Growing up, I remember that nothing would kill a Saturday morning faster than sports. Usually, it would hit around noon, and Saturday morning was officially over. Worse still is when it would happen early: You’d be sitting there, waiting for the next episode of a favorite show, and next thing you know, “a special sports presentation” or some-such.

And now, it sounds like a whole new generation is going to get to experience the anguish.

Bonus fun fact: When I was a kid, I did not like wrestling, so those odd times where a WWF program would interrupt my fun led to the same sort of anguish. It’s almost ironic, in a way.

via The Allspark.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Compare, if you will. Footage from the new TransFormers: Revenge of the Fallen video game from Activision:

The old theme song for WWE tag team partners and brothers, the Hardy Boyz:

From Japan, with things like Guns ‘n Roses sneaking into Mega Man X games through chiptune remixes, I can understand. But an American company using a theme from another American company, the two of which are not related? Perhaps there was a licensing agreement for it? I’d have to see the credits of the TransFormers: Revenge of the Fallen video game to really know for sure, and I’m nowhere near that happening. Maybe I’ll just try asking.

In any case, I have no real problems with it; it just came as a complete surprise, and a pleasant one at that.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

So, TransFormers: Revenge of the Fallen. I won’t go into too much detail here, at least plot/spoiler-wise, but…

I liked it.

Mind, I question whether or not I am any accurate barometer for anyone else to decide whether or not to watch the movie. Some things to note:

For one, I seem to have low standards for movies. Rarely can I think of one that I really just don’t like that I’ve seen. Street Fighter Alpha Generations comes to mind, but that’s really all that I can think of off the top of my head. That said, I enjoyed the Raul Julia Street Fighter movie, and the way I refer to it may give some idea as to why. Of course, I may simply have blocked out other, less pleasant experiences.

For another thing, after everything I heard before walking into the theater, I’ll admit I set my expectations incredibly low. I had heard that the movie was basically Michael Bay showing disdain for his audience, and for that alone I wanted to go. Most of my hype came from seeing trailers for the game, rather than the movie itself (especially after Animated got axed so we can see these toys sitting on shelves for a year). Read the rest of this entry »

Does anyone have any of those old Christmas Wishbook catalogs from the likes of JC Penny, Sears, or if you’re in the right region for it, Belk? Or perhaps other such stores?

For the uninformed, “wishbooks” were pretty much what they sounded like: phonebook-thick catalogs full of merchandise which could be ordered from its respective store, and in addition to the usual clothes and “practical” stuff one might find year-round, there would also be considerably-sized sections dedicated to toys, video games, and other such fun stuff.

I’m mainly looking for such catalogs from 1980 to… oh, I’d say about 1995 or so, whatever I can get ahold of, or take off one’s hands, for something I’m working on. If you’re able to contribute, please respond below.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

It’s funny how some names find their way into the common, every day vernacular. Band-aids for adhesive bandage strips, Kool-Aid for sugary fruit-flavored drink mixes, or even Coke for just about any soda that a person can’t bother remembering the name of, but are still sure to get upset about when you give them an actual Coke.

Video games, of course, are not immune to this. I’m not sure how many reading this know or were aware, but back in the days when the Nintendo Entertainment System revived the home video game industry, it had the same sort of effect. Most people never used the “Entertainment System” suffix, and the abbreviation “NES” seemed nearly as rare, shy of in enthusiast publications. People just called it the “Nintendo.” Even if you were playing another console entirely, you weren’t playing video games; you were playing “Nintendo.” Read the rest of this entry »

Well, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon was certainly interesting: He had Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell on as a guest.

And I don’t mean Mark-Paul Gosselaar. I mean Zack frickin’ Morris.

It was really wild; he looked just like he did back then– I almost wondered if they did the same thing they used on Patrick Stewart in X-Men Origins: Wolverine or Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Salvation. But for a late night show? I very much doubt it.

