October - December 2006

Holy Grails #1; Raiders of the Lost Ark Collector's Glasses
Message posted Dec. 29, 2006

Throughout the year I have been listing the top five Holy Grails in the world of Indiana Jones collecting. These are licensed products I feel are the top things one should have in an Indiana Jones collection. The number one item I think is the best is the unproduced
Raiders of the Lost Ark collector's glasses.

I think it is number one due to its rarity, coolness factor and crossover collectibility. According to Collector Glass News, this set from the Raiders of the Lost Ark never went into production and only exists as samples. The glasses sold at a Collector Glass News auction for more than $1,500.

Happy New Year to everyone. I look forward to continue posting fun features and new items to my collection in 2007. See you in 2007. Below is a recap of my top five Holy Grail list:

• Holy Grail #5: Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure released by Williams Electronics in July 1993.
• Holy Grail #4: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: The Arcade Game created by Atari. It followed the 1984 coattails of the hit film and was released in 1985.
• Holy Grail #3: The Toys McCoy Indiana Jones and Arabian Horse action figures that were produced exclusively in Japan in 1999.
• Holy Grail #2: Belloq in Ceremonial Robes - Mint on Card. It was never produced for the mass market as mint on card. Only a handful of genuine samples were made as employee samples.
• Holy Grail #1: The unproduced Raiders of the Lost Ark collector's glasses.

Collector's Flashback; Atari Age Print Ad
Message posted Dec. 13, 2006

The Web site Pop-Arena has a page-by-page review of the classic 1980s magazine, Atari Age. Within the particular issue they review is a print ad for the Raiders of the Lost Ark Atari video game. Unfortunately the picture of the ad isn't large enough to read the smaller print.

The game certainly belongs in any Indiana Jones collection. It has a certain retro coolness to it but, admittedly, the game isn't very good. It was pretty much universally panned when it came out.

To complement the print ad, I'm linking to this clip that shows a visual and audio walk-through of the Raiders of the Lost Ark game. It's not a commercial but it definitely sounds retro based on the narrator's voice. He refers to the game in the present tense so I'm guessing it was made when the game was released in the early 1980s. If anyone can tell me what this video is I'd appreciate it.

Keeping with the theme of the Atari 2600 I'm also linking to a classic commercial for the game console. It isn't Indiana Jones-related but still fun to watch. There are many classic Atari commercials on You Tube but this is just one.

Collector's Flashback is a regular feature at IHateSnakes.com. If you have images of Indiana Jones toy or product advertisements from older catalogs, magazines or newspapers please send them to me along with your name and as much information about the publication as possible, such as name of publication, date, etc., I will credit you with the photo submission and information. Old ads of games, toys and collectibles are always interesting to revisit.

Wish List Item; Indiana Jones Hallmark Keepsake Ornament
Message posted Dec. 4, 2006

Each year Hallmark releases a series of Chrismas tree ornaments featuring pop culture mainstays as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Superman, Spider-Man and Barbie, but never Indiana Jones.

Many of Hallmark's ornaments light up, move or make sounds to capture the essence of a particular licensed property. Indiana Jones lends himself to a whip-cracking pose in the style of the other ornaments to decorate a collector' s Christmas tree. Hopefully Hallmark will realize that Indiana Jones would make a great ornament and collectible.

As a regular feature at IHateSnakes.com I will post Wish List items that I think would make great Indiana Jones collectibles and merchandise. I welcome any suggestions from site visitors. Feel free to send me a description of an Indiana Jones collectible, along with your first and last name, city and state (if you are outside the U.S. city and country will do) you'd like to see and I will make it one of the Wish List news items. Please keep your collectible suggestions reasonable and realistic. For example, a life-size, whip-cracking robot of Indiana Jones is just too far out. If I receive duplicate suggestions I'll credit each person with the Wish List item. Please send Wish List suggestions to lon@ihatesnakes.com.

Holy Grails; Belloq in Ceremonial Robes - Mint on Card
Message posted Nov. 27, 2006

Throughout the year I have been counting down the top five collectibles I consider "Holy Grails" in world of Indiana Jones. Number two on the list is Belloq in Ceremonial Robes - Mint on Card.

Brian Rachfal of Rachfal Enterprises provided the pic of this highly sought after and rare action figure. Belloq in Ceremonial Robes was only available as a mail-in action figure where you had to send in a certain number of proofs of purchase from other Indiana Jones figures. It was never produced for the mass market as mint on card. Rachfal says that only a handful of genuine samples were made as employee samples.

I Hate Snakes Gift Shop Now Open
Message posted Nov. 19, 2006

Amazon recently launched a new service called "aStore" that allows participates to place select products onto a custom page. By clicking the I Hate Snakes Gift Shop banner link in the Treasure Chest you'll be able to see some items I have selected. I'm certainly not an expert critic, but there are a few Indiana Jones items along with books, DVDs and video games that the Indiana Jones fan would enjoy. Keep checking the store. I'll continue to add products as I think of them or new items are released that would be appropriate for the store.

New Indiana Jones Game in June 2008?
Message posted November 8, 2006

For the past several months I have been saving money and earmarking it to purchase an Xbox 360. I have been out of the gaming realm for several years now and have been wanting to get back into it.

