Childhood memories: 1980’s toys

I come from a single-parent household in New York and had no siblings, so my mom and grandparents would spoil me with toys even though I never demanded them. Here’s a quick list of some 1980’s toy lines I was obsessed with:

The Main

• WWF LJN Wrestling figures- In terms of sheer fun, the oversized rubber wrestling figures takes the cake. Granted the paint would scratch off pretty quickly, but I must have had thousands of wrestling matches.
• Masters of the Universe- Had every action figure, vehicle, and castle. I loved the cartoon and the mini-comics
• G.I. Joe- Near complete collection…I started in 1984 and backtracked to 1981 at flea markets. It was great streak that lasted until around 1989. The most pose-able figures I ever had, with tons of accessories. 100% fueled by comics and cartoon.
• Super Powers- DC made many more figures than Marvel, and I had problems getting some rare figures, but I managed quite a few. Darkseid was one of my favorites. The quality kicked Marvel’s butt. But the good news is that they were virtually the same size as Secret Wars, so I did my own “Crisis”, even before 1985.
• Secret Wars- Had the entire set of Marvel heroes and villains.
• M.U.S.C.L.E.: Mini fictional alien wrestlers…gotta admit these were the only toys I still played as a mid-teenager, and I didn’t throw them out because it took me so long to track down the little guys. In the end, they outlasted every other toy listed on this page. I gave them to my nephew Jericho, but I don’t think he plays with them. Different era, I guess.

• Transformers- At the time I believe these to be the highest quality toy. Never had the whole set…pretty expensive, but I had a lot.

Second Tier

• AWA Wrestling figures- If only they were the same size as LJN’s WWF figures….grrrrr…anyway, I still had smaller scale battles with Ric Flair, The Road Warriors, Rick Martel, Abdullah the Butcher, and others.
• Thundercats- Too big to play with my other toys, they were high quality. Thundercats was a fantastic cartoon.
• Go-Bots- El cheapo Transformers.
• Zoids- Awesome dinobots that moved with batteries.
• Army guys: Heck, before G.I. Joe I loved those green little army men. Cowboys and Indians, too.
• Dinosaurs: Give me a big generic rubber dinosaur made in China and I will give it army men for lunch.
• Star Wars: Truthfully I came aboard a little late, but thought the quality was awesome, including the obscure characters.
• Matchbox cars: Cars were cool..especially playing in the dirt and mud.

Just a few

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Got a few as a gift…never really saw what the fuss was.
• Arak- Conan rip. They were made the same size as He-Man, which was great for me.
• Voltron- High quality robots, but seemed too expensive for me to pester. The cartoon kept me hooked.

Posted in cartoons, entertainment, psychology | No Comments »

Star Wars Movie : Clone Wars

Hey, Star Wars geeks- it’s official:

Mark August 5, 2008 on your calendar.

George Lucas, who had previously said he wants to focus on historical documentaries (his dream), will begrudgingly produce the next animated Star Wars film, called The Clone Wars.

This will lead into a Cartoon Network animated series.

For all of you continuity freaks out there:

Say hello to Ahsoka, Anakin’s padawan… have fun trying to fit into your world view.

Posted in cartoons, entertainment | 3 Comments »

Countdown to Final Crisis, Part 0

Countdown to Final Crisis, Part 0: ORIGINS
by Damian Hospital

DC Comics has announced that May 2008 will feature “Final Crisis”, which will wrap up DC’s continuity changing storyline that have been happening for the last 5 years, although it many ways, it has always happened since the first DC comic ever published. I’d though I’d write a series of posts describing the events that lead up to “Final Crisis”.

There are countless (infinite? heh) websites and blogs that outline the fictional and real publication history of the DC Universe, so I will try and make my take on CRISIS different: to explain it to a layperson or casual reader, as opposed to a so-called “expert”.

For those of you who have no idea what DC Universe or CRISIS is, allow me to briefly explain:

Casual readers or non-comic book readers may wonder how it is possible for Bruce Wayne (Batman) to still be a crime fighter since the 1940’s, or if Superman remembers his encounters with FDR, JFK, Reagan, or Bush (both of them).

