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Metal Gear Pony, Solid Snake Pony Ponies have changed. ID tagged ponies wear ID tagged sneaking suits while smoking ID tagged cigarettes in bearded pony mouths. That's how I would imagine a Solid Snake Pony would start a long monologue about ponies fighting in pony wars. DeviantART artist Fenrienne posted photos of her (or his) awesome Solid Snake My Little Pony. It's based on Snake from Metal Gear Solid 2, hence the outfit and rugged manly pony beard. See more tactical pony action at Fenrienne's DeviantART page, including a pre-bearded shot proving that ponies look better with beards. (Via Great White Snark)
- Shawn - 9/1/10 Direct link: Metal Gear Pony, Solid Snake Pony Bangai-O, DoDonPachi, Space Invaders, and Bullet Soul Quad Shot-o-Shooter News The last two days have had some good announcements for my fav genre, the shooter. D3Publisher has announced they will be bringing the puzzle shooter Bangai-O into the HD age with Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury. Developed by the great Treasure, the game will have over 100 levels, a level editor, delicious fruit, missiles galore, and possibly those hilarious kids. It's good to see Bangai-O getting a console release again. It will be exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade and be out this Fall for 800 points. Whether "exclusive" means a timed exclusive or exclusive exclusive remains to be seen. More Bangai-O is good-O. There are no screenshots or videos yet, but the game will be playable at PAX, so expect something to come out of there.
Initial Sales of DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu (AKA DoDonPachi Resurrection) for the iPhone are surprisingly awesome. The game was released on 8/26 and has surpassed 30,000 sold. It's number 1 in Japan (obviously) and number 2 in North America, France, and China. A niche bullet hell shooter on the iPhone getting a high rank sales spot? I don't own an iPhone or usually care about the games on it, but that's actually damn incredible. Continue reading Bangai-O, DoDonPachi, Space Invaders, and Bullet Soul Quad Shot-o-Shooter News... - Shawn - 8/31/10 The Next Bobble Budd is Chuck Greene I was expecting Capcom and SOTA's second Bobble Budd figure to be another Servbot with a different face or a more popular character (like Ryu), but Capcom has been really pumping up the Dead Rising 2 hype machine lately, so Chuck Greene it is. The Chuck Budd will be an exclusive at PAX Prime and the remainder will probably find their way onto the Capcom Store afterwards. The Servbot was $10, so I'd expect this to be the same. Given my tumultuous past with bobble things I'm still not quite sold on a whole line of Capcom characters in the Bobble Budd form. That Servbot lent itself so well to the format, but I might need to warm up to other characters as Budds. (via Capcom-Unity)
- Shawn - 8/30/10 Direct link: The Next Bobble Budd is Chuck Greene Weekly News Roundup: 8/29/2010 Games
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- Shawn - 8/29/10 Direct link: Weekly News Roundup: 8/29/2010 Mass Effect 2 Series 2 Figures in the Catalog of the Shadow Broker We first saw DC Unlimited's Mass Effect 2 Garrus and Mordin figures at SDCC '10. This week the September issue of Previews (the Shadow Broker's source catalog for nerdy information and wares) gives us the first look at the other two figures in Series 2, Legion and Miranda. Legion is seriously looking incredibly awesome. I'm actually impressed, DC Unlimited. Standing at 7.25" Legion will be the tallest figure in the line thus far. Possibly with a little modding, fans could make a regular Geth figure since all these galaxy saving heroes will need someone to battle. The Miranda figure looks pretty good, but we can't see if the figure retains the character's in-your-face asset as seen in the game. The figures are still pending licensor approval, so don't be surprised if they are altered a bit, much like the changes the Thane and Grunt figures received from their original appearance in Previews to the final figures.
Continue reading Mass Effect 2 Series 2 Figures in the Catalog of the Shadow Broker... - Shawn - 8/28/10 Play Arts Kai Halo Reach Photos Fall from Square Enix It was a quite surprise when I saw Halo: Reach figures in the Square Enix booth at SDCC'10. I didn't realize that Halo was popular enough in Japan for Square Enix to get into making figures from Reach, but here they are. Square Enix Products has dropped photos of the first three figures from Halo: Reach's Noble Team: Noble Six, Emile, and Jun.
