THE HIT LIST - July 27, 2015

This past week was pretty busy for me, so content has been slower than usual. But, that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up with with what's happening in independent material and other matters of visual feats of sports and athleticism of which you will see plenty.

Time to get things rolling, and as always with a new playlist of stunt and training reels with performances by Aaron Gassor in full Sith mode, stunt players Moussa Sako, Luciano Arnieri, Deangelo Harding, Laura Beamer, Hayley Wright, Jesse Haus, Jennifer Li, Chistopher Leps, Mallory Thompson, Jwaundace Candace, Jared Losano, Sina Ali, the latest action director reel by Mark Mottram featuring scenes from the 2014 thriller, The November Man, and a new director reel by lensman and action director Godefroy Ryckewaert.

For the next leg, while I don't always feature freerunning in these, gems featuring any aspect of stunt performance are welcome with solid video production to boot. Damien Walters himself has since applied this in a new video of his own in a new video where he pretty much freeruns while engulfed in flames. It's not the first time I've seen this particular stunt, but it's also seldom done since the last time I'd seen a traceur on fire was about two years ago, which is pretty amazing.

Walters kicked off the new year in great fashion as well with the release of Matthew Vaughan's Kingsman: The Secret Service in which he performed stunts and helped train in the fight action as well, and he also put together an impressive short video ahead of the film's release. This is a guy that really knows his stuff, so I wouldn't fall asleep on him.

Other videos to accompany this segment include a new globetrotting reel featured on Team Farang's new channel in which parkour wunderkinds Luci Romberg, Anan Anwar and Jason Paul went leaps and bounds around Los Angeles, Bangkok and Japan.. thus the perks of being a traceur; you literally get to run around the world. Not. Even. Kidding - And speaking of, you will also find Romberg's latest video in the form of a submission sampler among a playlist of several now online for this year's Red Bull: Art Of Motion completion in the lush outskirts of Oia, Greece. I didn't include them all in this playlist because there are so many, but these are the ones that stood out to me while fishing through them.

Submissions ended today as well, so click here to say hello to the fanpage and learn more about the event!

While we are on the subject of athletic competition, martial arts trickerd from across the country are being invited out to East Windsor in Connecticut for Battle Of Fury 2015. Tricking gatherings are full of electricity with badass performances by young and inspired martial arts purveyors and experts from nearly all walks of life, which is worthy of noting as much as the phenomenon has taken shape in recent years, so help keep the spirit alive and if you're interested, headover to the link to get your tickets today and check out the promo for the event below!

Well into the new year, little is known about the future endeavors of Just Kidding Films duo Bart Kwan and Joe Jo outside of their usual feats of comedic spectacle. However, whatever their later aspirations may be, it clearly involves martial arts, and they've undergone quite a bit of training for some time now with martial artist, actor and action trainer, Force Storm Entertainment's own Noah Fleder. This week, Kwan and Jo are offering up another journal entry enviting subscribers of their network into a day of weapons training at South Coast Martial Arts.

Keep in mind, martial arts training is some serious stuff, especially with weapons...although clearly that doesn't take away from any of the hilarity you're about to see. They really do put the 'stick' in "slapstick". Watch please.

Alas, we've come to the last leg of this week's Hit List and the fight stuff is a bit light this time around, but still worth lending an audience to. First up is a trailer for the August 3 premiere for the new webseries, Warigami, a vengeful tale of martial arts and fantasy where paper is the deadliest weapon of choice.

The proceeding two videos thereafter include a new group test fight by Gay Alexandre with Thomas Lorber leading the badassery, and the newest fight short from the growing crew over at Wolf Stunts titled, The Bag.

The next video comes from director Andy Hourahine with the new shortfilm, Karate Girl: Brawl. Produced by Blair Johannes, the project sequelizes last year's Karate Girl: Streetfight with martial artist Julia Hourahine back once more and leading a story that takes our martial arts heroine's journey into further contemplation. The project here takes on a more spiritual shape here, and with your help, her path can go even further, so subscribe to the project's fanpage and lend your support, accordingly.

