HMP: Remember when Gatecreeper and Territory opened stores at the same time at Holy Mountain and I was stone cold sure Territory was about to take the fuck over. How’s that for a first question!
SEAN: Hahahaha oh man that’s a pretty good one. I wish that band had done more than we ended up doing.
HMP: I loved both bands but as a betting man I had my money on Territory. There were no losers in this bet though because of course Gatecreeper fucking rules! Which band started first?
SEAN: Thanks man, I’m glad you liked it. Territory was first by a few years. We started practicing with our line up at the end of 09 and started playing shows as a 5 piece in ‘10. For a couple years we were playing all the hardcore shows in Tucson and Phoenix, and we did a couple of small tours and got to play Power of the Riff and Rain Fest. After that we just kind of slowed down and Gatecreeper started up and quickly became Matt and I’s focus.
HMP: My first introduction to Territory was through Garth from Crown and Throne contacting me to print the 7” covers for Blowback. Of course, I checked it out because it came with not only Garth’s seal of approval but that killer Give Up art, so I was fairly certain this was going to be good. How did the relationship with Crown and Throne and Give Up come about?
SEAN: Hahahaha I had to ask Ryan how we got connected with both of them. I didn’t meet either until well after the 7” came out. Ryan had met Garth while on a road trip with some friends from New Mexico up to Denver for a Of Feather and Bone show. He isn’t sure if Garth or Mike from Escapist Records had reached out to Give Up for art first. We had a shirt design by him and the 7”. I’m not really sure either it was so long ago. I would always book our shows with Sam and set up our practices while Ryan and Sam did the art and release stuff. I’ll have to dig those up this week, I haven’t looked at Territory stuff in a long time now. That’s Ryan Bram of Homewrecker studios who’s recorded all of the territory and Gatecreeper music, plays(ed) guitar in Territory.
HMP: I loved Territory because although my true love and starting point in heavy music was metal, I also spent a large portion of time in the hardcore scene and Territory has that perfect blend of hardcore and metal that is very much of my era of hardcore. So, before we go forward let’s go back a bit. What was your introduction to heavy music?
SEAN: That’s exactly why the 4 of us wanted to do a band like Territory. We all love straight forward traditional hardcore and pummeling double bass and blast beats, so we put them together. My introduction to heavy music feels pretty standard for people that were kids in the 90s, Korn and Marylin Manson on MTV when I was about 10-11 years old. They were both getting heavy play then and I just fell for it. Then a couple of years later Slipknot self-titled came out and that’s when I fell in love with double bass and trying to find more extreme music. I had an older cousin tell me about a few bands and I just kind of went from there until I found hardcore in the early 2000s.
HMP: We all came into heavy music from somewhere. Me being a bit older I was brought in from glam metal, but I really dug Ratt and Motely Crue because they had that harder and darker edge to them. Even though once I found Metallica I was moving harder and faster at light speed I still have a special place in my heart for those bands. So, I know you have a love for Earth Crisis and in Territory I heard that love for hardcore in the songs. What were the bands that brought you into that musical spectrum?
SEAN: Yeah exactly man. I’m sure if I had grown up in the 80s, glam metal would have been my gateway to the good stuff. I was already listening to the Earth Crisis album Slither because it was marketed to the Nu metal crowd, but when I heard Hatebreed’s Satisfaction album and heard a Tucson band called Gat Rot’s Conflict album is what drew me in. I was into a lot of those bands coming out in 02, 03, 04 before I went back and really got into mid 90s hardcore/metalcore. Early Dillinger Escape Plan, Poison The Well, Zao, Terror, Converge, Throwdown, Most Precious Blood, Sick Of It All were definitely some of the first bands I remember getting really into and making hardcore something I wanted to be a part of.
HMP: Metal and hardcore do not always mix well but when it does like in the case of Earth Crisis, Merauder or Burnt By The Sun there is little that can touch it for intensity! So, for me the hardcore scene is definitely where I derived the do it yourself mentality is that where you were motivated to pick up an instrument or start a band or did that happen differently for you?
