The X-Entertainment Blog!

07/02/2008: X-E's '08 Summer Megaparty: Blame Anonymous.

"My blog is going to give away 1000 dollars every day of summer. Make sure you refresh and visit multiple times. It may not be every day BECAUSE I'M POLITE AND DON'T PROMISE THINGS I CAN'T DELIVER." – Posted By Anonymous.

Oh, please. I haven't updated X-E's main page since the Superbowl. Manipulating readers into refreshing for ad impressions has clearly been a long-term goal of mine. Besides, I'm not even late. "Once a day," I said. I'm totally on deadline.

"Anonymous" must be punished, and my chosen method in punishing Anonymous unfortunately means that you're going to be punished right along with him. I had a beautiful, long and interesting entry planned, but now I am SCRATCHING it, and instead, I am going to review the KAHEGA ACTION FIGURE. From CONGO.

You like that, Anonymous? Are you pleased with the fruits of your uncaring and unsigned comment? You've ruined it for everybody. I had GOLD planned for today…and now gold has been replaced with KAHEGA. And by the way, Anonymous: I've got a Karen Ross action figure just waiting for your next fuck-up.

Hindsight dictates that a Congo action figure series was a terrible idea, but I don't blame Kenner for giving it a shot in 1995. It's assured that they had to work out the licensing details and produce the toys long before they knew how well the movie would be received. This isn't to say that Congo was a total flop, because it wasn't. It just wasn't a very important movie, with its scope of diehard fans limited to stoners who found humor in the concept of a gorilla talking through the magic of a hotwired Nintendo Power Glove.

Truth be told, it's one of my favorite films ever, and I mean that with 100% sincerity. Congo was unfairly compared to Jurassic Park due to the Crichton connection, but when most reviewers were busy looking for the Spielberg-level storytelling wizardry and never-before-seen special effects, a small-but-elite force of moviegoers realized that any flick that featured Tim Curry getting yelled at for eating sesame cake before meeting his demise at the hands of an undiscovered camp of mutant gorillas was worth twenty times more than a T-Rex launching goat carrion.

I loved Jurassic Park, but it had nothing on Congo. Congo is the ultimate movie. From egotistical "Amy Monkey" christening herself as "pretty," to the scene where the heroes use flare guns to displace heat seeking missiles, there is not one second in Congo that doesn't stand toe-to-toe with any other second in any other movie.

Anyway, the toys tanked. They hardcore tanked. Congo was an action movie, but even I can't argue that its characters weren't exactly on-par with Indiana Jones. Kenner tried everything they could to make it work, but it was impossible. Remember Peter? The kinda dorky lead guy from the movie, whose only vested interest in the adventure was returning his talking gorilla to her safe homeland? Well, to make him translate better as an action figure, they fitted Peter with a shoulder-mounted missile launcher. But deep down, it's still just the guy from Congo who blurred the boundaries of bestiality while picking leeches out of his crotch.

Still, at least Peter is a character people who've seen Congo would probably recognize. I'm not sure the same can be said for Kahega. If you don't recall Kahega's role in the movie, that's your problem. I'd tell you, but I can't. Because of Anonymous.

Kahega is easily one of the worst action figures in history. Whatever chance you stood to be reminded of the film version of Kahega is eradicated by the fact that the figure looks absolutely nothing the fuck like him. Indeed, the only thing Anonymous and I have in common is that we both look more like Kahega than his action figure does.

One of the worst-proportioned toys of the modern era, Kahega's six-pack of abs is cut into a three-pack by the odd placement of his belt, which christens a journey down to a pair of legs that could not possibly belong to the torso that isn't more than a half a centimeter above them. And I was barely past digesting that when I noticed that the sum mass of Kahega's head is smaller than either of his feet.

Strangely, there's a gaping hole on Kahega's back which allows him to handsfree-carry the smaller of his two gigantic guns. Read that again, in case you missed the bit where Kahega mounts weapons inside a hole on his back. You really gotta feel for poor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. He had to be so excited when he heard that he was going to be immortalized as an action figure, and then he gets this. You also gotta feel for poor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje because text-to-speech programs really don't know how to pronounce his name.

By the way…I have the full set of Congo action figures. Everyone from "Monroe" to "Blastface the Grey Gorilla," who according to his package comes with "mutant fury." "Mutant fury" was Kenner's code-speak for "this figure does not come with anything." I guess by the time they finished fitting the seventy-seventh action figure with the same shoulder-mounted missile launcher, they knew they were pushing it. My point? If Anonymous messes with me again, I'm breaking out the Amy action figure. The AMY action figure. Think before you leap, Anonymous. Adebisi lives.

Curse you anonymous. Though, if this is what we get instead of gold I'm not that disappointed. And where is this rich blog anyway? Mama needs a new pair of stilettos.

Remember those neon faux-futuristic plastic sunglasses that Pizza Hut gave out to promote "Back to the Future 2"?

You can't let anonymous internerds bother you, man. Otherwise you're going to approach these comment boards with trepidation.

Anonymous can suck my balls, and I DONT EVEN HAVE ANY. I will grow some for the sole purpose for him to suck them. Seriously, WTF. Anywho, unfortunately i have never seen congo, but now i am intrigued…at least by the power glove reference

Regicide: Holy shit, I don't remember that, but I do remember getting a really funkily-shaped pair of multicolored neon sunglasses from Pizza Hut on a long ago trip to Wildwood. Those had to be from that promotion. I've always wondered about them.