And lastly, and all the better for it, is a filmmaker who I've rambled about for nearly as long as I've run this blog. Stuntman and oft-filmmaker Emmanuel Manzanres has returned to charm the hell out of the online action fanbase once more with a spectacular new group offering in the new short, Monster. FMA purveyor and action actor Bryan Sloyer plays our captive forced to fight from the bloodthirsty clutches of four goons led by Jerry Quill in a scrumptious onslaught of hand-bound fistcuffs and full-fledged, no-holds-barred bat-cracking, headbashing, flesh-wounding facial reconstruction of only the brutal kind. This jewel of a video is literally so good it hurts, and bares all the markings of what it truly means to create quality content.

Someone get these people on a TV show please. Who must I bake cookies for in order for this to happen?

*sigh*.. Watch below, in awe.

A few more honorable mentions go out this week to independent filmmaer Vlad Rimburg's latest fan reel attributed to legendary action star Jean-Claude Van Damme, as well as actress and filmmaker Toy Lei for her Best Actress and Best Action Film victory among the winners this year's 11th installation of the 72-Hour Shootout competion hosted by the Asian American Film Lab in NYC for her new short, Boxer. The short is currently not available to the web yet, but the stills are still available in case you missed them...

...As for all else, feel free to view last week's Hit List roster in case you need catching up, and if you have QUALITY content that could use an audience, send it over to filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com

THE HIT LIST - July 20, 2015

Well, I'm certainly proud after last night. I don't get to have too many adventures with stunt professionals, but when I do, they're all inarguably some of the most fun experiences I continue to have. I guess I can only hope to share those experiences with even more people I include in the weekly Hit List...for now though, distance and affordability are my disadvantages. But that doesn't stop me from bringing the action where it is, so...

...let's get this shindig started with a new playlist of stunt and action demo reels. The names here include Alfred Hsing, Bonnie Pisciotta, Janelle Beaudry, David Ausem, Michelle DeMond, Petra Sprecher, Alvin Hsing and Julien Briau.

I thought I'd advance things a bit with the inclusion of a couple of parkour videos this week since content is a bit low. Plus, sometimes I do include freerunning videos to spice things up seeing as how such a dynamic sport has much to do with how we view cinematic action. And this week, Ilya Semyonov, Will Sutton, and the freerunning talent in a new reel hosted by the Epic Metal Piece channel have it down packed!

It was back in March that Stunt 360's own Jacob Sebastian Malm shared a trailer to showcase the names of talented martial artists enlisted in this Summer's presentation of Giacmo Puccini's Turandot at Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria. This month, we have a new highlight video featuring all of our talent hard at work behind the scenes and rehearsing, and to be honest though, I've never seen Turandot myself, so I've never been familiar with it until as of late, although considering what we're seeing here, it looks like an exciting show we could all wrap our heads around.

Anyway, as you are about to see, one of the show's key performers includes filmmaker and Martial Club creator Andy Le who himself has another video on his team channel featuring some more behind-the-scenes work, and this time with indepenedent action performer and member of Zero Gravity, Unlucky Stars star Ken Quitugua. Not much is being said about this project other than its title, The Challenger (I'm already sold), so there isn't much to go by except for Le's own insight and some of the exclusive footage Le is introducing to all of us. Check it all out now!

Also offering some extra behind-the-scenes goodies are on-set highlights from the production of Lunar Stunts Action Cinema's Spring short film release, Tough Street. You can find it on their channel as of three months ago, while this week you can now observe just how director Eric Nguyen puts together action sequences and tells stories in the process. His channel is full of morsels and if you haven't heard of him now, hopefully this will clue you in.

The fight action now ensues in several new test fights and shorts from here on out. Kicking things off is a new little gem from action actors Anthony Pho and Alex Levand and Shift Media's latest action short -The Reveal with Craig Canning and Grant Steven.

The remaning three videos recapitulating this week's Hit List are now here - a few of which you may be familar. The first is a new addition to the blog courtesy of Glasgow-based martial arts studio Hybrid Fight Academy who have experimented with cinematic action before. They always do solid work and moviegoers may even find some of their touch applied to filmmaker Christian Sesma's forthcoming installment sequelizing the long-awaited release of one of his recent titles, Vigilante Diaries.

In the meantime, you can find their latest contribution to action cinema with their brand new short, Interrogation, principally featuring Hybrid fight instructor, actor, choreographer and director George Johnston.

INTERROGATION from Refract Visuals on Vimeo.

