quick to shut that down to avoid spoilers.
While my son was busy reading my girls made everyone in the family these rubber band bracelets in the Tune Squad uniform colors. We all wore them to the movie that night!
Later that evening we hit up McDonalds for some dinner. I got a Quarter Pounder with bacon meal, the wife got a spicy chicken sandwich and the kids each asked for cheeseburger Happy Meals!
The people working the drive through were nice enough to look for 3 different toys for the kids and they ended up getting Bugs Bunny, Road Runner and Taz. These toys kept them busy for a while until we were ready to get packed up for the drive in!
We all threw on our Space Jam shirts...
packed up our Space Jam snacks and we were on our way!
We arrived at the drive in a little early to make sure we got a prime spot. There were a few cars in front of us, but while we were waiting the kids were getting primed for the movie by watching some old Looney Tunes cartoons I brought for them to watch on our van's DVD player.
Around 9:30pm, we were settled in, had popcorn and snacks in hand and the movie started. We all enjoyed it and some of the cameos in the movie were pretty cool to see. My favorite was the Michael Jordan scene. Overall it was entertaining, but not as good as the original Space Jam. If you were a fan of Space Jam or LeBron James, I would highly recommend you give this movie a watch. My kids actually want to go back to the drive in this weekend to see it again, but I'm thinking we will wait for the home release before we give Space Jam: A New Legacy a rewatch. What a great day full of fun, food and Fog Horn Leg Horn! Can't wait for Space Jam 3 to drop in 2046!!!
For more Space Jam goodness, check out these other posts from the past on 20 Years Before 2000!
Because of COVID I have not been hitting up the local thrift stores as I once did, but recently I decided to make a trip to the local Goodwill store...and I am glad I did! I searched through the wall of toy grab bags and found one that had some vintage action figures in it for only $1.99! Let's check out the highlights!!!
1989 Spinhead Beetlejuice by Kenner
I have not seen a Beetlejuice action figure in years! I remember owning a few of these figures back in the late 80's, but not this one. We had Shish Kebob Beetlejuice, Harry the Haunted and Otho The Obnoxious. I vividly remember picking these up at a toy store and having to make the tough decision of Beetlejuice toys or The Simpsons action figures. Beetlejuice won out. These figures were a bit strange because they were based off the movie by Tim Burton and not the animated Beetlejuice series that was more aimed at kids. This figure actually has a fairly good Michael Keaton likeness to it and recreates BJ's look from one of the iconic "Waiting Room" scenes from the movie. You can even pop off his head to reveal the shrunken version underneath!
1986 Screaming Heroes Ray Stantz
Just like most kid in the 80's, I was obsessed with The Real Ghostbusters. I remember owning this toy as a kid and it's probably still somewhere at my Mom's house. Who could say no to any RGB toy? This Ray has a wind up feature that makes his hands raise and head spin once a trigger is pushed on his front. Ray also came with a companion ghost called Vermoan that when attached to Ray's back would make a sound that sort of resembled screaming. This toy line was filled with all kinds of gimmicks and this one was one of my favorites!
1992 McDonald's Super Looney Tunes Petunia Pig
In 1992 McDonald's released a line of Super Looney Tunes figures in their Happy Meals. There were 4 figures in all: Super Bugs (Bugs Bunny/Superman), Bat Duck (Daffy Duck/Batman), Taz Flash (Tasmanian Devil/The Flash) and the figure I recently pickup Wonder Pig (Petunia Pig/Wonder Woman). These figures featured Looney Tunes characters in normal attire, but then you could snap on their super hero outfits for some zany hijinks! The only figure I ever remember owning was Taz Flash, but honestly, I could see myself searching out the rest of the set. These are pretty cool Happy Meal Toys!
1990 Pizza Hut Batly Puppet & 101 Dalmatians Pongo Figure
These items were cool, but not really anything I collected back in the early 90's. Eureka's Castle was a show that ran on Nick Jr. from 1989-1991. These puppets are cool and remind me of the ones Pizza Hut had sold for "The Land Before Time". The Pongo figure has no date or manufacturer on it, but I assume it was made available around the time of the 1991 re-release of "101 Dalmatians".
