Today, I’m joined by my friends Joseph Esch, Adam Crohn, and Obi as we talk about the 1980 film, Flash Gordon. This film was a blast, and it was a hoot to record as well. The show goes off the rails within the first few minutes, but I think that makes it all the better. I’m not sure I would have entirely gotten the humor had I seen this as a kid, but as a adult seeing it for the first time, I thought it was great fun. If you haven’t seen it before or even if you have, here are a few clips of scenes from the film:
This is a fun compilation set to the theme song by Queen (warning – the theme song may get stuck in your head!)
If you enjoyed this outing, just know the four of us will be back soon. In the meantime, you can find Adam, Joe, and Obi all together on Adam’s Star Wars podcast, I Have Spoken, episode 19 (thought on the Boba Fett series). You can find more Adam and Joe on our first joint collaboration on The Lost Boys parts 1 and 2 as well as on Rambo: First Blood Parts1 and 2 as well as their epic collaboration on Steakuums:
We will return on Patreon for more discussion on Flash Gordon cartoons, serials, comics, and toys!
Last but not least, if you’re in the US, happy 4th, and belated happy Canada Day to our Northern friends 🙂
Today, I’m joined by my friends Joseph Esch and Adam Crohn to talk about the 1987 film, Masters of the Universe, which despite being a fan of the toys and the cartoon as a kid, I missed seeing at the time or since. I went in with no expectations, not having watched the cartoon in decades. I knew it was different from the source material, having read some reviews prior, though as an isolated 80s sword and sorcery movie, I think it works just fine. As a Masters of the Universe property, I’m not so sure, but Joe and Adam, who know much more about the franchise than I do, had a lot more to say about that I could offer, so I felt like we went into a fairly balanced discussion on the film, with both positives and negatives.
I want to thank one of the concept artists on MOTU, Edward Eyth (who also helped design the silver art deco version of the Cirrus X-3 on my favorite movie of all time, The Rocketeer), for helping to provide some insights into the design of the film. Hopefully we weren’t too harsh!
In the meantime, check out more Adam and Joe on our first joint collaboration on The Lost Boys parts 1 and 2 as well as on Rambo: First Blood Parts1 and 2 as well as their epic collaboration on Steakuums:
In addition, check out the links below for some of Adams original MOTU designs. We will return on Patreon for more discussion on the toys.
Welcome to the 2nd part of the First Blood / Rambo miniseries. But before I forget, as mentioned in the show intro, check out Adam’s tutorial on grey scale painting:
And! A new podcast I recently found all about Howard the Duck – “Trapped in a World!”
Click on the picture below to find a copy of the film:
We actually start off taking about this collection of ads, of which the survival knife is just one fine offering, coming from Boys’ Life.
As an aside, if you look center bottom in the ad above, you’ll see one for a diver’s knife. Adam sent along some pictures of his:
Joe also sent along some pictures of the container he found to organize the contents of the knife handle in the Harbor Fright model we have. If you look around, you can find little metal waterproof containers just the right size to fit in the handle. This is the one Joe used.
We also talk a bit about the Rambo cartoon (odd choice for an R rated movie about a vet suffering from PTSD who gets bullied by smallminded cops and wreaks a path of wanton destruction on their small town as revenge) as well as the accompanying Coleco toyline, which I vaguely remember from the shelves of Kmart, as they were bigger and had more accessories than a lot of your typical action figures of the day.
I found the first episode of the cartoon here, and here’s the trailer:
The backdrops from these 80s commercials were sometimes even better than the toys themselves. Now, this, ladies, and gents, is a commercial …
For those of you on Patreon, there will be an accompanying exclusive episode later this week on favorite GI Joe figures, as the comic had many of the Joes originally as Vietnam vets trying to figure out what to do after the war, just like Rambo.
In the meantime, check out more Adam and Joe on our first joint collaboration on The Lost Boys parts 1 and 2 as well as on Adam’s show, I Have Spoken: A Star Wars Podcast, episodes 14, 15, and 19 talking about The Book of Boba Fett and Star Wars toys! Thanks for coming on the show, fellas!