Consider these latter two as honorable mentions, with the first coming from independent filmmaker Frank Hernandez in the form of the new action drama short, Heart, and Fabien Garcia's newest hard-hitting epic piece of post-apocalyptic action fanlore, Drained World, which is now seeking funding from the public, as well as interested investors for a full webseries season. Click HERE and HERE for more info.

That about wraps things up on this end, but if you have time to spare and you missed last week's Hit List, please feel free to have at it. Otherwise, if you or someone you know is a content creator with QUALITY work that could use some publicity in a future Hit List article, send an awesome e-mail at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

THE HIT LIST - March 2, 2015

Oh look! More videos. It's funny, really. I always expect to run short every week and I usually end up with at least 20 or more. This week I'm just shy of a few and I wouldn't be surprised if I missed any. Some of these gems are not easily detectable through simple searches.

Anyway, let's get this list started with some tricking and stunting reels! Martial Club founding member Andy Le's is up first and while this isn't his first appearance in a Hit List article, it probably won't be the last. The reel slate also includes stuntmen Brian Ho, Alfred Hsing, Daniel Graham, Vincent DeComo Helvetic Tricking's latest feats within lush Swiss locales, a Bear Grylls Adventure segment featuring Greek traceur, Maria Raptaki!, and some kickass GoPro training with Hong Kong fight choreographer, Pound Of Flesh action director John Salvitti!

Brian Ho - Stunt Demo 2015 from Brian Ho on Vimeo.

Alrighty, time to put the dukes up...

Robot Underdog's Dragonball Z: Light of Hope became an online hit last week Tuesday upon its de layed release, which was quite fortunate considering the premise of the short and its date marking the 22nd anniversary of Ueda Yoshihiro's Dragon Ball Z: The History Of Trunks. At any rate, the short, starring Anton Bex and Jack Wald became an online hit acquiring well over 4 million views in just a couple of days, with immense press coverage that was nothing short of uproaringly positive. You would be wise to see it for yourself as it has now being touted as the solid go-to playbook on adapting Dragon Ball to film for Hollywood directors. In the meantime, a new making-of featurette is now online for you to check out as of last week with speaking segments by fight choreographer Lohan Buson and stunt coordinator Tim Storms. Watch below!

As far as short film trailers go, this one looks like a real treat. Following the celebrated debut of his 2013 shortfilm drama, Alone, London-based writer and director Richard Kattah's next is definitely geared toward fight fans in the forthcoming short action drama, Untamed. The story centers on Alfie, a cocky pugilist with a troubled past who works his way up in the underground fighting circuit only to bare witness to the betrayals of those he thought he could trust.

The project initially launched a crowdfunder back in May of last year which fell short of its goal. Fortunately Kattah's efforts to see this project through are now granting it a May 2015 release, and the newest trailer will hopefully peak your interest as it has mine.

Espionage, action, drama and comedy are the formula you can now sample in director Joseph Torrez's latest webseries pilot installment, Spies. Torrez executive produces and is writing the series centered on a group of agents on their adventures to save the world, and there is currently a crowdfunder ongoing to help fund what Torrez hopes will grant him a fifteen-to-twenty episode season.

To help generate interest, a Pilot episode was recently unveiled and you can now check it out just beneath, as well as a behind-the-scenes look you can watch by CLICKING HERE. Otherwise, feel free to hit up the official Spies Facebook page to learn more about the show and how you can help!

Up next is a new interpretive action shorts from the folks over at EMC Monkeys titles Dreadnaught, an experimental look into how a fight scene with quick cuts can still work without shaking the camera. EMC has been at this stuff for quite a while and as always, one can only hope the team gets its day with a budget to apply its craft into a full feature. They really deserve it.

Watch Dreadnaught below with Hollywood stuntman Stephen Oyoung and EMC's own Robert Dill.

Yasin Kamat and Teambay's own Vi-Dan Tran's latest short is a bit of a tease, but it's still fun to watch. The short is called Addicted, featurning a small story with our two actors as underworld characters in a drug deal gone wrong - a perfect set up for a nice little fight but...like a said, there is a bit of a cliffhanger. Check it out below and enjoy!

