Road Rockets- Fire away at the Forces of Evil!

What's the ad for?

Road Rockets - Rapid Fire Target Game
Year
1981

Spotted in...

 

The Scoop

I wonder what the back story of the Road Rocket Universe is. It looks like cars are projected at Bad Guys who represent the Forces of Evil but why? What did these bad guys do? How much force does the evil wield. Check out that kids face. He's pissed! 

I wish I could find out more information on this "game". I couldn't find any info on the internet but when I did a Google image search I found was this...which I felt compelled to share. What a cute photo.

Spider-Man backpack!

What's the ad for?

Dorman's Cheese
Year
1986

Spotted in...

The Scoop

 It's cool that they gave you the choice of how many UPC symbols to include. Doesn't seem like much a deal though. I did a bit of searching on the internet to see if I could come up with some photos of the actual backpack. All I found was people selling the actual ad?!? At a price-point of $7.99? Do people actually buy and collect just the ads? This is a dollar book if that. Couldn't they just buy the comic and clip out the old ad?

132 Roman Soldiers

What's the ad for?

132 Roman Soldiers. Two complete armies!
Year
1981

Spotted in...

The Scoop

This ad was featured prominently in back of comic books from the 60s to the early 80's. The art was by Russ Heath. Below is what Heath had to say about the ad in an interview featured at wtv-zone.com

A lot of people didn't know I did them because they didn't want them signed.  I did have a small "RH" on the lower left hand corner of the Revolutionary soldiers and I don't remember about the Roman soldiers.   Then they would blame me, I'd never seen the damned things, because they're like a bas relief or whatever they call it.  They're not fully formed, not three dimensional.  It would be flat things that were shaped a little and the kids felt gypped and they figured that it was my fault.

A lot of kids were disappointed with these toy soldiers. I guess it's another four color promise that never lived up to it's expectations.

Sponsered by Jolly Ranchers

What's the ad for?

Watermelon Jolly Ranchers
Year
1987

Spotted in...

The Scoop

Unlike Stu Thomsen, these guys could only get sponsored by a candy company. Nah, just kidding. Seeing these ads reminds me how popular BMX was in the eighties. I mean, they even made a movies centered on BMX riding. They were pretty rad...

Old man on a little bike

What's the ad for?

Huffy BMX bicycles
Year
1985

Spotted in...

The Scoop

 Okay, when I first saw this ad recently my first thought was, "ha, an old man with a mustache on a little bike." The man in question is Stu Thomsen and he would have only been in his late twenties when this photo was taken, so not so old. The call him the Babe Ruth of BMX racing, he is a legend. Check out the trailer below for a doc made about Stompin Stu...

Marvel's Super Slurpee Fun Game

What's the ad for?

7-11's Super Slurpee Fun Game
Year
1981

Spotted in...

The Scoop

To celebrate the near start of summer I thought I would share this Marvel Slurpee ad/contest. Your chance to win thousands of dollars in cash. I like the instructions on how to play...

"With the edge of a coin, gently scratch-ff the gold squares on the front of your game card."

Like that needs explaining? Then again, this was 1981. Perhaps the concept of scratch-and-win was new. When I was a kid in junior high (Calgary, 1989/90), Hostess potato chips ran a contest featuring a scratch-and-win Nintendo Power Pad. Every card was a winner; you just had to scratch the correct squares to get matching symbols. Someone in my school came up with the idea of carefully placing pieces of Scotch Tape onto the squares and then slowly pealing the tape off. A thin layer of the silver scratching material would come off with the tape. Now if you held the Power Pad game card up to the light, you could make out all the symbols hidden underneath. Most cards won you a free bag of chips or a bottle of pop but soon kids started showing up with wearing Nintendo swag (T-shirts and hats). It was a good run for us and I'm sure we all gained a few potato chip pounds but when your young it didn't matter, we were outside riding our bicycles and playing street hockey all the time anyway.

Then in the fall a new contest started. In each bag of potato chips was another scratch-and-win game card, this time featuring NHL teams. Same concept, this time match the team logos and win something. Every card was a potential winner. We tried the same trick again but it didn't work. The game cards were now made of thicker paper. There was no way you were going to see through these ones. I wonder how much money Hostess lost because someone decided to "save" costs on thinner paper.

I find it hard to believe that it was only the population my junior high whom were doing this. Did anyone else remember doing this? There were even rumors of a local kid ratting us out by telling Hostess what we were doing, which in turn lead to the thicker paper being used for the next contest. Supposedly he received boxes of free chips and stuff. In retrospect I don't think that was the case but you never know.

Secret Wars Action Figures

What's the ad for?

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Action Figures.
Year
1985

Spotted in the inside back cover of...

 

The Scoop

We've featured ads about Marvels Secret Wars in the past and here is another. This time it's for the Secret Wars toy line from Mattel. One thing I don't understand is why Dr. Doom wants to make the earth into a living TOOOOOMB. What good what that be? Who wants to rule a living tomb. What is a living tooooomb anyway? Only thing I've heard of being refereed to as a living tomb is a sixteen years heart after a three-month break-up. Maybe that's Dr. Doom's problem. He just needs a rebound to soften his heart and get over his lost love...wait what?

Free Baseball From Nestle Quik

What's the ad for?

Free Baseball promotion from Nestle Quik
Year
1985

Spotted in...

 

The Scoop

Steve Garvey endorsed Nestle Quik and helped get baseballs into the hands of American children.  Hopefully it prompted those children to go outside and play sports....oh wait, this was the eighties. We were already outside playing. Maybe they need this promotion now.

The Activision Decathlon

What's the ad for?

