My Favorite 80s Fictional Characters

I am running a contest which you can still enter here, but time is ticking away.  I am gearing up for my 4th Annual Save Second Base Event where I show off only pink (with some hues of magenta, peach, and maybe a light purple or light red shade) baseball cards relating to my favorite baseball player for an entire month.  Prior to each post about the card I give out some frightening information about a major disease that is effecting many woman in this country.  I also show off some beautiful women for why we should be looking for a cure and to Save Second Base.

The prize is this very limited (only 25 copies produced) of two players who debuted in the 1980s, Barry Larkin and Gary Sheffield. 

As someone who was born in the 1980s and because it is my birthday week, all week long I am showing off cards of Andrew McCutchen and how they relate to the 80s. 

Cutch is my favorite player born in the 80s. Who is yours? Enter the contest here.

Each post so far this week I have been talking about different things from the 80s I like, but today I am going to talk about my favorite fictional characters to debut in the 80s and show off a card relating to their debut year.

Up first is Marty Mcfly, played by Michael J. Fox.  If you haven't seen any of the Back to the Future trilogy I DEMAND you leave this blog and don't come back until you have.  This Sci-Fi comedy takes a look at how one event can cause a ripple effect that can cause the entire universe to change paths.  Had Lorraine, played by the very stunning Lea Thompson, not fallen in love with George McFly  then Marty and his siblings would never have been born which causes more chains in the universe to be broken etc. 

The character Marty Mcfly debuted in Back to the Future which premiered in 1985.

 Here is a trio of parallels of Cutch screaming as he rounds the bases, likely trying to leg out a triple or coming home to celebrate a walk off homer.  It is from 2013 Topps Archives.

Speaking of Homer, here is Homer Simpson, who made his animated debut in April of 1987.  

The Simpsons is the longest running TV show ever.  While early seasons had me liking Bart for his catch phrases like "Eat my shorts" or "Cowabunga", it wasn't until I was older that I realized Homer is the best character on the show.  

There are multiple options I could have used showing off Cutch using the 1987 cardboard design, but ultimately I went with a more plain option from the 1987 5x7 card line produced in 2015 as an online exclusive.  

Another animated favorite of mine was Bumblebee from the original Generation 1 Transformers.  He has changed his appearance A LOT since his 1984 VW Beetle days to his mid 2000s Camaro car mode, but the heart of the character remains the same.

I wish I had the other parallels of this card (gold/50, blue/150, Orange/25, red/5) to pair up with the black and green, but for now these 1984 Topps Chrome style cards will have to do.

This next character is actually a pair because quite honestly you can't discuss William S Preston (Bill) without talking about his best friend Theodore Logan (Ted).  Bill and Ted introduced a franchise that will see it's third installment finally get made this year, twenty years after the original.  AND I AM PUMPED FOR IT!!! I jist got done doing a totally gnarly wicked air guitar solo to show my enthusiasm duuuuude.  

Seriously. Tho. Bill and Ted!!!!

2 totally awesome characters that helped shape the end of the 80s in a most bodacious way. 

I have a new segment revolving around the awesomeness of Keanu Reeves which I will debut next week.  It will definitely be a fun one to show off.

The original Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventire came out in 1989.

I loved 1989 Topps. I think it gets a bad rap for being such an over produced set from the 80s.  The design lends itself so well to today's color parallels though.

These die cut minis were from 2014 and are most excellent finds in a pack of cards.

1986 marked the first time I watched a movie and thought of a girl as being pretty and not having cooties or being some stupid girl.  That girl was Sarah Williams, played by Jennifer Connely.  

My parents got me into all things Jim Henson as a kid. I wasn't a super fan and couldn't recite much of the movie, but I was drawn in by the wonderfully created bizarre world that Jareth lived in and Sarah stumbled into.  As I got older, I grew to appreciate the unique nature of this film even more.  It didn't hurt that Jennifer Connely got more beautiful as she got older.

