McDonaldland Citizenship Certificate (1975)

 

I don't go around flaunting it, but I am an honorary citizen of McDonaldland, and now you can be too! This half-sheet-sized certificate, printed on heavy, fancy stock, comes from 1975, and was designed to be given out at birthday parties and special events.  

Signed by Mayor McCheese, and Ronald himself, it's worthy of a frame in your home or office, and shows everyone that you are entitled to fun and happiness forever.  It doesn't get any better than that!

Join along with me in missing the fun and specialness that McDonald's once held, rather than just the gray box of sadness that it has turned into today.

THE GODZILLA LIVE Complete Set (Banpresto, 1993)

Here is a set of small plushes that have been on my want list for many a year now! THE GODZILLA LIVE is a series of 5 plushes (each around 6 inches tall) made by Banpresto in 1993, as "UFO Catcher" (claw machine) prizes.  

Before we look at them in detail, here is the tag:

First up is Rodan, who in the above card art is the smallest, yet in reality dwarfs his bandmates!

This one must've been quite difficult to win and hook with the claw (unless you grabbed him by the drums, maybe).  He has a giant, bulbous  head, and a stern expression, showing he takes his rhythm-keeping quite seriously.  It's very difficult to find an example of him today that has the drumsticks; they are prone to breaking loose.  His bass drum has the logo for the band:

Up next is Gigan, and this one just may be my favorite of the group.  His simplified design accomplishes volumes. Just look at that shredding pose! Both guitars in the band have three strings, so he can be the bassist if you prefer.

The big G may look familiar to you; this is a design that Banpresto used a lot in their UFO Catcher plushes, especially.  He is rocking here with fierce determination!

Mothra is adorable, but be advised that she does not stand.  It's too bad she didn't include something to prop her up.  As it is, you need to lean her against a fellow band member in as unobtrusive a way as you can come up with. On the tag, she is shown with shades on, but the plush just has large, uncovered eyes.

However, Mothra pales in comparison to King Ghidorah.  First of all though, let's take in the wonderfulness here.  Keyboards. AND. .....Vocals???!! Do two of the heads play the keys? One of them is holding the mic, so...let's not think about it too much.  11 out of 10 for charm, hilarity and originality, but....1 out of 10 because this thing WILL NOT STAND no matter what you do.  It's a round lump, like trying to stand a pillow.  Now, the details are done well--check out the tails:

And here is a better look at the keyboard(s) from a top view:

You can prop Mothra up, but there is absolutely no way Ghidorah is going to be upright without extra equipment.  If he sat on a plastic ring of some sort, it  would make a huge difference!

Before we conclude though, a bit of history--I tend to think that the inspiration for this supergroup came from the artwork for a 1972 promotional single entitled, "The Bride Of Godzilla:"

Both sides of the cover reveal: Godzilla on guitar and vocals, Gigan just singing (?), King Ghidorah as an entire horn section (and a flute), Angilas on saxophone (that's the best thing I've typed today), and....Godzilla again, as his own drummer? Astounding!

Godzilla: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS Vidpro Card (Super Nintendo, 1995)

 

Today we have a piece of history that qualifies for several categories at once.  It's Godzilla history, video game/Nintendo history, AND even Toys R Us history!

If you recall what the videogame section at TRU looked like, games were in racks or shelves, akin to some video rental stores of the time.  When a title ran out, there would be a placeholder card at the back, showing that the title needed to be re-ordered.  These were produced by a company out of Dallas, Texas called Vidpro, and are quite rare today.  We have looked at one other several years ago--for the GameBoy GODZILLA game.

What we are looking at today is such a card, but for a game that was cancelled! GODZILLA: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, the game we never got.

Announced in NINTENDO POWER in May of 1995, nobody seems to know why this game was suddenly withdrawn.  It was a port of a Super Famicom game from Japan called GODZILLA: GREAT MONSTER BATTLE, so it does at least exist, and can be tracked down and played today.  Here is what the box art looked like:

Maybe SUPER GODZILLA's sales and reputation did it in...that game wasn't that great.  Either way, it's too bad that we didn't get an additional Godzilla game for the Super Nintendo, but it's an interesting piece of history to look back on.

GODZILLA vs. MEGALON Complete Set of Color Stills (Cinema Shares, 1976)

 

This is an update of an old post, because I just this week completed this set of 8.  MEGALON had 8 x 10-inch "color stills" instead of lobby cards, but they are super cool, with lots of great promotional photos.  Sort of like giant trading cards. Here are all 8 in one lovely post!