raise a pint

time now to share one of my favorite new presents found under the Christmas tree this past year. 4 shiny new drinking glasses featuring marvel superheroes. i think my family must have known the loss of my old captain america glass and sought to replace it with some bonus companions! and i am very grateful for the gift, although i initially wondered about the criteria for this selection. most popular? biggest money maker? it certainly seems to me they might have done the distribution a little differently. perhaps a 50 year anniversary of the fantastic four for beginners? which could then be followed by a charter member avengers set in anticipation of the un-released film. and how about putting the wolverine into a set of other x-men?
but then i suppose this logic would eventually lead you into some questionable territory. i mean, i can see a world war 2 set with cap and bucky and maybe 2 more members of the old invaders group, or perhaps sarge fury and dum-dum? but if you try and group these heroes by their supporting characters, you might find yourself with thin choices. (who really wants a rick jones or thunderbolt ross glass?)
and this whole line of thought reminded me of the release of empire strikes back in 1980. back then the merchandising machine was just building up steam, and burger king won the rights to distribute special collector glasses for the film. each week a new character was featured on a collectible drinking glass available when you purchased a soft drink. our family didn't make the weekly trip to bk as some did, and so when we finally got there i was pretty excited at the chance to score one of these. i hoped for boba fett, and would have been happy with luke or the droids. but as fate would have it we ended up showing up on lando week. sorry billy dee. i sure didn't appreciate you then.
but i do appreciate these new additions to the cupboard, keeping the kitchen and kool-aid rations safe from evil doers. excelsior!