I've been knee-deep in masked wrestler memorabilia for the past month or so, rotating what's on display in the old home office. What started as a lucha library, where a normal person would have a dining area, has now grown like kudzu into a floor-to-ceiling enmascarado kitchen. I'll post pics once it's done and cleaned-up, but in the meantime, take a gander at my current lament!
I got this ULTIMO DRAGON plushie about 11 years ago or so, it's probably a prize from one of those claw-machines that steal your money with Vegas-like efficiency. There was a big collection at the time from just about every significant wrestling promotion in Japan. This one is from the short-lived lucha-oriented W.A.R. office (aka Wrestle and Romance).
It's a plush body, about 6" tall, covered in really cheap pink latex for the costume, and the last time I had these out, some of the latex was showing some distress. Well, they've been in climate-controlled storage, in inert archival bags for a few years, and in that time the latex has pretty much lost the battle with time and the elements.
Think about it - these weren't meant to last in the first place, and they've travelled from a multi-climatory Asian origin to the East Coast of the US, where I was living at the time I got them. Now they're a decade older and exposed to the desert climes and things aren't looking good.
Earlier this year, I had a 30-year-old Captain America kid's bath sponge, with really strange artwork, literally disintegrate before my eyes in a 10-minute span. I had nursed it years beyond it's natural life, but short of cryogenic sealing, there was just nothing I could do.
Here's the aforementioned Cap sponge mit, still sort of in one piece in the package. Shortly after this scan was done, the bag split open on the side and the sponge went to hell like Dracula after the stake! I took a few more pics of the scraps that were left, and threw the smelly, decomposing kids toy away before it released a zombie-inducing toxic cloud over the streets of L.A.
Such is the bane of the collector, especially those without the benefit of museum-like storage and display conditions. Even in those environs, a lot of what I collect (marketing gimmicks, ad art, prototype toys, Mexican cottage-industry knock-offs) just isn't going to last.
So, I'm putting a lot of it out on display to enjoy while I can. My plushie Lyger, Abdullah the Butcher, Stan Hansen and Giant Baba's are looking like the next ones to fall apart, but at least the photos can be forever...
The multi-billion-dollar corporate conglomerate that owns the ABC television network. Their new kids show "The Middle Man" is some sort of spy/superhero deal (note that I'm not live linking to anything here, as I don't want these douche bags to benefit any traffic from this post), and in one episode the enemy of the week is Mexican wrestlers.
So, does the huge American corporation's costume department design original outfits for any of the myriad actors involved? No, of course not. They go right to the SOUVENIR HOODS and just rip off current Mexican ring stars and silver screen legends of decades passed.
For those keeping score - the line up of trade-mark holders ripped off in the above picture goes (from left to right): Cibernetico Mistico El Espectro Misterioso (II or Jr.) Blue Demon - yeah, the spokesman for the high energy drink made by Coca-Cola himself. Maybe they'll sue if no one else does... Felino Tinieblas And a few guys in the back rows I can't make out or recognize, but needless to say, if they have a souvenir hood, they work for either CMLL or AAA.
Here's the episode's main villains:
Yep, that's Abismo Negro, who while also under AAA as a rights holders appears on enough other Mexican network TV that any one of a number of other shows would be glad to legally protect one of their celebs. At least they took out the eye-screen in possibly an attempt to change the hood enough to avoid rights issues (they failed), but the guy on the right is in a clearly un-altered, right of the blanket out front of the arena Mano Negra hood.
This sort of thing goes on all the time, sad to say. Importers will send souvenir hoods up here to sell at alterna-boutiques, where they lose all fan context, and major studios use them for cheap costuming. It's a practiced based in either ignorance, arrogance, laziness or carelessness. Whichever, it's all bad and all unnecessary.
Someday, the right worker with the right lawyer in the U.S. is going to make a move on some show, and it'll be an open and shut case. Maybe it'll be Coke and Blue Demon...
Fuck you ABC, I hope some P.R. grunt over there is Google searching for blog hits for your bullshit show and finds this. Not that the legal department will give two shits, but it would be nice if some lazy fuck got some shit for it on the production end.
For starters I'd like to congratulate FPU's "web guy" Jeff Kwong on his recent marriage to long-time femme-extraordinaire Emily Cummins, and wish them the very best on their long honeymoon to Thailand. Between the time-devouring juggernaut that is a wedding, and my own slammed schedule, we've really let the FPU website updates pile up.
BUT, we did have time to put up a long-overdue new gallery! This one features original artwork from a wide variety of famous and up-and-coming artists published in both FPU and FPU-CITO over the years, plus some stuff never-before-seen that we just couldn't find a home for until now.
Once Jeff is back from the land of Tony Jaa, we'll be completely revamping the FPU catalog page. I'm going to put just about everything we sell on serious SALE PRICES for July and August, AND, after rummaging through storage for the past few months, I've uncovered some archive stuff that'll we'll be offering to the public — including the long-sold-out FPU #2 and FPU #3!!!
Meanwhile, FWAK! has arranged a world-premiere screening of the English-language cut of Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre in Los Angeles — a private midnight showing at the historic Vista Theatre in July as a thanks to the cast and crew.
This will be the first time an audience sees the final product, and the first gauge we'll have as to wether or not we did our jobs right. And I think we all did!
While over at the Camps website, the still slideshow is absolutely AWESOME! Two-thirds of the way through is a great shot of two monstrous sportscasters — the gorilla in the pin stripe suit is voiced by yours truly...
Oh, and hey! Check out the new full trailer right HERE!
The theatrical release date for the Spanish-language version of the film in Mexico is currently October 17th, but more on that when we're closer to Fall.
Also planned to coincide with the release of the movie in Mexico will be a new FPU book. For the longest time I had planned to do some sort of non-fiction thing, be it entertainment oriented or more scholarly-tilted. However, I've switched gears entirely and will be dusting off some old unpublished fiction, and re-purposing the non-fiction stuff for the "Lucha Libre 101" section of the website over the course of the next year.
Meanwhile, the day job is keeping me busy promoting the classic monster movie's migration into strange performing arts territory. See the wonder and weirdness that is Keith's day job here.
I'll try to keep posting when I can here, but the spare writing hours I have are going to go to the new book and website content. I might be leaning towards the current wave of renowned writers and celebs pulling back the practice of blogging, truth be told. I think Video Watchdog'sTim Lucas summarized it superbly:
"[Video WatchBlog is] ...an unremunerative drain on my time and energies, one more obligation every over-obliged day, and a burden of guilt each day when I don't add to the blog."
Now, the concept of things "unremunerative" being a deal breaker is obviously an alien one to the average self publisher, but these days, I resent the drain of TIME so much more than any financial woes I previously faced, that I just can't justify devoting myself to repeating 1000+ word photo-illustrated blog entries.
So if this ends up feeling like a monthly newsboard and shill platform, forgive me and head on over to the FPU website for some REAL content.
Thanks all, as always, and more news coming in the next few weeks...
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