King Talk

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Of Colgate, Vintage Toys, Letters and Nostalgia...

We all have that one toy that we would keep not just because of it's sentimental value, but it's WOW factor and great playability. Then you would pass it down to your child, hoping that they would also have fun as you did many years ago.

"let's crack this thing open!!!"

Any kid of the early 90's would remember this toy that came free with a box of your famous toothpaste. They call by many names, but the famous one would be the ALPHABET AND NUMBER ROBOTS by COLGATE!!!

Every box of Colgate Toothpaste would come with a free ALPHABET or NUMBER robots ( there are also math symbols as well ) They're small and colorful little pieces of plastic that you will transform into a robot, complete with arms, legs and beady little eyes and mouths. They're pretty easy to transform to a robot and back to a letter or a number ( there have also been free diecast cars taht came with every box of Colgate, but they don't have the impact as much as these do. ) So while a child is having fun playing with the toy, he/she will also learn the fundamentals of ABC's and 123's and a little bit of math as well. Pretty neat learning gimmick.

What most 90's kids from the Philippines would remember are they are very nifty toys that you can play on the dirt or with your GI Joes or Transformers. All the robots have the word COLGATE painted on their bodies, so most kids would remember as Colgate being the original "makers".

Now there have been debates as to where these originally came from, as the Colgate ones don't have any copyright usually embossed on authentic toys and there have been several bootlegs and different versions that were sold even today ( you just have to know where to look ) but some extensive research on Google, forums, blogs and ebay, I was able to shed light on their origin.

an example of a bootleg alphabots...

i kept this card just for catalog purposes...

The toys were created by a Mr. Shigeyuki Horiuchi from Japan ( where else would we see this kind of oddity? ) commissioned by Mattel ( makers of toy properties like Hot Wheels, Barbie, He-Man etc. ) back in August 1986. They are originally called " Toy Block Transformed into a Robot " by the creator. Not really sure what they are really called, but Alphabots and DoubleDooz ABC's are the names that I was able to find. The creator also made some other toys as well, like a robotic toy fish ( you can check how the robots should look like transformed HERE, HERE and HERE. )The patent looks legit, and the website is convincing enough, so I'm sticking with this origin for now until I can unearth more ( you can check the original patents HERE )

patent designs... a lot of thought comes into it...

the fish aquarium toy, also designed by Mr. Horiuchi...

Finding and buying all of your missing letters, numbers and math symbols to complete your collection can be a pain, as they're not that worth that much. But you have to admit, they do have that WOW factor. Any true-blue vintage toy collector would recognize one immediately. I was only able to see 2 ads that were being sold online from 2 different websites locally and they were being sold immediately. So far, all I'm seeing that have been selling online are knock-offs. They practically use the same mold, but the colors are painted shoddily. And, they don't have that same nostalgic, fuzzy feeling when you're buying a Colgate "original".

group pic

My parents were very kind enough to buy me a lot of Colgate robots that I almost have a complete set. I remember playing with them, even using clay to mold some swords, guns and even a crown for them to use. Lately I was able to buy some knock-offs to complete most of what I'm missing. Now all I need are the math symbols and numbers 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 to go full circle. Up to this day I still have them, displayed on top of a bookshelf. Some have shown signs of age ( rusty screws, faded
colors, collected dust, loose joints ) but I wouldn't sell them not even for 5000php. I want my child to play with them and take care of it long enough to also pass it on to his child, and so forth.

- "the king"

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Jesus Is A Fighter...

When you buy collectibles on a daily basis and are following just a certain toyline (e.g. you buying just Marvel comics characters, DC Comics characters etc. ) you tend to get burned out.

You get the same old mold used in the bodies of the toys, the same old characters in different paint schemes, the difficulty to obtain that one item that you really want and the poor quality of the product. You tend to "branch out" and see what the other toy companies are offering, while at the same time you are still loyal to you "main" toyline.

Being a collector, it can be difficult to "branch out" as some of the other toylines are a lot expensive than what you are used to. Or you get burned out again, and find another toyline to satisfy your cravings. It can be a very money-consuming hobby.

Being a "smart collector" ( in the strictest sense ). I try to just stick to my main toylines because 1) My wallet's suffered enough and 2) I don't have shelf space for the extra toyline and 3) See no. 1. . But there is often a toy that is so amazing and so bizarre that you just had to buy it.