SEAN: I agree! I love those bands! Burnt By The Sun doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. A Life Once Lost was another great band that mixed the two. I was already playing guitar for a few years by the time I found hardcore and knew that playing music is what I wanted to do. I pretty much picked up a guitar when I got into metal in middle school. The hardcore scene is what made it clear to me that I wanted to play DIY extreme music.
HMP: Burnt by the Sun is criminally underrated! That might be the single greatest melding of hardcore and metal. The message and brutality of hardcore with the precision and playing of metal. All those records make me want to tear the world in half! Hardcore and that DIY ethic is what allowed me to start Holy Mountain. Without my years in the hardcore scene I may not have travelled this path. I think it was that steppingstone for a lot of people for opening up the possibilities. So, we talked hardcore what were the first more overtly metal bands you got into?
SEAN: I think you are right man, hardcore has been a great stepping stone for a lot of people to live out their dreams be it traveling, photography, shirt design and printing etc. I think the DIY attitude and confidence to create are the best things you can get out of the scene. Pantera, Anthrax and Slayer were favorites that have always stuck with me since I first started listening to Nu Metal. Once I moved past Nu Metal, Cannibal Corpse, Meshuggah S.O.D. and Nile were early favorites. I was obsessed with cannibal corpse immediately!
HMP: When I was a kid my little old catholic as could be grandma would go to the local record store and buy me metal shirts. Specifically, she got me the root of all evil Slayer shirt and the Anthrax State of Euphoria shirt. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when she was in there talking to the staff and buying these shirts haha. Slayer along with Metallica changed my life and I mean that literally. Those bands changed everything for me. From there on my quest for all things faster and heavier few had the impact Cannibal Corpse had! I got Eaten Back to Life at 16 when it came out and now almost 30 years later, I still listen to them regularly! You must have lost your mind when you found out Gatecreeper would be touring with them? What was that like?
SEAN: Dude that’s awesome your grandma would do that! Hahah I could only imagine how fun that conversation must have been. I guess Hatebreed and Sepultura were the bands for me like that. I was getting into all of it around the same time in early high school. I had never heard anything like Satisfaction or Chaos AD and they just blew me away when I got them. Same as when I heard Gallery of Suicide for the first time. I needed more immediately. Man, when I found out we were going to tour with them I was so excited. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would play a show with them let alone tour with them. It was everything I hoped for. Great crowds, good times hanging out with them, their crew and power trip. It’s still my favorite tour we’ve done and a lot of those shows I’ll remember for a long time.
HMP: Jesus man I remember when Sepultura’s album Arise came out, it just fucking floored me. It was so fucking heavy. Then Chaos A.D. came out and it was so different and still just a crushingly heavy record. Sepultura is a gift to the world for sure. Getting to work with people that inspired you is such a special thing. For me getting to work with Earth Crisis, Integrity and Jef from Leviathan were my versions of your Cannibal Corpse tour. That is amazing that you got to go out and tour and have that experience with a band that so inspired you. So, I want to ask a little bit about Gatecreeper. How did you guys end up working with King of the Monsters and were you aware of the historic significance of their back catalog? Also, as a toy and kaiju guy you had to be stoked to have a release on a label called King of the Monsters haha.
SEAN: Dude the integrity shirts you’ve put out the last couple of years are awesome! Territory actually got to play with EC in Phoenix and in Tijuana, that was surreal to me! it’s a real special feeling I don’t really know how to describe. Honestly, I’m not too sure how working with KOTM came about. I think Mike approached Chase after we put the EP up on Bandcamp and was excited to do it. I hadn’t met him until that time, but we had dozens of mutual friends. The EP was co-released with Protagonist records and I’ve been friends with Brendan from that label for a long time, so it was cool to keep that release all in AZ. And no, I hadn’t actually heard of the label before but when I looked into it, I saw he had put out a bunch of stuff I liked. Hahaha man I wish I knew more about Kaiju. I’ve watched a few Godzilla movies and Ultraman and I have a Godzilla toy from when I was a little kid, but I never actually followed up with the whole genre. The toys are so awesome! I could stare at them all day.
