Riverfront Center

This isn’t going to be the typical fare that were used to, but it does have the same nostalgia factor that most of the other stuff I write about here.

I don’t have any childhood attachment to this mall, but I appreciate what it used to be, and I am drawn to abandoned places.  It is about a 30 minute drive from where I live, and I was in the area, so I figured I’d take a stroll through and get some pictures.  I believe that I took these photos back in June, but I just now made the decision to write about them.

This mall isn’t completely abandoned, but it’s for sale, and most of the residents are located on an outside strip.  There is a Chinese food place inside, and there is a small food court area that you can enjoy your lunch at(we’ll get to that in a minute).

These are the only 2 photos I took of the place, as they were an afterthought.  The real reason I took any photos at all, was because of what lied in the small vending/eating area.

And that was arcade cabinets!

Now, I’ll be the first to say that this is not the most impressive display of arcade games, but a nice scene to see nonetheless!

As you roam the near-empty mall, you’ll hear the music of these machines, and feel compelled to check them out.  Which is exactly what I did.

First, we have Heavy Barrel.  This like many others, was ported to the NES back in the day.  I don’t have much else to say, except that I kind of miss seeing Data East these days.

Lethal Enforcers!  I cannot even begin to fathom how many quarters I dumped into this game when it first hit the arcade scene.  We had arcade games with guns before, but this was different!  The way that you used the guns with the gameplay was a first, and it was very addictive.

And lastly, Tetris!  You don’t have to be, or have to have been an avid gamer to know about Tetris.  this game was a phenomenon!  When the Game Boy first hit the market, many people purchased one based on the fact that Tetris was the pack-in game.  But this is the Tengen arcade version.  Unlike the Nintendo version of Tetris, the Tengen version had a 2 player mode, and actually had an arcade cabinet.  And, as any retro game player knows, the Tengen version for the NES, is rarer, and commands more money on the secondary market(it used to go for crazy money).

So,  that’s a bright spot in an otherwise empty place.  For more info on this mall, and others like it, check out Deadmalls.com.

I think I should get some more photos, because you never know how long places like this will stick around.  And if I do, maybe I’ll do a follow-up here.

Transformers : Robots in Disguise – Starscream

It’s been a long time in the making, but her it finally is!  This is where the majority of my Game & Watch earnings went to.

Starscream has long been a figure I’ve wanted to add to the collection.  While I would love to add more vintage G1 figures, a lot of the more recent figures are pretty nice looking.

It took me a while to finally pull the trigger, because I didn’t want to regret my decision a few minutes later.  I must have searched for a week, looking at many different figures from various lines, before I finally settled on Transformers.  And then it took a few days before I decided on who I was specifically looking for.  Soundwave was out of the question, because I am only intersted in a tapedeck version, which carry price tags that I;m not comfortable with for figures in fair to good condition.

This particular version is a mold that has been used quite a few times over the years, but still looks very nice.  I also love that this version has the old-school rub-sign.

I also like that the the “Null-Ray Cannons” are spring-loaded.

The colors are pretty G1-accurate, and the plane mode looks fantastic!  I do love the the old-school figures that I grew up with, but you can’t look at this figure and say it’s not an improvement.

And as you have probably suspected, I love the robot mode as well.

It’s a great likeness, and the transformation process isn’t all that complicated.  My only gripe(as is with the other seekers), is that the wings get in the way of the “null-rays”, limiting their range of movement.  But, I guess you can’t win them all.

I can’t complain about the figure at all, even with my 1 small gripe, as it is still a very cool figure.  I’m sure every fan of the G1 series has an appreciation of the cowardly Decepticon(plus Chris Latta’s voice-over work was top notch!).

Now I just need to get Skywarp(preferably of the same mold), to round-out the trio of original seekers.