Fri, 9 May 2008
Category: 80s TV Guide Fall Preview Issues -- posted at: 10:35 AM Comments[3] |
Tue, 6 May 2008 ![]() Before I jump into this week's Peel Here I wanted to take a second to say that I'm making a little head way on the Branded in the 80s print edition/magazine front. For two days I was able to hold the finished product in my hand, though sadly because of annoying circumstances I had to send the entire batch of magazines back to the printer to be fixed. The light at the end of the tunnel (at least for my own poor nerves) is that I think I did the best job I was able to with the time I had, and even though it's not exactly what I want the magazine to be, it's a very exciting first step. I can't wait to take these up to Wizard World Chicago at the end of June (where I'll be exhibiting in Artist's Alley.) If nothing else, it's got me jazzed to work on future issues, which has in turn started the creative cogs in my brain turning (though they're heavy and quite sluggish at the moment.) If all goes well, I should have a link up to purchase the book sometime right after WW: Chicago. Lets get on to the meat of today's post though with my almost complete collection of the Topps Back to the Future II sticker cards from 1989. I've been working on this site for just over two years now and I can't believe that I've yet to talk about this film series all that much. I have a very vivid memory of going to see the first film on the 4th of July at a theater near the Altamonte Springs mall near Orlando, Florida back in 1985. It was a packed house and by the time my family made our way into the screening room the only seats left were smack dab in the front row all the way on the right. It was my first experience truly seeing a film that appeared larger than life, and it completely blew me away. After the flick there were fireworks, hotdogs, and plenty of begging my parents to replace the family copper colored Mazda 626 with a De Lorean DMC-12. Though my parents never caved under my pressure (nor did they when I begged them to get a Lamborghini), there was one family in our neighborhood who was jazzed enough to buy one and you can imagine how often I would go out of my way to pass by their house on my way to school. As an 8 year-old who looked up to Michael J. Fox as if he were my own older brother, I took a special pain at the 'To Be Continued' title card at the end of the first flick. When was I ever going to see the further adventures of Doc & Marty in their wonderful time machine? The four years until the release of the sequel in 1989 were a special little hell for me, particularly in the 80s world sans the internettubes for news and rumors to tide me over. Unfortunately, by the time it did roll around I was already switching gears (in the fanatic department), becoming a bona fide Bat-a-holic the summer before BTTF2 was released. That didn't stop me from seeing the flick mind you, I was just in a different headspace than when I saw the original. It didn't help that there were some subtle cast changes (Crispen Glover was replaced by Jeffrey Weissman and Claudia Wells was replaced by Elisabeth Shue) and that the flick was playing off of the whole 'actor playing multiple parts' thing that Eddie Murphy was beginning to make a career out of. For some reason that just didn't play well for me the first time around. ![]() The one aspect I seem to remember the most from the BTTF2 release was a promotional tie-in at our local Pizza Hut. They were giving away goofy futuristic sunglasses (in all sorts of wacky shapes and colors) with the purchase of a personal pan pizza (I believe, my memory is a little cloudy on this.) My pair were yellow and pink and featured weird triangular frames. As far as these sticker cards go, they aren't bad though they're a little too over-produced for my liking. For some reason the designers of these stickers omitted the die-cut feature which was so prominent in Topps sticker card fare up to this point, and were in full blown advertising mode, what with each sticker featuring a giant logo with the title of the flick. I'm missing card #5 from the set, and for once Jeff Allender's House of Checklists has let me down as far as determining whose mug is on that sticker. Otherwise, I'm a tad disappointed that there weren't more characters featured (a future/old Biff pairing would have been nice), but at least the designers didn't eschew Doc completely in favor of Marty. ![]() There are also a couple nice shots of the De Lorean, both a practical image (directly above) and a painting (sticker card #1.) ![]() As far as the puzzle on the back of the stickers goes, it didn't hurt all that much to be missing #5 as it was a bottom corner piece and it doesn't interrupt the flow of the painting all that much. ![]() Anyway, I should be back this week with another vintage issue of the TV Guide Fall Previews, most likely from 1982. Also, I'd like to put a shout out for a list I put together of all the 80s cartoons available on official DVD releases in the US. Not only is this functioning as a checklist for releases, but it's also a way you can help support Branded in the 80s if you so desire. By clicking on any of the titles (which will take you to that cartoon's Amazon.com listing) and then making any purchases, a percentage of the purchase will bounce back to me here, which I'll use to fund the site. No pressure, just wanted to let everyone know that it's there. So until next time, make sure you don't mack on your mom if you find yourself traveling through time… Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 2:00 PM Comments[1] |
Thu, 1 May 2008 I guess if I'm going to do a 10+ week series of these TV Guide Fall Preview issues from the 80s, I'm gonna have to slap together some sort of banner. Feels weird staring off a post all wordy like this. Anyhoo. *Update* As you can see the banner is done. I was thinking again about the dates on the lot of vintage issues I picked up a while ago, and like most wonderings I have concerning stuff on the site, I always seems to come back to that time travel concept from Quantum Leap where Sam can only leap around in his own timeline. Last week for instance, I didn't have a whole lot of specific memories about the shows (or whatnot) in the preview issue because I was only four years-old at the time, spending most of my waking hours in front of cartoons or Tonka trucks. But I kept thinking about it and I decided that this series of posts wouldn't feel complete until I found the issues from '77-'80, so I jumped on eBay and picked up a cheap copy of the 1980 Fall Preview issue, (and am currently bidding on the others I'll need.) Last up in these first five scans we also have a K-Mart ad for one heck of a crazy audio set-up. It's a five-in-one system with a stereo, turn table, dual cassette decks, 8-Track player, and even comes with two microphones, speakers and a nice looking set of headphones. Crazy. I think I could actually use something like this now, well if it had a usb port that is. It's make for one heck of a podcasting unit with built in vintage vintage audio media capabilities.