I have not seen congo, but I've heard about Tim Curry's death in it and that seems kinda fun, maybe I'll watch it this weekend.

On to the action figure, the look on his face is incredible, he looks like he could be bested at a game of chess by amy the monkey.
Wait, Amy was smart right? Her speech powers didn't just come from this modified power glove you speak of did they?

Amy was smart enough to know sign language, and the Power Glove thing translated sign language into synthesized speech. (This text is taken directly from the Congo storybook.)

Ha, I love the way the text-to-voice program says his name. If I didn't know better I would have thought it was a message played backwards or somebody speaking in tongues.

3 for 5 dollars!? I lived for that sort of thing as a kid! Too bad KB never clearances anything good any more. I am not pay 15 dollars for a 4 year old Transformer KB!
Anyway this was a great post! I remember little about Congo other than the rad lazer that was the "cutting edge in satilite communications". Slicing savage apes in half with a dimond powered lazer? I'll admit it…Jurassic Park didn't have that.

Try looking cool in a pair of those. They're like something a japanese punk rock girl would wear.

Damn you, Matt!I had $1,000 to give away everyday this summer, and now no one will get a penny! And it's all because of you!

Was Congo where the gorilla army protects their diamonds with futuristic kick-ass guns?

Well, Back to the Future II took place in 2015, so the glasses still have 7 years to look cool. That has as much chance of happening as the flying cars and hoverboards in the movie though.

I'm starting to think that a review of all the Congo characters wouldn't be such a bad thing afterall. Maybe, in a strange sort of way, Anon did us all a favor.

Matt you REALLY know how to shut up a troll! lol. And just for the record I don't consider this a punishment for me because I like your writing THAT much! Oh and did you get my e-mail about your Wii number ? I don't want to be a pest about it so I wont mention it again after this. Just post it whenever you feel like it. =)

I had a pair of those glasses. Two, actually. I thought they were totally awesome when they first came out.

I remember seeing Congo and leaving thinking "what the hell was that all about?"

Yeah! Go Matt! Loving the Summer fun, by the way. Thanks for providing much happiness.

I think I had a pair of wierd glasses like those a LONG time ago. I might be thinking of the Back to the Future 2 pair.

Actually, Since I pay $100 a week in gas I'm more looking forward to the garbage powered cars in the movie then the flying cars.

I actually saw Congo in the theater back in the day. The reason I like it so much is Tim Curry gets the living shit kicked out of him, and pretty much everything else living in him (ha ha ha) got kicked out too. Amy's "voice" was a bit cheesy but definitely added to the unintentional humor. Best Amy scene is where she smokes the cigarette

Sadly thats about all I remember from the movie…..

Well phung I don't think anyone can argue that Tim Curry getting the living shit kicked out of him is not Oscar worthy. I do have to give Congo credit though because they finally made the Power Glove useful.

I had those BTTF II glasses! I thought I could see the future with them, but that's because I was a dumb little kid.

Well, the problem is that the trash powered Fusion generators, which A)we haven't successfully done yet, except maybe in a lab somewhere in exacting conditions and B)would be astronomically expensive.

I got married last weekend and then went to Orlando for the honeymoon, and used a lot of your HOT DISNEY THINGS Matt, thanks!

It would be pretty cool if the world was really like it was shown to be in bttf2.

Cameron - Not to mention that having a fusion generator in your car would be a bit on the unsafe side. You get in an accident and an entire city block could be nuked.

I've seen Congo and I don't remember anything about it except Amy and her power glove/speech.

Anyway, I went to the grocery store today and actually got my hands on some Jolly Rancher Sodas that were on sale months after Matt talked about them. I also bought a new type of Oreo there called "Fudgees" that I haven't tried yet.

Tommy Day I think Matt is saying Congo is better than JP BECAUSE it's cheesy. He's a B-movie fan like myself. For B-movie fans, the cheesier the flick is, the BETTER it is.

I wonder how Matt would react to Stinkbutt, the self-proclaimed "Big Boss of This Area"?

My theory is that the "area" he refers to is the space that holds his comment proclaiming such. If that's the case, then yes, he is the big boss of that area.

The subject of Congo made for a great non-sequitor ending to a Freakazoid episode. "I have a question: In the movie 'Congo,' how do you know when it's a Gorilla or a Guy in a Monkey Suit?" And then Freakazoid, Cosgrove, and Roddy McStew all go see Congo and argue about which is a Gorilla or a Guy in a Monkey Suit. Good times.

Invader Norbert I JUST remembered that Freakazoid episode. LOL, it was a good one. They were ALL good ones, but that one in particular was among my favs.

Kahega looks eerily similar to the hasbro action figure of The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase's faithful sidekick and man servant Virgil.

Yes Anette, I am being very serious business here, the look on the action figures face IS incredible.

Please don't let that anonymous asshole troll get to you. I don't post here much, but this is one of the best websites around. It has saved my sanity at work many times and been a great place to relive happy memories of my childhood. It would be crushing to lose this place.

I actually thought it was funny, or I wouldn't gave given Anonymous credit for Kahega. Truth is I would've written about Kahega anyway. Kahega rocks.

Okay, glad to know there's not some crazy internets drama going on up in here. XD Back to Megaparty funtime.

Matt's problems with the anonymous troll is one of the reasons it took me five years to decide to put comments on my blog…and then only because a friend requested it. I don't handle criticism well to begin with.

