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04/25/2003: Suckerman & Clue.

Hey hey hey. Spent yesterday in the city doing a fun little side project involving taking pictures of street vendors and broken bicycles with a cell phone camera. Hit some of the usual idiot spots in Times Square, namely the giant Toys R’ Us with the ferris wheel and the giant Candy Land section suspiciously filled with things that are neither candy or lands. Some pics are below.

There’s a new article up, about the return of Mattel’s 1978 creature of infamy, Suckerman. Found him at a toy store that also sold several rubber albino alligators. Also, if you missed it, there’s an article from yesterday about Clue’s stupid old VCR Mystery Game, which I will never play or look at again in my natural life. Enjoy, and have a weekend full of drugs and mirth.

HURRAY FOR SUCKERMAN! HURRAY FOR CLUE! HURRAY FOR DINOSAURS! HURRAY FOR BOSTON PUBLIC!

I like how they caution you when throwing it at glass, as if a seven-ounce piece of rubber will shatter a window.

I don’t know what wrong with Matt, but I didn’t have a problem learning the rules to the Clue VCR game, and I was playing it before I was ten years old. It really wasn’t that difficult.

Matt also says he used glasses from Captain EO to read the answers, but that movie did not use the old-fashioned red and blue glasses. Matt lied to us. Coupling that with the fact that he was unwilling to learn the rules, I can only conclude he hates us and wants us to die.

It was annoying to have to rewind and rewatch scenes over and over again in Clue. I remember you were supposed to write down the numbers on your VCR’s timer so you’d know where the scenes started. They also warned you not to leave the tape paused too long because it would degrade. And as Matt said, it’s pretty fuzzy, which can make the game difficult because sometimes you have to look for tiny details. It would work a lot better on DVD, but I doubt anyone will revive it.

I thought it was fun to figure out the mystery; it was all a big logic puzzle. I still have no idea how they fit so much detail into the rather short story to provide so many clues. I remember one clue was about people with facial hair, and that included Madame Rose. The later games were more complex, with multiple murders, multiple murderers, murderers getting killed by other murderers, the same weapon being used for more than one murder, and so forth.

By the way, Parker Brothers later released an update of the board game called Clue: Master Detective, which incorporated the new characters and weapons from the VCR game. But it basically had the same rules.

Three people who sat here with me can vouch for Clue’s mysterious way of telling the rules. As for EO, you’re right, I lied.

Maybe it’s just that I have superhuman intelligence. Or your friends have a stupefying effect on you.

i remember something similar to the clue vcr game, it was a "scary" board game called atmosphere.

you would play a rather standar bt spooky themed board game, untill a big guy in a hjood, looking a bit like a poor man’s skeletor, would appear on the screen and get us all to say stupid things to him. it was daft.

we all stood around saying, "ooh hello gate keeper" and must hav looked daft to passers by.

I like how they tell you to be careful with it around glass, then tell you to stick it to windows.

Yeah I was going to say something about the captain E-O thing too, but I have been a bit snotty with my recent posts so I thought I’d lay off. The glasses they used were polarized glasses. They looked like lightly tinted sunglasses.

I have a better "video" Clue for you. I have it for my CD-i machine, but I know they also made a version for the PC. You also get to interview the suspects (although you don’t get to ask any questions–the questions are asked for you for the most part by the game, but it’s not like I’d know what to ask. Heck I can’t even solve a Scooby-Doo episode!), send stains to be tested, and explore the room. You need a board game-style action to go from room to room, then waste a turn to drag some schlub who’s not in the room into the room to ask him or her something.

The acting was pretty good, kind of like that old PBS "Mystery" series" or Masterpiece Theatre, except it doesn’t put you to sleep. The CD-i version has two different Clue games, but the PC version collected both games into one disk. I even played alone, since I could never talk anyone into playing with me. (One friend thought the board game was boring and wouldn’t believe me when I told him this version actually required detective skills and not just finding out who had one card. Darn bias friends.)

Tin Man,
I’ve played the same thing, but I recall it being spelled Atmosfear. Or maybe I am imagining that to forget the creepy hooded guy. Man he was a jerk. He always said I had to stop playing because he didn’t like my shoes or something.

i was checking out the fruit roll up commercial, and i’ll be damned if the kid at the end of it on the left who takes a bite of his buddies roll-up is non other than a pre-wonder years jason hervey. wayne arnold ruled.

I used to have the Clue CD-ROM game. It too had a weird butler that insists that he DIDN’T do it. There were a lot of hidden cameras in the mansion you could look threw. Most of them consisted of Col. Mustard eating cheese.

haha. ive played that nightmare game. that gatekeeper scared the piss out of me.

Okay, "Fuck you, Gatekeeper!" isn’t that clever. But we were sixteen! And he called us maggots. Maggots!

In retrospect, though, the guy probably just had self-esteem issues. Just a Skeletor wannabe trying find his Snake Mountain niche.

I remember the game being Atmosfear too. But that’s defintly the same Gatekeeper and "write down worst fears" in Nightmare. Maybe it had different names?

