Well, you've no doubt heard the news by now of the canceled jump of the "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans Am at the Detroit Autorama, a stunt that was supposed to happen last Friday. So great to hear that Raymond Kohn and the Northeast Ohio Dukes will get to jump that car for fans after all -- at John Schneider's Bo's Extravaganza event in Louisiana next month!
Congrats to the NEOD on finding a levelheaded host at last -- our own Bo Duke, of course! -- for this fun stunt!
OK, you know how they sometimes film a very important TV show episode with multiple endings? Well, this week's episode of Terrific TV Toys is not necessarily any more important than any other episode of the series, but we did shoot it with two different endings. We shot it with the ending you see here, below, and we shot it with an alternate ending that was a bit more ... overt, shall we say, about the characteristic of this particular action figure that's unique and perhaps a conversation-starter. When it came right down to it, this author just could not go with the more-overt ending, just had no peace about it. For one thing, there was the fear that the video might go viral for all the wrong reasons and then this channel and series would be known for that highly weird episode!!! Ugh ...
Anyhow! Maybe it's a case of overthinking it (and yes, this author could be accused of that!!!), but can you possibly guess, after viewing the video, what the characteristic is? Yep, that's it. Maybe it's obvious. And who knows if this is unusual for action figures, or if it's not. There aren't that many 12-inch (OK, that's an inadvertent innuendo) male action figures in the BRBTV collection. And seriously, you just know a Ken doll ain't got this!!!
But enough about all that! This figure is part of a set by Hasbro from the latter 1990s celebrating "The New Batman Adventures," released while the animated series was airing. It's a fun set, and in this episode you get a glimpse of the two figures previously seen on the series (Batgirl and Harley Quinn), as well as the one to come (Supergirl).
Who knows if any of these vehicles were ever seen in the original "Dallas" TV series; they don't seem to have been. But maybe they are a bit "reminiscent" of some actual "Dallas" vehicles, like Bobby's little Mercedes convertible, or Jock's Lincoln, or Ray's pickup truck. Whatever. They've got the "Dallas" name on them, and they were purchased this weekend by our buddy Mike.
These diecast Matchbox-sized cars are by Majorette and are from 1981.There are even more in the series than what's pictured here. There's a Ewing Oil helicopter, extra-long Ewing Oil tanker truck, tractor with trailer and more. This is not the same line as what Greenlight Hollywood released a couple years ago, from which BRBTV has a blue pickup truck.
Photo courtesy of Mike; please do not copy without permission.
This month's Terrific non-TV Toys episode is one that was actually shot last season but pushed off the schedule for something or other ... probably some hot new toy fresh off the shelves that we had to show you sooner. In fact, this episode was pushed a few times. But it was the last one of three Batgirl toys we shot at the same time, the others being the Batgirl of Burnside figure by Jada Toys and the two Funko figures. We had gotten this greeeaaaattt set of Batgirl and Oracle figures at the first time and took it out of the box on camera at about the same time. So here it is, at last!
This set commemorates the Oracle era of Barbara Gordon in the comics, the time period in the 1980s and 1990s, and a little beyond, where she was injured by the Joker and using a wheelchair -- but still fighting crime! She was the amazing computer mastermind Oracle. And this set more specifically comes from the "Arkham Knight" video game of the "Arkham Asylum" series.
(And maybe as you watch the episode, you can answer the question: Does the arrow belong??? LOL.)
It's time to take a look at the next figure in Mego's new "Charlie's Angels" line: Sabrina Duncan, as portrayed by Kate Jackson on our beloved classic TV drama back in the 1970s. This straight-up, sensible gal took no guff back then, solving the case beside her cohorts Jill and Kelly.
Mego has also released the Kris Munroe doll, which you'll see on Terrific TV Toys later this year.
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 ...
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!!!???
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.
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!
Derek, aka ChunkeyMonkey40 on YouTube, really covers it all in this new video on his YouTube channel, chronicling lots of fun moments from the Hazzard County Christmas at the Shiawassee Harvest Church in Corunna, Michigan, a few weeks back ...
We here at BRBTV see a world where good things happen. A world where peace can prevail, amid the turmoil. Where even warring factions backbiting at each other can come together to accomplish great things. Where the human spirit seeks joy and kindness and good things, when it comes right down to it. Are we dreaming? Are we being cynical? No, not at all. That's the world we live in, and the shot below, supplied by our friend Bjørn, expresses that so nicely!
You see, even at the Carrington mansion, between these warring factions, peace and joy and the holiday spirit can prevail!!!
Merry Christmas from BRBTV!!
Image courtesy of Bjørn; see more of his "Dynasty" dollhouse on previous posts of this blog.
With ole Supes perched on top, it's looking like an amazing collection. And Will Rodgers, author of the BRBTV book "The Ultimate Super Friends Companion," has been compiling Super Friends figures from both Mego and Figures Toy Company for the past few years. Good for him that these companies keep releasing great stuff like this! Keep up with Will on his Facebook pages for the two-volume book set and for the great onetime era of Saturday-morning cartoons.
It's Christmastime again, and we love a Christmas episode here at BRBTV. For the 12th and final episode of the very first season of the Terrific non-TV Toys web series, it's gotta be Snoopy. This author got these two porcelain figurines as a gift from Cuz Don last year for Christmas, and you'll see them come out of the box for this episode. One has Snoopy harnessed up and ready to pull a sled, while the other has him all wrapped up in old-fashioned Christmas lights. Nicely detailed, these are fine collectibles.
There is a Hazard, Kentucky, spelled just a bit differently than on the classic TV show we all know and love. And there's bound to be plenty of diehard "Dukes of Hazzard" fans there in the state, especially given this amusing site, spotted in Glendale, Kentucky, earlier this week. Thanks to our roving reporter Jason for capturing this on the road!
In the "Holiday Knights" episode of "The New Batman Adventures" animated series, you see some fun stuff. You see Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy kidnapping and drugging poor Bruce Wayne so they can go on a shopping spree at a department store in Gotham a few days before Christmas. And you see Clayface rampaging through a different department store a couple days later, on Christmas Eve. But fear not -- Batgirl arrives on the scene. She jumps on that nasty ole Clayface, throws him around a bit, tells everyone to clear the area. It's two of those wonderful moments that are captured in the pieces you see on the latest episode of Terrific TV Toys.
The PVC diorama just came out last year and is part of a set by Diamond Select Toys, a set featuring a variety of characters in the Timmverse from which "TNBA" sprung. The diorama goes for about $45. THEN ... the crème de la crème ... an original production cel used in the shooting of that episode back in 1997, all nicely framed and matted and for sale in the gallery of a Warner Bros. Studio Store back then. Original price for that was about $500, and these cels can go for a few hundred more than that now. Nice stuff ...
It was great to see Ray Kohn and the Northeast Ohio Dukes crew at the Hazzard County Christmas in Corunna, Michigan a week and a half ago, and we just had to ask him about the rumors we heard, that as a follow-up to his amazing jump of the General Lee in downtown Detroit two years ago at Autorama, this time it was going to be a "Smokey and the Bandit" car. Yep, indeed. It was Ray's idea to do this, after the sad passing of Burt Reynolds a couple months back. A special tribute to the star beloved by so many fans ...
The 2019 Autorama in Detroit is on March 1-3. Watch the NEOD Facebook page and the event website for more details. We'll see ya there!
