Well he hit the nail on the head. It was stuff like this in the 90's along with the variant comic covers that just about tanked the comic industry and baseball cards to this day still never recovered from similar tactics.
I know they won't outright boycott...but like you said they also won' buy 13 out 13 covers they will buy 1 of 14...but again if the companies are pumping in money in making all these extra copies with alt covers it just dilutes the market especially if people won't buy all of them...that is what happened in the 90's and it hurt the comic industry big time.
Yeah right... the comic industry crashed in the 90s because of variant comic covers... not because of thousands of series for each single character or the lack of million authors & artists who could write & draw thousands good series of each single character... you totally nailed it...
I agree. I collected from 1966-1976, and have all of what I bought in the stores...but cards were 5 cents -.10 cents and even in today's inflation rates, that only translates to a dollar a pack. Kids can still do that. When I collected it was never about worth, it was about having a complete collection.
Don't forget, this was on a tv show aimed at kids. I remember watching it just for Uncle Harlan. Like a more dangerous, subversive, version of Andy Rooney.
@@SpreadingtheMuse So, which was the show with 3 teenagers who did pieces on comics, computer games, and other stuff? I was sure he had a 4 minute sketch at the end of the show.
You should hunt down "The Glass Teat" and "The Other Glass Teat" as well as "Harlan Ellison's Hornbook." He's been "ranting" about the cynicism of The Marketing Machine for decades. He even complained about children's beauty pageants 20 years before JonBennet Ramsey was born! Visionary is an overused word but I can't describe him as anything else especially regarding American pop culture!
I'd love to hear Ellison wax poetic about the comic book industry crash in the early 90's - I was growing up in that time. If he thinks Marvel trading cards were bad, he should have seen the variant covers, holograms and tie-in's being sold at that time.
It's not just the cards. Once word got out that comic books, trading cards, toys and other youthful diversions had become ''collectible,'' these products ceased being entertainment and became strictly business, with ''collectibles'' being manufactured and marketed as such. Just recall the short-lived but fanatical Beanie Baby phenomenon, with selected characters being ''retired'' and instantly commanding premium prices. I recall seeing a long line of people waiting for a strip mall card shop to open and asking a passerby what caused the lineup and being told ''Beanie Babies.'' Now just try to give the damned things away. My girlfriend was collecting the various Toy Story playthings until the ''special editions'' hit the store shelves. ''Those weren't in the movie,'' she observed. ''Now they're just dreaming up stuff for me to buy.''
This is why I gave up collecting SF related trading cards years ago. I didn't want to buy a kajillion sets to get one card that I didn't have. Of course, this was back in 1995 when people actually were still interested in the field outside of Pokemon or Yugi-Oh!. Now, even those are more or less gone. Oh how times have changed. Anywho, thanks for posting. I look forward to every vid you slap up. :)
Kids don't trade? He's obviously never been within 500 miles of a TCG tournament. MTG, Yugioh, Pokemon...cards fly through hands faster than a stage magician.
I don't get the part where he says kids don't trade anymore. I used to trade these at school. The inserts were harder to get so that created a demand for them. Fleer did what all the sports card companies were doing with inserts and parallels like the Flasher cards.
I am anti-marketing and anti-deceptive ads etc. I totally feel his pain. But... uh, that's the unethical world we live in. I think ALL beauty pageants are silly and I'm very anarchistic and so on. I mean, I would have just thought dude would rather be working on another story instead of ranting about how collectible card companies trick kids into buying too many cards just to get a complete set BUT it's his life. :)
I traded Marvel cards when I was a kid. I trade Yugi-oh now that I am an adult. But I don't think of them as trading cards in anything but name. They are collectibles and I am a collector. Kids may not be able to afford to purchase a full set of cards outright, but neither can I. I have spent more than a decade building a collection, spending less than $20 a month (most months nothing). The pursuit is the interest collectors have with their collections, not the achievement.
I guess in your world he's not allowed to write stories AND rant about subjects that he finds despicable alternately! I guess you're not acquainted with other Men of Letters who have done both functions alternately like Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde...sorry, I'm obviously boring you so I'll stop. Enjoy YOUR life of limited choices. :)
_"I dont know any kids who can afford 90 dollars!"_ Dude really? Its not like the biggest money producing business revolves around children, right?! Ay lmao Do you actually know any kid whose parents didnt spend thousands of dollars to buy them Iphones, Ipads, X-Boxes, Playstations, Nintento DS's and hundreds of games for each of them?!
