League of Extraordinary Bloggers Weekly Theme: Jumping the Shark

This week's topic: At what point did a pop culture series “jump the shark” and lose your interest.

Boy howdy, have I missed getting in on some hot League action during my Halloween break. But I'm back and ready to get down to some serious blogging.

This week's topic dredged up all kinds of little, jagged-edged slivers of disappointment from over the years, from Mork & Mindy having an old Jonathon Winters for a baby to Laverne & Shirley moving to California.

But no TV disappointment (and I know that this didn't have to be specifically about TV, but let's face it, TV comes with a lot of disappointments) could possibly compare to one of my all-time favorite TV shows replacing their two main characters with two cut-rate knock-off wannabe scabs.

That's right, I'm calling you out, Coy & Vance!

It's been no secret that I've been a die-hard Dukes of Hazzard fan since the premier episode hit when I was in 2nd grade. I fell instantly in love with Daisy, replaced the 1966 Batmobile in my heart for the number one coolest car on the planet with the General Lee and warmly embrace two down-home cousins, Bo and Luke, as my new paragons of heroism, perhaps second only to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

And for 4 seasons, I religiously watched the adventures of the Duke boys unleash every Friday night, and there was much rejoicing.

And it was during the summer of '82 that I first heard the grumblings that something nefarious was afoot in Hazzard county. It was my older brother that broke the news to me about the looming replacement of Bo and Luke on my favorite TV show. Of course, not wanting to believe such a travesty could occur in a just world looked over my a loving God, I doubted him. But soon I would see a picture of these sad wannabe doppelgangers in an issue of TV Guide and know that my favorite show ever would be forever changed.

To be fair, I gave the show a chance for two or three episodes before finally walking away in disgust. It just wasn't the same, and Hollywood had handed me a stale Saltine cracker when I had had Chicken-in-a-Biscuits with melted cheese on top for the past 4 years.

Even when Bo & Luke came back, the damage had been done. My taste for the Dukes of Hazzard had soured and I had moved on.

So, thanks a lot, Hollywood. Now I have to go watch Facts of Life. Oh wait, they aren't in an all-girls school anymore. Now they're all fat and own a gift shop. Crap.

From other league members:

Shezcrafti is not impressed with aliens.
Dan & Pauline want to believe, but can't.
Iok is done with Paranormal In-activity.

Please see the complete list of posts from the Extraordinary League of Bloggers and show their blogs some love. Thanks!

Top Five Friday! My Top Five Favorite General Lee Knock-Offs and Wannabe Toys

I've loved the Dukes of Hazzard ever since the very first episode premiered when I was in 1st grade. As a kid, I would manage to amass quite a respectable collection of Dukes toys and whatnot (backpacks, lunch boxes, etc.) but one of the toys that sticks out in my memory the most from back then is a toy that I never actually even owned. It was a toy General Lee knock-off that my cousin had. I distinctly recall playing "cars" out in my backyard when they were visiting (we had a small "garden" that was basically a patch of dirt that my folks let me make roads and ramps and stuff for my bigger plastic cars to drive around on), when he busted out his cherished General Lee toy car from his backpack.

First off, I was hella annoyed because we already had a General Lee, my beloved Mego version, complete with Bo and Luke action figures sitting inside. But my cousin was determined to drive his General Lee around, too, and I eventually gave in. It took me about 3.8 seconds to note that his General Lee didn't look quite right. For one thing, it was some sort of stumpy hatchback, and for another, the number on the side was 10, not 01.

I pointed this out to him but he wasn't buying it. I tried to compare my car to his, showing him the differences, but he wasn't phased. That's when it hit me; I wanted his toy car. I don't know what it was that fascinated me so deeply about this not-quite-General-Lee. All I know is that I wanted it. But no matter what I offered up for trade (and to be fair, I didn't really offer up anything amazing), my cousin wouldn't budge. Oh well.

I would later learn that it was actually a rehashed toy Ford Pinto, molded in orange with a couple of cheap stickers slapped on by a low-end toy company from the 1970s known as Gay Toys (yes, that was their name). I've since seen it pop up on eBay a few times, but have always gotten outbid. It seems that I wasn't the only one who caught a glimpse of this elusive General Lee knock-off and is still trying to aquire it.

