Announcing a new game from Looney Labs: Doctor Who Fluxx!!!
I’m really looking forward to this one! I’ve seen the card list, and it includes the twelve TV Doctors, Sarah Jane, Rose, Martha, and the Ponds!
From the press release:
Doctor Who Fluxx takes Fluxx through Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Join with various regenerations of the Doctor, some companions, Gallifreyan tech, and K-9 (but beware of Cybermen, Daleks, Weeping Angels, and the Master) and play the most ever-changingest, timey-wimey version of Fluxx ever created. Doctor Who Fluxx: you’ll play it time after time after time after time…
More Info
Doctor Who Fluxx®
Street Date: November 23, 2017 (54 years to the day that Doctor Who first aired!)
Players: 2-6
Playtime: 5-30 minutes
Ages: 8-Adult
MSRP:$20.00
This game is not yet available for pre-order from Amazon (there is a seller out of Brooklyn selling it for more than $20 and charging an insane shipping fee, so avoid that one). In the meantime, learn more about Looney Labs and their awesome games at this link!
I have a love/hate relationship with Funko Pop
These things are like cockroaches, but some of them are so cute. However, regardless of their cuteness, I refuse to begin another collecting habit. I already have my much-neglected baseball card collection, and my dust-collecting bobblehead collection, and my shelf-breaking book collection (okay, I don’t actually have any broken shelves yet, but some are bowing). I cannot fathom bring myself to start buying these Funko Pop figures en masse.
That said, whenever I see one that I actually like, I find it difficult to resist the urge to add it to my Amazon wishlist. And when the company tweets all of their giveaways, I’m pretty quick to hit that little RT button. I haven’t won anything from Funko yet, but my number has got to come up eventually, right?
RT & follow @OriginalFunko for the chance to win an #NYCC 2017 exclusive flocked Beast Man Pop! pic.twitter.com/u5Oqu0A0JH
— Funko (@OriginalFunko) October 16, 2017
Some characters work better in the Funko universe than others. Masters of the Universe characters, as a general rule, look pretty rad. And Cobra Commander—either hooded or silver-masked (or both!?!)—would be pretty cool additions to the collection. Ugh! There’s that word again! Collection!?!?! No! I refuse! I will not give in!
But I did recently. I invited a second Funko Pop figure into my house, and he will never leave. Trap Jaw is now a permanent resident. He joins The Walking Dead‘s Daryl Dixon, which was gifted to me by my oldest son last Christmas. They both look fantastic, and I’m happy to have them. They will likely be joined by others (like this, and this, and possibly this and this, and maybe this) in the near future, but I refuse to collect them.
There are a few characters that have not yet to my knowledge received the Funko Pop treatment that I would likely buy immediately, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Ralph Hinkley (also known as The Greatest American Hero). But still, I will not collect them.
Fun Cards: 1988 Topps Otis Wilbury (Jeff Lynne)
The most underrated member of the Traveling Wilburys is arguably Jeff Lynne. He is a producer extraordinaire and excellent songwriter, but was the last of the Wilburys to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His group, Electric Light Orchestra, was finally honored by the Rock Hall in 2017. The band was introduced by Dhani Harrison, also known as Ayrton Wilbury, who played the guitar solo on “Like A Ship” from the vinyl edition of The Traveling Wilburys Collection. Lynne produced George Harrison‘s 1987 album, Cloud Nine, which included the #1 hit “Got My Mind Set On You.” He also produced Roy Orbison‘s 1989 release Mystery Girl, featuring the top 40 hit, “You Got It,” and co-produced Tom Petty‘s Full Moon Fever. And of course, Lynne—or rather, Otis Wilbury—co-produced Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 with George Harrison (er, Nelson Wilbury). The Wilbury’s 1990 follow-up, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, was produced by Clayton and Spike Wilbury (Jeff and George, respectively).
Need some new rock in your life?
The Missing Peace, the brand new LA Guns album just dropped today, featuring the first new music from Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns in fifteen years. Johnny Martin, Shane Fitzgibbon, and Michael Grant join Phil and Tracii on this trip back to the Sunset Strip. It’s not just nostalgia, though—these songs are actually good! If you love the “hair metal” scene, this record will put you back where you belong. Hands-down, the best reunion album from a group of that era. There are some objectionable lyrics, as there is with much from the rock world, but there are some great clean songs as well. The musicianship is top-notch. I like Stacey Blades, but Tracii Guns is LA Guns. The Missing Peace shows how much we have missed in the past 15 years while Phil and Tracii were at odds. I am so glad they have buried the hatchet and have given us this new music. Phil and Tracii are good individually, but together they make great music.
