The power of the spoken word: I knew four card collectors who dropped the habit when this video made the rounds. They heard about it, as in, "Word on the street has it that kids and collectors are being ripped off in a Marvel Ponzi scheme." The punchline: all four of them started buying books, instead - books by Mr. Ellison.
They were doing this with Magic cards years ago. Some of the cards were trading for $100 or more. And then no one would want to play against the $100 card so you had to take it out of your deck anyway.
Magic is such a scam. Played it as a kid, but was totally overwhelmed that you had to upgrade to the next version constantly. The art was cool as hell though...especially the "Black mana" cards!
A perfectly fine rant, and totally true at the time. I have no idea if things have changed since I kicked the trading card habit in the early Oughts, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn they're even worse now. Only thing Harlan missed out on is that cards aren't really targeted at kids. Not any more.
As a resident of Middletown, Ohio my whole life, I nearly jumped out of my seat when Harlan mentioned it by name. On the subject of the video however, I do not collect cards (I'm a comics only type of guy) but my brother is an avid Magic The Gathering player and every time a new set is released he buys a very large box of cards and frequently ends up with doubles, triples, or even quadruples of the same cards! It's a shame how badly consumers can be ripped off by playing/trading card companies like that. I absolutely love this commentaries; it is always a pleasure to see Harlan in my subscription box here on TH-cam!
just discovering HEW for the first time .... so sad to realize that he's gone and that he's actually been a part of my life since I first watched Star Trek back in the 1960s
Love watching these little rants. Ellison getting pissed at card companies. Actually, I recall some of these things vaguely. The "collector" thing eems to have really gripped fandom by the 1980s, and of course the Japanese franchises were very good at this. But if you want to see the destination for a lot of these silly expensively printed collectors sets just visit any dollar store. I've seen these bizarre packs of 1990s comics with a few seemingly random cards thrown in in Dollar Tree. The surreal leftovers of consumer culture. You can't take it with you, but since some of this stuff is plasticized, it will robably outlast some of the collectors.
Those cards got so expensive in the mid 1990's, I forced myself to just forget about them. I still see a wall of them at Target stores across the Country, but I will not pay those prices. Re: Harlan Ellison's Watching 51 -- it's possible that someone out there has posted that one to TH-cam from an old VHS tape. I've seen a handful of those, here and there.
The only way to get a complete set was that if it was a small set to begin with. I got a Silver Surfer set once, it was maybe 80 cards. I got the full set in a box.
"(Note to completists - HEW 51 did not survive the transition to the new millennium)" FIRK DING BLAST! Awright you video hounds--dig through yer tapes of Sci-Fi Buzz and get HEW 51 uploaded toot sweet!
Goodness gracious, tone down the language. Gazoonies? My word, I have never. Sarcasm aside, that was interesting and even today I see the same thing, and we have trading card games but as far as I know they are just the same, and you buy a tin, jeez, I had to search it up because I thought, "Oh, couldn't possibly be that much." 42 dollars for a tin box filled with a couple packs of these trading cards, 25 for a smaller pack, and 5 dollars for a, I think, 10 card pack. They call it a trading card game, but kids aren't going to trade, and they aren't given duplicates to trade, or even cards that are tradable, because kids don't know what to trade. It's really disgusting how much the world is falling to crap and inflation is really getting me on the edge of my wit.
"Ya Gazoonies" - A catchphrase that should have caught on the moment it was spoken.
Damn $90 around then is about $200 now. The comic bubble was insane
What Harlan misses here is this was in the period where the collectable companies stopped marketing to kids and started marketing to adults.
Yep this is when nerddom and fandom was morphing into the mainstream cash grab that it is today.
Doesn't mean he's wrong tho
Hey Wizards, Unca Harlan says you guys are a buncha gazoonies!
The power of the spoken word: I knew four card collectors who dropped the habit when this video made the rounds. They heard about it, as in, "Word on the street has it that kids and collectors are being ripped off in a Marvel Ponzi scheme." The punchline: all four of them started buying books, instead - books by Mr. Ellison.
I love how his most incendiary comment always gets marked "Commentary" at the bottom, lol.
