Attack of the Demon Programmers

Demon Attack is often forgotten about these days due to... well, it was just another copycat game for the Atari that added to the growing problem that caused the video game crash.

However, the commercial is pretty great. You've got a room full of Imagic employees, and apparently a freaking monstrous demon is a programmer there. Just straight-up sitting there in the...

Wait, why is this company's office all dark and smoky? It looks like the back room of an illicit business where mobsters meet.

Man... the programming world is scary.

Ninjor [Masterverse / New Eternia]

The demon king from the Dimension of Noir silently searched the scattered remains of New Eternia for the Power of Grayskull so he may become an immortal force of evil.

It’s been way too long since I’ve talked about Masters of the Universe here on the site, and like many of you, the upcoming movie has me pretty excited. So what better time to get back into the He-Man groove than now?

I received this Ninjor from my mother as a birthday gift, and I was immediately into it. The New Eternia figures in Masterverse have been a real sweet spot for me since they were introduced, and Ninjor—already a favorite—fits right in.

New Eternia takes a more fantastical approach to the MOTU characters, often pulling from concept art or expanding on ideas that were only lightly touched on before. Ninjor has always been a demon ninja, but here they really lean into that concept. He’s got additional armor, more dramatic claws, and an overall design that pushes him further into that supernatural space.

There are some really nice details throughout. The red eyes stand out immediately, and he comes with alternate face options. One of them is a snap-on face showing Ninjor without his zukin, revealing a mean expression with solid white eyes that really amps up his spookiness. He also includes an Oni mask, which I absolutely love. Between that, the claws, and the armor design, the Oni influence is very intentional. There are even small touches like an Oni face sculpted onto his nunchuck holster.

I say this a lot with recent MOTU releases, but this feels more like a designer toy. It’s just a really good-looking figure.

Ninjor comes with his traditional weapons—nunchucks, katana, and a bow and arrow—all styled to match his look with red flame effects and sculpted demon details. Everything about it feels cohesive and well thought out.

This feels like a high-end figure, and it’s easily my top-tier Ninjor now that I have one.

Daniel Mouse Went Down To Georgia

The Devil and Daniel Mouse was a Halloween special produced by Nelvana and first aired on CBS on October 5th 1978. It's an adaption of the short story 'The Devil and Daniel Webster'. I made a point to be informative at first because it's slightly obscure now. This is the information super highway, right? Daniel and Jan mouse are folk musicians struggling to get by when one night at the peak of their struggles Jan makes a deal with the devil while Daniel is away. She signs her soul away for fame and success and becomes a huge star leaving Daniel behind.

I know, this has never worked out in the past, but to her credit, she doesn't realize it's the devil she's talking too. Somehow. All is going well before she realizes who her new agent is actually when he comes to claim her end of the bargain. She runs away and finds Daniel and begs him to help. Daniel represents her in court and you've probably figured out the rest. It's a retelling of an old story that's been redone a million times. This particular version though is pretty cool. Despite the cute animal characters, the devil and assorted imagery are still pretty scary.

Taking place in the 70's, they change from hippy folk music to hard rock really driving home the thematic change. There's such a change in tone from the folksy innocent Daniel and the newly glam Jan that I can't help to see it as commentary from the production crew. I do suppose it was a pretty stark change from flower power to gritty and glam. Either way it's a pretty unique little cartoon that may not be specifically pumpkin spicy as a Halloween special, but works tonally.

originally posted 9/9/21 

Conjured

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Dammit Monday, I said Demons Out!

Hello there Zone Base readers! A new week is upon us and... I've got a cold. Somehow the crazy weather here in the south has given me a case of the sniffles. Not fun, but I've got a fun week in store for you! But before we get to that, let me tell you about this weekend I had. Saturday the Mrs and I stopped by a local toy store that recently relocated to a much better location and I plan to visit more often. They were fully stocked with all sorts of cool toys. There was Transformers, Gobots, kaiju, MOTU, vintage video games... you name it, they had it! I picked up a G1 Flamefeather and a Leader-1 figural pencil sharpener and will definitely will be back more often. I also picked up a Super7 Godzilla Monster Island blind box and a Transformers Hot Wheel while at Walmart! Mechagodzilla was in the blind box and the Hot Wheel was Age of Extinction Crosshairs (I've always liked him). 