Some pretty cool stuff in that $1.99 grab bag. I should start getting back into the swing of things and hopefully when I do, I'll be able to show off some more cool finds from the local thrift stores!
This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
CATWOMAN, TWEETY & SYLVESTER SPECIAL #1
In his relentless pursuit of Tweety, Sylvester suddenly finds himself with a new, human ally-Catwoman. Tweety then realizes that he's going to need some help too, and recruits a super-hero of his own. It isn't long before the scale of the conflict begins to get out of control and suddenly theres's a full scale war between cats and birds that threatens to take over all of Gotham.
I have a fairly big collection of loose figures from the 80s & 90s. I would like to share a few of my faves with you at this time. These are a few of the toys I re-discovered while cleaning out my basement closet this past weekend. Here we go!
The Simpsons: Bartman (Mattel, 1990)
The first series of The Simpsons action figures from Mattel did not have many characters. You had the Simpson family, Nelson and of course BARTMAN! I had a Bartman poster hanging in my room, a Bartman pin and of course a Bartman shirt. I was a huge fan of the show from the start, but I remember one holiday shopping spree where I passed on these figures in favor of some Kenner Beetlejuice figures! So, when the opportunity came for me to purchase this Simpsons artifact from the golden years of the show, it was a no brainer. I had to have him in my collection!
Space Jam: Lola Bunny (McDonalds, 1996)
Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court! So when Space Jam was released featuring my favorite player, Michael Jordan, I had to see it. When I did I was hooked! I was buying everything that had MJ or a Looney Tune characters face on it, including these McDonalds Happy Meals! Lola was first introduced in Space Jam and she was a great character. It's too bad WB hasn't really done much with her since then.
Ask almost any kid from the 90s who their favorite bad guy was from the TMNT Playmates line and you'll most likely get the answer SLASH! He was so cool, like a mix of the Turtles and their arch nemesis the Shredder. When me and my brother played, Slash was stronger than the Turtles, but not as smart. He was brainwashed by the Shredder to do his bidding and when the mighty TMNT had to face this powerful foe, they had to use more than brawn...they had to use their brains. This led to many great battles and traps set up on our bedroom floor. Man I miss those days!
Ghostbusters: Slimer (Funko, 2014)
This Slimer POP was a gift from my kids and wife. They knew I love the Ghostbusters and they knew I liked Funko POPS, so it was an easy gift to get for me. To this date Slimer is the only POP I have removed from his box. I just think the way they used the Slime as his stand was brilliant!
Wild C.A.T.S: Void (Playmates, 1995)
I was a child of the comic book boom of the 90s and yes I had a few Wild C.A.T.S comics that I thought would be worth some money in the future, but I was never really a fan of this X-Men clone of misfits. This figure is from the short lived Wild C.A.T.S cartoon program. I picked this up for about $1 in the package at a yard sale. She was just too shiny to pass up! I never really watched the cartoon, but it actually looks pretty cool. Take a look at the intro below and enjoy!
Every Labor Day weekend one of the local charities hosts a classic car show as a fund raiser. My kids get so excited for this event, even though in my mind it symbolizes the true end of the Summer season. We always have a great time, see some cool cars and enjoy delicious ice cream. This year was no different. Here are some of the cool cars we saw at the show!
This custom painted 70s Ford van sported a recreation of the artwork from the 1977 animated Ralph Bakshi film "Wizards". On the other side we had some more crazy artwork...
This side featured the artist shooting lines out of a paint sprayer at a Dragon who was holding a crystal ball! My son thought it was very cool!
This was a custom made Ford Rat-Rod. A rat rod is a hot rod that is built to look like the style from the 40s-60s. The signature look of these Rat Rods is to make them drivable, but still keep up an "unfinished" appearance. The artwork on the side of this Rat-Rod made it one of my favorites!
The one car my kids always seek out is the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner! These cars were specifically built with Warner Bros., so Plymouth could use the name, likeness and even sound of the Road Runner character on their cars! In years past the owner would let my kids honk the horn to hear the iconic "Beep, Beep" sound of the Road Runner. This year we had no such luck!