None of those things existed when Harlan did this commentary, other than MAYBE the first play station, and whatever version of Nintendo we were on at that time. I still have my original Nintendo, with the box, with the ShopKo price tag of 89.99, which was either a birthday or Christmas present. There was NO WAY I'd get a few cards for 90 bucks, but maybe that's why I have no idea what these cards are. I can still remember buying 10 Return of the Jedi figures on clearance for 50 cents apiece around 1984--my allowance was 5 dollars. Mom paid the tax. I still have them, and NOW they might be worth 90 bucks, lol.
Well he hit the nail on the head. It was stuff like this in the 90's along with the variant comic covers that just about tanked the comic industry and baseball cards to this day still never recovered from similar tactics.
A friend of mine owns a comic store and they are pushing alternate covers HARD! More than a dozen for some titles.
Yeah you can only push that so much though...and people will finally say fuck this...
TJ Fowler
I would LIKE to believe that, but it's clear that the people who don't want the alternates, just don't buy them. They don't boycott.
I know they won't outright boycott...but like you said they also won' buy 13 out 13 covers they will buy 1 of 14...but again if the companies are pumping in money in making all these extra copies with alt covers it just dilutes the market especially if people won't buy all of them...that is what happened in the 90's and it hurt the comic industry big time.
Yeah right... the comic industry crashed in the 90s because of variant comic covers... not because of thousands of series for each single character or the lack of million authors & artists who could write & draw thousands good series of each single character... you totally nailed it...
That being said, this does show the advantages of being a vintage (pre-1970) card collector
I agree. I collected from 1966-1976, and have all of what I bought in the stores...but cards were 5 cents -.10 cents and even in today's inflation rates, that only translates to a dollar a pack. Kids can still do that. When I collected it was never about worth, it was about having a complete collection.
Packs and boxes are worth holding onto. Graded packs of ns bowman westerns, robin hood, look n see starting to surface
Don't forget, this was on a tv show aimed at kids. I remember watching it just for Uncle Harlan. Like a more dangerous, subversive, version of Andy Rooney.
Sci Fi Buzz? That was an adult news show.
@@SpreadingtheMuse So, which was the show with 3 teenagers who did pieces on comics, computer games, and other stuff? I was sure he had a 4 minute sketch at the end of the show.
@@paulcoy9060 I remember seeing that show, pretty sure it was "Sci Fi Trader." Didn't last as long as Sci Fi Buzz.
@@paulcoy9060 The Anti-Gravity Room?
That triggers a core memory. That's gotta be it.@@Madbandit77
Ellison would rant about his own head if it wasnt bolted on
You should hunt down "The Glass Teat" and "The Other Glass Teat" as well as "Harlan Ellison's Hornbook." He's been "ranting" about the cynicism of The Marketing Machine for decades. He even complained about children's beauty pageants 20 years before JonBennet Ramsey was born! Visionary is an overused word but I can't describe him as anything else especially regarding American pop culture!
I'd love to hear Ellison wax poetic about the comic book industry crash in the early 90's - I was growing up in that time. If he thinks Marvel trading cards were bad, he should have seen the variant covers, holograms and tie-in's being sold at that time.
It's not just the cards. Once word got out that comic books, trading cards, toys and other youthful diversions had become ''collectible,'' these products ceased being entertainment and became strictly business, with ''collectibles'' being manufactured and marketed as such. Just recall the short-lived but fanatical Beanie Baby phenomenon, with selected characters being ''retired'' and instantly commanding premium prices. I recall seeing a long line of people waiting for a strip mall card shop to open and asking a passerby what caused the lineup and being told ''Beanie Babies.'' Now just try to give the damned things away. My girlfriend was collecting the various Toy Story playthings until the ''special editions'' hit the store shelves. ''Those weren't in the movie,'' she observed. ''Now they're just dreaming up stuff for me to buy.''
"Uncle Harlan"
I never had an uncle as cool has him. :(
Oh man, I remember those Marvel metal cards. Good days, despite the bullshit thrown at us.
Today, this can be said about the modern game industry.
New playground, same money-grubbing tactics.
This is why I gave up collecting SF related trading cards years ago. I didn't want to buy a kajillion sets to get one card that I didn't have. Of course, this was back in 1995 when people actually were still interested in the field outside of Pokemon or Yugi-Oh!. Now, even those are more or less gone. Oh how times have changed. Anywho, thanks for posting. I look forward to every vid you slap up. :)
"YA GAZZOONEYS!"
