The Maxx Action Figure

I believe that this is a series 3 figure from the early days of McFarlane Toys.  This was in the days before McFarlane started making figures of sports stars and video games.  In the early days, McFarlane toys made a lot of(if not entirely), Image Comics characters, mostly from Spawn(McFarlane’s creation).  I bought him around 1999-2000, from a small comic book store in the Bronx(when I lived down there).  The store owner wanted $40 for it, mint-in-box.  I chatted with him as he rang me up, and he thought that I was crazy to buy it and open it.  Sam Kieth is my favorite artist of all time, and buying his creation in plastic form was a no-brainer.

His accessories were the headdress that he wears in “The Outback”, and an Isz.  The most common is the white one(which is the one I got, but did not photograph…oops!).  There were also black ones, and an exclusive that had 2 white and 2 black.  There was also a “Bag of Iszs”(which I believe were a McFarlane club exclusive), the bag contained a bunch of white, black and red iszs(I would love to locate a bag of these guys).

Anyway, this is yet another of my favorite figures(top 5).

I Used to Really Like Basketball

Hockey has always been my favorite sport since I was about 10 years old.  But at the same time I really liked basketball almost as much.  These days, I usually only watch hockey and football.  But in the early nineties, everyone was watching basketball.  If today, you were to ask me who my favorite NBA team was(even though I don’t actively follow basketball), I would tell you the New York Knicks(hey, I’m a native New Yorker).  If you were to ask me that same question back in 1990, my answer would be the Chicago Bulls.  This was when the Bulls were at the beginning of their dynasty.  Everyone was a Bulls fan at this time.  Scottie Pippen was my favorite player at the time, but there was no denying that Michael Jordan was the best player in the game.  He made watching basketball really fun.

I have been collecting trading cards(sports and non-sports), for as long as I can remember.  It all started back in elementary school with baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids(they were more or less just stickers though).  From 7th grade through high school, I heavily collected and traded hockey and basketball cards.  These days, I don’t purchase trading cards in general, anywhere near as much as I did back in the day.  I own very few basketball cards these days, and only 3 of them are Michael Jordan (basketball) cards.

Here is my favorite MJ card that I have ever owned, or seen for that matter.

This is from Upper Deck’s 92-93 series.  This design is a sentimental favorite of mine, plus, the shot of Jordan in mid-flight is phenomenal!  I do still somewhat collect cards in the present.  However, I do not buy any basketball cards.  But, if I run across any of Jordan’s cards, at a price in my range, I may just make the purchase.

Reveal the Shield – Trailcutter (Legends Class)

Of the toys I found this past weekend, this was the first one that I found.  But before we get to the pictures, I would like you to take a look at the price I found him for.

Unbelievable!!  When I spotted this, I was hoping that I would find a few more!  This was the only real Transformer among the knockoffs that the store had.

Trailcutter(his name was Trailbreaker back in the day) is a “Legends Class” figure.  This means that he’s small and has a simple transformation, as well as limited articulation.

The vehicle mode is actually pretty good looking(and reminiscent of his G1 counterpart).   The only thing I would’ve done differently, is I would have painted the rear windows silver.  And the robot mode is just as similar to the original look.

For their size, I think they’re pretty decent toys.  I would like to find more, especially the “Deluxe Class”, but I know my chances are pretty much zero.  The only other one in this scale that I want is Starscream(I have to act quickly, before it costs me a fortune).

Everybody’s Working For the Weekend(even this guy[me])

That means that I had a nice weekend.

On Friday night I went with my wife and a bunch of friends(8, to be exact[10 people total]), to see these guys.

If you have never heard of these guys, I recommend that you give them a listen.  They are unique, but they’re not for everyone(I for one, have been listening to them since 1999).  Morningwood and Lunic were the 2 bands that opened for them.  They were decent sounding, but I can’t tell you too much about their performances, as I was at the bar(that was located within the venue), having a few beers before MSI came on.  They put on another great performance, and it was an overall great night…except for one thing.  While on our way through the parking lot, one of the bouncer’s(he was a douchebag), had some choice words to some people in my group(my wife included).  I had some words exchaged with him, and he ended up sucker-punching me.  His hit did nothing to me, and he picked up a piece of wood(?), and threatened to kill me.  Other bouncers came over to resolve the situation and told me to leave or they would call the police(nothing would have happened to the guy, and it would’ve been a big waste of my time).  We kind of made fun of it since then, and it didn’t tarnish the weekend’s appealability(that’s a real word!).

