Another Tequila 2.0 appearance. This time on ToysREvil.

CLICK here for a larger version of the picture and ToysREvil's comparison between Tequila Original & 2.0.

New photos of Tequila 2.0 are up at Amanda Pulse/Vinyl Pulse (I also included a higher res of the first 2.0 VP photo below).

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF TEQUILA 2.0

When I saw the first group shots Bill did of the LUCHADORES FIVE, I had this strong spark in my gut that told me that we must find a way to make them into toys.

Then I saw these first two sketches Gobi did of TEQUILA. At that moment of clarity I knew that Tequila would be our first figure and that'd he'd have a removable plastic poncho! Who knows why. Maybe I was jealous as a child that my sister's Barbies had removable clothes while all of my GI Joes and Masters of the Universe figures just had weird rubberbands in their torsos. All I know is I felt that this Poncho would distinguish Tequila from other toy (both designer and mainstream) figurines and give him the Southwestern/Mexican flavor that hadn't been handled as deftly as Gobi had.

Then again, maybe I justed wanted a legitimate excuse to still play with toys...

It's super rare that I'm in a photo-taking mood. But the day I took Jerry to the LAX airport for his France trip, my inner-nihonjin (Japanese) brought out the picture-taking machine in me!  :-)

Since neither Jerry or I had ever been, we decided to have a nice business lunch at The Encounter Restaurant. If you are a Los Angeleno, you may not have heard of The Encounter, but you've surely seen it. It's that super retro-futurist structure that makes the ho-hum LAX airport look pretty nifty. It's like they took a piece of The Jetsons and put it smack dab in the middle of those nasty LAX roads!

I remember being fascinated by the building as a kid. At night it lights up in these beautifully vibrant colors. I'd always hope to see a cool Jetson style rocket car pull up for a refuel.

What I hadn't discovered until recently is that it's a fully stocked restaurant and bar!

Sadly, they've been doing tons of external reconstruction to the building and we went during the daytime (the atmosphere of the place shines best by LA moonlight). But there was enough of a good time to be had to make me want to go again.

The entrance of the building is very unassuming and pretty boring. As you walk in, you enter an atrium/lobby that is very reminiscent of a generic government building. It even has that musty old fabric smell!

You then get on a rickety alumninum elevator and the magic begins! The lights of the elevator dim and some psychadelic shag/jazz enlivens your 15 second elevator ride to the restaurant.

The restaurant is super kitsch. There are tons of lava lamps and aluminum tabletops. You also get an amazing view of the airport and Los Angeles. The interior feels like a weird mix of a 50s Hamburger Diner and something out of your favorite 50s sci-fi film. The silly vibe is a bit infectious... so much so that even the waiters appear to be having a good time hanging out and talking between serving customers.

Food was decent. It's a little costly (I think I paid $20 for a Cobb Salad)... but the funky presentation adds to the experience. I recommend checking out the bathroom (pictured below). It's filled with wacky colored glass that'd probably make a drunkard bug out.

I look forward to going back with the wife one of these days. It's a part of the "L.A." experience that, as a Los Angeleno, I'm sad took me far too many years to experience!

I just picked these figures up at the Asahiya bookstore on Sawtelle in Santa Monica. That region of Sawtelle (between Santa Monica and Olympic Blvd, west of the 405 fwy) has blossomed into a pop cultural beacon of all things Japanese over the last 15 years because of the awesome presence of stores like Giant Robot and some really yummy Japanese restaurants (Asahi Ramen, Furaibo).

Every time I'm in the area I love to visit the very hidden Asahiya bookstore to check out the latest ongoings in Japanese Manga and Japanese Toy Magazines. This time around, I was lucky enough to stumble upon these beautiful Ultraman Pocket Figures!

For a little less than $5, you can purchase a blind box containing a 1.75 inch tall figure. Figures are injection mold pvc, non-poseable, fully painted, and stand on a black plastic base.

I'm a sucker for Japanese SD (super deformed) style figures. SD style figures are a huge inspiration for our Tcho by Ohm! line (and I'm really planning to one day do our very own Lucha Libre SD line). These Pocket Figure Series Heroes appease my SD needs with their chunky style... I'm just a bit bummed that I wasn't able to get any of the awesome Kaiju (monster) figures. As you can see from the photos I took of the full color checklist that comes packaged with each figure, there are a whole bunch of amazing monsters in the series. I just got 2 'Ultra' heroes (Ultradad & Astrobot/S Robot). They're just TEMPTING me to buy another one. Argh!

The only quibble I have with these figures is the black plastic base. Yes, I understand it's an efficient way to ensure that the figures can stand. It's really tough to create balance in a figure with such large heads (we know by experience). But I like the purity of a standfree figure even if it means they are not free-standing (M.U.S.C.L.E.S./Kinnikuman would suck if they had stands).

All in all, my purchase was a happy one. Ultradad rocks hard with his quantum dumbbell/vibrator. Astrobot/S Robot (sorry, my katakana skills are rusty) is super blinged with his copper chains and belt. Their mini-size make them very discreet and encourage you to buy more friends and foes to battle.

Jerry and I just got back from taking a few photos of Tequila 2.0 at Griffith Park. We'll be leaking those out over the coming weeks as we prepare for the new Tequila's eminent release. Do you notice anything different?