My thoughts of the Dinosaur Dracula site

I used to be a big fan of X-Entertainment / Dinosaur Dracula. In fact it's partly what inspired me to start this blog.

A few days ago when I launched this page I went to Facebook to put the link on the Dinosaur Dracula page, even praising him for his work, to which I got NO response.

Well tonight, I visited that page again, only to find out I have been blocked from commenting on anything.

From now on, I can honestly say I will no longer read his page. I have no respect for someone who can't help out someone else. I have always thought that the idea of buying toys that are over 20 years old only to open them and take ridiculous pictures of them was absurd, however now I can see that this man is nothing more than a self absorbed douchebag.

If any of you know this guy, or read his page, feel free to tell him what I wrote, at least that would mean that he's reading.

Pee-Wee's Playhouse the set everybody MUST own

Where to being?

Pee-Wee's Playhouse has to be one of, if not, the best Saturday Morning shows EVER.

This box set (divided between 2 volumes) was a great Amazon.com score for me a couple years ago.

While most every episode follows the same pattern, they are all in their own way so different and entertaining. Pee-Wee's Playhouse was very much ahead of it's time in the 80's. It allowed us all to use our imagination, and be creative, while at the same time, having educational and comedic value to it.

Nearly every episode stars right away with Pee-Wee telling us all good morning. Then one of the other characters (Chairry, Magic Screen, Globey) ask Pee-Wee what the secret word is.

The "Secret Word"?????

Pee-Wee then turns on Conky 2000 to ask. Conky prints us out the secret word.

You all know what to do whenever anybody says the secret word, right?

Of course! SCREAM REAL LOUD!!!

The story continues with Pee-Wee in all sorts of adventures (and misadventures) featuring all his friends like Miss Yvonne, Cowboy Curtis, Mrs. Renae, Reba the Mail Lady, Ricardo, Tito, Captain Carl, and the ever important King of Cartoons.

And we always have such prominent features like, Snack Time and a Penny Cartoon.

If you've been living under a rock for the last 25 years, or just need a good way to re-live your childhood, Pee-Wee's Playhouse is the way to go.

While you can pick up these tapes on Amazon for about $9 a set, they are also on DVD.

And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the Christmas Special, I'm simply trying to contain myself and hold off on that until December.

DID YOU KNOW?? We are now on Facebook. Be sure the click the link below and "LIKE" us.

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$5 Halloween movies at Best Buy

Went to Best Buy today, hoping to pick up The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway dvd.

Of Course, I get there and they don't have it at all.

While walking around looking for something to salvage the trip, I noticed a couple racks of Halloween themed dvds for $5. They have tons of Goosebumps movies, the usual Nicktoons, and Charlie Brown.

But one stuck out more than anything. A GREAT movie that I remember watching time and time again.

Little Monsters

Starring Fred Savage and Howie Mandel, this is the story of every child's biggest fear, Monsters under the bed!

But little did we all know, even though they are awful looking, they live in an underground world of junk food, video games, and staying up all night!

Being a big Wonder Years fan, I love how this movie has Fred Savage, and Daniel Stern playing his father.

Head to best buy and grab a copy of this. You'll  get every bit of $5 of enjoyment out of watching it.

Reasons to LOVE Halloween Day 5

Reese's Pumpkins

at 99 cents a piece, they are easily the best tasting rip-off you will ever find.

go buy $20 worth now.

Exactley how I felt when I found this today

Garage Sale Finds 9-29-12

Quite a few good things today.

I'm a big fan of Garage Sales and Thrift stores. It's truly amazing what kind of things you can find from your childhood just laying around in someone else's home.

First up I found a working Nintendo 64 for a buck. Even went and bought Star Wars Racer.

Found a Ren & Stimpy VHS

Some kind of Power Rangers SPD Command Zord (will have to do more research on it) for a dollar,

A Star Wars 3D Star Destroyer Puzzle for a dollar

And now, the 2 big finds of the day

First up a talking Baby from Dinosaurs $1.00

 

And the BIGGEST find of the day, straight out 1989 a talking Beetlejuice doll

 

 

 

 

Reasons to LOVE Halloween day 4

Forget going house to house only getting apples, fruity flavored crap, and Jesus will save you brochures.

