Princess of (Girl) Power!

May 1985

Masters of the Universe #1

We started this issue with an ad for He-Man, so I thought it would be fitting to save She-Ra for last. This was one of my absolute favorites as a kid, and I’ve still got all my action figures! One thing I always wondered, though – how come they never made toys of Shadow Weaver or Scorpia?? They were pretty prominent characters, and way more important than a bunch of figures that actually were released. I guess we’ll probably never know…

As much as I liked this show, I always thought Loo-Kee was kind of stupid – I thought that hearing “today’s lesson” had a much bigger impact when it came from the characters we loved and respected (like on He-Man), rather than some random little creature who isn’t even really part of the show. What do you think?

 

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Hey, Nick!

January 1998

Thunderbolts #10

Here we’ve got Nickelodeon’s weekly 8:00 lineup. I wasn’t a kid at this time, so while I’ve heard of Hey Arnold! and Rugrats, I’m really not familiar with any of these shows (in fact, I’d never even heard of the others before this ad!). Sorry, but I’m kind of at a loss here! Did any of you watch these shows? If so, what did you think of them?

This is the last ad from this issue of Thunderbolts, and I think I’m going to take a break from posting ’90s ads for a while. The ones from the ’70s and ’80s are the ones I really love, and it seems like most of you do as well. If I run across a ’90s comic with some great ads, I’ll post it, but for now I’m going to stick to what I’m passionate about. (Yes, I really am passionate about vintage ads. Because I really am that much of a dork!)

 

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It’s the Space Age – 20 Years Later!

May 1986

Masters Of The Universe #1

Everyone thinks of The Jetsons as a classic, but did you know that its original run back in the ’60s was only one season of 24 episodes? Hard to believe, huh? Then the run advertised here added another 41 episodes, and 10 more were produced in 1987. Notable in this ad is the addition of Orbitty, Elroy’s little alien friend. Is it just me, or does he look super out of place here?

And then we’ve got Galtar And The Golden Lance. I don’t remember this show at all from back in the day, but something about it seems kind of familiar… hmm… a strong, blond warrior, holding obviously powerful swords above his head, riding a large, green animal… I’m just not sure where I’ve seen something like that before…

Apparently Galtar only lasted 21 episodes, so with a short run like that, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that I don’t remember it.

 

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Were the Dancing Ones Called Go-GoBots?

May 1986

Masters Of The Universe #1

Back when I was a kid, I remember thinking of GoBots as cheap imitations of Transformers. I still watched/liked the show, but didn’t think it was as cool for some reason. I also remember asking for Transformers for Christmas/birthdays, and getting GoBots instead. I only ever had four of them: Leader-1, Road Ranger, Rest-Q, and Hans-Cuff. However, I did appreciate the fact that they were the same scale as Hot Wheels, so at least I could play with my GoBots with my other cars.

Well guess what – years later I found out that it was actually the other way around: GoBots came out first, and Transformers copied them! It makes me wonder why Transformers always seemed like the “main” cartoon to me (and apparently many others) – maybe they just had better marketing?

In an interesting twist of fate, Tonka (makers of GoBots) was actually acquired by Hasbro (makers of Transformers) in 1991, so now they’re all (technically) part of the same family anyway!

I love the “THEY’RE AWESOME!” in the middle of this ad. To me, it kind of feels like a temporary placeholder that they either forgot to replace, or they just couldn’t come up with anything better, so decided to leave it as is.

So I spent quite a bit of time scouring the internet to figure out who the GoBots (other than Leader-1) in this picture are – I was able to come up with two of them, but still have no idea who pink one is – any ideas, anyone?

To see one of my GoBots toys, click here for my CBA IRL post!

 

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UPN Smash!

January 1998

Thunderbolts #10

Ah, UPN, the network that gave us Star Trek: Voyager. I don’t really remember anything about their kids’ programming, but apparently they had a power-packed Sunday morning with The Incredible Hulk and Jumanji!

In looking up info on this series, it turns out that the Hulk was actually voiced by Lou Ferrigno so that’s pretty neat!

 

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I Have The POWER!!!

May 1986

Masters of the Universe #1

It’s He-Man! And the Masters of the Universe! Both the ad and the comic it came from! You guys are in for a treat (at least, if you like the same kinds of ads that I do), because this issue is very heavy on ads for cartoons and snacks – good stuff!

He-Man was one of my favorites as a kid, so I think this ad is pretty great. Though I find it kind of funny that Skeletor is positioned in such a way that he’s completely blocking Whiplash’s face – sort of an odd choice for the artist. Also, does anyone know who the guy on the far right is? He looks kind of familiar, but I’ve looked through guide after guide of action figures, and can’t find a match!

 

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I Have the (Captain) Power!

March 1988

Visionaries #3

It’s Captain Power! …Who has got to have one of the most generic hero-type names out there! Don’t get me wrong – despite the fact that the name lacked originality (which, of course, I never realized back in the day), Captain Power was actually pretty awesome! You see, the toys (well, the ships and the Power On Platform) worked like a video game light gun – they could interact with certain parts of the TV show, and you could either “hit” or “be hit” by the enemy fighters, which would trigger a reaction in the toys!

I had (well, still have – stay tuned for a future installment of CBA IRL) the Power On Platform with Captain Power (which I won from a local TV station!), and fondly remember watching this show every Saturday morning, and shooting at the bad guys’ ships whenever they came on!

Unfortunately, the show only lasted one season, but an entire second season was already scripted at the time of cancellation. I guess it was mostly because parents’ groups criticized the show for being too violent and just being an excuse to sell toys (why do parents always have to ruin all the fun?).

However, in looking up info for this post, I discovered that the entire series is now available on DVD! I might just need to pick that up and relive a bit of my childhood…

 

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You’re a Wonder, Lynda Carter!

January 1978

Secret Society of Super-Villains #12

It’s the hottest stars of the late ’70s: Lynda Carter, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Starsky & Hutch, and Rocky!

I find it odd that for Starsky & Hutch and Rocky they use the character names, while Lynda Carter is just herself rather than Wonder Woman. And in a crossover note – did you know that Lynda Carter actually guest starred in Starsky & Hutch? Yep, it was a two-part episode in 1976! Unfortunately, she didn’t play Wonder Woman in it, though.

ALF – On TV and Now in Comics!

March 1988

Visionaries #3

I don’t really know a whole lot about ALF, so I don’t really have much to say about this. As a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch anything with a laugh track/laughing studio audience (yeah, I know – everyone’s got their own childhood trauma), so I never actually saw it back in the day.

Apparently this comic ran 50 issues, which means it actually ran about the same length as the show (4 season) – not bad for a TV spinoff comic!

Back When People Actually REPAIRED Stuff

September 1963

X-Men #1

Wait a minute – what’s this about repairing broken TVs and radios? You don’t repair broken electronics, you just buy new ones!

Times have certainly changed! I wonder how many people are out there these days who could actually repair a TV – probably not a whole lot anymore!