Though I remember hearing about "Congo" (and how notoriously bad it is) when it first came out, I've actually never seen it. I have very vague memories of seeing the action figures on major markdowns in K-Mart and elsewhere well into the 21st century, but not the one detailed here.

Man, this really makes me want to go back and watch Congo again. I think I only saw it once and barely remember anything from it. Sounds fantastic though. And yeah, that is a shitty looking action figure.

Oh, I just spent the last 5 minutes making the text to speech thing say a bunch of dirty, perveted things as I sat here and chuckled to myself. If only someone else were here to share my immaturity. Well, there's always you guys.

I remember watching Congo, the only reason I liked it was because Bruce Campbell was in the first 15 minutes of it, getting killed by the Mad Gorillas…

Great article Matt, I laughed my ass off at work. You gotta love those Trolls though, I don't even know what he/she is guilty of.

The full title of the Wizard should have been "The Wizard: A Feature Length Nintendo Commercial"

I totally remember the Pizza hut sunglasses! It was better than their mini basketballs for the final four in Denver. And another thing, I think bookit made me a fat gradeschooler

Contrary to popular belief, other than providing Super Mario Bros 3 (which had been out in Japan for a YEAR anyway), Nintendo had nothing to do with the concept and production of "The Wizard." If you'll notice, the characters never say "Nintendo," they say "video games."

That's not to say they had anything against the idea, but it wasn't a "Nintendo Commercial" as so many assume. That just happens to be the by product of the plot.

Really, taken on it's own, The Wizard is actually a pretty good movie. As David Sheff describes it in his book about the history of Nintendo (A MUST read for Nintendo fans), it was like The Who's Tommy…but for young kids.

Cameron T. I didn't know that Nintendo didn't have anything to do with the movie, at least not anything OFFICIAL, accordin to you. STILL, that doesn't make it ANY LESS of a giant Nintendo commercial in my eyes. I'm not saying I don't like it, because I actually do.

I totally used that text to speech thing to say dirty words for about 10 minutes before I got back to reading the blog.

What's with all the “fuck you” and “suck my balls” comments directed towards Anonymous? This is probably the only forum on the internet where no one attacks each other; and I sincerely hope it stays that way. I love how Matt “punished” us, and anonymous in a light hearted, hilarious fashion; everyone who's cursing him out is missing the point.

We used had a weekly trivia night at my bar, and I wrote a Video Game category one week with the question, "What movie contains the line, 'I love the power glove. It's so bad'?"

Out of twelve trivia teams of four, in which every member was a direct product of the 80s, not a single person got the correct answer. I almost got tears in my eyes while I was grading the sheets.

I saw Congo when it came out, and do not remember a thing about it. I mean, beyond the angry apes thing. And I would have totally skipped the last several paragraphs of this blog if it hadn't been for Anonymous and me hoping he/she would be mentioned further.
Also, I had the neon yellow and electric blue BTTF glasses. They were from Pizza Hut, I think.

I was always a huge Crichton fan, and I loved/hated how all of his books except the first Jurrassic Park and arguably Andromeda Strain translated into such god-awful movies. Congo not being the worste, but certainly the most notorious.

I totally forgot that was Bruce Campbell getting owned in the begining of the movie. If there is a Bruce Campbell action figure from that film it needs a review NOW.

I love plots that involve traumatized talking apes, and silver gorillas who still crush people's heads for diamonds, generations after people stopped training them to do it.

I had three out of the four of those stupid sunglasses. Not because I wanted them or knew what the fuck they were, but because Pizza Hut was a great place for afternoons when mom and dad didn't want to cook.

Wow, Cameron T., I had no idea about that. Thanks for the info. I guess cause it's been so long since I saw the movie, but I never noticed that they never said Nintendo.

I've noticed on 24 (one of my favorite shows ever) that when they're dealing with the leader of a nation that's known for terrorism, they never refer to the leader's country. I don't think they've ever directly mentioned a country's name in relation to who they're trying to stop. They always refer to it as "your country" or "your people". As a matter of fact, I don't believe that they've ever mentioned 9/11 on the show. Makes sense though, because they've gone through 3 presidents already and none of them have been Bush, so you really could't do a 9/11 show. The show kind of exists in this weird alternate version of America where terrorism is rampant, but 9/11 never happened, and they never mention the names of the contries the terrorists come from. Oh, and although it takes place in real time and an entire season takes place in one day, no one ever goes to the bathroom, eats, or sleeps.

socialpariah, I've only had the fun of doing trivia night twice but I had a blast both times. The first time I played it we came into the game way late but ended up sweeping it and beating everyone. I don't think I could have a better trivia night experience than that one. The name of our team was "The Dishes Are Done, Man." Out of all the teams competing, only one team really got the reference. It seemed like everyone on that team knew what it was from and afterwards came over and congratulated us and told us how funny our team name was. The announcer was just confused by it, and just called us "The Dishes" the whole time.

It's a good thing your mothers aren't here to read your comments. She would die of shame.

DJD Don't Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead is one of my FAV movies. My Momma LOVES it too. XD

DJ D: Yeah and that weird thing in 24 was never more apparent than in the most recent season. They should've figured out a better way to work around that in the scripts, because it was really awkward.

DJ D: ya'll shoulda just named yourselves the Kenny Crandell Skeet Shoot Authority or something. You can't really shorten that.

