I've been extremely busy lately, so "generating content" has taken a backseat. BUT, that doesn't mean there's nothing "new" to share! For example, this episode of From The Vault that we recorded some time in 2021, but only finished editing now for a variety of very dumb reasons. Don't ask, it's a very long and boring story.
BUT, the good news is, at almost a full hour in length, this one is among the most EPIC episodes of FTV ever produced! Join me as I look at six - SIX! - different "Bone-Crunching Action"-style figures from early in the Jakks WWF action figure line! That's right, we went ahead and jumped into this line with both barrels blazing! In this video, we take a close look at...
- Bret "Hitman" Hart!
- Sycho Sid!
- Jerry "The King" Lawler!
- "Double J" Jeff Jarrett!
- Shawn Michaels!
- "Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman!
...And that's just the beginning, as we are definitely gonna have a LOT to say about Jakks and the BCA-style WWF figures in the future! But for now, this should keep you busy. Dig It!
Holy shit, I haven't updated this blog in a while! Sorry about that! By way of apology, here's an episode of From The Vault that we uploaded right around Christmas, where I take a detailed and in-depth look at what just might be THE greatest He-Man action figure of all time, Mattel's 40th Anniversary He-Man!
In short, if you're any kind of He-Man fan, you NEED this figure! But watch the video anyway, where I spend an eternity telling you WHY you need it. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, I shared the most recent episode of The Fighting Podcast where we talked at great length about some of the most iconic video game cartoons of the 1980s through the early 1990s, from Pac-Man to Saturday Supercade all the way up through the iconic Mario and Captain N shows. Check out that post with Episode links Here.
Continuing on in that vein, the gang and I went on with an entire epic-length episode devoted solely to the one and only Sonic The Hedgehog, specifically the trifecta of Sonic cartoons that ran for most of the 1990s. Two of these shows have large and devoted fanbases, and the third one... existed. Some of us were there for all three, some of us only watched one or two, but we all had our share of fond memories and it was a blast getting together to reminisce, shoot the shit, and dig up some facts and trivia that a lot of fans might not know about! Each of these shows had a rich history, and were wholly unique despite the fact that they shared quite a few elements with each other.
Like before, we broke it down with each show getting its own segment. Let's Do It To It!
...I'm sorry but that is such a shit catchphrase. Or at the least, it sounds a lot dirtier than it ought'a. Just sayin'!
PART 1: First up, 1993's Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog! Probably the Sonic cartoon most people are familiar with, as it aired in heavy syndication for many years and was in many ways the cartoon which came closest to the video games, for better and worse. To some, it's "the goofy Sonic show", and to others it's a cherished part of their childhood. We cover it from ALL angles, from concept to screen, the video game spin-off you may have missed, its shared roots with "the other Sonic show" and how they both had a huge part in shaping the Sonic comic book series produced by Archie Comics. I don't think there's anything we missed!
PART 2: From syndication to Saturday Mornings, we jump to MY personal favorite Sonic show, the one simply titled Sonic The Hedgehog (known to many as "Sonic SatAM") which aired on ABC in 1993 and 1994! A total departure from the syndicated show, they both nonetheless grew from the same seed and remained interwoven during the early years of the aforementioned Archie comic book. Despite running concurrently, the two shows had little in common outside of Jaleel White being the iconic voice of Sonic, and thus the vote is split as to which show was better. Sometimes known as "The 'Darker' Sonic Show", SatAM dealt with much heavier themes and had much more serialized storytelling over its brief two Seasons. We talk about how it all began and how a disagreement between DIC and ABC over its development led to the creation of the syndicated "Adventures" show, as well as the cancelled video game tie-ins, its legacy being carried on in the Archie comic, the ONE game that loosely counts as a spin-off, why Princess Sally is actually the star of the show, and its long-awaited forthcoming fan revival, Sonic Sea3on!