Unfortunately, Walmart's Transformers selection was still fully stocked with leftovers from last year, so nothing new there. Store stock is always a little barren at the beginning of the year, but extra movie stuff doesn't help. I ordered the Legacy United G1 Optimus Prime and plan to order a few bots a week. Last year around this time, I almost completely switched to online orders... looks like it's headed that way again. I feel asleep Saturday night watching the Transformers Channel like a boss.

I may have feel asleep like a boss, but I woke up like a chump. A sniffly nose and a head cold, bleah. While I got a bit done Sunday, I had planned to organize my toy room some, but wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, I played Pac-Man World Re-Pac. The e-shop had it on sale for $7.50 and that was an easy buy! I loved the Pac-Man World games back in the day and had been meaning to play this new edition for some time now. It definitely was a good way to ride out a cold. Well, I'm still not feeling great, so another day of Coricidin and rest awaits me. Like I said around the beginning of the post, I've got a fun week in store for you. Thank you all for reading and please don't forget to share with your friends!

Weekly Halloween~ Ouija for kids!

I've talked about board game manufacturers dabbling in the occult before, but it's really a long standing tradition. Variations of the talking board date back thousands of years, but none are more famous in the present than the Ouija board. Basic spirit summoning with the risk of opening a portal to hell is available as close as your nearest Target. Even today it has an aura of mystery and a forbidden nature. I guess it's all fun and games until Zozo shows up.

Bios: Unicron

 

Many Transformers still superstitiously toss a small handful of energon coins over one shoulder whenever his name is uttered, for the word itself means chaos and destruction. Once an all powerful eater of entire planets, he was destroyed decades ago by the Autobots. For too long he was trapped in the rusting hulk of his old body. Now, resurrected and redesigned as an unstoppable destroyer tank, he is not yet at full power, but soon all the universe will know him, and tremble.

Strength:?? Intelligence:10 Speed: N/A Endurance:N/A Rank:?? Courage:?? Fireblast:10  Skill:10

Don't get to close, it's dark inside (Cybertron)

 

While looking at the more spookier aspects of Transformers, it's hard to ignore the Demons. Demons on Cybertron are unlike mankind's undoubtedly evil menace. They're a race of monstrous Cybertronians that lurk under the surface of the planet. Considering the whole convoluted nature of the planet, it's not to hard to fathom the place is several layers of chaotic nightmares. They're literally the Transformers evil older siblings. Considering the amount of evil already apparent in the Transformers... that's saying something. 

A Demon is a very large scary looking robot monster that's able to withstand most firepower. They're generally savage creatures and sometimes can even breathe fire. In case large practically invincible monsters under the surface of the planet isn't scary enough, they also feed on normal Transformers by draining out their life force. That's a Transformers way of saying "I'll swallow your soul". 

Depending on what fiction you've read, they're the earliest form of life Primus created on Cybertron. Also depending on what future you've read, they're the future of the Transformers race. Regardless of what fiction you've read, they're scary monsters that are generally a pretty big threat. Summer is a spooky season and this summer we've been taking a look at the darker side of Transformers. We've got one more week until the pumpkin spice machine starts brewing up awesome lattes. Until then, if you find yourself in the vast underground of Cybertron. Watch out, that's where the Demons hide.

Riders on the Styx

 

Dragonriders of the Styx was a fantasy line from the early 80's that's mostly forgotten about now. Probably thanks to being sued out of existence by TSR due to it's obvious unlicensed inspiration from Dungeons and Dragons. Made by Dimensions for Children, which is a pretty bad name for a toy company. I mainly remember getting the toys from discount and drug stores, but the larger sets could be found at regular retail. Initially the line started off with 'army man' style figures with themed play sets. Later it expanded into 3 3'4 action figures with various creatures and vehicles. 