Yeah, I think that they might be either marketed under different names, or they may be parts in a series. Apparently there’s some sort of RPG online game, and a DVD (the fuck!?).

Yeah, I own the Clue VCR Game too, and after reading the article on it I knew one thing: I HAD TO FIND IT, WATCH IT, AND MAYBE EVEN TRY TO PLAY IT! Well, after about 6 hours or so, I finally found it in my basement with a bunch of other games and such, so the only logical thing next was to watch it!

Which I did, and man oh man, if my name was Ebert (which thankfully, it is not), I would have to give it two thumbs up! Just because its so corny and bad at the same time, and It reminded me of a bad b-movie, and I like bad b-movies.

So, having found it, and watched it, the only logical thing left to do was TRY to play it! I asked my family to play, but they didn’t want to, so I called some friends up, and they weren’t all that interested. So, I decided to play against Me, Myself, and I (which are the usual suspects I get stuck playing board games with).

Luckily a lot of the pieces, cards, and papers were gone. Cuz, If we had played, Myself would have creamed us all. You should see him when we play Candy Land, dude takes no prisoners, he’s a maniac!

The board game "AtmosFear" which i spelt wrong 1st time, must have had its name changed from the american "nightmare" because in england there was a show called nightmare, where kids put on a hat so that they couldnt see and walked around a blue rom as their mates told them what direction to go in.

it was very popular but i dont think they ever maqnaged to get their own figures or anything.

Man, I was obsessed with that stupid Clue game when I was little. Never played the damn thing, not once, but I think I watched the movie maybe 15 times. The Babysitter would come over and ask me what I wanted to watch and I’d say "Clue." Maybe it has something to do with the strange juxtaposition of the rules of a game and fiction. Man I remember, not necessarily finding that stupid video scary, but tense and dramatic nonetheless. And Ms. Scarlet always got me going too.

And I distinctly remember spending a year of my life obsessed with finding Clue 2 (yes they made a sequel). Everytime I’d hit the mall with mom and dad we’d look for it. Never found it though.

And GOOD GOD there’s a site with BEHIND THE SCENES photos from the set of both game flicks!!! (looks like it in the middle of an update or something at the moment)

I had the Isaac Asimov Robots board game, but I don’t think I ever actually played it.

You know, Pee-Wee Herman once had a Suckerman; remember his HBO special? He pulled a Suckerman out of his bag of, well, stuff…

As a kid, i never had a sucker man, but i did have leech. leech was cool as you could stick him to someone’s forehead, pull it off and leave a massive mark on their head that stays for days.

This is really off topic but i need help figuring out this mystery (h’m, not so off topic after all, it is a mystery). I bought a ninja turtle figure from 1988 that has a rubber head instead of the usual plastic one. Is it rare or worth more or anything. Please e-mail me if you know anything about this. Thanks

The soft-headed figures are the oldest versions, but the difference in value isn’t much.

I’ve just noticed that the comment form has no spot for email. Could this be because I consistently use my homepage as the name link and it knows what I fill in? I did drop my email once for Mandy, but she never picked up.

Anyway, back to video board games. There was this one that came with Disney’s Gargoyles video movie (the condensed five-parter). My sister and I tried playing it and beating the game before the video ran out. It was no use.

I forget what my sister did with the video. Probably sold it at the Gathering conventions or something.

Was the rubber headed ninja turtle a movie figure? I remember the movie action figures had rubber heads. Hey Matt are u interested in buying a huge box of Ninja Turtles. I even have the Technodrome.

I know you’ve mentioned this before, but I just can’t believe how much they’re charging for those G1 Transformer reissues. I swore I wouldn’t buy them but I couldn’t resist the draw of classic Transformers for very long. I guess saving up for weeks to buy a Transformer is just making the experience all the more nostalgic.

i find it more satiffying to find a nice condition, old transformer at a car boot sale. i often by a couple of good condition lesser known transformers or gobots. i have quite a good shelf of them now.

thanks for the turtle info :) and no…its not a movie fig

thanks for the help everyone

I’m afraid I have nothing on topic to say here, so I’ll just let everybody know that today I turned 22. yea me. If you want to give me a birthday present, you can email me at work and I’ll give you the address to send stuff to, or you can email me at work w/ a dell service tag, and I’ll call and b.s. I mean TROUBLESHOOT your computer. Keeps me away from the ignorant customers

Haha, i don’t know if this had anything to do with it, but i suggested a Suckerman article to Matt a while back. Yay, you just made my day, Matt, Thanks!

Okay, this is totally out of nowhere and probably a stupid question, but here goes. What I’d like to know is how you get screenshots off a tape onto the computer! I’ve Googled and I can’t find any answers

I figure since there’s five bazillion screenshots from old tapes on this site, someone probably knows how. I have some tapes I’d like to take screenshots from, and if anyone knows of a site that tells how, or knows how and wants to tell me, I’d be really grateful.

