Sorcerers, Spacemen & Swamp Beasts; "Oh, My!" - or - Dorkwin; The Origin of the Geeksies.

To paraphrase a famous blogger - who once wisely stated words to similar effect...
"Why you no post, Ptor?"

Well, I've been meaning to, but the lack of available time (or, at least enough "consecutive, pre-midnight non-bleary-eyed time", as I tend to call it) kept me from being able to be lucid enough, long enough to get this in the can.

There were a few opportunities to present some odds and ends, but I opted not to because this is a my 125th post, and I didn't want to "waste" it on something trivial.

And so... I waited until I had the time to do (right) something that was (hopefully) worthy of the "big number" (especially since I MISSED my 100th post).

Thus, I say...
Welcome back, dear friends and readers, to this, my
SPECIAL 125th POST!!!
-------------

As a change of pace around here, I thought I'd toss up a slightly "interactive" activity, of sorts on ye olde blog. Something to help get everyone a little closer and inspire some activity in the comments section.

Now, even on this blog's slowest days, I easily get well over 100 "unique" hits per day (much more than that on occasion), so I expect to get at least a few replies to this, OK?

We're going to walk back down the primrose path of our halcyon "golden" years... when we first discovered comics... and offer up some memories thereof.

In this way, we can share our origins in this hobby / interest / obsession we call "comics"...if you don't mind sharing memories of your "formative years".

I will, of course, proffer my personal anecdotes as well.
It's only fair.


When did you, my friends and readers:

1) - Start reading (or discover) comics?

• a) Do you recall any of the circumstances around that "fateful day / event / time of life"?

• b) Why and/or how you got the issue(s) in question?

• c) What your first comics WAS? (If you can recall the specific issue(s).)

2) - When did you first read DOCTOR STRANGE (or- alternatively, if you are here because of your love of one of the OTHER "6-Dimensions" characters, then... THEM)?

• a) Was the title &/or character on it's own or as a team-up / cross-over / continued story from another title?

• b) Did you like the title &/or character at first or did it grow on you later?

That's all for this go-round.
I think that should be enough to spark some discussion, don't you?

--------------

Now, for proper etiquette (netiquette?) I'll share my formative story with you all...
I'll go into some crazy in-depth detail for the benefit of the blog... (but don't feel you have to make your answers as long as mine. Just whatever you feel like sharing).

*************

To answer the
# 1) a), b), c)
portion of my questions;


I first started reading comics in the mid 1970's - at around 10 years of age. As near as I can recall, I started tentatively in 1976-77. Maybe there were a few scattered issues as far back as 1975, but by 1978 I was in full-swing.
I'm sure my first few comics were random, individual issues. Nothing specific. These arbitrary issues were most likely brought home for me by my father, who worked in the Postal system.
Maybe they were subscription issues that lost their mailing sleeve, or perhaps they were brought in by a co-worker. I can't say. With the exception of X-Men # 71 (which must have been a co-worker offering, since it's from 1971) , Marvel Super Action # 1 and Marvel Triple Action # 16 (which I absolutely love(d) and had definitely fueled my interest in the Avengers), I don't recall many of those random issues. At least, not consciously.

My parents knew of my love of all manners of reading material, and while my mom would almost exclusively give me books to read, my dad used to have comics when he was a kid (supposedly very early issues of War-era Captain America and other War Comics - all of which were tossed out by his mother when he joined the Army), so some comics probably seemed as innocent reading fodder.

My own foray into buying comics came via the odd's-n-ends from the multi-packs that were sold in 5-and-dime stores at the time.

They were a great value, 3 (to 5 - depending on the type of multi-pack) fairly recent comics (anywhere from 4 months to a year old) in a sealed baggie, for a bit less than cover price of the originals added up.

There were a few instances, I recall, sneaking out to the Roosevelt Field Mall - which was verboten as a solo trek - and buying the multi-packs at the Woolworth's 5-and-dime.

