retro awards Archives - PS

Pod Stallions 69: The 2019 Retro Awards

Mantooth — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:30:00 +0000

It’s time for the annual Retro Awards where we celebrate the best of 2018 and all the things we enjoyed that embody the retro feelings and vibrations that we hold so dear.

It was a big year and we had an amazing luxury of choice. So many comic book movies, awesome DVDs and Blurays, heck even print dazzled us! Not to mention all the dolls!

Toys:

Jason

Mondo 12″ Batman TAS
NECA Captain Blake from the Fog
Star Wars Black six Inch Solo: A Star Wars Story
Toybox Spider-Man Buggy

Brian

Jason

Homecoming
Inside #9
The Terror

Brian

Venture Bros
The Orville
MST 3K

Movie

Jason

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Avengers Infinity Wars
Ghost Stories
Bohemian Rhapsody

Brian

A stupid and futile gesture
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Aquaman

Books:

Jason

Magazine:

Jason

Infinity Magazine
Mad Magazine
Mojo

Brian

Infinity Magazine
Shock Cinema

DVD/BluRay

Jason

Brian

Blood Island Box Set (Severin Films)
Dr. Dracula/Lucifers Women (Vinegar Syndrome)
UFO complete series (BluRay)

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Pod Stallions Episode 59: 2017 Retro Awards

Mantooth — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Another year, another pile of amazing pop culture.

As every retro awards, we talk about the things that most hit us in the feels in our nostalgic journey that is Pod Stallions.

We talk about our favourite movies, books, DVD releases and toys of this past year.

Topics include Planet of the Apes, Wonder Woman, the Super Friends, Doctor Who, Blade Runner, Al Adamson movies, Kung Fu, Mystery Science Theater, Elvira and much, much more.

So sit back, relax and please don’t give a second thought to the fact that two music nuts never thought to talk about albums……

So happy life day and give us spirited debate on our facebook wall.

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Pod Stallions 49: The 2016 Retro Awards

Mantooth — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 04:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year! It’s time for our annual salute to all the things that made us happy in 2016, especially those that harkened back to our childhoods and while it was kind of a rough year, there were still some nice bright spots.

The 2016 Retro Awards salutes the movies, books, and toys we raved about this year. It’s a double decker episode and let’s all make 2017 the best year ever, see you in January with another Pod Stallions.

Thanks for listening and happy new year!

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Show notes:

Brian loves the Dolemite Blu Ray by Vinegar Syndrome.
Both guys LOVED the book “Comic Book Fever“.
Brian also read The MLJ Comics Companion.
Jason heartily recommends the Power of the Daleks Animated DVD.
Brian admits to playing with his 12 inch Capaldi.

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Pod Stallions 39: The 2015 Retro Awards

Mantooth — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 16:53:00 +0000

Happy New Year! It’s time for our annual salute to all the things that made us happy in 2015, especially those that harkened back to our childhoods and brother, did we have a lot to smile about.

The 2015 Retro Awards salutes the movies, books, magazines and toys we raved about this year and we also talk about special events and end by mourning some of the folks we lost.

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Show notes:

Massacre Mafia Style is the indy 70s production by Duke Mitchell that Brian mentioned.
Jason chose Beatles One as his favourite DVD of the year.
Both guys understandably loved the Bif Bang Pow Flash Gordon line.
Mego Meet is June 17 this year in Skokie Ill.
Brian is a big fan of Figures Toy Company’s Superfriends line.
Shock Cinema Magazine is Brian’s pick for the year.
Famous Monsters is Jason’s personal choice for best magazine.
Mego 8 Inch Superheroes: World’s Greatest Toys has been reprinted and available at Figures Toy Company.

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The 2011 Plaidstallions Retro Awards

Mantooth — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:01:00 +0000

It’s time once again for my fake awards show dedicated to what I feel is retro goodness of the past year. All in all, 2011 was a tremendous year for this kind of commerce, so there was lots to choose from.

I’ve also got some news on the book projects and changes to the site for 2012.

More After Jump

Best Films:

I went in with really low expectations but Rise of the Planet of the Apes surprised the heck out of me, mostly because it revitalized the concept so well. I saw it with an audience of 20 years olds and they were enthralled. It’s handling of the subject matter was rarely camp and Andy Serkis was phenomenal as Caesar. It made me crack out my box set once again.

Superhero movies were kind of hit or miss for me this year, I enjoyed Thor despite never having read a Thor comic. I found Green Lantern terribly misguided and passed on the latest X Men movie because of the past two sequels (something I later discovered was a mistake).

