Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The Price of Prime!

The breaking of the 70th seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse is a virtual convention panel catastrophe that you can enjoy! Yes here is the entire slideshow I created for a panel presentation that set out to answer the most often asked of vintage Transformer pricing questions-So how much did Optimus Prime cost in 1984 anyway? Listen in terror and follow along with the slides as I go over a greatest hits of the Vintage Space Toaster Palace Transformers 1984 edition in search of the answers to unknowable toy robot truths found buried in microfilm rolls of 30 year old grocery store newspaper ads previously only gazed upon by little old ladies and vagrants and vagabonds bored to death at a public library near you. Why were newspaper ads better than department store catalogs? Were there more retail stores today or 30 years ago? And which Transformer was more than meets your mouth? Find out all that and more in this THE NEXT BEST THING TO BUYING THERE edition of the podcastalypse!

Or download it directly

------------WE HAVE A WINNER!------------

I want to thank my fellow Macrocranian Juan T. for taking the time to listen all the way through and claim the Pablo Marcos signed copy of "Satellite of Doom"


IN ROBOPANEL APOCALYPSE, PANEL GOES TO YOU!

Well the first ever Roboplastic Panelocalypse went exactly as I figured it would. I signed up to do a panel at a local convention and I asked to be scheduled for Sunday morning and I requested a projector. I ended up getting scheduled for late Saturday night and got no projector. Apparently my topic was so insanely boring that even the equipment did not want to come to my panel. Well I was okay with the schedule change to a time when everybody was going home because who needs an audience really, but the lack of equipment preparedness on the part of the organizers is what did me in. So with no people in the audience and no projector to do my presentation I just said screw it and I left. But there was no way I was going to let all those late nights I stayed up working on those 40 powerpoint slides of toy robots grocery store ad hell go to waste. So here in all its glory is the presentation that I would have bored you to death with had you been in attendance in convenient podcastalypse form so that you can bore yourself to death with it at your own leisure. You can either follow along using the built in slideshow function by clicking on the first slide below, or you can get all these slides as a powerpoint presentation.



It's just like not being there!


Slide 1
Slide 2-Sears Christmas 1985
Slide 3-80s retail stores

Slide 4-80s toy stores
Slide 5-Fiesta 10/20/84
Slide 6 also in Episode 38

Slide 7-Zayre 04/29/84
also in Episode 50

Slide 8-SuperRx 10/03/84
Slide 9 also in this post

Slide 10-line art based stickers
Slide 11-Sears 11/18/84
Slide 12 also in Episode 34

Slide 13-GeeBee 11/23/85
Slide 14-Clark Drug 11/21/85
Slide 15-Hasbro Toy Fair '84
and also at this post


Slide 16-comparison
Slide 17-Hasbro Toy Fair '85
Slide 18-Venture 12/09/84

Slide 19 also in Episode 37
Slide 20-KMart 11/10/85
Slide 21-Zayre 11/25/84

Slide 22-Richway 11/25/84
Slide 23 also in Episode 32
Slide 24-Target 12/22/85
and also at this post


Slide 25-Target 7/28/85
and 12nUnder 12/12/85

Slide 26-BEST 12/14/86
Slide 27-$15 Jetfire

Slide 28-BEST 12/19/85
Slide 29-Lionel Playworld 12/10/86
Slide 30-$6.91 Dinobots

Slide 31-Safeway 10/23/85
and also at this post

Slide 32-Don's Toys & Hobbies 07/04/85
Slide 33-Meet an Insecticon

Slide 34-Toys Plus 10/24(?)/85
courtesy of Dr. Geektarded!

Slide 35-Universal Studios 02/17/85 and 3/31/85
and also at this post

Slide 36-Universal Studios 06/30/85

Slide 37-Toys R Us 12/25/92
courtesy John Spangler

Slide 38-Mr. Ed's 08/24/86
Slide 39- Pence Foods 01/14/86

Slide 40-Pepsi 12/15/85
also at this post

I planned to give away a signed copy of Satellite of Doom to my panel audience but since they didn't show up I gave it away to the first person to make it all the way through this episode!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Monetary Measure of a Mother's Love (or rather how much she was willing to pay to get you to shut up that day)

Much to my own shock and amazement (and I'm sure to that of my audience as well) the convention organizer of Ultracon thought it would be a good idea to give me an hour to talk to the assembled Cybertronian masses at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center this weekend about my favorite Transformer continuity, which is old newspaper ads from K-Mart and a couple grocery stores in Texas. And although my actual Fort Lauderdalien audience will most likely be two passed out drunk guys, I know that you, my fellow Macrocranians, will probably want to hear the entire one hour robotarded aspergian nightmare unfold so I will attempt to record the panel for your listening enjoyment and release it as an upcoming episode.

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Florida SuperConVersatin' 2014!



The breaking of the 69th seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse unleashes a tsunami of epic roboconversations all over Miami Beach on Fourth on July Day 2014! Like Tubbs to a Crockett, mighty waves of comic bookers, my little ponyers, powerful rangerers, video gamers and other assorted japanamation strangers all converged on the Miami Beach Convention Center for Florida SuperCon! Join the Nostrodomatron as I surf the waves of pop culture nerdity in the hopes of landing on conversation islands with the artists who helped create the great toy robots comics of the 70s and 80s. How did Al Milgrom get lucky enough to edit Shogun Warriors, Micronauts, and ROM? Why did Joe Rubinstein leave the Micronauts? And how did Peter David come to the realization that R5-D4 singledroidedly saved the Star Wars galaxy? Find out all this and more in this TALKING NAUTY IN MIAMI edition of the podcastalypse!

Or download it directly


This picture with Josef Rubinstein and Al Milgrom was a highlight of the con, but listen to me talk about why it also drove me crazy!


I don't know what character that pumpkin is, but it would have looked awesome on stage with Helloween back in '88.


A couple booths had nice selections of American Toy Robots of Japanese Toy Robots, and one even had Robo Force!


I met the lead accordion player (?!) of the band Random Encounter, saw Robert the oldest robot at the con, and talked to Peter David about Skippy the Jedi Droid!


Al Milgrom was a great guy and gave me an absolutely fantastic interview.


Joe Rubinstein was really classy and professional and made me wish I was, too!


It isn't a legit Florida comic convention without the legendary artist José Delbo!


Danny Fingeroth was really cool about the whole Robot Master thing! He even dedicated his book to me with "Your pal, Donny Finkleberg"!



SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE


The Marvel in the 80s panel with (from L-R) Peter David, Danny Fingeroth, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Alex Saviuk, and Greg LaRocque.

 

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Evil King Macrocranios was voted king by the evil peoples of the Kingdom of Macrocrania. They listen to Iron Maiden all day and try to take pictures of ghosts with their webcams.