Actually, Kenner's Jurassic Park figures were pretty bad too. I have the one of Ian Malcolm. He looks alright, even if a bit beefed up. But the lame thing is the giant backpack gun thing he has. I guess Kenner went through a stage where they figured play vaue for kids was more impoartant than film accuracy. Even the first new Star Wars figures in 1995 are infamous for presenting a beefed up Luke.

I just got a Heroes figure of Hiro a couple of days ago. He's pretty cool looking. Mezco does a good job, althoug hthey always do heads a tad oversized. Like their Goonies line. I couldn't find teh Claire figure, but she's the only one on the pacakging that doesn't have a very good face sculpt. Funny, I have the hardbound Heroes comic book, and she's the least accurate character on the front too. Maybe she's got a hard to capture face.

It's 2:50 AM why isn't there a new post yet? Matt must be busy being an alchoholic. X-E isn't what it used to be. More like Megastupid.

I can't live with out them ;_;;
I use them in almost every post, along with ^___^

Yea, I guess that was a bit too far, nasticity(is that a word?) and obscurity-wise. My bad.

:( I know, that was wrong. Let us never speak of this incident again. ANYWAY……BACK TO CONGO!!!! YAY!!!!

In all seriousness, I never saw the film, or read the book. I do vaguely remember the figures though. The whole premise seemed pretty cool. Alot of people I knew that read it said it was fairly decent, but as mentioned, was always compared to JP.

I've never seen Congo either, it amazes me that there's been so much to say about it.

It does tend to show up in the strangest places doesn't it? Now after reading this MegaParty post, it will inexplicably show up within a few days somehow.

AAAAND I totally misread your post Doho….I think sleep may be in order…a little too much MegaParty type celebration went on tonight.

I never knew Bruce Cambpell was in Congo ! Then again, iv'e only seen it a few times and he's only in it for about 15mins.

Also, I haven't seen Congo yet, but I fully intend to. How can I not see a movie that has the Nintendo Power Glove, mad gorillas, missiles, Bruce Campbell and Tim Curry? Those last two alone are reason enough.

Yup, Frakky, he was indeed Mr. Eko. At least thanks to LOST he got a much better likeness eventually in figure form.
I haven't seen Congo in years so I didn't realize that THING was supposed to be foxy Mr. Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Weak sauce, Kenner. At least my Ian Malcolm figure looked vaguely like Goldblum.

Well, hell, now I'm totally sold. I don't understand how this movie wasn't a smash hit.

And on top of that it has extremely vicious mutant gorillas in it . Plus their grey. =D

ULTRAMAN, I heard about the Wizard, thanks to a certain AVGN. If I can, I will rent that, Congo, Ghostbusters, and original TMNT movie and call it movie night! Sad thing is I've only seen TMNT (old), and maybe Ghostbusters a long time ago. Thanks for the advice.

Matt, Exactly! I had actually never even noticed it until my dad pointed it out. He got me hooked on the show at the beginning of Season 4 and I haven't looked back since. We made a point of watching the most recent season together every week. It was kind of our ritual because it's his favorite show and probably my second favorite. Anyway, he pointed that out and I had never thought of it before until then, but yeah it was really awkward during the last one. I can't wait for Jan. to get here so we can have some more 24. It's been way too long. Another thing I noticed one season was Chloe got fired, then they called her and told her to come back to work. About 15 minutes later she shows up. Now, unless she lives in the basement of CTU, I find it hard to believe that she got from home to work in that amount of time, especially since she wasn't exactly expecting that phone call, in LA traffic. In their defense, I think read somewhere that the time during the commercials counts as time on the ticker thing. If you notice, they take into account that sort of lost 2 minutes, so who knows what happens then that we don't see.

ARGHGHGHGHGHG I want my stimulus check NOW! Friggin husbands social ends with a very high number so we won't get out stimulus till next Friday at the earliest.

Don't even get me started as to why we don't have mainstream models of water fueled cars yet. Ok you got me started. It would destroy the economy. Ok I'm done with that subject because it's too political for here.

I watched Congo years ago when my Grandparents had an old Satellite they got rid of when I was 18 years old which about every 6 months had a free movies channel weekend so from midnight friday night until midnight sunday night/monday morning there would be free hbo/showtime/and the other deluxe movie channels. It was a great way to catch up on fairly current movies because we never went out to the movie theater and rarely rented movies.

I remember my younger cousin saying over and over "I know the ending I have seen this movie before" and us saying SHUT THE HELL UP!! Because we didn't want him spoiling it for us. I think when there was about 20 minutes left he spilled his beans and left the room shortly after and went to bed. I think he didn't like the movie and out of anger he spoiled it for us. His family grew up with cable and the deluxe channels so he took getting HBO for granted.

I don't remember anything about the movie except Amy going blah blah blah jungle chasing in jungle apes blah blah recovering stratagizing blah blah end that is all I remember lol!! I don't even remember Tim Curry! Or a power glove? I have the Congo novel because I was a Crichton fan at the time but I never read the book. I read Sphere and Jurassic park and that was it.

Another random little tidbit I have an online friend that spent 6 weeks volunteering in San Diego when she was in college to do sign language to the famous gorilla Coco. She quit after 6 months even with a generous salary offer because she didn't like how the gorilla's were treated. She said Coco and her brother stunk really bad because they hated water and didn't have good grooming habits.

Back to the future pizza hut sunglasses ad You have to crank up the volume but it's worth it. Also right afterwards you get the Pillsbury dough boy playing the harmonica and that is always good.

