Retro Thing

Ikea Discontinues Expedit, Puts Vinyl Fans Into A Spin

We've written before about the challenges of collecting vinyl - I've joked that those around us probably regard our hobby as a "lifestyle choice". There are the slings and arrows each of us face in trying to put together our ultimate music collection, but the problem that we all face is where to stow all of those damned records. They're large (okay... not along the Z axis), they're heavy, and you need to store them in a way that you can still read the spines.

Let's assume that you're beyond the ol' cinder bricks and glass blocks stage of storage solutions. You can of course build something perfect from scratch (provided that your significant other lets you touch power tools), but lots of us crave an out-of-the-box solution. Ikea's Expedit is ideal for storing a large record collection. The units are available in assorted arrangements of 12" x 12" cells - perfect for storing and browsing your favorite records.

Expedit has been much beloved by the vinyl collecting community, many going so far as to designing their listening rooms around multiple Expedit units. I have a 5 x 5 unit myself, and I can honestly say that it's  changed my life forever. For years Expedit has been the standard bearer in affordable vinyl storage, which is why Ikea's announcement that they were discontinuing the line came as such a blow.
Vinyl collectors were aghast. Vinyl is on its first upswing in many years, and this is the time Ikea chooses to cease production on the perfect solution so many of depend on? One of the deciding factors in my investing in Expedit furniture was that I could always get another piece to match it a few years down the road. My current Expedit is almost full, and soon I'll need to swell ranks with another unit. But I really really don't want to start hoarding furniture because now that Expedit is on the outs. What am I supposed to do?

While news of the the discontinue Expedit has traveled wide, what is less widely reported is Ikea's response. They say that while Expedit is going away, it'll be replaced by Kallax (which I keep mistyping as "klaxxon"). The new line will have the exact same vinyl-friendly compartments in the exact same sizes, and take the exact same weight. The only difference they say is that the slide profiles will be thinner and will be more rounded. Okay, that's a partial reprieve, but to my eye the thicker sides are what make Expedit look like real furniture instead of budgety slapped-together dorm room furnishings. The big shocker is that Ikea's new Kallax line is also quietly being introduced with the largest unit being four by four compartments. Expedit sports a five by five choice, and believe me, those extra rows make a huge difference. When you're shelving a lot of vinyl, you need that extra height to make the most of your stroage space. I'm sure we'll all find ways to stack multiple Kallax units, but it's sad to already have the perfect solution in place right now, and we're just expected to stand by helplessly as it disappears. Vinyl collectors are taking action. You can join the Facebook group "Rettet das Ikea Expedit Rega" (The Expedit extinction was first announced in German Ikea stores, hence the German Facebook page) where record enthusiasts are posting photos of how Expedit keeps their collections wrangled. Astonishingly, the page has garnered some 24,000 likes in just a month. Some hopeful fans have pointed out that the line changeover is happening on April 1st, and hope that this is merely an April Fool's gag... but that would definitely mean that Ikea is playing the long game.

It's nice for the vinyl crowd to be recognized by the furniture giant, but I stand with my Expedit brothers in voicing my unhappiness about the forced move to the new smaller Kallax. Those of us who have made the lifestyle choice to collect vinyl aren't ones to exactly welcome change.

Retro Shanghai: Pac-Man With Freakishly Long Tongue

As I walked the streets of Shanghai, I didn't run into any crazy electronic delights. Unfortunate, but I did find the next best thing. A reminder of my 8 bit gaming heritage - a Pac-Man figure! Back in the 80s, I fell in love with the game. I wasn't any good at it (and I'm still not, despite having the full-size cabinet of Pac-man Plus), but I fell in love with the single-minded design of the game. A simple mouth in the pursuit of eating, and the bad guys are the same as have haunted stories for all time - ghosts! Back then, I remember buying some Pac-Man socks, Pac-Man silly putty, even Pac-Man scratcher games... but never a figure.
I was bemused and thrilled at the very existence of a Pac-Man figure I could put on my shelf. I assumed that like some of the other treasures I found in Shanghai, this was simply another attempt to shanghai (ha!) someone else's intellectual property to create another incomprehensible toy. Especially when I saw Pac's massive mechanical tongue.

