Animated shorts never seem to be as good as the actual shows they’re based off, but with Community making its return to NBC later this month, something’s better than nothing.In the first installment of Community: Abed’s Master Key we catch up with the study group as they discover their study room tables missing due to budget cuts. Dean Pelton makes Abed his unpaid intern/assistant, handing him a key — as to what the key actually does, we’ll just have to wait and see. Only the first part has been released so far, but future installments will be available via Hulu. Community returns from its hiatus March 15th, 8PM Eastern/Pacific on NBC.
Brave is Pixar’s next big film and certainly one of my most anticipated films of the year. I’m sure many of you are excited as well, and luckily Disney and Pixar are here to supply you with your next look at the film. It’s a great little scene introducing the main character, Merida, and her skills at archery. The setting is great as well – my only gripe with this clip is the juvenile humor. Come on Pixar, you can do better than that and we both know it. Check the clip after the jump! Read more…
I admit that I haven’t watched a lot of Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, but I’m not sure why. I’ve only seen a few episodes, but the ones I’ve seen are absolutely hilarious. For me, at least, the art took some getting used to, but the writing is so good that it more than makes up for it. The show itself is often littered with video game references and even the creators are huge gamers themselves, which probably explains why I love this Adventure Time x Legend of Zelda crossover shirt. It’s currently available at TeeFury for the next 24 hours, so head over there if you want to pick one up. The piece itself was designed by artist TeeKetch. If you’d like to see more of his work, you can check out his DiviantArt & RedBubble. Read more…
A double-header today: Late afternoon Nickelodeon treats us to a mini-upfront for their new “NICKMOM” brand, and early evening Bill Plympton premieres his restored and colorized version of a classic Winsor McCay ‘toon, The Flying House. Not much in common between them except for two factors: my presence… and free food. (Nick gets the edge, thanks to their open bar.) Read more…
This awesome animated short has been floating around the net for a few weeks now, but hasn’t garnered a fraction of the views it deserves. Space Stallions was created by a group of students from The Animation Workshop attempting to capture the essence of 80’s cartoons like Voltron, Thunder Cats, and so on. Personally, I think they hit the nail on the head. The music was dead on with everything from sequenced arps and laser toms to its poorly written chorus. Visually, they touched on everything you’d expect to see like several of the characters rocking a mustache, Unicorn space-bikes, oh and a keytar sword. While I don’t think I’d ever want to sit through an actual episode should they ever make one, I have to applaud their awesome efforts here. Oh, and if you want to buy a copy of that theme song, you’re in luck. It’s available via BandCamp. Read more…
Posted by Chris Sobieniak on Feb 2, 2012 in Animation
At a time when animation was still being looked at as funny little shorts, one man tried to prove them wrong! Produced with the help of Edgar Rice Burrough’s son John Coleman, animation director Bob Clampett (Looney Tunes, Beany & Cecil) produced this short pilot to a potential theatrical cartoon series he tried to sell to MGM during his off hours from “Termite Terrace”. Unfortunately several divisions of the studio felt the project was a little too weird for the audience’s taste and suggested a rather tamed approach based on something else. Needless to say Clampett’s enthusiasm dropped very quickly and he was back to the same ‘ol grind for many years to come, but still gave us good laughs every time. Read more…
This Lego Cuusoo project has been around for awhile, but has remained a bit of a hidden gem. Cuusoo user MaxVF1 threw together these amazing VF-1 Valkyries — or Veritechs depending on your preference — in hopes of convincing Lego to license them for retail. As you can see from the video above, they’re pretty easy to snap together and make pretty good display models. They even let you shift between gear-walk, battloid, and fighter modes with ease. The problem, at least from Lego’s standpoint, is that they appear a bit fragile. Of course, that issue alone is just one of many hurdles to overcome.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2012 in Animation
If you grew up with Star Blazers, Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 the new Leiji Matsumoto series Ozma will bring a smile to your face! This new show will have a science fiction theme (of course!) and will start airing in Japan on March 16th this year. Below is a look at some of the character designs which remind me a great deal of Captain Harlock: Read more…
Last night marked the season 3 premiere of the animated FX series, and cult-favorite, Archer. For those of you who don’t watch, the series follows Sterling Archer, an over-the-top, self-absorbed spy who works for organization named ISIS, similar to MI-5, ran by his own mother. It often plays like a raunchy spoof of every Bond film ever made. Any way, it’s hilarious and definitely worth checking out. While you can find the first season readily available on Netflix, many viewers might want to play catch up. A lot can happen over the course of a season, so missing an one might leave you a bit dazed and confused. Fortunately, Amazon is having an amazing deal right now. You can get season one and two of Archer on Blu-ray for just $20 — that’s half off.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 17, 2012 in Animation