Continue reading Play Arts Kai Halo Reach Photos Fall from Square Enix... - Shawn - 8/28/10 Bullet Soul on the Attack in Bullet Hell Famitsu revealed 5pb's new upcoming bullet hell shooter for the Xbox 360, Bullet Soul. Said to be a bit different than the usual bullet hell shooter, Bullet Soul will put an emphasis on attack and offense rather than avoidance and defense. In other bullet hell shooters you're blasting away while constantly weaving between pink/purple/orange shots, so I wonder how exactly how 5pb's new gameplay of attack, attack, and more attack will work out. There are no details just yet, but there will be hidden characters and secret bonuses for those who attack with maximum "attack-ability." 5pb did not skimp when it came to the talent they've been able to bring to this game. The characters designs are by the great Akio Watanabe. The two main characters are a guy with a sword, a gun, a cape, and an eye patch and a girl with a badge, and wearing a long coat and not much else. Both of them have little cute companion cyber demon shooter guy things, too. The music is being composed by Kenji Ito with arrangement from Kouta Takahashi. I'm almost more excited to hear the music than play the game now.
Continue reading Bullet Soul on the Attack in Bullet Hell... - Shawn - 8/27/10 Mass Effect M8 Avenger Assault Rifle Replica is Impressive Harrison Krix of Volpin Props has done the impressive once again and made a prop replica of Mass Effect's M8 Assault Rifle. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, but the sides and barrels light-up and it even has a muzzle flash when the trigger is pressed. You can see Krix's detailed design and construction from start to finish over at Volpin Props to marvel at his process or if wanted to try to make your own.
- Shawn - 8/25/10 Direct link: Mass Effect M8 Avenger Assault Rifle Replica is Impressive Mega Man Vs. Street Fighter: Dhalsim Stage The guy who made the amazing Ryu stage in his Mega Man Vs. Street Fighter game demo/contest entry has completed a second with the Dhalsim stage. the Dhalsim stage features themes you'd expect from a Dhalsim stage, with flame enemies, elephant pictures, and an 8-bit version of Dhalsim's stage music. It looks like there are even multiple paths through the stage. The fight at the ends shows Dhalsim doing his Yoga thing in glorious 8-bit Mega Man boss fashion. It's so great. SonicZH deserves some kind of high recognition of awesome once he completes the entire game. (via Capcom-Unity) - Shawn - 8/24/10 Direct link: Mega Man Vs. Street Fighter: Dhalsim Stage Weekly News Roundup: 8/22/2010 Games
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- Shawn - 8/22/10 Direct link: Weekly News Roundup: 8/22/2010 Wear a Broken Rabbit Mask When you Play With Big Daddy The next NECA BioShock Toys 'R' Us exclusive is a gift pack that combines the Alpha Sinclair Big Daddy and Little Sister in a red polka dot dress with the rabbit Splicer mask. This is kind of a weird combination, but is perfect for the people that want to insanely rant as they pose Alpha Sinclair and the Little Sister. Not everyone who wants the figures wants the masks, but so far it isn't definitive as to whether the Alpha Sinclair with Little Sister set will be available on its own. I knew the figure set was going to be a Toys 'R' Us exclusive, but maybe this is what is was all along; an exclusive in a gift pack. Alpha includes a grenade launcher and the Little Sister has a Big Daddy doll. The gift pack will be out in November so you can wear the mask during Thanksgiving and have crazy people conversations with your family. (via Toy News i)
- Shawn - 8/22/10 Direct link: Wear a Broken Rabbit Mask When you Play With Big Daddy Mass Effect 2 Inbound to PS3 So at Gamescom, BioWare announced that Mass Effect 2 would be arriving on the PlayStation 3 in January 2011. This is both good and bad. It's good that PS3 owners who haven't played the game on an Xbox 360 or PC can finally get in on the epic space opera that is Mass Effect. It's an amazing game with a great story and deserves to be enjoyed by more players. The bad is that these PS3 owners will be starting at Mass Effect 2 and not be able to import their saves from Mass Effect 1. There is so much of the story in ME2 that is dependant on the choices the player makes in the first game that these players will be missing out on a lot of the experience. According to a VG247 interview with BioWare's boss Ray Muzyka, there will be a "seamless introduction" that will introduce new players to the world and what has happened up to the start of ME2. This is great and all, but there are so many things that may or may not happen and characters that may or may not die that no one can really say that this is the thing that happened. Is BioWare just going to force certain choices on the player from ME1 or will this introduction be like a choose-your-own-adventure type that will let the player make a choice at critical parts? A choose-your-own-adventure