I WANT CHOCOLATE

Give me a bag full of Butterfingers.

New TMNT cartoon is here!

After months of waiting and anticipation, today is the premiere of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nickelodeon at 10am!!!

Retro Toy Review. MMPR Auto-Morphin Tommy

Last Spring I went to a giant indoor Garage Sale and came across this for a quarter. I had it when I was a kid, and knew it rightfully deserved a place in my collection as an adult.

The problem is, while yes, it is the Green Freakin Ranger, they were not exactley detailed, even for their time.

I mean if you squint hard enough, after staring at the sun for an hour, it kinda looks like Tommy.

These figures had good articulation, but when you played with the, you couldn't get the best fighting poses and it looked plain awful.

The cool feature here though, is the fact that all you have to do is push the power morpher on his belt, and he morphs. From oridinary teen to Power Ranger.

Though, I'm not sure that it wouldn't be a dead giveaway that he's the Green Ranger when he's unmorphed since he still has the suit on.

Oh well, it was only a quarter.

Get excited, Christmas is coming....kind of

Just letting it be know I have some big things planned for the Christmas season. Including old commercials, my christmas memories (which will include the infamous rant of how I didn't get the Ghostbusters Firehouse when I was 4) Christmas movie reviews, and more.

As a special preview of what's to come here is one of my favortie commercials from when I was a kid, a 7-up commercial from the 80's.

Reasons to LOVE Halloween Day 3

In day 3, I give to the The Real Ghostbusters "The Halloween Door"

Just freakin AMAZING

Enjoy

E.T. the sh*t that scared me til I was 16

Yes it's true. I was scared, no frightened, no PETRIFIED of E.T. until I was 16.

My first introduction to E.T. was at 4 years old. We rented it from the Video Store. What's a video store, you ask? You see back in the day we had these big bulky things called VCRs..eff it, just google it.

I went the whole movie being OK. I kinda liked it, didn't understand it, but liked it. Then came the end. Oh man. E.T. was going home. I cried my ass off for a long time. Geez. Still gets me sometimes to this day, That's why I watch it when nobody else is home, because if anyone sees me being a pussy, I'm done for.

So I was fine. I loved it. But then came bed time.

It started with thinking E.T. was under my bed coming to get me. Then came the nightmares. I remember most vividly a dream where my Grandma and I were in the living room watching tv. There was a commercial for E.T. 2. Yes I know it was never made but hey, it's a dream. Then came a commercial for E.T. on ice. As if none of this was bad enough, I look out the window, and there's a big E.T. pushing a baby E.T. in a stroller. Then frightened as I was, I look for my Grandma to save me, but she was nowhere to be found! E.T.'s started popping up everywhere!!!

Then I woke up. Horrfied.

What looks like this to most

Looked like this to me

God it was scary.

Luckily though, I (kind of) grew up. 2002 saw the re-release of E.T. in theaters for the 20th anniversary. I manned up (as much as a 16 year old boy can do) and went to the first showing.

Oh My God! I loved it. I was no longer scared. I could now look at this movie, not as a source of torture and grandma-less nightmares, but as the classic that it truly was.

I think I ended up going to see it about 3 more times.

Today, I still love E.T. but I'll never, ever forget the anguish that the little bastard caused me for so many years.

Nintendo, the most innovative game system, for a couple years

I still have a NES. It's one of those things that every home in the country had when I was a kid. I got my first one for Christmas when I was 5.

The only game I had, for years and years was what came with the Nintendo. Super Mario Bros / Duckhunt. The games were so insanely expensive, even by 1990's standards, that if you wanted something else to play, you either rented it, or had a buddy that was an over privileged little bastard, and you played his.

You don't immediately realize it when you're a kid, but eventually Ninetendo was outdated. What? Outdated? No effin way.

Yep.

Sitting in the living room one night watching TV, here comes an ad for Super Nintendo.

Damn it.

No more being one of the cool kids. Now all of your friends would be playing Super Mario World, and you're still stuck trying to get past world 8.3 in the original.