The one that made it for me was Captain America: The First Avenger. Comic fans can argue back and forth about costume design changes but the soul of any comic movie is embodiment of the character and I can’t remember when a movie got it so right (oh yeah, Iron Man).

It was also such a relief to take my son to this film and know that Cap wasn’t going to swear (take notes Hal Jordan) or have “Superman 3” type moments of nightmare fuel (Seriously Hector Hammond?). I loved this movie and view it with the same regard I do the first Superman.

Best Books and Magazines

I went back to school this year to study design in anticipation of the books I’m writing. So, most of the books I read were published by Adobe and really have nothing to do with this blog directly.

Some notable exceptions were:

Doctor Who Classics Omnibus I was gifted two of these by lovely wife and it reminded me of how much I loved Doctor Who comics growing up. I find it ironic that I’m wishy-washy on the Davison era and I abhor Colin Baker but their stories are actually my favourite in comic form.

I cannot recommend Shock Cinema magazine enough. A self described “essential guide for any fan of bizarre films and videos, and each issue is crammed with movie reviews, in-depth interviews and original poster art. Shock Cinema covers everything a self-respecting film-junkie could possibly desire — from Cult Movies and Arthouse Oddities, to old fashioned Grindhouse Swill and Underground Obscurities.”

This magazine is easily the best $5 I spend at any given time, it gives me hours of interesting reading and I wish it came out monthly. Seriously where else are you going to read about a movie which starred Mr. Brady as a pervert crank caller?

While i don’t read comics these days, I oddly can’t get enough comics history and that’s where Twomorrow’s “Back Issue!” comes in handy. Each month I get in depth interviews, articles in a beautifully laid out format.

Twomorrows publishing has a great catalog of books that would be right for any 70s kid as well, worth a visit.

Toys

Besides releasing my own action figure, a lot of cool toys made me weak in the knees this year, the two biggest for me however were these.

Bifbangpow Doctor Who

Talk about peanut butter and chocolate, my love for Doctor Who combined with my love for Mego action figures. I know most people want Star Wars or Marvel comics mego figures again but this was my number one want and I can’t wait to buy every single figure BBP knocks out. The Doctor and Styre were toys I HAD to rip off the card immediately and that is just fantastic.

The same thing can be said for EMCE Toys/Diamond Select’s wave two of the Universal Monsters. These figures are a joy, the Mummy is an amazing detailed likeness of Karloff while the Dracula is generic. Given that I’ve played with generic Dracula figures all my life (Lugosi’s likeness isn’t part of the Universal Monsters license) it seems wonderfully fitting. Well worth the $30, I assure you.

DVD

I didn’t get the time for DVDs like I normally do this year but two were unavoidable for me:

Shout Factory has done a spectacular job of releasing Mystery Science Theatre but the Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXII last box set with Sandy Frank “classics” like “Time of the Apes” and “Mighty Jack” really made my 2011 brighter.

Warner Archive is probably going to be on every Retro Awards show I do from now on. This year I adored the Man From Atlantis: Complete TV Movies Collection.

Man from Atlantis was one of the better done TV SF attempts in the 1970s, it starts out with great promise (although the television series gets progressively weirder until it looks like they just run out of juice) the TV movies however are inspired and fun, worthy of a look.

Some big changes this year on Plaidstallions.

I’m going to need more time to develop my book products, I haven’t found a publisher for “Rack Toys” or “Galaxy of Mego” but that only means I’m going to probably start my own publishing company in the coming months.

That means i can only do site updates every other week for the next few months, the blog will remain daily and I’ll still do Fashion Mockery, Toy Love and Rack Toy Tuesday posts but new gallery pages need to be bi weekly for me to retain my sanity.

And that’s it for another year, I’m looking forward to what 2012 brings us, as always thanks for reading!

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PlaidStallions 2nd Annual Retro Awards

Mantooth — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:01:00 +0000

As another year passes, it’s time to pay tribute that things that were so full of “Retro Win” that they need an imaginary award from an anonymous blogger in Canada. Yes, it’s the 2nd annual Retro Awards and it’s been an exciting year as competition was fierce for my allowance these past twelve months.

Best Movies-

I was completely blown away this year by Black Dynamite a sharp as nails parody of the 1970s blaxploitation craze. Like all great parody, the film actually retains the feel of the subject matter, no mugging to the camera, no tired Britney Spears jokes. It makes stuff like “Epic Movie” look like the thrown together crap it really is. This film should have had a wider release as it is the best comedy I saw last year. If you haven’t seen it, correct that mistake right now! You will be quoting it the next day.

