Batman and Robin Batmobile

This one is funny, cause I only ever purchased a couple figures from that time. This was sort of a present left on my desk for some web work I did. See I worked in a design position for a company that had a plant attached to the building. I could draw stuff up in the morning and walk it out to manufacturing and they could start building it that day. The head of the foam department always had these side deals going. He would purchase items at garage sales and estate sales, recondition them and either sell them or give them to family members.

He would bring me older digital cameras; some off market brands some name brands, always older and long out of production. Since I could find my way around the manufacturers web sites I would download all drivers, software, and manuals and burn them to a disk for him. As a thank you, I would walk into work a few days later and there would be some form of Batman item on my desk from one of his hauls. He knew I liked Batman and would just look out for crazy little Batman items. I couldn't even tell you if this thing was complete, but it doesn't really matter; it's just a cool surprise.



It was indeed a neat little arrangement, that wasn't even arranged. He would just drop something off on my keyboard to say thanks for helping him out. I often wonder what would happen if that company was still in business and we were both still working there. How much past Batman merchandise I would have ended up with. All told I received this little Batmobile, a Comic Batman Mug for my pens, a used CD from Batman and Robin, and a small poster of Batman form the first movie in a classy gold poster frame.

Freebie Friday!

Just a little update for Freebie Friday. The Spider-Man Handbook, given to me by a friend for just doing some design work and helping get some stuff sourced for print. I have a couple of these books (The Batman Handbook and a Robot Survival Guide), all are pretty fun reads. Not meant to be serious, but written in the style of an instruction manual, also includes some pretty nice illustrations.

It is my understanding that the subjects in the book are researched some and this would be somewhat accurate if the hero was based in reality, still it's all tongue and cheek, I wouldn't really try to leap from a skyscraper and swing to safety using the flag pole or awning. This book has some great sections though on "How to build a web shooter" and "How to develop your Spider Sense". I'll be swinging around town in no time.

Freebie Friday!

I'm not sure if these would qualify as a "freebie" since I did buy my friend lunch for bringing these in, but since I didn't actually buy the toy I'll make an exception to the rules (plus the bulk of my collection is in storage till the house repairs are all complete).

Galactic Heroes! Luke and R2-D2! I've had some of these up before, and I really think these are pretty cool little figurines, not sure I could ever find myself buying the whole set, but they do have some pretty neat ones out there that have made their way into the Eclectorama Collection, I usually try to pick up some of my favs.

Anyway, I was "given" this set with everyone's favorite droid and his farm boy owner, and decided to keep them in the box because of the illustrations on the front, plus they look pretty cool displayed at work that way and I don't look to much like a toy geek, plus it looks like I'm studying the packaging... yeah right.

Better Late Than Never!

Since I slaked a little last week because of schedules here's what would have been last weeks Freebie Friday!

The Superman Animated Series Trouble Shooter. I'll just break into the story on this one. When I worked for Play By Play back in the Nineties I was in charge of setting up artwork for the Superman Animated Series product line, so I actually worked on this one. At the time I thought it was rather ridiculous to have a set of Superman Juice Cups, but the powers that be wanted them so I set up a series. When I saw this stock art piece called Trouble Shooter, I thought it would be clever little joke to make one of the Juice Cups a Shot Glass, my little way of sticking it to the man. Little did I know that the man would think it was a great idea and make the cup. That really made me disappointed in the people in charge at the time.

Flash forward to 2007 and Bill, the Eclectorama Trouble Shooter, brings me what he thinks is a cool cup from days gone past for me to keep my pencils in. Not knowing I had actually worked on this product. Now don't get me wrong, I totally think it's cool, but it's also funny how this came back into my life after so many years and reminds me of crazier times. Thanks to Bill I now have a place for my pencils and a trip down memory lane.

Freebie Friday!

This Freebie Friday I feel like showcasing a couple of freebies! First up is the Justice League Promotional Pin. It was my understanding that these were sent out by Warner Bros. to help promote the show. A salesperson here had a whole bag of these and had given them to our warehouse manager to get rid of. They were originally given out at trade shows and these were the extras. I don't know if the rest ended up on Ebay or what, but I was given one because I'm the office "comic book nerd" (and I say that with pride).

The pin is about an inch to an inch and half wide and as you can see displays the original series logo for Justice League. I would be curious if a Justice League Unlimited one was ever produced.

Second, is the Softy Superman from my employer the Toy Factory. If you remember here I featured a Softy Batman, this is the other one of the duo that was sampled.

I still do not know why for the life of me people (buyers) didn't dig the look of these. I still think that they have a vintage feel to them, I wish we could have done some more "vintage" styles in these, but our license is for the cartoon. Still, could you imagine a Hawkman or Classic Aquaman, maybe a Joker?

Enjoy.

ONE!

During a trip to China back in 2000 a friend and I were visiting a factory and as we were taking the usual tour of the facilities we saw a prototype of this actual toy. I say prototype because they were still in the process of fitting parts and electronics, and testing some of the features. I made a comment that I loved that show when I was a kid, but we didn't have toys like this when I was a kid. The lead engineer on the project told me they would send me a sample when they went into production and a few months later this bad boy showed up on my doorstep.