What you see above is what I acquired this weekend!

I plan on doing a review tomorrow.  So…if there is something specific in the in the above photo(even if it’s the NES game, the Adventure Island manual or the hockey cards), that you would like to see reviewed(soon…like, tomorrow..that’s when I plan on posting again), just leave your suggestion in the comments.  I might just write about it!

But before we go, I thought that this was pretty cool.

The index card says…

“Jump into the first pit of quicksand in world 8-2 and sink into a shortcut”

I found this tucked into the Adventure Island instruction manual after I bought it, while we were in the car leaving the store.

I could just imagine that some kid got this hot tip and wrote it down(I’m hoping back when it was released), and put it in the game’s manual, so he never forgot it.

I don’t even know if this hot tip even pertains to this particular game(I’ve only made it world 6, and I even had this one back in the day[it’s in my current collection, and it’s one of my favorites]), but I’m going to make it a point to find out soon.

Reminiscing With Old Comic Book Ads #2

This past weekend, there was a little(and I do mean little), comic convention at the local SUNY college.  There were a handful of vendors, and lots of people playing Magic The Gathering.  There was a Batman coloring contest, for which they only suplied you with crayons to color him with.  I of course went with the old-school blue and gray look, that he sported in Super Friends.  I had only $5 to spend, so I had to spend it wisely.  So, I went ahead and checked out the $1 boxes, and found 5 comics that I thought were worth picking up.  Four out of the five ended up being New Mutants comics.  But were her to talk about the ads contained within.

Above is the cover for The New Mutants #100, which, as you can see, was the final issue of the series.  The characters you see in The New Mutants are the members who ended up making X-Force.  Even though the cover is done by Rob Liefeld(ugh), it’s still very memorable to me.  This issue hit stands a few months before I turned 12, so this was a time when I was heavily into comics.

On the inside cover, we have an ad for Double Dragon III for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  While I presently own all 3 Double Dragon games for the NES, I only had and played the first one when I was a kid.  This ad had me believing that this was a can’t-miss game.  It’s okay, but it’s not the blockbuster my younger self thought it would be.

Now this was a game I had and played!  In my opinion, I find this to be the second best Mega Man game on the NES(with Mega Man 2 being the best).  This was a can’t miss series in the NES’s heyday.  The comics of this era are peppered with NES ads(which is awesome), and this was one of the better ones.  Some of the other ads had insae scenes depicted, which made the games seem a lot cooler than they actually were.

This is an ad I remember seeing a lot of!  I never got into playing Dungeons and Dragons, but believe me, this was an ad that peaked my interest every time I laid eye upon it.  Looking at it now, it still has me interested.

Here’s an ad for one of the hardest Nintendo games ever!  I have never played this game, even to this very day.  I definitely wouldn’t mind adding it to my collection, but I don’t think it would get played very often.   But wait there’s more!

This Silver Surfer contest gave you a chance to win you very own “Customized Silver Surfer Jet-Ski”.  I wonder if anyone really won this, and if it still exists.  Hell, I’d like to see what the Silver Surfer watches look like.  You had to send in a photo of your high score to enter, and you could enter as many times as you wanted.  I would really like to see the high scores that won prizes.

This is another one I remember seeing a lot of!  I’m pretty sure I bought a few 3 Musketeers bars because of ads like this.  I mean, c’mon, reading comics and eating candy go perfectly together(as long as none of the said candy ends up on the comic).

Is it any surprise that the las ad in this comic is another ad for an NES game?  This is by far, my favorite ad in this comic.  Nintendo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were 2 of my biggest childhood vices, and this put both together.  Yes, there was an NES Turtles game before this one, but this was the game to have!  I just love how the arcade cabinet is dripping with retromutagen ooze.  So many things to like in this one.

There were only 3 ads I did not cover(not including ads for subscriptions).  2 Were for baseball cards, and another was for a sci-fi book club.  But let’s not forget that I bought four other comics.  And I plan on covering the ads from those as well.  There will be a little variety, as the comics range from 1982-1989.