Retro Gaming at Full Tilt!

Man, I've really been on a retro gaming kick lately. Ever since I went to the Seattle Pinball Museum and after listening to several Retroist podcasts about the the Atari 2600 and the orginal NES, I've been all about playing the silver ball or a rousing level or two of Pitfall on my Atari Flashback.

This all came to a head a couple of weekends back when my wife and I were out to dinner with a bunch of friends and we all decided to stop at this ice cream/arcade place here in Seattle called Full Tilt. I had been to this place once years ago, but we didn't stay long, but I remember making a note to come back and play some of their classic video games and pinball machines. Now, with my mind on retro gaming, everyone else happily ate ice-cream while I made a bee-line to the change machine and started plunking quarters into Ms. Pac Man.

I can't even fully express how much fun I had, gleefully feeding quarters into these classic machines. I made the rounds and played several of my old favorites; Ms. Pac Man, Black Knight pinball, Galaga, and even my wife had a blast on the Super Mario machine (which I never even knew existed, I always thought it was just a home console game).

I wanted to play Pac Man, but while we were there, this guy was busy racking up over 300,000 points and getting all the way up to the second to the last screen. I was blown away! I have never seen anyone get that far on Pac Man. All the food went away (no more cherries or pretzels) and the ghosts stopped turning blue. It was awesome.

But the most memorable part of the evening for me was stepping up to the classic Star Wars arcade cabinet, just like the one I had devoted so many hours and quarters to as a kid in a mall in Adrian, Michigan, for the first time in almost 30 years.

When I was 10 and 11 years old, this game was the be-all-end-all as far as I was concerned. They didn't have a Star Wars machine at my usual video game haunt (Rich Lanes, in Blissfield, Michigan), but whenever I took a trip to the mall in Adrian with my mom, she would load me up with quarters and knew I'd be there still playing whenever she finished shopping.

When I walked up to this machine and wrapped my hands around the controllers, it was like 30 year old muscle memory took over and my index fingers naturally coiled around the triggers and my thumbs innately rested on the proton torpedo buttons.

One of the best memories I had of this game was when it broke. Now, I know to most people that sounds like the beginning of a horrifying tale, but in this case, the game broke in the player's favor. You see, one day, I plunked my quarter in and due to some strange glitch in the system, it just kept restarting after my three lives were gone. It was amazing! I would get a little farther each time, lose my 3rd life, and then it would just start over, like I had plunked a quarter into it again.

I played that machine on Saturday afternoon for over 2 hours straight on a single quarter. It was epic.

Sadly, it wasn't the case this time, and I died rather quickly. But now I'm a grown up with a job and I can jolly well plunk as many quarters into video games as I want, which I did, and would have played until they closed if my wife and our friends hadn't pried me away from it.

On second thought, I may not be that grown up after all.

Thank god.

Tales from the 25¢ Bin - Porky y sus Amigos!

It's been a while since I did a comics post, which is odd considering the dangerously teetering stack of comics I've accumulated in the last couple of months, so I thought it was time to do so.

Today's pulpy page-turner is a bit of an oddity. It's a comic that I found in my usual trusty local 25¢ bin, and while most people would have passed this gem up, I just couldn't resist a comic called Porky y sus Amigos.

Many of you may know that I'm a sucker for comics in another language, and when I spotted this comic written completely in Spanish, I snatched it up quicker than a fat kid under a busted piñata full of cupcakes.

This particular comic appears to have been printed in Mexico and is along the lines of those classic Gold Key comics that you'd see sold in three packs in highway rest stops back in the day.

The stories, although I can't read them are the typical fare; Porky hanging out in the desert with his clone, Daffy Duck in a Sherlock Holmes hat riding around in a wheeled easy chair. You know, the usual.

There's one story where Porky is a lifeguard, and it was weird seeing these classic Looney Tunes characters interacting with humans. That seemed off to me. Could the writers have made the humans other animals? Maybe they could all be pigs that also live in Porky's Pig City or whatever.

