The Mostly-Complete Dino Drac Archives.

The best McDonald’s collectibles on eBay.

Below: A sampling of the greatest McDonald’s collectibles currently on eBay. Deciding on a mere six items was no easy task. When you hear “McDonald’s collectibles,” you probably just think of Happy Meal toys. Those are on eBay, of course, but they’re joined by everything from sev

Five Retro TV Commercials, Part 2!

It’s time for the second edition of Five Retro TV Commercials, the series that I actually spent negative seconds coming up with a name for. All five commercials in this round are from the mid ‘80s, when I was just the right age to see them 20000 times. Every frame you’re about to see

Remembering Cloverfield’s hype train.

If you missed the shocking news, 10 Cloverfield Lane — which will apparently have something to do with the original Cloverfield — debuts this March. Oh. My. God. The first film — in particular the marketing of it — captured me in a way that few things do, to the poi

Five Retro TV Commercials, Part 1!

Welcome to Dino Drac’s latest series, Five Retro TV Commercials! I thought it was silly to limit my “commercial posts” to the holidays, especially since so many of my favorite TV commercials have zero to do with Halloween or Christmas. So here we are. I expected more fanfare. Each e

Five Random Action Figures, Part 24!

It’s time for the 24th (!!!) edition of Five Random Action Figures, the series in which I write too many words about chunks of old plastic. This time, I’m covering a red monkey, a red dragon, a grey robot, a man who is also a horse, and the guy from A Clockwork Orange. Read that

Purple Stuff Podcast: Pop Culture Mascots!

I’m a sucker for brand and product mascots, no matter if they’re promoting toys, vacation destinations or goddamned fabric softener. So long as they’re cute and so long as they seem like good company for a lazy Sunday spent watching bad movies on the couch, I’m so in. …and th

Dino Drac’s January 2016 Funpack!

Have the post-holiday blues? This oughta fix it. Dino Drac’s January 2016 Funpack is finally ready to lauch! AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES ONLY! If you haven’t been watching the site too closely, I sell monthly Funpacks. Without them, there’d be no Dino Drac! Subscriptio

Welcome to Dino Drac’s Bowling Alley!

You and your friends are going bowling! You choose Dino Drac’s Bowling Alley. Of course you do. It’s the one you grew up with. The one that was halfway remodeled in 1997, but pretty much looks the same way it did in 1986. It’s a warm blanket in the form of a seedy bowling alley. It

The Comic Book Ads Strike Back!

It’s been many moons — too many moons — since my last tribute to ‘80s and ‘90s comic book ads. Even during the drought, they’ve remained the only reason that I continually buy bundles of old comics. It’s always been that way. As a tween, when I spent every weekend clo

12 Groceries from the ’80s and ’90s.

Hello! Below are twelve things that we used to buy from supermarkets. May they make you pine for things you can no longer eat, wear, style with, and/or swallow when you have a headache. (ad from 1986) Wise Cottage Fries were big, thick, ridged potato chips. These were a major favorite of

Crystal Pepsi is BACK, baby!

I have a bottle of Crystal Pepsi! And it only cost as much as dinner for two! I can’t imagine that many of you missed the news, but yes, Pepsi — inspired by an online campaign spearheaded by competitive eater L.A. Beast — has dusted off perhaps its most famously infamous soft

The Christmas Fallout, 2015 Edition!

Christmas turned into a 96 hour party, and I am exhausted! The only proper penance is a month spent in a gym that doubles as a detox center. Instead I’ll just lie on the couch and subsist on those growing-oilier-by-the-day antipasto leftovers. Welcome to Dino Drac’s Christmas Fallout�

Dino Drac’s Magical Christmas Robot!

As I write this, Christmas Eve is mere hours away. I still have sooo many things left to do. Gotta wrap the presents. Gotta make a billion stuffed mushrooms. Gotta figure out if I have even one single outfit that doesn’t make me look like a gothic mechanic. Gotta finish that bottle of Fi

Toys from the 1994 JCPenney Catalog!

I wanted to sneak in one last catalog review before Santa makes his magic, so here I am, blithely ignoring the dozen Very Important Things that I must get done in the next 36 hours, all for you. This time, I’m pulling pages from the 1994 JCPenney Christmas catalog. I believe I would’ve

Energizer Bunny Ornaments from the ’90s!

I must’ve handled more than 200 Christmas tree ornaments over the course of my childhood, but I only distinctly remember a select few. There was the candy cane that I made out of glitter and construction paper. Then the too-heavy Santa with the missing foot. And who would forget our

The Purple Stuff Podcast’s Christmas Show!

It’s a Christmas miracle! The Purple Stuff Podcast has returned! For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, yeah, we decided to take it easy with the schedule this month, because December is riotously busy and something had to give. We didn’t want to miss our chance to do

My thoughts on The Force Awakens. (SPOILERS.)

WARNING! This post will include THE FORCE AWAKENS spoilers. I’ll warn you again before the spoilers begin, but if you haven’t seen the movie and have plans to, PLEASE skip this post until you do. Do not read the comments on this post, either! In terms of entertainment, Star War

Kay-Bee Toys’ 1991 Holiday Clearance Sale!

I love all of the toy store circulars that come with newspapers during the holiday season, even if the present definition limits that to Toys “R” Us and individual pity pages from Target and Walmart. You know what we’re missing? Kay-Bee Toys! I’ve written about Kay-Bee (later KB) m

Five Cereal Boxes from Christmases Past!

Below: Five cereal boxes from Christmases past. They’re all from my personal collection. I’ll thank you in advance for reading this, as it helps to justify why I have a personal collection of Christmassy cereal boxes. As always, you’re my silent enablers. My tongueless Iagos. Go

Classic Christmas Commercials, Volume 7!

It’s time for another batch of Classic Christmas Commercials, featuring pizza and laundry detergent and Ronald McDonald. Three of these are from my collection; the remaining are from our pal Larry. May they fill your hearts with joy, and your brains with really old ad jingles. A Toys