Some of the first issues I obtained were:

Defenders # 63 (part 2 of the 3-issue "Defenders for a Day" story)
A glorious clusterfuck of an issue! It intrigued me, to be sure, but by itself, it was unfathomable since I had no idea who many of these masses of costumed lunatics were!
Problem was, with no comic stores anywhere around, and this issue already a few months old, I would have to wait - easily a decade or so - until I would be able to read the entire arc.
(To think this was my first Defenders issue and NO DOCTOR STRANGE to be found in it! I was so close... but wouldn't meet the Doctor named Strange for a little while yet.)

.
Iron Man # 115
This was my first introduction to Iron Man (with the possible exception of the Marvel 1960's "animated" cartoons - and the "cool exec with the heart of steel"), and while I seem to remember wondering what would happen next issue, it didn't really "click" with me, and I promptly forgot about it. Madame Masque and the Ani-Men seemed interesting though.


Marvel Two-in-One # 44 (Thing & Hercules)
Good lord, I loved this issue. I just re-read it a few moments ago (ah, nostalgia) and it's a fun romp! Basically, Ben Grimm retelling a "tall tale" of sorts to a bunch of delinquent kids at "Camp Run-A-Muck". It got it's hooks in me as a lad (especially that cover), and provided a few good grins for the adult me, as well.
(Sadly, I missed the Man-Thing appearance of the issue before.)


.
Marvel Team-Up # 58 (Spider-Man & Ghost Rider.)
The cover is memorable enough. The story? Don't remember anything about it. But I'm pretty sure it got me interested in Ghost Rider! Just not enough to spend the money on G.R. back-issues, when I eventually did wade into the collector's mindset.


These...among many others were my first recollected memories of my earliest comics.
Every so often I'll be rummaging through the longboxes (or searching online for something) and come across an issue that I had as a kid and the cover would burst forth straight through my cerebellum, demolishing it's way through 30 years of temporal distance, grabbing hold of my brain-box to bring me right back to the late 1970's.
I'm sure there are other great issues that I should be including in this brief run-down, but sadly, I can't place them off-hand.

While there WERE some DC's in there, (issues of WEIRD WAR TALES and HAUNTED TANK,) the only DC comic that I remember was
SUPERMAN FAMILY # 193.
While I honestly have no idea where that issue came from, I'll share my half-remembered thoughts on the issue here.
If you wish to skip that, just jump to the next set of "---" dash-bars

-------------

The lead-in Superboy story could not have left me more disinterested if it tried, with some half-assed villain with the traditional DC-trope of "oversized-props-used-as-weapons" shtick, but the Supergirl story, with appearances by "The Human Cannonball" (and his goofy-looking afro-like cannonball helmet) was a bit more to my tastes.
A mad villain, strange anti-gravity craziness in a foreign locale (London), a bit of a "mystery" (something simple but trivia that has stuck with me to this very day; ie; the villain claims that the answer is found in Big Ben, but no one can gain access to the famous clock tower. Until Supergirl (iirc) recalls that the moniker of "Big Ben" is the name of the BELL not the clock or the tower - heh. It's strange, the stupid stuff that one remembers, hmm?)... all good stuff.
There was also a last panel appearance by the DOOM PATROL and I found myself very eager to learn more about that group. They seemed so much the opposite of the simple, straightforward Super-family. Sadly, with no comic stores anywhere nearby, and no idea how to get more of these weird comic-things, I never got another issue of Superman Family. As soon as I read the issue to literal pieces, I gave up on that title and my love of the Doom Patrol would have to wait for about a decade until the Grant Morrison incarnation would earn my monthly funds.

The only other part of the issue that I found interesting was a middle-segment of a story arc dealing with those heroes of the bottled city of Kandor; Nightwing and Flamebird.
While still fairly whitebread, their tale had an edge, with the two characters locked in mortal combat with each other over some act of imagined betrayal.
The only way to stop the fight was for the one who still regained his senses to feign death, hoping that the shock would free the mind of the maddened teammate.

I recall my interest being piqued by their segment.
Sadly, I've never seen or read another Nightwing and Flamebird story since then.