intro would be much better because at least the player could make the major choices, but even if this is the case they will still be missing out on many side missions and character interactions from the first game. In ME2 there are also character interactions and emails that depend on choices made on side missions from the first game. Will the players even receive any of these emails from or meet these minor characters in the PS3 version of ME2? Will these be cut out completely? Or will the player find out about them during the course of the game with BioWare basically determining what choices were made in the first game? What BioWare/EA should do is release a Blu-ray that has both ME1 and ME2 on it or release it as a two-disc set containing both games. This won't be possible since ME1 was actually published by Microsoft, but it would give a chance for PS3-only players to play the complete story. The PS3 version will have extra content, but most, if not all of it, will be the DLC. No matter the kind of introduction BioWare has planned, PS3 players who haven't played the first game will still be missing out on 1/3 of the story because they didn't actually do it themselves (At this point I'm sure it's safe to assume that ME3 will also be on the PS3). As for myself, I'll probably go through it on PS3 again. It's such a great game and I'm curious as to how everything that is supposed to carry over from ME1 will be handled in the PS3 version. For you Trophy whores, I was able to obtain the 1000+ Achievement score on my first play-through on the Xbox 360, so if the PS3 version is set up the same way it will be possible to get a platinum on one play-through, too. I hate choosing one console over another, but for the Mass Effect series I'll tell you that if you can play it on an Xbox 360 or a PC, do it. ME2 on PS3 will still be an amazing game, but to get the full story and the full ramifications of the choices you make this is a series you'll want to play elsewhere. There are likely many people who didn't play the first game and jumped right into the second on the 360 or PC when it came out, but that's their own fault. With everything that carries over from the save file, I can't imagine playing the second game without playing the first and I kind of feel sorry for PS3 only players because they won't even have that option. Well, whatever your choices are, here's the debut trailer for ME2 on PS3. - Shawn - 8/21/10 Direct link: Mass Effect 2 Inbound to PS3 Suda 51 Brings Us Sine Mora Suda 51 has announced that the next game by Grasshopper Manufacture will be side-scrolling space shooter Sine Mora. The game is being co-developed and published under a new super team-up deal with Digital Reality. Aside from Suda 51's involvement to make it instantly awesome, Sine Mora will also have a time manipulation mechanic inside its traditional shooter gameplay. Sine Mora will be on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in 2011, with the PSN version having a fancy 3D option, provided you have an ultra-expensive TV and glasses of course. There are no screenshots or anything yet, but there is a cool poster image, so enjoy. (via Kotaku)
- Shawn - 8/19/10 Direct link: Suda 51 Brings Us Sine Mora Cave Resurrects DoDonPachi, Pink Sweets, and Muchi Muchi Pork At the Cave Summer Festival (there was a Cave event?) Cave announced that they're bringing three more shooters to the Xbox 360. DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkatsu (Dai-Fukkastu translated as Great Resurrection) is being upgraded and ported to console shooter status. The Xbox 360 version will have HD graphics along with two new arrange modes and should be out on November 25th. Pre-orders will get a download code for DoDonPachi: Resurrection 1.51. Cave also announced that two of their older bullet hell titles will be together on one disc: Pink Sweets and Muchi Muchi Pork. Both games will most likely get an HD upgrade for their shooter girls, but no other details are available yet. The doubly awesome Pink Sweets and Muchi Muchi Pork disc should be out in Spring 2011. I wouldn't expect either of these discs to be region free, but we can always hope, right? Head over to Famitsu for a ton of screenshots for all three games. (via Siliconera)
- Shawn - 8/16/10 Direct link: Cave Resurrects DoDonPachi, Pink Sweets, and Muchi Muchi Pork Weekly News Roundup: 8/15/2010 Games
Movies / TV
- Shawn - 8/15/10 Direct link: Weekly News Roundup: 8/15/2010 McFarlane Toys Announces Halo Reach Series 2 With the first Series of Halo: Reach figures beginning to drop in at retailers, McFarlane Toys thought it would be a good idea to announce who and what Spartan variants made the cut for Series 2. There are no photos of any of the prototypes, but there is a comprehensive list of all eight single figures and two 2-packs. Series 2 will have the introduction of Noble Team's Carter and Kat, the brand new Skirmisher enemy, and jetpacks. Yay, jetpacks! Series 2 will be in stores in January 2011.