HMP: Yeah, I knew you had commented on a lot of the pictures I have shared of toys, so I knew you had some connection to toys there. So, you guys have now done two full lengths with Relapse, a label any fan of death metal would consider legendary. How did you guys end up on Relapse and how has that relationship been?
SEAN: Yeah man your toy vault is awesome! So initially Sonoran Depravation was going to be put out by a389, but around the time we were doing the record, Dom was closing down the label. Dom showed the album to Relapse and they got in touch with us to put it out. I was so excited to get that call! They’ve been awesome to work with, and fun guys to hang out with too. Like you said, they’re a legendary label!
HMP: I’ve never heard anything but good things about Dom and that was a solid thing to do on his part for you guys. a389 has its own legacy as a great label also. I met Dom recently when he was here with Integrity definitely seemed like a good guy. Relapse has such a long history of killer records and my interactions with them as a label especially with Rennie have been incredibly cool. What would your top three Relapse releases have been before signing to that label?
SEAN: I agree a389 was awesome! I always made sure to check out stuff he was putting out so I was already stoked to be working with him before I even knew Relapse would be a thing. I actually first met Dom in like, 07 when I got to book his old band Pulling Teeth here in Tucson. Pig Destroyer’s Prowler In The Yard, Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity and Rotten Sound’s Cursed are my favorites. That label has had so many good bands put out so many good records, but those are the three I’ve easily spent the most time with.
HMP: Whew that is three great picks! When I got Prowler I couldn’t believe my ears. That album got played nonstop. That Rotten Sound album is far and away their best. I was just listening to that one while running a week ago. So funny story I ran a DIY venue in Winston Salem NC for a year and the final show that got the place shut down for good was a Dillinger Escape Plan show. It involved police shutting the power to the building off and a cop walking out on stage to a packed house chanting fuck you at him. What a way to go out haha. So those influences should bring us to talking about Languish. First off, I want to say that Languish absolutely fucking crushes. So, in this band you’re handling the front man position instead of playing bass. I would imagine this position in the band, artistically scratches a very different itch?
SEAN: That’s an awesome story! Probably the last time I saw Dillinger Escape Plan in the mid 00’s, at the very end of the last song their vocalist threw one of their stage boxes in the air and it came crashing down on their guitar players head when they hit the last note! It was insane! And it’s probably pretty obvious but both Pig Destroyer and Rotten Sound we’re huge influences on Territory. And thank you man, I appreciate all the kind words. It does scratch a different itch. I get to state my feelings about whatever, or I get to write stories about disemboweling people. Trying not to sound too corny, but it’s fun to me to get up there and growl and yell.
HMP: Not corny at all I am sure that the department of front man and lyricist comes with a whole different level of expression that isn’t tapped into with an instrument. I can see it would be a lot more personal. Languish I just noticed also has me printing for 3 out of 3 of your bands as I did the tape covers for Crown and Throne! So, I figure we should wrap this thing up so let’s throw in an ender question. I saw you talk about Brutal Truth’s Need to Control in a different interview. That is an A+ motherfucker of an album that I do not see talked about enough. What is it about this album that grabbed you? I was going to ask for your top death metal picks but fuck it lets worship this album as it rightfully should be!
SEAN: It really does. It brings on a whole new set of feelings while performing live too. You feel like it’s your job to get things going with the crowd, where while you’re playing an instrument that comes second, and being tight with the other guys comes first. I had thought you printed the tape covers but I wasn’t positive about that, that’s awesome! I’ve followed Holy Mountain on Instagram for years now and it’s great seeing it grow to what it is now! What a great ender! Dude, when I read this question, I had to run home and throw on Need To Control, it’s been too long since I’ve listened. What a killer album. It really doesn’t get talked about enough, and I feel like Brutal Truth doesn’t get talked about enough in general. Such a solid discography! What grabbed me about this one was how the opening of Collapse creeps in with all the noise and static and having it drag out into the main riff... man it forces you to grit your teeth and bang your head! I love the pacing of the album too. It’s in your face full throttle then pulls back with the samples and noise tracks. I love when grind albums do that, and I think Full Of Hell are masters at this style of grind. They have a little bit of everything mixed into their music so it’s never boring. And man, the individual performances are something else. It’s like you’re being attacked by music! Kevin Sharp sounds like he’s going insane on every track. Like he is genuinely going psycho berserker mode on every song. It really is a perfect grind album.