Michael Grant adds quite a bit to the mix as well. Grant’s former band, Endeverafter, toured with Poison and Cinderella, and released one of the best hair metal-esque albums ten years ago, but went largely unnoticed due to poor promotion and a general distaste for the genre at the time. I highly recommend adding Kiss or Kill to your collection (after The Missing Peace, of course).
The Missing Peace is available on CD or vinyl, or can be downloaded in MP3 format.
Tracklist:
1. All the Same to Me
2. Speed
3. Drop of Bleach
4. Sticky Fingers
5. Christine
6. Baby Gotta Fever
7. Kill It or Die
8. Knife to a Gunfight
9. The Flood’s the Fault of the Rain
10. The Devil Made Me Do It
11. The Missing Peace
12. Gave It All Away
Fun Cards: 1988 Fleer Nelson Wilbury (George Harrison)
George Harrison, with the Beatles, opened for Roy Orbison in the 1960s. He brought Bob Dylan back to the stage in the 1970s. And he utilized the masterful production of Jeff Lynne in the 1980s. Where does Tom Petty fit in? Apparently, Harrison and Petty formed a friendship and were known to jam together privately. Put all five of those names together and you have the greatest supergroup of all-time. One would be hard-pressed to improve on the lineup of the Traveling Wilburys.
Fun Cards: 1988 Topps Record Makers Lucky Wilbury (Bob Dylan)
Like the other Wilburys, Bob Dylan‘s reputation was firmly in place long before the 1980s. His legacy was as a singer-songwriter and the voice of the late 1960s generation. Dylan joined George Harrison and friends for the epic “Concert for Bangladesh” in 1971, performing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” with the former Beatle. The accompanying album won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1973.
Fun Cards: 1988 Score Young Superstars Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison)
The date: 1963. The headliner: Roy Orbison. The opening act: The Beatles. Orbison was on tour in Great Britain and allowed local bands such as the Beatles and Gerry and the Peacemakers to open for him. In 1987, Bruce Springsteen inducted Orbison into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; a year later the Boss inducted Bob Dylan. Orbison teamed up with George Harrison, twenty-five years after allowing his little band to open for him in Britain, and the others in the Traveling Wilburys. The debut single and album was released on October 17, 1988.
Fun Cards: 1988 Donruss Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. (Tom Petty)
How did the Traveling Wilburys come to exist? Over the next few days, I’ll piece together a few of the happenings that brought five legendary musicians together to form the greatest supergroup in rock history.
The first piece, Tom Petty, a.k.a. Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. In 1988, Bob Dylan recruited Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to be his backup band during the True Confessions tour. A year later, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) album, featuring a song co-written by Dylan. Petty and his cohorts again back Bob Dylan in 1987 for his Temples in Flames tour. The following year, Petty and Dylan joined forces with Roy Orbison, Electric Light Orchestra‘s Jeff Lynne, and the Beatles‘ George Harrison to form the Traveling Wilburys.
Goodbye, Jimmy Beaumont
(October 21, 1940 – October 8, 2017)
Jimmy Beaumont was lead vocalist for Pittsburgh doo-wop group The Skyliners, whose biggest his was 1959’s “Since I Don’t Have You.” The song has been covered by numerous acts such as The Four Seasons, Guns N’ Roses, Brian Setzer, and Art Garfunkel. Other songs by The Skyliners include “It Happened Today,” “This I Swear,” and “Pennies From Heaven.” Beaumont is the fourth of the original lineup of The Skyliners to pass.
Fun Cards: 1976 Topps Tom Petty
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers‘ self-titled debut was released in November, 1976, by Shelter Records. The first single, “Breakdown,” was a Top 40 hit, and has been covered in the studio by Grace Jones and Suzi Quatro, and by numerous artists in concert, including the Replacements and Foo Fighters. The band then released “American Girl,” which unbelievably did not chart in the United States until it was re-released in 1994. The song was used in several films, including FM, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and The Silence of the Lambs.
Hungry for more Tom Petty? Check out Greg’s tribute at Night Owl Cards, matching baseball cards to the songs from Petty’s 1994 release, Wildflowers (one of my favorite Petty albums).