Amanda,
My friend has a digitizer that lets you capture movies into your computer even if you don’t have it set up to do so. I don’t know where he got his, but my guess is that Radio Shack, Circuit City, or the local equivalent would have one. You could also try photography stores like Wolf Camera or somewhere. Failing them you could always just take pictures of the screen with a still camera and transfer them to the computer. Good luck!

I oght to be studying right now. Instead, for the umteenth time, I sat down at a computer and wasted all my time at this site. Matt, you owe me a college degree.

You think we’re getting raped for the Transformers reissues now? Just wait till they re-release the Dinobots next fall. Can’t wait to explain to my girlfriend that we can’t go out to dinner for a couple months because I blew 150 bucks on 5 little robot dinosaurs. Yeah, that’ll go over well.

Ha! Wait till you tell her you want to put them on display in the living room. That’s the one that really gets ‘em! Dinobots!?! Well…I didn’t really want that surgery anyway.

My wife is so cool, she’ll probably let me get them, but probably not have them anywhere but work.

I saw the new TFs, they look great. Pricewise, ehhh. I guess it’s sort of worth it to pay 30 bucks for a shiny new Starscream, but Hasbro probably should’ve put them in a more basic window box. Since most of the people who buy these things aren’t gonna open them, they should’ve did away with the ‘fold flap’ front.

I wish stores in the DC/MD area carried that many different kinds of Transformers. If any stores do, I haven’t seen them yet. I got the new Optimus Prime, though. Pretty nice, but somehow not QUITE as cool as the original.

Just picked up a Starscream this weekend. I can’t justify it but Damn it he’s cool. Its just sad that I paid $35 on Screamer when earlier this year I paid the same amount on Ebay to get Chinese knock offs of the Constructicons, Combatacons, Stunticons, Aerialbots, and the Protectobots. That’s 26 robots for what I paid for 1 Starscream.

Man I’m bored. So i’ll take this time to comment on those nifty lil’ lines inbetween comments. They are so helpful. Oh lil’ lines, i wuv you.

The only VCR game I ever had was Commercial Crazies, a trivia Q&A game that would ask you about little details in a series of cheesy 80s commercials.

The guy who read the rules was the fast talking guy from Fed Ex and Micro Machines ads. Fortunately, they were printed in the box tops, too.

There are a number of good candidates for the download section on this tape, including classic Where’s the Beef ads.

Shame! I am not Three Oranges here…I am Three Oranges somewhere else…My identity is crashing in around me…

My family has the Honeymooners VCR game; I don’t even think they ever played it though. I think it was made by Matell.

Hey, what stores can I find Suckerman in? I tried RiteAid but they didn’t have him. I’m guessing Walmart or Kmart might have him. Anyone?

If you liked Sears Catalogs here are compilation books for boys and girls. They suck in that they are all black and white photos and the selections are only a small selection of the years represented; I looked them up on Amazon. No need to fear since people do sell the actual catalogs and wish books from Sears on Ebay as well.
"GIRLS’ TOYS OF THE SEVENTIES & EIGHTIES"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...3517133125&category=29276
"BOYS’ TOYS OF THE SEVENTIES & EIGHTIES"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...3517132937&category=29276

Gozer: I almost bought Starscream this weekend, but my wife gave me that "wait until payday or you’re sleeping on the couch" look, so I managed to keep myself under control.

Man… the day they release my favorite old figures (Ghetto Blaster and Jetfire), I’ll be a poor, poor man.

I actually have the original TF toys stored somewhere in a box, but I didn’t take that good care of them. As soon as I put them in my niece & nephew’s hands, they nearly disintegrated, and the weapons were broken too. Stupid cheap plastic.

Thanks for the link but it irks me whenever shipping and handling supercedes the original price.

went to wal-mart. they no have suckerman. suckerman over rated dollar store type toy anyways. fo’get you suckerman. In other news, me have big talking alf now…chew on that non-talking suckerman.

My family had not only this atrocity, but the sequel and the aforementioned Commercial Crazies. When I was 8, I ate that sort of shit up like Pixy Stixs. Enough has been said about the first Clue VCR Game, although I always found it amusing that at one point there was a will with a codicil(sp?) in it and the codicil had "Codicil" written on it in big red letters. The second VCR game involved an Interpol agent persuing our "favorite" characters to such exotic locales as Paris, Tangiers, and Burma. Everyone was trying to kill the inspector. It was dumb, yet it was enjoyed by all. I’ll have to look for those two tapes…perhaps I still have them.

My brother picked up the Clue II vcr game awhile ago and when a group of us tried to play it the instructions were confusing and stupid. It is good to know someone else went through this pain also.

I remember seeing this game in the (now sadly defunct) Harbor View video store in Cape May during the mid-80s heyday of the VCR game. We never rented it, though I was tempted to ask about it several times. If Matt’s review is any indication, I’m now very glad I didn’t.

(BTW, I believe Miss Peach and the other characters not from the original game were from the now-discontinued deluxe Clue that included more characters, weapons, and rooms. I’ve only read about the game or heard about it from friends, never played it. Someone else may have more details…)

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2003 at 4:52 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.