Kenner's Starting Lineup (White's Guide to Collecting Figures - November 1996)

This is a rather late post that sort of ties into the Super Bowl that airs in a few hours. I couldn't come up with anything else and I didn't have time to play a football video game for the YouTube channel so I scanned a couple magazine articles from White's Guide to Collecting Figures about Kenner's Starting Lineup toys. I'm not sure if I'd call Starting Lineup toys action figures since they aren't very poseable; they are simply mini plastic statues with moveable arms and heads. They launched in 1988 and I collected them for a while, maybe even a decade, though I did open them for a couple years. As the second article below mentions, they were a hot collectible back then, selling for double or more than the MSRP on the secondary market initially, but I don't think they do today. I've not looked too deeply into the current market so perhaps there are still some standout pieces, however, I believe most sell in the $5-10 range which is what they would have been priced at 30 years ago. Trading cards were included with the toys and at least one year they came with coins too. Previously I mentioned the figures and have a photo of a few baseball athletes in the Starting Lineup Talking Baseball post.

The first article is about the 1996 football series that focuses on the players appearing for the first time in "action figure" form. Some of those first-timers didn't succeed in the NFL, some had decent careers, and Isaac Bruce was the most successful of the bunch.

That was my weak tie-in to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, there aren't any Chiefs or Eagles mentioned and it's not the most interesting of articles so I also scanned "Starting Lineup's Greatest Moments" in the same issue where the magazine details the top ten most significant happenings for the toy line up to that point. Joe Montana in his Kansas City Chiefs uniform does make an appearance. That was a convention piece which I don't have as I never attended conventions. The 9th entry is about the collector's club that I did join for a few years. I also remember the Grant Fuhr figure being a big deal but cannot recall if I have one or not. 

I'm planning on watching the Super Bowl and have made a few predictions on the blog in the past in other toy and video game Super Bowl-related posts. I'm usually wrong though and I'm not a fan of either team but here is a guess: Chiefs 38-34.

Avon NFL Huddles Gift Set

This is one of my non-gaming and non-toy posts though one could say trading cards fall into the toy category. I'm a sports fan and typically do something around MLB Opening Day and Super Bowl Sunday, and this year I'm taking a look at the NFL Huddles Gift Set from Avon. In 1983 the NFL released "Huddles" branded merchandise which were cute versions of each team's mascot; not all teams have mascots so in those cases it's just a short, rounded guy. I suspect the best known of the items is the plush toy line made by Tudor Games. This 1984 set from Avon includes a football shaped soap on a rope and a set of trading cards featuring the aforementioned mascots on the front and team histories on the back. I've never used the soap so it's still in good condition as is the box. Coincidentally, this year's Super Bowl teams are next to one another on the front cover.

The box image wraps around all four sides but my scans don't line up perfectly. Initially I wasn't sure about posting the Washington card since some may find the Native American name offensive so I made one that said Commanders and originally posted that one. However, I've decided to use the team name as it was at the time but it's not entirely accurate because of the colors. That card's colors didn't scan properly as what should be burgundy looks green in the scan and more brown than burgundy on the card itself. I'm not sure why my scanner didn't reproduce the colors accurately, though I did some editing but it's not perfect. I'll include a copy of the alternate card in the event that someone wants a Huddles image that says Commanders. Also, while the order doesn't matter, I actually meant to scan the teams alphabetically within each division, yet I managed to place them on the scanner backwards. I've grouped the teams together based on where they'd be in today's divisions rather than 1983.

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

NFC West

As far as the Super Bowl goes, I'm going to pick the Rams to win by more than a touchdown. Both teams have good offenses, however, the Rams defensive line is likely to be the difference maker. While I'm not a fan of either team, I do like their helmets. In fact, these could be the best looking team helmets to ever appear together in a Super Bowl. The Rams have great helmets, maybe the best in football, and the Bengals aren't too bad either. No boring names or animal mascots here, just cool patterns.

