Still a Kid at Heart by Brad Miller

Aaaaannd we're back.

I've been away from the blog for too long.  Work and such kept me away, but now I'm back and ready to get started Dukes blogging again.  My new buddy Brad Miller, who I met at Dukes Fan Fair in Nashville along with his lovely wife Lynn, stepped up and agreed to take the reigns for a post.  I really appreciate Brad writing this for me.  Here is Brad's post: Still a Kid at Heart.

I am like most of you out there and grew up watching The Dukes of Hazzard.  I had all kinds of the toys as a child and several of the Ertl 1/64 General Lees.  After the show went off the air, I would catch re-runs on Saturdays around lunch time (when the cartoons got finished they would show an episode of Dukes followed by CHiPs).  Then time moved on and so did I to other things,  but I always had my fondness for the Dukes.  I was super excited when I heard they were going to release all the seasons on DVD and would always get the latest one.  That got my mind back on the Dukes and I would stay up late (often way too late) after I got off work at nights to watch some episodes.  It was like it was a new show all over again to me.  We had our first child, Jordan, in 2008 and in 2010 I put in an episode of Dukes just to see what he thought about it and my son has been hooked ever since.  It is a brand new show to him and he doesn’t understand that all the actors have aged or passed on in the 30+ years.  He is a huge Luke Duke fan and has his “Luke” blue jeans (as Jordan calls them), cowboy boots and blue plaid button up shirt that he wears quite often.  We took him to the reunion in Byron, GA this past spring and he got to meet his hero.  Having Jordan be such a fan of the Dukes has gotten me back to my childhood and into collecting Dukes items.  I don’t have a huge collection but it continues to grow and my wife is very understanding (as long as I keep her stocked with shoes and purses lol).  If I had to pick one item to be my favorite it would have to be the latest Auto World 1/18 General Lee because of the detail and accuracy.  Sentimental wise it would have to be the Dixie horn that I finally had installed on my truck.  It was my grandfather’s and I remember being Jordan’s age and have him blow the horn all the time.

We took Jordan to the reunion in Byron, GA this past spring and he got to meet his hero. 

The other Good Ol’ Boy was there too.

One of the guys there had this General Lee and was nice enough to let Jordan slide in the window.

I thought I would share some of my collection with you.  I have one each of the General Lee r/c cars the 1/10 and the 1/18.  It is very tempting to take them out and run them around the driveway but I must stay strong.

This picture shows (left column, top) the 1/24 General Lee and the model 1/24 General, the most recent release of Rosco’s patrol car, and the older release of the patrol car with the wrong light bar.  The other side (top) has the 1/24 Styleized General, the 1/18 General with sound effects (Dixie horn, engine revving,  and Duke boy yell), Auto World 1/18 car, and the 1/18 General with 1/64 car.

Here are some puzzles, calculators, card games, cds, board game, and still wrapped tv tray.

Some unused coloring books.

Some other 1/64 and 1/144 cars, unpunched stunt buster, Dukes glasses (after Larry did his blog on those, I had to have a set haha), and a great “01” mousepad that I found on eBay.

These are really nice items that I got at Cooter’s Place in Nashville, TN or you can get them online at cootersplace.com.   I just installed the trailer hitch cover and the license plate frame on my truck today.  I have the signs hanging in my garage.

Thank you for letting me share some of my collection and story with you.  Thanks also to Larry for posting this for me.  His dedication to the Dukes is unsurpassed.  He puts a lot of hard work into this blog and bringing Dukes collectors together and he should be commended for that.  Keep up the great work Larry!

Brad Miller

San Diego Comic Con 2013 - I'm not there

Well the big one starts today. And I am in Pennsylvania. Too many things going on, and I just couldn't make it.

Fortunately, for me and for the readers, our resident comic aficionado, Jeff, is there and will be covering it all on his twitter and blog. Be sure to check out http://teddyandtheyeti.blogspot.com and follow him @jeffmcclelland. He'll be signing at the Tick booth and also having a blast everywhere else. I'm with you in spirit, buddy. Next year I'll be back.

Our friend that I meet at SDCC last year, who happens to be a fellow DukesCollector, Reis O'Brien will also be rocking San Diego. Be sure to check out his blog at http://dorkhorde.blogspot.com and twitter @reisobrien.

I can't wait to see the pictures. Stay classy.

Yesterday's Fun Toy Store - Vintage and New Toys and Video Games in Ocean View, DE

Yesterday's Fun
Toys, Games, & More
117 Atlantic Ave
Ocean View DE,
19970
302-539-1938
Yesterdaysfun.intuitwebsites.com

If you find yourself in the popular vacation area known as Delmarva that includes Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, Rehobeth Beach, DE as well as Ocean City, MD, and you have similar interests as me (why else would you be reading this blog?) then you should check out Yesterday's Fun in Ocean View, DE.

