Some imports I got earlier this year; prints of the first four Mirage issues by Granata Press. I don’t read a word of Italian but the original covers by Glenn Fabry are pretty stunning. I don’t know why Casey Jones is on #3 (he isn’t in that issue) but it still looks amazing. Believe they were released in Polish too.
Bill Watterson, the creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip is well known for being opposed to physical merchandise. Almost no approved merch of the comic strip were produced. One of the rare exceptions was a t-shirt made in 1991 as part of the "Great American Comics: 100 Years of Cartoon Art" event, organized by Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Ohio State University Library for Communication and Graphic Arts. There is no information how many were made or sold for the event and as far as I can tell none are presently up for sale or auction online.
UK publications by Carnival Books. The blue covers are TV episode adaptations, the red covers original stories and the "Joke Book" is just that.
Watercolor piece by Tony Washington on the inside cover of TMNT: Sneak Peak; July, 2006.
In 1995 there was a special collaboration between Playmates and Korean-American comic artist Jim Lee to do special designs of the Ninja Turtles and tied in to a collaboration between Mirage Studios and Image Comics at the time. The figures for Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo were released in the summer of that year but a Leonardo figure never came out. We know that one was planned from pictures in the 1995 Playmates catalogue and a prototype was displayed at the American International Toy Fare in New York City. But from what is assumed to have been a sales decision, it never got put into distribution. Fan customs based on these promo images have since been made but nothing vintage. Where the original prototype(s) wound up is anybody's guess.
The original artwork for Haunted House on Atari 2600 that was apparently rejected due to the position of the eyes over the woman's chest.
Minor pet peeve here: It bugs me to see original Mirage Studios artwork retooled to give the Turtles multicolored masks. I'm fine with them having different colored bandanas in any other iteration; I don't consider myself a Mirage purist. But the Turtles of the Mirage cycle should have all red masks in my viewpoint because that's how the iteration that started it all has always been. I don't want to rage or anything whenever I see it but it does kind of get on my nerves. But that's me.
I wonder what happened to the original Dualshock 3 design models that were being advertised in early 2006 and had a lot of people scratching their heads. Probably a good thing they didn't wind up going with this (the PS3 had enough problems early on) but I can't say I haven't been curious about what using one might have been like. Could any still exist and be functional? Share your thoughts.
Y'all know the Turtles met The Lone Gunmen once? Well, you do now.
The DVDs of The Adventures of Pete & Pete released in 2005 include many (though not all) of the shorts, all five TV specials and the complete episodes of Seasons 1 and 2. A release for Season 3 was well into planning and according to creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi the sets were in a warehouse waiting to be shipped, scheduled for February of 2006; but that never happened. The merger between Dreamworks and Paramount let to it being delisted from Paramount's schedule. Presumably these sets are still being retained somewhere.
Obscure VHS tapes. Can be watched on YT if one wants but they’ll probably never get physical releases again.
Something I got a few years ago; a reprint of TMNT #1 distributed as a pre-order bonus with the TMNT video game in 2007. It seems to use the same print template as the PBBZ print, which unfortunately means much of the duo-tone is missing. These seem to be hard to come by in reasonably good condition with minimal creasing on the spine and corners. Maybe because it was a game bonus there wasn’t as much concern about that; just got thrown in the closet and neglected. Who knows.
First let me admit I am a noob when it comes to these things and I here acknowledging I will need input from more experienced persons if what I am hoping for will work. Anyways, here's my question:
The Wii U Classic bluetooth controller can't natively play original Wii games; I'm sure everyone here knows that. Is there some workaround for that so I won't have to keep plugging in the OG Classic controller?
It goes without saying that the Nintendo World Champion gold cart is a pinnacle of retro game collecting. Only twenty six were produced, about half of which are accounted for presently. Unlike the gray NWC carts that were used in the Powerfest ’90 competition and given away to some of the participants, the golds were prizes in a Nintendo Power contest. When it was advertised there was a picture of one with the NWC logo set on a red label that fully covers the carts sticker base. But the ones given away look very different. There is no red label and the NWC logo was printed on xerox paper and crudely glued on. Why they did it this way I don’t know but it makes one wonder what happened to the red label cart in Nintendo Power. The red label cart doesn’t have the external DIP switches on the top corner that all other NWC carts have so most likely it was just a prop made for the photo, using an empty shell of a gold cartridge with no circuit board or connecting pins. Who can say what was done with it afterward. If no one at Nintendo of America considered it something of value (or that it might be some day) it was probably discarded. That doesn’t explain why the contest giveaway gold carts couldn’t be made to the same red label template but it’s possible that there are still former staffers who might be able to offer answers.