#instagram

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #145: A Conversation with Adam from Mom_Gave_Them_Away on Instagram Part 2, Take 2

Episode #145: A Conversation with Adam from Mom_Gave_Them_Away – 80s Toys and Cartoons Extravaganza Part 2 – Take 2

https://archive.org/download/Podcast145_201805/Podcast%20145.mp3

Due to some difficulties I had getting podcast feeds to pick up this episode, I’m trying an experiment.  Show notes are available here

 

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #145: A Conversation with Adam from Mom_Gave_Them_Away on Instagram Part 2

Episode #145: A Conversation with Adam from Mom_Gave_Them_Away – 80s Toys and Cartoons Extravaganza Part 2

https://archive.org/download/Podcast145_201805/Podcast%20145.mp3

Adam from the Instagram account that he runs, mom_gave_them_away (dedicated to 80s toys, mostly action figures, and other 80s memorabilia), rejoins us this week for the second part of our conversation on 1980s childhood nostalgia.   If you grew up during that era or just have an interest in some of the things kids were playing with back then, do yourself a favor and check out his site – it’s a virtual encyclopedia of information on toys and other memorabilia from the 80s!  This episode, we again cover a diverse array of topics – starting with molding and casting, to Adam’s custom action figure business (see below), and many more 80s toys and their obscure associated cartoons. Like last week, here are some 80s cartoon intros and commercials to get you in the mood:

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors – the intro to Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is quite typical of the era – lasers, explosions, rings that shoot fire, and men singing the name of the series over and over in the intro 🙂

Silverhawks – “partly metal, partly real”

This unbelievably epic commercial was for Air Raiders.  Despite the animation in this commercial, there was no cartoon I’m aware of, though there was a comic.  This page, which details a number of toy lines from the 80s (such as Air Raiders) that didn’t quite take off for whatever reason, is fascinating if you’re into this sort of thing.  

The anime opening theme for Combat Mecha Xabungle (above) requires some explanation.  Recently, Adam posted a nameless red robot torso on his page (below).  Thanks to the magic of the internets and the contributors visiting his account, he was able to quickly find the name and full version of the figure. When I saw it, I was reminded of a similar blue robot that also had a penchant for falling apart!   Turns out they were from this Japanese anime series, originally airing in 1982.

View this post on Instagram

⬅️SWIPE: I HAD THAT! But what is it? Thanks to the @mom_gave_them_away community I now know. A few weeks ago I posted a junked torso of a transforming robot I remembered having as a kid, but couldn't remember what it was in order to find one. Thanks to many of you guys I now know it was most likely the Yrobot Ironcar knock off of the Xabungle Irongear from 1983. This thing is iconic to me as I was always drawn to generic and simple toys. I remember getting this for Christmas at my grandparent's house in Wheaton, IL when I was a kid. After that post a few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to track down one of each mint and complete in the box. I will say if you get one they are very brittle and fragile. Aside from the stickers you can spot the Yrobot Ironcar from the head; I've never seen it with a properly painted face. So that KO is easy to spot. But they have the exact same mold and are equally rad! #momgavethemaway #mgta #80smovies #80sculture #80stv #80smusic #toysfromthe80s #80stoys #80scartoons #nostalgia #toycollection #toyphotography #toys #kenner #fisherprice #remco #toysrus #kbtoys #hasbro #toypics #toyphotos #80sstuff #1980s #toysruskid #yrobot #xabungle #ironcar #irongear #transformers #gobots

A post shared by Mom Gave Them Away (@mom_gave_them_away) on

 

 

Having never seen the show before, I must admit, my curiosity is peaked!  I’ll have to try to track some of the episodes down.  

Remember these toy guns?  The one on the left shot rubber BBs (it was basically a low powered airsoft gun with a gravity fed magazine), and the one of the right fired little discs.  Both were high capacity (the BB gun could hold about 40-50 BBs; the disc shooter I think held around 20 discs in an internal, nonremovable, spring fed magazine) and offered the possibility of semiauto fire (one shot for each pull of the trigger, assuming the gun didn’t break in between – always a risk – which, despite the durability issues, was pretty cool for a toy).  This page lovingly pays homage to these bits of toy gun history – click to read more: BB gun / disc shooter.

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Check out more of Adam’s work here: https://accustomfigures.com/ and on Instagram.  He put together a number of tutorials so you can also get started on making your own figures.  And of course, here is the page that inspired this episode and last: https://www.instagram.com/mom_gave_them_away/

I’ll finish with a little retro 80s visual that you can hear at the end of the show – a remixed version of “I’ll Fly Away” from The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack – this video being a nod to all those flying scenes in 80s movies through dreamy cloudscapes.

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Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube.   This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

between 2 worlds EP cover 2

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #144: A Conversation with Adam from Mom_Gave_Them_Away on Instagram

Episode #144: A Conversation with Adam from Mom_Gave_Them_Away – 80s Toys and Cartoons Extravaganza

https://archive.org/download/Podcast144_201805/Podcast%20144.mp3

This week and next, I’m joined by Adam from the Instagram account that he runs, mom_gave_them_away, which is dedicated to 80s toys, mostly action figures.  If you grew up during that era or just have an interest in some of the things kids were playing with back then, do yourself a favor and check out his site – it’s a virtual encyclopedia of information on toys and other memorabilia from the 80s!  This episode, we cover a diverse array of topics – from 80s toys, to the lure of cassette tapes and VHS, to many obscure 80s cartoons!  The fact that these toys were made to be be played with made them educational, in a way (I’d argue).  Good for the imagination!