Continue reading McFarlane Toys Announces Halo Reach Series 2... The Luke Building His Lightsaber Scene Does Exist Today at Star Wars Celebration V saw the announcement of all six Star Wars movies on Blu-ray. The set will be out in 2011 and have a Force-load of extras, including at least one scene that fans have debated on ever existing: a scene where Luke builds his green lightsaber in Return of the Jedi. Somehow, when I was very young, in the 1983-86 time frame, I saw this scene. I don't remember how I saw it or where, but I have always remembered this scene of Luke building his lightsaber. Ever since I originally somehow saw it, it has bothered me that I never saw this scene again in any of my many subsequent viewings of Return of the Jedi and that the scene never made it into any of the DVD releases. Over the years I have told people about this scene and most of them said that they never saw it. Only a couple people I have met said that they too actually remember seeing it, but like me, couldn't remember where. Well, at the announcement of the Star Wars Blu-rays, this elusive scene was played before an ecstatic crowd. Here it is, and yes, this is the scene I've been remembering for the past 20+ years. Wow, seeing this is seriously a load off my mind. Now I know 100% that I didn't make it up and that it does indeed exist. I hope that the scene is added back into the film for the Blu-ray, but I can settle for it just being a stand-alone deleted scene considering that it completely validates everything I've been saying about it over the past 20+ years. It's a great feeling to find out that you didn't make things up out of thing air when you were young. - Shawn - 8/14/10 Direct link: The Luke Building His Lightsaber Scene Does Exist Video Game Robotics SP and 2 at Comiket 78 As they hinted when they showed off their Thunder Force V booth at Comiket 78, Takara Tomy ARTS did indeed have the upcoming Video Game Robotics mechs display. A few photos from Tomopop, taken courtesy of Tokyo Hunter, show that both the VGR SP and VGR 2 sets were on display at the booth. Each mech from the first VGR set will have a second version in VGR SP which is scheduled to be out later this year. The Metal Slader Glory and Power Dolls 2 mechs looked to be the painted prototypes, along with what looks like a still unpainted Gungriffon High Macs. The fourth mech in the set from Border Break was absent, but T-ARTS will probably reveal it soon. Also on display was the Thunder Force V set with all the Vasteel ship variants, which is just too awesome.
Continue to see the other photos Video Game Robotics SP and 2 at Comiket 78... - Shawn - 8/14/10 T-ARTS' Thunder Force V Booth at Comiket 78 Japan is on holiday for the next several days for the Obon Festival, which is also the time for Comiket (Comic Market), Japan's big self-publishing comic-book fair. T-ARTS will be at Comiket 78 selling their exclusive green Thunder Force V Shooting Game Historica EX ultra-super-mega set at their Thunder Force V booth. Sure, they're selling other stuff, like a vampire kitten in a coffin, but check out the photo; a huge TFV poster and stacks of TFV boxes? Yeah, that booth is owned by TFV. Supposedly, the Video Game Robotics 2 mechs might make an appearance at the booth, too.
- Shawn - 8/12/10 Direct link: T-ARTS' Thunder Force V Booth at Comiket 78 Video Game Robotics 2 Prototypes and Silhouettes NCSX has posted a pre-order for Video Game Robotics Series 2 and with it a rather small scan of the four mechs Video Game Robotics. Takara Tomy ARTS revealed Metal Slader Glory's V-HM Glory a couple weeks back, but now we have unpainted prototype images of the Gungriffon's High Macs and Power Dolls 2's PDF-804 X4+ (can this mech name be any more specific?). There's also a silhouette of the next mech from Border Break, which NCSX thinks might be a Blast Runner Heavy Type. The set will supposedly ship in November, but don't be surprised if they get delayed given T-ARTS track record and over ambitiousness.
- Shawn - 8/11/10 Direct link: Video Game Robotics 2 Prototypes and Silhouettes SDCC '10 Cosplay Gallery You've been patient as I've gone on about different stuff at SDCC, but now it's the time you've been waiting for, the cosplay of SDCC 2010. Not going to panels this year gave me the opportunity to photograph more cosplayers than previous years. This year's cosplay was all over the board. Videogames, comics, anime, movies, and other random things. People in Ghostbusters uniforms seemed to be the biggest costume this year because there were a ton. Since I didn't get to see that amazing Mass Effect 2 cosplay in person, I'll have to pick some other "winners" for this year. For the best girl this year I'm giving it to 1942 Cammy. Cammy is always a great choice for a costume, but this is a classier kind of Cammy that combines my love of shooters and my love of Street Fighter. 1942 Cammy made her debut on a T-Shirt for the shooter 1942: Joint Strike that had Cammy from Street Fighter dressed as a 1940s pin-up girl. I never expected to actually see anyone dress like that, but lo and behold I was at the Capcom booth and there I see 1942 Cammy. The next day she went all out as normal Cammy and showed her ass to the whole convention, but that has nothing to do with me awarding her best girl for her 1942 Cammy-ness. The next I should talk about is Pyramid Head in a black suit and tie with a rape clock. Okay, for those of you who haven't played Silent Hill 2, I should explain to you why this is funny. In the game you would open a door and you could randomly see Pyramid Head going at it with a quadruple-pair-of-legs monster thing. It was a most unexpected and kind of funny thing in the game, but it seriously takes balls of steel to walk abound a public place with a clock that only says rape on it. Another awesome costume was Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes. It's actually a simple costume compared to many others, but you don't expect to see someone dressed as him. That guy gets best use of pure awesome. Alright, enough rambling, there are a lot of costumes down there. It's time to stop your grinning and drop your linen, here's the SDCC 2010 cosplay gallery. As always, click the pics to enlarge.