I've forgotten a lot of things from the 80s, but I'd remember an aardvark berserker mode in Pac-Man that let you lick up all the ghost monsters. I assumed that this was one of the weird additions you find in bootleg toys, but as it turns out there's a new cartoon on TV that features some member of the proud Pac-Man lineage (Pac-Second-Cousin-Twice-Removed) with a superextended stamplicker. Though my toy doesn't exactly match the one on the box, so it still may be some weird bootleg.

I can't figure out the cartoon's storyline from the Wikipedia entry - possibly due to my advancing decrepitude. There's some basic thread of the yellow guy eating the ghost guys, but after that I'm lost. There are more Pac-Men; a bluish ice-spitting one, even a chrome Pac-Man who upchucks a magnet. You can get these figures in the US, as well as a special edition golden Pac-Man who's tongue has the original game's graphics tattooed (I assume) right on.

Guess what? Since the cartoon has been successful, they've already converted it into a video game. Hey, wait a minute...

Help out Retro Thing when you add a pink-tongued Pac-Man to your collection.

Special limited edition commemorative gold edition

Retro Shanghai: Scofflaw Pop Culture Nano Blocks

We've written about Nano Blocks before. A Lego clone of sorts, but at a fraction of the size. Nano Blocks aren't compatible with Lego, and theyr'e really not meant to be. These sets are intended less for the toy aisle, and more for collector and hobby shops. Their tiny size means you can get greater detail in a smaller space. Also the bricks are very plain - no specialized giant single bricks here... just the simple elements so you can build your blocky dreams.

Ohio Art (that's right... the Etch-A-Sketch people) have been importing Nano Blocks for a few years now, concentrating mostly on architecture sets or miniature models of animals and musical instruments. I knew that Nano Blocks are a big deal in Japan and China, but until I found these sets in Shanghai I had no idea how many more models are out there. I discovered these models in the bin of a street vendor and from several other sellers in an open market. These pop culture icons in brick form are very cool... very, very cool. They are also far from licensed. The Loz Diamond Blocks I found are identical to Nano Blocks, and clearly without fear of reprisal from Hasbro, Nintendo, Apple (yes there was a Steve Jobs model), and many more intellectual property owners. Because the bricks are so tiny, they are a bit tough to handle. Also the creators of the instruction leaflets could do with a few more sessions looking at how Lego does it. When I built Mario, several steps assumed that we weren't living in a physical world. I had to hold parts in mid air until 2 steps later when the connecting pieces finally came into play.

These really aren't for kids as the pieces don't snap together like Lego (I suspect you'd never get them apart again). They're models to put on a shelf rather than toys for play. I had a lot of fun putting these models together, even though it was a bit fiddly dealing with these microscopic pieces. Too bad that the American distributors can't offer these pop culture sets here in the states. Though I'm sure the links below can help you find what you're looking for... (whistling to myself...)

Help Retro Thing when you pick up pop culture Nano Blocks

Retro Shanghai: A Trio Of Bizarre Transformers

Transformers have been back for a number of years thanks to a couple of overblown feature films, and a relaunch of the accompanying toyline. I wasn't the right age to play with Transformers the first time around, but I had a passing interest in the cartoon and the core concept. Some of those toys are amazingly & pleasingly complex, even (or maybe especially) for an adult. I have a couple around my office, mostly amusing models that convert into truly stupid non-robot forms. I've got a pinball machine, a one-armed bandit, even a deadly cash register.

Walking around Shanghai's open market, I got the idea that transforming robot toys never truly went away. Despite the Transformers reboot, there were still plenty of converting robots that were truly dopey. I saw one that converted from a panda to a bad-ass looking battle robot... with the head of panda (I know, I know... I should have bought it).
Then there was this trio of robots. It looked like they'd been hanging in the shop for ages. As robots, they look formidable enough (except for the one that has a surprised face for a crotch). I pulled them out of the package. The toys are made of such a fragile plastic, that an afternoon's place will reduce these robos to deadly shards... (much like the old Dapol Doctor Who figures). After you follow the microscopically printed directions to convert the robots, you're left with... well, I don't know what you're left with.