The final story teams Yosemite Sam and Daffy hanging out with a lion and stealing a pirate ship. Oooooookay.

The best thing about these comics are not the stories, but the ads. I love comic book ads and seeing them in another language was a real treat.

Here we have Bugs Bunny hocking Kool-Aid.

Here we have one for Tootsie Pops... excuse me, Tutsi Pops... 

And no comic book would be complete without a Charles Atlas ad. It's nice to know that even Mexican kids got the chance to experience the awesome body building technique of dynamic tension.

But the best ad of them all appears on the back cover. It's an ad for some very stylish shoes (DEM SOLES) that declare to the entire world that they are at the forefront of the punk rock movement. This comic was printed in 1982, long after the first wave of punk had died out, but maybe it was still going strong in Mexico. And apparently in Mexico, to be punk is to wear sensible footwear.

That's it for this installment. I did find another Mexican comic along the same lines, but I'll save it for another post.


Until next time kiddies, necesito comida para mis gatos. (That's all I know in Spanish.)

Lite Brite Brutes - General Mills Cereal Monsters!

Johnny Lightning Munster's Koach!

Yeah, my TV and movies vehicle craze isn't over yet and it'll probably be going on for a while. I've been a life-long fanboy collector and know a geek-out bug when it bites me. And right now, I am absolutely bonkers for pop culture vehicles.

Which brings me to today's 1:64 scale TV vehicle; The Munster's Koach, from Johnny Lightning!

I gotta give a shoutout to my man and fellow Horde member, Jboy (of Cosmic Ark fame) for sending me this way back in December, and I apologize for just now getting around to writing about it. 

Suffice it to say that the Munster's Koach (or sometimes referred to as the Kreepy Koach) has always been in my top 10 favorite TV & movie vehicles and was one of the very first cars that I made from my VROOOM! series, and you can see HERE.

I have to say that Johnny Lightning really knows how to knock it out of the park with their toy car designs. The sheer amount of detail in this piece is stunning. I mean, look at the little horn on the side, they even painted the honk-honk bulb part. And DAT PINSTRIPING on the fenders!

I know that I probably shouldn't have opened it, but it just had to be set free and added to the collection. In fact, it's probably the most detailed and accurate representation in my entire collection.

Another nice touch with these Johnny Lighting cars is that they often came with a trading card, which I'll be adding to my binder full of other movie cards. It's two collectibles in one!

So, thanks again, Jboy. You are a gentleman and a scholar. And one hell of a toy sharer. :)

League of Extraordinary Bloggers Weekly Theme: Sweet Ride!

This week's topic: Besides the Batmobile, what is the sweetest ride cruising the streets of pop culture?

Between my pop culture vehicle themed art and recent blog posts, it's no secret that I looooove vehicles from movies and TV. In fact, the very first League post that I wrote was dedicated to my 5 top favorite vehicles from pop culture. But now Brain (our fearless League leader) has forced me to pick just one, and to make it even more difficult, we can't pick any incarnation of the Batmobile.

And for the record, I would have gone with the 1966 version. Just sayin'.

Anyway, my second favorite pop culture ride was a no-brainer for me. All I had to do was turn my head slightly to the left and look at my Dukes of Hazzard shelves and the multitude of General Lee toys and other Dukes collectibles with that classic orange '69 Dodge Charger and the answer was pretty clear.

Now don't get me wrong. I love the Ecto-1 and the Back to the Future Delorean, but for sheer 4-wheeled sexiness, it doesn't get any more sweet than the General Lee.

I don't exactly know what it is about this car that I love. Ever since this show grabbed hold of me when I was in a kid, I have reserved a place in my heart for this car. It's kind of weird, since I usually have an aversion to anything Southern. But this show gave me an idealized, more innocent version of the South, I guess. Normally I cringe at the sight of the rebel flag, but for some reason, I'm okay with it when it's on the top of the General Lee. I think that after having lived in the South for 17 years, and hating just about every minute of it, my love for the show strengthened as I wished that this was how the South really was.