Continue for more photos from the SDCC '10 Cosplay Gallery... - Shawn - 8/8/10 Weekly News Roundup: 8/8/2010 Games
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Awesome - Shawn - 8/8/10 Direct link: Weekly News Roundup: 8/8/2010 SDCC '10: Miscellaneous Sights and Displays Gallery Here are a bunch of photos of cool things that I didn't talk about in my other SDCC 2010 articles. This gallery contains some videogame stuff, Voltron, Tron: Legacy, Gundam, ThunderCats, Outer Space Men, random celebrity sightings, and more.
Continue for more photos from the SDCC '10: Miscellaneous Sights and Displays Gallery... - Shawn - 8/8/10 SDCC '10: To Panel or Not to Panel Panels are a tricky business at SDCC. You can see your favorite comic people, celebrities, toy makers, game makers, and etc. talk about their upcoming stuff. However, for many of the panels, you need to get in line 30 minutes to an hour earlier just to make sure you get a seat because seating is limited. For some panels you may need to get in line hours before it starts. I usually attend a lot of panels, but that also meant I stood in lots of ling lines because a press pass doesn't mean you can get into whatever you want. This year, before attending SDCC 2010 I was debating about whether I was going to attend any panels because I always felt like I missed out on some stuff going on down at main the convention floor. Once the programming schedules were finally posted, I was able to make up my mind. There were a bunch of panels I wanted to go to this year, but three of them were literally at the exact same time. I said screw it and decided on no panels this year. Well, no panels unless I could get in without having to wait in line. Most of the panels I had attended in the past could usually be found on YouTube after the show anyways, so I could just watch them then. Most of the panels did end up online, except the Transformers and G.I. Joe ones. Nobody had a video camera at those? Weird, I've always been able to find them online. After the reading a couple write-ups on them, however, it doesn't look like I missed much. I only attended one panel this year, the Udon: 10 Year of Comics and Games panel. I didn't have to wait in any kind of line and it was half-an-hour after the main show closed, so I didn't have to miss anything on the main show. It was a chance to sit, relax, and learn the history of one of my favorite comic companies.
Continue reading SDCC '10: To Panel or Not to Panel... - Shawn - 8/8/10 SDCC '10: Another Unsuccessful Visit to the Mattel Booth For the past three years at SDCC, I've been asked to try to get whatever Masters of the Universe Classics exclusive Mattel was selling at the show. I am what you would call a casual collector of the MOTUC line. There are only a few figures I want and I've never desired their SDCC exclusives save for one; the exclusive art on the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Volume 3 DVD set from two years ago. That DVD set was something that was very easy to get compared to the difficulty in obtaining the figures, however. This year's MOTUC was a color-changing Orko figure. Since I'm such a nice guy I will try to get SDCC exclusives for my friends. My friend Paul had requested the MOTUC exclusive, along with other items, the previous two years. I was unable to ever get him the MOTUC figure, but could always get most, if not all, of the other things he requested. This year was no different and he asked me to try to get a magical color-changing Orko. Mattel was doing a pre-sale for some of their SDCC exclusives a week before the show. You could pre-order the stuff online and just pick it up at a separate room at SDCC, successfully avoiding all the hassle of the Mattel booth. Since I knew how crazy the lines were, I attempted to do this. This would save me so much time and trouble if I could pre-order the Orko for Paul. Well, I was stuck on MattyCollector's infamous white screen of death for five minutes after the sale went live. By the time the screen cleared, the Orko pre-orders had sold out. It looked like I would have to attempt this the old-fashioned way. On Preview Night of SDCC, the Mattel line was probably at least twice as long as the Hasbro line, so there was no way I'd get in. I would receive enough grief in the HasbroToyShop line as it was. The next day on Thursday, I stopped by the booth a few times in the morning to check the line situation. One of the times there I was told that line tickets would be handed out at noon. I came back about fifteen minutes beforehand and saw that a small line had started to form for tickets. Since it was only a fifteen minute wait, I decided to get in line. At about 5 minutes to 12, some Elite security guy told us that we couldn't stand where we were. Now, where we were standing was on the side of the Mattel booth where a huge floor-to-ceiling pillar in front of us jutted out into the main aisle. People walking in the main aisle couldn't walk through the pillar and since it was in front of us, we were actually well out of the way of traffic. Being out of the way apparently wasn't good enough. Some people listened to the guy and walked away, some stepped out of line to walk five feet then just stepped back into line, and others ignored him completely. There actually wasn't that many people standing in the line. Then noon came.