Category: 80s TV Guide Fall Preview Issues -- posted at: 10:02 AM Comments[3] |
Tue, 29 April 2008
Something that I don't have nearly enough of in my vintage sticker collection is food premiums. If stickers fit the definition of ephemera, that stickers which were only available as prizes or extras with either prepackaged or fast food should (in my mind) be a great example of ultra rare ephemera. I've talked about this before, but the idea that full sheets of stickers from 20-odd years ago are still floating around on the secondary market is just amazing to me considering they were designed to be peeled and stuck to things. For me, the disposability of a sticker premium is just tripled. Not only are these stickers blatant advertising from the product purchased, but also it's not something chosen by the owner. Who buys a box of cereal just to get some stickers? Okay, as I typed that last sentence I realized that there are actually a lot of kids (and grown-ups) who might do just that, but even so aside from sticking them in a sticker book or on the side of a bureau or shelf, who is keeping these mint on either their original backing or in the cellophane they came wrapped in? Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 10:32 AM Comments[7] |
Thu, 24 April 2008 ![]() About a year or so ago I stumbled upon something pretty cool on eBay that I thought would be fun to share on Branded in the 80s, namely an almost complete run of TV Guide Fall Preview issues for the eighties (1981-1990.) I'd still like to locate the issues from 77-80, but instead of putting this off any longer, I thought I'd go ahead and start posting the highlights from these issues. My family was TV Guide-oholics while I was growing up. First off we didn't have a television with a remote until I was in high school, and we didn't have a remote controlled cable box until a couple years before that. Up until then, all throughout the 80s we had those old cable boxes that had a slide lever that you pushed to the right to get into the higher numbered channels and to the left to get to the lower numbered channels. It was one of those types of boxes that you family's drunk acquaintances would swear could pick up the pay channels for free if you just stuck a playing card between the lever and the receptor inside. Ours were typically connected to the TV by an extra long cord that was always stretched across the living room so that my dad could toggle through the channels while he lay on the couch. Anyway, because channel surfing was a little more archaic and because none of us cared for the one channel that would flash programming for all the other channels (what's become the TV Guide channel oddly enough), we lived by our weekly TV guide digest. On Satudays my mom would come home with the weekly groceries and I'd always dive into the bags looking for our copy of the guide so that I could flip straight to the 'Movies' section to see what was playing on the pay cable channels. We only ever subscribed to HBO and I was always dying to see what was going to be on that week, not to mention lamenting what I couldn't see on Showtime or Cinemax. Sure, we also received the HBO guide by mail once a month, but my parents usually swiped it up and it would soon disappear never to be found again. I would also roughly plan out my Saturday morning, trying to come up with the best way to navigate through the cartoons on the various channels, though ultimately I would always end up sitting in front of the TV and switching between toons, mid-show. Of course, the best issue only came out once a year, the Fall Preview edition which showcased all of the new programming on the main three networks. As I mentioned above, the earliest issue in the lot I picked up was the 1981 edition. I was only four at the time, so I doubt I flipped though this particular issue, and with a few exceptions, I don't remember many of the new shows that were offered up. I still can't help but smile while looking though it though. Actually, another interesting aspect of the TV Guide is that it's geared towards local markets, so every week there should be at least 100 to 200 different editions depending on where you live in the country. Though most of the up front and cable material is the same, there are some interesting bits of local flair in the middle. Most of the issues in the stack I purchased were from California, and in the small region that was actually lucky enough to pick up Channel Z (there's a great documentary on Z Channel that gives background on the whole phenomenon), so it's kind of a kick to see what was playing through out part of the 80s. Anyway, without further to do, here are a bunch of thumbnail that link to larger scans from the issue… ![]() I think it's weird that the artist who mocked up the cover chose to put a ring on what I assume is a lady's hand drawing back the right side of the curtains. I don't know why I find it weird, but I do. Though there were plenty of cigarette and liquor ads, the one that caught my eye first which a whopping 6-page Sears spread featuring all sorts of appliances and electronics. From $400 dollar monstrously sized microwave ovens (though they