1986 Topps was a series I had only a few packs of.  The following year my dad and I went full blown collector crazy.

The simple nature of this set is so fun.  I wonder how many of today's stars will still be playing in 16 years so they can get a Heritage design similar to this  2014 Topps Archives release.

80s Week: More 1 of 1s

Because it is my birthday, I am continuing the theme of the 1980s all week.  As someone born in the 80s I have put together a contest for everyone to write about your favorite player born in the 1980s.  It is a blog bat around that leads into another Save Second Base contest where you can win a pink card of Gary Sheffield and Barry Larkin (two former superstars that made their debut in the 1980s).

Here are some more of my favorites from the 80s.

Video Game:
RBI Baseball

This was a toss up for me. I had an original NES and the only games I ever played were sports games or Super Mario Brothers. I never got into much else. I enjoyed playing MegaMan but could never defeat the last level.  My other favorite games growing up were Base Wars, Baseball Stars 2, and Mutant League Hockey.

If you have never seen the YouTube video of Vin Scully announcing Game 6 of the 1986 World Series to RBI Baseball, you are in for a treat. It is amazing!

Favorite "retro drink"
Ecto Cooler

I lived off of juice boxes as a kid. My cousin and I would pound a 10 pack of these in just a few hours.  Ecto Cooler has been brought back a few times since it was originally changed by Hi-C, but that original package with Slimer from the Ghost Busters is still a classic.

Favorite toy

Yesterday I said Thundercats was my favorite cartoon despite not having many toys of them.  One toy line that I had a lot of was Transformers.  It's weird that I can distinctly remember asking for certain toys and where I was when I got them or wanted them. Oddly enough they all revolve around Transformers.

I remember bringing my Rodimus Prime with me to Vermont to visit my uncle at a bed and breakfast.

I remember asking my dad if I could get one of the new Decepticon jets (Dirge I believe) and him telling me "you don't play with the ones you have". I ripped off Starscream and Skywarp's wings and threw them on the ground. "They're broke" I told him.

My favorite though was Blaster, the cool talking Autobot radio that debuted in the full feature movie.  I got him as a Christmas present from my Grandmother and played with it all the time, putting him on my shoulder like I was carrying around a boombox.  I loved that toy!

I also loved the Seacons and built the entire Piranacon combiner.

My favorite toy leads into
My favorite movie then (and still to this day)

Ok. This movie was a game changer.
I remember my dad picking me up from day care on his motorcycle as he rode us to the theatre so quickly.  My dad still tells me how I would fall asleep sometimes as he would ride me around strapped in tightly on his Honda.  Once we got the food and popcorn I sat on his lap, or stood actually leaning forward watching so intently on every animated scene. I loved all the new characters that were introduced.  Blaster and Hot Rod were my favorites.  I cried when Optimus died and didn't want to watch it anymore. Then the movie introduced Wheelie and I was fixated once again.  Everything about this movie is pure gold.  The pacing, the animation, the voice actors, and the soundtrack.  To this day it is my favorite movie I have ever watched.

I mentioned a long time ago that the soundtrack is one of my 5 favorite albums ever produced.



Now for some 1980s inspired baseball cards.

These are ALL 1/1S!
Yup, each card you see below is a 1 of 1 and is a pack produced card that drew inspiration from 80s baseball cards.

Let's start with Archives

One thing I absolutely loved about the Archives brand being reinvented in 2012 was having printing plates of current players on older Topps designs.  A lot of people hate on printing plates, but when you get them all together, they are one of the hardest parallels to piece together.

As you can see I am at 75% on a pair of 1983 inspired printing plate sets.

The 1983 All-Star design is from 2013 Archives.

The 1983 base is from 2015 Archives.

I also have this Archives black border 1 of 1 from 2015 Archives.

Topps had their annual Transcendent Party in 2018 and as a result they had a few buyback cards that were released as 1 of 1 stamps at the party.

Again, with 1983?

Sheesh....I need some other years.