My brother and I the entire standard carded figure assortment and some of those 'army man' play sets. Satanic Panic was a thing at the time, and like He-Man, I can understand it a little here. Toys like Duelin' Devils and Demons of Castleon might raise a suspicious eye or two. Lot's of these fantasy toys at the time had some really awesome horror art on the packaging that probably skirted the line for the intended audience. I can definitely appreciate it now though and not be cynical at all when people ask what's wrong with me. 

Earlier I mentioned mainly getting the toys from discount and drug stores. That's probably likely to getting sued out of existence by TSR. The realities of toy liquidation never crossed my mind when I was 6. The 'army men' style figures got bootlegged heavily, I was finding them up to the early 90's. I strongly remember getting the Wizard shown above on Halloween night. Mom was taking us home after a great night of trick or treating. We went to neighborhoods with my cousin, ate McDonald's, then trick or treated at the mall! I was Spider-Man. It was awesome.

Weekly Halloween: Kid Dracula

 

Now you're playing with power: Spooky Power! Considering the new week posts are just me complaining about never finding Studio Series Soundwave and everyday is Halloween... what I'm saying is we're going to start each week with the spooky shit. Don't worry, Halloween is still the same on the site. We just need more of it dammit! Not to mention the mini Halloween later this year.. what? You saw nothing. Weekly Halloween will be a little something spooky to start off the week here on Planet Zone! 

Kid Dracula is a weird little Castlevania spin off that features Alucard as a little boy. Kid Dracula calls himself the Demon King and Galamoth (another demon) comes to challenge him for the title. Alucard takes his fathers cape and has a spooky adventure through the castle fighting all sorts of ghosts, goblins, monsters, yokai, demons, and other creepy crawlies. It's been released on several different platforms and isn't too hard to play these days.

Daniel Mouse Went Down To Georgia

The Devil and Daniel Mouse was a Halloween special produced by Nelvana and first aired on CBS on October 5th 1978. It's an adaption of the short story 'The Devil and Daniel Webster'. I made a point to be informative at first because it's slightly obscure now. This is the information super highway, right? Daniel and Jan mouse are folk musicians struggling to get by when one night at the peak of their struggles Jan makes a deal with the devil while Daniel is away. She signs her soul away for fame and success and becomes a huge star leaving Daniel behind.

I know, this has never worked out in the past, but to her credit, she doesn't realize it's the devil she's talking too. Somehow. All is going well before she realizes who her new agent is actually when he comes to claim her end of the bargain. She runs away and finds Daniel and begs him to help. Daniel represents her in court and you've probably figured out the rest. It's a retelling of an old story that's been redone a million times. This particular version though is pretty cool. Despite the cute animal characters, the devil and assorted imagery are still pretty scary.

Taking place in the 70's, they change from hippy folk music to hard rock really driving home the thematic change. There's such a change in tone from the folksy innocent Daniel and the newly glam Jan that I can't help to see it as commentary from the production crew. I do suppose it was a pretty stark change from flower power to the gritty and glam. Either way it's a pretty unique little cartoon that may not be specifically pumpkin spicy as a Halloween special, but works tonally.

Sword Of Demons

Demon Sword/The Legend Of Acala is a game that might just be the definitive hidden gem of all time. Chances are you saw an ad or two for the game and later lucked up upon it in a clearance bin. That's what happened to me. I saw an ad or two then later got it dirt cheap at KB Toys. From what I can tell, this is pretty much the only way to get the game.

Demon Sword plays a lot like Legend of Kage or maybe even Ninja Spirit in that you run like crazy and mow down enemies with your sword. Jumping propels you forward into the air turning your swordsman into a helicopter of death. You play as Victar and must gather all the piece of the titular sword to defeat the demon currently ruling the world. As you play through the levels and gather pieces, the sword gets bigger and more powerful.

