The secret word of the day is: Pee-Wee’s Playhouse LIVE! Yup, it’s on stage beginning this November in Hollywood, CA. Tickets go on sale starting tomorrow morning. Let the fun begin! Pee-wee Herman is inviting you – and all your friends – back to Puppetland. Come join Pee-wee, Miss Yvonne, Cowboy Curtis, Jambi, Chairry and all your favorites, live on stage.

Re-imagined, re-invented, and nuttier than ever, “The Pee-wee Herman Show” will be LA’s theatrical event of 2009, with its live-action cast and puppets galore! “The Pee-wee Herman Show” will be at the Music Box @ Fonda, on Hollywood Boulevard, from November 8 for a VERY LIMITED engagement. (And tickets are sure to sell out — so book now!)

This is great news! I grew up watching this crazy, awesome show with my brother. It’s too bad that the gritty, unshaven Captain Carl, won’t be appearing…

I’ve always been impressed by Scott Campbell’s adorable, little watercolor paintings. Well his latest artwork from the show “We’ll Be Right Back… After These Messages”, at the Rivet Gallery, are up and they look great. The show was inspired by cartoons from the 80s and early 90s and runs through Aug 31st. Artists include Andrew Bell, Charlie Owens, Christopher Lee, Daniel Elson, Clinton Reno, John Lara, Tiffany Liu, Mike Maas, Scott Campbell, Shannon Bonatakis, Jason Limon, Thom Glick, C.J. Metzger, Matthew Hawkins, and Gunnar.

Etsy seller Nilesz recycles old Atari 2600 game cartridges into wallets. Each one is assembled by hand and requires over 2 hours to repurpose from game to wallet. They sell for $35 to 55 and make a fine conversation piece for all you old school gamers, like myself. Pretty cool? idea!

There’s even a cool video of a hungry wallet in action.

When you were a kid, didn’t you get into a whole bunch of mischief? Sure you did. Although you probably didn’t chase the dog with a fork, dressed in a wolf costume, you still got sent to your room. I created this illustration inspired by the beloved children’s picture book classic, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I got the idea from Terrible Yellow Eyes, a collection of works by contributing artists who share a love and admiration for Sendak’s work. Now go to your room! No supper for you!

As part of the 30th Anniversary of the Gundam series and arrival on the sci-fi anime scene, toymaker Bandai has constructed a full-scale reproduction in Tokyo’s Shiokaze Park, near the headquarters of Fuji TV, where it will be officially unveiled on July 11th. The statue itself stands about 59 feet (18 meters) tall and is said to be a 1:1 replicate of the Gundam from the show. Adding to it’s cool factor is that has moving parts with lights and such. What’s next, a 1:1 scale Godzilla?

Check out the cool videos on this life-size Gundam too.

My friend Paul over at Toy Bender has got a lot of his old toys and stuff for sale over on his Dinosaur Toy Vault. There you’ll find old Transformers, Star Wars, G. I. Joes and such, but what caught my eye was the Star Wars collector’s plates. I can just imagine Luke or Darth Vader sitting down for a big dinner before a lightsaber battle and only wanting to use their favorite Jedi themed plate. Perhaps the plates have midichlorians in them. So if you had the plate, you might become a powerful Jedi just like those other guys. I’d buy the plates myself, but I’ve already got some super powers and I don’t want to be greedy.

Back in the mid-80′s there was a company called TSR, who was well known for D&D. You might recall that they also created another role playing game called “Marvel Super Heroes.” In the game you’d play the role of popular superheroes from Marvel Comics. The game was less numbers-based and geared more toward first-time RPG players. The Advanced Set was released in 1986 and that’s when the game’s popularity really took off and when I started enjoying it. New super powers and rules were added, the rank system made more flexible, and a number of supplements were released to make for an even richer gaming experience. My brother and I had a few of the box sets and spent many enjoyable hours reading and playing through them.

If you also enjoyed these games, you know that half the fun came with designing your own special Marvel Super Heroes. The game kept you honest by making your character attributes based on the roll of the die; as the mechanics of the game kept you frequently referring to the colorful Universal Results Table.

If you’re like me and have not idea where all your old sets went, fear not. Whether it’s rules, campaigns, players, or judge’s books, all the sets can be found online in PDF format. Even the compendiums, maps and character sheets are available. Relive the fun and excitement of comic book style superheroic fights with Marvel Super Heroes RPG. Go create your new superhero today!

It was a nice surprise when Shocker Toys graciously sent over one of their new ShadowHawk Variant action figures. It’s from their great, new Indie Spotlight series of popular comic book characters of yesteryear. Series 1 includes five collectible action figures such as Terry Moore’s Katchoo from Strangers in Paradise, Rob Schrab’s Scud: The Disposable Assassin, David Mack’s Kabuki, Sam Kieth’s The Maxx and Jim Valentino’s ShadowHawk. Each figure comes with its own accessories, like a white/black Isz or Pink Fairy.

When shopping for a toy and perusing the shelves, the first thing that catches your eye is the packaging. This ShadowHawk figure comes in the classic carded packaging with a bubble shell. While the “busy orange” background does get your attention, I don’t think it helps this stylish figure stand out. What I do like about the packaging is the fact that it is collector friendly. You don’t have to tear it apart to get your figure out and it’s easily resealable so you can put the figure back in for displaying. Yeah!

The ShadowHawk figure itself is solid, nicely painted and well balanced for an action figure. It’s great that it can actually stand on its own and with the many points of articulation you can pose him just about anyway you want. (I noticed that the chest articulation is similar to the 25th Anniversary G.I Joe figures.) He looks quite cool in all different types of poses, so you can show him off in a number of ways.

If you’re a fan of ShadowHawk, you’ll definitely appreciate this cool action figure. Overall, I’m quite impressed with this figure.

Note: I’ve got more pictures of the figure over here, if you’re interested.

When you take things out of context just about anything can be funny. For example old stories. At Old Red Pen you’ll find a few old books that have been enhanced with some lovely scribbling in red pen. Some of the scribbling contains insight into the life of the scribbler and most of it is pretty funny. The only time I defaced a book was when I was in college. Back then highlighting entire chapters was a popular fad.

Mappy – One of the first arcade titles to be released on the (Wii) Virtual Console. Although this game isn’t as popular as Pac-Man, it’s a lot of fun that’ll keep you busy for hours. You play Mappy, the police mouse, who you’ve got to lead through the mansion of the cats, called Mewkies, and retrieve stolen goods. This cleverly designed and addictive game is a challenge, even if you don’t care about a high score. The game download is only 500 points, so you can’t go wrong. Thanks Nintendo!

I recall playing this in the arcade 20+ years ago. My hint: don’t panic and take your time.