The ninth seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse gets pulverized like a Galaxy Rangers robot horse being ground into RoboAlpo in this very special Vintage Space Toast Tour Houston edition of the Roboplastic Podcastalypse! Thrill to the adventures of the Nostrodomatron as I battle the sprinkler system in the park on my way to yet another rematch with Houston's mighty Jesse H. Jones building, the only library to repeatedly defeat me in consecutive quick draw microfilm shootouts!
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THE QUEST TO FIND MORE THAN MET THE EYE THE LAST TIME
This is the third round of the ongoing Texas death match that is my relationship with the brutal Jesse H. Jones building in downtown Houston, Texas. During our first encounter I had to deal with the building being renovated plus I was short on time during that visit. Then back in 2008 the ad looking got complicated when I had to bring my one year old son with me. Our tag team effort backfired and trying to keep an eye on him and the microfilm machine ended up pushing both my patience and his diaper to their limits. Yet despite the combative (and sometimes smelly) history I have had rustlin' old toy robots ads in H-Town I have been able to see some great stuff on the reels there. The problem is the last time I went my camera hand was so shaky the ad pictures looked like I was riding one of those angry rodeo cows when I took them. So Vintage Space Toast Tour Houston 2010 would end up the ultimate no-holds-barred rematch between me and the entire reference/periodicals section of the Houston library, this time with no bouncin' broncos or babies (but probably still just as smelly).
I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD DO SOMETHING WHEN THESE THINGS HAPPEN BUT I LEFT MY LIGHTSABER IN FLORIDA
Incredibly my war with the reels would not be the only conflict going on in the rough and tumble Jesse H. Jones building! For the second time in a row a fight broke out at the Houston library while I was there. When I say fight I don't mean fisticuffs or wild west shootouts but more like loud shouting matches that get so intense security guards are called in to kick patrons out for being unruly or disruptive. It's crazy!
Toys N More 12/02/84
I've been to a lot of libraries and Houston is the only place fights break out. The first time was back in '08 when two homeless guys got in a fight in the elevator. I didn't see that one as it happened but they got out at the floor I was on and security was called and I got to overhear one guy getting interrogated by the guard. It started because he said the other guy called him an asshole in the elevator. This escalated quite literally and their shouting match went on while they were going from the first to the third floor. I thought that was strange but it was nothing compared to what happened last week. A fight broke out because one guy who was sitting at a table with his laptop got mad that another guy sat down to use the computer next to him. It was a public library computer, yet the first guy got pissed off and started yelling at the second one for invading his space! Security was called and during the wait for them to show up, the first guy started cussing out the second guy loudly using the word "motherfucker" a lot and then another guy in the library heard this and said "HEY, GUYS, COME ON! THIS IS THE LIBRARY!" to which the first guy responded "SHUT UP! THIS AIN'T NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!" and the other guy said "OH YES IT IS MY BUSINESS!" and then security showed up and the first guy started yelling at them, too. Then after a lot of arguing with security the first guy gets escorted out. And I'm like, sheesh! Whatever happened to the days when all people did at the library was masturbate quietly to internet porn?! LOOKOUT FOR CHEE-TUR! 10/13/85
OKAY THE CARTOON WAS CHEESY BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS
One of the last ads I found in Houston was a GoBots / Cheetos crossover that was pretty cool. It got me thinking about other robot and food crossovers, particularly a Robo Force / Alpha Bits promotion I've found out about that ran in 1986 where if you sent in four proofs of purchase you'd get a free Robo Force robot. Seeing the GoBots pimp Cheetos in a Sunday newspaper comics section got me wondering if maybe the Robo Force Alpha Bits mailaway might have been promoted in the pull out coupons flyers that come in Sunday papers. But I ran out of time in Houston and couldn't pursue my hunch. Thankfully Google's online newspaper archive is great for researching exactly this kind of thing. I haven't found any Robo Force / Alpha Bits flyers but if you use Google to go to page 113 of the July 20, 1986 Modesto Bee you'll find a GoBots / Kool Aid mailaway offer where you'd get a GoBot for every 100 Kool Aid points you sent in. And if you go to pages 99 and 102 of the August 10, 1986 Modesto Bee you'll see Transformers promo tie ins with Ziploc sandwich bags and Peter Pan peanut butter. Now for the full Houston library experience you need to get that Patrick Swayze barroom fight movie Roadhouse running in the background as you go through the Google newspapers. Dirty diapers sold separately!
SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE
- Opening poem-"The Roboplastic Podcastalypse" (HoustoTrainian Astromix version)
- My new winning strategy for proactive disappointment-Looking for ads that are probably not there instead of just looking and being surprised at what I find
- Solving the mystery of the November 13, 1988 Micro Transformer ad text
- Preparing for the RoboForceTastic Podcastalypse
- Out looking for revenge (of Nazgar)
- The Wikiapedialogical ramifications of figuring out the Houstonian airdate for the first episode of Turbo Teen
- The best reason to miss church in 1984
- Woman's daze
- Shock me like a Wave-icane
- A nauseating ride on the great space toaster coaster
- Welcome back (to me)
- How I hate how it sucks how was lost How the Transformers saved christmas
- Forget Pepsi prime, check out Chee-Tur the GoBot Cheeto helicopter
- A variety of options of Variety
- Galaxy Rangers are fantastic
- Variety Magazine is fantastic
- Thunder, Thunder, Thundercharts! HO!
- Finding an ad for Laserblast 2 is fantastic
- Setting the record for saying "fantastic" in a show about going to the library
- Japanese animation studios like Studio TMS and Toei and their shows that might have been brought over to the US
- Animation studio Akom is the ugly sister of the slutty girl you knew in high school
- REEEJERS AHH FO'EEEEVUUUH!
8 comments:
Another great episode Steve. Those Variety ads are truly a great find. I wonder if Atlanta has any decent archives of actual bound stuff...
Hey thanks again, Shawn. Boy do I feel dumb for ever critiquing your loudness levels that one time. Mine are all over the place.
Libraries are so hit or miss depending on the location. I'm really in love with Houston because it's so great. Locally here in south Florida I know they don't have Variety in bound collections in Miami but Fort Lauderdale just informed me they have it on microfilm. Still, having the actual pages in your hands is like a time machine. It was awesome. I can't wait to go back one day, maybe later this year.
Your direct download link is still the previous episode.
Cool show though.
When you do the Robo Force stuff, will you be covering the official magazine?
I remember having the first issue of it, and the thing was totally awesome, though only really half devoted to Robo Force.
The rest was covering what life would be like in the future, Asmiov's Laws of Robotics, neat stuff like that.
One of those things I wished I still had.
Oh dang! Thanks for letting me know. I'll fix that link.
Yeah I will definitely cover the magazine. I just got it recently of eBay for a $5 BIN. My show is going to concentrate on the fiction of the Robo Force universe so it'll cover the content in the magazine along with all the other books I've been able to find.
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11451544/The%20Roboplastic%20Podcastaypse
This seems like an appropriate place to embed this in your site.
Variety = great find! I remember discovering the wonders of Billboard magazine in the early 1990s and all the great ads there when I was really in my Ozzy hayday. I sadly was unsuccessful in my attempts to steal those advertisements.
But there was a cliffhanger to the end of the episode. Please let me know there is resolution in the future!
And how do I get me one of those cool logo heads...
I am unworthy of such fantastic tribute but thanks anyway! That's the first time I've ever heard someone else who is not me say those words. I've always wanted to hear them said by somebody else to know just how goofy my whole intro really sounds.
Oh geez Colin I'm not sure I remember what I was talking about at the end of that episode. You're going to make go back and listen to it myself again. That might be cool because since I've forgotten those older episodes I'll have that fresh listener audience perspective. And it'll take me back to those good times I had when I recorded the show on the road.
You had this amazing build-up to this art piece by the late Fred Coreo (spelling). A piece that had ended up on eBay. A piece that might, just might be within the 8000 Variety pages scanned. And with baited breath...
You did your outro.
We need to know what happened!
And I'm glad you liked the intro. I love the bit with the arms too.
I remember now! I posted the follow up with the big reveal of the Carillo ad a few days later on the blog.
If you didn't give me the hint it would've been a while before I could sit through my old episodes so thanks for reminding me.
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