1980's and 1990's Color Palettes

Long time no post! Let's get back into the blogging habit with some color palettes! Personally, I really love the colors that were used a lot in the 80's and early 90's. It's not all just dayglo neons, but also a lot of really charming pastels. These color swatches were inspired from a variety of different advertisements, clothes, and toys that were available in the 80's and 90's.

It's hard to put your finger on what exactly makes the color schemes popular in the era so special. I think perhaps that the girly colors aren't the traditional pastel rainbow but are instead filled with salmon pinks, turquoise blues, aqua greens, and peachy oranges. An so often they're combined with bold black an white or some other vivid color!

Animation Magazine 1993 "Outrageous Issue"

My local comic shop tends to have a large collection of back issue and vintage magazines lurking around, usually for a dollar. One day while digging through some bins of them I came across this 1993 issue of Animation Magazine. I've passed up older volumes of Animation Magazine before because it seems to be largely an insider magazine and generally about stuff I don't care about in the slightest (despite the large amounts of cartoons I watch this side of age 7), but I was pretty excited to stumble across this particular issue, dubbed the "Outrageous Issue" and all about what the early-to-mid 90's did best: ridiculous cartoons. Featuring Beavis & Butthead on the cover and filled with articles and interviews about the shocking cartoons of the day: Rocko's Modern Life, Duckman, Aeon Flux, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and dozens of indie cartoons that have been forgotten through the decades.

I'm not going to scan the whole issue, and I don't plan on including all the things I did scan in this particular post (I plan on saving the MTV articles for another post!) but here are some of the more interesting things. Click for a larger image!

One of my favorite articles in the magazine is the more-or-less negative review of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Disney movie that was a whole generation's first foray into the world of spooky was apparently not scary enough for this reviewer, who, despite working for an Animation magazine seemed disappointed that Disney didn't make an all-out horror movie.

Another thing I'm particularly fond of is the closing statement in the Mr. Lawrence post, about the merits of working within network standard. I think what he's talking about is where the "Adult Party" new Ren & Stimpy episodes failed.

Retro Push Button Japanese Pencil Cases

Note: This post was moved from my Hail Kawaii blog to this one

Pretty exciting on the outside.

I know that pencil cases probably aren't the most exciting thing in the world, but I'm secretly sort of in love with them. You see, when I was little in the early-to-mid 90's, it was all the rage at my elementary school to have a really ridiculous pencil case that had buttons on them that made various gadgets pop out. The coolest cases were pastel colored and had blobby animal mascots on them. This trend was on it's way out by the time our grubby little hands got a hold on these pencil cases, so their popularity was quick lived amongst my age group.

But even more amazing on the inside! Photo from Flickr.

I, of course, was not one of these cool kids with the magic push button pencil cases, but these ridiculous cases sort of stuck with me over the years and I have been trying to hunt one down. Unfortunately they tend be outside of my pencil case budget since everyone else tends to be nostalgic for them as well and are quick to snap them up when they pop up on Ebay. Even the new ones ("Deluxe Pencil Case" they are often called) on Amazon are going to cost about $25 after shipping, which is probably twice the amount that I've spent on pencils in the last decade. 

Check out how deluxe this is! On Amazon.

I'm pretty content with just looking at them online though, as there are a number of retro pencil case collectors out there who share a pretty impressive Flicker pool, and push button cases are sprinkled throughout the pool. But I still do dream of the day when I happen to visit a flea market that has one of these excessive exorcises in pencil holding for a cheap price.

Some of them were a bit more deluxe than others. From Flickr.

Some were relatively simple. From Flickr.

For a change, have some mint green! From Flickr.

The more I stare at them in their dreamy pink push button wonderfulness, the more I talk myself into thinking that I need a crazy place to put my pencils and I'm honestly probably going to give into my nostalgia one day and and just spend the $30 one of these is going to cost me. As far as collections goes, it's not the most pocket-emptying one you could have, it's just the fact that I know that some of these weren't that expensive back when they first came out, and I'm sure there are hundreds the world over just gathering dust in the backs of closets just waiting to be discovered again!

That's one of those blobby pastel animals I mentioned. From Flickr.