Year 5: January Update

NFL/McDonald's
1986 Promotion 

The fifth year of the blog has begun! I'm not sure how much I'll keep up on things which I know I keep saying in the monthly updates. Once 2020 wound down I ended up getting pulled into Assassin's Creed Valhalla and put a lot of my free time into that before completing it about two weeks ago. Now I'm taking a break before jumping into another long game. I should probably get around to completing the G.I. Joe game and maybe some others that are likely on the short side. Right now, I don't have any videos in the works. I've got an idea for baseball's opening day but nothing for the Super Bowl. While sports isn't a focus of the blog, I try to tie a few things into some of my favorite events and I do own a lot of sports video games and other sports-themed things from the '80s and '90s.

Being January, there hasn't been a whole lot of video game news to report on. LucasArts did announce a new Star Wars game in development at Ubisoft and a new Indiana Jones game being developed by MachineGames. No specifics were unveiled and I'd expect neither will be released for at least a couple years. This year's video game schedule doesn't look too appealing to myself, though there is still the upcoming launch of the Intellivision Amico. In case anyone doesn't know, Nintendo platinum points expire. I recently received an email that I have a few expiring and after viewing my account it looks like I've had more than 1,000 points expire in the past so I don't know why this is the first time I've been alerted to that. They can be spent on digital or physical items, and it appears some of the physical rewards don't stick around too long. Currently there are 13 out-of-stock listings, Pikmin decals, some Mario-themed things, and a couple Hyrule Warriors rewards.

How about some Star Wars toy news because we can never have too many different versions of Star Wars action figures, can we? Lucasfilm is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion is releasing a series of new Star Wars action figures in classically styled packaging. The first three will be Obi-Wan Kenobi, Greedo, and a Jawa, and they'll be exclusive to Amazon.com at a price of $19.99 each on May 1st.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jonathan

[YouTube] Electric Football: Super Bowl Edition

https://youtu.be/EROhLNmKCHs

I didn't know the history of Electric Football until I decided to do some research for this post and video. It turns out the game is rather old and has been popular since the 1960s. Tudor Games, originally know as Tudor Metal, had a vibrating car game that the inventor Norman Sas based the football game on. It's essentially a football board game with a vibrating board that is turned on for each play. Users set their players' routes by rotating a plastic dial underneath each piece's stand, line them up in formation, and then turn the game on causing it to vibrate and move the players along the desired paths.

Some liberties have to be taken of course since the quarterback cannot throw on its own. The game must be turned off when the offense wishes to pass, at which time the "triple threat quarterback" has its arm pulled back and then released to throw the small, football-shaped piece of foam. If the ball hits a valid receiver it is a completion but if it hits a defender then it counts as an interception. Similar to throwing, that same player can be used to kick extra points and field goals. For the most part the game follows the NFL rules though users can also opt to play by college rules.

My version included the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots teams which was the match up for the 1985 season's Super Bowl (Bears won SB XX 46-10 -- ouch!; that was also the first football game I ever watched as far as I can recall). While the game includes sheets of numeral stickers for application, only 11 players per team were sold with the game so the same pieces are used on both offense and defense. More pieces could be ordered separately allowing consumers to acquire more players for the teams packaged with the game or to purchase sets with uniforms to match any of the NFL teams at the time. Other colored pieces without helmet logos were also available to provide an option of getting team colors for a favorite college or high school team.

Team Order Form

Back Side of Order Form

When I did a search on the toy it came as quite a surprise to learn that the game is still being made today. Tudor Games was purchased in 1990 so it's not the exact same company that is making it. There are a variety of editions being offered that range from $49.99 all the way up to $399.99; that expensive one has the game built into its own oak table. The game now runs on "AA" batteries rather than plugging into an outlet and instead of having a scoreboard users are expected to download a free app for their tablet or smartphone. Other than that, the pieces look very similar to the parts I have from the '80s, though the players do appear to be of a higher quality and the helmet logos are much more legible.

The video does add a few more things as I show off my 1985 AFC Champions shirt and William "The Fridge" Perry's G.I. Joe action figure makes an appearance. Today is also the day of Super Bowl LII (52) and being a Patriots fan I'm predicting a Pats win of 27-20!