allude could cook a whole turkey, though I wouldn't want to eat it) and surprisingly modern-priced washer and dryer units, to pricey TVs (with Super Chromix picture tubes) and $800 Betamax players. Interesting side note on the Super Chromix picture tubes, I distinctly remember putting my face up so close to the TV glass that I could only see the weird green, blue, red color bars. I always wondered how it could look so good from far away and so simple up close. Ah the wonders of science and technology, and stupid kids smudging their grubby faces on TV screens… ![]() I didn't scan in every TV show preview page, but I tried to snag the ones with some recognizable faces, like the above show King's Crossing with a young Linda Hamilton. The one show out of this entire book that I wish I had paid attention to at the time was the show The Powers of Matthew Star. It sounds like an 80s version of Smallville, except the dude had a kickass spear! ![]() I also tried to scan in shows that have since become pop culture icons, like Simon and Simon above. Believe it or not, I have never seen a single episode of that show. My wife is ashamed of me. I also thought it was kind of weird how openly liquor used to be advertised with soda brands. The above Bacardi ad is only one of like three in this issue alone that has major brand sodas in them, advertising the beauty of a mixed drink. Does this ever happen anymore? Of course I was all over the Saturday Morning cartoon ads in the TV Guides I bought. These make wonderful companion pieces to the ads I've already posted from the various comics books of the 80s. This one above fills in the 1981 ABC gap in my original post. There was also a tiny ad for one of the ABC Weekend Special cartoons which I vaguely remember catching every once in awhile… Category: 80s TV Guide Fall Preview Issues -- posted at: 4:08 PM Comments[5] |
Mon, 21 April 2008 ![]() Wow, times flies around here when I'm not posting on a more regular basis. I'm more or less out of the weeds in terms of being busy (crossing my fingers and toes), so hopefully I'll get back on track with a weekly or twice weekly schedule sometime soon. But no one wants to hear about my time management issues… In other Branded in the 80s news, if you've been following my Twitter feed at all (in the left-hand menu bar toward the bottom, you've probably guess that I've been working on a site related project for the last month or so. Actually, it's more of an experiment. I've been working on a print edition of the website, a magazine of sorts that I'm going to debut this year at Wizard World Chicago. The first issue is going to be a 20 page pocket-sized magazine containing 4 articles and some other fun stuff. In addition, I'll also have an 8 page Micro Magazine in a similar format to the pocket-sized book, which will contain one article, but will a have a cheaper price point. Basically, the magazine is an experiment to see if I can generate a little bit of money to go towards upkeep on the site (hosting, fees, etc.) as well as generating a little bit of petty cash to put towards vintage content materials (stuff to share on the site.) Both books are currently off to the printers, and if everything goes according to plan (I've drugged B.A. for the flight, registered my artist alley table for Wizard World, packed plenty of excess cats so ALF can having something to snack on during the trip up, etc.) I'll have them in hand within the next few weeks. I'm going to take the initial batch with me to the con, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of copies left over to sell on the site. Again, this is an experiment. If all goes smoothly then I've been thinking of putting out a larger book (both in page count and physical dimensions) quarterly or so. We shall see. Getting back to Peel Here though, this week I thought I'd throw up something that just barely makes the cutoff in terms of 80s nostalgia. I've always been a firm believer in the idea that a decade isn't defined necessarily by the actual dates (e.g. 1980-1989) but by the pop culture fads and such. When you stop and think about it the first few years of most decades tend to feel more in place with the previous one. When I think about the 60s, I picture hippies, the later Beatles, the Munsters, peace signs and Vietnam, all of which is more or less '65 and up. The initial explosion of the Beatles, the Mods, Kennedy, etc., that all feels more in line with the late 50s to me. Same with the 80s. The arcade explosion, Atari's, knee-high socks, stripped ringer T-shirts with iron-ons, Star Wars, this all feels more like the 70s, while He-Man, G.I. Joe, Nintendo's, the surf and skate craze, Punky Brewster, etc, all feels like the 80s to me. Going along with this, the first couple of years during the 90s feel a lot like the 80s. The end of hair-metal and pop R&B, Batman Returns, and the Beetlejuice cartoon, this is all residual 80s pop culture in my opinion. I know this seems like I'm going overboard a little on proof-of-concept, but I'm a stickler for details and when I see the '1990' date on the stickers below it puts me off a little. It's like when I hear people mentioning Tiny Tunes, the