What I'm talking is THIS.

Action Portable Fighting JC by threeA company.

JC? Yes, it's Jesus Christ all decked out and ready to kick some butt.

This is by far the coolest-looking Jesus Christ action figure ever. Sure, there were some toys out there that have action features, but those look juvenile and downright silly.

Conceived by threeA co-creator Ashley Wood, Fighting JC was a character in a series of stories called Adventure Kartel, revealed in the company's official forums as a companion to the protagonist named Tommy Mission, helping the hero fight the hordes of zombies. He was called by God to help the world be right again.

The toy first came out 2011 in 12-inch form and costs 10,000-12,000php. A few years later, he was rereleased in 6-inch form and costs only 3,000-5,000php. There are at least 5 variations to the character, and I bought the Exegesis variant, the "white-hoodie and blond hair" or I like to call " Super Saiyan JC"
* snicker *

One thing that you will first notice about the toy is it's weathered look. His hands, clothes and shoes are muddy-looking, looking like someone who has gone through a zombie warzone. ThreeA did a great job with the paint applications. His clothes are also made of real cloth and are lined at the edges with a wire, so you can make some dynamic action poses to it as well.

There's a lot of articulation on the figure, so you'll have a field day making some creative toy photography to it. The ankle joints do tend to pop out, but they can be easily be put back in. And because of the figure's skeletal look, the figure is pretty light. But it can be posed without falling off with ease, so long as you apply some engineering or physics to it.

There's a lot of details on the figure. Just by seeing the figure you can already build a story out of it. There are a couple of tattoos on him, the Mama Mary tattoo on his back being my favorite. As one user from a famous toy website said, "fighting jc's got STYLE." He has a cartoony look, so he can look a bit off side-by-side to your Spider-Man or Batman action figure, but it can manage.

Fighting JC came with a severed head of a zombie, of which you can place it on one of his pouches. The pouches are also fully-functional, they can be opened and closed like a real pouch would.

Really cool.

Fighting JC is a one-of-a-kind action figure. It is worth the big bucks you will drop on. It is a great starter figure to immerse yourself on some threeA figures, provided you have lots of dough ( one threeA figure is the value of 2-3 Marvel Legends figures. ) And even if you don't like the other threeA figures, Fighting JC is a welcome addition to your action figure collection.

photo by FB user and toy collector Pau Gi.
check out his Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/paugi_13/

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to church to avoid being excommunicated.

- "the king"

Sunday, December 29, 2013

LIFE, The Series...

We go through our day going with our daily routine, while also learning something new in the process. Such is Life, it never stops being a teacher to you...

During the last few months I shared some pictures on my Facebook profile with some very thought-provoking pieces on them, reflecting what Life can be...

Now, since I am pretty active in Facebook this year ( hence, I don't have any new blog posts for a while now...) , most of those pictures that I shared have already been buried with my other posts of slightly nonsensical nature, so I thought I could compile them all in a blog post. That, and also will serve as an appropriate Year-Ender blog post. End the year with a good lesson, as they say.

So here they are... Life, The Series...

And there they are... I hope it inspired you as much as it did me. In closing, here's a video of my favorite singer, the ska-reggae Jewish singer Matisyahu. His songs are full of life and lessons.He helped me when I'm commuting in the congested Metro and in times of distress... Cheers, and here's to a great 2014...

- "the king"

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Rant Resurgence

- It can be very difficult to make another post about ranting about society's problems, but all one can do is check any social media and watch yourself roll your eyes countless times.

- Selfies, Check-Ins, Trolling, Sharing Useless stories ( not unless it's 8fact or 9gag.com ) taking pictures of EVERYTHING and liking your own status update or photo are what comprises of Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and almost any social media websites.

- But in every "lemon", there is always a "peach" in those websites, like Traffic or weather updates, inspirational stories and quotes, your best friend getting engaged/ promoted/ giving birth and free links to recent movies does make checking out your profile worth it.

- I do love this photo blog, called The Social Climber, that pokes fun at people who are in need of a good smack to the head for being too full of themselves. Do check it out if you have the time.

- That aside, I've seen the comic strip that replaced Pugad Baboy in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and... the humor is just not there. It's like you get it, but it's just missing a comic flair. Inquirer is missing a large hole in their comic strip department.