While we await further info on what CBS's upcoming TV adaptation of the 1998 action comedy, Rush Hour will entail, it's interesting that there is nary a fan fight based on this particular franchise which further helped ascend action star Jackie Chan to Hollywood fame. That said, stuntmen, actors Chris Jai Alex and Terry Taneie have put together a little short of their own in the respective performances as Detectives Carter and Lee. This was pretty well done and I enjoyed Alex's performances as I suppose its difficult to mimic actor and comedian Chris Tucker's comedic persona. Peep it below!

The next is a short, but otherwise TASTY exchange between Narayana Cabral and Hope LaVelle in a small short titled The Challenge. I absolutely loved how this was shot in certain portions, as well as some of the choreography involved. Very imaginative work on Cabral's part, and apparently its the first part of an entire project with more to come. Take a look!

And last but not least, respect the turtleneck! Actor and filmmaker Jose Montesinos takes the lead with co-director Brett Stillo in the retro action comedy short, Sensitive 70's Turtleneck Tough Guys! I had the opportunity to review the short myself a short while back, but its finally online now, with performances by Montesinos, and action actors, The Stunt People's own Eric Jacobus and Troy Carbonel as three superbad detectives in the 1970s embracing their sensitivity. Trust and believe...you're gonna dig it. Ain't no bull here.

Subscribe to these channels above and stay tuned for next week's Hit List, and be sure to CLICK HERE for last week's entries. If you have a QUALITY action project in the form of a teaser, trailer or shortfilm you would like featured, send us an email at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

THE HIT LIST - January 12, 2015

When I started preparing this list, I honestly didn't think I would come across as many videos time around. Sure, there would be a few gems worth sharing, but it's safe to say I pretty much out-did myself. Yes, let's get to it...

Upon competing nationally in Karate while in his native France, stuntman Thomas Lorber decided just a few years ago to apply his skill set to another craft attributed to his love for acting which he originally began in Canada. Thus, with two years of practicing and performing stuntwork at Parc Asterix in France and after earning his master's degree in Business, he eventually started his own venue for stunt training with fellow stuntman, Vincent Khai. On that note, with plans to return to Canada and possibly explore the stunt community in the United States, he's welcoming his options with a new stunt reel which he shot last year which is full of action. Take a look!


Here, we get to meet multifaceted filmmaker, actor and martial artist Taz Garcia, whose motivation has largely been geared toward setting an example for young film students who otherwise thought filmmaking was impossible without a budget. As a result, after six years and despite the painstaking hurdles he's faced, he now has several titles to his name dating back to 2009. His latest assassin thriller, Dead End is currently awaiting festival entries which should arrive some time soon. In the meantime, his new demo reel is up and ready. Drama AND action are highlit here with footage from his directorial work and that of others.


I often share freerunning videos and the like, becausd they're some of the most dynamic videos online with respect to what they offer in the world of entertainment. Hell, you can even say that a lot of these videos are shot WAY better than what you see in most big budget action films that often try and fail to showcase traceur videos so cleanly and crisp. With that said, I'll leave you with seven recent videos I came across this week, the first featuring a trailer from last year for Off The Edge, a short docu webseries which highlights the global exploits of Tempest freerunners Jesse LaFlair and Cory DeMeyers in their efforts to showcase their sport around the world. I'm on the fifth episode myself and I'm having na blast. See the trailer below.


The next five each include fellow Tempest member Lucy Romberg, Slovenian freerunner Dominik Starašinič, parkour film production group Ampisound's contribution to WB Interactive's upcoming release of the zombie survival game, Dying Light, Italian freerunning association Krap's New Year Krappannone Winter Jam, and an inspirational gem you may have seen online in some version or another with 12-year old amputee, Spanish traceur, Rubén Roldán.






The fifth one, well, I'm a little ashamed this didn't arrive sooner, but I'm glad I caught it now nonetheless. Shot in only one day, director Sheldon Schwartz latest sci-fi action shortfilm Open Your Eyes, centered on a heroine's last-ditch efforts to free a walled-off dystopian future society.

The equipment involved here all comes from DJI, and best serves as an example of how advancements in camera-operating technology can better meet the needs of today's generation of filmmakers. I would imagine this is also a cinematographer's dream that these devices become more practical as tools that are helpful in the creative process, as well as affordable, time-saving and cost-effective, and if this isn't the case just yet, hopefully it will be, as this latest online gem so demonstrates.