I wouldn't get a SNES until I was 12, and even then, when I wanted Super Mario World, it came with a lame ass Mortal Kombat ripoff called Killer Instinct.

Below I leave you with a handful of old Nintendo ads, to take you back to a time where you saw the ad's and knew you were only cool enough to play Mario.

Reasons to LOVE Halloween Day 2

Here it is, day 2 of why we love Halloween so much!

In all it's splended glory, the full episode of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

Who can't resist laughing when Charlie Brown goes from house to house in a raggedy ghost costume only to continiue to exclaim "I got a rock..."

Random Garage Sale Hoard

Some days you wake up just knowing it's going to be a good day to be a nerd. Today, was one of those days. After work a little while ago, I stopped at a yard sale on my way home. My $15 and haggling with a toothless man, and his b*tch of a mom, yielded me these.

First up, a vintage Lando in skiff guard disguise for 50 cents. One of the small handful of vintage figures that I still actually need. I'm thinking he will look pretty damn good with Jabba the hutt.

Next up is 2 boxes of uneaten Star Wars episode 2 cereal that expired about 10 years ago. God knows what's inside.

Speeder Bike with Scout tropper in the box!

Boba Fett on a red card. Neede this for a while.

A wayyyy too buff looking Luke Skywalker on a red card from the first wave of POTF2.

And last, but damn sure not least, the Micro Machines Millenium Falcon playset, 99.99999% complete.

The stick that changed the world

What was it about Stick Stickly that made Nickelodeon afternoons so enjoyable? Better yet, why did they base a whole block of quality programming around a popsicle stick with eyes?

Either way, that whole summer was spent watching Stick Stickly in the afternoon. I even remember the jingle to write to him. Sad I know.

Now you wanna know what it was don't you?

"Write to me, Stick Stickly, PO Box 963. New York City, New York State 10108"

It takes a special person...

Stick wasn't alone either. He had Holly B Wood (her beeper's on and her hair looks good) who was nothing more than an ice cream stick with hair.

Perhaps the best segment was "Dip Stick" where fans could write in and choose what to dip him into.

Or there was that WHOLE SUMMER where a camera and a Popsicle stick went around finding celebrities to chew a gumball so that it could be put into the "Chewed Gumball hall of fame"

Oh the memories....

Cool new TMNT Facebook App

TMNTmask.com is a new Facebook app that you can use to give a photo of yourself a Ninja Turtle mask. Check it out!!

Sexy eh??

The fate of MY Green Ranger

Recently McDonalds was offering Power Rangers Samurai toys in their Happy Meals. When I saw that they had a Green Ranger, I had to get it.

Through a few days of getting boxes full of stale McNuggets, and a size of fries that wouldn't even please a midget, I finally scored the Green Ranger.

Little did I know that my 4 year old nephew also wanted, no needed, no HAD TO HAVE a Green Ranger. So, I did the nice thing that anybody would do, and begrudgingly gave him mine.

I was sad to see it go, I may have even cried on the inside for a little bit, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

Well, as fate would have it, he went to Mcdonalds a few day later, and he found one as well. Little did I know that after he "promised" to give mine back, he beheaded it.

Well shit. Now what was I to do? I have no Green Ranger, at least one that has a head.

Luckily for me, I went garage sailing last weekend. In a bin of toys, lay the Green Ranger. Some ungrateful little kid decided that Power Rangers were beneath him and he didn't want it. The asking price?? A whole nickel.

So there you have it, once again the world is a safe place, more so my shelf is a safe place for the Green Ranger.

The coolness of Ecto Cooler

Let's face it. We're all old now. But what we wouldn't give to have just one more box of Ecto Cooler.

This item was a must back in the day. We all sat about 3 inches from the TV even though grown ups told us it was bad for our eyes, and watched The Real Ghostbusters while drinking our Ecto Cooler.

This awesome product was on shelves until about 1997, which yes, was 15 years ago. In 15 years, our begging, pleading, screaming, and crying still haven't convinced Hi-C to put this back out. There are other forms of it under a different name, like Orange Lavaburst, but how can you mentally convinve yourself that you're drinking Ecto Cooler without being able to look down at the box and see Slimer?

