Yeah, you saw that right. SyFy today sent me a rough-cut screener for its upcoming TV movie featuring 1980s mall tourin’ pop singers Debbie Gibson and Tiffany (Tiffany Renee Darwish).

Titled Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, this two-hour made-for-cable flick continues SyFy’s love of mega creature battles and, seemingly, the ’80s. It will premiere 9 p.m., Saturday, January 29, 2011, on the SyFy channel.

What do Mr. T, Chuck Norris, Ed Grimley and Monchichis have in common? Yep, they were all the feature creatures of cartoons produced in the 1980s.

Oh, it was not a proud decade. The 1980s really is the awkward teen era of animation, existing between successful prime-time cartoons, hand-drawn aniamtion and technological advancements and old-versus-new forms of marketing.

Anything with a hint of popularity became a Saturday morning cartoon, even if only for a short while, and only a few are remembered fondly. Warner Bros. has scooped up choice episodes of a few series and, instead of risking their conglomerate cash on a few failed series and a couple successes, offers an interesting sampling from the decade of puffy sleeves and, like, totally puffier hair.

Warner Bros. has joined forces with Bandai to resurrect (like Mumm-Ra) the Thundercats franchise.

Don’t lie, you know you’ve been waiting almost two decades for this.

Flapjack Toys, makers of spooky figures and plush, has announced a few new Retro Tags, including two that gamers will certainly attach to their bags.

First is a luggage tag bearing the black-and-orange likeness of the infamous Atari 2600 Joystick (style 6012), measuring approximately 3.8 in. by 4.5 in. One the face is ye olde joystick and the other has the standard clear plastic sleeve to insert your important info (for when your luggage gets sent to a place better than you are traveling).

The second retro luggage tag features the familiar sunset style Atari logo…

The Educational Games Research Blog recently took the time to compile a list of the ten most influential educational games of the 80′s,a wonderful list that honors a slew of games that many gamers likely grew up playing. I know for a fact that I’ve played and enjoyed at least half of the games on the list.

The list contains both popular and forgotten favorites. Some of the most notable of the ten cited are The Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, SimCity…

Whenever I get nostalgic for those bygone days of videogames known as the early 1980s, I question my sanity when I come across things like this bit of videogame inspired lovliness.

In an old box of comic books I unearthed for an upcoming garage sales, I found issue 304 of Flash published by DC Comics, Inc., in December 1981. On the cover it features the dark profile of one of the weirdest comic book villains – Colonel Computron. Oh yeah, you read that right. Col. Computron – reducing Flash to a poorly pixelated videogame. The cover reads:

“When Colonel Computron plays the game, Flash… the name of the game is DEATH!”

Now that is some ’80s greatness right there.

Earlier this week (July 12, 2007), Funkitron, Inc. announced the development of a new trivia title, The ’80s Game with Martha Quinn, featuring the image and voice of former MTV VJ, Martha Quinn. The game, to be available for download in Q3 2007 for PC, will include approximately 3,000 trivia questions from several genres: ’80s more »