The Story

My name is Jack Turner, and I run Jack's Animatronics Warehouse. I was eleven years old when I first saw a video of the Rock-afire Explosion, and what struck me wasn't nostalgia (as I never grew up with the show), but the realization that animatronics, when done right, could be an extremely compelling artistic medium. Walt Disney imagined animatronics as a way to bring characters, real or fictional, to life. He wanted to sit across from his childhood heroes like Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain. The Rock-afire Explosion, created by Aaron Fechter, is to me the greatest expression of that vision ever built. It is a show where music, choreography and lighting combine to create something that is really magical.

I've restored and sold nearly one hundred Rock-afire Explosion characters, hand painted over a hundred masks, and worked to make the resources fans need, like replica fabric, new cosmetics, latex pieces, available so that others can restore their own characters to the standard the show was built to. I treat these characters as an expressive medium, handling the artistic, mechanical, and electronic work myself, and delegating specialized work to a small team of collaborators I trust.

In 2023, after nearly four years of work, I completed the first ever total restoration of a complete Rock-afire Explosion show, a project that had never been done before and had never been documented. Every cosmetic piece on the show is brand new, made from newly created molds, sewn by hand using original Creative Engineering patterns, and painted to match how the characters looked coming off the production line in 1983. The mechanical systems were fully overhauled, nearly every pneumatic cylinder replaced, valves rebuilt, airlines rerun. The stage was built from the original Creative Engineering measurements. A new modular lighting control system was designed. A three compressor air supply was installed. Fabric was custom produced overseas after a year of back-and-forth to match the original 1980s fabrics. Molds that had been lost for forty years were recovered, remade, or in a few cases, found by accident.

Beyond restoration, I choreograph and program the band to new music. I have programmed them to songs by artists such as MGMT, Lana Del Rey, and most recently had the honor to work with Cole Bennett to include the characters in the official music video for "P.O.V." by Clipse and Tyler, the Creator.

The show is now fully operational and open for private tours in St. Joseph, Missouri. Most people who come through have never seen animatronics performed at this level, and watching them understand, in real time, what the medium is capable of and see their joy is what makes this worth it.

Outside of animatronics, I have been running my YouTube channel for ten years, and I spend a lot of time making and editing videos, designing t-shirts, designing album covers, and running social media for various organizations. Art in general is something I keep coming back to in a lot of different forms. I believe in doing whatever you do well, and in being passionate. I very much am.