In addition to your growing sword, there's also projectiles like darts. These obviously come in handy for bad guys just out of range. You'll acquire magic spells that come in handy when fighting level bosses. The bosses and bad guys are various demons and yokai in bizarre hellscapes. It's pretty awesome. As normal during the time, the U.S box art depicts more of a standard mid evil fantasy setting, however Japanese advertising gives a better idea of the actual game.

Speaking of difference between the American and Japanese versions, in Japan the game is longer and has more items/magic. I remember thinking I achieved the impossible upon beating the game that one weekend in the seventh grade. Now I wonder if I could repeat history with the Japanese version. Probably not. Demon Sword was one of those things that was MY thing. I'd draw (badly) the characters on my notebooks, and dream up potential sequels. I'm sure to this day though, that I've never said Victar correctly.

Mortal Kombat

Like many others, I watched the new Mortal Kombat movie this past weekend. With a Doordashed order of Red Lobster (which in itself is another post), the Mrs. and I turned on HBO Max and started the movie. I just wanted to point out that I initially misspelled 'turned' and the spelling suggestion was turd. This is a reboot of the MK film franchise after the second movie was so bad that it took 24 years to hope people forgot about it. Sadly, this wasn't wasn't that great either. 

To be fair, Mortal Kombat doesn't have a solid track record outside of the games. The first movie is a pretty well regarded B movie. Video game adaptions are usually more miss than hit. After months of hype and an awesome trailer, this looked like it was finally going to be the breakout video game movie and really nail Mortal Kombat as most view it should.

I'm honestly not crapping on the movie. I enjoyed myself while watching the movie, as not so great as it was. It was a bad movie, but a fun bad movie. Actually, the first scene was great. I wish the movie was just more of that. Kano was generally fun. So was Kabal. Sub-Zero and Scorpion? Wonderful. I wish Goro has more to do, but liked what of him was there. Mortal Kombat didn't live up to my expectations, but I still enjoyed it.

Ninjor Will Sneak Up On Your Ass

Ninjor was introduced alongside Scare Glow when Skeletor conjured two of the most evil beings from all time and space. As you can see, Ninjor follows alongside the living Halloween decoration motif of MOTU. A standard black suited ninja, but with red devil boots and gloves.

That's because Ninjor isn't a human, he's a straight up demon. That conjuring that Skeletor did was during a special time when the veil between dimensions is weak for one hour (Halloween at 3am?) So what I'm saying is Skeletor just happens to have a demon ninja in his ranks. Why not? Carpe diem.

A Mountain Of Snakes

Hey Rob, are you going to make another comparison to He-Man's villains and Halloween decorations/satanic panic? Yes. Since Skeletor was inspired by a skeleton in a haunted house that scared a Mattel toy designer when he was a kid, it's only natural that he would live in a haunted house. Rivaling Castle Grayskull as the headquarters of the evil warriors on Eternia, is the freaky Snake Mountain. Once again as an adult, I kinda see where some of those parental groups were coming from. That talking mountain face you saw in the commercial above? It's literally a demon. It's one of the toys selling features on the box.

Just look at that thing. A scary bridge to cross in front of terrible monster faces, evil lurks behind every corner. Somebody chained Man-At-Arms up by his arms. Or by his At-Arms. Does he have legs or At-Legs? Look at the front door on top of the mountain. Big bat adorned gate with a wolfs head door and guarded by a giant snake. Classic spooky shit. Like I said, Skeletor was inspired by a prop at a haunted house, so he naturally lives in one. Makes me wonder what that haunted house the designer was at looked like. Because if it's anything like this, I kinda want to go.

In the cartoon, Snake Mountain was basically just that. A mountain with a snake on it. I don't know if that's due to designs not being finalized at the time of production or somebody at Filmation got the creeps. Thinking about it, the toy line and it's assorted artwork is a lot more scary looking than the cartoon. As if somebody thought to sanitize it out before putting on TV. For example, let's look at Skeletor. Below is a head shot of his toy, a story book, and the cartoon.

see what I mean?