Okay the green one is some kind of robo frog who can hold accessory tadpoles in his special tadpole compartment. I'm taking on faith that these gray plastic squiggles are tadpoles, and not sperm. Admittedly this guy's transformation is pretty much a cheat since you basically fold the robot a few times, and then plug on the frog body. It's sort of like you have a battle robot that likes to curl up inside a frog-shaped cozy.

Yellow stripey converts into a giant bumble bee while you stare transfixed at his second crotch-face. That might not sound especially scary, but just remember how you acted the last time you had a bumble bee after you. Now enlarge that by a thousand, and imagine that bee as a diesel burnin' robot (or mutant pollen spores... I don't really know). Pretty clear threat, I'd say, especially if you're allergic to bee stings.

Finally, you've got a robot that converts into... I don't know... a battle-ready roll-on deodorant? Ignoring for the second time the crotch-located face, what in the heck non-robot are we looking at here? To clarify this point to Transformers designers... Non-robot mode is a disguise, or some kind of vehicle (or an outscaled gun, but that's a different story).Perhaps these robots are part of a different psychological approach against the enemy. Befuddle the bad guys, then transform into a robot and throw your tadpoles at them.

The back of the package shows that I missed models that transform into a shark (fair enough), and a grumpy public garbage can (I need a lie down). Do any of our Chinese speaking readers have any insight into these robots I brought home with me?  Since these robots are half animal, should they have been quaranteed for six months at the border?

A Brand New Super 8 Movie Camera

I know, it's 2014 and film is supposedly dead and buried. However, thousands of amateur and professional filmmakers still shoot Super 8 film because of its unique look. You can still buy newly manufactured film, but no new cameras have rolled off the assembly line since the early 1980s. That's a problem if you need reliable equipment for professional projects.

Danish/Norwegian company Logmar Camera plans to release a brand new professional Super 8 camera this year. It accepts standard 50 foot Super 8 film cartridges while incorporating some essential modern features such as a digital viewfinder, digital audio recording (remember, modern Super 8 film is silent), digitally controlled variable frame rate (16 to 54 fps), interchangeable lenses, wi-fi remote control and a host of other features that bridge between the film technology of the 1960s and the digital control that filmmakers expect in the 21st century. 

The initial production run will be between 25 and 50 units with a target price of € 2,500. While that puts this camera out of reach for casual hobbyists, it should prove popular with motion picture rental companies in large cities and music video producers eager to integrate Super 8 footage into their workflow. 

Perhaps the most appealing feature of the design is that they chose not to use the problematic plastic film gate mechanism that's incorporated into every Super 8 cartridge. Instead, the film is looped outside the cartridge and passes over a metal pressure plate behind the gate. This should dramatically improve image stability and avoid the need to resort to image stabilization tools in post production. 

While there is still a lot of work to be done before the production version is released, their progress so far looks extremely promising. The next step is the unveiling of the production version at the International Filmbörse in Deidesheim, Germany on April 5-6th, 2014. 

Logmar Camera Solutions Super 8 Motion Picture Camera

Retro Shanghai: Two Feet Of Cheap Ultraman Figures

Even the Shanghai shopkeepers who didn't specialize in toys seemed to have a few of these on their walls. These carded instant toy collections are truly massive. This Ultraman themed set measures a massive 2 feet long!

We've written about Ultraman before. It's one of japan's earliest entries into the guy-turns-into-a-giant-robot-to-fight-monsters-while-Tokyo-crumbles genre. it was one of my favorites when I was a kid, so much so that I turned into a pile of kiddish thrills when the series came out on DVD just a few years ago.

The series was so successful that it spawned literally decades of sequels, all featuring members of the growing UltraFamily. This toy set is a loose collection of UltraSiblings of some sort, designed mostly for economy. The figures are of the cheap blow-molded variety, with just a spritz of paint and movement limited to some very stiff shoulders.

