Unless I just completely missed any mentioning of this on the forums recently, I think it has now been over 20 years since Rob Blaine of Messy Fun passed away in 2000. I never knew about Messy Fun until MUCH later on but I find it still important to highlight his passing since he was definitely important in creating the WAM community as we know it. Anyone is free to share their memories of Rob Blaine and Messy Fun and/or their first time discovering Rob Blaine's work.

Frankly, I find it amazing that his work is *still* around. https://vidown.com/cgi/store2.pl?site=mfvideoonline.com&keyword=Mud&pagelimit=25&pagenumber=1

I remember being on his mailing list and receiving the little black-and-white newsletter complete with messy photos. I had a few of them put aside. At the time, viewing images on a computer was painfully slow. It took as long to download a high-quality photo as it does most videos today. But Rob was certainly a pioneer in the field, actively pursuing his dream and making money with it.

This brings up a good point actually. Who is still running the Messy Fun site and selling the videos?

Rob actually gave up everything to shoot messy videos. Everything was super expensive back then, HD space, Editing S/W. Rob had a great job with Cray Computers that he quit, his family never understood, he downsized his car and home to shoot, went from a New Supra down to a beat up old station wagon that barely ran!

All the money he ever made when to every expensive models, he also helped many of them out financially, he was way too nice a guy. Unfortunately Rob died broke and alone.

Phil

We probably don't want to go down that road again in a forum post. Trust me. Let's just stick to celebrating the legacy.

To Rob, the person that helped me see my fantasies!

Oh, didn't know its controversial

I knew him on-line from 95 till his death, he was one of the warmest and friendliest people I ever met on the net. And his dedication to quality, in model selection, camera work, and scene arrangement, was second to none. He was also very free with advice and information, and a lot of what I shoot is still partly based on things he taught me, in particular that it is impossible to get good mud footage if you're standing on the bank scared to get your feet wet. To shoot proper mud scenes you must be willing to go right into the mud with your models, the only bits that need to stay clean are your hands and the camera. Likewise wetlook, I usually go into the river first, and deeper than the models will, so I can film them coming into the water towards me.

He also said his audience research showed 60% wanted fully clothed, 30% wanted nude, and the rest wanted both. Hence the first 2/3 of most scenes would be clothed then the last 1/3 would be stripping to nude. Even today his fully clothed scenes are epic.

I still have the VHS tapes I bought, really should see about digitising them for long term storage and convenience of playing.

He was an awesome pillar of the early WAM community. Still very much missed.

There is a Wiki dedicated to him; perhaps those who knew him could add to it?

I never met Rob in person, but I owe him as much as anyone in the community.

I truly thought I was the ONLY person on Earth who had this quirk (I didn't even know it was a fetish back then) until I stumbled across the MessyFun page on the 33rd page of searches on (I'm guessing) Netscape.

He was the first person I ever spoke to about WAM, via a series of emails where he was warm and friendly, and gently eased me into the community. (Even suggesting a PO Box would be a good investment since I was living with 2 roommates at the time.) I got his monthly catalog, with the B&W photos, sent to that same box. Through him I ordered my earliest WAM: MF, but also WAMTEC, SSS, and Splosh tapes. Through that catalog I discovered Hurley Coward, Neil Edwards, and others.

He was my guide into the world of WAM, as I'm sure he was for countless others. Only wish I'd been able to have a beer with him in person.

Yeah, I miss Rob.

I didn't know he worked at Cray. I couldn't have quit, even to pursue my passion.

Was it true he was a certified flight instructor? He could have taught me so much.

And he had a Supra? That was Toyota's answer to the 'Vette.

We'd have bonded over so much.

Yes he was a CFI, in fact that's how we found the famous Texas Mud pits, we would fly around in a beat up 172 for hours and hours.... at 1,000ft. In fact did my first night flight with Rob on a trip back, his eyes were not good at night so he asked me to land at the old Robert Muller Airfield. I looked across to him, who me? I have never landed a plane at night!!!! Well you are now cos I can't see shit Rob said OMG! Its was a very old 172 and had no Instruments lights, so with a flashlight and a bit of luck we made it LOL

Phil

Making a wiki would be a boon for everyone and for remembering him

Jesus, a worn-out 172? At night? With a flashlight? Yikes!