Or perhaps you don’t care, just like you don’t care about the aging of comic strip characters like Beetle Bailey or Blondie, or animated characters like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny.

But comic book fans? Comic book fans are of a different breed, and have always demanded continuity and consistency(yet never received full satisfaction).

The truth is original comic book were solely for kids, but the older kids had a science fiction and pulp background, which promoted a tendency to question everything, and for all inconsistencies to be explained in print.

The sad fact is many writers (to this day) simply wanted to meet deadlines and make end’s meat, and didn’t have the time, desire, or even awareness to make sure every issue was free from past inconsistencies. Editors doubled as writers or marketers, so as long as an individual comic was free from glaring errors, it passed Quality Control, sort to speak.

The first true continuity controversy occurred when fans wrote into DC comics after Superboy appeared. Originally Superman was adopted as a baby, was the sole survivor of Krypton, and assumed his costumed career as an adult. However, DC wanted to capitalize on youthful super-heroes (which were side-kicks) by actually showing Superman’s “unrevealed adventures”…as a boy.

Two problems:

1) The additions of Smallville, Ma and Pa Kent, Lana Lang, Krypto, Supergirl etc. were all NEW additions to his Superman’s history, and began to be incorporated into his main book, even though he had said and done things which contradicted this. This is called retroactive continuity (RETCON). Although it was not called that, and although retcons have existed since the Bible (for thousand of years, the serpent in the Garden of Eden was…just a serpent. Hundreds of years after Jesus’s death, he became… Satan), members of the comic book community coined that term, after identifying it as a legitimate phenomena.

2) Superboy’s adventures occurred during the present day (1940’s), when it SHOULD have been around 1925. But the writers wanted a contemporary feel, not isolate the audience they were targeting. So Superboy made topical references and had technology of 1940’s, not 1925.

Later on, DC brought back heroes that they had stop published during World War II, which were original versions of The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and others. But they had already made new versions of these characters in the 1950’s and 1960’s. So DC compromised by having the original characters meet the updated ones, but by “revealing” the existence of parallel earths. In effect, the 1940’s heroes had (all along) lived on a different earth than the modern counterparts.

What about Superman, Wonder Woman, or Batman, who had continued to be published all through those decades? Well, they had different versions, too, and those Superboy stories were later revised as well- to a different earth.

Confused yet?

I hope not, because it gets more fun!

Fans enjoyed this multiple earth set up, which was called the multiverse. It appeased older fans who appreciated the older history, the newer fans, and nitpicking fans. Of course, it eventually became a great marketing gimmick- to have superheros from multiple earths team up to face super-villain masterminds who joined forces. Can’t get any better than that, for a fan!

For over 20 years, there were many Crisis on Multiple Earths stories, and most of the earths were identified by numbers or letters. In fact, there were not a whole lot of complaints in the letter pages, just questions to clarify which earth an adventure took place in.

However, in 1984 the editors and writers began to see that they were still glaring errors, editors had to become continuity police, writers had to do research on each earth, and the duplicity of it all made heroes seem irrelevant and not unique (there were an infinite number of Batmen- so why is the Batman of “Earth-1″ so special? Answer: he’s not.)

So to celebrate DC’s 50th Anniversary in 1985, they promised to change everything. This was the first attempt for DC to blatantly revise the rules and history of the universe during an in-story drama. [To date, Marvel Comics (publisher of Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-men) have never done this, and instead pick and choose which stories remain in cannon, and generally use a 5 or 10 year time-line for their entire history.]

To be technical, any DC comic published before 1986 is “pre-Crisis”, and is divided into 3 ages: Golden, Silver, and Bronze. DC’s sales began to slide in the 70’s and 80’s, as Marvel Comics (generally) ruled. To bring life into the sagging comic book titles, DC had Marv Wolfman and George Perez team up (they were very $$$uccessful with The New Teen Titans) to create CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, which according to issue one started in July, 1985.

My next Countdown to Final Crisis post will focus on that.