I need to get the Congo DVD from Amazon. They're not sold down here in Brazil anymore. Sadly, I never had the chance to subtitle it.

But I did worked on the 70's King Kong.

Nicely handled Matt, I vote on a weekly CONGO Toy Post! My wife and I saw it in the theatre when we first started dating.

Just think, had they made CONGO in the 80s maybe they would have rigged up a Speak N Spell to assist in Gorilla Translation!

I used to have a Speak N' Spell. It was awesome! I always carried that damn thing around with me! It's probably still in my mom's house somewhere. I may have to look for it.

I think I still have a Speak N Spell and maybe even and Alphie the robot…I need to go through my parent's attic because I'm sure there's a lot of hidden treasures up there. I know there's Jem (who's truly outrageous, truly truly she is) and She-Ra stuff lurking around up there

sitting in a Microsoft Access class right now, ignoring the old fart instructor, I just wanna get to the part of HOW to create the tables and shit, and all he is doing is yammering about how Access is better than Excel and why, and just rambling….SON OF A BEE STING! this guy is boring

Kahega gets killed off in the movie, but he lives in the book. Maybe if The Man had let poor Kehega live in the film, the additional footage would have helped the folks at Kenner make a more accurate looking figure…

The only thing I know about 24 is the terrorist who blew up America(thats what happened on the show isn't it?) is from around here.

Shaun Majumbder, he's actually a pretty funny stand up comedian.
FUN FACT: he's really a terrorist.

I feel your pain mandy_Reeves. I have had instructors like the one you speak of. I also hated my MS Access class.

Little did I know, I would end up getting a job which entails working with Access on a daily basis. Now that deserves a rusty screwdriver to the eyes.

^^^
That's me above. I just forgot to type my name! Please do not confuse me with evil Anon T_T

Despite being a big commercial, The Wizard is a STAPLE of our youth. At a time when Nintendo ruled our lives, this movie (and is IS a pretty good movie - what kid doesn't want to run away from home and play Nintendo all the way to California for cash?) was our first glimpse of the wonderful, the awesome, SUPER MARIO BROS. 3!!! I about shit my pants when I first watched it. My brother and I howled and jumped and ran closer to the screen. We re-wound and watched those scenes over and over. Good times. Now, with the Internet…we don't have moments like that anymore. Everything is known to us instantly.

You shouldn't tempt it then. Because now I'm all curious about destroying the economy with my secret water powered engine that I haven't patented yet.

I really liked The Wizard too, and Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley/My future girlfriend was in it.
Plus the whole power glove thing, it can really do no wrong.

I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they chose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some
good ideas.

Yeah I hear you DC, I've seen a few chihuahuas who seem like they know the score.

Not like those shady poodles, I mean just who are they trying to impress anyway??

So much to respond to, first off, the Solar Shades commercial Goob posted was awesome and made me want to go to future pizza hut with all of my future friends after future graduating with our neon mortar boards.

Second, someone above said Book It made them fat. I remember going to the library at school and picking out the smallest books I could get away with so I could get pizza faster. That, plus I had the choice to buy a Nintendo or Nike Pumps and I chose Nintendo, that made me fat. If I picked the Pumps I'd be awesome at basketball, now, I'm just really good at Ducktales for the NES.

The Wizard also taught me where the warp whistle was, who cares if it was a Nintendo commercial. When I was 8 years old, that's exactly what I wanted to see. I remember my jaw dropping when they unveiled SMB3, whoever said it was out in Japan for a year blows me away, what kid in the early 90's knew anything that was going on outside of his school much less their town.

"Amy want solar shades, Amy want, Amy, Amy, Amy want pizza, Amy want" -in a girl robot voice

This has been the best post in a while. Can we just turn this into the Congo Megaparty complete with reviews of the movie, toys, etc?

The Power Glove is one of those things people seem to remember fondly, yet I don't know anyone who actually had one.

Since Adrian Adonis was mentioned, here's a clip of the segment that started the Adonis Piper feud that lead to their WM 3 match.

The Power Glove is one of those things people seem to remember fondly, yet I don't know anyone who actually had one.

Oh, kids had them. They just didn't want you playing with theirs and discovering how badly they worked.

Matt, I love how you don't take these naysayers seriously when a lesser blogmassa would.

You know who your real fan base is, and that we all love ya no matter how often you update.

I have never seen Congo but it's now on my must-see list of films…I love cheese ever so. And Tim Curry. And when shit gets blowed up. I really wish I had the dough for Netflix; there are SO many movies and shows I want to see. Siiigh.

Now, I must go have Pizza Hut and watch BTTF II; oh crap, I'm still at work. Dammit.

"Yes, according to 'The Worst Witch,' Tim Curry is fucking hot."–Matt's Review of "The Worst Witch" And now, whenever I see or hear a mention of Tim Curry, I'm picturing that psychedelic music sequence.

JoshC, Yeah, there've actually been a lot of famous guest stars. So far we've seen Robocop, Samwise from LotR,
that short, bald prick from ER that got his arm cut off by the helicopter, only to later get killed by another helicopter (he was also in Robocop btw–the guy that got covered in toxic sludge and then splattered all over the windshield), the guy that played The Mummy in the Mummy movies was in it as the main terrorist in season 4, and Kumar!