The proportions are more cutesy than lean and mean. This caricatured look is common in even the most serious Japanese manga and anime, referred to as "super deformed" or "chibi". You'll also notice that this is not a set of six unique Ultras - it's a set of three repeated figures. Cheap move, but at least you won't mind sharing your dupes with your stupid little brother.
The set includes a pair of monsters, five vehicles that may or may not be from the series, and a kid-sized gun (reminds me of a similar kiddie pistol with a rude name) for helping old UncleUltra dispense with the baddies. So cheap is the gun that the stickers are only applied on the side of the gun you can see through the packaging! There's a sheet of stickers you apply yourself. I suppose it's a labor-saving move. Kids like stickers, right? I'm sure in the time it take to put stickers on, they could make another dozen guns...

Clearly the gun is meant to be a battery powered noisy/flashy sidearm (the grip's sticker says "electro indicater (sic) system" which sounds deadly enough...), but from the looks of it, they forgot the electronic guts. The design ethos of these sets is bold packaging, a bewildering number of parts, all at a bargain price. Plus you can hang this attention-getter on the wall of any store, even one without a dedicated toy section.

The economy of this toy reminds me a lot of green army men, who's main attraction was their cheapness. This whole UltraArmada set me back some five bucks, and I must admit to being drawn to how low end the toy is. It'll likely stay in its package, not out of a misplaced sense of preserving its "collectibility", but because the art of it is in the whole package... the whole cheap package.

Buy the entire 60s series on DVD for under $10, and help Retro Thing

Retro Shanghai: Knockoff Space Lego On The Moon

I just got back from a week of working in Shanghai. It's an understatment to say that China is a completely different world that what a typical westerner is used to. While I was mostly there to work, I did get a chance to do some shopping and I discovered some retro fun that I'll be sharing with you over the next 5 days.

At Retro Thing, we're no strangers to knock-off Lego. We've written about Loc Blocs, Nano Blocks, and many other attempts to dodge the Lego legal department by creating cheap incompatible bricks. That changed in the 90s when several companies challenged Lego's exclusive rights to the original  "studs and tubes" construction system. Lego has tried suing these companies over the years, but since the patents on Lego have expired, pretty much anyone can make Lego compatible bricks.

Shopping in the part of Shanghai I saw was sort of like roaming a street market. You could step into mini "stores", but most of the selection was right there in front of you on the street. The one toy shop  I saw had genuine Lego up on a wall, but dozens of knockoff sets all around. The packaging vaguely emulates the look and feel of the genuine article. The real Lego sets were priced very high, making the Chinese "Enlightenment" knockoffs seem an even more attractive option.
This set celebrates the early days of the US space program, which I like. Lego has mostly gone the route of space fantasy with their current offerings, so it's up to the Lego bootleggers of the world to celebrate the actual heroes of real life space travel. The designs of the finished models don't have quite the sense of refinement that a typical Lego set might have, but then again... the real vessels we sent into space were a little on the chunky side . I appreciate the attention to detail that inspired their model of the lunar lander to include separable stages.

The models are realized without a lot of one-function-only pieces (a major complaint of new Lego sets), so I've got to hand it to these designers for doing a pretty nice job. Especially in a set that set me back less than ten bucks. Though I don't remember spears and a magic wand sticking out anything we sent to the moon. A lot of specialized pieces (like the antennas, wheels, the mini astronaut figure) are clearly direct copies of Lego. This isn't a case of creating a selection of compatible pieces and a few special add-ons. This is a direct ripoff meant to cajole a customer into thinking they're buying something as good as Lego. I haven't opened the box yet, so I don't know how well the pieces actually work (many knockoffs don't hold together particularly well). If they do actually stick together, then it looks like this fairly reasonable facsimile will bring smiles to the faces of the kids of China. Though it certainly won't make the manufacturers of Lego very happy to know just how much of this stuff is on the streets of Shanghai.