Animaniacs, and Captain Planet as 80s cartoons, when they are both the 90s and feel like it as well. Beetlejuice on the other hand feels, at least to me, more like the 80s as it debuted in '89 and is tied to the titular film of the same name (which is very 80s.) Anyway, that's enough of my anal decade squabbling; let's get onto the stickers. These are part of a subset of trading cards that were issue by Dart FlipCards in 1990. Thought he card set was very similar to the standard Topps fare of the 80s, they were a little more in-tune with the 90s card sets in that they were printed on cleaner, nicer cardstock, and the stickers that were included were a little more like the Panini sticker book stickers (they're printed on thin flimsy paper and are a tad smaller than the card set itself.) The big draw of this set is that all of the stickers featured glow-in-the-dark artwork… ![]() Though I haven't seen an episode of the cartoon since 1993 or so, I remember loving it to pieces because of its then new mixture of CGI and traditional animation (something I'm all that keen on anymore, at least not in general.) I also loved the way the series turned the movie's concept on its head by making Lydia and Beetlejuice friends, again something that I probably wouldn’t care as much today. I think this stems from my love of the BJ character and the fact that even though he might seem like the main character in the movie, he's only in like 17 minutes of footage while the rest is taken up primarily by Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones. It was really cool to get a chance to explore the neitherworld and watch Beetlejuice go nuts. As far as this sticker set goes, I was a little under-whelmed in that it doesn't really feature the cast of characters from the cartoon all that well. There is a lot of miscellaneous imagery on the stickers, which though cool, isn't quite what I'd like. I guess I was hoping for another Lydia sticker or two, or one featuring the Monster Across the Street. Heck there are three skeleton themed stickers on this first bit above, any of those could have been Jacques LaLean ![]() As far as the glow-in-the-dark gimmick, some work better than others. Sticker #9 above is pretty cool in that the blob of 'gitd' at the bottom of the picture is in the outline of two people (no doubt getting the wits scarred out of them by that monster.) On the other hand, in sticker #14 the blob of 'gitd', though obviously a monster, is sort of lost in all the black in the background, and even when glowing is still sort of non-descript. ![]() At the end of the day, after reading about these stickers online I was hoping for more like #20, basic character poses. I did my best to try and scan one of these while it was all charged and glowing, but it didn't quite turn out as I hoped… ![]() …but I think you can sort of get the point. Hopefully I'll be back this week with something other than a late Peel Here to post, but we shall see… Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 2:12 PM Comments[3] |
Mon, 7 April 2008 ![]() Well, if anyone is wondering why the posts have slowed down so much lately, there is a reason, and it's far from something bad. In fact, it's pretty cool, but I don't want to spill the beans completely until I have more solid confirmation (though I haven't been keeping it all that secret...) Regardless, I thought I'd take a second and throw up a quick edition of Peel Here to keep the fires stoked and burning around here. This week I'm going to share my last two sets of Colorforms Lazer Blazers hologram stickers that I have in my collection. First up I have one of my Holy Grail items in my quest to find vintage stickers, the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons LB set. I was pretty hot to get these because they have proven to be the hardest to find, and they do occasionally pop up on eBay, the most expensive Lazer Blazers by far. I've been in two furious bidding wars, and both times the other guy was willing to pay far more than I could or would, so I sort of stooped to a kind of low to get these. Actually, I never really purchased the stickers themselves, but instead, I contacted one of the sellers who listed them, and I offered to pay for a decent sized scan instead. Not one of my finer moments, but I feel justified in that I now at least have them to share… ![]() Like most of the D&D merchandising in the 80s, these have nothing to do with the Saturday morning cartoon, and everything to do with a the actual role playing game (though a couple of these characters do make an appearance in the show.) I've talked about him before, but I had a weird crush on the Warduke character (who is in the package art as well as on the bottom left sticker) as a kid as I had the toy and I always thought he looked pretty darn evil. Up next we have one of the three more girl-oriented Lazer Blazer sets, the 1983 Barbie stickers… ![]() For once, the prismatic rainbow color effect of the hologram technology is put to an almost perfect use. Besides these two packages (and the nine I put up in past columns), I know of at least four more sets and a binder that were produced between 1983 and 1985. There was a My Little Pony set, which also probably looked pretty good in holo-colors, a Beastman themed Masters of the Universe set, a set of generic (non-branded) unicorns, and a set of rainbows. Though I've already posted these, here are the rest of the ones in my collection, so that in the future I can refer to this one Lazer Blazers post. Enjoy! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 3:01 PM Comments[1] |