1995 and Ellison was forwarning us fanboys about corporate greed taking over our pastime. Yet it would perfectly apt if it was shown yesterday
They don't mention it on the box. I'm glad that the video indicated when the "Commentary" began with a clear graphic. The more you know. . .
This is from that show Sci-fi buzz that was on the sci fi channel in the early 90's right??
Watching this in 2022 while Magic the Gathering dies a slow death.
Thanks Hasbro👍
Love the Allison videos. Watching them is like visiting with a very pale and angry Yoda.
Kids don't trade? He's obviously never been within 500 miles of a TCG tournament. MTG, Yugioh, Pokemon...cards fly through hands faster than a stage magician.
This was from 1995 or so.
I had no idea it was ever considered unusual to not get a complete collection.
I wish Syfy ( I hate that new name ! ) could still have this programming. HEW was a delight, even if Ellison came across as grumpy !
Do you have the one where he riffs on 'pussy cat novels' like The Long Road? That one was hysterical.
I have never agreed with Harlan more about ANYTHING!
Fucking A!
I would've loved to hear his thoughts on Hasbro and their greed with Magic the gathering.
He'd hate Magic: The Gathering
I don't get the part where he says kids don't trade anymore. I used to trade these at school. The inserts were harder to get so that created a demand for them. Fleer did what all the sports card companies were doing with inserts and parallels like the Flasher cards.
Yeah. They ALL do it now, and they are ALL greedy con artists.
You think the trading cards these days are bad? TCGs are HORRIBLE!
I used to love the Sci-Fi channel before they when down the toilet, before mtv bought them out, Sy-Fy, what the hell is that?
I am anti-marketing and anti-deceptive ads etc. I totally feel his pain. But... uh, that's the unethical world we live in. I think ALL beauty pageants are silly and I'm very anarchistic and so on. I mean, I would have just thought dude would rather be working on another story instead of ranting about how collectible card companies trick kids into buying too many cards just to get a complete set BUT it's his life. :)
@Forysan That's what happened with me and magic the gathering.
And they didn't learn, and the non-sport card market crashed and burned ultimately. ^_^
So many gazoonies out there smh
@freebird0147 Yes, you are correct
Most definitely.
You say that as if either of those things are actually justifiable.
So what . U expect times to stand still. Things change and change is good.
Interesting but the sound quality is really poor on this.
Then Pokemon came and fucked everybody's shit up
Ellison. Damn autocorrect!
Gazoonies! 😆
I traded Marvel cards when I was a kid. I trade Yugi-oh now that I am an adult. But I don't think of them as trading cards in anything but name. They are collectibles and I am a collector. Kids may not be able to afford to purchase a full set of cards outright, but neither can I. I have spent more than a decade building a collection, spending less than $20 a month (most months nothing). The pursuit is the interest collectors have with their collections, not the achievement.
and what about trading card games?,,,or cardboard crack lol?...or "digital cards" online lmao
he's ranting as if he's never heard of marketing techniques? hahaha next he'll be ranting about how potato chip bags are only half full.
I guess in your world he's not allowed to write stories AND rant about subjects that he finds despicable alternately! I guess you're not acquainted with other Men of Letters who have done both functions alternately like Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde...sorry, I'm obviously boring you so I'll stop. Enjoy YOUR life of limited choices. :)
_"I dont know any kids who can afford 90 dollars!"_
Dude really? Its not like the biggest money producing business revolves around children, right?! Ay lmao
Do you actually know any kid whose parents didnt spend thousands of dollars to buy them Iphones, Ipads, X-Boxes, Playstations, Nintento DS's and hundreds of games for each of them?!
Or asking kids to buy shitty cards from the 40s! Like anybody still cares about that shit...
None of those things existed when Harlan did this commentary, other than MAYBE the first play station, and whatever version of Nintendo we were on at that time. I still have my original Nintendo, with the box, with the ShopKo price tag of 89.99, which was either a birthday or Christmas present. There was NO WAY I'd get a few cards for 90 bucks, but maybe that's why I have no idea what these cards are. I can still remember buying 10 Return of the Jedi figures on clearance for 50 cents apiece around 1984--my allowance was 5 dollars. Mom paid the tax. I still have them, and NOW they might be worth 90 bucks, lol.
It's not the kids that can afford it then you fucking moron.