HMP: Man, I could not agree more! I would be as comfortable referring to Need to Control as high art as I would metal. It is a genuine masterpiece. You’re absolutely right about the vocal performance and pacing of the album. Kevin Sharp sounds bat shit crazy and the pacing is more like a movie which ebbs and flows like a story with the tone and mood always changing. The expertly placed inclusion of noise at a time that wasn’t commonplace also sets this album in its own class. If I had to pick one grind album this would be it. I also agree the guys in Full Of Hell are really doing something special. They tossed out the rule book and are paving their own path. Sonically they don’t sound like Neurosis but as artists paving their own path and staying true to their art, I see a lot of similarities between the two bands. Well damn man thanks for taking the time to do this! We’ve now worked together for a long time and of course we’ve talked but I definitely feel like I learned a lot more about you than I knew before this conversation started.
SEAN: Dude yes! It really is an album to listen to start to finish. I’ve felt that way about Prowler In The Yard since high school. I get that comparison between Full of Hell and Neurosis. Both bands really letting out a lot of emotion in their music, and both bands are really sonically abrasive to the audience in their own respects. Thank you for chatting with me man, it’s great to actually get to know you too and talk some bands and albums for a while! It is always so quick when we stop by. It’s great we’ve been able to work together for so long now and I love how hardcore/ underground music can bring everyone together one way or another. Now I’m going to spend the next week re-visiting some old grind and 90s metal-core favorites!
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HMP: Ok I am starting with the big one for me which is James and Metallica. I will say for the 4,000th time here that Metallica and specifically Master of Puppets changed my whole life. Upon seeing your list, I immediately questioned your decision to put James over Kirk. Not that I think it is the wrong answer but please qualify that decision and take it easy on ol’ Kirk haha
SCOTT: Master of Puppets also changed my life. I had started playing guitar around 8 years old, because of someone else on the list, but lost motivation. It was when I heard Master of Puppets that I thought “I NEED to make those sounds,” so I picked up the tablature book for the album and that’s really how I learned to play. James Hetfield is just the archetype solid guitar player. Very precise and his down-picking is unrivaled. I tried to model myself after his style and that might be the only person on this list that I can say that about. You just like Kirk because he’s into the same toys as you!
HMP: That’s not true Kirk likes the same horror movies and toys as me! I actually hear you 100% on James and I understand your choice. For me as someone who doesn’t play an instrument the solos in those songs always seemed extremely magical. Not just in Metallica but in metal as a whole. I think most non musicians tend to look to the solos as the “hard part” or the part with the wow factor which is definitely unfair because Kirk’s solo is Battery is nothing without James mean ass riffs. So next up is Bill Steer which is another big one for me. I fucking love Carcass, they are probably my favorite death metal band of all time. Definitely the band from that genre that I was most entranced by. Which is your album of choice and what about Bill’s playing grabbed you?
SCOTT: Heartwork for sure. He leveled up on that album without a doubt. It may have been some influence from Mike Amott, but I always preferred Bill Steer’s solos. Amott is no slouch by any means, but Steer just flows more to my ear and he without a doubt left an impression on my playing. Any attempts at a solo I make I feel always ends in a very Steer way. Also, regarding Bill Steer, I should mention that he’s the reason I bought an Ibanez S series guitar. I saw him playing one in Metal Maniacs in 1993. Also, he was later responsible for me wanting to get a Les Paul. Wow, more of an influence than I even remembered!
HMP: I like Amott also but was always a Steer guy. I loved the way they named their solos also. Steer has a way of playing that is no bullshit and cut down to only what’s necessary to the solo. He also manages to sound fucking beautiful in an extremely aggressive and ugly music. He’s like the Hellraiser movies and somehow makes that gore soaked band seem elegant. Donald from Earache actually posted on a Carcass record I shared recently that the label received lots of hate mail for Necroticism and the later Carcass records for the band “selling out” ha. Alright so we talked about Eddie Van Halen when we did the podcast and our shared love of that band. Jef from Leviathan also had Eddie on his list and I would imagine he makes a lot of lists haha. What about Eddie’s planning inspired you and what is the Van Halen album of choice. Also, as Joe Dirt said it’s Van Halen not Van Hagar!
