Year 9: August Update

When I went to write this post I was surprised to find that I hadn't actually written a monthly update since February. Unfortunately, I don't have much planned other than to keep scanning some magazine articles, and I do have more video game ads to share eventually. Despite not having a lot of actual work to do, it feels like I've been busy and I haven't kept up on much game and toy news. The best announcement I saw recently was LEGO's Batman Arkham Asylum, a 2,953-piece set that comes with 16 mini-figures, including Batman, Robin, Batwoman, Catwoman, and nine villains dressed in orange jumpsuits. It releases on September 5th at a price of $299.99. Also, now available from LEGO is the Decepticon Soundwave, who joins the previous LEGO incarnations of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. He does transform and has cassettes of Laserbeak and Ravage. The 1,505-piece set is available exclusively at the LEGO online store for $189.99.

Another new toy announcement comes from Jakks Pacific. Apparently there was a Sonic the Hedgehog and DC crossover comic book back in March, and now there are action figures based on it. Jakks Pacific will be releasing a variety of figures, including single Sonic characters dressed as superheroes, such as Sonic as The Flash, Amy as Wonder Woman, and Silver as Green Lantern. There will also be double packs of Superman with Knuckles, Batman with Shadow, and Cyborg with Tails. Jakks unveiled new action figures in its Super Mario line and The Simpsons too.

As far as video games, well, Nintendo did release the Switch 2 since I last wrote an update. That was June 5th, the week before the former week of E3. It costs $499.99 and is less powerful than its competitors as usual, though it is getting some of the higher end games that previously released on PlayStation and Xbox systems. I didn't find anything too exciting come out of the aforementioned former E3 week. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, though I think it has more to do with the lack of originality being shown, plus I don't own any hardware new enough to play most of the big games releasing these days. 

Yep, that was a short update. Sorry it's been such a slow year for the blog!

Thanks for reading,
Jonathan

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

Year 8: July Update

I've been very slow to get any videos done this year and have been falling behind on blog posts too. Sorry! I rarely talk about my personal life, aside from the past in relation to toys and video games, but that's what will likely keep me from updating very often going forward. There isn't much to say other than I lost my long-time job earlier this year and am starting something new this month that will keep me busy. When I've had free time of late, I've been playing Marvel's Midnight Suns from 2K and Firaxis which was a free game on the Epic Game Store earlier this summer. Although it has tactical combat, it's not like Firaxis' XCOM games that I'm a big fan of. Players control a team of three in battle, drawing and using cards to perform most actions. Outside of battle players control an original character, interact with the Marvel heroes to gain friendship, edit card decks, explore their home and its grounds, and select poolside, casual, and battle outfits.

As I sit here after viewing the numerous digital press events from the past two months, I can't recall anything that stood out. Let's see, the Nintendo Direct announced Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. There are plenty of sequels and updates in development, like Sid Meier's Civilization VII, Gears of War: E-Day, and Age of Mythology: Retold. Unfortunately, my PC is on the old side and I don't have a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X so I probably won't be able to play the games I'd like to try later this year, such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Star Wars Outlaws, and Assassin's Creed Shadows.

                                        Mario & Luigi: Brothership                                      TMNT: Mutants Unleashed

Rumors appeared online in May about a Total War Star Wars game but there still hasn't been an official announcement. Also, two months ago Outright Games and Mattel unveiled a multi-year deal. The family-friendly game publisher will be releasing at least three titles based on Mattel properties this year: Matchbox Driving Adventures, Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets, and Barbie Project Friendship. Other upcoming games from Outright include Transformers: Galactic Trials, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed, and Nick Jr. Party Adventure.

In an unexpected move, Hasbro and Mattel teamed up to create a Hot Wheels Optimus Prime, and it does transform, of course. Optimus is exclusive to Mattel Creations and is currently sold out; I'm not sure if that's final or if more are in production. LEGO always has a lot of cool sets on the way but I'll only highlight a few: Great Deku Tree 2-in-1 from The Legend of Zelda series, the Transformers' Bumblebee, and Star Wars TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up. With the Star Wars set you can create standard TIE Fighter and X-Wing ships or swap the wings between the two iconic starfighters.

Something unexpected occurred in video games as well. Back on May 23rd, Atari announced that it had acquired the Intellivision brand. It now owns the Intellivision name and classic game catalog, not the company Intellivision Entertainment (renamed Amico Entertainment) or its long-in-development console, the Amico which I'd thought dead on more than one occasion. The sale provides Amico Entertainment some much needed financial help but, surprisingly, it isn't ready to give up on the console yet. While it can still release games based on Intellivision properties for Amico, those will be under license from Atari. 

One final note before I sign off. Author Lewis Packwood contacted myself two years ago to ask for permission to use a Captain Power photo from the blog in his then upcoming book. I agreed and while I've not read his book, nor am I benefitting from its sales in any way, I thought it was worth mentioning as the subject matter will likely interest Vault 1541 readers. The title is Curious Video Game Machines: A Compendium of Rare and Unusual Consoles, Computers and Coin-Ops. There is a nearly 40-minute video about it on YouTube with store links in the description.