Pre-Crisis Trivia:

• The Golden Age Bat-Man who made his debut in Detective Comics in 1939, was killed off in the late 1970’s, with no fanfare or media attention. He had married Catwoman, and had a daughter named the Huntress.

• The Golden Age Superman, who made his debut in Action Comics#1 and is regarded as the first super-powered hero, was actually weaker than the Silver Age version. There is no fine division in publishing history (no issue saying “And now, here’s a new Superman!”) separating when the focus of Superman comics switched from Golden Age to Silver Age, although major revisions to his origin help us determine a date. However, keep in mind, the official naming of Earth-1 and Earth-2 occurred in 1961 , so any reference to a “Earth-2″ Superman story after then is a retcon.

• Modern writer, editor, and fanboy Mark Waid was able to list every earth (even some that were never named) in 1986, but there is no indication that the early writers and editors had any idea of the details and histories of the different earths- especially freelance writers.

• Anytime DC bought a new property (like Captain Marvel “Shazam!”), it was usually put on its own earth (like Earth-S!).

• Over time, Roy Thomas and other authors, writers, and editors (who were fanboys themselves) went out of their way to explain every published appearance by using the multiverse to explain them. In other words, for example, if Superman met Bugs Bunny, it had to be explained in a letter column or even as a note inside the comic as “actually happening” on Earth-WB. In effect, any published comic became “cannon” on its own earth, separate from “Earth-1″ where all the popular and young heroes (in their primes) had adventures in.

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT: Part 1.

Posted in cartoons, comics, entertainment, misunderstood, rules, tribute | 11 Comments »

Transformers vs He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Who’s Better?

The child in me is happy that Transformers has officially surpassed He-Man in popularity. I loved both, but my preference was Transformers. And, not only did it surpass it, but it did so in a manner that was respectful of the show’s history. What more can I ask for?- VanZee, DailySkew poster

I’m not going to agree or disagree with you, VanZee. But your comment did inspire me to run a comparison between the two properties (Masters of the Universe vs Transformers):

Toy Line:

Transformers were originally designed and produced by Takara and Hasbro, initially reusing previously-released toys from the Japanese toylines Diaclone and Microman. Jim Shooter and Denny O’Neil helped with storylines in the U.S. The original toyline was one of the highest quality action figures of all-time. Perhaps notable is that the U.S. let this Japanese “weird” toyline invade without a fight. (It should be noted that the first Japanese U.S. robot invasion was Shogun Warriors in the 1970’s.)

Masters of the Universe was originally supposed to be a Conan the Barbarian line, but according to currently outcast creator Roger Sweet, things changed. The Masters of the Universe toyline itself made Mattel billions of dollars, and is still regarded as the highest peak for any boy’s toyline to this day.

Edge: TRANSFORMERS. Transformer figures were more original, more sturdy, and awe-inspiring. As a child, I used my imagination more with Masters of the Universe figures, and enjoyed them much more and were more fun for me, but objectively speaking, the Transformers were a better toy for most other kids. That’s why I give the edge to the robots, but in my book, human figures lead to more storylines and emotions as I created storylines for them as a kid.

Later Toy-Lines:

Transformers had so many later toy-lines it is a JOKE, although the current stuff you see in Target or Toys R Us looks alright.

After He-Man’s peak, they were failed attempts to reboot the franchise. Only the last revival was any good, but it was aimed to the collector’s market only. The current toys are pretty much high quality statues, and you won’t see them at major distributors.

EDGE: Because Transformers can still be found ANYWHERE, it goes to TRANSFORMERS.

Original Cartoon Run:

Transformers was strong from 1984 to 1986, peaking at the Death of Optimus movie (although it was a box-office bomb). There can be no doubt that Transformers was just as talked about in school as the other major cartoons of that era. Some say the Transformers “jumped the shark” after the movie, as storylines got very hard to follow for the average kid, separating the die hard obsessed fans from the casual fans.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was the first cartoon to be massed-produced straight to syndication, therefore had hundreds of episodes made during its 2-year run, which did not falter from its peak. Mattel made the mistake of canceling He-Man and going with She-Ra for Filmation’s third season.