-------------

Usually, after my trek to the land of bulk bagged comics, I'd walk over to a row of shoppes and warehouses (on the nearby "Voice Road") and while waiting for my sister to get off work, I'd sit on the loading bay of the Paper & Plastics store where she worked at that time, and read the day's haul. This would definitely be by 1978... still about a year before I'd find my local stationery store would start carrying new issues. Closer to home and with a selection I could actively peruse.

All of those multi-bagged comics got me pretty hooked, but the one that really pulled me in was
Uncanny X-Men # 116.

That one got me to actually start hunting down and collecting the back-issues.

And even more importantly, it's the comic that started me CREATING my own comics and characters.
I recall being drawn to Cyclops and Nightcrawler the most, and in my first created comic-team (which I called "X-FACTOR" , obviously many loooooong years before Marvel did so) I had analogues to those two X-men, plus a few of my own totally original characters.

What's truly odd, is that issue was brought home to me by my mother (and younger brother), who while out shopping, received this comic from a new store (probably Heroes World) that was giving away free issues as a promotional gimmick.

Strange, thinking back at it now, since my folks (especially my mother) soon would hate my growing love of the medium, to the point where I would have to sneak my comics hauls into the house under ridiculous effort and wily means.
However, it was really THEY who first introduced me to them.
Irony at it's finest.

The only saving grace, as far as my parents were concerned, was that I had little or no resources to acquire many more of these vile things, apart from the small selection of pre-bagged multi-packs.
That was manageable enough.
And even I wouldn't buy a multi-pack if the contents were nothing that interested me.
Of course, the trick was to somehow try to see what the middle comic was, that was sandwiched between the outer, visible two.
Usually, these were lame comics, but luckily for me, I loved the lame ones even more!
But, even under the best of conditions, it was damned near impossible to discern what that comic was, and so, if at least one of the visible comics wasn't of interest, I'd usually walk home empty handed.

Occasionally, I'd stumble upon a hidden cache of comics and treasury editions in some forgotten back-section of a 5-and-dime or corner mini-convenience stand.
That's how I found Marvel Triple Action # 33, and
Marvel Special Edition: Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie adaptation!

Still, my mania over this medium would grow, fueled, in part, by a small group of friends who had also been bitten by the comic-bug.
Every month or so, one of their mother's would take us in a car-load to one of the growing number of comic specialty shoppes that were cropping up in the neighboring towns. Shoppes, the likes of which named as; "The Bat-Cave", "Mike's Comic Hut" and "Creation" were my stepping stones to a much larger world of accessibility.

Another resource opened up when we found that the local permanent flea-market had several vendors who specialized entirely in comics!
Ye Gods! This was a twice-a-week venue within walking distance!
So, we'd frequently hop the 10 foot tall chain-link fence (because to pay the dollar or two entrance fee would mean less money for comics!) and serpentine, dashing our way through the cars and vendors spaces to avoid the security patrols and make our way to the glorious longboxes within.
(On some occasions, some or all of us would be nabbed - either going in or out of the market, and be forced to cough up the entrance fee, but most times, we'd make it unmolested.)

Sadly, I never really had a lot of extra cash to buy expensive back issues- although, they weren't too high priced, looking back now. A mint copy of Spider-Man # 1 was less than $300 at the time. Giant Size X-Men # 1 was about $60.
But still, that was seen as a lot of money for a single comic book.
My friends all had allowances or some other resource for money to spend on their comics, while I only had what I could scrounge up - or earn from a pennysaver paper delivery route.

So, my friends were buying near-mint copies of their faves;
(John D's fix was Spider-Man, Mike G's flame was stoked by Ghost Rider, Rosario V's attentions were always toward what was the most popular and/or strongest; so Uncanny X-Men & Thor were his choices), while I ended up dredging the 25cent bins.

This turned out to be a good thing, as I was a fan of the off-beat, the strange, the mystical and monstrous (and... most crucially, the INEXPENSIVE), so I would soon fall for the original run of the Macabre MAN-THING!

Those early Mike Ploog illustrated issues still bring me mentally right back to the dank and dusty quarter bins of old.
Truthfully, while I would have loved to have been able to buy shiny bagged comics from the wall behind the register, the discount bins were home to many overlooked and underestimated titles.

