Friday, October 2, 2020

TSR's Future is So Bright

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new winner! 

I used to think that the Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Woodburning Set was the most ridiculous AD&D-branded product that TSR licensed in the early 1980s. No longer. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Visor Glasses by Larami (a company well known for its inexplicably branded items, such as the infamous Battlestar Galactica Cylon Bubble Machine) has now claimed that dubious title. This was released in 1983 and features Larry Elmore's cover illustration from the D&D Basic Set revised by Frank Mentzer. You can see more pictures of the Visor Glasses here, along with other posts showing off the weird world of '80s brandification.

As an aside, Larami was apparently acquired by Hasbro in 1995, though the brand name was retired a few years later. Will we ever see D&D-branded sunglasses again? Considering some of the D&D-branded products being hawked right now, I wouldn't be surprised. Of course, if we do see such a thing again, I can guarantee it won't sell for only $3.99.

9 comments:

  1. Doing alright, getting good grades, future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

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  2. I wondered if you were going to bring this up, because one of the guys in my childhood gaming group actually had this - a gift from a terminally-clueless relative. We joked that he was required to wear the visor during games (and wondered if that was the intent of the product? we couldn't think of anything else) which lasted about half a session. I assume it was thrown away shortly thereafter...

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    1. Too bad, I think it would be quite the conversation piece if he still had it.

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  3. It makes sense now. In 5th edition a player can get dark vision specs on the cheap.

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  4. Improved save on Gaze attacks, obviously.

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  5. Had the Cylon bubble thing. When my kids were old enough, I had more fun with bubble blasters/wands/straws than they did. God forbid someone has them sitting at the table for wedding guests. I'm gonna be the annoying guy blowing bubbles everywhere.

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    1. I'm 48 and blowing bubbles is one of my favourite things. I just find it peaceful and fun. What's not to like? Keep on doing what you like.

      When my daughter was 2yo I accidentally ended up with bubbles in my pockets at work. So I blew bubbles secretly in the office and wasn't caught. :-)

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  6. Yikes, $3.99 was a pretty penny back then.

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    1. Yes, it was, though I'm not certain the price tag is contemporary to the original release. It's possible that it's from a later date.

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