Man, I have so many good memories attached to early Nintendo games. I remember accidently finding Super Mario 3 hidden away before Christmas. I wasn't looking for it or anything. I was digging around in a closet looking for a pencil or something and found it there and go so excited I ran downstairs to thank my mom for getting it for me. I feel bad for doing that now cause I totally ruined the surprise. She knew that was the one thing I wanted more than anything that year. Man, I played the heck out of that game.

I remember the first time I played Contra was at my friend Brenn Watson's house. His mom took us to the store to buy it cause we had heard so much about it. Someone's older brother had written down THE CODE for 30 lives and when we got home, after trying and trying we finally figured it out and stayed up all night playing it. That's still one of my favorite games of all time.

I had the pink and black BACK TO THE FUTURE glasses. I got them for free because the delivery boy forgot our 2 liter of PEPSI.

**CONGO SPOILERS**
CONGO is hilarious. It is kind of a "point of no return movie" in that I can see them laying it out, storyboarding, casting, making gorilla suits, filming, etc. After those untold $$$ were spent, they realized they had to have the gorillas tear people up while a VOLCANO GOES OFF! By the time it came to that, they had already gone this far; too late to turn back now.

Finally, I agree with starwenn about comments being a double-edged sword. I know I have only posted one comment on YouTube and I got a "thumbs down" (regarding the GREMLINS 2 trailer). I don't really care but it still hurts that I would get an unwarranted (IMO) negative. I know, I know, I am a Sally Sensitive.

Manimal Don't let the negative comments bug ya'. I love the negative comments because it's my job to piss off people on the internet…well, that and manually masturbating caged animals for artificial insemenation.

Congo sounds kick ass, I'd be very interested to see it! I had to admit that I really didn't like Jurassic Park, please don't hate me.

The Wizard was on the other night here in Canada on SUN TV, I was very pissed off b/c I missed most of it. I haven't seen it in years. Just thinking about Fred Savage now, remember Little Monsters? I have it on DVD, it's been awhile, I may watch it tonight.

I never had Pizza Hut glasses but I had the ones from McDonald's that had just a strip of neon colour on the top of the shades. I wore them while I took pictures from my neon McDonald's camera.

Hi,
I am the big boss of the area.
I give the orders. I will have you make me a big fish dinner then I will smash the plate and say I hate fish. I will then have you cook me a nice steak and you will be sooo sooo happy about the whole thing.

The Power Glove is remembered fondly by absolutely nobody. It worked like complete shit! I had a friend with one.

Me: What did you get for your birthday?
Crestfallen Friend: The Power Glove
Me: OH MAN! IS IT AWESOME?
Crestfallen Friend: It works like crap.

well, that and manually masturbating caged animals for artificial insemenation.

I don't know if you're serious or not but that came very close to being my job once.

Mr Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything. I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle, a missing piece.

JoshC, I just looked up Jenny Lewis to see who you were talking about. Good show, old man! If she does end up being your future girlfriend, let me know and you guys can go out on a double date with me and Christina Ricci.

Matt, well you know I love Tim, and somehow I missed the boat on the action figures. Can you post a picture of the Tim Curry one? I also think Congo is a fun movie and was unfairly panned by critics. I think because they DID promote it as the next big action film based on a Michael Crichton novel…

But it's a perfect summer movie with enough action and humor and a fun cast of characters. And let me tell you, Laura Linney is actually PROUD of that film. I met her briefly at the Broadway Cares flea market in 2005, and got her autograph and I told her I loved Congo and she cheered and said "YAAAY! Congo!! Thank you!!"

Also don't know if you have the souvenir/movie tie-in book that has interviews, behind the scenes, stuff, etc. but she beams when talking about the film and how close friends she became with Tim and Dylan and Ernie. Ernie Hudson rocks too, every movie he's in, even if it sucks HE is fun to watch. I even liked his brief part as a police officer in the jail scene of "Two of a Kind" with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Matt, I just posted the link to this blog on one of the Tim Curry fan sites I belong to. So if a bunch of pro-Tim posts come up from women, that's who we are

Your stuff is so funny, the Worst Witch review is still my favorite.

You know the thing I like about the Wizard: at the time, it WAS a 90 minute commercial.

But watching it now, it's like a 90 minute tribute to an era in our lives long gone by. Back when the NES was king, and if you had one, you were golden. When you traded games with your best friend down the street. Or got up to beat the first three levels of Double Dragon II every morning before school.

Back then, before gaming was "mainstream," being a Nintendo guy was like being in some kind of club.

I really miss those times. When I watch the Wizard, it's like a tribute to them..

A bit of Congo trivia for you. The character Homolka that Tim Curry played in the movie wasn't even in the book. The role was added just for the movie.

On the quick subject of my blog, DJ D your up there, lame pun and all. The main part of my blog is closed for the summer but you're free to read the old stuff (hint, press the "real content" link if you don't want to read a bunch of bullshit.)

Manimal Do you have a site to go with your name that you want up there? Because I need one.

In 1989 my friends dad took us to the nintendo show (i have no idea what the offcial name was) at the javits center in the city. they had that same 3 nes game compatition from the wizard. if i remember correctly it was "level 1 from mario bros, track and feild, and you had to run on the pad, and i think the last game was RC PRO Am. i entered the contest and got knocked out pretty early. i bought a donkey kong t shit that smelled like plastic as a consolation. was anyone else at this show in 88, 89 at the javitz in nyc?

oh yeah, my good buddy had a power glove. they were wicked looking and ultra bad ass and they worked like shit. seriously, their functionality was horrible. the thing sucked. but it looked WICKED, so we all loved it and kept trying to do well while using it anyway.