But even though I never got my hands on the Gay Toys version, I have collected a pretty solid selection of other General Lee knock-offs and wannabes, and I thought I'd show off my top five favorites right here. So, without further ado...


 1. The 07 Rebel

This is one, much like the aforementioned Gay Toys version, that was probably quickly produced out of existing molds, simply re-cast in orange with a few stickers added. These kinds of toys were often found is cheaper toy departments such as the ones found in drug or grocery stores or perhaps Woolworth. I love how the makers skirt right up to the line of copyright infringement yet feel that they are protected legally if they just change the number on the doors to 07 or whatever. And as long as the flag on the top doesn't actually say General Lee down the sides, they're all good. in fact, this car, like the rest on this list, isn't even a '69 Dodge Charger, but has a very Chevy Nova vibe to it.

2. The Orange Power 09

This one is actually my newest eBay score and it happens to be one that I've never seen before. The copyright info on the bottom says it's made by Fleetwood Toys and give a date of 1978, which, since the show didn't even premiere until 1979, I'm guess is an artifact from the original molding of whatever this car was meant to be in the first place. Again, no 01, but an 09 instead and the Orange Power sticker just kills me. This toy has the added feature of being a friction toy, meaning that you give it a few swipes along the carpet to get the wheels going and then set it down and watch it go.

3. Matchbox's Revin' Rebel

By the time Dukes of Hazzard was in its second season, it was a massive hit and everybody and their brother was trying to cash in on the sudden popularity of orange muscle cars with some formation of stars and bars on it. Even respectable companies like Matchbox got in on the action with their repainted Dodge Challenger. Surprisingly, this car was a little hard to find for a decent price. Those Matchbox collectors don't screw around and they keep their values of vintage cars pretty high. Luckily, I scored this one at a toy show for more than I would normally pay for a Matchbox car, but I needed it for the Dukes shelf, so what are you gonna do?

4. The Dixie Challenger

And if Matchbox wasn't immune to Dukes Fever, you know that Hot Wheels wasn't either. Hot Wheels put out their very own General Lee wannabe in the form of this Dodge Challenger (I guess they all figured that Challenger sounded enough like Charger) sporting the rebel flag on top. They, like Matchbox, opted to muster some self-respect and choose to go without a number on the doors.

5. The Midget Toy Mess

This one probably has to be the cheapest, most broke-down knock-off General lee in my collection. Midget Toy put out a ton of cheaply produced, one-color toy cars back int he day, very much along the same lines as the Tootsie Toys cars you would find in cheaper five and dimes. This was another eBay find and a version i had never seen before. I've managed to find one more version of this car since, and that one is still in the package labelled "The Dixie Chargers" and came with and equally cheap white Jeep and police car. The funny thing is that the one still in the package has a small, black 09 on the doors. And yes, it's hard to tell in the pic below, but this monstrosity does have wheels, they're just that tiny and crappy.

Honorable Mention: The Buddy L "Rebel"

This one would have officially made the list, but the other entries one out by at least trying to look somewhat like a Dodge Charger. But Buddy L's foray into General Lee knock-offs was made out of a mold of some sort of Z28 or whatever this is. This bad boy originally came in a set of four different orange vehicles with rebel flags on them (a couple of trucks and a van or something), so it's pretty clear that they weren't messing around when it came time for them to cash in on a hot new TV show. Anyway, sorry orange Z28, you almost made it.

So that's it for this week's list! Hope you all enjoyed it, and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for next week's list, as well as that old Roscoe waitin' to catch you speedin' by the Boar's Nest. Y'all come back now.

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.)

Please see the complete list of posts from the Extraordinary League of Bloggers and show their blogs some love. Thanks! 

Lite Brite Brutes! The Shepherd, the Lost Sheep & Bo Peep!

Them Mego Duke Boys!

Since this week sort of just became "Mego Week" here on the blog, I thought I'd end it by showing off a couple of recent eBay scores in the form of these two vintage Mego Dukes of Hazzard Bo & Luke figures.