Wed, 26 March 2008 ![]() As a quick aside before I plunge into the Peel Here column proper I'd like to say that I finally bit the bullet and picked up a rather expensive copy of the very first Choose Your Own Adventure style book. It's called Sugarcane Island and Edward Packard wrote it in 1969. As the story goes he came up with the idea while thinking of bedtime stories for his three children; he found probably one of the most useful ways of taking advantage of the 2nd person point of view in writing (at least in my humble opinion), which is a very tricky way of putting the reader into the shoes of a story's protagonist. This way he could involve his children in the stories more, handing over the controls to them so to speak and giving them opportunities to decide how the story would play out. Anyway, it was a pesky book to try and find. I couldn't locate a non-branded copy to save my life, so I had to settle for the version that was printed under the Which Way banner in '78 (it was also published again under the Choose Your Own Adventure series in the 80s, but it was modified and updated, and I really wanted the original.) Picking Sugarcane Island up means that I can finally start working on showcasing a bunch of these decision-style books in a new column on the site. So, with that little bit of news out of the way, lets move on to the meat of today's post, my meager collection of ALF stickers… ![]() I don't think I really have to give any background on the character, as he was practically a rock star in the late 80s for a number of years. The 1986 ALF sitcom and franchise was pretty darn big spawning four seasons of the live action show, a couple of cartoon series, at least one popular plush doll, and a bevy of merchandise including stickers. Though I watched the live action show (to the blank stares and amazement of my parents) and the first cartoon series quite a bit, I really didn't get into any of the ancillary merchandising, stickers included. I did manage to procure some of the more common stuff on eBay like the puffy stickers above (which were released by Russ in 1987.) ![]() There were also a couple of series of ALF cards issued by Topps in 1987-88, and a series called the U.S. of ALF (issued by Zoot in 1987.) The below sticker cards are from the second Topps ALF series in 1988… ![]() I freaking love his skinny tie in sticker #27. There’s also a nice bit of airbrushed artwork in this next set… ![]() And of course there was the obligatory puzzle poster that came along with the set… ![]() I really need to go back and watch the TV series, as I haven't seen it since it aired. I still find incredible that we managed to get four seasons of a show with a guy in a little furry suit as the main character, on prime time TV no less. There's no way that would work in today's TV environment, not unless ALF was invited to take part in the Surreal Life or something (and I'd love to see the logistics of that happening…) Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 2:06 PM Comments[2] |
Tue, 18 March 2008 ![]() This week's Peel Here is brought to you by insane side effects to prescribed medications. Have you ever heard of nightmares as being a side effect to medication? I hadn't, yet for the last week I've had the weirdest dreamscapes that I can't help but describe as nightmares (if only because they wrecked my much needed sleepy time.) It's right there on the pill bottle as well, nightmares. Anyway… I've been meaning to get to the following set of stickers for awhile, but for some reason kept putting it off, so this week I'm going to rectify the situation by presenting the complete Cyndi Lauper sticker card collection from Topps (1985.) ![]() I wouldn't say I was a huge Lauper fan growing up, but it sure was hard to escape her image and music in my household. My sister had the She's So Unusual record on regular rotation and thanks to her odd cross promotion with the WWF and her songs in the Goonies flick I seemed to always be running into that bright orange and blonde hair. It also didn't hurt that I was addicted to the "We Are the World" song and video like most everybody else in the early 80s. A little later on my Mom became a huge fan after the release of the "I Drove All Night" single, which she played more often than my sister played the SSU album. Heck, I'd also be the first to admit that I started wearing multicolored jelly bracelets around that time as well. I'm not a slave to fashion, but I am impressionable from time to time. ![]() Though the design on the Michael Jackson and Menudo sticker cards seemed to scream the 80s, I'd have to say that this set takes the cake in terms of being patently iconic of the decade. As if Cyndi wasn't vibrant and in your face enough as it is, these