So to end Thunderbird Week on a bang and have a Freebie Friday Feature I couldn't think of a better item. This is from Carlton Toys and was released in 2000 - 2001. Standing at about 15", Thunderbird 1 is full of awesome detail for a child's plaything. Besides hosting sound F/X and phrases from the show, Thunderbird 1 has working wings and landing gear, opening canopy and cockpit side hatch, plus an opening equipment storage bay. Included with this "playset" is Thunderbird 1's pilot, Scott Tracey, his hover bike and on location Mission Control Computer (remember laptops were not exactly around at this time).


If you are or were a fan of the show you will appreciate the little detail of the pilot seat that rotates as the craft assumes it's standard flight attitude. Thunderbird 1 takes of like a rocket and once in the air it levels out to fly like a plane. Words can't describe the effort that went into this toy, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.



Could you imagine getting this as a child? Carlton also released a Thunderbird 3 and Thunderbird 2 playset! How cool is that?!?

Freebie Friday!

This Freebie Friday is a sort of Double Freebie. A buddy of mine at work knows I'm crazy for Super heroes, Star Wars, Batman, and the like, plus being a retired military man he still has access to on base shopping. He was strolling through the Base Exchange and came across some free comics and thought he would pick one up for me!

I really like comics like this, it's obvious that it is one of those special advertising issues, but this one is done for AFFES, the Air Force base exchanges. It is the New Avengers staring Captain America, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, our pal the Silver Surfer, and the brave men and women serving in Iraq.

The story goes that Hydra has taken control of a satellite station that controls a military satellite that happens to have a particle beam on it. Why not, right? That is the least of the problems Hydra has caused, because this satellite also carries the "low-priority communications channel" that allows the soldiers to e-mail their loved ones. Dammit, Captain America is not going to stand for this crap anymore. Hydra has to be stopped!


Turns out it's the Holidays and the Avengers are all off with their families, so Cap puts together a team that really has no ties to family and friends and can work the Holidays! New Avengers Assemble!!! Answering the call is our four heroes above. Ghost Rider goes to take out the Hydra Agents that are surrounding a U.S. relay station and help the soldiers there to get through to the satellite. When their up link fails, Ghost Rider tosses them a USB drive to download their e-mails too and he'll deliver them to another station himself. Those USB drive sure are handy.

Silver Surfer is to intercept these creatures that threaten to destroy the satellite itself. Seems Hydra set up a back up plan. This poses no problem for the Silvery Hero and he stands guard in orbit just in case. Cap and the Punisher rush to the main station to take out the rest of Hydra and re link the satellite. The task is complete just in time for the Ghost Rider to show up and give Cap the USB drive and upload all the troops e-mail. The day is saved and everyone can have a happy holiday.

Okay it's not the best of stories, but during each of the individual hero's mission they are thinking of their long lost families and what they meant to them and this fuels their desire to complete the mission. It's sort of a nice way for each of the characters to relay a brief origins story to the reader. Also it seems that each have no problems taking out the Hydra Agents that have given the Military and FBI trouble in this story, that they have time to let their mind wander.

Comics sure are fun, especially free ones!

Freebie Friday!

Todays Freebie Friday is another from the Hall of Justice!

This one was a pleasant surprise as I had just finished setting up the companies business cards, everyone was digging them, and apparently my boss was cleaning out his office. This was left in my mail box at work one morning and it was up to me to track down the generous person to thank.

Well I finally found my way to the head cheese's office and he was cleaning out his office and said he found this card holder from a meeting with Warner Bros. and thought I would dig it. He was right I have it proudly displayed on my desk always full of cards, ready for action!

This card holder is from the Justice League cartoon when it was still called "Justice League" and not the revamped title "Justice League Unlimited", you know I don't think I have any of either on DVD yet, I'm falling behind. I did finish the Superman Series, had to get the Green Lantern and Aquaman Stories, Batman Beyond...check, No JL or JLU... huh, I better get busy.

Anyway I always wondered if there was a pen set or stapler that matched this.

Well until next Friday, enjoy.

Freebie Friday!

For the next few months I will be featuring a freebie every Friday, Freebie Friday! if you will. What's a freebie? To me a freebie is defined as follows:

free-bie (also free-bee)
Is something that is given to a person for no exchange of money, free of charge. Further, an item that is not given as a present, ex: birthday present or christmas present, but not to include gifts handed out as promotional items.

These are items that I have been given for one reason or the other because I collect something along those lines or I like characters from that particular form of entertainment. Needless to say free stuff is the best stuff!

To start this off, I bring you something I just scored this week. It's another Justice League promotional sign. What makes this one pretty cool is it has been die cut and layered so it has a three dimensional feel to the artwork. I snapped a pic of this on a background so you could see the characters sort of bursting off the background. This was just being thrown in the Photo Studio here at work and I asked if I could hang it up and I was told I could do whatever I wanted to with it since it wasn't used anymore.

Well it's now going to be hanging in my office here at work as soon as I get some hangers! I really like items like this, so let me hear some feedback if you want me to continue with Freebie Friday.

Who knows it might be interesting, it might be lame, but every Friday won't be the same!

Okay that was my sad attempt at ad copy.