Continue reading SDCC '10: Another Unsuccessful Visit to the Mattel Booth... - Shawn - 8/5/10 McFarlane Toys' Halo Reach Warthog, Ghost... and Four-Pack? McFarlane Toys have finally gotten around to posting their clean, crisp, and clear images of the Warthog and Ghost on Spawn.com. Their images include the vehicles themselves and packaged photos. The Warthog is actually specified as Warthog with Light Anti-Aircraft Gun, which means there will probably be other Warthogs with other guns (gauss, rocket) as the line continues. The Ghost is still blue and purple. These should be in stores in September. The vehicles are great, no doubt about it, but what gets me the most in the article is this sentence: "You've seen the single figures, the two-packs, and the four-pack." Four-pack? When did we see the four-pack? I haven't heard or seen anything about a four-pack until today's post on Spawn.com. The four-pack will include Emile, Jorge, an Elite Minor, and an exclusive green/steel Spartan Mark V. And as crazy as it sounds, regular green is also a brand new color for McFarlane Toys' Spartan figures. Exclusive and a new color. He's like the pickle surprise of Halo figures. All the regular figures include the same weapons as the single carded figures. If you can find the four-pack you might as well get that instead of the single carded figures because it'll be cheaper (rumors suggest around $30) and it has an exclusive figure. Although, why is the box so big? The figures don't go that deep into box, so it seems like it will have a lot of air behind them. Strange packaging decisions aside, it looks like the four-pack may already be in stores. These are apparently the advance figures McFarlane Toys hinted about last month, so get out to Target, Wal-Mart, or K-Mart if you want to find one.
Continue for more photos from McFarlane Toys' Halo Reach Warthog, Ghost... and Four-Pack?... - Shawn - 8/4/10 SDCC '10: Cheaters and Bishoujo at Kotobukiya At SDCC '10, Kotobukiya had some drawings where you could win awesome prizes. All you had to do was write your name and info on a slip of paper and drop it in a drop box that clearly said "one entry per person." They had a drawing for each regular day of the convention and you had to be there to claim your prize. I didn't know about it the drawing until after it happened on Thursday and I wasn't there for the Saturday or Sunday ones, so Friday was my only chance of winning big. I didn't win anything at the Friday drawing, but maybe I, or other people would have, if it wasn't for some dirty rotten cheaters.
Continue reading SDCC '10: Cheaters and Bishoujo at Kotobukiya... - Shawn - 8/4/10 SDCC '10: District 9 Weta Workshop made District 9's amazing props, so it's only natural that they also make their own collectibles from the film. The life-size District 9 guns were very cool, and I didn't notice until I was looking at the photo, but that top gun sold out at SDCC. It cost $500. There is some serious cash being exchanged at Comic-Con. Weta also had on display a bas-ass statue of the Exosuit and a statue of Christopher Johnson and his son. Sitting atop a display case was a life-size statue of Christopher Johnson's son that stood maybe 2-3 feet tall. It's not something that was for sale, but I wouldn't be surprised if Weta decided to make some for the real die-hard D9 fans out there.
Continue for more photos from SDCC '10: District 9... - Shawn - 8/3/10 SDCC '10: GI Joe and Transformers at the Hasbro Booth And a Little Star Wars I've covered the exclusives of and my experience at HasbroToyShop, but here's a look at some of the G.I. Joe and Transformers goods at the Hasbro booth. Most of the stuff that was on display was already out, or will be out within the next couple weeks. There were a few things that won't be out for at least a couple months yet, and some cool figures that won't be out until next year. G.I. Joe: The bland G.I. Joe movie figures are still clogging up some toys shelves, but the new Pursuit of Cobra figures are slowly trickling into stores. Hasbro had all the current or soon-to-be-current figures on display, which was all well and good, but the really cool stuff isn't coming until later this year or in 2011. Even though the Pursuit of Cobra line kind of continues the story from the movie, the figures are more like the 25th Anniversary style than the crappy movie style. Many of the new figures come with a ton of accessories, too. It's good to see that G. I Joes are worth collecting again. Transformers: As for Hasbro's Transformers on display, everything cool is either already out, or will be soon. The Generations line is where the good stuff is at for the current Transformers toys. This includes the War for Cybertron figures and the new close-to-Generation 1 versions of Drift, Thrust, Dirge, Blurr, Red Alert and, Darkmount. The War for Cybertron Megatron and Soundwave should be out very soon, but if they're as difficult to find as the Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, well, it may be awhile before you actually see them. One thing I thought was weird were the Transformers Stealth Force. Basically, the Transformers are all in their vehicle modes, but it looks like with a push of a button guns and weapons pop out of doors and hoods and such. These seem a lot like the old M.A.S.K. vehicles, which is neat and all, but I'd much rather see the actual M.A.S.K. vehicles return over Transformers M.A.S.K. vehicles. The cars can't even transform, so half the fun is gone. On a brighter note, and I mean bright, BigBadToyStore's eye-searing G1 Seacons were on display, as well as the king of Transformers toys, Masterpiece Grimlock. Oh yes, Grimlock is the king, baby.
