Gotta Post Something!

This week I take a break from the norm and do something completely different! Yes, no miniature dinosaurs this week (I can feel the non-existent page views dropping already). Instead we look into the past in a different way. Much like miniature dinosaurs made from plastic or rubber, I have the habit of trying to hang onto things. Which is why I also have a large Rubbermaid container filled with old magazines. Hooray! I might be a hoarder! We dive into that box for the first time this week, with an old issue of: Beckett Pokemon Collector.

And you're outta here!

Lets start with... Well the cover. I believe Beckett is a company that specializes in things like sports cards and memorabilia. So fitting they would they would have the cover of an issue like this. They managed to have a few cool and creative covers. This is one of the earliest issues of this magazine (you'll see more on them later) that I still have. Keep in mind this magazine was unofficial, as noted in yellow text on top of the page. As for the cover image, how often do Pokemon play baseball? I'm surprised Squirtle knows what a home run is, or that Charmander can hit one... Is he going to set that bat on fire? I may not be a sports fan, but watching some Pokemon trying to figure out how to actually play a human sport would be amazing. Though there is likely an episode of the anime that is already done this exact premise. With something that has run that long, with the main character accomplishing absolutely NOTHING I can see this being a plot for an ep. Also, am I the only that notices Charmander's eyes on this cover? At first they seem fine, but the more I look there is so little white in there, unlike Squirtle. Charmander's eyes look dead and yet also somehow full of evil. I really need to move onto the next page before they suck me in and I die in seven days.

Are tables ever really content?

Here is the basic table of contents, just little over 60 pages. And not all of it Pokemon as you can see. Also I'm not sure if it's my scanner, its settings, or the way these magazines were printed, but these pages have a slight rainbow effect when scanned. Hopefully I can figure a way around this later on. If not, at least everything is still legible.

The longer you look the more unsettling it gets.

Here is one of the ads within the magazine. I actually remember this Kellog's promotion! Only now do I realize their names are puns on the promotion. Oh blissful youth. The idea was you could enter codes from Kellog's products and earn points to redeem for prizes. I'm sure the amount you'd have to eat would be a fair amount to get anything worthwhile. Can't recall the prizes they offered, but you know how these things go. When this promo rolled around my family still had dial up internet, and thus actually logging on could be a chore itself. So even if we had codes I doubt I'd of spent the precious net time doing this. I would rather spend my time on some Godzilla fan sites  . Which is pretty much all I did with the internet back then. Besides, Kellogs doesn't make Cocoa Pebbles so I wouldn't have that many codes to enter anyhow.

Need something witty here...

The first page here is from a two page spread on some Japanese cards that came with some Meiji candy. Its a neat look at some of their Japanese names at the time, when the internet was nowhere near as prevalent as today. The "Whats Hot" page was in every issue. I still have no idea where they pulled this info from. Who decided this stuff was the most popular? Where are their sources? Kinda feels like they were making it up. Though I can't fault them for putting so much Lugia on this page. Lugia is awesome. We are all in agreement here right? Right?

The wonders of scanning.

Now another thing these magazines liked to do, was do art in random pages. Showing Pokemon in wild situations you usually wouldn't find them in. For example here, Squirtle is a slave driver forcing the others to perform to the crack of his whip for his sadistic amusement. Wait... He isn't? Oh hes a circus ring leader. That is much more child friendly. These pages for some reason didn't line up as well after I scanned them, and despite scaling attempts I can't fix it. Oh well it gets the point across. Back to the art, what exactly is Snorlax's "talent"? His weight? Really? Well people paid to see this circus...

Back when back issues could be back ordered.

Here is a nice selection of cover art from this series. As you can see there are plenty of neat ones for an unofficial magazine. The CGI ones were among my favorites (look at that armored Mewtwo!). I had all the issues on these pages, except for issues 1-3. Some of these are just so freaking cool! Samurai Scyther? Sign me the fuck up right now! CG Aerodactyl, Rhydon, strangely skateboarding Mew? Yes and yes! I also realize now that I could of started these postings off with a slightly earlier issue. That being the one with Surfing Pikachu and Red Gyardos. I couldn't tell it predated this one as the date was worn off. Maybe we'll do that next time.

Remember how I said Unofficial?

Something they seemed to do ever few issues or so was display a current count of Pokemon. Accompanied by some unofficial art! Its easy to point out how awkward some of these look. A lot of them and seem to pass for the real thing. But those that don't really break up the flow. I mean.. Look at Raikou and Entei. Rai is the wrong color, and Entei is just so wrong... And Tyrannitaur is gold for some reason. See if you can spot what else is wrong here! Also, obligatory "Back in my day there was only 250 Pokemon" joke.

Still probably not worth this much...

Now I think Beckett is know for doing their own sports card pricing guides. So I assume this came off of that for those who were looking to sell their "ultra rare super expensive" Pokemon cards. hate to burst your bubble, but they printed so many of these cards that even today most really aren't worth very much. You are not sending anybody to college on these, I can assure you of that. These run for at least 5 or more pages covering all the then current cards and some toys as well. And yes, some of my Pokemon figures will definitely have their own blog posts.

Who's that Digimon?

Now at the back of the issues as they went on started to have extra sections devoted to Digimon and DragonBall Z. Here is just some snippets. They were mostly done to get you interested for some additional subscriptions to similar magazines by them. And it worked. I bought into the Digimon Collector magazine as well (also a couple large special issues for DBZ). I managed to have every single issue of it at one point too. As for the Whats Hot page on the left... God they had to taunt me with those three figures. Never had any of these three (I definitely had some Digi figures though), but boy do I love me some Wargreymon and Omnimon. Stop tormenting me!

I will leave off with the back cover art. Now lets hope Beckett or Nintendo don't try to send a cease and desist or something... Peace out everyone!