- I also remembered a dialogue from The Walking Dead writer/ creator Robert Kirkman that the comic book industry needs to create all-new characters and all-new stories. Writers and artists need to stop making a 37th version of Batman and start making a new character altogether.

an original character by Jamal Yaseem Igle.
Be like this guy.

- Fast food restaurants need to have diversity in their menus. Or at least have McDonalds' menus be more than just Chicken and Burgers.

- All reality shows ( Billy the Exterminator, Storage Wars, Cake Boss, Pawn Stars, Wheeler Dealers, Amercian Chopper, WipeOut, Survivor, Toy Hunter ) have some form of "scripted situations" that make these TV shows watchable. As long as you accept that, you'll be fine. I mean, just look at Brandi Passante alone.. HOTCHA!!!

- South Korean "accidental" model Jinri Park should go back to the Philippines after her DJ job, 2 Photobooks and several magazine appearances and a TV gig made her famous here. Going
back to the roots, as they say.

- Politics? I said this again, and I'll say it again: Flying F*ck Politics

- And since I love railroads since they remind me of winding road that has been a recurring image on my "The Torpe Road" series ( start reading the famous series HERE) , here is a beautifully-shot picture of model Susan Coffey ( psstt.. check out her Facebook page HERE or her deviantart HERE.

- "the king"

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Dinosaurs Shots...

Back when we were little we are easily fascinated. Whether it is large fighting robots, riding ants at microscopic size or going to faraway galaxies it is that youthful innocence that makes everything larger than life. I was never one to miss out, as I am also fascinated with a lot of things. But one of the number one things that I'm really fascinated was...

DINOSAURS!!!

I really love them when I was a kid. They are one of Earth's mightiest creatures ever. These big, mysterious reptiles ruled the earth 65 million years ago. They range in size from the towering Brontosaurus to the small Compsognathus. There are savage meat-eaters like the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex to a humble plant-eater like the lumbering Stegosaurus. I often thought what if they are still alive today? Would some scheming businessman catch some and offer people a ride for a price?

My father liked my passion for these prehistoric creatures and nurtured it. He kept on buying books and toys on Dinosaurs, and I absorbed all of them. I knew all the famous Dinosaurs from A-Z. I knew where the word "Dinosaur" comes from and who named it ( "terrible lizard", Richard Owens ) I knew the theories of how they died. I knew if that Dinosaur was a meat-eater or not ( clue: it's in the teeth ). And it's because of this that I was often being teased for knowing so much about the Dinosaurs. I remember one elementary classmate saying that Elephants are bigger than Dinosaurs. One even tried to post on our classroom bulletin board DINOSORE with my name on it. Some kids can be cruel and in this case, stupid.

Now usually your fascination can die down when you grow up, and that happened to me as well. Exams, peer pressure, girls and Anime became my new fascination. I tried hard to get it back, even buying an updated Dinosaur encyclopedia a few years ago, but the fascination is just not there anymore. I mean, one of my favorite Dinosaurs, the raptor-like Dienonychus, had an updated look because of the recent discovery of feathers on some bird-like Dinosaurs. It just looks wrong. But in the field of Science, you have to discard coolness for what's scientifically correct.

old look

new, less cooler look

Now there are beautiful artworks found all over the internet of these magnificent animals that make me want to be fascinated again, and I want to share them with you. Maybe I can be instrumental in rekindling your "Dino-Explorer" kid inside you as well.

One of the best Dinosaur artists in the art world is Joe Tucciarone. An Ohio-born physics graduate, Joe wanted to be an artist instead and drew subjects on the solar system and eventually his first love, Dinosaurs. Here are some of my favorites:

You could check some more of his art at his official website. Check it here.

From deviantart user Fel-X...

Maybe this is how Dinosaurs became extinct? From deviantart user TomPreston

...Or maybe it is this theory? From the famous spot gag comic strip "The Far Side" by Gary Larson.

And we must not forget the artwork of Calvin and Hobbes super-private comic strip artist Bill Watterson...

A local artist also draws some mean-looking Dinosaurs. Check out Life In Progress comic strip collections at your local bookstore.

Dinosaurs versus Aliens??? Now why didn't someone think of that??? Fantastic artwork by Marvel Comics Indestructible Hulk artist Mukesh Singh of India.