Nico, who's manning things for Muttpop on the other side of the Atlantic, shared this nice picture of Tequila from the Japan Expo that took place in France this past weekend. Nope, there isn't anything wrong with the camera. Nope, Tequila didn't eat something that didn't agree with his stomach (his stomach is a strong as titanium!). Nope, that is not a custom.
What you are looking at is a final production version of a new version of Tequila. We plan to debut him sometime after the San Diego Comicon. I really like how bright green the vinyl came out on the final versions of this piece. We initially had some trouble with the color of his pants (initially it came out a little too pink)... but I think we got the rich purple hue we were striving for.
On the original mock up Jerry put together, this Incredible Edition had dark purple spikes. I advised him to change them to a dark green color to give the suggestion that the green horns are actually a part of Tequila's head that's poking through the mask (I stole that from Kozik's version of Red Demon!). Jerry also wanted the mustache to be black, but I fought hard to make it the same dark green as the horns. Jerry got to keep his black mustache for the Gamma version...
More pics and information after SDCC. The various editions of Tequila we have planned for release will be revealled at the San Diego Comic-con.

To make up for my lack of posts this week, I think it'd be fair to show you more of what most people visiting this site are interested in: the King Katch sculpt! I've been shying away from a full view, but I think it's due time I give you a head on look at the King of Wrestling. We worked very closely with Monster5 on King Katch's teeth. Earlier sculpt versions of Katch had some mighty sharp canines. We felt that the sharper teeth distracted from the overall shape and look of the figure. The final version is a nice balance of menace and approachability. King Katch will be released sometime in 2010.

It's about due time for some more King Katch photos. I'm not quite ready to reveal his face... but I wanted to show off his immensely radical (haven't used that word in a long time!) Fists of Fury! His hands are twin monstrosities of mayhem! You also can get a better sense of King Katch's overall height next to the Tequila figure. Please note that the Tequila in the picture is the production model rotocast vinyl figure while King Katch is in his sculpt stage. We're expecting the final production version to be 10% smaller than the sculpt (due to production shrinkage from the molding process) so while King Katch will be clearly larger than Tequila he won't be QUITE as big as what's shown in pictures

As we near the final stages of Monster5's King Katch sculpt. it was due time we shared a bit with you! Both pics are from Monster5's latest batch of development pictures. At this stage, I'd say the sculpt is 85% done. We had a few issues with Monster5's teeth and arms, but Monster5 did a wonderful job addresssing them. The toughest thing to translate was King Katch's hair. Compared to the anatomy of the King Katch design, the hair is very abstract and spiky. Monster5 did a good job of maintaining the simplicity of the hair shape while giving it the needed weight and volume in it's three dimensional form. The only thing that will get a makeover from the included photos are King Katch's calves. Fabien wants the calves to be a bit more plump and smooth. In it's current state the calves are a bit too angular and have an unnecessary and overly realistic dimple behind the knee. We have already asked Monster5 to make the necessary changes.

Many of you have been asking for them. And although, they are still there, many have been having troubling finding links to the in depth developments of Tequila, El Panda, and Red Demon that we did "back in the day" with our good friends at Vinyl Pulse. Well, here they are. It brings back many memories looking through these posts! This, my friends, is where it all began:

CLICK HERE for Making of Tequila (Vinyl Pulse).

CLICK HERE for Making of El Panda (Vinyl Pulse).

CLICK HERE for Making of Red Demon (Vinyl Pulse).

Hmmm. It appears that the earlier Tequila sculpting posts have been lost. I'll start reposting them soon.

When most people see the beautiful designs our artists have done for the Lucha Libre toys and comics, they immediately imagine it being the perfect fit for an animated feature film or television series. There's a distinct style to Bill, Gobi, and Fabien M's illustrations that lend themselves to 2D animation. Since all three artists are heavily inspired by the masterworks of Manga artists like Akira Toriyama and old school Capcom character designers, that inclination is a worthy one.

But, from a conceptual standpoint, we feel that the concept and characters lend themselves to the world of live action feature films. The spirit of our comics comes from the beauty of Los Angeles city, Mexican wrestling, and geekdom. As a cartoon, our characters would immediately be seen as "cool". But as real people in costume, there's an integral element of absurdity that is brought to life.

To me, the "perfect" Luchadores Five movie would be a live action adventure comedy. It'd be a fun mix of "The Warriors" and "Ghostbusters" with just a pinch of "The Big Lebowski". That'd be a heckuva a film!

Watch these previews and tell me if you can see what I'm talking about!: