The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Now this is my kind of post! We can all agree that the 80s decade was the best, especially for toys! Yeah, the 90s were ok too, but they take a back seat to the 9th decade of the 20th century.
This video by Rhetty for History takes us right back 40+ years ago when we used to get excited over (awesome!) presents we received for Christmas – if we were lucky enough 😉
source: Rhetty for History
The Australian Tabletop scene continues to go from strength to strength so it should come as no surprise that PAX Aus has dedicated even more of its floor space to this fan favourite, delivering the biggest ever tabletop area in 2024.
Kicking things off is the much-anticipated Disney Lorcana by Ravensburger. Fans will be able to get hands on discovering the fantastic secrets of Lorcana with some familiar Disney friends and reimagined characters. Whether you’re a first-timer, regular TCG player or collector, there will be an opportunity to explore, learn and immerse yourself in the magical world of Disney Lorcana.
“We’re extremely excited to bring Disney Lorcana to Australian fans this year,” said Will Chan, Disney Lorcana Sales and Marketing Manager at Modern Brands (exclusive ANZ distributor). “Whether you’re a Disney fan, new to TCGs or a fully fledged Illumineer well versed in questing for lore, our booth will have something for everyone. We look forward to bringing the community together to play, learn and share in celebrating this wonderful experience during the show!”
Disney Lorcana will be joined by other icons of the tabletop world – Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. Celebrating 50 years in 2024, Dungeons and Dragons will have exclusive merch items and first time hands-on demos with new sets, with both areas open from 10am – 10pm Fri – Sat and 10am – 6pm Sunday.
Bandai is also offering a stellar lineup of activities, featuring learn-to-play sessions, tournaments and events for their popular trading card games: One Piece, Dragon Ball Super, Digimon and their newest addition, Sand Land.
Miniature aficionados will be happy to learn that ‘Paint and Take’ will be returning in 2024 thanks to Let’s Play Games, who promise something a little different this year. While we cannot reveal too much, painters should expect to enter a Mediaeval world of wonder! Star Wars: Unlimited fans will ‘feel the Force’ as they will be able to get their hands on an exclusive ‘Grogu’ event promo card. There will also be new releases from Exploding Kittens Studios, Big Potato Games, CATAN New Energies, Forrest Shuffle and more.
The Australian Tabletop scene continues to grow and the Indie developers are shining! Tabletop goers will be delighted to see six tabletop winners in this year’s PAX Aus Indie Showcase featured in the PAX Aus Rising section – the largest number of Indie Showcase tabletop winners in PAX history.
Off the exhibition floor, there will be even more content for tabletop lovers, including the introduction of a new theatre, the Owlbear theatre, which will see TTRPG – One Shot Adventures being run throughout the weekend.
PAX Aus encompasses everything your ‘gaming heart’ desires: the epic expo floor, the largest tabletop area ever in PAX Aus history, the PC freeplay areal, the Handheld Lounge, Console Freeplay and Tournament areas, Cosplay Central and the Crown Championships of Cosplay, Speedrunning Stage, Jackbox, the PAX Aus Indie Showcase, PAX Collaboratory, PAX Rising, a jam-packed schedule of panels and entertainment, incredible special guests, PAX Together and the iconic Omegathon.
PAX Aus takes place on October 11-13 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. With three-day badges sold out and Saturday badges 80% sold out, don’t delay if you want to play!
For more information, updates and to purchase badges, please visit the official PAX Aus website.
source: Rocket Comms
We are betting most of you may not have known that there was a line of PEPSIman action figures in Japan! Well, consider yourselves informed, cause this is one of those action figures.
This particular PEPSIman is the ultra cool snowboarder, complete with boots, cast, crutches (Ed: what the??!!) and of course, a can of Pepsi cola – ahhhhh, so refreshing! To say we are intrigued (and surprised) that this stuff exists, would be a gross understatement.
Do you have a PEPSIman in your collection?
source: eBay
Rhetty For History recently took a trip down nostalgia lane to bring us all the popular toys and games from the 1970s, noting that many had since been forgotten (well, not by us!).
The 1970s had a lot of toys for kids to choose from and some of those have remained popular to this day. Other toys weren’t so luck and some have been lost over time. In this video we will remember some of the 1970s forgotten toys!
We definitely remember games like The Hungry Hungry Hippos and Simon, but had definitely forgotten about The Bionic Woman board game, Lite Bright and Wooly Willy – did we even get any of these in Australia? Actually, there were quite a few games & toys from that era that induced nightmares too (not looking at you Jack-in-the-Box!).
Our fave toys from the 1970s were the Steve Austin action figure, the Kenner Star Wars action figures and pretty much every Matchbox car under the sun! We are probably forgetting some, but the ones we’ve mentioned are seared in our hippocampus.
story source: laughingsquid
Ah, let’s not kid ourselves, these aren’t exactly adult toys, but they do indeed invoke nostalgia, a yearning if you will, for us adults of a certain vintage to want raid the toy shelves of our nearest department store!
If you are lucky enough to have a BIG W near you, you may want to head in and check out the toy section, as they are stocking a myriad of toys that us Gen X’ers will go absolute bonkers over!
The toys that grabbed our attention were of course the Star Wars action figures and the Nintendo related toys. What I wasn’t expecting was the variation of Masters of the Universe stock, which also included the retro 40th anniversary line – we had to wipe our drool!
See anything that takes your fancy?
This packaging brings back memories!
The MOTU Revelation line is very tempting!
Not sure we can relate to this MOTU, but younger generations may appreciate it
Stratos ($19) versus Mer-Man ($50) – big difference
Pokemon, Minecraft and Roblox – Big W has you covered!
Cat Peach!
Our favourite Princess – we miss her so much
We still remember the day when we visited Treasureway (defunct now) store in 1982 and seeing He-Man and Skeletor on the shelf for the first time – we were immediately drawn to the action figures and the MOTU universe in general. It would seem that Mattel knew exactly how to market these muscle-bound toys to kids. We begged to get one and after some incessant begging, we were told that we could choose one that day. It was a tough choice, but our very first MOTU action figure was He-Man! Our second one was Zodac, closely followed by Stratos. We didn’t get Skeletor till well after.
source: Masters Of The Universe on Facebook
Over the course of the early to mid 80s, we had a modest collection of MOTU action figures, so when we finally got Castle Grayskull for Christmas in 1984, we felt like we had completed our MOTU journey. Upon hearing that there was going to be a cartoon based on Masters Of The Universe, we couldn’t contain our excitement. The cartoon couldn’t come fast enough! Saturday mornings on the couch with the doona (duvet to our UK friends) over us, watching He-Man battle Skeletor and his evil minions was a perfect way to start our weekend!
40 years on and Treasureway may no longer exists, but we still have our collection of original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures – long live MOTU!
Some of our original MOTU collection
It’s that time of the year folks, when Amazon tempts our hard earned money to fly out of our wallet and purse!
Not all is lost, as there are quite a few good deals if you are in the market for them, so get ready and scroll through our Twitter thread as there are quite a few good deals to be had!
Be quick as some items may not last! Keep checking the Twitter thread as we will be adding new deals as we find them!
PS: Prices are in AUD$ and till stocks (or sales) last!
🎉 #AmazonPrimeDay is on now peeps 🎉
Let’s start a thread with some cool items to check out at discounted prices…… 🧵1. SanDisk 512GB Ultra MicroSD Card $71.39 (RRP $159) https://t.co/stcBP5N6Za
2. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC) $19.95 (RRP $99.99!) https://t.co/O5sL4HRLB0 pic.twitter.com/LNh32XvOBJ
— ausretrogamer (@ausretrogamer) July 12, 2022
Disclaimer: These Prime Day deals may contain affiliate links. By clicking on an affiliate link and buying something, we may earn a small commission of the sale at no extra cost to you.
Thanks to our friend and sometimes contributor, Dr Brant Raven, for informing us about Radio Velvet’s Masters of the Universe “Remastered” Exhibition (and store) in Melbourne.
As huge MOTU fans, this exhibition, museum, store and everything in between is right up our alley! Thank you to Radio Velvet Clothing for giving us a hit of nostalgia!
Now, if you are in Melbourne and are a MOTU fan, then get to the 1st floor, St. Collins Lane at 260 Collins St (between 10am and 4pm every day) before the end of January 2022! Oh yeah, the exhibition is totally free, so what are you waiting for, go now!
PS: If you need more convincing, check out the article with heaps of pics at A Nice Home.
story & image source: A Nice Home
As owners of some of the 1986 Remco ‘The Karate Kid’ action figures, this commercial is infused with nostalgia and that cool 80s ingredient, cheesiness!
source: Vintage Toy Emporium
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed during the Tech Games Fest event (TGF 2020) by our good friend Andrew Owen from Cause and Effect Gamers – Andrew is also the co-ordinator of TGF.
We talk all things retro gaming, our involvement with PAX Aus, the lure of pinball, toys – especially Masters Of The Universe, and of course, movies we love to watch!
Grab some popcorn and enjoy 🙂
source: Cause and Effect Gamers