In comparing cartoons, one must consider that He-Man was a magnet for censorship. I find this extremely humorous. When viewing the episodes, the messages from the writers are 100% clear- that violence and evil is WRONG. He-Man never hit a living thing with his sword. Unfortunately, the censorship kept He-Man as a kiddie cartoon, like the Carebears or Smurfs. The Transformers- being machines- did not have to worry about that as much. G.I. Joe had to worry about it, too, as no one ever got shot.

Ultimately, watching the episodes today, the Filmation team hired some of the top sci-fi writers, and as long as one keeps in mind that the show was geared towards kids, and wanted to give positive moral messages, (these are handcuffs) the edge is HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.

Cartoon Spin-Offs:

The sheer amount of crap that was produced after Transformers Generation 1 is not worth the space to write about.

Attempts to relaunch He-Man were commercial failures, but at least were watchable. The caveat remains the same- whereas Transformers had the luxury of tackling grim storylines, Mattel refused He-Man to engage in any seriously threatening or dark storylines.

Edge: HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Comics:

Transformers by Marvel was- at one time- the most anticipated title on the comic book stands (for me, and my classmates). They had a great gimmick- they promoted it as “4-Issue Limited Series”, with Issue 4 resulting in the death of all of the Autobots. Issue 5, with Shockwave featured on the cover, was THE MOST TALKED ABOUT COMIC AT THAT TIME in my age group. The writing was much more mature and top-notch compared to the cartoon, which is probably why I never formed an attachment to the cartoon. Most current fans just collected the toys and watched the cartoon, so I am different, as I was obsessed with the comics more than the actual toys and cartoon. I won’t discuss the U.K. or spin-offs comics, simply because it’s too detailed. Suffice to say, the Marvel series did take some liberties pretty early which frustrated me as a reader- Megatron was ousted by Shockwave right away, and never made the triumphant return that I wanted. Megatron was phased out. And so was Optimus. Optimus was in his prime in the limited series, and that was it most of the time in Marvel. (I had stopped collecting when the toyline got ridiculous, and the focus was on Cybertron and the future). So, although the series was enjoyable, and I looked forward to every new issue, I was anticipating for Megatron and Optimus to be their respective leaders, and it just never happened…something that should have been there all the time. Finally, to me, the original Marvel series is the cannon for Transformers, not the cartoons.

He-Man’s best comic run actually occurred as mini-comics which were packed with each action figure. Some of the best comic book writers wrote them, and they were not censored, or originally influenced by the cartoons (at first). These old comics are the true original history as conceived by the action figure creators. The storylines are dark and mature. There is no Prince Adam, Orko, or Cringer- all Filmation cartoon creations. Most of these are online to read now. The Marvel Series has the Star label, once again assuring that the writing and fanbase were for ALF, and Strawberry Shortcake readers. DC’s original Masters of the Universe 3-issue limited series predated the cartoon, and mixes Conan with magic- and Skeletor acknowledges the pre-Crisis multi-verse!! Also, this is the first appearance of He-Man having a dual identity, but as Adam he was a womanizer, not a…anti-love guy who wore a pink vest and purple tights.

Edge: TRANSFORMERS. With G.I.Joe, Marvel’s original Transformers comic book was HOT, exceeded expectations, and was able to be much more mature. After all, it was 1980’s comic books, were storylines were supposed to have angst and gritty.

Modern-Day Comic Books:

Transformers was rebooted so many times, it’s hard to follow. All I do know is that the artwork and computer generated ink is HIGH QUALITY stuff.

Master of the Universe’s reboot was based on the new cartoon, and the writers and artists were huge fans. The storylines were able to be more dark and mature, even sensationalizing the villains.

EDGE: DRAW. Both comics were published by small-time independent presses, not Marvel or DC, which shows you that DC and Marvel didn’t think it would be worth buying the licenses again in this current market. Both comic runs are for the die-hard fans, now in their 30’s.

