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**samurainoir** · Dec 20, '13, 12:56 AM

downloading now... can't wait to listen to this tomorrow.

Double treat to have this and the new Mego Museum podcast come out so close together.

**Earth 2 Chris** · Dec 20, '13, 6:02 AM

^Amen!

This is my last day of work for a week...what a great way to start my Christmas vacation! It's like watching Christmas specials at school!

Chris

**MIB41** · Dec 20, '13, 6:57 AM

Oh this is great! Just what I needed to get my work morning started. I was really struggling. Awesome timing Brian! Fixing me some coffee and diving in.

**Brave Ulysses** · Dec 20, '13, 7:13 AM

Sounds like a great show I'm booting it up for a bit later.

**Earth 2 Chris** · Dec 20, '13, 10:17 AM

Wow that was fun. I found myself nodding along to a lot of the memories, especially yours, Brian.

My childhood Christmas tradition went as follows: Christmas Eve night, my immediate family (mom, dad, sister, me) would open presents from one another, as soon as my Mom came in, which sometimes was pretty late. She was the manager of the local Hallmark store, so she often had a hard time clearing the store at closing time, do to last-minute shoppers in the days before 24 hr Wal-marts. I did get toys from my parents, but it was usually the smaller stuff, the big gets came from Santa.

Then we were off to my maternal Grandparents, where we'd eat good snacky food, and open presents from my grandparents, uncle and aunt and cousins. My grandparents always came through with great gifts. I got the Gabriel Lone Ranger, Tonto and horse sets from them one year, and a HUGE Lego set the next.

Then we'd get home LATE, like close to midnight or sometimes after, and be rushed to bed. I never really slept Christmas night, and would wait about an hour after I heard no more rustling, and get up and stare at my presents for hours until I thought it was okay to wake up my parents so I could open them. Say 5 am or something like that. ;-). Later that day, we'd go back to my grandparents' house for Christmas dinner.

As far as confirming my Santa suspicions, that came in Christmas of 1985. My grandparents had gotten me the Kalibak Boulder Bomber from the Super Powers line (no doubt my Mom engineered the whole thing), so when I got home I wanted to grab some of Super Powers figures, including Kalibak. I rushed out to the "back porch"/mud room where most of my toys were, and saw a mountain of stuff covered in blankets. My dad appeared from no where and quickly slammed the door before I could enter. He said, and I quote, "Don't go in there boy." That was it. Santa was blown for good, but I played along for years. It was more fun that way. I'm pretty sure my 12 year old son is doing the same right now.

I was shocked to learn I got toys clear up until 1987, when I would have just turned 13. I was rummaging through some old photos and found one of me sitting amongst some M.A.S.K. toys at my grandparents' house that year. It did conjure up some repressed memories of feeling a bit...ashamed that Christmas. I think my grandparents, and probably my dad were wondering when I was going to let this stuff go. I think next year was full of Nintendo games and other more acceptable gifts. A few years later I was a full-fledged collector, and my enabling mother made sure the toys returned.

The fetish stuff was funny. I did one story for AC Comics' FemForce title, and they sent me some scripts of other jobs I declined, due to time constraints. They had a subgenre of stories going that involved growing women and tiny men. Need I say more?

Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston had essentially 2 wives, and children by both. I'm fairly certain the two women had a relationship as well, as they stayed together well past his death. It was an interesting situation to say the least, and one I'm sure was kept hush-hush back then, as he was a fairly respected psychologist, as far as I can tell.

Chris

**Red Hulk** · Dec 20, '13, 12:28 PM

Great episode It was fun listening to your Christmas memories.I got the Starbird for birthday from my Aunt it was such an awesome toy.I looked at the Starbird page on Plaid Stallions I knew about the enemy Intruder ship but not the Space Station that thing was incredible looking.I got 2XL as well (I still have him.

)I remember seeing the tapes for him at Kay-Bee on closeout.My mom used to hide my presents in the attic stairway I found my Slave-1 there before Christmas in 1981.Well I enjoyed all the episodes this year the Gerry Anderson on in particular,Have a Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

**Hedji** · Dec 20, '13, 12:30 PM

An unexpected treat! Halfway through it and loving the discussion!

**Brave Ulysses** · Dec 20, '13, 1:03 PM

I just finished listening that was a very entertaining episode.The Shogun Warriors part was great that display of Shoguns sounded amazing.I got Great Mazinga from my Grandparents he fought many battles against my Star Wars figures.My I remember Christmas 1976 I got the Lone Ranger and Tonto and their Horses and my Aunt Took me to see King Kong.Well I enjoyed this episode I'm gonna go back and listen to the other ones as well,Merry Christmas.

