Being Thankful

 Thanksgiving has come and gone once again.

What am I thankful for this year? Well, the usual: I'm still alive, my parents are still with me, I've got a job, and a roof over my head. Can't ask for more than that.

But in the span of a week, I and fellow 90s kids lost two of our childhood heroes:

Kevin Conroy, the long time voice of Batman (taken at NYCC in 2014)

and Jason David Frank, the Green Ranger from the OG Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. (taken at Big Apple Con in 2021)

Losing Kevin Conroy to cancer was bad enough, but JDF was a suicide that came out of nowhere. It still feels unreal that it happened. 

I was at Anime NYC at the time, and everyone was refreshing the feeds because there was nothing official for hours, the only indication that the news might've been true was that Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam the black ranger on MMPR) was at that con and abruptly canceled his appearance on that Sunday.

I was on line for Cherami Leigh (probably best known for voicing Lucy on Fairy Tail), and she told me herself that it was official.

But I've had time to ruminate and grieve. Let's look at some other stuff I saw that weekend!

I was several yards away from Adam Savage!

Do you like Spy x Family? It was one of the big anime this year! You could barely walk without tripping over something from this one, be it artwork, merch, photo ops, and especially cosplayers. There were so many cosplayers from this, especially Yor and Anya. I've been reading the manga, it's really good.

And one of the other big hits of the year: Chainsaw Man! The cosplay was easier to pull off. Dress shirt, tie, dress pants, little red devil horns. Done.

From what I've gathered from what little I've seen from this one, it's a show directed at people that want to be stepped on.

And there were quite a few people there who were offering to make that dream a reality.

See?

Yeah, no shortage of horny at this convention.

Just as I was about to leave for the night, I found a girl holding this sign for people to write their hot anime takes on.

Of course I had to add my contribution. I stand by that, I tell you what.

If you want to see the rest of the pictures, here's the album for Saturday, and Sunday.

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I Met Big Bird!

Yep, two for two months I met somebody awesome at a con.

This time it was Caroll Spinney, the man who created and puppeteered Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch for close to fifty years. He hadn't really hit the convention circuit (especially not around here), so of course I wouldn't give up a chance to finally meet him at EternalCon this past month.

While he (as well as his wife Debra) was nothing but nice and lovely...the man is getting old and had to retire for a reason. I was afraid to ask what exactly was afflicting him, but he could barely talk (and whatever he said to me I couldn't hear over the crowds), could only write his own name (slowly), and had to be guided by his wife to look at cameras. I got to finally meet the man behind some of my favorite muppets, but I guess I'll have to fulfill my dream of getting a picture of Oscar actually signed by Oscar somewhere else. Trust me when I say that this was an incredibly flattering picture. It was certainly something I wasn't expecting to see.

Frankly, it felt like the time I met Stan Lee in 2016 all over again.

I swear that if I didn't see the man up close myself, I'd swear his handlers were pulling a "Weekend At Bernie's" thing on us, manually controlling the body of an old man with not a lot of energy left in him. Stan Lee (as well as Caroll Spinney) was one of those guys who would never give up on meeting his fans, but you could tell the man was tired. He would sign stuff for half an hour, then take a half hour break. The man was 93, he was more than allowed to do this. Sure, the line took three hours to get through, but it was all worth it in the end to sign this picture I got of him in 2013.

I had a feeling that he had two years left on him, tops, and it turned out I was right when he passed last year. Some times I hate being right.

But let's move on to someone a bit more youthful. This is me with Johnny Yong Bosch. To me, he'll always be Adam, the second black ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The man looks like a barely aged in 25 years, right?

These days he's probably best known for his extensive voice over career, providing voices for dubs like Bleach (as Ichigo), Code Geass (as Lelouch), Akira (as Kaneda), Durarara!! (as Izaya), Trigun (as Vash The Stampede) Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (as Jonathan Joestar), plus video games like Dangonronpa, the Devil May Cry series, and Persona 4. His IMDB page is a mile long, you're better off reading his credits there. Essentially, if you've watched an anime in the past 20 years, he was in there SOMEWHERE if he's not one of the leads.

The one specific role I wanted something signed from him was of Johnny, a one time character from Space Dandy. He was a, intergalactic rock star that decided to start a band with Dandy, and of course it goes nowhere.

As you can see from this picture, that pic was barely the size of an index card (as were the at least 70 similar cards he had of all his other roles). Feeling bad that this was way smaller than what I was expecting, he decided to sign it for free in addition to the Power Rangers pic there, because that's just the kind of awesome guy he is. And he was NOT cheap, being one of the more noteworthy dub actors outside of the DBZ cast will do that.

Also in attendance was another prominent voice actor, James Arnold Taylor. Probably best known for voicing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Clone Wars cartoon, plus Ratchet in the Ratchet & Clank games, and Tidus from Final Fantasy X. Not to mention he's the voice you hear in bumpers on Fox (especially the Sunday night block), and...yes, Johnny Test himself. This is another guy who's been everywhere, and his IMDB page is also pretty long. Again, if you've watched a cartoon in the past twenty years, good chance you've heard him.

This obviously isn't everyone, but these are the more prominent ones. He asked me who my favorite voice was. Without missing a beat I said Judge Fudge (from Drawn Together. He's in the lower right). I also brought up Johnny Test for whatever reason. So sue me, I've got some kind of morbid curiosity with it.

Oh, and I'd like to bring you an update from something I talked about last month. My friend Mike happened to attend East Coast Comic Con the day after I did and got George Perez to sign this copy of Crisis on Infinite Earths for me.

Pretty sweet.

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Still a Toys R Us Kid

We've all seen the news: Toys R Us officially closed for business (at least in the states) yesterday, June 29th, 2018.

I think we've all seen the famous picture by now and whoever took this picture lacks a soul. I'm sure they had good intentions, and I know that TRU is planning a comeback, but they knew this was gonna go viral.

This is the one I went to on Thursday, in Carle Place. My attitude since then was like Milhouse right here:

So what was left in that giant store with one day left in business?

Not much, I'm afraid. Literal crap in baskets. This is the only picture I took inside because the rest of the store looked this empty, and also it was too depressing. If anyone wanted the Duck Dynasty game for PS4, the store still had half a dozen copies in what was left of the video game section.

I did, however, not leave the store empty handed.

I don't even know if I actually have this amiibo (not likely), but I liberated it from the store for two bucks and change.

Someone asked me if I walked away with this poster, but I'm sure that some employee already had dibs on it. I'd like this to go to someone who actually worked for the company. If this store had handbaskets with the logo on them, they were long gone, not to mention I wasn't able to haul one of the shopping carts home with me.

My childhood store was this one, in Massapequa.

So many memories in that store. I know I bought my SNES there, among many, many other toys.

The last toy I bought there was this Funko Pop of Sprocket from Fraggle Rock, knowing (correctly) that I wouldn't get a chance to get one once the actual clearance sales started. It sucks knowing that TRU is one less trusted Funko retailer, and that its exclusives (usually the Teen Titans Go line) have either become commons or went off to other companies. Also, yeah, it's stacked with a few of the rarer Pops that I have, be jealous.

But enough of the depressing present. Let's look back at some fond memories, shall we?

Remember Geoffrey Money? Yes kids, before gift cards were the norm, Toys R Us gift certificates came in the form of actual dollar bills. To teach kids how actual money worked, we were given this fake money that was only good at one store to spend at our leisure. Every birthday and Christmas I looked forward to getting cards stuffed with these, and I swore off any relatives that decided to get me something else instead (that weren't already toys or the like, of course). I was seriously bummed when this got phased out, but I know it was for the best. If you lost even one of the bills, there was no getting it back. I wish I saved at least one of them for posterity, though. I can always assume a trip to eBay would indulge me, but I'm afraid to look what the asking price is for one these days.

On that note, Kids R Us used to be a thing, too. I don't have much nostalgia or a lot of fond childhood memories for this place. For those not in the know, this was Toys R Us' foray into kids clothing stores, and were usually situated near other Toys R Us, much like how Babies R Us stores were usually nearby to the mothership.

Because if there's nothing kids love more than toys, it's being forced to shop for clothes with mom! It could really explain why most of them closed down in the late nineties, with the last of them shuttering in 2004. Before empty storefronts were as depressingly common as they are now, my association with dead stores were Kids R Uses that closed twenty years ago and still remain empty to this day. Well, it's not true. Out of the The two I knew of, one stayed vacant for years before Circuit City took it over, and when THAT closed, it stayed empty again until an Aldis moved in about three years back; the other was under a Bally's Fitness and when it closed in the late 90s, stayed empty until the gym finally took it over about a year or two ago. Both were host to Spirit Halloween stores on and off for a few years, but seeing nothing in that space for most of your life really stays with you.

Before Geoffrey became that cartoony giraffe, he used to look like this:

He's got my vote. Geoffrey actually had a number of looks over the years.

The 1988-1999 versions are what I remember the most. I was not a fan of that freaky live-action giraffe. All I remember from that era is this one commercial:

And Geoffrey used to have a family!

In case you're wondering, the wife is Gigi, the son is Geoffrey Jr., and the daughter is Baby Gee. They got phased out over the nineties, but most old stores still had them plastered everywhere well into the last decade. Newer versions of Geoffrey made him a swinging bachelor, the fools.

And who could forget how you bought video games back in the day? You took a slip for whatever you wanted, then brought it over to the window in the corner of the store and then the guy went through that dungeon and brought out your copy of Donkey Kong Country. I was both scared and really intrigued by that little window.  It's a shame that the video game section became open air by the time I could drive myself to these places. You could actually SEE all those games behind the glass case, but it wasn't the same.

And I REALLY miss when aisles looked like this. The 80s/early 90s was a magical time, long before three toy companies owned everything and kids actually BOUGHT toys. It's so stuffed with toys, I love it! It's a shame I can't find any pictures of the old school Transformers section, but it looked exactly like this.

Farewell, Toys R Us. We'll always have the commercials.

The reason why I refused to grow up was I always wanted to remain a Toys R Us kid. I may be growing older, but I'll always be a Toys R Us kid...