The Activision Decathlon
Year
1985

Spotted in the inside back cover of...

 

The Scoop

 This was a unique ad for it's visual appearance. It looked like no other ad out there, especially for a video game. The Activision Decathlon was murder on your Atari or other game console joystick (controller for those young ones out there). Repeated back and forth motion, tap, tap, tap! A systems lifetime of use in a few hours of play.

Kool-Aid Man battles The Thirsties!

What's the ad for?

Kool-Aid Man- Video Game
Year
1983

Spotted in...

The Scoop

"Oh Yeah!" 

That's what a fun-loving, giant pitcher of Kool-Aid says as he bursts through the wall of your living room, destroying your furniture and causing thousands of dollars of damage. Some call him a mascot while others call him a home-grown terrorist. Either way don't you find it funny that he's always carrying a smaller version of himself? Why not just pour some Kool-Aid from himself.

Video of actual game play...

And the Kool-Aid man as featured in The Family Guy

 

Publish Post

The Saga of Crystar

What's the ad for?

Crystar- Crystal Warrior action figures
Year
1984

Spotted in...

The Scoop

 In 1982, Remco released a line of action figures and vehicles under the name The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior. A year later a comic book series featuring the toys was released by Marvel. One would think that the comic book was based on the toys when in fact it the entire line was created and owned by Marvel comics.

The series lasted for 11 issues but it was issue 8 that interested me, or at least the cover. Glen Danzig swiped the Michael Golden drawn skull on the cover for the logo of his band. (see below)

The Legion of Super-Heroes Subscription ad

 

I'm running short on time this week as I prepare to head down to the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. So I am giving you an old DC subscription ad to The Legion of Super-Heroes. I was fortunate as a kid to always have a local comic store. Even when I moved up to Northern Canada as an early teen, the town had just opened a new comic shop. I never had to get a subscription.

I would be curious about others experience with it. Did you have a comic book subscriptions back in the day? Did they arrive in good shape or were they ever mangled? Just curious...leave a comment if you've have any stories to share.
 

The Icewind Dale Trilogy -The Crystal shard

What's the ad for?
Forgotten Realms-The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore
Year
1988

Spotted on the back cover of...

The Scoop

 The Crystal Shard was the first part of the The Icewind Dale Trilogy written by R.A. Salvatore. Another Forgotten Realms advert that seemed to dominate the back covers of many a comic in the late eighties. See another here.

Taito - Bring out the hero in you!

What's the ad for?
Taito video games for the NES
Year
1988

Spotted in...

The Scoop

Renegade was a "immediate technological predecessor to Double Dragon". Similar to Double Dragon, you also get to beat up women. The game was a westernized conversion of a Japanese game called "Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun". Which when roughly translated means to "Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio". Nice!

Elevator Action was a much older game. It first came out in the arcades in 1983. It was intended to be ported over to the Atari 2600 but never made it.

The Legend of Kage first appeared in arcades in 1985 followed by this NES release in 1987. 

Arkanoid came packaged with the controller pictured below.

The controller was called the Vaus and was the rarest of controllers released for the NES. The game and controller were never sold separately and today fetch a pretty penny on eBay. I'm talking hundreds of dollars.

So this ad looks to me to be giving games that were not new releases a second push. I would assume that is why there is four games featured in the ad and not one. Taito already made a push with these games the years they came out.

Another thing that jumps out at me is the way the video game industry was centered around the arcade. It was similar to the movie and book industry where you would find a film or book being first released in the theater or hardcover format, followed by a release on VHS or softcover at a later date. You don't see that anymore.

Bubble Bobble is Dino-Might!

What's the ad for?
Bubble Bobble for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted in...

The Scoop

A great game from the eighties. When theme meant little, if nothing. I mean, come on, dinosaurs blowing bubbles? Works for me!

Forgotten Realms - Black Wizards

What's the ad for?
Forgotten Realms-Black Wizards by Douglas Niles
Year
1988

Spotted on the back of...

The Scoop

The Moonshae trilogy was the first series of books set in the Forgotten Realms. The trilogy was written by Douglas Niles. Black Wizards was the second book in the trilogy. I have never read these books, or much fantasy for that matter but I do remember these ads taking up the back page of many a comic in the late eighties.

Two Ways to Win in the Ring...

What's the ad for?
WrestleMania for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted on the back of...

The Scoop

 

3-2-1 Contact

What's the ad for?
3-2-1 Contact, the TV show.
Year
1988

Spotted in

The Scoop

Interesting fact, David Quinn, the curly haired kid with the glasses on the far right, co-founded allrecipes.com.

That is all...

Operation Wolf

What's the ad for?
Operation Wolf for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted in

The Scoop

As a kid I used to sneak into an arcade called Fridays to play Operation Wolf. It was a unique game for it's time as you played the game by shooting a life-sized Uzi!

Friday's was the only arcade in town that had Operation Wolf. The arcade was dark and had loud music playing. It was the"older kids" arcade. I mean, you could probably buy pot from somebody there.

(see photo below)

 

. As a result our folks didn't allow us to go there.We had to go to the arcade attached to the comic shop. It was an okay arcade but after awhile you get tired of playing Contra and Double Dragon. We wanted to play the new games, games like Operation Wolf. I was pretty happy to see the game come out on the NES...yet it wasn't quiet the same. Maybe it was the added danger of playing the game in the older kids arcade.

The Power of Karate At Your Fingertips

What's the ad for?
Karate Kid Tri-Action Figures and playsets
Year
1987

Spotted in

The Scoop

Check out the site Metal Misfit for some great photos of the toys. Meanwhile here is the commercial that aired in the Eighties.