1988 Accolade Catalog

Accolade was a fairly significant computer game company in the late '80s when it released games like Hardball! and Test Drive. This catalog highlights those games among many others, including one of my favorite miniature golf games. There are also a couple t-shirt offers here though I wonder about those designs, a simple company logo or Test Drive shirt likely would have been much more popular.

Taito: The Arcade Leader Brings it Home (Commodore Magazine - May 1989)

This is an article from the May 1989 issue of Commodore Magazine that focuses on Taito's arcade to home game ports. There aren't a lot of images in these scans, unfortunately, but plenty of text, the majority of which is of the writer comparing the arcade games to the Commodore 64 versions. Early in the article it is interesting to hear how Taito held off on Amiga conversions at the same time because the quality would have been high enough to draw business away from the arcade games. While founded in Japan, Taito was actually started by a Ukrainian businessman and you can read a bit more about the company history in the Taito America ads post. 

The 1997 International Toy Fair (ToyFare Spring Special Edition 1997)

Toy Fair New York 2022 was originally going to be held this weekend, however, it was canceled. I scanned this article when I was putting together the Spider-Man post last month as it is from the same issue of ToyFare magazine. It wasn't until I went to post this that I realized this year's show had been canceled which had been announced back on January 11th. That's unfortunate but there is no reason not to still post these 13 pages that have feature many photos of action figures which is what ToyFare focused on.

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.