Man-Thing was just the one that I would grow to love the most.
My only true regret at the time was that there were only back-issues of Man-Thing to collect. He was no longer being published.

Although, that was soon to change.

*********************

Now, to address the

# 2) a), b)
section of the show;

As I stated in the first part of this post; I discovered comics in the mid to late 1970's, started really COLLECTING them by 1978 and 1979.
By 1980, I would soon be a regular buyer and reader of MAN-THING & ROM (among others).

After re-reading my 25cent bin collection of original Man-Thing issues a multitude of times, I walked into the local stationery store (where I had discovered a few months earlier had started to carry new comics), I was looking through the spinner rack, with it's ubiquitous "Hey, Kids! COMICS!" header, and saw something that would set my eyes alight!

MAN-THING volume 2 # 2!

I was soon able to score the first issue from my friend John D., whom I seem to recall thinking that it was a bit heavy handed in the writing. Truthfully, he was right, but it's such a sappy tale that it always gets me to choke up a little.


Among the many new titles that were hitting the stands was something that would grip my shit pretty hard; ROM; SPACEKNIGHT!

My first issue of ROM (as I related in my previous post on the ROM "doll" - [HERE]) was issue # 3,
but I quickly scored issue # 1.

(# 2 was nearly impossible to find and took me more than several months to locate.)

Here's where DOCTOR STRANGE comes into the scheme of things;

As you know, ROM # 5 had that Doctor Strange cameo appearance (which I touched upon in an old post [HERE]).
That MIGHT have been my first real introduction to DOC.
I thought that was very cool, and was interested in finding out more about this mysterious, mystical character.



Then, one month later, in issue # 4 of MAN-THING, Doc had a cross-over from his mag, so that I had to buy the issue before (# 40) and issue after (#41) to follow the story.

The intensity of the issues and the epic battle between these mystical forces was all I could hope for in a comic.

Needless to say...that's all it took.
I was hooked on Strange!

So, I began to buy then-recent back-issues as well as the new ones as they came out, which was perfect timing on my part, because the cover artist for the next few issues was
Michael Golden,
who completely altered how I would perceive comic art!



Soon enough, I was hunting down back-issues, and built up a good collection.


My friend John D. presented me with Doctor Strange # 169, explaining to me that it was actually a # 1 for Doctor Strange (which at the time I had a hard time understanding - not that I cared much, because never before or since had I seen such a perfectly awesome comic book cover!) and things just kept escalating from there.



Shortly thereafter I got the 1980 calendar ("used" - since by then, it was closer to 1981) - which I used as a "map" of sorts to help find appearances - as I related in the post in which I featured the 1980 calendar in toto [HERE].

With the aid of that, and the editorial boxes, I was slowly able to piece together much of DOC's appearances, and I never looked back.

---------

I had, on one occasion in the mid-1980s (1983, 1984, perhaps), given up on comics "cold turkey", and sold off nearly all of my collection.
However, as with all things done "cold turkey", the cravings would come back and eventually, I would succumb to them - even more determined to amass a complete and all-encompassing collection, to the point where NOW I have almost certainly nearly every single appearance of Dr. Strange ever put to print.

(Not to mention my growing love and fascination with the medium as a whole, and the many titles, by numerous publishers, large and small, that would spark my interest... and eventually, however, fall by the wayside, either by their own demise, or my ever focused view on the worlds of Doctor Strange and the so-called "6-Dimensions" characters.)

By the mid 1980's I started getting into the swag and collectibles.
However, It wasn't until the late 80's - mid 90's that I started REALLY losing my mind.

But, that is a subject for a future post.

---------

So, that's my origin tale.
What's yours?

---------
Most comic cover images from Grand Comic Book Database.
-------------

IDOL PURSUITS : ROM: SPACEKNIGHT is HERE! - or - It's my (birthday) PARTY, and I'll ROM if I want to.

Yup.
I'm the birthday boy today (although, this won't be posted until much of the day has passed), and I'm here (at the ripe old age of er...*phmorrty-tume*...*cough**cough*...) to share with you, in another "IDOL PURSUITS" * entry, my love of an action figure er... doll...uh... "Electronic 'Action' Toy" from 01979.