Cartoon Movie:

The Transformers’ cartoon movie left kid’s with their mouths open. I know I cried when Optimus Prime died. Anyone who says they didn’t is a liar. They changed so much in this movie (Megatron becomes Galvatron, Unicron, new Autobot leadership, Starscream getting what was coming to him, etc.) that the series truly peaked for me, and should have ended there. The marketing campaign or distribution method must have SUCKED for this movie to have bombed.

He-Man’s cartoon movie was interesting and enjoyable, but was no where near the quality or darkness of the Transformers’ movie.

EDGE: TRANSFORMERS

Live-Action Movie:

Transformers
Rotten Tomatoes: 57% critics; 80% Users
$319,014,499 gross
DVD rentals so far: $45,560,000

Masters of the Universe
Rotten Tomatoes: 22% Critics; 35% Users
$17,336,370 gross, plus a combined $1.5 million in Germany and Australia
This movie came out AFTER the cartoon was cancelled, and He-Man was no longer the top selling toy. I rewatched it again recently, and liked Frank Langella’s Skeletor performance, and it was not as bad as when I saw it as a kid.

EDGE: TRANSFORMERS

Some final conclusions: Count up the Edges.

He-Man has always been handcuffed by Mattel and Filmation, and even when other companies bought rights, it was always been targeted towards kids, no different than Rainbow Brite, Barbie, or Cabbage Patch Kids. Until the day comes where He-Man can be put back to its Conan-like roots, like a 300 movie-treatment, it can never have the “relevance” or respect of people like VanZee, who likes robots.

Transformers has always benefited from being robots, which are timeless and universal. He-Man just seems dated in 2008.

Posted in MEDIA, Review, books, business, cartoons, comics, entertainment, tribute | 5 Comments »

Continuity errors in the world of children’s television

Respect Continuity!

A DailySkew Interview with Angel Jimenez

DailySkew had an instant message conversation with Dailskew contributor and poster Angel Jimenez.

DS: “Angel, can you do an editorial about continuity? That’s a touchy subject among most of the geeks that read our site.”

AJ: “I’m sick of continuity errors. I feel like Pariah sometimes – no matter where I turn, some anti-matter cloud is wiping out what I knew as a child, and I’m forced to live in a new reality where, I don’t know, Haydn Christianson appears in Return of the Jedi, or Ewoks play love jazz at the end of that movie.”
DS: “Wow…did anything happen recently to cause this rant?”

AJ: “Let me just relate two continuity errors I picked up on this week, just to give you a sample of the hell that is my life.”

DS: “Go right ahead.”

AJ: “ONE- I’m watching Barney with my four year old, and he has a new voice! Barney sounded like someone doing a bad imitation of the original Barney voice!

I was outraged.

Of course, I pointed this out to my son. He didn’t believe me.

“This is a new timeline, son,” I told him.”
DS: “Wow!”

AJ: “TWO- I’m watching House of Mouse with my two year old. It was the DVD where the Disney Villains take over during the Halloween episode, led by Jafar.

As dizzying a concept it was to watch Ursula breaking bread with Hook, I let go my usual notions of continuity — after all, this was a variety show. It was as if these were the actors who had played the roles in the movie, even though they were referred to as the real characters … anyway, I let it go.

Then, it happened. I could no longer swallow what I was watching.

Sitting at one of the tables was the baby Simba and his girlfriend! WTF?!?

You mean to tell me that this episode of House of Mouse happens during the film Lion King? How is such a thing possible? How did this not affect the actions of Simba throughout the rest of the movie?

I mean, if Simba sees Mickey defeat all the villains, how could he have lost faith in his ability to defeat Scar?

Then again, maybe Simba was depressed because he didn’t have the Sorcerer’s hat.

DS: “Now..wait a minute, can’t you give a No-Pri-”

AJ: “-I don’t know, man. The Pariah in me couldn’t take it. I shut it off, to spare my daughter the mind-altering effects of witnessing a continuity error. She cried, but it was for the best.

Posted in betrayed, cartoons, comics, mock, parody | 1 Comment »