Any car with Rumble Seats or the engine in the back is a draw to my kids. They are so interested in the history of these machines and I am happy to talk to them about it. Even though the weather reached close to 100 degrees that day, it was a great show. The only issue we had was that the booth that usually sells Hot Wheels cars was only selling model kits this year! What the heck Hot Wheels guy! Maybe next year?
This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
WONDER WOMAN TASMANIAN DEVIL SPECIAL #1
Not since the twelve labors of Hercules has a Greek warrior faced as great a danger and as destructive a peril as the Tasmanian Devil! And the bonus Looney Tunes backup story features DC characters with story by Tony Bedard and art by Ben Caldwell!
(W) Antony Bedard (A) Barry Kitson, Ben Caldwell (CA) Byron Vaughns
The feature length movie Tiny Toon Adventures: How I spent My Summer Vacation was released exclusively on VHS in 1992 by Warner Bros. The film was later released as a 4-part event during the regular airings of Tiny Toon Adventures on our local FOX station (FOX 5 NY) and became a summer tradition for a few years in my house. We knew summer was here once that special aired after school.
Just last week my kids had their last day of the school year and we celebrated by popping in the "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" DVD. I hadn't seen this movie in years and I really loved watching how much my kids enjoyed it. A lot of the jokes were dated and over there heads but the overall stories of Babs & Buster on the river, Plucky & Hamton heading to Happy World Land and Fifi fawning over Johnny Pew really kept them entertained. If you asked them "What were your favorite parts of the movie?" my kids would more than likely say "EVERYTHING!", in my case here are my top 5 moments from Tiny Toons: How I Spent My Summer Vacation!
1. The opening musical montage
This is the very beginning of the film and it shows the students of Acme Looniversity counting down the seconds on the last day of school and discussing what they planned to do in the summer. This brings me back to those final days of grade school when all we did was watch movies, clean the classroom and goof off with our friends one last time before going off for vacation. The song is catchy too!
2. Superman Cameo
After falling off a waterfall while floating down a river created by Babs and Buster's reckless water fight the two bunnies are rescued by none other than Superman! He is promptly told by Buster & Babs that he is in the wrong movie and he should get his own video. This leads the man of steel to drop the bunnies back into the raging river.
I like how the depiction of Superman in this brief cameo resembles his appearance in the Max Fleischer animated Superman series from the 40s. Don't believe me, take a look at the video above and judge for yourself!
3. Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs
While Plucky and Hamton's family are on their way to the Happy World Land amusement park, Plucky tries to find a way to pass the time. He pulls out his mint condition, first printing of Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs #1! These homages to the TMNT made an appearance in another episode of Tiny Toons complete with AWESOME theme song!
I was a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the time, so I could sympathize with Plucky when Hamton threw up all over his prized comic.
4. Masked Maniac
As Plucky & Hamton went about their long road trip they encountered a ton of craziness including Uncle Stinky's sweat, rest stop bathroom clean-ups and playing the "There's A Car" game, but none was more dangerous than when the family picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be a pork loving, chainsaw wielding raving masked maniac!
5. HAPPY WORLD LAND
After overcoming all of the obstacles and family friendliness, Plucky finally made it to Happy World Land. I loved seeing the rides the park had to offer as a kid and always wondered what it would be like to ride the Happy Go-Pukey, The Gargle, Slap Happy and the Happy Centrifuge. Unfortunately for Plucky he was left wondering also. The Pig family rode the monorail and then it was time to go home and subdue Plucky to one more form of torture...a SLIDESHOW!!!
Now we end this post with a picture of Babs dressed up like Jessica Rabbit, just because!
After you are done scarfing down some turkey, avoiding your relatives and watching NFL Football... I suggest you take a load off for a few minutes and watch some clips from a few of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving specials! Videos are below! ENJOY!
Garfield's Thanksgiving
Peanuts Thanksgiving
Daffy Duck and Tom Turkey
Simpsons Thanksgiving
Free Birds
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from 20 Years Before 2000!!!
