THE INCREDIBLE HULK Production Cel and Background (New World Animation, 1996)

Another birthday present I couldn't post until the cat was out of the bag, for the biggest Hulk fan that I know!

SUPER MARIO WORLD Original Production Cel (DiC, 1991)

I bought two pieces of animation art for birthday presents, and it was too early to post them before, but now that the cat is out of the proverbial bag, I can share them here.  First up is a cel from the SUPER MARIO WORLD animated series.  Astute fans will notice that it's from the infamous "Mama Luigi" episode.  (Apologies for the phone-sourced photo with lower resolution.)

Some of My Personal FAILs... (part nine)

It's that time again.  And by "that time," I mean time to clean out my camera and hard drive, and share some of the bizarreness I see on a regular basis:

First, a leftover from the "Engrish With Ultraman Ace" series, that somehow I overlooked (so the FAIL in this one is on me).

Secondly, I was in Dallas last year on business, and there were huge blow-ups of vintage newspaper pages in the hotel (doesn't make any sense to me, either).  I happened to notice this 1892 FAIL...but once again, didn't notice my own reflection...so that's two FAILS for me so far...if you are keeping score, that's Universe: 2, Me: 0.

And now we move on to a couple of thrift store FAILs...the longer I stare at this picture, the more things there are that are just plain WRONG about it.  I pity the family who not only had to sew the entirety of their Halloween costumes, as there are complete STORES devoted to keeping you from doing that now, but who also went out all looking exactly the same. And the sad thing is, none of these costumes are even technically "correct," in a classic Universal sort of way...I don't know what they were going for, unless it's ridicule.  Oh, and Mozart called:  he wants his shirt back.

This is one of those "I don't make the news; I just report it" moments.  Apparently you can fail on different levels simultaneously.  Unless I am hallucinating, I see a statue of a rooster.  It is wearing pants, some sort of shirt I guess, and maybe, boots.  It also has breasts.  There's not much more I can say about it, except that somebody bought it, so dwell on that for a moment.  This is as close as I would let myself get to it. 

And finally, a Food FAIL.  I am sure I really shouldn't comment on what people eat, as I'm also sure I have eaten a lot of foods of questionable origin in my own life, but since I am a hypocrite: WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE???!?!?!

GODZILLA Model Kit Re-issue (Monogram, 1978)

Here's our old friend, the Aurora Godzilla model kit, once again, this time re-issued by the Monogram company, in 1978.  They even retained the "Glow-In-The-Dark" features from the 1969 & 1972 Aurora re-issues.

They did a good job on the box art though--it's colorful and engaging.  Eye-catching, even.

And, it's always nice when a model company gives you a photo of the finished model, rather than a painting that kids could never live up to.

And, they even attempted to give Godzilla a short bio: "The best-known of all monsters, Godzilla has starred in 17 classic films."  I think model kits were one of the first products I ever saw that actually had different languages printed on their packages...which today is commonplace.

I held out, and found a kit that had never even been removed from the plastic bags.  Notice the extra set of "Glow-In-The-Dark" parts, which includes a head, (end of) tail, hands, and dorsal plates. 

Here are scans of the instructions!

So, if you are keeping track now, this is the fourth version of this model kit that there is to buy:

Godzilla (original kit, Aurora, 1964)
Godzilla (Glow-In-The-Dark re-issue, Aurora, 1969)

Godzilla (Glow-In-The-Dark re-issue, Aurora, 1972)

Godzilla (Glow-In-The-Dark re-issue, Monogram, 1978)

Godzilla (original kit re-issue, Polar Lights, 2000) [covered in 1972 article]

It's about time to re-issue this kit again, don't you think?

GODZILLA Original Production Cel with Background (Hanna-Barbera, c. 1978)

One item on my want list for some time was an original cel from the Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA animated series, and I finally get one, and it's Godzooky.  Oh well, it's a start.

One interesting point here is the background...while it's an original background, I don't really think it's an original GODZILLA background.  I suppose I could re-watch all 26 episodes of the show (in my copious free time), but I don't look for that to happen anytime soon.  You will notice that the "key holes" (the hole and slots used to hold the cel in the correct place on the animation stand) are on the bottom of the cel, but on the opposite side on the background, which adds a further level of mystery, that I should probably leave to the experts.  After all, the notations on the edge of the background are right-side-up when you look at it, so maybe that background was made for a stand with a different set-up, where the holes are on the top?  I have no earthly idea, so I'm just trying to look for clues.

On the top: holes.  On the bottom:  more holes.

To me, the background looks like some sort of futuristic stadium ("Godzooky: Beyond Thunderdome"?), so, considering that it is really an HB background, then what is it? SUPER FRIENDS would be a good guess, and that would be super-fine by me.  There was a Space Ghost revival around 1981 as well, and that would be another decent guess.  Unless I'm watching something randomly one of these days, and happen to spot the background, I may never know, but I'd be glad to entertain any other guesses or ideas.

And, for all those who regard Godzooky as the Jar Jar Binks of Godzilladom, you can get special enjoyment out of the way the cel lines up with this background, and makes it appear that he is impaled on two giant spikes.

2020 Update:  I forgot to say in my original post that this cel and background came from Heritage Auctions originally!  Also, I had some downtime recently (no; didn't have COVID), and I can report that I watched the 1981 Space Ghost and Herculoids series completely, as well as the complete second season of GODZILLA, and this background did not appear.  I still think SUPERFRIENDS is a good guess, since sometimes they ended up as gladiators in certain situations...in other words, the quest continues.

GODZILLA Original Production Pencil Artwork (Hanna-Barbera, c. 1978)

Here is an original piece of artwork made for the Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA series that mesmerized me as a five-year-old child.  It's done in pencil, with a second blue pencil, apparently for corrections.  If this was done to photocopy the art onto cels for painting (the Xerox process), then the blue pencil theoretically wouldn't show up, so I will leave that to those more experienced than I am.

It measures 10.5 x 12.5", standard cel size, and does have the "key" holes/slots at the bottom, so perhaps this artwork was used for pencil tests, but my theory would be that HB didn't spend a great deal of money on pencil tests at this point.  

It doesn't show up in the picture, but there is a lovely tinge of light brown across the top of the page, denoting its age.  Not only is this going straight into a frame, but a frame that includes acid-free backing for protection!