Today, I’m joined by my friends Joseph Esch and Adam Crohn to talk about the first Rambo movie, First Blood (1982) and some 80s survival knife back-of-the-magazine ad goodness.
This ad comes from a 1985 issue of Black Belt magazine.
Here’s the knife in the ad. It’s different from the one Rambo uses in the film, of course, but has the same mostly hollow handle to hold a variety of survival bits, like fishing hooks, line, matches (which are clearly vintage – I found my knife on eBay).
Last year (when we first floated he idea of doing this pod!), Joe sent me a modern equivalent from Harbor Freight Tools. It’s a bit bigger than the original, and the compass is protectively nested on the inside of the handle, not the outside, which I thought was a good change.
Look for more details on the Patreon as well as next week with part 2!
In the meantime, check out more Adam and Joe on our first joint collaboration on The Lost Boys parts 1 and 2 as well as on Adam’s show, I Have Spoken: A Star Wars Podcast, episodes 14 and 15 talking about The Book of Boba Fett and Star Wars toys!
The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #300 – Special Anniversary Podcast Edition and Like a Hood Ornament #27: Watching The Rocketeer Cartoon Episode 8 with My Daughter
Welcome to episode 300! This show has been going in some fashion since 2014 and continuously since early 2015 so in commemoration, I’v gathered together a few clips from past episodes and time when I’ve been guests of fellow podcasters discussing some aspects of The Thirteenth Hour.
We start off with a short clip from my first podcast in this format (since the first 15 had been just reading aloud from an earlier draft of The Thirteenth Hour pre-publication to try to catch errors). Here is the full episode:
Some years before, when I was living in New England, I was interviewed on his radio show, The Author’s Hour, fellow author Wayne Barber hosted me on his show. There’s an excerpt here about what The Thirteenth Hour is about and what so many of the things touched upon in this show have been about over the years. The full interview is here, back on episode 31 of the show:
Just one episode before, my brother, Jeremy, had just been on (my first guest!) to talk about the homebrew games we attempted to make in the 90s (which we circled back to in episode 298 with Ric and Paul). The full episode (#30) is below, but Jeremy comes on the show briefly today to talk about what he’s been up to. Find more of his writing over at https://pixelgrotto.tumblr.com/.
Our next guest for today, Adam from @mom_gave_them_away, who has been on the show a number of times before (see below for one of those times) comes on to share what he has been doing and what he is passionate about. One of the great things about the show (and the reason I’ve kept doing it these past 6 years) is that through it, I’ve met so many talented, creative people I probably wouldn’t have encountered otherwise.
At the same time we recorded the show linked above (#220), we also recorded one for Adam’s show. I’ve included a clip in this episode (about Spacecamp and other 80s movies), and you can listen to the full episode on Spotify above or on his Patreon.
I picked flying scenes to represent so many aspects of The Thirteenth Hour since I think that is what so many of those 80s films and songs did in a way – it was escapism in the purest sense, and I think the idea of flying, or rather the freedom of the open air, has always been something that I have found attractive (probably one of the reasons I liked and still like the Rocketeer so much). I recently finished a painting of Logan and the Rocketeer zooming through a lilac purple cloudscape getting at exactly these images called “Wingmen.”
I just recorded for this episode a little video going of me opening a new Rocketeer action figure that recently came out. Man, what I would have given for something like this as a kid!
To do the next episode of The Rocketeer cartoon (#8), this week, my daughter joins for the whole segment. It was a happy little coincidence that in the first clip on this show (from episode #16), she was an infant, and here, she’s almost 7. It was a great thing to be able to do with her.
Some pictures from the episode:
Lastly, stay tuned for a concert involved Thirteenth Hour music, a custom Logan action figure, and Logan stories next week, 5/15/21 at 10:30 PM EST on Instagram Live @the13thhr.ost. It will look something like this:
If you would like to grab a little piece of The Thirteenth Hour, pick up a patch of Logan flying off into the sunset and bask in many of the things we discussed in this episode – silver flying machines, cloudscapes, and the sun setting on another day signifying a hope for a better tomorrow. The patches come with a high quality mp3 download from Once Upon a Dream, the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP.
