Sharing someone else's collection

I've been meaning to share this group of photos with everyone, but it must have slipped my mind for the longest time.

Back in October 2008 on the WF forums, a member by the name of lorank316 shared pictures of his Jakks collection from 8-9 years before that date. I was so impressed by the quality, and obviously quantity, of his collection that I chose to save the photos to my computer.

The photos are still available from the original post, as seen here, but I couldn't help but to admire the order and arrangement of his past collection.

So, here are the photos and I hope others enjoy looking at these as much as I have.

Seriously, who wouldn't want to walk down to their basement and see all of that?

I know I would.

Protos? Customs? You Decide...

So, I've been struggling to come up with a topic that would be worth mentioning on the blog.

As it always seems to happen, I'll settle for something that puts photos to use in order to carry the weight of the topic. Can you blame me?

Anyway, I came upon a few photos a while back (excuse me because I don't remember where I got them from) that could either be a great discovery or something so obvious that I'll feel dumb for not realizing it sooner.

These were labeled as S.T.O.M.P. Series 2 figures from a much older website I found (I believe) while digging through the Internet archives. In order from first to last, we have Stone Cold Steve Austin (yeah, believe it or not), Headbanger Mosh, Owen Hart, and Ken Shamrock (although it would make more sense to be The Rock/Rocky Maivia since it's series 2).

Having looked over these photos many times, I still am not sure if what I'm seeing is what I should be seeing. In other words, that these are ACTUAL prototypes or possibly even testshots of the figures that were to be made.

Obviously, the coloring is way off and looks cheaply done, so how reliable can these be?

Well, one thing is for sure - the underwater scuba gear was not available before series 2, so we could be seeing an early attempt at showcasing the accessories before the official color schemes were chosen.

In fact, the figures even look to be on display with the carding and inserts placed at their feet.

Since I don't currently own any of the figures from series 2, the best I can do is to share this MOC photo of Owen Hart (courtesy of Rockin' Robin's Figures) and the back of the carding where actual prototypes were often shown.

There are few similarities between the two sets of protos, which is why I would have to lean toward these being very early (around the time of their release in 1998) customs that are beyond the definition of strange.

Especially Austin and whatever that is on top of his deranged head.

Yet, I can't help but think that maybe there is something more to these than just a bunch of ridiculous customs. After all, these were not listed as customs at the time and it could be inferred that these were meant to be placed under the S.T.O.M.P. Series 2 banner of that particular website.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Are these early customs or prototypes?

BCA Custom Corner #3 - Hogan/Perfect/Rockers...unite!

For the third installment of BCA Custom Corner, I present to you an eBay lot of four late 80s-early 90s customs that are placed upon WrestleMania XV (1999) carding.

Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain these at the time of the listing, but the image is worth saving to document the excellent work of an anonymous seller.

Hulk Hogan is my personal favorite of the bunch because of how the Superstars Series 3 Sycho Sid head was modified to match Hogan's, err, receding hairline.

Mr. Perfect puts the 2 Tuff Series 5 Billy Gunn head to use without much change needed, but the parts and paintjob for the classic blue singlet were the right way to go, in my opinion.

Not to be cast aside, The Rockers clearly involved the most work due to the many fine details included in their attire, which I think may be based on this photo. Either way, I like seeing the crossover of Hasbro Rockers heads to the BCA line.

While I may not have went with that pasty of a skintone, I also realize that the camera's flash may have had some effect on how the figures look in the single photo.

So, which is your favorite of the bunch? Also, would you have made any changes to the attire or parts selected for the customs?

Don't forget, e-mail me at tmac152303@yahoo.com if you would like your BCA customs, past or present, to be shown in a future edition of BCA Custom Corner!

Until next time, have a nice day!

- Alex