Sandy Collera’s Hunter Prey is on here because not only is this a solid science fiction film but it somehow invokes that “70s Vibe” so damned well. Shot on a shoestring, the movie looks better than a lot of big budget features. I’ve missed movies of this ilk, Hunter Prey sits proudly on my shelf next to stuff like “Planet of the Apes” and “Alien”. I noticed fun little nods to properties like “The Micronauts” comic books in the script, which Sandy himself confirmed were intentional. You can’t not love stuff like this.

Best Toys- 2010 seemed to be all about 70s Mego love, which I’m perfectly fine with, while this year was one for the books in terms of me wanting to buy modern toys, three things really stuck out.

Firstly, BifBangPow! just unleashed so much toy love onto the world with their many wonderful toy lines like Twilight Zone and the awesome Venture Brothers. If I had to pick a favourite (and it’s not easy), I’d have to say it was their Flash Gordon line of 8″ figures. I waited a long time for these things and I wish I could send these back to my ten year old self, they are truly beautiful. Not to say that I don’t love the hell out of my Brock Samson doll (I do!) but there is just something about waiting 30 years for a toy.

Speaking of waiting 30 years for something, the good folks at Super 7 had a “why didn’t someone think of this sooner moment” when they married the goodness of Star Wars with the fun of Jumbo Machinders and pure awesome just came pouring out as a result. Seriously, the Super Shogun Storm Trooper brings tears to my eyes with it’s brilliance. For added fun check out this cool series of retro Christmas images that was featured on Wired, if only this was real.

Speaking of beautiful, EMCE Toys and Diamond Select knocked the Universal Monsters line out of the park with their first two figures. I have more monster dolls than I need but these two figures were something I coudln’t mince around with I needed these figures and I needed them now. As a bit of trivia, Sean Sansom sculptor of the upcoming Brick Mantooth figure also sculpted the Frankenstein, so they’re sort of related/kinda…

Best DVD-

The hands down winner this year is the Time Life Six Million Dollar Man set. Time Life could have released this bare bones and I’d have bought it but no, they loaded it with extras and interviews and wrapped it in the coolest nerdiest packaging I’ve ever seen. Upon reciept of this fine set I went on a “bionic binge” that I am not proud of.

In the “never thought I’d see the day” department is the Warner Brothers Archives release of “Legends of the Superheroes” the ultra campy attempt to marry the Superfriends to the antics of the 1966 Batman TV series. This thing was the talk of the playground when I was a wee lad so it kind of made me misty to see it available in non bootleg fashion. Now if only they would release those forgotten 70s Archie tv pilots and perhaps ship to Canada…

Best Books–

I was elated to get a copy of Rich Handley’s “Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes” which is a real treat for fans of the film, TV, book, and comic adventures on Pierre Boulle’s Monkey Planet. Seriously this book is just exploding with facts on one of my favourite subjects and I heartily recommend it for casual fans and the hardcore ones who know what General Urko’s wife’s name is.

OK, it’s kind of cheating seeing as I had some input on this book but seeing as likely I accounted for 0.001% of what makes Star Trek 365 so great, I feel safe. It’s just a great big, beautiful, fun book about Star Trek at a terrific price. I’d also like the say the good folks at Abrams publishing were a total joy to work, unlike my other contribution deal this year which I won’t get into. *Shakes Fist at Superman*

And that’s my wrap up for a (very expensive) 2010, hope you enjoyed it. As we progress into 2011 I am truly excited at the new opportunities that abound for PS and hopefully I’ll some fun announcements to make in the coming weeks.

Until then, thanks everyone for reading, contributing and most of all making me laugh. It’s been a joy and I wish you all a swinging new year in stereo.

Peace- Brian

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The 2009 PlaidStallions Retro Awards

Mantooth — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Yep, I’m doing an awards show, except without the musical numbers (this is a good thing if you’ve met me), stilted humour and most of all, Billy Crystal. Just thought that instead of talking vintage, I’d point out my favourite nerdy retro treats of the last year.

