In 1994, Olmec obtained the rights to produce figures using actual Hasbro moulds, and released a box set of twelve figures, sold exclusively at Toys R Us in 1997. Eight of the hero figures (called The Bronze Bombers) were made up of Hasbo bodies with new heads. The four villains (named the Pyros) were entirely Hasbro moulds.

However in China they openly floated intellectual property rights. Something that was likely necessary for Olmec, who were not producing original products to inspire children from minority backgrounds, but through side-stepping ethical trading regulations, flooded the toy market with their less than ethical toys. Some would say that Olmec were doing no more than cynically exploiting an untapped market, through their toys, masked as a cultural crusade for ethnic equality in the choice of toys available to children. I guess the tester is that Olmec ceased as a company in 1998, with massive debts, and a number of law suits filed against Yla Eason for non-payment of salaries and returns to her investors from which she had run-away to Detroit from Olmec's base in Richmond, Virginia. Leaving some 1600 Malcolm X dolls unsold, in storage at the factory. I'm sure there's an irony in there somewhere.

Weird Retro Fact: View the Bronze Bombers Album on the Weird Retro facebook page.

Dangerous warriors lie in waiting to spoil your efforts to reach your goal. You begin your journey as a White Belt, the first belt in the sport of Karate. By defeating the attackers, scoring points, and learning new martial skills, you will earn each of the colored belts associated with the 'Tang Soo Do' style of karate. You must achieve the highest rank of all, the Black Belt, in order to reach and enter the monastery which is guarded by the fearsome NINJA assassins." Erm... A lot of mentions of "karate" in there, oh and "ninjas" hope they changed that in the manual when they renamed it Kung Fu Superkicks!!! Oh, and changed the country it was set to China!

Weird Retro Fact: The Captain's Blog post entitled Japanese Chuck Norris Action Sex Doll, is the most popular blog post to date on Weird Retro.

Weird Retro Fact: In the 1980s, not only did Chuck Norris lend his name to this game, but also the infamous Action Jeans. Read the brief history of Kickin' Action Jeans and Chuck's involvement. 

All making for an insane trip of a movie, that has become a minor cult classic. The Man Who Saved The World is just one among thousands of movies made in Turkey, mostly between the 1960s and the 1980s. Along with the 1979 movie Superman Returns (Supermen Dönüyor) otherwise known as Turkish Superman, Turkish Star Wars is for many their first introduction to the crazy world of Turkish copy-cat cinema. 

Weird Retro Fact: Turkish Superman is just one of many Superman variations that were produced, read the article Copy-Cat Cinema: The Turkish Superman Movies. 

To quote from the game manual doesn't help explain the bizarreness of it, and only adds to the wonderful weirdness, of what was an ingenious game for its time. "You begin this extraordinary experience devoid of personality, an amorphous shape in the land of the mundane. Behind the facade of flying ducks and kitchen sinks however lies a giant web of drama and intrigue spun within the pleasuredome. Scruntinise! Investigate! Probe! Objects you take for granted may be your passport to success; clues can be discovered everywhere. In this game of games you will need the skills of Arcade King, Adventurer, Super Sleuth, Mastermind and more. Frankie say Relax. Use the Power of Zap to build the equation (4 icons at bottom right corner are (left to right) Pleasure, War, Love,and Faith) to its peak when, if you respond brilliantly, you may enter the heart of the Pleasure Dome."

I first came across Tatsumi's work in the late 80s, with the publication of an anthology of some of his early work, Good-Bye And Other Stories (1988). The stories of the foibles of ordinary citizens living in the big cities of postwar Japan fascinated and enthralled me. Cramped living, the hustle and bustle of daily life on the streets, and how one person trapped in this "new" Japan can so easily get lost. How beneath the surface of saving-face and correct customs of behaviour, there was a quite corruption of the traditional way of life. How men who had been through the war in particular felt emasculated, out of place in an ever changing cityscape, lonely, emotionally detached and desperate for love and affection. It was these insightful works of Tatsumi that started my life-long interest in Japan, and in particular the hectic streets of growing Asian metropolises like Tokyo. The heart-wrenching stories life's daily grind were it turned out wonderfully rendered snippets of reality, as I would later discover for myself when I was fortunate enough to spend many years living South Korea and had the opportunity to visit Japan. 

His music was difficult to say the least, poorly recorded it assaulted the ears with no subject off limits and all taboos covered in horrific lyrical detail. Designed to shock, Allin said he wanted to make rock music "dangerous" again. The no-limits on-stage GG Allin first came to prominence in the mid-80s, when a limited released cassette tape of  Hated in the Nation  came out in 1987, which featured previously unreleased , live and rare recordings of Allin and his work with a number of punk bands.

Also by this time Allin was a heavy drinker, addicted to heroin and would consume pretty much any drug he could lay his hands on. He was constantly being arrested for his violence and regular on-stage nudity, as well as for the outrageous and often illegal stage antics. In 1989 Allin landed in prison for assault on a woman, that Allin claimed was a willing participant along with himself in a series of depraved sexual acts. He was jailed until 1991, during which time he wrote a manifesto and got ready to explode back onto the scene. Allin skipped parole after getting out, so that he could go on tour.to go on another tour. Footage of that tour was filmed for the 1994 documentary about Allin, Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies. The movie showed Allin in full performance mode, naked, shitting on-stage, assaulting the audience. At one point he throws a beer bottle into the crowd, hitting a woman in the face and breaking her nose.

His last performance was on Friday June 27th, 1993 at a small club in Manhattan. The gig was only two songs in when there was a power-cut, which enraged Allin. He went mad, smashing up the club and causing near riotous chaos. He left the club naked and walked down the street followed by a gang of fans from the gig. After a while he headed for an apartment of a friend, to keep partying. During the party Allin took a large quantity of heroin and accidentally overdosed. Sometime in the early hours of the Saturday died, aged 36 years old.

Weird Retro Fact:  Allin was obsessed with serial killers. He had written to and also visited infamous "Killer Clown" John Wayne Gacy in prison a number of times. Gacy painted Allin's portrait, which was used as the album cover to the soundtrack of the film Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies.

The production of episodes has been sporadic over the years, and due to this the animation style differs quite dramatically through the episodes. Many episodes are about defeating the evil imperialist weasels. And most of them feature stories around the character Geumsaegi the squirrel, who with the code-name "Blossom" has left the safety of Flower Hill and infiltrated the weasels as a spy. The cartoon has a reputation not only for its overt propaganda themes, but that for a kids cartoon that contains fluffy animals, it does contain some violent scenes and the deaths of characters.

The animation is produced by SEK Studio (Scientific Educational Korea), a government controlled studio run out of the capital city Pyongyang. There is a YouTube Channel dedicated to preserving all the episodes of Squirrel and Hedgehog that have made out of the country, many of them with added English subtitles. 

Weird Retro Fact: The studio worked on the animation for the French cult sci-fi epic Gandahar (1988).

A visually stunning mind-bending ride into the surreal mind of Jodorowsky. And very much worthy of its status as one the key movies of cult film history.

Weird Retro Fact: Read the article about Jodorowsky's failed attempt to bring the sc-fi novel Dune to the big screen before David Lynch did. The Greatest Film Never Made: Jodorowsky's Dune.