Here are some cartoon intros (GoBots, Visionaries, Inhumanoids, Dungeons and Dragons) and toy commercials (Sky Commanders, G.I. Joe, Battle Beasts) to whet your appetite:

And though this wasn’t something we talked about, the G.I. Joe clips reminded me of this clip from a Reading Rainbow episode I turned on for my daughter the other day.

Teamwork!  Talk about a blast from the past.  The high-water socks, the headbands, the electric guitar in the background, the dry ice in the glass the waitress hands to Levar around 1:00 – classic!

Stay tuned next week as we continue the conversation with Adam.  In the meantime, check out some of the most excellent custom action figure work he also does (like this Macgyver custom below).  We’ll start with figure making next week!

macstrip

Check out more of Adam’s work here: https://accustomfigures.com/ and on Instagram.

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Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube.   This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

between 2 worlds EP cover 2

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #75: My Brother Visits – Reflections on 80s Movies Part 2 of 2 

Episode #75: Reflections on 80s Stuff Part 2: Video Games, Miniatures, and More Movies

https://archive.org/download/Podcast75_201701/Podcast%2075.mp3

We talk more sci-fi and fantasy movies from the 80s this episode … like this one:

Image result for howard the duck

My brother, who you may remember as my first phone guest in Episode #30, recently visited for the holidays.  We did an in studio recording while trying to paint little plastic miniatures for the sequel to The Thirteenth Hour while discussing 80s movies and games we’d both enjoyed as kids.  This is part 2.  You can find part 1 here.  We continue reflecting on 80s films in this episode and touch on a few favorite video games from the 8 bit era as well.

Here are some of the movies and games we talk about:

-Ladyhawke

-Legend (see the Tom Cruise running clip here)

-Highlander

-Highlander: The Animated Series (you can watch the series on youtube)

-E.T.

-Earth to Echo (a modern homage to E.T.)

-The Iron Giant (80s in nature)

-The Back to the Future trilogy

-Howard the Duck (here are some clips set to music from the movie with vocals by Lea Thompson and appearances by Jeffrey Jones and Tim Robbins – Don’t Turn Away and the ending song where Howard pulls some Marty McFly guitar riffs onstage).

-Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (that scene where the Jennifer Grey character kicks the Jeffrey Jones principal character in the noggin a few times)

-Conan (scenes where Conan abuses the quadrapeds)

–Conan the Adventurer cartoon

-Quest for Glory

-Gauntlet …

As I mentioned last week, while were having this conversation, we were trying to paint little miniatures from Hero Forge, a site that allows you to create more or less custom miniatures (I made Logan and Aurora for the sequel to The Thirteenth Hour).  We had no idea what we were doing, really, though I got a lot of good tips from Mhawkinsart and Knives_mcdougal on Instagram.  Here are some pics of the process:

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It was messy …

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My first attempt at painting Aurora …  She kind of reminds me of an amphibian here.

2017-01-05-16-29-12

Doing the faces was really hard …

2017-01-06-01-41-50

Yup … none of these guys are going to win beauty awards … not that appearances are everything …

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My second attempt at doing Logan – now he looks like a burn victim.

logan-final

The final attempt – now Logan looks like Mickey Mouse!  But I’ve lost patience to it again …

aurora-final

…but Aurora I think looks a bit better … the whole process of painting these little guys reminds me of soldering electronics (never was great at that) or trying to pipet things in a lab (bad memories from college), but it was cool to see the final effect.  There’s one more figured to go … you’ll see periodic updates on Instagram.

You can follow Jeremy on Twitter and Instagram as well to get real-time updates and his unique insights into games and how we play them.  He’s written a number of insightful articles on his Tumblr blog.  Here are some representative articles on the Lone Wolf game books and Quest for Glory (also here). 

 

Happy New Year, and thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #34: Archery in the Media

Episode #34: How Archery Gets Portrayed Inaccurately in the Media 

Discussion of how not shoot a bow by modeling Hollwood, book covers, and other art

https://archive.org/download/13thHrEps16On/13th%20hr%2034.mp3

The Hunger Games movies and books have created a resurgence in archery as a sport.  A lot of times, beginners will wrap a finger around the arrow to keep it from falling off.  But it’s best not to ever put your fingers anywhere near the tip of the arrow.

Some different grip styles of drawing a bow.  There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong – just depends on the gear you have.

The famous Diana statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.  I originally thought she was using a thumb style draw.  But after looking at the statue more closely, she isn’t; she’s pinching the arrow nock, a common way beginners think bows are drawn (they can be, though it’s hard to manage a stronger pulling bow this way).  Since she’s supposed to be a hunter, probably not a hunting bow.

diana.jpg

 

Not sure what’s going on here – guess it’s some stylized version of the pinch grip.

Image result for archer drawing bow mechanical release

There are some situations where the drawing hand is in this position, but it’s when a mechanical release is used.

Here, Oliver Queen from Arrow shows an anchor point on his chin, important for accuracy, The position of his right hand seems a bit off in this photo, though I can’t imagine they were using real arrows on set.

Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (2013) shows the same.  This game actually portrayed archery pretty well, though there some artistic licenses clearly taken.

A floating anchor point (the drawing hand is not anchored to another part of the body, like the face or chest).   Not great for accuracy …

http://geekdad.com/2014/08/hawkeyes-fault/ – a funny article about the portrayal of Hawkeye in the Avengers movies.  The 2012 version of the comics, though, portrayed archery more realistically.

Needless to say, art is. of course. different from real life and gets a pass on one level for creative license.  But it makes it not the most reliable place from which to learn – at least when it comes to archery.

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News: free raffle for these three ebooks until 4/10! http://gvwy.io/9fdxaih

Brain to Books Fantasy Cyber Convention 4/8/16!

As always, thanks for listening!

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