The Power Glove was either total shit or one of those devices I just couldn't figure out how to work. My neighbor friend got it, hated it, and after a month or so I "borrowed" it and never gave it back. Neither of us were impressed.

I remember being so jealous during our first two-player game when he had the glove and I had a controller…but it didn't pan out so well for him.

Melissa Y: Hey there! Always good to hear from you.

Unbelievably, there was no Tim Curry figure in the Congo line. We got Kahega and two different grey gorillas…but no Curry.

Maybe Matt can try to make his own Tim Curry action figure from scratch. Didn't he do something like this before?

Of course there are always the Frank N Furter and Lord of Darkness action figures if you really want a plastic Tim Curry.

Fox
Click my name for Super Mario Bros. 3's Wiki article. It was released October 1988. Wasn't released in the US until 1990!

Just shows you how much the internet has changed things! Back in the day I don't think any of us knew that SMB3 was out in Japan….

The reason the Power Glove sucked is that they lied about it's functionality in the commercial. If I remember correctly they showed the game Super Glove Ball and made it look like you were actually INTERACTING with the game (grabbing objects and whatnot). For those who don't know the Power Glove was nothing more than an NES controller built into a decorative wrist sheath. They were pretty trying to make it seem like virtual reality was possible on the NES. Funny thing is Nintendo finally (somewhat) have a system with that interactive flavor in the Wii. I wonder when they'll make a sepcial Power Glove Wiimote

I know that people have hacked the Powerglove to use it as a virtual reality tool. I think the potential was there…there just weren't enough games for it to make it a hit.

Hmmmm…. after further investigation I am sadly mistaken. Maybe I was just remembering everyone bitching about how the functionality of the sensors was complete shit therefore making the glove useless….

I completely agree Cameron T.: I watch the movie whenever it is on. Funny thing is once I watched it with a younger friend and he asked "is that what playing games was like back then?" and I said,"Yes….yes it was"

Remember: most folks growing up these days have no idea of what and "arcade" truly is and how to waste a Saturday with a $20 bag of tokens

I 'member,shuanfu… except they need to kick out all the kids so I can play the Claw Game without people smacking the machine.

I would never call a Saturday spent in an arcade with a $20 bag of tokens, a waste! That sounds like a Saturday well spent!!

I wonder now if there are any Tim Curry action figures out there…probably from Rocky Horror if anything

When do we get the pleasure of reading your WALL-E review? I, for one (because there's only one of me, the last I checked), am practically giddy with anticipation of your take on the latest Disney/Pixar offering. Oh yeah, by the way, the updated rules for WALL-E reviews now dictate that you can no longer make any references to Johnny 5 or Short Circuit (or sequels) or to the binoculars from Toy Story or, for obvious reasons, Kurt Vonnegut.

Here's the Siskel and Ebert review of "The Wizard." Ebert even talks about a blooper he saw in it at the end.

A bit of Congo trivia for you. The character Homolka that Tim Curry played in the movie wasn't even in the book. The role was added just for the movie.

"You're not in the original version? FUCK THAT, we're writing you into the damn movie!"

I remember their being a kid at my school who had a power glove. He told us all that it sucked, but we didn't believe him. We naturally came to the conclusion that he must be lying to us and that he really did not have a power glove. We were dumb.

Well, I found another figure of Tim Curry besides the Frank N Furter and the Lord of Darkness. Its a PVC figure of his character, Rooster Hannigan, in Little Orphan Annie. I put the link in my name.

I worked at a KB Toy Works throughout my college years, and we would occasionally get cases of these figures all the way up until 2000/2001. I think they had been marked down to 99 cents by that point. I bought all all of the evil gorillas because they were hilarious.
Here's a random, insidery toy-store tidbit: This figure made its way to its particular KB in June of 1996. You can tell by looking at the price tag; the first six represents the month of its arrival, the second its year. (I doubt this showed up in a store in 2006; the price stickers have long since changed in appearance.) This was an easy way for employees to tell how long an item had been sitting on the shelf, and if it needed to be checked for a marked-down price.

Does anyone else feel like it is still too early to be july 4th? i dont know if anyone else is feeling this way, or if it is just me.

Here is the closest thing I have found to a Tim Curry action figure that actually looks like him. Its a bendy figure though.

Nice try Anonymous, but you're still not in my good graces! Even if you did post links to awesome Tim Curry figures!!! It'll take more than that!! (but not much)

Oh my goodness, that july 4th question was me, not the original anonymous. sorry for being a little bit of a negative nancy yesterday, just kind of sad that i have to always wait until july 4th to celebrate my birthday with my family. (also, im freaking out because i know my family will have those damn party popper things that always make me cry because they scare the crap out of me)

Oopsy , that anonymous Tim Curry figure post was mine. I sometimes forget my name.

Yes, there have been multiple Tim Curry figures made in connection with the films Rocky Horror, Legend, Annie AND Three Musketeers which I'm still on the hunt for. I want a little Cardinal Richelieu I can play with!!

And yes, Saint, I know Tim was written for the film. I have the collector's book that came out when the movie did with Tim being interviewed in there talking about how his character was written just for the film. I think that is VERY awesome.

I remember seeing an interview with Alec Baldwin when The Shadow came out (that also had Tim Curry) and he said he asks the casting people to hire actors if HE likes them, and since they did Hunt for Red October together, he wanted Tim in The Shadow as well.

