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Although we’ve seen some incredible photography using action figures before, we’ve never seen anything quite like the work of photographer Jax Navarro, who also goes by the name PlasticAction. Using action figures from various different aspects of pop culture, like movies, television and comics, Navarro makes lifelike recreations of different iconic movie moments mashed up together. Think of it all as an action figure remix.
One of the coolest in his series of photos features one of the most intense scenes from Avengers: Infinity War, when Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Spidey, Drax, Mantis and Star-Lord all attempt to rip the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos’ hand. Instead of using the Marvel heroes, however, Navarro instead replaces them all with horror icons like Jason, Freddy Krueger, Pennywise, Michael Myers and Chucky. Looking at this image, you can’t help but think that these guys would have probably had better luck than the good guys did.
So how did Navarro first get into toy photography? “My wife bought me an app controlled BB-8 toy from Sphero shortly after we watched The Force Awakens in the theaters and because I love taking photos, I took pictures of it in different environments and posted those photos on Instagram” Navarro told us. “From that point I started browsing relevant hashtags and found that there was a small community that took pictures of toys. And these weren’t boring product photography shots. We’re talking full action, cinematic scenes using toys. My mind was blown and I knew I wanted in!”
Photos as meticulously constructed as these must take a serious amount of time to put together. So just how long does a typical shoot take to set up and get just right? According to Navarro, “it really depends on what’s happening in the scene and how many subjects are involved. It could take anywhere between 1-13 hours to get a scene setup and lit exactly how I want it. For example, the Ninja Turtles playing basketball involved 22 characters with multiple light setups and that took 10 hours just to set up. Add a couple of more hours on top of that for shooting and post processing. On the flip side, the photo with Baby Groot wearing Marty McFly gear and riding a hoverboard was set outdoors with natural lighting only and that took less than an hour to setup and shoot.”
While some of these photos are easy to stage, others…not so much. So which of these has been the most challenging photograph to pull off? “The Ninja Turtles basketball scene takes the cake” said Navarro. “It was such a challenge trying to fit that many characters into one shot, having them all visible and posing them just right so that they are all showing emotion based on their own unique personality. Also getting the light perfect to where the main subjects (Raph and Leo) stand out from the rest of the scene. Not to mention that one wrong move could make them all fall like dominoes!”
With so many toys from so many different films and TV shows already having been used in previous photos, is there a Holy Grail toy that Navarro can’t wait to get his hands on? Turns out, there is. “Absolutely. The Back To The Future 1/6 scale DeLorean made by Hot Toys. That DeLorean is one of the coolest movie props in history so to have that shrunken down at my disposal would be magical.” We can safely say we are all hoping that Jax Navarro gets his hands on that DeLorean too, because that is definitely a photo we want to see someday.
To see more of Jax Navarro’s amazing work, don’t forget to visit our gallery down below, visit his website at plasticactionjax.com, and check him out on social media at instagram.com/plasticaction,twitter.com/plasticaction_and facebook.com/plasticactionjax
What do you make of these amazing photographs? Be sure to chime in with your thoughts down below in the comments.
Images: Jax Navarro
Although we’ve seen some incredible photography using action figures before, we’ve never seen anything quite like the work of photographer Jax Navarro, who also goes by the name PlasticAction. Using action figures from various different aspects of pop culture, like movies, television and comics, Navarro makes lifelike recreations of different iconic movie moments mashed up together. Think of it all as an action figure remix.
One of the coolest in his series of photos features one of the most intense scenes from Avengers: Infinity War, when Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Spidey, Drax, Mantis and Star-Lord all attempt to rip the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos’ hand. Instead of using the Marvel heroes, however, Navarro instead replaces them all with horror icons like Jason, Freddy Krueger, Pennywise, Michael Myers and Chucky. Looking at this image, you can’t help but think that these guys would have probably had better luck than the good guys did.
So how did Navarro first get into toy photography? “My wife bought me an app controlled BB-8 toy from Sphero shortly after we watched The Force Awakens in the theaters and because I love taking photos, I took pictures of it in different environments and posted those photos on Instagram” Navarro told us. “From that point I started browsing relevant hashtags and found that there was a small community that took pictures of toys. And these weren’t boring product photography shots. We’re talking full action, cinematic scenes using toys. My mind was blown and I knew I wanted in!”
