Year 9: October Update

It's October and I always do a blog update this month so that I can post the McDonald's Halloween sign! Last month and into this month I went a little off topic as I posted a lot about Japan, or maybe it wasn't too off topic since I did share some things related to toys and video games. In any case, I'll try to get some posts up by the end of the year in relation to video game ads, the reason I started the blog. I acquired some old issues of Starlog magazine that have a few nice ads and when time permits, I still look through comic books for more ads. Something that I've actually posted about over the years are ornaments, and this year Hallmark has created one of the best Star Wars ornaments. This one features Chewbacca playing Dejarik against R2-D2 on the Millennium Falcon. It's a light-and-sound ornament that has video too, but at $99.99 it is pricey, and doesn't even come with the required power cord. As usual, Hallmark has a lot of pop culture ornaments and I won't mention them all here, but some highlights include a Luke Skywalker action figure in vintage Kenner packaging, Megatron, Xbox 360, the Fantastic Four, Fruity Pebbles, and Kool-Aid Man.

Shortly after the last update I wrote in August, I came across LEGO's newest Death Star set that has since released earlier this month and costs $999.99. It does include 38 minifigures, if that makes the price any easier to swallow. Plus, LEGO posted a teaser video last month that indicates Star Trek sets are on the way. More recently, it unveiled a set from its "Ideas" line of the pirate ship from the 1980's movie The Goonies. The $329.99 set releases on November 4th.

 

Last week I came across Tomy Plus, a division of Tomy International, itself a subsidiary of Takara Tomy. I'm just a bit behind on this as Tomy Plus started in 2023, and some of its projects are crowdfunded, like the recent 1:10 scale, highly-detailed replica of Knight Rider's K.I.T.T. It cost $399 to back the impressive collectible car that features voice recognition, lights, "Super Pursuit" mode, and a rotating license plate.

In video game news, Electronic Arts (EA) is being acquired by an investment consortium for $55 billion, and that is expected to be finalized in early 2027. Although the investors are based in a few countries, the primary one is Saudi Arabia, and so it will no longer be an American company. EA was one of my favorite Commodore 64 developers and publishers, along with MicroProse, Epyx, and Interplay. In the '90s it grew substantially thanks in large part to its successful sports games, and I understand why a lot of game players grew to dislike EA, as tends to be the case with most large corporations. However, EA is arguably the most significant third-party game publisher, one that I thought would acquire more of its competitors, rather than being acquired itself. Maybe not much will change, though I tend to think this is a bad deal, and under new ownership the company is likely to focus more on online-only games with numerous microtransactions.

While I've been talking about Japan possibly too much of late, I should mention that the Tokyo Game Show was held at the end of September. For myself, the biggest announcement was that Forza Horizon 6 will be set in... Japan! Yep, more Japan. I've not even played Forza Horizon 5 yet despite it being one of my favorite game series. That's because of my out-of-date hardware, though I hope to upgrade my computer soon. October 18th was the 40th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System's North American release. I probably could have come up with a post for that, but I haven't had much time and my video game magazines don't date back to 1985. Speaking of retro consoles, Atari is going to release a plug-and-play Intellivision console that has 45 built-in games and includes controller overlays. Dubbed the Intellivison Sprint, it is now available to pre-order at a price of $149.99. That price is on the high side for this type of device, but for fans that don't still own the classic Mattel Electronics console, it does look very much like the original system minus the controller cords (the controllers are wireless).

Now it's time for the McDonald's sign. Happy Halloween!

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan

Pin & Button Collection

I never specifically collected pins or buttons, but I still ended up with quite a few. Although only a handful are related to video games or franchises associated with toys, I thought it would be fun to share some photos of them. This isn't my whole collection as I opted to leave out some, like political buttons and one promoting beer (a Spuds MacKenzie button), since this blog is meant for all ages, and there are likely others I don't have in my button/pin box and can't recall what they are. Also, a few have already appeared on the blog, such as the Star Wars and Batman buttons. The photos are grouped in themes and some pins are still sealed in plastic. One more note, I've not been to all the locations featured on the buttons, as some are souvenirs from places my parents visited.

Video Games

I acquired all of these for free from my former job working on a video game database. A few may have been packaged with games while the rest were handed out at conventions or included with press materials. Unfortunately, the SimCity pin yellowed over time.

Disney

The Disney buttons might all have been purchased or acquired at the theme parks. Two of the pins at the bottom right were handed out at the entry gate during one of Disney World's anniversaries, the 15th I believe. I'm not sure what The Disney Fair is, but that's one big button.

Characters

Here are buttons representing Star Wars, Batman, Smurfs, Sesame Street, The Flintstones, and Peanuts. That Ewok button has flashing red lights for eyes but I cannot find the type of batteries it uses, plus the insides are corroded and wires need to be soldered to repair it. I know I own a second one that I haven't looked inside of yet, perhaps that one is in better shape, but probably not.

NASA

All three of these buttons were likely purchased at the Kennedy Space Center in the fall of 1986. The one in the upper right is from the 21st space shuttle mission, dubbed STS-51-J, that deployed satellites for the Department of Defense. I think the space shuttle pin might actually be a tie tack, but tie tacks are pins too.