We thought about moving to DFW briefly around 1985. There were a lot of reasons we didn't, and they still make sense.

When ever this is over we should all get together and talk about wam and Rob and airplanes and sports carz

He was a great person. One of the nicest, kindest, most respectful and decent individuals out there. He is still missed. I spoke to Miranda recently and we had such a great conversation remembering him. George, another producer, and former owner of Messyfun, has also passed away in recent years. As has Ken Hamilton, one of the great quicksand photographers. Ken was also such a great person. I miss him every day.

Rob had taken out eighth-page b&w ads in some long forgotten sex journal that was distributed at the Borders on North Michigan Ave. My employer was in the Dental Society building down the block.

Lots of lunch hours were spent flipping through that mag.

I was originally going to put this in my original post, then decided against it but hey, might as well do it.

For some perspective on how long it's been, 2000, the year Rob Blaine sadly passed away, was the year I was born...

I'll let that sink in for all of you

I love his 12 Woman Pie Fight.

Rob was very kind. When I did my earlier pics, he was more then happy to let his photo developer develop them. Back then, the only option I had was to take them to the local neighborhood drugstore for development. This spared me the embarrassment of having the creepy guy behind the counter leering at me when I picked them up. I was more than happy to have him post one of them on his newsletter.

Many of us, including me, owe him a lot because he was one of the few WAM producers and he basically made us aware we were not alone. My wife and I visited him once and he treated us warmly. I was so shocked when informed of his death.

I have NEVER seen that, never bought it, but always wanted to.

I remember him saying, either in a forum or it could have been in a personal email
to me, how that 12-woman pie fight shoot nearly killed it. It put him in bed,
sick, for several days.

Thanks Donny Downer! lol.

I too thought I was the only one with this kink/fetish. It was a very long time ago: I was on my parent's computer and searched messy girls or something similar. MessyFun was the very first website I found. I was awestruck. I'm like...wait....there's more people like ME!? Then, if my memory serves me correctly, there was a link to the UMD at the bottom of the page. And after a few years of lurking here with no profile I finally made one. 15 years later, here I am telling this story.

Leah, I know you were friendly with Rob. That is a wonderful testimonal!

Still have 3 of his VHS tapes, more as keepsakes than anything. Wish I had saved his newsletters, riot.

I didn't know he was at Cray, always thought Dell.

So I started working in tech sales in 2000 and company I was at, I saw Rob was a customer. I sent him an email and he thought I was trying to "sell him". When I explained, no, that I was a fan, he sent me back this long kind email and letting me know I could visit him in Austin. Wish Mrs. Bee and I had taken him up on it but we had a toddler, life, etc.

I also shared his taste for women with long dark hair.

Imagine the work he could have made had he not passed. Glad he has this legacy.

Same. By 95 I already knew I had a fetish for messy clothed women but thought I was the only one on the planet - other than a photoset in a porn mag in the 80s where a woman started off in a white skirt suit, which she wore into a shower before taking it off, I'd never seen any fully clothed erotica. Then when I first went on line I found a forum about fetishes and sexuality, joined out of curiosity, and there was someone asking if anyone else was into "watching or participating with wading into water fully clothed". Rob's name came up in the replies to the thread, mentioning Messy Fun, and the rest is history. He said "I thought I was the only one" was the most common first time contact message he ever got.

It's hard now to even remember how very different the world of 25 years ago was, it's like an entirely different age.

Rob was a big part of the beginning for many of us. Not only was a very friendly with me but he generously cooperated with Dave. This led not only to a brief apprenticeship but a collaboration for an HBO Real Sex episode and Dave's first video production. We were very fortunate to benefit from his awesome talent pool with Shaun, Ariel, and especially Brittany.

Without question our little niche would be very different today without him.

Reading these posts is lovely. It's also great how many people have remained in this community for 20+ years and seem to have formed solid friendships.

LOL dude you have no idea, this last post of pics from Duncan included good friends, and ex wife and ex girlfriend, its kinda scary.....

In some ways this community is an extended family, all very different, some love each other, some hate each other, but in the end we are all the same. I love it.

Phil