Throughout my life I've owned an Atari 2600, original Nintendo Entertainment System and an original Playstation. I never owned a Playstation 2 or Xbox but when LucasArts announced a new Indiana Jones game for the next-gen consoles I didn't want to miss out. I was looking through Best Buy's Web site and checking what games I could get when I buy my Xbox 360 and came across a pre-order option release date for the next Indiana Jones game . Best Buy says the game will be released June 8, 2008, a full year off of the rumored first-quarter 2007 date. Amazon doesn't have this up for pre-order so I'm not sure how accurate this is. Take it with a grain of salt. The description for the game also mentions being able to play the motorcade chase from Raiders, the mine car sequence in Temple of Doom, and the tank battle in Last Crusade (athough the description says "Lost" Crusade). Hopefully the year is wrong and some great collectibles are tied in with the release of the game. If being able to play out classic sequences from the original film, on top of an original story, are true then this will be a great game.

Collection Update; Arabian Horse Loose
Message posted November 5, 2006

I've had the Arabian Horse mint on card in my colletion for a couple of years now. I bought at a great price on eBay.

When I purchased the entire Raiders of the Lost Ark. AFA-graded action figure set earlier this year I had to make a decision on what to do with the original mint-on-card figure since I now have two. It was either sell it and use the money for more Indy collectibles or open it and add it as a loose figure to my collection. For action figures I like to have one mint-on-card and one loose. Occasionally I've checked eBay to find a loose Arabian Horse and could never really find one loose and complete or it would be mint on card at a higher price than what I paid for mine. So it made sense to just open the Arabian Horse I have and add it as the loose item to my collection. A photo has been added to the Raiders of the Lost Ark section.

Empire Magazine Collector's Editions Added to Collection
Message posted Oct. 16, 2006

After a couple of weeks of searching I finally found the Indiana Jones 25th anniversary collector's editions of Empire Magazine in Border's.

It's great someone actually took the time to recognize the silver anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's amazing what a non-event the 25th anniversary was this year. Indiana Jones always ranks as one of the most popular characters in movie history and he barely gets a birthday wish, even from his own creators. The one complaint I have about the magazine collector's edition is the unoriginal cover art. It would have been nice to see some new 25th anniversary cover art commissioned for each issue rather than just reuse poster art for each film. Even though the magazine celebrates the 25th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it features the other films so I'm placing the magazines under the Further Adventures category. Once I obtain the subscriber's only cover of the magazine I'll update the photo.

Wish List Item #6; Licensed Indiana Jones Halloween Costume
Message posted Oct. 5, 2006

Now that October is upon us and people are starting to think about their Halloween costumes and parties, it would be a great time to suggest the next Wish List item, an officially licensed Indiana Jones Halloween costume. What I have in mind isn't for the serious costuming enthusiast, but for the general public.

Indiana Jones has been a part of the holiday in the form of a Ben Cooper costume from the early 1980s and rubber masks of Indy and Dr. Henry Jones released in the 1990s. As far as I know, that's the extent of Indy's Halloween presence. Since Indiana Jones makes a great Halloween costume I have two ideas for it.

The first would be like the Zorro Adult costume. Many fictional characters come as a fancy costume pre-packaged. The "Indiana Jones Super Deluxe Adult" costume would include a faux fedora, faux leather jacket, faux bullwhip, a one-piece khaki pant/gray shirt outfit and shoulder bag. As with a lot of these pre-packaged costumes, many of the character's accessories are not included. This Indy costume would include the basics and encourage the buyer to pursue a gun, holster, etc. The costume could also be made to fit a child. Many fictional characters come as a fancy costume pre-packaged. The "Indiana Jones Super Deluxe Adult" costume would include a faux fedora, faux leather jacket, faux bullwhip, a one-piece khaki pant/gray shirt outfit and shoulder bag. As with a lot of these pre-packaged costumes, many of the character's accessories are not included. This Indy costume would include the basics and encourage the buyer to pursue a gun, holster, etc. The costume could also be made to fit a child.

The second approach to an Indiana Jones costume would be to package and brand Indy's accessories separately the way these Freddy Krueger items have been done. Freddy Fedora Adult Deluxe could easily be a model for an Indiana Jones officially licensed Halloween costume hat. Deluxe Freddy Metal Glove The Deluxe Freddy Metal Glove takes his signature weapon and makes it a great Halloween costume accessory and collectible. The same could be done with Indiana Jones' signature weapon, the bullwhip. There is also the Zorro Bullwhip with Sound There is no reason why there shouldn't be a brown, Indiana Jones-branded bullwhip that does the exact same thing. Finally, a faux leather jacket could be branded "Indiana Jones" and sold as a costume accessory the way Sweater Freddy's Sweater is sold. Indy's jacket is just as iconic as his hat and would be a necessary piece to a mass-marketed Halloween costume line.

An Indiana Jones officially licensed Halloween costume would make a great collectible, expand the brand, and give a man or boy a way to dress up as one of the most popular movie characters of all time.

As a regular feature at IHateSnakes.com I post Wish List items I think would make great Indiana Jones collectibles and merchandise. I welcome any suggestions from site visitors. Feel free to send me a description of an Indiana Jones collectible, along with your name, you'd like to see and I will make it one of the Wish List news items. Please keep your collectible suggestions reasonable and realistic. For example, a life-size, whip-cracking robot of Indiana Jones is just too far out. If I receive duplicate suggestions I'll credit each person with the Wish List item. Please send Wish List suggestions to lon@ihatesnakes.com.