ROM : SPACEKNIGHT

ROM is here!
(As if the teasers I ran over the last two days didn't give it away...)

I'll even give a video tutorial "expose' " of sorts, at the end of this blog entry wherein, I, PTOR, speak to you and show you how the ROM figure works.
With several videos, some audio clips, plenty of photos and my usual verbose written word-count, this could very well be the most monstrously media oriented post I've ever attempted.

So, sit back and enjoy.
And remember... clicking on images makes them Galadorian in size!

*******

Now... ROM, for those of you who either are unfamiliar with the character - or - who only knew of him from his self-titled Marvel Comic series, was an electronic "interactive" toy, from a time when such things were only starting to be introduced into the marketplace.
However, since most of those electronic toys were usually hand-held games (anyone remember the Coleco handheld sports games?) or first and second generation console games (Pong! and the likes of Atari), an electronic "action figure" was a bit ahead of it's time.

*******

ROM was the brainchild of inventor Bing McCoy **, who, first seeking to invent an "Egyptian Mystic" doll, found that no manufacturer was interested, and so he transformed the core concept into a futuristic cyborg instead.
(I mean, that's the natural progression, right? Actually, fans of the original Battlestar Galactica might agree. The human pilots wore helmets that resembled Egyptian headdresses and the Cylons were robot/cyborgs of a sort, right? Toss in some red L.E.D. lights for eyes and you're halfway there.)

Parker Brothers, well known for their board games, was looking to get into the action figure and electronic toy market and what better way than to combine the two?

(You've got your kung-fu grip in my microprocessor.
No. You've got your microprocessor all over my kung-fu grip!)

Parker Bros whipped up a promotional video complete with a basic back-story for ROM in order to present it for the buyers at that year's Toy Fair.

You'll note that the Dire Wraiths were "created" as was their shape-shifting abilities, however, sadly, their figures were never released, making ROM a one-figure "line".

They mixed up the Translator and Analyzer, but this was just a video sales pitch to buyers,
who really wouldn't care less which was which.

A few tidbits were dropped; like the whole "Solstar Order" angle, but really, it was just renamed as the general term "Spaceknights".

That, and a few other crucial touches were added by Marvel Comics, when Parker Bros asked them to produce a comic to promote the toy.
Then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, and go-to writer Bill Mantlo came up with much of the rest of the story and the hit ROM : Spaceknight comic was born.

Sadly, the toy was neither well promoted nor attractively made. This contributed toward it's failure on the marketplace. The comic, however, lasted 7 years, 75 issues, 4 Annuals and several guest starring roles in other comics, with a story line that touched and changed many corners of the Marvel Universe. Still, BOTH the toy and comic maintain a cult status to this very day.

******

ROM's attraction, for me, was multi-faceted.

I was introduced to ROM by the comic, but the toy had an allure about it, and it was my fervent desire, as a lad, to get it as a birthday present when it was first released.

ROM; the comic and the toy, both hit the marketplace in late 1979.



(Which, incidentally makes this ROM's 30th Anniversary!)



I had started buying the comic, from the spinner racks of my local stationery store, starting from issue # 3, and right then and there, I was hooked.


The dynamic artwork of the teaser ads kept me drooling and desirous for the figure that was the inspiration for this wonderful comic!

Now... imagine if this was drawn by Jack Kirby.
That would've been awesome!

While Bill Mantlo's sweeping melodrama and Sal Buscema's evocative artwork gripped me and pulled me in, what really held me in it's power was ROM himself. The design and look of the Spaceknight was familiar enough to a fan of sci-fi robots and yet new and innovative enough to be something else entirely.
Something special.

Sal Buscema was no slouch with his dynamic artwork!
ROM was certainly my favorite Sal Buscema vehicle.

So, it should come as no surprise that I expressed my desire for the figure for my birthday (April of 1980, since by the time I really was deep into ROM I was too late for the figure's first sales of Christmas 1979).

My parents, although they love(d) me, had never embraced my love of comics or such childish things as "action figures", and so, they shot down any hope of buying me a "DOLL" for my birthday.