If Hi-C would take 30 seconds and learn that this stuff is STILL in high demand, they could capitalize on the profits from Ghostbusters fans, nerds, and man children everywhere.

Todays secret word is.....

For the rest of the day, whenever anybody says the secret word, scream real loud!!!!!!!!!!!!

My most prized possesion

Yes, that is a copy of Ghostbusters signed by Ernie freakin Hudson!
And Yes, it says "To Andrew, Tell em about the Twinkie"

Retro Toy Review

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many Retro Toy reviews.

In the first installment we will review a piece I recently picked up for my collection. A piece I was too poor to afford in the 3rd grade. A piece so legendary it could only be called MEGAZORD.

When the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers craze took full effect in 1993, the shelves in toy stores around the world were littered with this stuff. Today I'm proud to say that I own some of this, but unfortunatley lots of it is still wayyy too expensive, even on Ebay.

Luckily a couple months ago I was able to find this. I have wanted it forever!

Behold, MEGAZORD.

Far cooler than every version that came after him. Megazord was made up of the Tyrranosauraus, Mastadon, Pterydactyl, Sabertooth Tiger and Triceritops.

While not extremley articulate by any means, when combined this badass toy towered over everything. I don't know how many times recently I have taken apart and put together this thing. Probably way too many considering I'll be 27 next month.

All in all, if I can't have the overpriced Dragon Dagger in my collection, I'll gladly take MEGAZORD (yes it has to be all caps, because he deserves it) any day of the week.

No dick drawings here.

I do own 2 of these. However what once what a piece of childhood innocence and a container filled with Jell-O Pudding and a warm sandwich, has been molested by the movie Superbad. While funny, and an appreciative Ghostbusters reference, I'm not sure I can look at these the same knowing that the character in the movie used this to hide penis drawings. What do you think?? Comment Below.

Review: New TMNT Figures

Not sure yet how to feel about this new version on TMNT. Sure it's great that it's living on, but look at them. Compared to what we grew up with, it's sooo far different. And replacing "Cowabunga" with "Booyakasha" seems like a felony.

I guess we will see on Saturday morning how this new version of Turtles stacks up.

Regardless, for about the last month the toys have been on shelves. I'm proud to say I've picked up all the basic figures, and a couple vehicles.

The new figures are all 4 Turtles, April, Splinter, Shredder, Krang and a Foot Soldier.

The figures look very much like their new cartoon counterparts. Blocky and strange. Yet they have certain attributes of the classic TMNT line. There's just something about seeing the Playmates logo on the package that takes you all the way back to when you got your first Turtle in 1988.

All figures were pretty easy to find. I started with all 4 Turtles because I figured that if it was anything like when I was a kid, all of today's kids would want them first.

However, all 4 turtles, as well as the rest of the set, have all been readily available wherever they are sold. The pegs have gotten kind of empty as build up to the cartoon has increased. Guess it pays off to get them early.

Each figure comes with accessories or weapons. Shredder looks like a jakked up version of his 1988 self, while Krang is not just Krang anymore, but one of a whole army of brain-like creatures who are a whole race called "Krang."

April looks very different from her 1988 self. Now she looks more like the April character from the cgi TMNT movie. Not sure is she'll be a news reporter or Baxter Stockmans assistant, or neither in this version.

Splinter has also taken a dramatic change as well. Gone is the old brown rat. Now he is replaced with a black/grey and white fur covered rodent. Still, he is the master, and you must bow to him.

All in all, I'm pretty excited about this new cartoon. Not only because TMNT lives on, but because now we have even more awesome crap to collect! Let's just hope that some of the big name actors they have hired to portray the voices dont demand tons of money or back out of the project. Nickelodeon seems to have a track record of letting things just disappear without notice.

Ninja Turtles, the cartoon that shaped our violent lives. Part 1

 

 

It's my theory that we were spoiled with awesomeness in the 80's and 90's. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a testiment to that. While there is a new cartoon premiering on Nickelodeon this Saturday (which I promise you I will be watching, taping, and re-watching) the origional is still, far and away the best.