Movies

Star Trek: Oh hot damn did I love this movie, which says a lot because I normally loathe origin stories and the furnace that powers my love for all things Star Trek ran out of coal in the early 1990s.
I don’t agree with everything this movie did but it brought back elements of the classic series that I felt were missing in all of the spin offs. The scene of Spock transporting to Vulcan’s surface gave me chills, it was Star Trek again.
I’m not sure if this is my favourite Star Trek movie but it’s my favourite geeky movie of the year. The other runner up would be Watchmen but I think I’ll watch Star Trek more.
Books
Despite what my wife says, I do in fact, read things longer than a diner menu. While the majority of what i read is esoteric, here are two modern books I found captivating.
First is Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror by Michael Mallory. A beautiful coffee table book tribute to one of my favourite subjects, the Universal Monsters.
Lots of wonderful photographs and insight here, I was unable to put it down. If you’re a casual fan you’re learn a lot, even hardcore fans will enjoy the books crisp layout, strong writing and excellent imagery.

My second favourite book of the year was published in late 2008 but I didn’t discover it until 2009, so I say it counts. Wham-O Super-Book: Celebrating 60 Years Inside the Fun Factory is a fun and colourful look into a toy company that I hadn’t really given a lot of thought to before.
The effect Wham-o had on our popular culture is truly amazing, these were the people brought the Hula Hoop to America, not to mention super balls, the frisbee, slip n slide and the Super Elastic Plastic bubble. Whether you’re a boomer or Gen X this book will bring up happy memories.

Toys

I make it a point to not buy many new toys, concentrating on the vintage but this year was hard and it looks like 2010 will be even harder to keep that mantra. The biggest thing this year for me was the Mattel Retro Action line announcement. Which has been very carefully guided by Paul “Dr. Mego” Clarke of EMCE Toys.
They may not be exact Mego replicas but I’m getting eight inch action figures of Hall of freaking Doom members, that excites me so much I’d like to call my seven year old self and tell him the good news. I’m itching for a Plastic Man something fierce.

Arg! Character options just keeps beating me over the head with stuff that my “inner whovian” needs to own. This Cyberman wave pictured here was one of those things.

As a kid I dreamt of a Doctor Who toy line that would encompass all these strange and wonderful characters, so seeing these things makes it impossible to resist.Next year will see more Doctors (including Sylvester McCoy!), an Ice Warrior, the Master and some other assorted baddies that will be expensive for me.
Finally, the action figure I never thought I’d see also came out in 2009. I was excited and elated that BiffBangPow! chose to do action figures from the Flash Gordon movie in the first place, even happier when they chose to do characters such as Prince Barin and Dale but when they made a death scene variant Klytus, I knew these guys were hardcore.I was nine when I saw Flash Gordon, it overwhelmed me with it’s colour and score, I was instantly in love. One of the most memorable scenes in the film was Klytus’s gory death scene, I’m probably a little too happy to have this.DVDs
I bought a few DVDs this year but three really stand out for me, the first being Mystery Science Theater 3000: XVI which not only features a little Tom Servo figurine (yay!) but a great selection of movies with honest to goodness extras.The movie selection is great, the Italian Mad Max inspired “Warrior of the Lost World”, the Mexican holiday classic “Santa Claus” (I’ve been torturing the kids with that one every December), a Bela Lugosi cheapie called “The Corpse Vanishes” and a selection from my favourite season “Night of the Blood Beast” with two versions.
I also have nothing but kind words for the former MST 3K crew’s latest DVD “Cinematic Titanic Live: East meets Watts” which is a terrible 70s Kung Fu/Blacksplotation remake of the Defiant ones being riffed on by the masters.I’ll probably never get to see CT live unless they get to Canada (HA!) but I couldn’t get over how fun this DVD is, IMO it’s their best yet. Digital downloads are only $10 and it keeps them in business.
As I’ve mentioned earlier on the blog, the fun mid seventies Saturday morning series “The Monster Squad” got released on DVD this year as well.It’s a pretty bare bones edition with nothing by the way of extras. It wouldn’t have been that hard to track down some of the cast for interviews but I’m not complaining, it’s a dream come true just to have this.Now if I could only get the Six Million Dollar Man, Man From Atlantis and the Logan’s Run TV series on DVD….Model Kits

While I have to admit to being excited over the Aurora Monster reissues this summer and fall, the big get for me this year was AMT’s reissuing of their classic “Mr Spock” model kit from the late 1960s.I have wanted to put one of these together since I was five and it was a joy to find this just in time to put it under the tree for my son, who prefers Jedi to Vulcans but loves putting kits together with the old man.And that’s it, I hoped you’ve enjoyed the first annual retro awards, hopefully 2010 will bring new things to talk about. I’ll be doing some tastings for Liquor Pig this evening, so tomorrow’s Friday Feature may be late and grumpy…Happy New Year!

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