Carded wrongness of NONE CHUCK
One of our first toy posts back in 2009 was of an artifact from my own craze-era collection, and a reader just sent me pics of one still on its card, so here’s an update for those of you who … Continued
Reading in progress…
Yeah… THAT Ninja novel, and yeah… THAT John Carpenter! Coming later this year, big feature about this craze-kindling novel, the differences between it and the scripts, its time in big studio ‘development hell’ and what could have been (warts and … Continued
More home video subterfuge
Ninja commandos inflicted some pretty serious damage during Japan’s feudal age, but the damage they’ve done to home video shopers’ wallets in the modern age is probably worse. Video packaging subterfuge — throwing the word NINJA on any non-shinobi-oriented film … Continued
A phenomenal vintage weaponry collection
Love vintage mail-order weaponry and training gear from the 80’s ninja craze? Want to completely lose your shit? Then click on this link and read the short article LOFT TREASURES AND YOUTHFUL MEMORIES: MY BROTHER & I WERE NINJA WARRIORS … Continued
Ninja-ize the head!
Here’s some prime examples of 80s ninja craze merch lingering into the 1990s. Extreme sports were on the rise, the X-Games were on the horizon, but 80s-style ninja crap still sold in discount stores and blanket vendors outside subway terminals, so … Continued
Enter the Revenge of the Blurays
We finally have the original Cannon Films Sho Kosugi ‘ninja trilogy’ on good home video formats! Sure, its a couple decades later than it should have happened, and at a time when the public is giving up physical media in droves, … Continued
Sword, Sorcery and Dubious Theology in Feudal Japan
A review of Samurai Reincarnation (Makai Tensho — 1981) by guest columnist Tenebrous Kate __________________________________________ EDITOR’S NOTE: While Kinji Fukasaku’s version of this surreal epic, starring Sonny Chiba, Kenji Sawada, Akiko Kana, and Hiroyuki Sanada isn’t an outright ninja movie, between Chiba’s shinobi-pedigreed … Continued
From our beloved readers…
Let’s all help some readers ID some great old newspaper and magazine clippings: Ryan Jones runs a great tumblr called Oldtype/Newtype — archiving old issues of Newtype magazine, and ran across this article from September of 1987. Neither of us … Continued
A LION MARU clue
Stumbled across this image on another site and recognized it right away! Devotees of the Toys & Statues category of VN might remember the below post from a few years ago. I’ve had this piece for decades now but this … Continued
Ninja Star-Struck!
Sonny Chiba made his American convention debut the last weekend in March at a show called Monsterpalooza in Burbank, CA. This once intimate, now massive, gathering of visual effects artists and Monster Kids is known for making history with guests … Continued