Posted by Tim Sheehy on Aug 31, 2010 in Videogames
Many fans seem to be in a slight panic ever since it was recently announced that Index Holdings would be merging their Atlus and Index subsidiaries in the coming months in an effort to restructure their resource management and system of business. However, it’s highly unlikely that Atlus, as a brand, will be affected by the decision. This move came weeks after the official announcement of their upcoming title Catherine, which is being head up by the team responsible for the popular Persona series. So far the game seems to be garnering quite a bit of attention in the press for its erotic, adult-oriented themes and visceral, cell-shaded graphics. Personally, I can’t wait to see how the game shapes up — you can see the translated trailer above.
While this is awesome, it’s also kind of terrifying. What you see before you is Lego enthusiast Angus MacLane’s entry into the FBTB MOC Madness 2010 Building Tournament. Each year, Lego Star Wars fan site From Bricks to Bothans hosts the tournament, and in a nod to Empire Strikes Back, this year’s tournament requires you to create your own intergalactic bounty hunter, and their ship. Angus took this opporunity to create his very own McDonalds-inspired Corellian freighter, piloted by what appears to be Ronald McFett and an R2-Grimace. Why he decided to mix the two is completely beyond me. Besides, I’ve always thought the Millennium Falcon looked more like a York Peppermint Pattie.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 30, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
We wasted many hours trolling the net to find interesting and amusing anime inspired images so that you don’t have to! Most of these images were found via Twitter although the above screen shot is from this Japanese blog. My personal favorite is the parody below which makes fun of the typical charts that showcase what new anime shows we can expect to see in the new season: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 30, 2010 in Comic Books
Covered is a blog that only covers artists re-creating classic comic book covers. What’s funny is that some of the creations are very literal while others are highly interpreted — and in the end you get a wonderful lesson on what made the original illustration unique and get a glimpse of the personality of the fan artist through their take. Shown above is is the original 1978 cover of Power Man and Iron Fist by Dave Cockrum and on the left is the more humorous tribute by Maurice Fontenot. Below is a Transformers cover from 1984 and a recreation by Lord Mitz on the right: Read more…
Over the last couple of years, the pop culture exchange between America and Japan has blended together more than any other time in recent memory. American studios have been more than happy to take anime to turn into terrible movies and in exchange we’ve begun to give them anime based on super heroes, video games and TV shows. Now that we seem firmly locked in this trade off though, I was left thinking about all of the great shows from American TV history that is being left completely untouched and as a favor to the American studios out there wondering what should be the next title to export east, here are a few suggestions: Read more…
Come this September you’ll be able to get the Doctor Who Eleventh Doctor TARDIS Playset shown above. The funny thing to me about this TARDIS interior is just how steampunk it feels, although it has always been that quirky quality that has made Dr. Who feel different from all of the other shows out there. This playset is designed to work with 5″ action figures — and of course if you’re any kind of silly fanboy you’ll have the original crew of the Enterprise visiting the good doctor.
I had the unfortunate problem as a child of being the only girl in the entire known universe who preferred Luke Skywalker to Han Solo. (Don’t get me wrong, I dug Han, but he was definitely more of a “friend” for me, whereas reliable, hard-working Luke struck me as a better long-term bet.) So when it turned out Luke and Leia were siblings, I was as heart-broken as (I assumed) Luke was. Twenty-odd years later, this video made me feel better. Read more…
Posted by Gia Manry on Aug 27, 2010 in Comic Books
I’m more of a manga girl than an American comics girl- and what U.S. comics I read are rarely superheroes -but the Joker has always been one of my favorite villains. And not only because his presence in the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon usually included the delicious Harley Quinn’s. (Okay, it was mostly that, but still not completely.) And in this comic strip in the style of Calvin & Hobbes, which is credited within the image to Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, who co-created the 2008 The Joker volume, proves why the Joker is so much cooler than Lex Luthor.
And, if you think about it a little more deeply, why Batman is cooler than Superman. Read more…
By now, someone has probably told you to that you absolutely have to see Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World — and they’re right, you must. Aside from being hilarious, and filled with plenty of the over-the-top action you’d want from your typical Hollywood blockbusters, the film’s roots as an independent graphic novel make the film particularly important in that it holds the potential to pave the way for others. In fact, Michael wrote a fantastic article about that which you can read here. For now, sit back and enjoy this amazing Scott Pilgrim/Matrix mash-up by YouTube user AEmovieguy.
Recognize this? Sure you do, it’s a briefcase book bag — they’re just in every anime or J-drama I’ve ever seen. While some of you might be a little old to cosplay a Japanese high-schooler, those of you who want to try are going to need need one of these. Made by Matsukameya, a Japanese outlet that specializes in school uniforms, the quality is top notch, and definitely worth the hefty $165 price tag. This model comes complete with a metal lock and key, accordion pocket for large books or laptops, and several other pockets and compartments for documents and more. They’re currently in stock over at J-List, but be prepared to shell out some extra cash for EMS shipping, since they’ll only offer that.