Photos as meticulously constructed as these must take a serious amount of time to put together. So just how long does a typical shoot take to set up and get just right? According to Navarro, “it really depends on what’s happening in the scene and how many subjects are involved. It could take anywhere between 1-13 hours to get a scene setup and lit exactly how I want it. For example, the Ninja Turtles playing basketball involved 22 characters with multiple light setups and that took 10 hours just to set up. Add a couple of more hours on top of that for shooting and post processing. On the flip side, the photo with Baby Groot wearing Marty McFly gear and riding a hoverboard was set outdoors with natural lighting only and that took less than an hour to setup and shoot.”
While some of these photos are easy to stage, others…not so much. So which of these has been the most challenging photograph to pull off? “The Ninja Turtles basketball scene takes the cake” said Navarro. “It was such a challenge trying to fit that many characters into one shot, having them all visible and posing them just right so that they are all showing emotion based on their own unique personality. Also getting the light perfect to where the main subjects (Raph and Leo) stand out from the rest of the scene. Not to mention that one wrong move could make them all fall like dominoes!”
With so many toys from so many different films and TV shows already having been used in previous photos, is there a Holy Grail toy that Navarro can’t wait to get his hands on? Turns out, there is. “Absolutely. The Back To The Future 1/6 scale DeLorean made by Hot Toys. That DeLorean is one of the coolest movie props in history so to have that shrunken down at my disposal would be magical.” We can safely say we are all hoping that Jax Navarro gets his hands on that DeLorean too, because that is definitely a photo we want to see someday.
To see more of Jax Navarro’s amazing work, don’t forget to visit our gallery down below, visit his website at plasticactionjax.com, and check him out on social media at instagram.com/plasticaction,twitter.com/plasticaction_and facebook.com/plasticactionjax
What do you make of these amazing photographs? Be sure to chime in with your thoughts down below in the comments.
Images: Jax Navarro
The Arrowverse has cast Bitsie Tulloch (Grimm) as Lois Lane in their upcoming three episode crossover event. Tulloch will join Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman in the crossover that includes Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl. The event will also feature the introduction of Ruby Rose as Batwoman. Tulloch seems like a great choice for the role, and is already a Lois Lane fangirl, according to her Instagram post about the gig.
Tulloch wrote in her post, “When I started acting, one of my teachers asked me to watch the screen tests for the role of Lois Lane for 1978’s Superman. All of the actresses were terrific, but it was always clear to me why Margot Kidder won the role: she seemed lit from within, full of joie de vivre. Now, at a time when the noble profession of journalism feels under siege, it’s a privilege to join the club of actresses who have played the dogged reporter.”
Tulloch is clearly a fan of the character, and here’s hoping that she gets to recur in the Arrowverse after the crossover event. After all, Kara is barely working at CatCo anymore and somebody needs to pick up the slack, am I right?
(via Deadline, image: Catrina Maxwell/Getty Images for SCAD)
- Supergirl producers are allegedly eyeing The Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano for the film. Yes please! (via Geeks Worldwide)
- Ray Park is interested in a Boba Fett/Darth Maul team-up movie. Yeah okay, we’d watch that. (via Nerdist)
- Maisie Williams, best known as Arya Stark, has signed on to be a voice in Rooster Teeth’s gen:LOCK anime series. (via Deadline)
- Peter Donat, who played Fox Mulder’s father on The X Files, has passed away at the age of 90. RIP. (via Page Six)
Happy Baturday, Mary Suevians!
Family dinner on #BatmanDay pic.twitter.com/1NyNR0wFHV
— Eric Alper (@ThatEricAlper) September 15, 2018
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Since 1999, Stern Pinball, Inc. has been bringing branded pinball machines to the masses, including popular titles “The Simpsons Pinball Party” (2003), “AC/DC” (2012), and “Star Wars” (2017), which was featured at San Diego Comic-Con 2017 both on the exhibition floor and in a pinball lounge at the San Diego Marriott Marquis Hotel next to the San Diego Convention Center.
Stern Pinball returned to Comic-Con this past July to showcase its latest creation, Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast. The machine features the band’s mascot, Eddie, in his various guises, plus twelve songs from Iron Maiden blasting through its speakers. The machine has an MSRP of $5,999. A companion comic book is available for the devilish price of $6.66.
To showcase the Legacy of the Beast, Stern had its “Global Ambassador,” Jack Danger, on the floor and in the pinball lounge at the Marriott Marquis playing the machines. Danger, host of the Twitch TV streaming pinball show, “Dead Flip,” started as an animator, moving into pinball first in animation and design concepts, then as a player who now competes in several tournaments a year.
