Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 10…

The previous entry on this series was about the Namco fighting game that was forgotten by the publisher. Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada said that in the early days of the Tekken, and Soul Calibur series there was a friendly rivalry between the teams. It wasn’t the only arcade-turned-home series that the company forgot about.

Splatterhouse was one of the early arcade horror hits. It got a few sequels on the consoles, and even a decent 3D adventure. Sadly the game is only remembered by die hard arcade fans. This poster from the 2010 game is absolutely massive. The top edge is a little worn, but I’m glad I still have it.

I have a lot of rare Namco things in my collection. Here’s one from the pages of Namco Graffiti magazine. A manga series that they published called Chana of the Labyrinth.

I love the UGSF universe, and consider Starblade one of the greatest arcade games ever made. I’m glad that I have these rare arcade flyers in my collection.

There would be no Starblade without Solvalou, the 3D follow-up to their arcade his Xevious. These are not the rarest Namco things in my collection, but I’ll talk about that in a future entry. Are there any rare Namco games that you wish would get rebooted? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 9…

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was amazing! I am grateful for all my friends, and family. I'll talk about the goodies I got at some point in the future. This is why today’s poster lineup is pretty short. You know I love fighting games. Here’s a few gems from the Soul Calibur franchise.

I wish Namco would reboot the series, however the Namco of the ‘80s and ‘90s is nothing like the Namco of today.

It’s a miracle that Tekken is still going. I’m sure that series would have been imploded if not for the advocacy of Katsuhiro Harada. He’s keeping that company more relevant in the fighting game community than they’d like to admit.

Are there any fighting games that you wish would be rebooted? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 8…

Today’s collection of posters is for mostly western games. Many of these I got from the E3. I’ve said it before but I really miss that expo. I was the west coast correspondent on Planet Tony Hawk.com and when I could I’d secure an autograph for the site founder Trevor “Slateman.” Here’s an autographed poster I sent to him. It had Mike Vallely's autograph, along with Bob Burnquist, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, and I'm not sure who the last one was.

I loved all the games in the series but do think the high point was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. By the time Underground 2 came out the series was feeling burned out. I blame Activision for that because Neversoft was made of talented developers that could have done any genre well.

I’m not big on first person, or third person shooters, but I do think the Borderlands designs were great.

Burning Road was one of those early Playstation games that captured the spirit of the great arcade racers. It felt like Sega Rally and Ridge Racer’s little brother. It gave me hope that other studios were going to create some knock out experiences for the home.

I never saw or played Exarch (Exarth?) but I was, and will always be a fan of Joe Mad’s art. I was happy to get an autographed poster at the E3.

I think this God of War poster came with a magazine. It’s hard to believe it’s almost 20 years old.

I’m also not a fan of Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row-type games but I am a fan of luchador hijinks.

I'm a big fan of skateboarding, not only in game form, but in real life as well. I attended the premier of the Mike Vallely documentary titled DRIVE. He was kind enough to sign this poster for me.

One of the greatest games I've ever played deserved a series. Sadly Crimson Skies came and went relatively quickly. It's a shame too, there was such potential to make it a franchise, I dare say on par with the Star Wars Rogue Squadron.

Are there any old western video game posters in your collection? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 7…

The posters featured today are a cross sampling of my interests, and shows, and events that I enjoyed in the past. It should go without saying that I’m a big fan of Bruce Lee, and his films. One of the prints that I absolutely fell in love with was by artist Justin Orr. I had to support the artist at the Wondercon in Anaheim.

Some of the prints in my collection I just picked up somewhere along the way. This old map of Los Angeles is a great reference. I should straighten out the folds, and get it framed.

One of the oddest posters in my collection actually belongs to my little brother. A lifetime ago there was a hilarious Nike ad featuring Godzilla battling against Charles Barkley. Trust me anything seemed to go with the old Nike commercials. We were at the mall one day and found a poster celebrating the collaboration. So my little brother got it, and I’ve been keeping it safe ever since.

The Hot Sauce poster was one that I created, and my friend that used to work at Kinkos got printed for me. I took it to a Mix Tape Tour game, and got the players to autograph it. Hot Sauce loved it, and asked to use my art on a couple of his own tours.

I should throw out the Eyvind Earle poster but I’m holding onto it because it reminds me of a trip that my family took to a special gallery event.

I believe that if you have the means you should support artists of all types. The art of Gary Montalbano really vibes with me. I had the pleasure of getting a poster autographed by the man at a San Diego Comic Con many years ago.

The giant robot project MORAV was one of those that had so much potential. It was going to be a live action series featuring animatronic robots. One of the designers / actors for the show was Grant Imahara of Mythbusters / Battlebots fame. Sadly Grant passed away suddenly, leaving us with memories of something that could have been truly exceptional.