Thanks for visiting,

Jonathan

Year 8: January Update

The blog has made it through seven years now! I didn't really have any expectations on how long I'd do this when I started and I've slowed considerably over the years but it's been a good run and I'll keep going. If you don't recognize the toys in the image below, those are the California Raisins that were created for an advertising campaign in 1986. They became quite popular which led to a variety of merchandise like the figurines pictured, as well as music albums, clothing, posters, and a comic book mini-series. Capcom even developed a California Raisins game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was completed but never released.

The video game awards took place in December as they always do. Though I really don't care too much about awards for games or any other media, I do watch these for the new game unveilings. If you're curious, Baldur's Gate III, Alan Wake II, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were among the top games at the show. Being a Sega fan it was nice to see a trailer showing off new versions of Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Shinobi. Streets of Rage is a bit of an odd choice to bring back and seems unnecessary because DotEmu released Streets of Rage 4 in 2020. I'm not sure what to think about Golden Axe's new look and the last attempt at a modern Golden Axe starring Tyris Flare didn't go over too well. I'm still hopeful though since the original is one of my favorites and a goal this year is to finally post a full playthrough on the YouTube channel. While Shinobi will be side-scrolling, the others all feature 3D graphics. Here is an image from a .pdf file on Sega Sammy's corporate website.

I'm currently trying to come up with a YouTube channel name where I'll upload the commercials that I deleted from the Vault 1541 channel last year. I'll likely put other clips from VHS tapes on there too when I do get it up and running. I have the header image ready which is a Kermit the Frog sitting on a toy chair watching a TV which is actually a Viewfinder-like souvenir. Here is a photo I'm not using where I colored (in Photoshop) the plastic souvenir white on the TV screen. That ET figurine looks perfect for the channel but I decided there were too many characters and that I should make something simpler. 

Back in the April 2023 blog update I mentioned how E3 2023 had been canceled. Last month it was officially put to rest as the Entertainment Software Association stated E3 will not be returning. The second week of June 2023 was still a very busy time for gaming news and will likely continue to be through various digital presentations despite there being no expo to attend. Something that still isn't dead is the Intellivision Amico. In the October update I wrote about the Amico games being released on PC and consoles, and Intellivision has since launched apps for Android and iOS. I'd thought the actual Amico system must be dead, however, the company still hopes to release it. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Thanks for reading the blog and Happy New Year!

-Jonathan

Year 7: October Update

You may have noticed I finally removed the commercials from the YouTube channel. Back in June I lost monetization and the reason Google provided seemed to point toward the commercials but I had to wait three months to reapply so I waited to remove them. I've no idea if I'll qualify, however, as I have to get enough views to be approved again. As I did last December, I took a trip to Ontario, Canada this month though I didn't have time to visit another Toys "R" Us or I would photographed that one too. It's likely it would be very similar to the one in Oakville that I saw last year. Speaking of Toys "R" Us, the company that owns the property in the U.S. is going to make another attempt at bringing it back, this time with full size stores. In toy news, LEGO is teaming up with Nintendo again, this time it's bringing Animal Crossing into brick form.

There has been quite a bit of game news that's worth mentioning since my last update in July. Disney Speedstorm officially launched and it's not bad for a free-to-play kart racer. Gameloft will also be bringing Disney Dreamlight Valley out of early access in a month but it's no longer going to be free-to-play as was originally intended. A new G.I. Joe video game is in development which is always exciting news for myself. I talked a bit about the previous Joe game, IguanaBee's third-person shooter Operation Blackout, way back in the October 2020 update post, if you want to see my thoughts after three levels. Developed by Maple Powered Games (Monster Harvest) and set to release in 2024, G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra will be side-scrolling combat.

It took quite a while to complete but Microsoft does now own Activision which includes many classic IPs, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Blizzard (WarCraft, Diablo, etc.). The Atari 2600 is returning as the 2600+ with HDMI and widescreen support, and it will work with the original cartridges. It costs $129.99 and is expected to ship in December. I'm not sure what happened to the Intellivision Amico though I have to believe it's dead. Two of the games that were in development for the Amico have recently released on Steam, Xbox platforms, and the Nintendo Switch, and at a higher price point ($14.99) than the Amico games were supposed to be. Available now are the new iterations of Astrosmash and Shark! Shark!.

I tend to post a blog update in October so that I can repost the classic McDonald's Halloween sign and so without further ado, here it is again:

Happy Halloween!

-Jonathan

Year 7: July Update

I probably should have come up with something related to Barbie toys in regards to the Barbie film being in theaters. However, I'm not sure if I have anything though I did find that I own one issue of a Barbie comic book from Marvel. The cover isn't great so I scanned an ad for it from inside the issue as you can see to the right. My sister had a lot of Barbie toys and my mother used to collect them but I know I don't have any of the toys and I don't think I have any of the booklets included with the toys either. Here is some related, old news that was new to me when I recently learned of it: Mattel, the maker of Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Masters of the Universe toys, has a theme park under construction in Glendale, Arizona. Epic Resort Destinations is leading development of Mattel Adventure Park and the plan now is to open in 2024; last year's press release had it opening this year. 