Action acress and stuntwoman Natascha Hopkins (Divergent, Mad Max: Fury Road) singlehandedly leads the rebellion with exciting stunt direction by Lin Oeding (Olympus Has Fallen, The Equalizer). [H/T: No Film School]


The land down under has its own brewing community of aspiring martial artists, and there to accompany inspired kickers, men, women and children alike are the teachers and leaders behind Australia's own Invincible Athlete's Academy. The school recently released their latest inspirational ad you can now check out below, and if you're interested, they even have a website which you can check out RIGHT HERE.


Last time we checked, the folks over at online comedy platform, Just Kidding Films were about a month into developing their first-ever feature film as of their announcement late last year. Again, details are scant as things are still early, but the team is back with a new progress update from their latest return to training with fight coordinator and stuntman, Noah Fleder who shares his continued insight with segments featuring JKF's own Bart Kwan, Joe Jo and Geo Antoinette.


Filmmakers Arya Lee and Jay Samuelz have been on my radar from time to time, although they're still new to me. Thankfully they're still around though, because it seems the two have been doing something together for the past few months, and whatever it is with details still under the rug, it has a teaser. Considering the nature of what you've been reading about now on my site or on this page for that matter, it's pretty obvious we may very well be in for somethin delightful...AND violent!

Post by Jay & Arya.

Feeling a little sick this year? Try a little Doğadan! The Turkish tea company filmed a new commecial last month for their campiagn with principle performances by actress Zara Phythian, and actor Arın Kuşaksaızoğlu, featuring choreography by Can Aydin and Cha-Lee Yoon of Reel Deal Action.

Come to think of it, I could actually use some tea myself. This cold of mine sucks. Save me Zara!


A Dango-eating wandering samurai who battles his way through other swordsmen between bites? That's pretty much the gist of what you can expect from directing duo, actor and producer Kosaka Mosami and cinematographer Shiraishi Takahisa's latest webseries, Dango Samurai. Only two webisodes are up as of late last year with more to come, in addition to a shortfilm that pits our heroic sword-wielding foodie against his greatest opponent yet in Dango Samurai VS. Dango Master. You can watch its most recent teaser beneath the series playlist just below.



Dragonwolf and Raging Phoenix co-star Kazu Patrick Tang has been itching to get things going in directing following his years as a stuntman, actor, martial artist and choreographer. He made a splash pitting Ninja 2 alums Ron Smoorenburg and Brahim Achabbakhe against one another in his 2013 debut short, Marksmen and he's been slowly building his online resume of projects ever since. Nowadays however, he's much busier in the world of film with a couple of new feature projects in two - his latest being Twin Monkeys, and whatever that means, I'm sure we're bound to find out what that means soon enough. In the meantime, Tang has a new fight short out and it may possibly be his last as he ventures further into the deep end of feature-length territory. This one is titled The Watchdog Project, featuring two other Ninja 2 alums, Charlie Ruedpoknanon and Yuhkoh Matsuguchi.


This one is a bit of a throwback dating back to last year in September. It's the latest video on the official channel from independent filmmaker Joshua Zacharias and Bronson Cameron over at Wuji Films in Canada, and it's only about 45 seconds short, but it also goes to show how much action goodness you can enjoy in that same amount of time.

As a noteworthy mention, Wuji Films will be releasing a number of short projects they started on late last year with Avici creator Kyle Wong over at Black Ice 140, so feel free to look them online as well. Shit is about to get real in Canada, and you don't want to miss out!


Good things are happening over in the Philippines where John Renz Cahilig is now ramping up efforts to crowdfund his newest feature film Operation Double Helix. The project stems from his previous successes earned with a conceptual shortfilm trailer back in 2011 for the 180 Microcinema Film Festival and now it appears he's ready to take it to the next level, and to accommodate his current campaign on Indiegogo, Cahilig has a brand new promotional shortfilm to entertain your curiosity. Think "military style action" by way of shows like Strike Back and 24, and you'll get the idea.

Watch the promo short below, then check out the cinematic campaign video where you will also find a link to the Indiegogo page to lend your contribution to the cause. Bear in mind though, the CG is quite gamey and won't likely at all resemble the final product, so take this with a grain of salt in knowing these guys will probably make a even better movie provided share and support this project.