Especially, a doll that cost somewhere around the $20 mark.
And even more especially, a doll for a young boy who was now into a double-digit age-bracket.

Instead, I hid my mild disappointment when I opened up my gift to reveal that it was a new tape recorder.
Sure, I knew that my chances for scoring ROM was slim-to-none, but I held out some slight hope that it was all a fake-out ploy, and that there really would be a ROM waiting for me that day.

Now, I'll admit that it was a nice recorder, and I used it - a LOT.

(NOT the actual model, but close.)

However, while I would use the tape recorder for what it was worth... it was still a let down, for I knew that the one thing that I had hoped for was lost to me.
Possibly, forever.

Not to seem as if I let die the dream of having a ROM of my own, I did indeed venture forth one day - a month or so later, to a store (most likely Woolworth's at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, Long Island), to search for the object of my desire --- to no avail.

No one had it, or knew if they would have it again.

So, I would have to contend myself with the comic, and the ad for the toy, that I would probably never see in real life.

Ads from inside back cover & inside page of Marvel Comic issues.

Many years had passed, and eventually, I forgot about the ROM figure. Heck, I'd even had practically given up on the ROM comic on and off - especially toward the latter end of it's run.

Still, as fate sometimes plays with us, after a decade or so, ROM would once again hold me fast in his plandanium grip - and this time... he wouldn't let go.

*******

As I had mentioned in my previous "meme" post [seen HERE], I once lived in New York City across the street from the "physical address" of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum; his address supposedly at 177A Bleecker Street, and I was living at 160 Bleecker Street.

Just down the block on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson Streets was an old antique toy / collectibles shoppe.
One day while I was revisiting the old haunt, primarily for a painting job, I stopped into that old toy shoppe to browse the arcane wares.

And there, in one corner of the store, near the front window stood ROM.
It might have been one of the first times I had even seen one in person.
The fact that it was a dull grey instead of any type of silver was a little off-putting, but not too much so. In the first few issues of the comic, ROM was colored and referred to as grey.
There was no box, and I doubt that he was complete with all his weapons, but still... it stood proudly.

I was there with my best and oldest friend, Adam (appropriately named, eh?) and mentioned to him the backstory of my 1980 birthday and my love of the comic, and my desire to perhaps spend the money that I was about to make from the painting job on that ROM. If my memory serves, I believe it was around my birthday then, as well, so it seemed fated to be.

My friend implored me not to make such an impulsive purchase. Or at least to give it a day to think about it, since the shop wanted a high price tag for the incomplete item.

As hard as it was to do so, I promised, and went back to my task, my thoughts filled with images of that gunmetal grey guardian of the galaxy.

The next day, after I had completed my work, Adam picked me up and as we drove around the city, he nonchalantly placed a shoe box in my hands.

Opening the box, pulling aside the tissue wrap, there looking back at me was ROM; SPACEKNIGHT.

After much back and forth, my friend swore to me that he did not purchase the figure that we had seen in the store, instead giving me HIS OWN which he stated that he had when HE was young. I still don't know if I believe that story... knowing what a truly good and selfless person (not to mention the high quality of friend), I wouldn't doubt that he went back to the shop and bought the ROM for me himself (although, I'd have hated for him to spend that kind of money on me for something like this).

Even though it was missing the box and Neutralizer * - it was perfect in every way.

*AWESOME UPDATE of April 9, 2010 - at END of this POST*

Still, it was unexpected, so very appreciated (even though I kept telling him that I couldn't accept it), and treasured from then onward.

The NEUTRALIZER this one is holding is from a different set
- as I'll detail below.

*******

However, that's not really the end of the story.

*******

A few years later, I was in the same toy shoppe, on Long Island, where I purchased my first "MARVEL WORLD PLAYSET" [as chronicled HERE], and up on the top shelf behind the register was ROM... in Box. Complete.

I was hesitant to even think of inquiring about it, since it felt like a disservice to my friend and his kind gift, but then I thought that I'd be able to more actively use the gifted ROM (as I would unpack it on occasion, place the 9 volt battery in it and fire it up) and keep the boxed one on display.