As I mentioned in the April update, E3 2023 was canceled but there were still plenty of game announcements made that second week of June and throughout the month. Not a whole lot grabbed my attention but we did get to see the Star Wars game Ubisoft has been working on. It's titled Star Wars Outlaws and puts players in control of a female rogue type, not unlike a Han or Lando, and it's set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Last month Sega unveiled Sonic Superstars, a new side-scroller that supports up to four players, Sony revealed Spider-Man 2 is releasing October 20th, and Ubisoft is developing a side-scrolling Prince of Persia adventure currently scheduled for release January 18th. Nintendo announced Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a sequel to Detective Pikachu, WarioWare: Move It!, Pikmin 1 + 2, and new versions of the original Super Mario RPG and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.

The publishers that largely focus on licensed products have been trickling out announcements of new games as well. Outright Games, which primarily releases family-friendly games, has its 5th PAW Patrol game on the way, as well as another Jumanji one that, like its previous Jumanji title, appears to be based on the Welcome to the Jungle film. Outright will also be publishing The Grinch: Christmas Adventures, Baby Shark: Sing & Swim Party, Rainbow High: Runway Rush, and Transformers: EarthSpark -- Expedition. GameMill Entertainment has at least three games coming this year, including Avatar: The Last Airbender -- Quest for Balance, NASCAR Arcade Rush, and Skull Island: Rise of Kong. 7/30/23 UPDATE: Shortly after posting this GameMill unveiled DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing, DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, and Pickleball: Smash.

This morning I added a message to the Vault 1541 YouTube community page discussing the loss of monetization on the channel. It took five years to qualify and so I only had monetization for about a year and it didn't make much. I only mention it because if I choose to fix the problem, which is likely the television commercials, I'd need to delete content from the channel. However, even if I did that I may not be able to qualify for monetization again due to the number of hours being watched falling below the minimum YouTube requires. They won't simply restore monetization, I'd need to requalify and I'm not as active now which means not enough views. Even if it's only $50/year of income, it's still a nice bonus and gives me some motivation to keep making videos. I'll have to make a decision this month. 

Thanks for visiting,
Jonathan

Year 7: April Update

Since I last wrote an update there has been quite a bit of LEGO news, more Star Wars unveilings, and some video game movie releases. Last month I did a week of Tetris posts in relation to that movie but I didn't get a chance to do anything for the Super Mario Bros. film that is doing quite well in theaters. That was primarily because I was playing too much Horizon Forbidden West which didn't leave me a lot of time, though I also did post the Shigeru Miyamoto interviews in November for his 70th birthday which wasn't too long ago. That wasn't the only recent Mario premiere either as the Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood opened February 17th.

Star Wars Celebration took place in Japan last week and you can check out  StarWars.com for a recap of all the announcements. There are more movies and TV shows in development, of course, but I'll just mention some toys and include Indiana Jones here. LEGO has two new Star Wars dioramas and three Indiana Jones sets arriving on May 1st. For Star Wars, there is the Emperor's Throne Room ($99.99) and Endor Speeder Chase ($79.99).

The Indiana Jones sets are: Raiders of the Lost Ark's Temple of the Golden Idol ($149.99)  The Last Crusade's Fighter Plane Chase ($34.99), and Escape From the Lost Tomb ($39.99).

Indiana Jones is getting two lines of action figures from Hasbro too. One is a retro line modeled after the Kenner toys from the '80s and the other is a larger deluxe series.

On March 31st, a Sonic the Hedgehog visual novel game was released for free on Steam. I don't have much interest in visual novels and have been busy so I haven't tried it yet but for free I probably will eventually. Sonic already had a LEGO "Ideas" set and now he'll have his own series this August. The sets are Sonic's Speed Sphere Challenge ($34.99), Tail's Workshop and Tornado Plane ($39.99), Amy's Animal Rescue Island ($49.99), and Sonic's Green Hill Zone Loop Challenge ($99.99).

This might be the most images I've posted in an update yet and possibly the most LEGO news but I'm not quite done. There was a new LEGO video game unveiled on March 23rd and it's already releasing on May 19th. LEGO 2K Drive is an open-world racer similar to Forza Horizon with transforming vehicles like those found in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Multiplayer modes include both online and local split-screen. It's being developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Games. 

The last bit of news I'll mention is that the Electronic Entertainment Expo known as E3 has been canceled this year. Typically taking place the second week of June, E3 had often been a fun few days featuring a flood of new game announcements and trailers. While the pandemic didn't do it any favors, E3 has been shrinking over the years as many publishers opt to do separate setups in Los Angeles or online-only events. Financially it makes sense and with digital game sales increasing there isn't much need to convince retailers to order games which is what E3 originally was. Way back in the '90s the retail trade show was attended by executives from Toys "R" Us, Walmart, and others to determine what the next big game was going to be and they'd have meetings with publishers that competed with one another for shelf space. Over the years E3 became more of a spectacle to garner attention from online media outlets and bloggers, and later influencers, and in 2017 the show opened to the public as it slowly declined in relevance. I'll miss it if this is the end.

Thanks for visiting,

Jonathan