**MIB41** · Dec 23, '13, 2:28 PM

What a great episode! So fascinating to hear the traditions of the Christmas celebration. For me Santa Claus was always a state of mind, more than anything. I say that because when I was four, my brother had snuck me into our parent's bedroom and showed me where toys had been hidden behind their dresser which sat caddy-corner between two walls. It was funny too because I didn't understand what I was seeing. I just saw a bunch of toys and started yelling "Toys! Toys!" And it was about that time our parents were coming home. So my brother Tim was trying to shut me up, but it didn't work. I ran up to my mom and dad and said something to the affect of, "Look at all these great toys Tim found!" My brother can't recall anything else that happen that day...and I got the silent treatment from him as a result. But what that moment established was this idea that somewhere in our home was this magical place where Christmas gifts could be found. So when I was young, I wasn't dismissing Santa so much as allocating my parents as partners in crime with him. So as shameful as it might sound, part of my personal tradition became taking a peek at what might be coming Christmas morning. But the funny thing was I never tried ( or wanted) to see everything. I just wanted a peek to get my imagination going. That's it. Because I wanted to believe in Santa. So Christmas was this sort of self-induced suspension of disbelief, even though I possessed all the evidence to know otherwise.

The tradition in our family was to allow the kids to open one small gift under the tree on Christmas eve. When we woke up Christmas morning, Santa would have arrived and those gifts by him were unwrapped and laid out accordingly, so that each brother knew which were for him. And then we had the stockings also stuffed to the brim with both candy and toys. When our parents got up and got some breakfast in them, we would all sit around the tree and open gifts from each other. So Christmas morning was an exciting time for us. It was magical and exhausting all at the same time. What made ours interesting every year was what time we would be allowed to get up. And don't think we didn't challenge that concept as well. Every year it differed. I think the earliest our folks let us get up was 4:30 AM. But as a rule it still had to be dark so we might have a chance of catching Santa putting out the toys. We believed in him that much (me probably more than my oldest). But here's the other fun part. Our Christmas tree would be set up in front of our picture window in the living room. The fireplace was in the adjacent family room. So we would quietly sneek in and just look to see the outline of our Santa stuff laid out in the dark with only the reflection of the moon to give it definition. That was magical. We looked at it as a moment of Christmas purity. Santa had been there and we were just observing everything first, taking in all the magic. Then we would quietly poke into the family room and see the stockings stuffed to the brim and look at the remaining embers of wood burning out in the fireplace. Of course the annual inspection of foot prints would be made at the base as well as an inspection of the milk and cookie leftovers. Sometimes we would even get a note! It was holiday CSI decades before it's inception on television.

Once we had spazzed as much as we could on the moment, my oldest brother would turn on the tree lights and we would take in what Santa had left us. At that point we had to figure some way to remain quiet but voice our thrill. It didn't always work out. But it was always fun. So Christmas for us was essentially played out like the 'Night before Chrsitmas' tale. The tradition has been proudly continued with my kids and now my grandson. With him being two years old now, he is finally understanding everything. So Christmas morning is going to be very fun for him this year! The child in me will be right there walking him through the paces. I don't want him to miss any of the magic.

**Earth 2 Chris** · Dec 23, '13, 4:33 PM

^That's a great story Tom. I like how you made up your own scenario with your parents and Santa to cover what you had seen. Carrying your traditions on forward to your kids and now grandson is something really special.

I recall waking up EARLY and sitting in the room with all of my toys. My sister would sometimes get up, but not as early as me. We'd wait until we thought it was late (early?) enough to wake our parents, and then get to tear into everything (Santa never wrapped, by the way). I distinctly recall being both intrigued and slightly frightened by the Castle Grayskull box in 1982. MOTU was still a new and mysterious property, much darker than the usual 4-color fare I liked. The Frazetta-like panting was quite ominous and huge!

Chris

**palitoy** · Dec 23, '13, 4:40 PM

Glad you guys dug it and I love hearing these stories.

Tom, I envy your grandson, I'm approaching the age of ipods and no sir, I don't like it....

**samurainoir** · Dec 24, '13, 12:15 AM

Looking forward to the Retro Awards!

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Pod Stallions 12: Wish Book Kids

Pod Stallions 12: Wish Book Kids

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