Continue reading SDCC '10: GI Joe and Transformers at the Hasbro Booth and see more photos... - Shawn - 8/3/10 SDCC '10: Sideshow Collectibles You know what time it is. It's time for another gallery of awesome figures and statues from Sideshow Collectibles. This year there are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, lots of G.I. Joe, some Marvel statues (like the totally awesome Venomsaurus), a couple Predators, a few other random things and a disturbingly sexual Goliath from Gargoyles. Enjoy.
Continue for the SDCC '10: Sideshow Collectibles gallery... - Shawn - 8/1/10 SDCC '10: A Slice of DC Unlimited and DC Direct Figures Mass Effect 2, Heavenly Sword, Killzone, Twisted Metal, and a Very Angry Cat DC unlimited and DC Direct had a ton of figures on display for DC characters and their videogame licenses, but this is just a slice of what they had to offer. The Mass Effect 2 figures all looked great. They all had good articulation and weren't stuck in any pre-posed stance. Series 1 includes Male Commander Shepard, Tali, Grunt, and Thane. All the figures were impressive, especially the previously unannounced Garrus figure. Garrus was quite impressive. Garrus and Mordin were on display and will be a part of Series 2 along with Legion, who was listed on the Series 2 display card. Considering that Legion is a Geth, fans could probably use the figure as a troop builder to have an army of Geth to use in Commander Shepard's favorite dioramas on the Citadel. Hopefully DC Unlimited will get to making a female Shepard of some kind to satisfy all the fem-Shep fans.
Continue reading SDCC '10: A Slice of DC Unlimited and DC Direct Figures and see more photos... - Shawn - 8/1/10 Weekly News Roundup: 8/1/2010 Awesome
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- Shawn - 8/1/10 Direct link: Weekly News Roundup: 8/1/2010 SDCC 2010: NECA Borderlands, BioShock 2, Predators, and Gears of War, but no Street Fighter IV NECA had on display pretty much what I was expecting at SDCC 2010. There were current and upcoming figures for BioShock 2, Gears of War, and Predators, plus a painted prototype of their sweet Claptrap figure from Borderlands. Curiously not on display were any new Street Fighter IV figures. Is NECA not going to continue their SFIV figures? I didn't feel they were as great as the SOTA figures, but they were still good and seemed to sell well in my area. There are plenty of SFIV characters that have yet to become an action figure, so I hope they will continue with these. Borderlands: NECA's Borderlands figures consists solely of Claptrap, but that's entirely okay because of how awesome Claptrap is. Borderlands has Claptrap 'bots all over the place, so you could have a Claptrap army if you so desired. The figure looks to retain the cel-shaded look from the game and the final figure will supposedly have a voice ship with sounds and phrases. I believe I speak for every Borderlands fan when I say that, "Look at me! I'm dancin'! I'm dancin'!" had better be one of the phrases. Maybe if the Claptrap figure does well, NECA will make other figures from Borderlands, too.