Locations

I've been to many of the spots featured on these buttons. Bullet Hill School was built in 1762 and is a historic site in the town I grew up in, it's not a school I attended. I'm not sure what the pin that looks a bit like the Phoenix, AZ flag is. I thought it might represent Phoenix but it has something else on it, maybe an airplane. What is World Fest '99? I don't know. The Internet tells me that World Fest is America's largest international festival. I'm sure it was my parents that went to Silver Dollar City and bought those buttons. The only reason the Ontario button is on its own is because I took that photo in May and the others in February. It's a recent acquisition from an estate sale, though I have been to Ontario a few times.. 

Sports

As some of you know, I grew up in Connecticut and so I'm primarily a fan of teams from the Northeast. I've also lived in Arizona and many of the Diamondbacks buttons and pins were purchased by my mother because she likes them. I did attend the first Diamondbacks game in 1998, the 2011 MLB All-Star Game, and Super Bowl 30 fan events, not the actual Super Bowl game, and have the pins representing those. Many of the random team pins are from cities one or both of my parents visited or they passed through airports in those cities and purchased a button as a gift. Unfortunately, I've never been to the Olympics, though I do have two Lake Placid buttons and five pins, most recently a 2024 Paris pin I got for free from my Internet provider. 

Everything Else

Some of these, like "Born to Shop" and the others in that photo, as well as Bananarama and probably the 1983 "Reach for a Rainbow Today" button from Russ, originally belonged to my sister. Space Jam could have gone in the sports group above, though it is a movie so I paired with with Bio-Dome, a movie I've never seen. Gainfield is a school I attended and I don't know what the 29th anniversary button is for, however, based on the colors I believe it is Caldor, a store that turned 29 in 1980.

While the red-eyed, demonic-like Ewok button is great, and I'm sure I liked the ice show, I don't remember it. I'd say my favorite buttons tend to be associated with fond memories, or at least things I still sort of remember. I can recall visiting the Bronx Zoo with my grandmother, watching Sha Na Na on TV with my family, and experiencing Epcot Center for the first time. Those three buttons stand out, as does the NASA Challenger button, which is probably my favorite overall, even though it is a sad memory. My sister and I stayed home from school to watch the shuttle launch on television, and what happened that day is not something you ever forget.

Year 8: October Update

My last update post was in July and not much has changed since then as I still haven't done many videos this year. I actually haven't even played any games since July but I really should. Recently, I flipped through my comic book collection, something I've not looked at in quite some time. I was mostly looking for duplicates and recall what I have, and I did scan some ads from them. I'll have to do another video game ads backfilling post soon, probably for post #500 which I'm very close to. Vault 1541 began as a video game ads project so it's only fitting that I dedicate #500 to that. This blog update is post #497 and I'll have a magazine article scan for #498 this week.

A few months ago Hasbro announced a Transformer based on Knight Rider's K.I.T.T. Being a fan of both Transformers and Knight Rider, which ranks as one of my top five shows from the '80s, I think this is an awesome collaboration. However, the robot is named Agent Knight rather than K.I.T.T. It is set to release on January 10, 2025 for $49.99.

In other cool toy news, LEGO unveiled an X-Men mansion play set this month that releases November 4th for $329.99. Yeah, the price is a bit steep, though not unusual for LEGO toys. Despite the size of the 3,000+ piece set, the rooms in the mansion look rather cramped. Aside from the mansion build, it also includes a sentinel, Magneto, and nine X-Men mini-figures.

As far as video game news, Nintendo didn't announce a Switch 2 yet but it did show off an alarm clock which isn't software, it's an actual clock that is priced at $99.99! Unfortunately, one of the last video game magazines in the U.S. abruptly came to an end as Game Informer closed at the start of August. Last week I received an email from a video game website called SpriteCell that you might enjoy. The person that runs it asked if they could use some of my catalog scans, something the site specializes in. Finally, as I end every October update, here is the classic McDonald's Halloween sign:

Happy Halloween!

-Jonathan

[YouTube] 1970s/80s Character Cups

https://youtu.be/2nZm2kSBS2U

As I mentioned in the previous glassware post, I've got a bunch of similar plastic cups too. I know the Child World cup has appeared on the blog previously in the post about toy stores and maybe the G.I. Joe cup has but I can't seem to find a post with it, so maybe not. There are quite a few Disney cups here, many likely purchased at Walt Disney World, however, they could have been available at other stores as well and none have copyrights on them. In the event that you don't watch the video, the western-themed cup with Donald Duck came with a blue hat topper which I couldn't find so I used the mouse ears which is meant for another Disney cup I don't have. Also, many of these were used and went through the dishwasher numerous times. 

Hanna-Barbera's Grape Ape & Snagglepuss (Cookie Crisp, 1979)

Camp Snoopy Collection (McDonald's, 1983)

Kool-Aid (Kraft Foods, 1980s/90s)

Disney

SpaghettiOs (Franco-American)

G.I. Joe - Cobra Commander (Maramor Candy Co., 1988)

Masters of the Universe (Burger King/Pepsi, 1985)

Child World/Children's Palace