PART 3: And finally, the third and final DIC-produced Sonic cartoon, the little-known and oft-forgotten Sonic Underground! If AoStH was "the goofy Sonic show", and SatAM was "the serious Sonic show", this one was "The one where Sonic has a brother and sister and they're in a band for some reason." By 1999, Sonic-mania was running mild after no strong video games for a while and a years-long absence of Sonic from TV screens. But with the upcoming Dreamcast launch, Sega and DIC wanted to get a new Sonic cartoon on the air in a hurry to generate some buzz, and as a result, we got... this. A total departure not just from the video games, but from every other Sonic cartoon and comic book to date, this show was COMPLETELY its own thing and as a result most people didn't watch it, and even fewer have fond memories of it. But is it really THAT bad, as its own thing? We take an honest look at it. It's definitely... something.
Huge thanks as always to Mark Rodriguez, Johnny Rodriguez, and Jupi for having me on! Be sure and check out their other videos on a variety of topics, from games to wrestling and everything in-between. Some of them are only on Odysee, but most of them can be found on the VideoGameMasters YouTube Channel!
"C'mon, Sal... why do you care if I was watching you shower if you don't even wear fucking clothes?!"
Be back soon enough with more stuff like this. Until then, I'm Up, Over, and GONE!
Woke up to some awful news. My former tag team partner and Gas-House Gang stablemate Jay Till, also known as J.T. Highlander, has passed away. Still waiting to hear more about how.
We had only gotten to actually work together a handful of times, but he was one of the first guys I ever met in the wrestling business and we were always glad to see each other. Some time ago, he threw me a lifeline when I was desperately in need. I'll never forget him for that.
I know he was dealing with his own demons and not in a great place when last we spoke, but he was hopeful about turning it around. I wish he'd managed to find his light before it was too late. Life is unfair like that sometimes. Death never waits for you to be ready.
We had some times I'll never forget, and I'll always be grateful to him for putting a hand out when others couldn't or wouldn't.
I'll see you down the road, brother. Thanks for the shine.
I gotta confess, it's not my most favorite holiday. I don't get all "super into it" like some people do. BUT, it's still a fun time of year, and one of the coolest things about it is that there's so many ways to celebrate it. Some people get dressed up, some people decorate, some people marathon horror movies, whatever the scene is. That's all pretty rad.
But what *I* chose to do, is slap together some brand new episodes of "From The Vault"! In the spirit of the season, we've got a double-dose of Freddy Krueger this time, as I review both the NECA "Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" Freddy Figure as well as the Funko "Savage World" Freddy!
1, 2, Freddy's coming for YOU! And probably me, if we don't get these page views up. Go check 'em out!
Sometimes - not often, but sometimes - I like to customize or fix up old, beat-up action figures. Sometimes, I just fix up some scuffs to make the figure look like new, but once in a while, I'll buy an old "beater" just to do something cool with. I'm not great at it, as I only started a couple of years ago, but it's a great hobby, lots of fun and very relaxing. I highly recommend it.
A great way to get good at painting figures is to start with something not very complicated, something with a lot of wide open space and solid colors, and not much (if any) articulation. That way you don't have to worry about joint rub or stuff like that and can just focus on brushwork.
One of the best action figure lines to work on, consequently, is the old LJN WWF Superstars line.
If you're a wrestling fan of a certain age, you either remember or had at least some of these. They're rare and expensive in any kind of decent shape Now, but in the mid- to late-1980s these things were everywhere, and you could still find tons of them in decent condition in flea market bins all over the world. Sadly, as a kid I had no interest in toys that didn't move, so I skipped them and am now paying a heavy price on the secondary market, as they are no longer easy to come by... at least, not unless you don't mind buying them in a condition that is less "Near Mint" and more "Nearly Mangled In A Truck Accident."
Since I don't plan to ever sell my toys, I'm perfectly fine buying beat-up LJNs because it gives me a chance to both practice my painting skills and restore these big rubber statues to their former glory. I know this is blasphemy to some people who insist that only a "pure" LJN WWF figure is worth having, but I don't shit gold bricks. If I can get Honky Tonk Man for $50 instead of $500 and all I have to do is put some Flesh Tone on his face and hands, I'm perfectly fine with that.