SCOTT: Ha, I actually like Van Hagar also, but I agree Van Halen is a different band. When I was around 8 years old I heard the intro to ‘ain’t talking ‘bout love and it was one of those “oh wow, I’m quitting school and going to be a rocker” type moments. Nothing really needs to be said about his playing that hasn’t been said a thousand times. He changed the game and I still haven’t heard anyone play like him to this day.
HMP: If you had to pick one Van Halen record which is it?
SCOTT: Man, that’s tough, but I’d have to say Van Halen I is my favorite.
HMP: With Van Halen there is no wrong answer for favorite album. Now Van Hagar that is a whole other situation hahaha
SCOTT: Ha, there’s some good tunes in there, but it’s a different band and should be called something different for sure. It’s like Chinese democracy, I love it, but it’s just an Axl Rose solo album.
HMP: Ok so I don’t know a thing in the world about Paul Gilbert. If you had to explain his work to someone unfamiliar and express why he makes the list what would you say and what entry point to his music would you suggest?
SCOTT: He’s the only “shredder” I have on the list, and I think it’s because I heard Racer X when I was about 12 and it was a super human level of playing that I had a hard time believing was real at the time. I loosely followed him through the years, and I’m not necessarily a fan of his bands, but I feel like he is someone who has truly mastered the instrument. He’s not just speed, but tasteful playing in any genre you can throw at him.
HMP: I remember seeing Racer X ads in metal magazines as a kid and not knowing what it was. Now I am intrigued. So, we’re on our last player and it’s another one I love. What is it about Vic Dicara that gets him on the list and is it 108 or Inside Out that lands him there?
SCOTT: My first introduction to him was Beyond, but yes Inside Out being the undeniable band they were, is what cemented him for me. I have to say I had a hard time choosing between him or Dr. Know for this list, but at a very pivotal point in my guitar playing, it was definitely Vic who I was most influenced by. He’s a riff master and has a very unique and identifiable style. Wild on stage is an understatement! Also, being a metalhead I loved that he was leaning that way with the long hair and Charvel guitar.
HMP: Wild on stage for sure! That dude puts everything into his performance. I’ve managed to see a few 108 shows and he is something to behold. Dr. Know is also huge and we discussed it previously, but I would be shocked if Vic’s playing was not heavily influenced by Dr. Know. I love all the Bad Brains records but I Against I and Quickness are my two favorites. Since we managed to bring up Doc let’s just make him #6 and wrap it with your favorite Bad Brains album and what it is about his playing that makes him special?
SCOTT: Quickness 100%! I saw Soulcraft on headbangers ball when I was like 12 and loved it! It still holds up to this day. I think it’s safe to say hardcore wouldn’t be what it is today without Dr. Know and the Bad Brains.
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Before I share my thoughts on shooting John’s memorial show I need to pay respects to John Rivera himself, a giant in the North Carolina hardcore/metal/punk scene. I started going to hardcore shows in Greensboro around 2008 and met John and Caroline soon after. I remember seeing John filming bands sets all the time and he was always such a pleasure to talk to about the bands and their music. I didn’t start shooting shows myself until 2010, and with doing that John and I formed a solid friendship talking about camera gear and music. I was always inspired by John and how he documented and archived shows for everyone to look back on. He shared so many amazing stories with me about the shows he attended, and I always looked forward to seeing him, Caroline and sometimes Penny at local shows in and around Greensboro. He came to gallery showings of my photography when I had them and supported my career as an artist until the day he passed, and I will always remember that. So, thank you John, for everything.
