5 Questions With > Rustin Parr

Today we have an interview with a good friend of mine, Rustin Parr of OAFE. Rustin and I first met through OAFE in the early 1990s, and despite living on separate coasts, we’ve met in person many times since then. An passionate if idiosyncratic movie buff, Haunted Mansion enthusiast, and King Leonidas look-alike (well, maybe not the abs, but the face, anyway), Rustin has agreed to bare just a bit of his soul to us here at PGPoA.

338381890_lCode name: Scott McEachen, alias Rustin Parr, alias Gunstas von Artlefuasdensein, D.D.S.
Specialty: Dreaming Big and Accomplishing Small
Base of Operations: Monterey, CA
History: Began the adventure in gorgeous Hermosa Beach, California, whence an egregious lust for action figuring took hold. A lack of sculpting ability and painting prowess propelled him into the world of Motion Picture production whose frivolities spat the man into the cutting edge of Neuro Marketing during which a healthy imbibing of toys and movies keeps the life juices flowing. It was a hot and sunny day when a close personal friend, the self-titled Lord of the Nazgul, brought together Rustin with Yo Go Re and Poe Ghostal, all posters at the formerly awesome and important/relevant spawn.com message boards, the latter two being founding members of oafe.net. After one particularly long and laugh-riddled evening in which Rustin performed his then-constant desperate rage upon the unprepared Yo’n’Poe towards falsely accused inept waitresses and rightfully, if not righteously accused George Lucas and his modern films, Poe’n’Yo dragged the Froce’o’da’nature into the fold at OAFE where on Rustin continues to this day to be less entertaining than that first eve and less consistent in producing reviews than his editor would prefer. Rustin is survived by his collection projected to consist of over 2,000 individual action figures, 500 hundred vehicle and location replicas 9in varying scales) and hundreds of plus-sized and resin collectibles, not to mention a DVD collection of some 1200 discs.

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5 Good (and 5 Not-So-Good) ’80s Toy-Based Feature Films

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With the imminent release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and the announcement that Tom Hanks may star in a Major Matt Mason movie, big-budget films based on toy lines are big business. The last (and first) time this happened was in the 1980s, when there was a slew of feature films based on the various fad toys of the era.

Here’s a look at some of the best and worst toy-based films of the 1980s. With one exception, all of these movies received a theatrical release. (more…)

Stand! (in the place where your figures are)

As action figures have become more poseable and dynamic, collectors have been looking for ways to pose their figures in more than just the typical “soldier in formation” look. Other figures simply tend to fall over a lot (looking at you, JLU). So it’s not surprising a number of action figure manufacturers and third-party companies now offer a range of ways to get your action figures looking their best.

This is just a quick overview of some of the better-known display stands available for 3 ¾” and 5″-7″ figures. (more…)

5 Questions With > JDP Design

A few weeks back, I reviewed an Action Figure Display from JDP Design. I was so intrigued by the concept, I asked the boys at JDP to chat a bit about how the product came out and their own experiences with toy collecting.

bio-card-pictureCode Name: JDP Design
Real Name(s):
Dan and Jeff Phillips, co-owners
Base of Operations:
www.actionfiguredisplays.com
History:
Our company creates Action Figure Displays, which are detailed, themed environments that give your toys a world to live in. We have always loved action figures and enjoy displaying our collection. We created Action Figure Displays because we wanted a way to more effectively display and photograph our figures. Years of developing our product has resulted in quality displays that include a wide variety of themes that can accommodate almost any type of action figure.

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Toy news roundup, 1/20/09

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  • 2009’s FANtastic Exclusive: Round 1 is up! PGPoA endorses the Gargoyle!
  • First look at Playmates Star Trek figures based on the upcoming movie. WTF happened here? Kirk looks like Dwight from The Office playing dress-up. What’s even funnier is Art Asylum’s far, far superior figures based on the original show are now available at Toys R Us. (TNI)
  • Hi-res images of the Mallah’s Revenge Infinite Heroes 6-pack (TNI)
  • Better pics of the Batman/Clayface two-pack. I would be all over this set if Batman weren’t covered in goo, but I’ll have to wait for the non-muddy version. (TNI)
  • Dream Weaver Press to release Tall Tails “Silvermain” figure (AFI)
  • McFarlane Toys’ Halo Points program kicks off (Spawn.com)
  • First look at DC Unlimited Resistance 2 figures (Figures.com — who really needs to do something about its terrible loading times)
  • 2008 Awards Central: Fwoosh, Figures.com, Michael Crawford
  • DC solicits Blackest Night figures (spoilers!) (Action-figure)