Many of you may already know that I am a dyed-in-the-wool Dukes of Hazzard fanatic. It was always one of my favorite shows as a kid (which, thanks to the collections on DVD, I have learned still hold up) and I used to have a hoot of a time playing with my classic 3 3/4" Mego Dukes figures and their General Lee.

I never had the larger Mego figures from this series, but have been keeping my eye out for an affordable set on eBay for a while now. Long story short; I eventually got the Duke Boys and they're now displayed front and center of my Dukes shelf.

The Luke figure that I got is in pretty good shape, minus a little paint loss in the hair. And it's a pretty decent likeness of Tom Wompat. His clothes are in excellent shape, so I'm calling this one a score!

Bo, on the other hand, looks like he's been living in the back of Cooter's garage and sleeping on the floor, in a puddle of old oil. The figure itself is dirty as can be, and the soft-rubbery head is starting to get all "Zombie head" on us, which is a common issue with many Megos made in the last year or two of the company's existence, due to their using a cheaper plastic that turns gray with age. And although his clothes look like they are in good shape, when he first arrived, he smelled like he'd been stored in a musty basement, next to some old meat, in the Summer. Also, you can't see it in the top pic, but he's got a bum left knee, as it wobbles about when I pick him up and I can feel the wrappings of ancient cellophane tape just barely holding it on.

And let's be honest, that face doesn't look a thing like John Schneider.

Still, I don't think it would be all that hard to clean his clothes with a little Woolite, give his body a good scrub and maybe even replace the pin in his knee (or give him a new leg altogether), and I'll probably get around to it one day. In the meantime, these two boys only need to concern themselves with looking awesome on my shelf, and making sure Roscoe don't catch 'em.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for reading, and y'all come back now, y'hear?

Not Quite Dukes of Hazzard Toys...

So, no, today's spotlight collectibles are not technically "toys" but they are a major part of my collection, brought me the same amount of joy as a chaild and nicely wrap up "Dukes of Hazzard" week here on the blog.

I'm talking about my vintage Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox, thermos and digital watch!

I scored this lunchbox and thermos as a set at the last Emerald City Comic Con. The guy wanted $50, I talked him down to $40 and to be honest, he was probably thrilled to have found the one Dukes fan in the entire convention, at least according to the look of relief on his face. 

It's in almost pristine condition, having fared far better than the very same one that accompanied me on my many adventures throughout the 3rd grade. In fact, in the world of grade school lunch rooms, the lunchbox you carried said a lot about you and often weighed heavily on how popular you were. Needless to say, my Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox spoke volumes about my character, thus declaring to my fellow students that I possessed a strong appreciation for fast cars, a certain disregard for the law and women in very short shorts.

One of may favorite aspects about this lunchbox, and most lunchboxes of this era, is the series of exciting action shots on all sides. Above we see the General Lee defying gravity once again over a pair of crumpled Hazzrd County Deputy's patrol cars. Actually, the patrol cars above are labeled "POLICE", but we all know that Hazzard County was "protected" by an elected Sheriff and his deputies, never mentioning if the main town had their own city police force, which I assume they didn't.

Here we see the General Lee's famous ability to come flying down from the sky and causing be-striped muscle cars to flip over in a ball of flames. Wait... what? I see that this artist was the type of fellow to just run with things.

My favorite shot is the brilliant panel above showing Cooter and Boss Hogg running away from a side-wheely-ing General Lee. Maybe they're afraid that they'll burst into flames like the muscle car. Actually, Cooter doesn't look all that concerned.

And finally, rounding out the collection is this priceless little gem. I received a watch identical to this one for Christmas of 1981, which, if memory serves, wasn't very water resistant, proven so when I jumped into the local community pool the following Summer with it still on. Still, despite it not working, I wore the waterlogged blank-faced watch on my wrist for pretty much the rest of the Summer until my Mom finally made me take it off.

So, that ends Dukes of Hazzard week! Ya'll come back now, y'hear?

Random Toy Pic #25

"The Dixie Chargers" from Midgetoy. One of the more blatant Dukes of Hazzard knock-offs from the early '80s. The "General Lee" car has the number 89 on the side, you know, so folks didn't get confused.

Video Blog #20