The campaign remains on-going for director Bryan Williams and writer/producer Lauren Romero for their latest project, Vindictive. Their campaign video has been up since December with the inclusion of a teaser for the film which centers on the story of a man in search of his wife's killer and brother's kidnappers.

Attributed toward Florida's mixed-martial arts community, the production is replete with experts in the field, with martial arts instructors, actors Hoon Park and Tommy Carpenter starring among the cast. The film is over 90% shy of its GoFundMe campaign with the goal of earning $2,000 for its budget as of this write up, so watch the video in the player below and CLICK HERE to check it out and see how you can help make Vindictive a reality.



Panning over to France for just a second, I can't get enough of how amazing independent filmmaker Godefroy Ryckewaert has been in my continued coverage of his work. Case in point, his most recent collaboration with stuntman Daren Nop in his debut shortfilm role in last year's Shadows Of 13, a touching story that casts a huge spotlight on humanity and kindness in a cruel world with Nop in the role of a homeless person who risks his life to save an elderly couple from street thugs. To say the least, it was a tearjerker and it left me nearly wanting more, only then I had no idea that we were getting just that. And now, we have a trailer that lays all curiosity to rest.

Ryckewaert and Nop are joined by their team, Cascade, further action design by The Transporter Legacy stunt coordinator Alain Figlarz, accompanied by his own team.


The journey continues with Lunar Stunts's own Eric Nguyen and his latest foray into his experimental fight choreography series, The Fighting Journey in it's seventh episode. Korean cinema is to blame for the inspiration this time around, with principle performances by Darren Holmquist and Alex Meiglei.


In lieu of the new year ahead, actor, martial artist and stuntman Dennis Ruel is finally getting his day with the forthcoming release of his directorial debut, Unlucky Stars. Between then and the years since, he's built himself quite an online resume full of action-packed shortfilms while growing his career as a Hollywood stuntman, now breaking into his latest role on the set Isaac Florentine's new thriller, Close Range with martial arts action favorite, Scott Adkins. Ruel posted a photo via his Instagram, a much-deserved crowing achievement for an actor who has devoted more than a decade to bringing his caliber of performance to the forefront of the genre. With this, his most recent reel is available as of last September, containing a montage full of old and upcoming goodies, and none of it is something you want to fall asleep on, especially with what comes at the end of this article!


And, finally...

Put Groundhog Day in a blender with everything you know and love about Jackie Chan and Mr. Bean with the Rocky soundtrack on full blast in the background and what do you get? Well, you get The Stunt People's own, actor, stuntman and filmmaker Eric Jacobus's fresh new vaudevillian action comedy sequel shortfilm, Rope-A-Dope 2: Return Of The Martial Arts Mafia.

Co-directed by Pete Lee and also starring Stunt People principle, Dennis Ruel, Jacobus returns once more as The Dope, an everyday klutz caught in a vicious cycle where every sharp blow to the head forces him to relive the same day until he finds a way to break the chain. We met the character last year in the first installment which garnered plenty of praise from its audiences online and in film festivals, ultimately befitting the prospects for a sequel that not only ups the antee even more, but services a lovely treat for anyone who's been there since these two went toe-to-toe in the 2006 indie action classic, Contour (a.k.a. The Agent). Film Combat Syndicate managed to snag an email interview with Jacobus and co-producer, Hollywood stuntman Clayton J. Barber this past week to talk about the project, and you're more than welcome to read all about it when I publish that puppy later this week.

Other than that, expect slapstick high-jinx, a pulsating soundtrack and high-impact fight choreography with Zero Gravity's own Ken Quitugua leading the charge with a plethora of today's top stunt performers, armed with an arsenal of everything from fists and feet to bats, brooms, pots and pans, bottles, golf clubs, canes, two-by-fours, cue balls, newspapers and then some, and an energizing finale that will blow you away.

Yes, my friends. The Dope is back, and this time, it's all-out war and the Martial Arts Mafia is taking NO prisoners! Crank those bastard speakers of yours at the highest volume possible and watch Rope-A-Dope 2: Return Of The Martial Arts Mafia in the player below!


CLICK HERE to view last week's Hit List if you missed it. While you're at it, subscribe to the channels mentioned above, and if you have a QUALITY action short you would like to host on Film Combat Syndicate, shoot us an email at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!