Board games, action figures, Legos, Star Wars, super heroes, Playmobile, Tonka, Ninja Turtles, this store has it all.  It is spread out and you really have to spend a lot of time inside to see it all.

Transformers, WWE, Batman, He-Man, GI Joe, Ghostbusters, Pokemon, and Power Rangers.  There is enough to keep a toy fan busy for a long time.

These Evel Knievel figures and vehicles are really cool.  I've never seen them before.  I'm sure some collector out there is looking for them.

In the rafters of the store, there are quite a few large vintage toys, games, playsets, pedal cars and advertising pieces.  I was hoping to find a Dukes pedal car up there, but didn't have the luck.

And do you like video games?  The back room of the store is full of so many vintage video games it  makes your head spin.  Original Nintendo games are very popular right now.  Yesterday's Fun has got you covered.  They also sell new reproduction consoles that play the old games. As well as Atari, Colecovision, Sega, SNES, and basically everything else.

I talked to Brendan at the store for quite a while.  They close at 8 pm; I got there around 7 and didn't leave until around 8:30.  He is definitely our kind of guy.  We had a lot of fun talking toys.  He told me that Matt and Everton also work very hard at the store.   They have been open now for five years and I've probably visited each year.  They have grown and get better each time I visit.  Everyone who is ever in the area should check out Yestersay's Fun, and you won't be disappointed.

And I got a couple Dukes items.

I can't pass up a vintage Ertl Dukes 1/64.  Especially at a great price.

Surprising that it has the Boss Hogg decal on only one side.  I don't think it is rubbed off.

I have never seen this particular knock-off Charger America before.

It has the similar Charger America logo that we've seen on Yatming cars, but this car has nothing written on the bottom except "made in Hong Kong."  The other Charger America cars I've seen also have opening doors.  It's like a knock off of a knock off.

There is no question that it is a General Lee wannabe.  The push bar gives it away.  

These are nice little additions to the collection.  I'm glad I stopped by Yesterday's Fun in Ocean View, DE and will be back for sure.  

The complete Johnny Lightning Dukes of Hazzard line: Series 6

 Let's (finally) get back to the Johnny Lightning Dukes of  Hazzard line with the second to the last set of cars to come out, Series 6.  This set was released in 2008 and features a couple of new cars from the show to the diecast world as well as new versions of the two most prominent cars.

The package design is very similar to Series 5 with the see through bubble that shows both sides of the car.

The back does not include a checklist and just shows off the pack-in item (which we will discuss below).

The first car in the series is the General Lee once again.  This is the scuffed version of the car.  Perhaps Bo and Luke got a little too close to Rosco's Patrol Car and some of the white paint rubbed off.  Maybe Enos was in on it and tried to give the boys the squeeze because there are white scuffs on both sides.  It is a fun version of our favorite car.

The tenth episode of the series saw the Duke boys in Hazzard County Sheriff deputy uniforms, with the task of  taking a dangerous prisoner from Springville County to Hazzard.  It is a very memorable episode because of the Dukes in police outfits, a foot chase through a ghost town, and the car chase involving an ambulance.  The General isn't in the episode much, but this Springville County patrol car is.  It is another use of the same police car body by JL.  They did their research and made it look just like it did in the episode.  "Deputy Dukes" is a great episode and this car is a great addition to the line.

As in Series 2 with the General Lee and in Series 4 with Daisy's Plymouth, the even number series of this line all include a Zinger.  If you have a General Zinger, you have to have a Rosco car Zinger.  JL did not disappoint.  This version of the Patrol Car is a better representation than the normal version in Series 1 because of the updated light bar and more accurate decals.

Episode 19 of season 2 was called "Jude Emery."  It was intended as a back door pilot for a show about a traveling Texas Ranger.  Bo and Luke helped Jude track down a convict on the run.  It was an actioned packed episode.  In one scene Cooter drove this Plymouth Road Runner.  Its two large air cleaners on the hood make it stand out.  With Johnny Lightning and Auto World making 1/18 versions of more obscure cars from the show like Cooter's Camaro, I would not be surprised if this car, as well as Lucifer, aren't immortalized in 1/18 soon.  You heard it here first, folks.  

This is the first set to  include only four cars.  It is disappointing, but JL made up for it with an awesome pack-in.  Each car came with a puzzle piece sort of background.  When all four are combined, it creates a Boar's Nest diorama.

Who doesn't want to drive their General Lee to the Boar's Nest?  The scale to the cars looks very good.  It is a fun addition to this line and anyone's Dukes of Hazzard collection as a whole.

There is a slight faux pas that JL included.  They used the logo for the Boar's Nest from the movie instead of the TV show.  Not that big of a deal, and probably unnoticeable to most people except stickler's like us.  This is my favorite of all the pack-ins.  Johnny Lightning really gave us Dukes fans a great line of cars.  One more series to look at.  The final post on this line will be up soon.