Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,211 
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Post by Confessor on Nov 13, 2016 20:39:25 GMT -5
I also wondered what Sea Monkeys were. (?) They were strange ads! Sea Monkeys were a real let down. I was bought some in my early 20s, as a birthday present. They were essentially plankton. Like tiny, tiny shrimp. Not at all like the magical mer-creatures that the comic book ads portrayed them to be. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 13, 2016 20:50:50 GMT -5
I was always tempted by those X-Ray Specs, but as I was in Ireland I never thought about sending off to the US for them... as I kid I thought it'd be cool to see through things though. (Well... it'd still be cool, but I know $1 isn't going to get me a pair of specs that does the job now!) I also wondered what Sea Monkeys were. (?) They were strange ads! Brine shrimp.  I only order two things, one was from DC, the Legion of Superheroes All-New Collector's Edition (with the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl) and the Best of DC Limited Collector's Edition. The other was the game Task Force, as seen on the back covers. It was a cheap version of Battleship, only more boring. I did have a few toys that were advertised in comics, though. Oh, yeah; I ordered a couple of T-shirts, from Eclipse: a Miracleman chest emblem shirt, and a Black Terror emblem shirt (from the Beau Smith, Chuck Dixon and Dan Brereton mini-series). Those were as advertised. |
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Post by Randle-El on Nov 13, 2016 21:14:00 GMT -5
As a martial arts practitioner for almost 30 years, I'm always amused by those ads for Karate and Kung Fu whenever I read old back issues. They really did exploit the aura of exoticism and mystery that surrounded martial arts, due to the films of the 70s and 80s.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 13, 2016 22:01:38 GMT -5
As a martial arts practitioner for almost 30 years, I'm always amused by those ads for Karate and Kung Fu whenever I read old back issues. They really did exploit the aura of exoticism and mystery that surrounded martial arts, due to the films of the 70s and 80s. Nothing beats Count Dante!  The guy turned out to be a charlatan, with a cool afro and beard. He was no Jim Kelly. |
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Post by tingramretro on Nov 14, 2016 3:30:51 GMT -5
Wouldn't that have changed at least sometime early in the 90s? My first comic book orders were all foreign address, and shipping took 10 weeks, but worth it when I got a package. Oh, I probably could've ordered from them even back in the '80s, but I just sort of got the idea that I couldn't because I wasn't living in America. I don't know where I got that idea...possibly a parent, I guess. The only thing I ever ordered from the back of comics were a Dennis the Menace and Gnasher set of badges from the Beano, and the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back from the still-very-young original Forbidden Planet shop. This would've been circa 1980 or '81, I guess. The badges are long gone, but I still have that original copy of Donald F. Glut's ESB novelization on my shelf today. I have that same book! And you're right, I believe in the 70s at least it was specified that you couldn't order any of that stuff from the American ads if you didn't live in America. No sea monkeys for us, sadly... |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2016 9:13:06 GMT -5
I remember my parents ordering a King Kong poster for me that never arrived. They ordered lots of stuff from Heroes World for me. I also remember ordering the gag items--whoopee cushion, fake vomit, vampire blood, exploding pen. That stuff was fun!
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 14, 2016 10:14:21 GMT -5
As a small child I ordered the 100 or 200 Revolutionary War soldiers seen on the back cover of DC comics. Wish I had a photo of the expression on my face when the tiny box of tiny soldiers arrived in our mailbox. Ditto! I went for the Civil War guys.  My mother sprang for it; I don't know why unless she thought she'd be teaching me a lesson about the difference between appearance and reality. They arrived in a box about the size of a pound of butter.  Just a hair over three-dimensional. Gypped! And a cynic was born... |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2016 12:05:23 GMT -5
I remember my parents ordering a King Kong poster for me that never arrived. They ordered lots of stuff from Heroes World for me. I also remember ordering the gag items--whoopee cushion, fake vomit, vampire blood, exploding pen. That stuff was fun! One time I ordered both whoopie cushion, fake dog poop, and fake vomit and had fun placing them at parties!!! |
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Post by Red Oak Kid on Nov 15, 2016 8:46:58 GMT -5
As a small child I ordered the 100 or 200 Revolutionary War soldiers seen on the back cover of DC comics. Wish I had a photo of the expression on my face when the tiny box of tiny soldiers arrived in our mailbox. Ditto! I went for the Civil War guys. My mother sprang for it; I don't know why unless she thought she'd be teaching me a lesson about the difference between appearance and reality. They arrived in a box about the size of a pound of butter. Just a hair over three-dimensional. Gypped! And a cynic was born... LOL. The only way to get these to stand up was to lean them against a piece of furniture. But we didn't have enough furniture to prop all of them up at the same time. |
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