 

The story of 4 mutated turtles, led by a rat to fight the evil Shredder and his Foot Soldiers is just another reason to love this time period.

 

Now kids wake up on Saturday morning with virtually no cartoons to watch, and what there is is just awful! We were treated to daily adventures of 4 pizza loving teens who, with the help of Splinter and April O'neill, kicked the asses of Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady. Even though each episode was fairly repetitive (Turtles do something, Shredder wants power and destruction, Turtles foil that plan) you ALWAYS tuned in right after school to watch.

 

This series had a great run up to about 1996. The last couple of seasons were a little less interesting, as the animation style totally changed. Everything was much darker, and post apocalyptic looking. But all in all, still one of my top 5 greatest cartoons ever.

 

In the future I'll be covering TMNT more. Not just the origional series, but Next Mutation, as well as the movies, the 2003 series, and the series set to begin Saturday. Perhaps I'll do a season by season review, or episode review. I'll even be covering the toys themselves!

 

Be sure to subscribe to this blog, and find me on Facebook under Andrew Boeche.

 

Totally, Amazing, Excellent Find!

So I had heard rumors that the Mattel Retro Real Ghostbusters figures had been spotted for $10 at TJ Maxx. Normally these things retail from anywhere between $20 and $30. To me, while worth it, I can take that  $30 to garage sales and thrift stores, and score wayyyyy more stuff. But I couldn't resist. I had to make a trip to TJ Maxx. This is too good of a deal to pass up.

I arrived, and rushed back to the toy section. Not immediatley seeing anything on a peg, I looked a little harder, and behold, there sitting behind some other junk was this:

And to make things even better, the $9.99 price tag had been reduced to $7.00. Another awesome find.

 

These figures are actually pretty cool. They look similar in packaging and design to the old MEGO figures from the 1970's. And who wouldn't love to have this hanging in their man cave with all their other toys?

LUNCH TIME!!!

What are you having today? You know you want a happy meal.

Reasons to LOVE Halloween Day 1

Starting today I am counting down the days until Halloween gets here. While Christmas is cool because of presents, Halloween is the one day a year I can leave the house dressed as a Ghostbuster and look normal!! Below is the first reason to love Halloween. Welcome to the real "Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

I present to you, in full Garfield's Halloween Adventure. Enjoy!

And don't forget to comment, follow, and share this blog!

Garfield Fruit Snacks! For the fat kid inside you.

If there was anything better to have in your lunchbox in the 90's than Garfield Fruit Snacks, I don't want to know about it. These were like crack, and far better than any other fruit snack then and now.

Go ninja go ninja go!

Heard this on the radio the other day. You're damn right I blasted it and sang along while some redneck in a pick up truck gave me a strange look. ENJOY!

The ad's that made you whine and cry til you got it! Part 1

Who didn't want an Ecto-1? Lucky for me, I have 3 of them. But I thought as a quick post, you all would enjoy this. Now watch it, and go call your parents and beg for it.

Green Ranger. Wayyyyy cooler than the others

Let's face it. If you grew up watching Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, you wanted to be Tommy. You didn't want to be Zach, you didn't care so much about Jason, and you certainly NEVER wanted to be Billy.

When Tommy came along, he blew everybody else out of the water.

You know that there was a pit in your stomach when Rita made the green candle and drained Tommy of his powers. You know that pit was kind of filled when he came back. You know that pit grew bigger when he went away again. And you know that you were all kinds of happy when he returned, yet again, as the White Ranger. Yet, somehow you know, deep deep down inside, that you always preferred the Green Ranger.

Tigerzord was cool, but it wasn't the Dragonzord you loved. Saba wasn't quite as neat as the Dragon Dagger. And the shield. who could forget the shield? There's just something about the gold and green that tops the black/gold/white any day.

What to write about??

Is there something from our childhood you would like to see covered?

All you have to do is comment below, and let me know.

Also I'm taking entries for guest bloggers. Anything you want to write about involving pop culture from the 80's or 90's. Write you entry, send it to me at apluspickers@yahoo.com, and it will be posted!!