CODESEVEN
Fast forward to 2022, I get word of John’s passing at a friend’s house and was shocked. I know John had been battling some medical issues for years but I didn’t see his passing coming so suddenly. I think the whole hardcore community felt that like an earthquake. A few months later I have a sit down with Caroline at a local coffee shop just to catch up and that’s when she told me about the show. I agreed to shoot it without hesitation and didn’t even know who all the bands playing were. She did say that there may be another big surprise band, but it was not confirmed quite yet. At that time, I shot shows from time to time but was more focused on personal projects and other creative endeavors but still had a love for shooting hardcore and punk shows from my connection and friendship with John. A few days go by and Caroline sends me an email that it’s now confirmed, Prayer for Cleansing is going to be performing! I couldn’t believe what I was reading, on countless occasions I remember friends older than me from the hardcore scene talking about having seen Prayer for Cleansing and Undying. Since I started going to shows after these bands had broken up, I didn’t think that I would ever get a chance to see them, let alone photograph them! I knew a show like this would bring so many people back together again and would be one of the most special nights that I could ever be a part of. I was honored and excited to be a part of it.
UNDYING
On the day of the show, I was quite nervous, I’ve shot so many shows but this one was different. I felt a lot of pressure to capture every band perfectly. I wanted to create images that could and would be looked back on for years to come by the bands, the people who were at the show and the ones that couldn’t make it. I know all these bands were very important to John and wanted to do the show justice.
PRAYER FOR CLEANSING
Shooting the show was just an overall amazing experience to say the least. The energy from each band was great. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Riot Stares and Funeral Chic a few times over the years and It was great documenting them. As for the last part of the show other than Codeseven, whom I had seen at the Beloved reunion, I had never seen any of these now mythic bands perform live before. That’s when I felt it, the pressure was on! I’ll never forget maneuvering around the photo pit and onto the stage for all the bands, making sure I capture each member of every band in the best light. I couldn’t help but look out into the crowd between taking photos of Undying and Prayer for Cleansing while they played. Two bands that were pinnacles for North Carolina and metal in general and seeing the crowd in disbelief and excitement that this was happening! This show, these bands and love for John Rivera had brought so many old friends together and the energy in the building was unmatched. It’s a night I will never forget, and I hope my photos did it justice. The sets were all phenomenal and I know the spirit of John was in the Ramkat.
DANIEL'S CURATED SHOTS FROM THE SHOW...
RIOT STARES
FUNERAL CHIC
AZAZEL
CODESEVEN
CAROLINE AND PENNY
CATHARSIS
UNDYING
PRAYER FOR CLEANSING
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Holy Mountain Toy Vault
By: Daniel T
Shortly after I got married and started Online sieradenwinkel I had a son. We already had a daughter so this made four of us I was now financially responsible for. Freshly married, new business and a pile of "you just had a kid" hospital bills meant I was beyond broke. When I say broke I mean selling my records and CDs to buy groceries and working round the clock, dead ass broke. There was no room in the budget for fun stuff like toys. Fast forward a few years and my wife and I made some decisions and cuts in the way my business worked as well as our personal lives that got us steadied financially and to a point where every day was not a struggle to make ends meet. We were on a family trip to NYC that was actually a business trip we had extended into a little family getaway when we stopped by the mighty Toy Tokyo. (https://gokceadaimrozemlak.com/)
Usually, I went to Toy Tokyo, looked in the cases, fantasized and left empty handed but on this particular trip, my wife urged me to pick something as she felt I had earned it and we could now afford it. I labored over the decision and made the employees open the cases to show me this figure and that but ultimately there was only one calling my name.
Everyone I looked at, which were all incredible still had me drifting back to this one particular figure, the Gigabrain Hedorah figure you see here. We were on the last day of our trip to NYC and were all toting everything we had in backpacks until our flight which meant I had to carry this guy (and he is big) through the city for the rest of the day.
I was scared he would bang into something so I literally walked through the city cradling him as if he were my baby. This Gigabrain Hedorah figure became the first in my collection and to me is still the coolest looking and most important piece I own.
The details and colors on this guy are so incredible and his eyes are fucking mesmerizing. Also a little known fact, Godzilla VS The Smog Monster is the greatest Godzilla film and Hedorah is hands down the coolest Godzilla villain, no doubt!