background sticker design is insane. Though we do get an appearance by Captain Lou Albano (mainstay of her videos and possible nemesis to her wrestling persona –I just don't remember), I was kind of bummed by how static the set seems in terms of imagery. Granted, I realize the set is supposed to be Lauper-centric but I think there needed to be a little more variation, possibly by including the pictures from her album cover or something. ![]() ![]() The other thing I just thought of is how much Lauper reminds me of Diz Aster from the Nickelodeon show Out of Control (she was the one with the shrill aaaeeeeoooo aaaeeeeooo cry.) Well, actually, I think I have that backwards as Aster was probably a play on Cyndi Lauper. Anyway, this set of sticker cards also breaks convention a little by offering one huge 15-card puzzle poster instead of two smaller ones like the Menudo and Michael Jackson sets… ![]() It's kind of weird now that I think back on it. I have a weird thing with ages and stuff, and it's hard to believe that Cyndi Lauper is just about my Mom's age. I don't know why it seems weird, but I guess I always thought she was around my sister's age because I aquated her to my sister since she was the 'fan'. Anyhoo... Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 3:22 PM Comments[1] |
Fri, 7 March 2008 ![]() I think I'm going to take a little break from Garbage Pail Kids here on Peel Here for a bit, if only to get the sticker columns flowing again. I still have to scan in four or so sets of sticker cards and I keep pushing it off when I'm at home. On the other hand, I still have plenty of other stickers that I scanned a good bit ago, and I kind of want to switch gears for awhile. For today I thought I'd bust out with my collection of Rambo stickers, which were part of a subset of Topps cards that came out in conjunction with the second flick, First Blood, Part 2 (probably the silliest name for a movie ever.) Though the film's title is pretty weak, its star certainly is not. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that at the time First Blood, Part 2 hit theaters Sly Stallone was probably hitting the height of his popularity, as were the 80s action flicks he helped usher into the decade. For my money this is about as far as an action flick could go, crazy believability-wise, without side stepping into fantasy, sci-fi, or becoming a parody. Don't get me wrong, it's not really all that believable, but it's not quite Commando either (also don't get me wrong redux, I love both flicks, in particular Commando.) I wasn't allowed to watch the flick when it first came out, I was still a couple years away from completely breaking my parents of their justified urge to try and shield my 8 year-old eyes from uber violence. This didn't stop me, and an entire generation of young boys, from idolizing the film, character and man by lusting after lunchboxes, T-Shirts, branded school supplies, and the coup de grace, the plastic replica hunting knife (with realistic hollowed out handle containing fake matches, string, and other odds and ends, and capped off with a glass compass. That knife was my generation's Red Rider BB Gun. If I remember correctly the knife also came packaged with a glow-in-the-dark replica of his little jade pendant necklace. Anyway, this subset of cards was released in 1985 by Topps and contained 22 stickers, the backs of which made the standard puzzle poster… ![]() As far as Topps sticker subsets go, this is probably one of the loudest in terms of design and color choices. Other than the fact that there were already a ton of sets that featured Red borders, I'm not sure why they didn't choose to go with that, or a nice hunter green. The yellow just sort of hurts my eyes. I also think the die-cut on the stickers is kind of boring, and since it encompasses the movie title and card number anyway, it's sort of pointless. As far as the choices for screen captures go, I don't blame the designers in pretty much completely sticking to Sly in fun action poses, though I'll be honest, I was kind of hoping that there would have been a torture rack sticker (as inappropriate as it may have been.) I guess I'll just have to live with the skinny dip into the muddy leach water instead (in this next set of stickers…) ![]() One thing I found kind of odd about the pictures on the stickers was that there seemed to be an awful lot of captures where Stallone is reaching or jumping up with arms outstretched. There's a fourth one in the next set below. Just seems like a red flag would have been raised in the design process. I wonder how many kids opened up a pack of cards and were supremely bummed by getting a Richard Crenna or a Julia Nickson sticker? ![]() If nothing else, I'm glad they included the two pieces of poster art (above) as stickers. I've always been a fan of this, if only because poster art used to be so awesome in the 80s what with all the paintings and stuff. Beats the heck out of all the bad Photoshop jobs we see these days. ![]() ![]() Category: 80's Stickers -- posted at: 2:45 PM Comments[0] |















































































