Thanks for reading, and bookmark this page.

you can find me on Facebook under Andrew Boeche

Then and now

Just a quick post to show my love for Ghostbusters

First a photo from my 4th birthday party, complete with Ghostbusters cake

And next, last Halloween. My how times have changed, older, fatter, not as cute anymore.

My Favorite Toys, Part 1

I'm a big toy collector. Yes, I'll admit it, and no, I'm not a virgin.

In this series of posts, which I'll randomly do every now and then, I'm going to show you what I collect, and what some of my favorite toys from childhood are.

The first installment will reflect on my all time favorite, and most collected toys,

Produced by Kenner in 1986, these were easily a must have for me.

I can remember being 3 years old, it was right before Christmas. I whined, and begged and pleaded, wanting Ghostbusters toys. My parents kept saying "Santa will bring you some" but one night a trip to Wal-Mart, and lots of whining got me what I wanted.

My first Ghostbuster. A Fright Feature Egon. I'm happy to say I still have him in my collection to this very day. It didn't take too long for the tie to break, but they always did.

And then, the craze was on.

That Christmas I remember waking up at my Grandma's house in Nebraska City, NE. I was in the bathroom, and my dad says "Let's go see what Santa brought" Oh what a hoard it was.

Plenty of Ghostbusters, Pee-Wee Herman toys, the works. It was a good year.

And after that, it was just a matter of time until I had everything.

I still do. Mostly, except for about 2 figures, which I could easily get on Ebay, but don't want to pay what some douche bag thinks they're worth. Maybe one day I'll break down.

I now can say I have at least 3 of everything. I've had numerous people want them, and offer to buy them, but I'll never let them go. For me it's fun knowing that I have them and others don't. I still to this day acquire Ghostbusters items of all kinds.

Last week it was an Air Sickness figure with it's box. The other day it was a Kenner plush Stay Puft for 5 bucks. It's an addiction that won't go away.

The best thing is to find these toys at garage sales. The other day I scored another Granny Gross figure. Sometimes for a guy like me it's unsettling to know that this stuff is in other people's homes.

All the years later, the kid who used to cry every day when the Real Ghostbusters was over, prompting his mother to tape episodes so that I didn't have to cry anymore, grew up and is still just as in love with Ghostbusters. And always will be.

Welcome

Here in this blog, I intend to take to back. Back to a time where being a kid was cool. We had everything. Ghostbusters, TMNT, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers....the list goes on.

My goal is to take you through all the good, all the bad, all the ugly, or everything pop culture from the 1980's and 1990's.

Here you will find links to video's of childhood past, adn realize that nothing will ever compare to anything that we grew up with. Stay tuned, keep reading.

You can follow me on Facebook under Andrew Boeche.

Nick @ Nite, the thing that interrupted Nickelodeon

Every night when I was a kid, 8pm was the time I dreaded. My precious cartoons, and cheesy game shows ended in favor of old black and white grown up shows.

Yes, I'm talking about Nick @ Nite.

Being older now, I can appreciate classic TV shows. But at the age of 5, The Donna Reed show, Dragnet, and I Love Lucy couldn't hold a candle to Salute Your Shorts, Double Dare, and Nick Arcade.

Every night, you would eat dinner, you would watch Nickelodeon, then came that dreaded time. You had to take a bath. You didn't want to, but you couldn't avoid it. You run into your room, grab a few of your best action figures, and in you went, thinking your precious Nickelodeon was still going to be there when you got out. But just like a soldier who goes to war, only to come home and see his wife sleeping with his brother, Nickelodeon was gone. Instead of seeing Marc Summers and the slopsticle course, your eyes burned at the sight of Lucy and Ethel stuffing candy in their mouths from a conveyor belt moving too fast.

But never fear, you were forced to go to sleep anyway and when you woke up it would all come back. After The Real Ghostbusters was over, you could flip to Nickelodeon, and there it was. All the great cartoons and shows. David the Gnome, Eureka's Castle. All like an old friend waiting to see you. You were safe, back in the arms of everything good. Until 8pm that night.