Tuesday, June 26, 2012

That Looks Cool: Week 3 "Flying Dutchman" from Spongebob Squarpants

Week 3 of the "That Looks Cool" sketch blog is upon us. This weeks character/theme "The Flying Dutchman" from Spongebob Squarepants.

I am not familiar with the character ( I might have seen Spongebob twice in my life) but I really dig this wild looking vinyl figure that was in Previews.

Not knowing the character was kind of liberating. I just used the toy image as a launch point and had some fun making made my version of the Dutchman.



UPDATE! 
Artist Chris Ralston brings the thunder again with his rendition of the Dutchman! Thanks, buddy!
Be sure the check out Chris' comic, "The Third Rail", at r10creations






If you want to share your version of The Dutchman, email me at matt@grindhousecomics.net

See ya next week
Matt
aka Dr. G

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Vintage Toy Find: Lords of Light! The $10 freezer bag of treasures!

So, one of the local comic shops was having a sidewalk sale this weekend. Despite the 90s temps and humid air, i figured, "what the hell. I'll sweat it out for a bit". Glad I did. Not only did I get a sweet stack of 5 for a $1 comics and a black and white tpb collection of early Marvel "Blade" comics for a buck, I got the $10 freezer bag of treasures!

Along the tables were boxes of cheap 90s ear Star Wars, loose X-Men and a freezer bag full of parts marked $10. A quick glance spotted a Starriors robot (love these) and what looked like a blue Micronauts Time Travler and some Micronauts aliens parts (love these guys too). I figured "Ten bucks, not bad". Maybe there'd be enough to cobble together an alien or at least have some parts on hand to complete some figures later on.

So, I bought my comics and bag of parts and headed back to the car. I had to check the bag out and holy shit, jackpot. Not only was there a complete Starriors 'bot and anoher missing it's head (booo!), but the Micronauts turned out to be some fickin' "Lords of Light" and "Inter-Changeables" figures! 


From Left to Right: Topen,  Nepos (with his wings!), and two Toriac figures


From Left to Right: the two Toriac figures again, Emperor Dementia (no cape or weapons, but goofy-cool) and a blue Time Traveler (minus hands)

From Left to Right: Starriors "Ripsaw" (where's my head?!?) and "Slice"

From Left to Right: "Inter-Changeables" robot arms for the C.I.R.E.S robot. Sadly one was missing his upper left leg, so he's now a mini-bot on display.


From Left to Right: Also some parts. Not sure to what. The black laser looks to go with the C.I.R.E.S combiner robot. No clue about the black claw arm, the pegs or the orange missile (I think they're from Micronauts). If anyone can i.d. these, shoot me an email.

Both Lords of Light and Inter-Changeables are super hard to run across.
I haven't seen any since they were originally released in the 80s. So, Woooo! $10 of plactic alien and robot joy!

-Matt aka Dr. G



Some cool line art of the Lords of Light and The Evilites from the back of a L.O.L. figure card


 The live action Evilites from the Lords of Light Commercial

A mint on card Topen from eBay (went for over $2,200)


For more info check out:
Lords of Light at Innerspace Online
Inter-Changeables at Innerspace Online


Monday, June 18, 2012

Vintage Toy Ads: The Revenge "Defenders of the Planets" and "Tri-Trons", oh my!

I was going through my collection of old toy ads I had collected from Google's digital news archives and thought I'd start posting some new ones.

I usually save ads based on toy lines I like, stores I shopped at as a kid or in some cases toys I've ever heard of. There's a double whammy in this Revco Drug Store ad from Dec. 15, 1985. I stopped for the Voltron action figures and stayed for the "Defenders of the Planets" and "Tri-Trons" toys, two lines I'd never heard of. Defenders looks to be a Masters of the Universe knock off and Tri-Trons "3 Robots that combine into 1 Super Robot" has got to be a Transformers cash-grab.



Revco Drug Store ad from Dec. 15, 1985

Here's the back of a Defenders of the Planets card, showing the Defenders and the Evildoers...



These seem to be fairly well documented amongst MOTU fans and there are even some on eBay.

As for the Tri-Trons, they seem more obscure. I only found 2 references to them online:
1) this nice, clear pic on flickr

and 2) These blurry pics from a South American auction site.


They look pretty cool. I like the samurai-thing. If anyone has any info on these guys (manufacturer; clear, packaged examples; and if there were other styles)  drop me an email or send some pics or links. Is this from an existing Japanese series? It's nothing I recognize off the top of my head...

Anyway, just when yo think you've seen it all, new things to learn about.

-Matt aka Dr.G

That Looks Cool: Week 2 "Cybermen" from Doctor Who


"That Looks Cool" Week 2 is upon us. The inspiration for this week's sketch blog theme is this killer Doctor Who "Cybermen" bust. I don't know much about Dr. Who, but I know bad-ass lookin' robots when I see 'em.

 
Here's my rendition (above)



 

Comic artist extraordinaire and all around good dude,
Chris Ralston,
sent me a legion of Cybermen, guaranteed to cause
Dr. Who to make shepard's pie in his knickers!

Check out Chris' comic, "The Third Rail", at r10creations



 

And for a second week in a row, artist Jon Frank blows the walls off the house with a propaganda-style Cybermen poster.

Bad-assery abounds this week!

If you've got a Cyberman inside you aching to get out, email your rendition and a link to your site (if you have one) to me at matt@grindhousecomics.net and I'll get added to the weekly gallery.

Until next week (which theme is "They Flying Dutchman" from Spongebob Squarepants), keep watching the skis!... I mean skies...
-Dr. G aka Matt "The Rat"

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

That Looks Cool: Week 1 "Tiny" from "Killer Klowns"

Let's get things rolling with Tiny from the cult classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space.





UPDATE!
Artist extraordinaire, Jon Frank sent me his rendition of Tiny, world's meanest space-clown! Keep 'em coming, Jon!


If you'd like to share your artistic take on "Tiny", email your artwork to me at matt@grindhousecomics.net


Matt
aka Dr. G

So, I'm adding a sketch blog to Geektarded...

 

A new feature is being added today: The "That Looks Cool" Sketch Blog.

I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I've found that I need to have some "fun time" while drawing, not just the normal grind. I wanted to do something to warm up and stretch the artist muscles a bit. Draw some things I don't normally draw. Mostly have some fun.

So here's the idea:
Each month I'm going to pick four things that I find visually striking/interesting/etc. from the Diamond Comics Preview catalog and do a drawing of the subject/character. Anything from comics to toys to dvds to games can pop up. It'll probably seem pretty random, but that's half the fun.

At the start of each month, I'll post the 4 characters/themes and images of each to give folks plenty of time to see whats ahead.


As part of the fun, I'd love to have others participate. So, if you'd like to join in, email you art to me at matt@grindhousecomics.net and I'll post your piece with that weeks theme. Please try and keep files under 2MB. Other than that have fun. There's also no cut off for sending art. I can add new images to the previous weekly posts. If you send an advance piece, I'll hold posting until that weeks them comes up in the rotation.


Without further ado, here's the themes for weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4.

 


Week 1- "Tiny" from Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Week 2- "Cybermen" from Doctor Who
Week 3- "Flying Dutchman" from Spongebob Square Pants
Week 4- "Lunatic" from an anime called "Tiger & Bunny"

A nice mix of characters. I hope this inspires you artists as much as it does me and hope to see some killer artwork soon.

Email me if you have any questions,
Matt aka Dr. G