If you still have a cassette player, take advantage of the following deal and be transported to another world! SALE! While supplies last, grab Long Ago Not So Far Away on cassette! Just $1/tape! https://ko-fi.com/s/5579db9b27
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Generally, I eschew any and all current events, especially anything that could be political in any way. However, if you’re reading this, you’re undoubtedly aware of the global pandemic. Everyone can do your part! This is not just a you thing, not a me thing, this is an everyone thing. This is a perfect time to stay in, read that book you’ve been meaning to get to, binge watch your favorite show, or rewatch some old movies. The things you wanted to do aren’t going anywhere, but you gotta be around to enjoy them later. Be safe! Next week, we’ll talk about what happens if you want to work out while confined inside a little room (kinda like Logan was in The Thirteenth Hour …)
And now, in the spirit of escapism, let’s talk toys!
This week, we have another special episode – Adam from ACToyDesign and the IG account @mom_gave_them_away returns for the second part of his followup since his last appearance in October to discuss toys and toy making! Look for part 1 and 2 as well as Adam’s appearance on our two shows (1and 2) on Terminator films 2-6!
We had a whole discussion on the nature of heroes and how supposedly straight laced ones, like Captain America, reflect a kind of hero that can be great for kids to have as role models.
Check out Adam’s show on the many roles of Willow‘s Warwick Davis. Willow did have a short lived toy line, but many 80s movies did not, for whatever reason. In this episode, we talk about toy lines that we wish would have been made (or ones we might work on making out of resin some time in the future). Like …
Batteries Not Included
Short Circuits 1 & 2
Speaking of Short Circuit, check out this absurdist video by El DeBarge for “Who’s Johnny?” Absolutely classic!
The Last Starfighter – why there were no ships or more widespread video games (I think there might have been one? There is a fan made game that looks just like the one in the film you can find here, though.) made from this film, the world will never know. Adam did, however, find these prototype figures by Galoob that, had they seen the light of day, would have been amazing!
If you enjoy Star Wars, check out his new show, I Have Spoken!
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, we have another special episode – Adam from ACToyDesign and the IG account @mom_gave_them_away returns for a followup since his last appearance in October to discuss toys and toy making!
Adam’s modding tips:
-Wash your figure with soap and water if you are intending to work on it. This will remove oils that happen to be on the plastic.
-Lighter fluid may be worth using if the figure is old and been handled a lot and has a lot of oil on the surface. If the plastic is starting to break down, as resort, you can try some lighter fluid (maybe test it on a small spot first), to see if that will get rid of the stickiness.
-Magnifying glasses (or reading glasses) may help you see details closer (I have tried this – it does work).
Here’s what I was working on while this episode was going on – the body of Kit Secord from the Rocketeer cartoon, and below was the paint job Adam was working on for the custom Voltron figure he was commissioned for. You can find many more on his Patreon page below.
If you enjoy Star Wars, check out his new show, I Have Spoken!
Check out the second part of this conversation next week!
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week wraps up the second of our two part series reflecting on the rest of the Terminator films, the first being episode 160 with Adam from ACToyDesign and the IG account @mom_gave_them_away, who coincidentally returns to discuss the rest of the films.
We had a little side conversation about character actors (sparked by the presence of Michael Ironsides in Terminator 4). Character actor Tim Thomerson was in both these classic films (both written by Rocketeer writers Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson)
We also referenced the Blade Runner films when discussing the Terminator who doesn’t know he’s a hybrid human / hybrid Terminator in Terminator: Salvation – check out episode 200 of the show for a retrospective of both Blade Runner films.
After watching all these films (I watched them in order), are you confused? There are some good articles and videos out there that explain the timeline(s). Check out this one that explains 3 parallel time lines of sorts.
By the way, the ending that I recalled in Terminator 2 where Sarah Connor is sitting by a park watching her now adult son playing with his daughter in a playground turned out to be an alternate ending, as Adams suspected. You can watch it here:
Obviously, had this been part of the original T2 theatrical release, it would have messed up the timeline even more!