Legacy of the Beast was designed by Keith Elwin, one of the top pinball players in the world, based on a pinball machine he had created on his own as the type of machine he wanted to play, according to Danger.
“Stern has a lot of the great old pinball designers that have been in the industry for a very long time,” Danger said. “The concept for this game, the layout before Iron Maiden as a theme came, he built homebrew in his house.”
In a conversation punctuated with lots of laughter, The Nerd Element spoke with Danger at this year’s Comic-Con about his job as Stern’s global ambassador, his pinball life and love of Stern machines, and where one might find a Stern Pinball machine to play:
The Nerd Element: What’s a “Global Ambassador”?
Jack Danger: My-to-day is teaching people how to play pinball. Stern sought me out to spread the word of Stern Pinball while I’m going out there and teaching people how to get better at pinball.
TNE: Where do you teach them?
JD: I bounce around to different bars, people’s basements; wherever there’s a pinball machine, I’m probably there doing my job.
TNE: I have a question about the machines. Are they tilt proof?
JD: No machine is tilt proof, even if you take the tilt out.
You can hit a game enough because nudging a game is like 50% of playing pinball, but if you’re really just there to beat the crap out of it, it’s going to yell at you. You lost your money in that fight for sure.
TNE: So you said you were—you’re the pinball wizard, right?
JD: Sure. I feel more like a warlock if you will. But I will go with wizard.
TNE: Do you play in tournaments?
JD: Yes. I compete professionally. After Comic-Con, I’m flying immediately to [a tournament] in Pittsburgh where I am absolutely going to win the whole thing. Regardless of what anyone else says, I’m taking that dang trophy home, I’m filling it up with soda, and I’m going to drink out of it while everyone just cries.
TNE: How many hours a day do you practice on Stern pinball machines?
JD: I play pinball at the very least three to five hours a day, every single day. Like any other hobby, practice makes perfect. And you will see yourself getting better if you spend some time practicing your flipper mechanics or maneuvers. Also watch people that are better than you [who] will show you a lot of stuff that you’re doing wrong. That’s how I learned, was watching people that are way better than me: “Oh, so I’m flipping like this, but I need to be doing this thing over here.”
TNE: So did Stern see you playing and say, “I want that guy to be my Global Ambassador?”
JD: (laughing) I started a live Twitch show three-and-a-half years ago where I would set up a bunch of cameras over various pinball machines [and] stream that out to the world to show people how to play better. After a year or two of doing this, Stern caught wind of what I was doing, invited me out to the Chicago Pinball Expo, and it just sort of all fell into place there. It was on the “Walking Dead” pinball machine they had at the time, which was just a crusher—it’s such a good pinball machine—and that’s where we nurtured that relationship.
TNE: What about Stern pinball machines do you like?
JD: They are extremely reliable. The themes are always fantastic. The designers are all the designers you’ve loved throughout the years, and some new ones that are just now starting up who are making the shots on games that you love to make. You got the programmers that have been working on games for years, making the rules that you love, the light shows, everything about it. Stern has cultivated all the great minds of pinball that have been over the years and some of the new ones all into one space to start hammering out the best machines that you can find on the streets.
TNE: What’s your favorite machine to play on?
JD: I don’t know that I have an answer for that. It’s mood based; you know, sometimes you want an old slow one. The game I love teaching people to play pinball on is “AC/DC.”
TNE: Why is that?
JD: The shots are fanned out. [O]n that machine, every flipper skill that I can think of can be done on that game. If I’m teaching people how to do post passes or backflips, you can do it all on “AC/DC.”
TNE: Anything else you’d like our readers to know about Stern Pinball?
JD: Just get out there and play them. If you’re going out in public to play pinball, odds are you’re finding a certain pinball machine. You’re going to love it. Go find another one. Fall in love with certain designers of pinball machines, seek those out. You can’t go wrong.
TNE: Where can we find Iron Maiden? Where will that be placed?
JD: Literally everywhere. It really depends on the operators in your hometown that want to buy them. You could theoretically just see one sitting by itself in a laundromat. It depends on who buys it.
You can find more information about Stern Pinball and Jack Danger at the following links as well as follow them on Twitter:
Stern Pinball: http://www.sternpinball.com/
Twitter: @sternpinballinc
Jack Danger: http://www.deadflip.com/
Twitter: @HeyJackDanger
Twitter: @dead_flip
The post Jack Danger Demos Stern Pinball’s Iron Maiden Machine at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 appeared first on The Nerd Element.