As of now, I have a little more than half of the line, and I've gotten most of them fixed up to look as-good or better than new. We'll look at some of them here in time; some of them actually need a drop of touch-up here or there since I last looked at them. But overall, it's easy to restore an LJN to "factory fresh" condition because they're extremely easy to paint, so they're good practice if you're learning or just want to work on something very simple and stress-free.
One of the easiest figures in the line to find is the Series 1 Hulk Hogan. As he was WWF World Champion for almost the entire duration of the line, they produced millions and millions of this figure. To this day, go into any flea market wrestling store on the planet and they'll have dozens of Series 1 Hulk Hogans in various degrees of rough shape.
This one isn't mine, but it's a good general idea of what you'll find for about five bucks anywhere you go:
Since I already had one of these restored to "mint" condition and as close to the original factory colors as possible, a while back I decided to get another one just to try and do something fun with. It's cool that the default Hogan was released in his most iconic yellow and red attire, and a later figure was released in his white attire, but one of his more noteworthy looks from that era was never immortalized in LJN form, and that would be his blue and white attire:
Several companies would go on to release figures of Hogan in this attire, including Jakks, Mattel, and even Storm Collectibles. But oddly enough, LJN never bothered, even though it was a look Hogan wore often in that period before switching to the red and yellow look "permanently" in 1986.
So I went out on one of my weekend excursions to Englishtown Flea Market and hit up my favorite shop, Funkenstein Wrestling Superstore, and along with my other purchases I bought the shittiest Hogan figure they had that still had all his parts intact. A tiny bit of the hair on the left side of his head was shorn off somehow, but it's barely noticeable. I paid like three bucks, if anything; it was covered in black grime and had almost no paint left. I didn't take any Before pictures because it was too hideous. It took a long, hot soak in a bubble bath, a full scrub with rubbing alcohol and nail polish remover, but I managed to get it sparkling clean, eventually.
A couple hours and a few coats of paint later, and this is what I ended up with:
I was really happy with how this came out. As you can see by looking at the above photograph, I was able to match the colors nearly perfectly to what he actually wore back then. I also added some extra detail; rather than just paint a solid flat yellow blob on his head, I painted the hair and mustache in gold and then dry-brushed it with yellow for some highlights. This added more texture to the hair and comes closer to the way he actually looked in his younger days when he was "regular blonde", not "bleached-white" blonde.
The headband is one of the things I'm most proud of, as like everything else it was 100% by hand. Getting the "Hulkster" on there in such tiny script was not easy, but also not as difficult as I was expecting. It pretty much went on in one shot with no need for touch-ups; I was so scared to make a mistake I ended up being super careful with it and as a result it came out perfect on the first try.
I actually haven't seen a ton of people do this specific Hogan attire for the LJN figure; I've seen a lot of him as Rip from the movie No Holds Barred, and people do a great job with that, but it's not quite the same outfit after all. And I've seen a few of him in this attire, but modesty aside I think mine is better than most or all of those; a lot of those folks either skipped the headband deco, or didn't bother painting his boot laces white. I went for full 100% accuracy and am very thrilled with the result.
All I need now is a white, cloth-goods "American Made" shirt and a custom silver WWF Title belt in '85 style and he'll be 100%!
Here's a video I did for my YouTube channel that looks at the Before, During, and After of this project:
While you're there, check out some of my other action figure content, be it Hogan-related or otherwise. And let me know what you thought of this one! One of these days I'll look at some of my other LJN restorations; I just wanted to show this one off first since it's part-restoration and part-custom.
We're going WAY back for this one - my original Highlight Reel music video from 2012! The music is my original "permanent" theme, Fozzy's "God Pounds His Nails" which I used for the first few years of my career. All footage and editing by Kathryn Payne Productions. This is a collection of clips from some of my earliest matches, from 2010 - 2012. Getting this video out there was a big deal in getting some much-needed exposure, and it has led to many opportunities since. It pays to be seen, as they say! Enjoy this relic, straight from the vault!
Hard to believe it's been over 10 years since we put this together!