It was total fanservice; he never broke character, even going so far as to pull out that old brick of a cell phone when “Jessie” called. Seems that Fallon is putting together a SBTB 20th anniversary reunion, and so far Mr. Belding/Dennis Haskins, Lisa/Lark Voorhees, Slater/Mario Lopez, Jessie/Elizabeth Berkley, and Zack/Mark-Paul Gosselaar are all in.

Oh, what am I talking about it here for? Turns out, the show has an embed, and the segment is posted already:

In hindsight, I think SBTB is hokey as all hell now, yet still somewhat enjoyably so, perhaps even because of its hokeyness. But nonetheless, this was an odd pleasure to see, especially with how tongue-in-cheek it was, and I hope Fallon is able to assemble the whole crew. I might just tune in to see that.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Today has been kind of depressing, and I wish I had managed to post this before the day would end. Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that today marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Owen Hart, who was one of my favorite wrestlers leading up to his untimely death.

I’m really not sure what else to add about this; he was a joy to watch in the ring, and listening to stories from those around him makes me wish I’d gotten to meet him in person. He may never have held the WWF World Title, but I’ll always see him as a true champion.

To mark the occasion, Pulse Wrestling has posted a few stories relating to Owen Hart that are worth a look, assuming you’re into wrestling at all. And perhaps even if not. Either way, they do well to articulate some of the things I’ve thought, yet haven’t found a way to say them.

Remembering Owen Hart, Ten Years Later

Owen Hart’s Top Ten Matches in the WWF

How Has Owen Hart’s Death Changed Wrestling?

In addition, I’ve always felt a certain unease about Owen never claiming the World title. Prior to WrestleMania 25 this year, however, some words from Triple H (like him or not), managed to put me at ease. You can hear what he says in the interview here.

Nonetheless, I still think he should have gotten to hold the belt, even if he was nothing more than a transitional champion.

R.I.P., Owen.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

In 1986, there was the animated TransFormers: The Movie.

In 1986, there was the animated My Little Pony: The Movie.

In 1987, there was the animated G.I. Joe: The Movie.

In 2007, there was the live-action TransFormers movie.

In 2009, there will be the live-action G.I. Joe movie.

That means there is only one thing left.

“Forget the Fallen… Say No to Joe… This Summer Action Walks On All Fours:”

“With Hollywood running out of ideas for big budget summer movies – we fear this toy to movie cross over isn’t far off.”

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Source: The Allspark

In writing the post about TransFormers‘ anniversary, I very nearly forgot to mention that today is also the 44th birthday of Capcom’s answer to Nintendo maestro Shigeru Miyamoto, Keiji Inafune!

For those who aren’t familiar with the name, Mr. Inafune is a pretty high-level guy at Capcom, approving all kinds of crazy stuff like Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando, serving as Producer and creator of games such as Lost Planet, Dead Rising, and one other little franchise you might have heard of: Mega Man.

Inafune began as a staff artist for the company, originally assigned to work on the first Street Fighter, but soon moved to one of Capcom’s first attempts at a video game created from the ground up for the NES in Mega Man. But though he is often credited as the father of the Blue Bomber, in actuality he did not create the character. As he reveals in a 2007 GameSpot interview, “I’m often called the father of Mega Man, but actually, his design was already created when I joined Capcom.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the TransFormers franchise. Well, the observed anniversary, anyway; as G.B. Blackrock details on The Allspark, a specific date of Hasbro announcing the toyline or finding the airdate of the first commercial would be entirely too difficult, if not impossible. Ergo, the date of choice is that of the release of the first issue of the comic book from Marvel.

A number of us are making special blog entries today to commemorate the event, and you can find out who else is in at Blackrock’s Bloggers Unite page. I myself have not really had any solid idea of what to write about; there are just so many facets to the TransFormers franchise to think about. So, I’m simply going to write about my history with TransFormers.
Read the rest of this entry »