Were there any gallery events, or independent artists that you really enjoy? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 6…

Several of my game posters came from either Gamest magazine, or its successor Arcadia. Today we’re going to look at some of the posters based on rhythm games.

I got a few gems from the E3, but easily one of the best was a mini poster celebrating the wonderful art of Muramasa.

I don’t remember if this was a free item I received from an online order, or if the Nier cards came from Arcadia.

The Pop ’n Music series has been around for a while, and this poster features every character that had ever appeared in the franchise.

Some arcade posters that I have are for games I’ve certainly never played. Not for lack of interest, but because some of them only came out in Japan. My big brother is a huge fan of shooters. Otomedius is a lighthearted shooter in the vein of Parodies which in itself is a parody of Gradius. One of the most iconic arcade shooters of all time.

Are there any rare Japanese posters in your collection? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 5…

I have written about Games Workshop a lot on this blog. This includes the game systems for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, and the science fiction series Warhammer 40,000. I have a collection of White Dwarf magazines going back to the mid 1980’s. I know that I have a few posters within some of the issues that I didn’t include in my gallery. That’s okay, I might go through them for another blog.

Most of the posters from the company that I have were freebies from either a store opening, or from the E3. As I said previously, I really miss that show more than any other event I used to attend.

I’m not a big fan of MMOs but I do appreciate the work that goes into them, especially since they rely heavily on the canon of the Warhammer universe.

Are there any fantasy, or sci fi games that you like to play? Do you have any favorites from Games Workshop? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 4…

Today’s poster collection was gathered from the occasional visits to the Los Angeles Science Fiction, and Comic Book convention. Which took place every month at the Shrine Auditorium in Downtown LA. Back in the early ‘90s admission was $5. Vendors from all over the Southland had tons of goodies including rare imports from Japan. My brothers, and a few friends would take the Metro Blue Line, which was the first new light rail service in LA.

The neat thing about the convention were the studios would have posters of upcoming movies by the entrance. Sometimes they were full size, but often they were mini posters. We took many during our visits but few remained. I saved some of my favorites, and they’ve been with me for decades. A visit to the show was also a chance to see some comic book artists do signings outside of the San Diego Comic Con. It was how I managed to score lots of autographs from comic, and cartoon creators.

Sometimes we would luck out and there would be a preview of an upcoming movie. Perhaps a chance to do a Q&A with the actors, or directors. It was one such visit when we happened to preview the live action Double Dragon movie, and have the director insult the audience. We knew from that moment that the film was a hot pile of garbage, and would further cement the lack of understanding that Hollywood had with any source material.

Every now and then we’d get to see an indy movie, and meet the people that created them. I have my little brother’s press kit, and autographed photo from Gary Daniels, who played Kenshiro in the Fist of the North Star movie. He was a genuinely nice guy, and was familiar with the Hokuto No Ken books. It was one of the reasons why he got into martial arts in the first place. Of course he was hyped to sign a picture for somebody named Bruce. He cited Bruce Lee as his main inspiration.

Many of the posters in my collection have warm memories attached to them. My brothers, and I saw the Frighteners in the theater. We were impressed by this new director called Peter Jackson. We were sorely disappointed that the film didn’t get a sequel. When the Mortal Kombat movie premiered I won some tickets to see it from a local TV station. My little brother, and I were first in line. We got a mini poster, and a CD of the soundtrack. Cary Takagawa (Shang Tsung) had actually snuck into the back of the theater to see it with his son. Before he snuck out my little brother scored an autograph on his CD. These memories are irreplaceable in my book. The posters remind me of those shared experiences.

Did you have any pictures, or posters that took you back to a favorite memory? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Freeze frame, my poster collection, part 3…

I’ve talked about the history of urban vinyl, and The Godfather of the art form Hong Kong’s very own Michael Lau. He influenced a number of creators from around the world, including the German artist Mark Landwehr the founder of CoarseToys.

Many years ago when there was little to no information on Lau in English I mentioned that Mr. Landwehr was a contemporary artist, and linked to his page. He was so thankful that I pointed people to his direction that he sent me a figure, and a poster.

The other urban vinyl posters I have are from the actual figures, or illustrations from Lau himself.

I really love this drawing of the LMF group, with several gardeners, and Lau in the background.

The Tom Kids were released as limited run promotional figures to coincide with the stock for Tom.com going live. The Hong Kong stock exchange crashed that day. Was it due to Lau? I’d like to think so. My poster was autographed by Lau, and I'm never going to sell anything from this collection. Are there any figure artists that you follow? I’d like to hear about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!