Egregoros

@thefinn There was one talented marketing guy and Lucasfilm fired him after he made Star Wars and Empire smash hits.

thefinn

@thefinn@poa.st remote

@judgedread sigh

Judge Dread

@thefinn He was the guy who realized you could prime the pump by doing a presentation at San Diego Comicon. He toured other scifi and comic shows as well, so when Star Wars was released in THIRTY TWO THEATERS the lines of scifi fanatics were around the block, which got massive press... and the rest is history.

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@judgedread @thefinn I was pretty young but it seems like the toys came out about the same time as the movie. Kids were bringing them to school.

Judge Dread

@DC5FAN Not for Star Wars. The toys were notoriously late to the point where Kenner had the infamous 'empty box Christmas' - a package with a certificate saying you'd be mailed the action figures real soon now. I believe they shipped in March. An eternity for a kid.

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@judgedread I bet they made huge money. Every kid had them.

Judge Dread

@DC5FAN Star Wars merchandising brought in a huge multiple of the boxoffice.

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@judgedread That was before home video too.

Judge Dread

@DC5FAN It was simultaneous with the advent of home video, VHS was introduced in Japan in 1976, in the US in 1977.

Replying to @judgedread@poa.st

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@judgedread I meant more in terms of widespread adoption. It was probably 84-85 when probably half the homes had a VCR. So no immediate market for video at the time of its release.

Replies

Replying to @DC5FAN@poa.st

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@judgedread I remember renting a VCR once at a video store.

Replying to @DC5FAN@poa.st

anime graf mays 🛰️🪐

@DC5FAN @judgedread Earliest memory I have is SNES. My parents bought us one for Christmas later that year

Replying to @graf@poa.st

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@graf @judgedread SNES - not familiar?

Replying to @DC5FAN@poa.st

anime graf mays 🛰️🪐

@DC5FAN @judgedread Super Nintendo? 1991

Replying to @graf@poa.st

Judge Dread

@graf @DC5FAN For vidya... Pong... of course.

Replying to @judgedread@poa.st

anime graf mays 🛰️🪐

@judgedread @DC5FAN I meant rental. Here you used to be able to rent consoles with like a 100? dollar deposit

Replying to @graf@poa.st

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@grizzlywhisker@nicecrew.digital remote

@graf @judgedread Yeah I think there was a large security deposit. I'm surprised my Dad let me do it.

Replying to @graf@poa.st

grizzlywhisker

When I was a kid it seemed like everyone I knew had an NES and VCR hooked up in their living room. I always assumed the Japs designed the NES to resemble a VCR because of how common they were at the time.

Replying to @grizzlywhisker@nicecrew.digital

anime graf mays 🛰️🪐

@grizzlywhisker @DC5FAN @judgedread We had one but it was like 2 years before the SNES came out. My parents didn't make a lot and we were always living hand to mouth so purchases like that took them a while to save up for

Replying to @graf@poa.st

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@grizzlywhisker@nicecrew.digital remote

@graf @grizzlywhisker @judgedread Same. I just got told No. I didn't get Jack shit. Can't afford it.

Replying to @DC5FAN@poa.st

grizzlywhisker

I didn't have one either. I was like the only kid I knew without an NES, but we had an IBM computer and my dad just assumed it was just as good lol. DOS games were pretty cool back then, but NES games were usually better. I had a lot of the DOS ports of NES games like TMNT 1 and 2 and Mega Man. The Mega Man games for DOS were fucking weird but some of them like TMNT were identical to the NES games. 😄

Replying to @grizzlywhisker@nicecrew.digital

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@grizzlywhisker @graf @judgedread Nintendo Entertainment System.

Replying to @grizzlywhisker@nicecrew.digital

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@grizzlywhisker @graf @judgedread I never even had an Atari. I was poor.

Replying to @grizzlywhisker@nicecrew.digital

Judge Dread

@grizzlywhisker @DC5FAN @graf The Japanese version, on the other hand...

Replying to @judgedread@poa.st

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@judgedread @grizzlywhisker @graf Family Computer

Replying to @DC5FAN@poa.st

Judge Dread

@DC5FAN I remember fighting the hotel staff when I wanted to hook up a VCR to the TV for business purposes because they were absolutely certain we'd rented the suite to pirate HBO movies. smdh

Replying to @DC5FAN@poa.st

Judge Dread