If you enjoy Star Wars, check out his new show, I Have Spoken!
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week starts the first of a two part series reflecting on the rest of the Terminator films, the first being episode 160 with Adam from ACToyDesign and the IG account @mom_gave_them_away, who coincidentally returns to discuss the rest of the films.
A few of the articles referenced in the show:
-Joe Morton (Myles Dyson) talks about his casting:
If you enjoy Star Wars, check out his new show, I Have Spoken!
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, we have another special episode – Adam from ACToyDesign and the IG account @mom_gave_them_away returns for a followup since his last appearance in October to discuss toys and toy making!
If you enjoy Star Wars, check out his new show, I Have Spoken!
Also, here is a close up for the custom Della Caine figure Adam discussed on the show:
If you’re interested in getting into resin casting, here are a few tutorials we put together. In this first one, Adam discusses how he sculpted his Chudbaby figures, one of the clay figurines he discussed in the episode we did back in October. (Check out his whole line of resin figures here.)
In this video, Adams discusses one way of making a 2 part silicone mold:
When making the Rocketeer resin figure for my kids, I experimented with filming parts of the process, which ended up being 2 parts awkward (working around the camera) and 1 part messy (trying not to get resin of silicone on the lens). The end result is over on IGTV, though I’ve included the posts here.
In this one, we go through how to think about casting a figure strategically, where to put air vents, and how to position the figure in a 2 part mold (then we make it).
And in this one, we go through the resin mixing and casting process as well as some basic fixes for what to do if parts of the cast don’t fill completely. I use a glow in the dark powder to make the final figures glow, so show that gets mixed in the resin mixture.
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, we are making a shadowbox, something I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time, since I’ve always wanted to create more of a story to put the figures in. An opportunity to showcase some art at a local art showing presented itself, and not quite knowing how to show my minifigures, the organizer of the event suggested a shadowbox. Coincidences of coincidences! This was the chance to experiment with them. I found two cheaply at Goodwill and came up with a simple scene (that I had already made a picture of back in episode 141) to display. Here are some pictures of the process:
A few pictures of the Rocketeer figure I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. The sculpt is just about done!
If you haven’t checked out the episode on the CGG podcast on the Rocketeer (including some on the comics and the games), you can check it out here.
And yes, if you were thinking the Rocketeer in the upper left quadrant is holding something that looks like a Super Soaker 30, look no further to the cut scene below it for more detail. The one on the lower right is from Broforce, which features a character that plays homage to the Rocketeer.
The game Dark Void also does the same:
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
For this week, I’m doing the rare in-person podcast with guest host Adam Crohn from AC Toy Design (a.k.a. @mom_gave_them_away on Instagram), who’s been on this show a number of times before (see episodes 144 and 145 plus episodes 159, 160, 161, and 162 on four Arnold Schwarzenegger 80s movies). I happened to be in Chicago for work, so Adam was gracious enough to take time out of his day to show us around the city and record a few shows. On this week’s show, we are discussing the process of our resin casting projects – both of us in the last year or so have created minifigures and spend much of the episode comparing and contrasting our experiences. Lots of great discussion on 80s throwbacks as well as toy design and creation.
See below for some pictures of the figures we made:
If you’d like to pick up one of these figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. The glow in the dark figures are currently done. The painted minifigures will be available shortly.
**A few of the other links we discussed on the show:
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
About a year ago, I started making resin casted figures of some of The Thirteenth Hour characters (more details from a series of previous episodes: here for Logan and here for Aurora).
After over a year (mostly due to delays of one kind or another), they’re nearing completion. All the packaging is done for about 40 of the figures. (The last 20, not sure yet). Today, I’m painting and wrapping up a few details on the Logan figure so it can stand unassisted.
Laying down the colors on the painted figures in broad strokes before tackling touch ups and details of the eyes and mouth.
One of the guests who’s been on the show numerous times, Adam, now has his own podcast on Spotify all about toy design and creation. Check it out!
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
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 🙂
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.
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.
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 Awayis 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.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
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!
Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Awayis 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.
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.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
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