Outraged Geekery.
It would seem silly on the face of it, but from Harlan, it is NOBLE.
They were doing this with Magic cards years ago. Some of the cards were trading for $100 or more. And then no one would want to play against the $100 card so you had to take it out of your deck anyway.
Magic is such a scam. Played it as a kid, but was totally overwhelmed that you had to upgrade to the next version constantly. The art was cool as hell though...especially the "Black mana" cards!
I agree with Harlan, today's trading cards are a bunch of crap
...and after hearing those words, the cheeks of all the execs at Marvel turned so red that they burned through the skin and melted...
A perfectly fine rant, and totally true at the time. I have no idea if things have changed since
I kicked the trading card habit in the early Oughts, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn they're even
worse now. Only thing Harlan missed out on is that cards aren't really targeted at kids. Not any more.
I have so many of those comic book cards...you can't give them away now. They're worth nothing.
As a resident of Middletown, Ohio my whole life, I nearly jumped out of my seat when Harlan mentioned it by name.
On the subject of the video however, I do not collect cards (I'm a comics only type of guy) but my brother is an avid Magic The Gathering player and every time a new set is released he buys a very large box of cards and frequently ends up with doubles, triples, or even quadruples of the same cards! It's a shame how badly consumers can be ripped off by playing/trading card companies like that. I absolutely love this commentaries; it is always a pleasure to see Harlan in my subscription box here on TH-cam!
I feel like A.M. had me find this guy late in life to be mean.
just discovering HEW for the first time .... so sad to realize that he's gone and that he's actually been a part of my life since I first watched Star Trek back in the 1960s
Love watching these little rants. Ellison getting pissed at card companies. Actually, I recall some of these things vaguely. The "collector" thing eems to have really gripped fandom by the 1980s, and of course the Japanese franchises were very good at this. But if you want to see the destination for a lot of these silly expensively printed collectors sets just visit any dollar store. I've seen these bizarre packs of 1990s comics with a few seemingly random cards thrown in in Dollar Tree. The surreal leftovers of consumer culture. You can't take it with you, but since some of this stuff is plasticized, it will robably outlast some of the collectors.
These print sets were absolute bullshit! Magic cards is a little better I hope.
Preach it, sir.
Great rant. Thanks for the note about HEW 51. Thanks HE & co.
Those cards got so expensive in the mid 1990's, I forced myself to just forget about them. I still see a wall of them at Target stores across the Country, but I will not pay those prices.
Re: Harlan Ellison's Watching 51 -- it's possible that someone out there has posted that one to TH-cam from an old VHS tape. I've seen a handful of those, here and there.
Does anyone know what Harlan speaks with regard to in the HEW 51 segment?
He read the entire Last Dangerous Visions. It was quite the marathon performance. For a third of the video, he used sock puppets and a flashlight.
ya gazoonies!
Still relevant today, sadly.
The only way to get a complete set was that if it was a small set to begin with. I got a Silver Surfer set once, it was maybe 80 cards. I got the full set in a box.
i liked red ryder serial poster behind ellison
Anyone know what HEW51 was about?
So that's why we traded pokemon and yugioh in elementary. Feckin' Marvel.
"(Note to completists - HEW 51 did not survive the transition to the new millennium)"
FIRK DING BLAST!
Awright you video hounds--dig through yer tapes of Sci-Fi Buzz and get HEW 51 uploaded toot sweet!
lol I live in middletown
Goodness gracious, tone down the language. Gazoonies? My word, I have never.
Sarcasm aside, that was interesting and even today I see the same thing, and we have trading card games but as far as I know they are just the same, and you buy a tin, jeez, I had to search it up because I thought, "Oh, couldn't possibly be that much." 42 dollars for a tin box filled with a couple packs of these trading cards, 25 for a smaller pack, and 5 dollars for a, I think, 10 card pack. They call it a trading card game, but kids aren't going to trade, and they aren't given duplicates to trade, or even cards that are tradable, because kids don't know what to trade. It's really disgusting how much the world is falling to crap and inflation is really getting me on the edge of my wit.
cards are a waste of time. Those of you who spent time and money on them basically threw it away.