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A Few More Items Crossed Off The Bucket List

Man this month was full of surprises. A few months back, I mentioned my "I'd Never Think I'd Ever Get To Do This" bucket list when I met the Soup Nazi. That was great and all, and this past month I got to cross a few more things off that list! I'd give you guys the full list, but since it's full of stuff I'd never think I'd get to do, its stuff that I never think to put on that list until it happens. 

But anyway...

I got to be a Power Ranger! (Kinda)

I'll admit that this had been on my regular Bucket List for most of my life, but at 28 years old I realized that I had let that dream fade away after I realized that I was now only 5 years older than the people who actually play the Power Rangers.

But imagine my shock that four of the original MMPR team was going to be at Eternal-Con this year. Well three and a half, Karan Ashley was the second Yellow Ranger, but it still counts. I'll go into detail with that con at a later date, but as you see above, I got to do the morphing pose with them! And I'm holding a vintage morpher in my hands, not that overpriced cool looking Legacy version. My face seems to simultaneously say "I look ridiculous in front of some childhood icons" and "best $140 I ever spent." This took all of two minutes, but this was a pretty damn good two minutes.

I was briefly Turd Ferguson!

This is all thanks to SNL: The Exhibit (site is here http://snltheexhibition.com), a thirty dollar museum dedicated to the forty years of Saturday Night Live's history. The exhibit details the process of creating a single show, from the pitch, to the writing, to the acting, to what happens behind the scenes when the show finally goes on. The only thing this place was missing was the part when someone like me goes online and says "What the hell are they thinking?! Worst episode ever!"

You can visit various sets, like Wayne's World 

The home base of the original cast 

And as you can guess from above, the Celebrity Jeopardy set.

Well, part of the set. The real set was in a different part of the exhibit.

In that section, you have a podium from the Black Jeopardy set, plus the tricked out podium used by Burt Reynolds, er, Turd Ferguson during the 40th Anniversary Show (since it recently happened, there's a lot of 40th Anniversary representation in here). And yes, you can take pictures with all of it. That picture made me the envy of everyone around the age of 25.

And that's not all, there's a whole exhibit on props from all your favorite fake commercials.

Colon Blow and Uncle Jemima's Madh Liqour!

Little Chocolate Donuts, with the Bass-O-Matic!

And my personal favorite, the Nerf Crotchbat! While it saddens me that these were all sitting in a prop closet for decades, I'm very happy that they were kept at all, and they're a part of a real museum where they belong. There's wear and tear on all these things, ensuring you that these are all the real deal. Although I'm not so sure about Little Chocolate Donuts, I'm pretty sure that the Box Tops logo wasn't around during the seventies.

Oh yeah, there's costumes too. From King Tut to Laser Cats to Mr. Robinson to Astronaut Jones, just about all your favorites got representation here.

Even Master Thespian's outfit is here! It sits on a rack with a Five Timer's Club robe, the Coffee Talk outfits, Brian Fellow's duds, and even...ugh, Garth and Kat. Yeah, there's a bit of Kristen Wiig's presence around here, but she's no more in the spotlight than anyone else. 

The exhibit ends with a wall of pictures of every single cast member. The original cast is on top while the current folks line the bottom.

See if you can spot Gilbert Gottfried! Don't worry, I already did that for you: 

Top left corner, third from the left.

If you're in the NYC area within the next few months I highly recommend checking it out!

I saw the Pez Dispenser from Seinfeld!

Holy crap, I never thought I'd see the day when I could see THE Tweety Bird Pez dispenser from that Seinfeld episode "The Pez Dispenser" up close!

Well, it wasn't the ONLY Seinfeld relic that was on display in Manhattan last week. Hulu set up an entire recreation of Jerry Seinfeld's apartment.

Holy crap!! It's like I'm on the tv! I got to sit on the couch! Pretend to toss George's toupee out the window! I even got to snoop in Jerry's fridge!

Empty. Kramer must've gotten to it first.

It's been a while since I watched Seinfeld on a regular basis and I don't know if this is the exact set, but I assure you that this was 99.99% close enough to the real thing. There's Junior Mints strewn everywhere and the computer in the corner was a PC...until super fans complained and they brought in an old fashioned Mac, just like 90's Yuppie Jerry intended.

And if you ever wondered what was on Jerry's bookcase, let me show you:

Sim City! Sadly it's not the real box, but none of us could tell anyway so screw you. I'm glad they stuck real movies in there because if they stuck VHS copies of some of their fake movies like Chunnel on there they would be missing one fake VHS box.

And here's Jerry's CD collection:

Nice detail with Big Willie Style. It's the one where Jerry got jiggy with it!

And among other Seinfeld relics, they had Fusilli Jerry!

Again, not sure if this was the real thing. This was just sitting there while other Seinfeld props were sitting behind a velvet rope or behind glass. Like so:

God I love that. If you were able to catch this last weekend, you were one of the many lucky ones. And if you didn't, well, you got me to see it for you! Hell, I didn't even know this was going on until the day before I went to see it!

So all in all, I had a pretty good June. Let's hope July doesn't suck.

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