However, that was even if I would (or could) buy it - I hadn't inquired the price as of yet - and feared doing so.

Taking a deep breath, I asked what the price would be, and once again, much like the Marvel World, I was given a very good deal.
My being a loyal (and frequent) customer there was certainly paying off.

And so... I bought it and now have the two ROM figures.

"Met him on a Monday and my heart stood still...
the TWO-ROM-Rom-Roms, the TWO ROM-Roms..."

*******

On prominent display in my Sanctum, I do, every now and again, pull out the one given to me by my friend, and admire it for the cheesy beauty of it all... and play around with it.

The ROM figure is sadly, devoid of much in the way of... action possibilities.
It's a stiff, ungainly, gangly figure, top heavy and lacking the ability to be posed in any but the most basic of ways - due to the utter lack of articulation.

Still, with ample imagination to fuel the play, there are no limits to what adventures you... and ROM could experience.

To aid in that endeavor, ROM comes with several accessories and has the ability to emit several electronic sounds.

His various accoutrements and "bells-&-whistles" are delineated on the package:





His Electronic Accessories include:

TRANSLATOR - With this accessory, you can make ROM understand any language.

ENERGY ANALYZER - With this, ROM can detect energy readings and also detect good and evil.

NEUTRALIZER - Able to disrupt energy patterns, armed with this, ROM seems almost invincible.

With his Built-In Electronic Features:

ADVANCED ELECTRONICS - Microelectronic systems control all of his functions.

LIFE-LIKE RESPIRATOR - Built into his protective armor, with this ROM can survive in any environment.

ENERGIZED ROCKET PACK - At the touch of a button, twin pods "ignite", enabling you to imagine ROM flying through space.

*******

Here I'll post the sound files individually (unlike the two "teaser" entries, that I posted over the last two days - which were merged sounds) for you:

- ROCKET PODS


- RESPIRATOR


- TRANSLATOR


- ANALYZER


- NEUTRALIZER

*******

The Instruction sheets detail how everything works.

*******

However, seeing it in action is a much more satisfying experience.
Join me now, as I showcase my ROM figures and show how they operate.

NOTE: I've uploaded a Higher Quality video here, replacing the previous lower res version. The same video. Just better quality.
Press the "Play" button and if you wish to see in HQ, then click the RED "HQ" button that will appear on the bottom control bar.




Please pardon my haggard appearance and strained voice, but I was pretty tired after a long stint of major house work - on top of a late evening of work the night before. Rambling as quickly as I could, to get it all in under the 10-minute time-limit for YouTube, I garbled half of my words speaking rapidly. Next time I try a video post, I'll speak a little slower.
Also, my apologies for the quality of the video.
I am trying to upload a high-quality video, but YouTube is giving me hassles with it, so I loaded the lower res one as a back-up.
***UPDATE***
I managed to upload the higher res version of the video here. 04-10-09.

*******

* AWESOME UPDATE *
April-09-2010
As told in a new post
(found [HERE])
the NEUTRALIZER from my friend's ROM has been found!
The story can be found at that link.

20 years later... found.

* END UPDATE *

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And so, I hope you are happy with this extensive overview of ROM.

If you desire any further information about ROM, either the toy or the comic, there's no better resource than the ROM SPACEKNIGHT - REVISITED site [HERE]. I frequently contribute information there, but Lee Seitz, the site master there, needs little help in producing a top notch information resource.
SPECIAL THANKS to Lee and his site for providing the sound files featured above.
If you go to his site you can actually DOWNLOAD them to keep for your very own.

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*
"IDOL PURSUITS" is the name of the line of posts wherein I showcase assorted FIGURES.
Be they "action figures", "standees", Statues, Model Kits, etc...
Check out the previous entries in the "IDOL PURSUITS" line of blogposts.

- To check out just the previous ROM; SPACEKNIGHT entry:
(the statues/model kits) - go HERE.

- To check out ALL of the "IDOL PURSUITS" entries - click HERE.


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Don't forget to visit Bing McCoy's website - [HERE].