After many years of joy today was a sad day for me: My ranking as a power user on the website Digg has killed. I didn’t do too badly as I was in the top 300 — although since the elimination of shouts on the site I found my interest in Digg going down hill. And today the nail in my coffin was the launch of version 4 of the formaly social news website. Many power users have now been given a online version of a fatal dose of Kryptonite, so for my own sake I’ve attempted to reverse engineer why Digg ditched their community once and for all: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 25, 2010 in Animation
This wonderful late 70s Japanese commercial features a Space Battleship Yamato bicycle — a show which was known to early day anime fans as Star Blazers. What I love about this bike is that it seems to have included a faux wave motion gun and came with its own uniform too: Read more…
Have you ever wondered what Kirk would have done if he was stuck with Wesley Crusher? Actually, we already know the answer. All kidding aside though, Pot Luck Comics’ webcomic parody “Ensign Sue Must Die!” shows us just what happens when a seventeen year-old girl joins the crew of the Enterprise. While it has its fair share of cuteness, they’ve tossed in enough fan service to make it worthwhile for anyone who loved the original series, or Abram’s recent reboot. The strip has already finished its run, but you can still view all 32 strips online, or sport $6 for a printed copy via Interrobang.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Aug 25, 2010 in Videogames
When I first heard the title Gundam Royale, I immediately thought of Daniel Craig doing an impression of Char Aznable. Needless to say, that’ll never happen. Instead the game is being toted as the first “social” game for the series. So what does that mean exactly? Well, that’s a really good question. First of all, the game will be released for mobile phones. As you can probably imagine, that likely means it’ll be an iPhone App here in the US. Only a few details about the actual gameplay have been revealed, so just how social is it? Read more…
Just the other week, I ranted on how I felt the latest book in the Otacool series had dropped the proverbial ball with its return to otaku-based interior design, and even shared my fears about the direction the series may have been headed. Thankfully those fears may have been addressed, as Kotobukiya has recently announced the theme for their next installment — worldwide illustrators. This time the Kotobukiya has teamed up with Pixiv, rather than Danny Choo, to help them pick which art will be published. For more information on how to submit your art for consideration, check out the Pixiv website.
Bethesda has always impressed me by their attention to detail. Like much like their latest entries in the popular Elder Scrolls series, the company managed to capture an audience with Fallout 3‘s breathtaking visuals. In addition to re-imagining Washington D.C., their team of graphic designers created a number of weapons to go along with it. Two of which happen to be the AER-9 laser rifle, and even deadlier A3-21 plasma rifle. Flickr user Ryan Palser recently took it upon himself to locate some blueprints and painstakingly recreate them — needless to say, they look amazing. Check out his flickr account for more photos. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 23, 2010 in Comic Books
Many folks think that Miffy is a Japanese bunny, but that simply isn’t the case! The credit for the kawaii creature goes to cartoonist Dick Bruna who was born today in 1927 in the Netherlands. 82 year old Bruna created Miffy in 1955 when his wife and child spotted a rabbit near the holiday house which he then captured on the page. To date he has authored over 120 books including Queen Miffy which came out in 2007. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 23, 2010 in Science
I hate to use up the bandwidth on this site but do yourself a favor and look at the photos on this page at full size to really appreciate them: This first photograph of the Earth as seen from the moon was taken on this day in 1966 by the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft. The real purpose of the mission was to scout out he moon for the Apollo program, but what makes this image amazing to me is that it’s the first time in history that the human race is looking back on themselves from another world. In 2008 the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project went back to the data from that voyage and produced this enhanced image which is nothing short of amazing: Read more…
The minute I looked at this illustration it caught my eye right away as the lead protagonist in the image is surrounded by a sea of screen shots of roll playing videogames and an assortment of brightly colored baubles and baked goods. This artwork is a promotional illustration for a new manga series that’s running in the latest issue of Margaret magazine and from my crude translation the name of the series is Controller Prince. From what I can see the manga focuses of the romantic adventures of a young lady online who plays “a good game of love”. Read more…
The character designs in One Piece are already quite cute to start with however these PansonWorks keychains really take kawaii quality of the manga up to the next level. There are ten designs in all with this series including Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Zorro, Ace, Shanks, Nami and Sanji. I really love the fact that they have two poses for Luffy and Chopper: Read more…
I love the illustrational complexity of Japanese emoticons — and now you can share these silly symbols in the real world with this Ginghami Kaoiro Emoticon Stamper. To me there’s something very appealing about taking digital iconography and coming up with such a primitive analog implementation: Read more…
If Josie and the Pussycats needed a guitar tuner it would look like this! The Korg Hello Kitty Guitar Clip Tuner comes in angel white and goth black. I think the only flaw in the design is that would be nice if Kitty was able to meow her approval when you hit the right key: Read more…