I've always wondered, ... is Snake Mountain alive? When my cousin would come over and we'd play He-Man, who got to be Snake Mountain was a regular subject. For those who are either not in the know, or couldn't tell in the commercial. The wolf head was a microphone that you could speak into and a speaker would amplify it in a 'scary' voice. The mountain was covered in heads, a wolf head, a demon face, a few other faces, and the giant snake.

Now the snake was probably alive as it could move around to attack heroic warriors. Or solicitors. The demon face's mouth can move, which would make you think the scary voice is coming from it. I guess. I wonder if the demon uses the wolf head as a conduit for possession. I mean, just look at the kid using it in the commercial. Forever cursed. Forever dammed. Forever the voice of Snake Mountain. Giant asshole.

Mysteries So Unknown They Wrote About Them

Time Life Books Mysteries of the Unknown. If anything ever was as serious business as these books, then it should be in a second volume. Because that indeed would be a mystery of the unknown variety. If you're of a certain age (old), you've likely spent some time with these books. Either at your Aunt's house, a waiting room, or the library. Myself, all three. I wanted a set of my own, but for reasons unknown I wasn't allowed. Perhaps it was due to forces preferring me to not know of their existence. Or my dad telling me 'hell no, go mow the grass'.

The above commercial isn't the only ad spot for the books. There were shorter ones, longer infomercial ones, and uh... this one. While the exact percentage of unknown was known after reading these books, one thing 100% known is they'd scare the crap out of you. No other commercial had the power to make the entire room uneasy as Time Life Books Mysteries Of The Unknown. Aside from this one. They'd just suck the energy from the room, leaving eonly uncomfortable silence. Time Life was making sure you know just how serious they were taking things.

While I enjoy watching things like ghost and other various paranormal videos in my spare time, I don't 100% believe it. Completely entertained, but not completely convinced. I do believe there's more to life than what's in front of us, absolutely, but Bigfoot sightings videos don't exactly sell themselves well (it's probably just my brother hunting). Though if more presented themselves as well as Time Life did with these books... there'd probably just as many people who didn't believe. But they'd pretty uneasy for awhile after the commercial at least.

Kick Some Astyanax

Astyanax is one of those games that people tend to forget about. Not for any particular reason, it's pretty good, though admittedly 30 years after it's release I'm still trying to pronounce it's name correctly. Funnily enough, you don't play as the Greek Mythology character at all, you play as a guy named Roche. In the NES version you play as a kid named Astyanax, I have no clue why.

I'm sure most people are more familiar with the NES game, I was too until discovering the arcade version at my local Pizza Hut. It's one of those cases where a home version plays pretty similar to the arcade machine, but is practically a different game. So much so that it'll get it's own post sometime later. I'm talking about the arcade game today.

Haunted Farmhouse

Guess I'll just stay away from abandoned farmhouses in Pakistan.

The Car's Carbon Footprint Is Murder

Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman. These are names likely to come to mind when thinking about Universal Monsters. There's one forgotten monster from the studio that just... look, can we forgo the clever introduction? I just wanted to talk about The Car. The Car is a movie about an evil car that just murders anybody for no reason given aside from it's possibly demonically possessed. Maybe.

How did Mighty Max not die?

If there ever was a toy line that should and could make a return in today's world of smaller toys it's Mighty Max! I could easily see the little figures being sold in blind packs as well as with play sets. Mighty Max was great because you had this totally every Saturday morning cartoon looking kid in horrible situations. Damn, where are his parents? Literally Max is finding himself in some random evil fortress shaped like some random terror (a skull in this commercial). Not only is the evil fortress shaped like a random terror.... it's full of random terror! Monsters, ghosts, skeletons, demons, all out for Max's blood. I'm all for the backwards hat wearing cool kid and his fast ways... but let's face facts. They killed him.