CUSTOM TRADING CARDS

Click on the film title to see its original blog post.
 

CLASH OF THE TITANS

 

 

 
 

 

 

MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME

Is Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome a children's movie? Consider the facts:

• Max has a pet monkey who leaves Max's boots on the side of the road for him, and tracks him across a desert while dragging a water bottle
• The Collector receives a hilarious blow to the groin
• Ironbar falls into a vat of pig faeces
• Half of the cast consists of precocious/adorable children
• A driver gets smacked in the face with a frying pan for comedic effect
• The amount of near fatal injuries that Ironbar receives, without consequence, suggests he is immortal like a Warner Bros cartoon character (Wile E. Coyote, for example).
  

With Thunderdome's broader audience appeal, it's surprising that there wasn't more child friendly merchandise available during its theatrical run. Even Rambo: First Blood Part II, released in the same year, had a trading card set. Which is why I created a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Read-Along book. And these trading cards:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE KARATE KID
I didn't actually have any intention of making a set of Karate Kid trading cards. My initial plan was to write an essay on the character of Daniel Larusso and the casual misogyny on display throughout the first two films in the franchise. Halfway through researching the topic, I realised Daniel Larusso's dubious nature had already been covered by others (and done better than I could hope to do in my olde timey words-on-screen technique). 

I also discovered that there was never a trading card set released with the film, which seemed to me to be a glaring oversight. Inspired by, amongst other things, the trading card sets for Magnum P.I. and Rocky IV, I resolved to make my own The Karate Kid trading card set.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Although I've been a fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey for many years, while collecting images for this set I was reminded of just how impressive Kubrick's visuals are, and how well they've stood the test of time. 

The look for these trading cards was inspired by an existing set from 1968 - Planet of the Apes. This is mostly evident on the back of the cards, where I've used a single colour design. Also, I've included images from behind the scenes, a method that some designers employed after they'd run out of images for the original set.

STAND BY ME

 

BLADE RUNNER

In creating this partial trading card set for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, I've tried to maintain an appropriate design aesthetic for the period - specifically, 1982. Also, in keeping with standard practices of the day, I've included images and scenes that never made it into the original theatrical release. Many of these screen captures were taken from the 2007 documentary Dangerous Days.