[YouTube] LEGO Futuron Monorail Transport System

https://youtu.be/0R5uK9vWlg8

Released in 1987, the LEGO Futuron Monorail Transport System (#6990) is a space-themed set that, according to Brickipedia, retailed for $155. Along with the 9-volt battery-powered monorail train, users can build a couple small stations and land vehicle. There are 10 pieces of track included that can be arranged in a variety of ways, and additional track pieces could be purchased separately. It also includes five mini-figures, three yellow and two blue. The Futuron mini-figures are slightly different than the standard space astronauts as their chest part is half white.

This is a really nice set even if you aren't a fan of space. Using the motor portion and wheel parts from this set, and bricks from another LEGO theme, one could easily build any type of train to place on the tracks. Also, normally I try to photograph and scan everything but I'm going to skip scanning the full 28-page manual. I've got cover and backs scans, plus a photo of the 4-page fold out portion. The photos don't have the best lighting as most of it is artificial and the length of the set makes getting some good shots tricky. I did try a few dark photos as well as messed around with shooting shadows.

UPDATE: After I posted this I realized I had the contents in the box mixed up. Not sure how I missed that when filming but the cardboard tray should be on the left side and the plastic tray to the right, or the box lid should be flipped around.

Additional Box Shots & Documents

The Monorail

Mini-Figures & Vehicles

Into the Dark

The Shadows

Gaming Ads: VIC Tokai

VIC Tokai is a Japanese telecommunications company founded in 1977 as Yaizu Cablevision before changing its name in 1978. VIC was short for Video Information Center but today stands for Valuable Information & Communication. While it is still in business today, the company is no longer involved in video games. It released its first game in 1986 and opened a U.S. branch in 1988 before abandoning games completely in 1998. The Japanese studio developed and published games with the U.S. division only publishing but some of its games had other publishers in North America as well, such as Psycho Fox and Decap Attack which were published by Sega of America. VIC Tokai also made some Game Boy accessories and heavily advertised the Light Boy which can be seen in my Nintendo Game Boy post here.

VIC Tokai albums: Facebook - Google Photos

The New YouTube Policies

If you visited the YouTube channel today you might have noticed all the comments, and a number of other features, are disabled. That is YouTube's doing based on the setting I chose late last year. The comments removal seems sudden to myself as the email about it just arrived this week but maybe I missed something back in September. YouTube told creators that they had to set their content to made for kids or not and it was my understanding that this would impact advertisements which I do not qualify for. While my content is not specifically made for kids, some or all of it might appeal to kids and I do aim for a family-friendly environment so I chose the for kids setting. YouTube also said it would delete all the comments in 30 days which I'd rather they not do. If you're curious, here is what the email says:

Last September, we announced a series of changes that we’d be making to better protect kids and their privacy on YouTube, and to address the concerns raised to us by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

Specifically, that all creators would be required to designate their content as made for kids or not made for kids in YouTube Studio, and that personal information from anyone watching a video designated as made for kids would be treated as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user. 

Starting today, we will no longer serve personalized ads or support features such as comments, Stories, live chat, notification bell, and others on videos designated made for kids. 

We know these changes may have significant impact on creators making kids content, so we’re committed to helping them navigate this new landscape. We continue to engage on this issue, including by participating in the FTC's open comment period. We know many creators have provided valuable feedback as well. 

If you haven’t already, please ensure you have set your channel (or individual videos) as made for kids or not, as this will ultimately determine how your content is treated on YouTube. 

Creators know their content best, and should set the designation themselves. We also use machine learning to help us identify this content, and creators can update a designation made by our systems if they believe it is incorrect. We will only override a change if abuse or error is detected.

Here is a link to where YouTube explains why comments are turned off. This is rather frustrating as I am more than capable of policing my own channel and as I said, I don't even qualify for advertising which is what I thought brought about these changes. All of my comments were set to the review possibly inappropriate option and I'd delete any that might be bad for kids, though I never got any like that. In any case, that's why the comments are currently disabled. However, I might set the channel to not for kids this weekend and see what happens. I'd mark the PAW Patrol video as for kids but if I do that I think I need to go through and mark every video already posted individually and that will take a while.

Gaming Ads: Viacom New Media

In October 1992 Viacom International launched its video game publishing business Viacom New Media. Viacom owned numerous networks and properties during the '90s, such as MTV, Nickelodeon, and Star Trek, so it's not surprising that many of its games were based on those. It published numerous games based on Beavis and Butt-Head, as well as a few Nickelodeon titles, and a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine game. I'm having a hard time clarifying what exactly happened to Viacom New Media but it published its last game in 1997. Viacom bought and sold various companies or parts of companies, and it seems Virgin Interactive may have replaced New Media as Viacom's game division.

Viacom New Media albums: Facebook - Google Photos