BRBTV News Blog: January 2019

Monday, January 21, 2019

Terrific non-TV Toys: Queen diecast collector car

There is an object lesson in the life of Freddie Mercury. Probably more than one. He lived life big. He didn’t make apologies for it. And he had the ability to not give a $&#@)* what people thought of him. By some accounts, that ability was not innate. He had to learn it, had to teach it to himself, actually, in response to being a foreigner in England as a teen, one author wrote. But it is a rare and marvelous quality indeed, especially in this Facebook age we live in.

With the recent release of the movie on Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” we turn our attention to a piece of Queen merchandise for the latest installment of Terrific non-TV Toys. This collector car is part of a set released by Racing Champions a couple decades ago. In honor of Freddie, along with bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, it comes out of the box for the very first time by a lifelong Queen fan ...

Monday, January 07, 2019

Terrific TV Toys: "The New Archies" production cel

Archie Comics has had several great TV shows over the years, up to and including the current "Riverdale" drama airing on the CW. All the others have been animated (unless you count the 1990 "To Riverdale and Back Again" TV movie special). And sandwiched in-between the Archie cartoons that people remember best from the 1960s and '70s (like "The U.S. of Archie" for the Bicentennial, for us '70s kids!), and the more-recent "Archie's Weird Mysteries," there was a cute little show in 1987 called "The New Archies."

Back in the 1980s there was what we might call a "baby craze" in animation. "Muppet Babies," "Flintstone Kids," "Tiny Toon Adventures," even "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo." The trend was to take well-loved and well-known cartoon characters and making them younger. "The New Archies" was an outgrowth of that, with Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica being in junior high school rather than high school. Skateboards and bikes rather than cars. The brainy Eugene rather than Dilton Doiley. Those were the major differences in this alternate take on Riverdale produced by DiC Entertainment for only one season, to the tune of 14 episodes. It's adorable -- catch it on YouTube, because it hasn't yet been released on DVD.

This month's episode of the Terrific TV Toys series features an actual production cel from the "The New Archies." What episode was this cel used for? Well, if you're familiar with the show, why don't you tell us!!!???

Saturday, January 05, 2019

Catch BRB's and Will Rodgers' interview on Comic Book Central, talking "Super Friends"

We're in great company, on the Comic Book Central podcast. The likes of actors Levar Burton and Katrina Law, artist Alex Ross, and Mego man Marty Abrams have been interviewed by Joe Stuber for the series, among so many others. And now, with the episode dropping today, it's "Super Friends" voice Louise Williams (Wonder Twins' Jayna) along with Will Rodgers, author of "The Ultimate Super Friends Companion" and myself, BRB! So cool!

Keep up with Joe and Comic Book Central on the Facebook page.

Tuesday, January 01, 2019

Happy New Year! It's your episode guide to the past seasons of Terrific TV Toys and Terrific non-TV Toys

With a new year will come a fresh crop of episodes for BRBTV's two web series, because we just love sharing this stuff. But first let's take stock of the past year, the grand 2018 and all it entailed for our ongoing examination of cool toys and collectibles from every corner of pop culture.

We're up to 137 episodes now for the T3 series (138 if you count the Christmastime Eggnog addendum), nothing to sneeze at for a web series that has run five years. And in 2019 you'll continue to see one episode a month from each of the two series, totaling 24 for the year again. Hopefully we can get a friend or two to guest-host, as in the past!