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Welcome to the fourth installment of TOY VAULT from Online sieradenwinkel. The feedback and overall support from these have been amazing. We all love that we can share our favorite toys with you all. We have A LOT planned for this series including doing some videos showing off some of these amazing toys we write about. The post we have for you all this week includes a story behind the figure we are showing today from Danny. The G1 Shockwave! We will have a guest writer Jordan Neidert (00GundamreviewsV2) who is a good pal of mine and major part of the Gundam scale modeling community. He will be giving us a brief bit of history behind the G1 Shockwave figure as well. Enjoy!
By: Daniel T
Guest Writer: Jordan N
Shockwave was and is still in my top 5 Transformers of all time. Now as an adult I would have a hard time arranging the order of that top five list but as a kid, he was number one with a bullet. Something about him, the one eye, the purple colors, that he was an actual gun, he was outrageously cool. Sure Megatron was a gun also but he did not have actual laser blast sound effects and lights. Whatever it was about him, Shockwave was in my mind, the king of all Transformers at this point ( a seat formerly held by Sideswipe but that is another story altogether. )
So it was my birthday, I was turning 10 years old and the only gift I wanted was Shockwave, he was literally all I could think about. My family never had a lot of money when I was a kid but my parents made sure birthdays and Christmas were off the charts for my sister and I. They would save all year to make sure those two holidays were where we got everything we wanted all year. My birthday came and of course, the mighty Shockwave had arrived.
He was even cooler out of that box than I dreamed he was when I would stare at him on the toy aisle. Shockwave lived up to all my expectations of a toy and then some and I could not believe I finally got him. The day after I got him as I was playing with him his blaster stopped working, no sounds, no lights.
I brought it to my mother and we changed the batteries and still no lights and no sounds. My mom took me to exchange him and when we got to the store there were no Shockwave figures left to swap him out for. I remember my mother being irritated and stating she just wanted a refund and then we left the store. I was confused, what the hell were we doing? Would we get him at another location? We got in the car and drove away.
After a short drive, we pulled up at my mom's bank and went inside. At this point I was super confused, why did we return him, why were we at the bank? We went inside and my mother proceeded to open a savings account for me using the money from the Shockwave return. She handed me my new bank book and told me that my savings account was now my gift. This seemed to me as a kid just plain evil, I mean I just had the Transformer of Transformers and now I have a bank account! I spent my life periodically thinking about what happened that day. Did the lady at the store make my mom mad? Did I do or say something bratty that pissed her off?
At the time I never asked, I just sadly got my bank book and put it out of my head until literally this year. At dinner I asked my mom about the whole thing, recounting the whole story and she looked at me with no sign of recollection on her face at all. She did not remember any of this. She doesn't remember returning it or being mad at me or anyone else. In my head, I spent my life assuming I probably did something to make her mad and that this was some sort of punishment. As an adult, I realize how amazing my parents were and how small and insignificant this whole thing was but as a kid having Shockwave for a day and then losing him was worse than if I had never had him at all.
Fast forward to being an adult I was thrilled to be reunited with one thanks to Crowemag Toys here in Yarralumla, NC and for all the time I did not have him, I can tell you he is now a VERY cherished piece of my collection! Side note to my mom's credit and I owe her a LOT of credit, that bank account was the first money saved that went to what would become my first car, so thanks, mom!
Shockwave's G1 toy, like many of the original Transformers, came from a pre-existing mold used by another company. Despite most of the original cast being taken from the pre-existing "Diaclone" toy line, shockwave was made from the "Astro Magnum" toy produced by Korean toy company, Toyco which was produced in 1983. Radio Shack would go on to use this same toy mold in their own Transforming robot toy in 1985 known as "Galactic man"
We hope you all enjoy this latest installment of TOY VAULT. We will have a video showing off this G1 SHOCKWAVE out very soon. Thanks for the continued support!
- HOLY MOUNTAIN PRINTING
No television show changed things for me more than the original U.S. run of Robotech. Sure Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) and Tranzor Z (Mazinger Z) both played pivotal roles in introducing me to giant robots and the Japanese animation style but Robotech changed everything. Not only did Robotech further introduce me to Japanese animation but it hit at just that right time in my development as a young person with things that were completely foreign to me.
