Monday, December 13, 2010

TRON TRADING CARD COUNTDOWN #1

If it was printed on cardboard and sold in a wax pack, I probably bought a pack or two and Tron was no exception. Tron cards by Donruss fed my trading card habit during the fall of 1982.


I bought my first packs of Tron in an unlikely place. It was an Aldi discount food store. I was bored out of my mind walking the aisles with my mom and grandma as they stocked up on cans of cheap soda, frozen pizza and off brand bags of thin meat. Just in the nick of time, I noticed a big bin filled with trading card packs. It was a treasure trove of trading cards with every sport and popular movie from the past couple of years. Finally, I found something to spend my allowance on at the Aldi store! All other packs were eclipsed by the enticing black packs of Tron, especially since the wrapper advertised, “Authentic Tron Sticker Tips for Winning Tron Video Game.”


I specifically remember thinking that I found the knowledge I needed to finally get high score. As you can see above, the stickers are pretty cool, but the tips, well - there’s not any tips. Instead, the card backs just describe the objective of each domain (game). Well big whipidy doo!

Regardless of the lack of video game tips, I still enjoyed the cards and eventually completed a set. Every day this week I’ll post one of my favorite cards from the series and today we start with this classic image of Mr. Tron himself!

3 comments:

Mike Middleton said...

Mmmmm....Aldi thin meat.

Devlin Thompson said...

I HATED the movie, but I thought the cards were pretty great (also the action figures and the cabinet for the video game... but not the game itself, which kinda stank). The one TRON thing I covet, though, is the TRON-themed DISNEY ON ICE souvenir button. Actually, if the sequel were TRON ON ICE, I'd totally attend... but they missed their chance! No deal.

Todd Franklin said...

Mike - That and some cheap Aldi pizzas!

Devlin - Yeah, there's not much middle ground for Tron. You either love it or hate it. Oh I wish I could have seen the Tron Disney on Ice. Now that would be a slice of cheese I could really sink my teeth into. Now some clever person needs to make a fake commercial for Tron Legacy on Ice. That would be cool!