It’s hard to believe but twenty years ago The Real World debuted on MTV and slowly the cable channel which was beloved by a generation went from from showing creative music videos to bland reality television. But before that there was a golden age of a cable channel which dared to be a bit artsy and take some chances. Even though the channel started out with small budgets from the early days they always had animated bumper spots that were just as entertaining as the music videos which were showcased. Here are a small selection of those spots which made a generation tell tell their parents that “I Want My MTV”: Read more…
Talk about growth spurts. Close to 900 people crowded into a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom at last weekend’s Bronycon II, vs. perhaps 1/3 that number at its September predecessor. The new venue – a long corridor and ballroom at NYC’s Hotel Pennsylvania (the fading epitome of 1940’s swank) – might’ve been bigger than the Chinatown loft where the September con was held, but was nonetheless instantly overcrowded. After one made their way past the undermanned registration desk, the next bottleneck to brave was a narrow doorway leading to the ballroom. (When you have dealer’s tables, an autograph line and random attendees all trying to occupy the same space at the time, traffic can’t help but gum up a bit.) Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 5, 2012 in Animation
When I first came across the Bronies my first thought was “this has to be some sort of 4chan scam”. But then I started following them on Google+ and was shocked to see a wealth of amazing humor and a fan culture that in many ways reminded me of shows like Ren and Stimpy in the 90s. Yet I still thought of this as some fringe movement lurking in the dark corners of comic cons — however then I stumbled upon BroNYCon and was blown out of the water! Read more…
This has to be the third or fourth spoof I’ve seen for The Dark Knight Rises trailer, and it’s probably the best one yet. Editor and director, Brad Hansen, decided to sync the audio from the trailer with clips from Disney’s The Lion King. It’s pretty amazing how it all fit together so well. It’s certainly more entertaining than the original trailer, but that’s not too hard to manage.
According to reports, Bandai Entertainment announced that they’re through localizing new anime and manga. While they will continue to sell their current products, Bandai plans to shift its focus to license distribution. Subsequently, all the upcoming anime and manga series they’ve announced have been officially cancelled. If you were looking forward to Turn A Gundam, you’ll just have to hope someone will be able to re-license it once Bandai’s current license expires. This also applies to several upcoming manga titles like Gurren Lagann volume 7, Code Geass, Kannagi 4, 5, 6 and others.
Posted by Chris Sobieniak on Dec 9, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
Most people haven’t heard of the show, but for kids in the early 80s the Japanese-French animated series Ulysses 31 (宇宙伝説ユリシーズ31) left an impression that would mark a generation. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2011 in Animation
By pure chance I came across this amazing music video by a band called Goldfish — and while the music is pretty nice what really blew me away was the animation which feels like a cross between Gary Baseman and Keith Haring. The animator/artist behind the video is Mike Scott and his work is wondeful: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 26, 2011 in Animation, Anime
In the early 80s two short animation films created for the Diacon science fiction convention would give a start to an animation studio that would become known as Gianax. I first watched these animations on well worn VHS tapes in that era and all these years later the animation still holds up. But it seems that some younger otaku have adopted the shorts and made them their own by doing a recreated and updated 3D version which looks pretty nice — check it out: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 20, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
At first I didn’t take the Broniestoo seriously, but this has made me change my mind: Operation Winter Wrap Up is a site started by My Little Pony fans with the objective of “Bronies donate Ponies to children in need” with a holiday toy drive. Currently the Operation Winter Wrap Up site includes detail information on where to donate, toy suggestions and other ways that people can help: And there’s also a Facebook page as well. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 13, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
Oh sure any fanboy can buy a mere Mobile Suit Gundam model kit and put it together — but only a hardcore fanboy like Taras Lesko can hand craft a seven foot tall Gundam out of paper! Shown below is the step-by-step assembly and a video that he made: Read more…
At long last the One Piece x Hello Kitty goodies are hitting the shelves in Japan for all of those kitty pirates who want something cool for Christmas! This collection includes a line of phone charms, ear buds, a notebook and of course and iPhone case which can be purchased online (of course your ill need to know how to read Japanese): Read more…