The serious take on war, survival, an ongoing story spanning generations and the introduction to romantic elements at a time when my brain was just starting to take an interest in such things was all intensely different than anything I had experienced up to that point. Robotech was the gateway to much more advanced expectations of my entertainment and a broadening of my world view. Nothing was the same after watching that show and to say I was obsessed with it would have been and is still an understatement.
I watched it religiously when it originally aired, revisited it numerous times over my life, read and collected the comics, owned it on numerous formats and have obsessed over the toys, which is what brings us here today. For my money, the SDF-1 is the king of all large robots and transformable ships. I mean aside from being a giant ship the damn thing had a city inside it! It was not only a space cruiser but a giant robot and home to an entire city of people.
As a kid, I can tell you I fantasized about what it would be like to live on the SDF-1 and to be a mech pilot like Rick Hunter, Max Sterling, Ben Dixon, and Roy Fokker. This incredibly detailed and beautiful toy made by Matchbox is one of my most prized possessions. Simply holding it immediately transports me back to that same place of wonder and awe that it did when I was a child.
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You can order your copy of this 7-inch vinyl here:
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機甲艦隊ダイラガーXV!
From the Holy Mountain Vault of Giant Robots, Monstrous Kaiju, Transforming Planes, Kids fighting wars in large robots comes one of the best 15 pieces of die-cast metal and plastic you could ever own...
GX-88 VEHICLE VOLTRON. AKA DAIRUGGER
We took some detailed photographs of this amazing piece of Japanese engineering to share with you all as well as a little history in this exact figure. Also this weekend the Soul Of Chogokin DAIRUGGER was announced. We have some photos and video from the convention to show you all a sneak peek into the new release.
When I was a little kid I was obsessed with Voltron, the cartoon was up there with Robotech in pivotal shows that paved the way for my obsession with large Robots. Like every kid, that year all I wanted for Christmas was the fucking lions! Christmas morning I started unwrapping this massive box and as the paper tore I saw the logo of the mighty Voltron start to peek out. I was as excited as a kid could be until the paper tore further and I saw Voltron 1 staring at me. I was old enough to fake it and maintain the look of excitement for my parent's sake but inside I was so bummed. This was NOT the fucking lions! Later that day as I got him out of the box I realized that Voltron 1 was actually really awesome, extremely well constructed and he quickly became my favorite toy that year.
Fast forward to being an adult and finally getting my hands on my very own original lions set and being able to judge them side by side. I have to say that the lions pale in comparison. The carton was and is incredible but they are simply not as well constructed, they feel rickety in comparison. Dairugger, or Voltron 1, was built to take a beating (which he certainly did) and the Lions feel like a stiff breeze might blow them apart. If you have them both, get them out and tell me you do not agree. The lions do not click together as parts as well and they do not stand as sturdy on their own.
Also, I think Dairugger's face is one of the most iconic of all the robot faces and the lion's toy did not translate as well from the screen to figure and almost has a goofy look about him. I know for most people it is the lions that will always be king but for me, Dairugger is the mightiest of the Voltron toys
TOY FAIR 2019: SOUL OF CHOGOKIN GX-88 VEHICLE VOLTRON DAIRUGGER!
This year at the TOY FAIR 2019. We several new releases. Everything from Gundam to Power Rangers. One of the more exciting announcements that caught our eye online was at the Tamashii Nations booth. They had all 15 pieces laid out for the vehicle Voltron with a display board showing a blueprint stating "SOUL OF CHOGOKIN NEW PROJECT" with DAIRUGGER showing in the image.
If you are not familiar with what Soul Of Chogokin or Soul of Super-alloy is, it's a figure line based on mecha animes from the 70s and 80s. Mecha from Super Sentai, Neon Genesis Evangelion and of course Voltron! This is a high-end line from Tamashii Nations with most figures in the $200/$300 range. That price tag, of course, comes with the quality to back it up. We can't wait to see the final release of the SoC Dairugger. Here are some more photos from the show and a video from ULTRAZILLA TOYS. Make sure to check out his channel.
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