That pic I got of the bendy figure was from ebay. There is one for sale on there now.

Invader Norbert
Yeah, I always find it funny that people think Nintendo created the Power Glove. It was a peripheral that they had nothing to do with. Like lots of NES peripherals. Umax anyone?

I believe the Power Pad was originally developed by Bandai, and then Nintendo licensed it…

Yeah he is, I wasn't really familiar with the name so I looked it up and wiki tells me he died in Lewisport Newfoundland, which is only a couple of hundred Kilometers away from me.

I know, aren't I awesome??
Know what else is a couple of hundred kilometers away from me?

Melissa Y, resident Tim Curry fan! How ya been

I was rereading the Congo activity book article last night, total classic. After work I think I shall kick off the weekend with the Worst Witch review. Just a few more hours

Hey Matt, just out of curiousity, what WERE you goin to post befor you decided to punish Anonymous ?

The Worst Witch article is one THE FINEST pieces of comedy I have EVER read. XD LOL ! The fact that Matt had a fever at the time he wrote it made it funnier.

Josh I hope you know since I found out about the town of Dildo, I've been making it my quest to make sure I visit in my lifetime!

Thanks Anonymous. I mean that. This was a great post and if you weren't such a douche, we would all be robbed of a review about Kahega. And, and…I would have never been able to get the Italian pronunciation for 'fragile".
http://tts.imtranslator.net/12pi

DC first a Deep Thoughts quote then Clerks quotes? You're moving on up to being one of my favorite X-Ers!

All I remember about Congo, besides Tim Curry and the monkeys, is that eyeball falling into that guy's hand.

Actually, if anonymous wasn't such a douche, we would have be robbed of this great post and I would have gone through my whole life not giving a thought to the character, Kahega. And, and….I wouldn't have the fun of phonetically mispronouncing "fagile" on the text to speak program. "frujeeelae".

I'm off to start my weekend festivities! I'll miss my fellow X-E'rs! But the weight of the world is too much on my shoulders so, I'm off to get a backiotomy…and drink! Ciao!

I just finished watching The Beast of Yucca Flats by Coleman Francis and, WOW is it AWFUL! Iv'e actually seen it once before, but I fell asleep then. A combination of the movie being THAT boring and me being sleepy to begin with at the time. While I was watching I was distracted by a SpongeBob Squarepants episode that was playing with the volume muted. It was about Patrick trying to decied whether or not to eat a donut he wasn't supposed to, then these little donuts popped up on his shoulder. One was an angel and the other was a demon. I mention this because it distracted me while I was watching the movie. A testament to how boring it really was. The movie I mean.

I can't get it to load on my Wii.., I might see You Don't Mess With the Zohan this weekend. So how is everyone? Oh, if you can, watch Angry Video Game Nerd's review on the Power Glove. You'd love it.

OH BOY FIREWORKS TIME IS ALMOST HERE !!! =D Aint nothin like celebratin the birth of your nation by blowin up a huge part of it !

The Manimal Don't feel bad about people rating you badly on youtube. I went back to a video once that I posted a comment at on youtube and I had 4 negative votes.

I thought it was funny especially because it was I think a political video bashing Rosie O'Donnell and I was defending her and all these republican crazy nut jobs were posting comments too and basically booing me. It just reflects negatively on them is all, not you. The negative voting towards your comment doesn't edit your comment really.

Except when they vote so much it hides it which I don't like that feature. I make sure to turn off the voting on comments on my videos also I disable the 5 star rating and delete any negative comments. I am anal about things when I have power over them. I also delete comments that they say first just to say it. That pisses me off a little because it's like they don't care about the video they just care about being first. In conclusion don't feel bad about what others think of you The Manimal, that is just a reflection of their negative personality, not yours. Goob has been reading

Ahhh the Power Glove… I still want one but just for display. I have a ROB that I got with a mixture of things but I have never used it. I think it looks really cool and maybe someday I will put it up on display. I have Batteries not included on my DVR from a couple of days ago.

If anyone is curious about the Powerglove check out James Rolfe the angry nintendo nerd's review of it. It's hilarious and informative. Also he has a fairly new one where he reviews several acessories for the NES that is worth watching as well. It's on screwattack.com I believe.

Doho Don't do it!! You'll destroy the economy!! Don't come crawling to me for help after you screw us all over with your H20 fueled car!!

About a month ago I saw a water fueled car actually on a great show called 30 days on FX with Morgan Spurlock when a couple that are the typical wasteful yuppie type moved into a eco friendly community that converted manure into energy and all sorts of crazy earthy hippie type of things. Well Morgan does these little segments where he interviews people and he was looking at a water fueled car with one of the guys that was developing it and evaporated water came out of the exhaust pipe and it was pretty neat. Also the cars that run on cooking grease are cool too but I don't think that is any cheaper. But I think it's almost worth it just to have your car smell like french fries. And bacon yummmm I've been obsessed with bacon lately. Bacon that has been cooked just right is heavenly. Soft but cooked on the inside and crispy on the edge.

Jack, thanks for the info, I know I gotta buy myself a Cardinal Richelieu figure one of these days…

You know now that I'm thinking, I totally forgot that was Delroy Lindo screaming at Tim to stop eating the cake in the movie. He's a great actor….who would've thought he would've made it big after that performance? LOL

Here
is part one of Congo on youtube you still have to click on several parts but the picture quality is better with no subtitles.

Jack sorry to try to up you one I am just trying to help our X-E community out.