low cruise

hey there

normally, when it comes to considering or determining what i place up here on my blog, there is a general sense of "anything that takes my fancy" being the rule. it is not often i impose a self limitation, look you see. but i do wonder how many further posts, exactly, i am likely to be prepared to give over to an at this stage unseen sequel to a north of 30 year old Tom Cruise film, with specific emphasis on what can only be described as the bizarre thrust to market it. 

so, yes, more Top Gun 2 (or Top Gun Maverick as it appears to be styled) reduced to clear items off of Tesco. well, maybe not off of Tesco, but being offered by them. me saying "off of" them gives every suggestion that i, or someone else, has actually bought one or two of the items. no. 

please, make no error in assumption, this is not a bashing or pouring scorn issue. i consider Tom Cruise to be an exceptional talent. no, i don't have any particular interest or view on his "off screen" life. on screen, well, the best way i heard him described is as being someone who "always brings his A game to everything he does". also, Top Gun was an outstanding motion picture. it really just comes down to how the marketing for an unreleased movie makes little sense. 

another two (2) items being offered at a reduced price, then, with both relating to the film. yes, for those who notice it at the bottom, we did indeed get the Adventures Of New Buckethead And Frog version of Monopoly at Christmas, and had a very good fun, fight and argument free game of it over Christmas. but, if you may indulge me some, i would rather speak (or write) of the Top Gun Maverick items on display. 

certainly, yes, the most exciting (Top Gun related) item on display there is the "strategy game". but no, more on that one a bit later on. feel free to scroll down now and read if you wish, nothing at all says that you have to read this is the generally not too coherent order in which i place it. 

going on the top (ahem) item, priced formidably south of £5, and again it is an item of merchandise which focuses on a most decidedly secondary aspect of the Top Gun expanded universe; all that splendid fighter jet business. as i have said numerous times on this broader subject, the target market for this is not clear in any immediate way. leaving aside this is a jet we have only thus far seen in trailers, it is neither a toy nor a "proper" model kit, as it is snap together. my suspicion is that the proposed demographic for this was that selective group who would purchase it and leave it in the box, so that it may increase with value in a few decades. 

further price drops for the one i have featured frequently here, then. yes, the Matchbox (like a proper version of Hot Wheels, American friends) set featuring an aircraft carrier and fighter jet. some of you, presumably those enthusiastic about all things Top Gun, may well have followed the tale of this. it started off at an eye watering £30 (!!), and is now down to a quite tempting £7.50. yes, exceptionally tempting. as in, i had this in my hand(s) with consideration given to purchasing. but, ultimately, no, i did not. other than their being no obvious or even considered answer to the question of what, exactly, i would do with it (beyond "play with it", here at the age of north of 40, well south of 50, how did that happen), it might be that the film turns out not to be good. 

it is an interesting, perhaps fascinating, question to ask, to be sure, of what it was that someone senior at Tesco was thinking when they took the decision to go full tilt with a range of Top Gun Maverick merchandising items. sure, they will have opted to stock such well in advance, in a time when the film was expected to be released as planned. but, of all the films what were coming out in 2020, it was this one they felt would be the win? whilst being no expert, i would have thought perhaps whatever the latest Marvel or Star Wars thing was, or even James Bond, may well have been a more likely banker for being a big seller. 

back, then, to that board (or strategy) game. and a resounding sense of vindication for me, at least in so far as what i have said all along was the main focus, point or plot of the original Top Gun film. 

that 50% of the (so to speak) action of this board (strategy) game focuses on the volleyball of Top Gun says that yes, i have long since been correct to say that this was the main moment of the film. it is the scene we all recall fondly. further, of course, i go, and have long since stated that Playing With The Boys off of Kenny Loggins is the one we should call the "love theme from Top Gun", not the admittedly superb Take My Breath Away off of Berlin. 

no, i did not purchase it. i mean, sure, yes, it would be nice, but there are only a finite number of people i would play this board game with, and none are particularly close or in my "bubble" for the ongoing invisible war on the new plague. besides, we would probably rather play actual volleyball if we were together, rather than the board (strategy) game, pretending to be Maverick, Goose, Iceman and that other one what no one remembers the name of (very much the "John Entwhistle of The Who of Top Gun", he is). 

shall more stuff about Top Gun Maverick, with a peculiar specific emphasis on the merchandising, feature here? who knows, maybe. it would be nice to see the actual film, eventually. perhaps if i see anything more of interest in respect of it, then yes, probably. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!