But this post is just about the car. This was the first TV show that I remember thinking of the vehicle belonging to the main characters as a character unto itself. The General Lee had personality. It practically had a voice, like R2D2, but instead of talking in electronic beeps and whistles, it spoke in the screech of its tires, the rev of its engine and the horn that bellowed out Dixie as it flew through the air.

I guess that's why I can't stop buying toy versions of it. I've even taken to collecting knock offs of the General Lee. Once the show became a big hit, every toy company from Hot Wheels, to Matchbox, to Buddy L, to Tootsie Toy were cranking out cars that were orange with a Confederate flag on top (even if the numbers on the door were 07 or 10). Not to many other famous cars from a TV show can claim so many imitators.

So, that's my pick. The General Lee. The finest car to ever grace the small screen (and the big screen too, if you count that horrible movie).

Thanks for reading. Y'all come back now, y'hear? (Insert guitar/banjo outro music here.)

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Vintage Star Wars Thursday!

Lite Brite brutes - Gilligan's Island

The World's Smallest Han & Chewie!

Another find at my recent local toy show visit were these two teeny-tiny, itty-bitty Han Solo and Chewbacca figures.

Look how tiny! I found them in a little bin full of all kinds of stuff like Army men and plastic dinosaurs. i have no idea what they're from. Granted, I haven't really done much research.

I do know that I would be all about collecting miniature action figures like these, though.

Look, their little legs bend so they can sit down...

And their little arms move so they can give Wookie hugs...

Anyway, just wanted to show those off. They now sit on my desk watching over me while I work...

... with their teensy-weensy little eyes.

State of the Horde Address - May, 2012

HAIL FELLOW HORDYTES!

It is I, Reis, the Lord of Dorkness, bringing you the very first State of the Horde Address, which I plan on making a monthly installment to be posted on the first of every month going forward.

This will give me a chance to talk about past Dork Horde moments of note and upcoming Horde business. Also, this will act as a monthly reminder to fellow geek bloggers out there that they are invited to apply for membership, thus making our ranks grow.

Now, on to business...

Since the Dork Horde was formed, our membership has grown to 12 official members! All of whom are stellar ambassadors of geek culture (the primary goal of the Dork Horde) and hereby known as the Founding Members of the Horde. Thanks to Jon K, Colin, Brian, Dan, Jboy, Ron , Tom, John, Kevin, Eric and Mike for joining up and helping me build our little internet tree-fort!

You can see the complete list of members, as well as get links to their blogs, HERE.

Next, I'd like to discuss future plans for the Horde. Now that we've all formed a club, what will we do with it? What are the privileges? Well, I have a few ideas, but I'd like to hear some from all of the Hordytes. What would you like to do?

So far, I've got a few ideas for fun things we could do, which would only be open to official members of the Dork Horde. Here they are:

• Monthly themed group missions (like, take a picture of a Lego minifigure in a weird place outside of your home, or something like that).
• An original art trading card trade or some other sort of art jam.
• A Secret Santa Christmas gift exchange.
• Having Dork Horde t-shirts made.
• Mailing out official black masks and membership cards.
• Come up with a motto (and maybe a secret handshake).
• A Dork Horde meet up (I know that one will be tricky and is probably years down the road).
• Starting a Facebook group page (open only to official Horde members) to privately discuss Horde Business.

Those are just a few ideas I'm kicking around. But I'd love to hear from fellow members any ideas that they have!

So, that's about it. The Dorke Horde is growing! But, of course, I'd love to see it get bigger, so if any of you non-Hordytes want to join up, just click the Become a Member link on the right-hand side of the blog and follow the directions. All you need is a blog or website dedicated to geeky stuff (toys, comics, games, etc.) in some way and act as an ambassador of geek culture to the rest of the world. It also helps if you have a black mask.

Onward to greater things, Hordytes! (Insert official motto here when we eventually come up with one.)