July 21, 2005
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Tiger Mask!
Wanna thank our friend and all around Lucha/all things ninja expert, Keith who provided us with a tape containing three episodes of this great animated series
All the info you need about this series is here; what an awesome site. Check out the episode guide, which contains one of the great episode titles of all time: ep 034: A Hot-Blooded Boy in Tiger’s Cave.
From an animation POV, this has the best wrestling sequences/poses I’ve seen. The characters have great weight and physical presence, and the depiction of wrestling moves is awesome.
“If I can just get my left arm under your chin, it is goodnight Tiger san…”
Crunch! Now that’s a suplex…
The animation itself is a nice surprise. A lot of sequences are animated ‘straight ahead’ without the time honored use of keyframes and inbetweens. This gives the series an unusual (by today’s standards) sense of flow, with characters’ volume and size fluctuating through the scenes. With today’s cartoons all adhering to the tight ‘Dexter’ style, it’s nice to look back on this ‘looser’ type of animation.
LOVE this pose!
One of the few Manga/Anime properties that spawned a real-life wrestler (who went on in various incarnations to greater fame than in the medium that created him), the first series (circa early 1970′s) is a great inspiration as we continue to develop our next Lucha property.
Comments (11)
That looks simply amazing!!!
I can’t remember if it was a Tiger Mask or Ultimate Muscle comic that had two wrestlers doing battle on a ring marked with a special betting mat for gamblers watching and wagering on the match as it unfolds….dang!
That’s actually issue 13 of the Tiger Mask comic! Keith has lent that to us, too!
Amazing!!! Isn’t that an great idea?!!? I would soo freak out to see something like that in real life!!!
Just got the sketch book in the mail! Gracias! A million times gracias! I can’t wait to show this bad boy off a Wrestling Church this Sunday! Then it will be all Ramona Cash’s!
Seriously, thanks again guys.
The “Bingo Ring” is one of my favorite of the outre combat arena set-ups in TM, although I still think the ‘ring-at-sea’ arena where TM battles the Gill Man in a square of choppy sea bordered by four battleships is really amazing. The only environment never explored in TM was deep space… And has there ever been a better rogues gallery than the men and creatures lined up to take down Tiger Mask? It’s pretty great when the down-to-earth realistic oppenents are figures like The Convict and Abdullah the Butcher, and from there it gets weird!
Lili/Eddie,
I received my book today.
Thanks so much!!!!!
I remeber Addullah the Butcher. He supposedely lives in College Park, GA.
I think he opened a barbeque/rib place a while ago.
I meant he rib place is in College Park, GA (supposedely)
Ooops, I see it’s in Atlanta. Well, College Park is not too far from Atlanta.
Abdullah the Butcher House
http://atlanta.citysearch.com/profile/3024941?cslink=search_name_noncust&ulink=boc-results_5_searchslot10_520__0_profile_2_1
Am I showing my age by knowing who he is? I remember when he was on tv. (I guess I am showing my age)
PC Doctor…you’re welcome.
Also – we actually visited Abdullah’s place when we were in Atlanta last year…
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=fwak&tab=weblogs&uid=129668982
I vagely remember the Atlanta blog. Very nice! Thanks for sharing.
Abdullah looks good and (I wouldn’t want to mess with him)