Continue reading SDCC 2010: NECA and see more photos... - Shawn - 7/31/10 Darius Burst Brings Back True Widescreen Gaming Darius Burst is bringing back widescreen gaming. I'm not talking about the HD widescreen gaming we're used to these days, but old-school super ultra ridiculous widescreen gaming. Back in 1986, the first Darius game was released in a three-screen wide arcade cabinet. It blew my mind the first time I saw it at my local arcade and was one of the most amazing arcade experiences ever. Darius II, released in 1989, also sported a widescreen display, but was only two screens wide. Taito is going back to the series' roots and giving the arcade release of Darius Burst: Another Chronicle the ultra widescreen display. The game will use two 32" screens, but with the more common widescreen size of monitors today, it will be about as wide as the three-screen set-up of the original. The game will also support four players since there will be plenty of space. This really makes me wish arcades weren't dead in the 'states. Maybe Dave & Busters will be kind enough to get one. The new Darius will go on location test in Akihabara Hey August 7th and 8th and it looks like fans will be able to score a couple sweet Darius pens. Darius Burst: Another Chronicle should be released in the Winter. If this is ever ported to a home console I just hope it preserves the ultra wide aspect ratio. (via Andriasang)
- Shawn - 7/31/10 Direct link: Darius Burst Brings Back True Widescreen Gaming Video Game Robotics 2 Brings You Glory... and a Girl? Takara Tomy ARTS introduced Video Game Robotics 2 on their blog today. VGR2 will four have new robots hailing from various mech games, which actually doesn't seem like enough considering the number of robots and ships in the previous VGR set and each of the Shooting Game Historica sets. The pictured prototype is of the V-MH Glory from an old adventure game called Metal Slader Glory on the Famicom from 1991. The other robots in VGR2 are the High-Macs from Gungriffon, a PDF-802 X-4+ from Power Dolls 2 (a turn-based strategy game), and another mech from Sega's arcade hit, Border Break. T-ARTS must really love Border Break to not only make toys from it in their inaugural VGR set, but also make at least two SP variants and have another BB robot in VGR2.
Continue reading Video Game Robotics 2 Brings You Glory... and a Girl?... - Shawn - 7/29/10 SDCC '10: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker by Square Enix Also a Little Front Mission and Final Fantasy XIII After getting over the surprise of seeing Play Arts Kai Halo: Reach figures at the Square Enix booth, I took a look at what I went there for in the first place, the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker figures and vehicles. These Snake figures are incredible and are easily the best MGS figures yet. I thought there was only one Snake figure and the four vehicles, but there are actually three Snake figures. There is the Snake in the Sneaking Suit, Snake in Jungle Fatigues, and a Snake Version Zero which was like the Sneaking Suit version, but had a slightly different paint deco and a yellow shield. The Version Zero Snake was out of stock by the time I saw it on the second day, so hopefully it's not a sign of that one being a more difficult figure to obtain for you completists. The four A.I. vehicles of Pupa, Basilisk, Chrysalis, and Cocoon were also quite impressive in person. Cocoon is freaking massive, though, and will have a huge price attached to it (I hear it might be around 200 Yen). Expect these Metal Gear Solid figures and vehicles to be nuking your bank account soon, if they haven't already.
Continue reading SDCC '10: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker by Square Enix... - Shawn - 7/29/10 SDCC '10: Capcom Earns That S-Rank I know I've said this before, but if there's one game company that always brings their A-game to SDCC, it's Capcom, and this year had to have been their best Comic-Con yet. Sure, they had lots of playable games, the something-rad-to-buy at the Capcom store, raffles, and panels, but Capcom had something extra special for this year. They had a bunch of their Japanese producers and directors at the show to meet fans and sign autographs. They had signings at SDCC last year, but this year's signings were much bigger in scope. It was amazing that Capcom was able to get so many of their game-makers out this year, because meeting a big name Japanese game producer can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a fan. Who did Capcom have at their booth? Well, just check this awesome list out. Keiji Inafune: the father of Mega Man, producer on countless games, and current projects of Mega Man Universe and Dead Rising 2. Yoshinoro Ono: Producer of Street Fighter IV, Super SFIV, has worked on many older games, and one of his current projects is the freshly announced at SDCC Street Fighter X Tekken. Hiroyuki Kobayashi: Producer of Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 4, and current project of Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes. Shinsaku Ohara: He has worked on many games, but his current project is Dead Rising 2. Ryoto Niistuma: He did a little work on Street Fighter IV but is currently the producer on Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. Motohide Eshiro: He worked on the Onimusha games and is currently the producer on Okamiden. Akiko Ito: Currently working on Mega Man Universe. Shu Takumi and Hironobu Takeshita: The writer/director and producer for Ghost Trick Phantom Detective. Frank Tieri: Writer for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (I know, he's not Japanese, but he was there.) There was a specific exclusive poster for fans that was given at each signing. Of course, you could also bring whatever old games or merchandise you had with you and they would all happily sign it. I got quite a few games autographed, with a few titles receiving multiple signatures because many of them had worked on it in at least some capacity. Each signing I attended went very well and many fans showed up to meet the people responsible for their favorite games. unfortunately, Keiji Inafune was originally scheduled for four signings, but had to leave back to Japan on Friday night of SDCC, so two of his signings got cancelled. Hopefully Capcom will do this again next year, or possibly sooner, because the fans really loved it. Yoshinoro Ono also did a signing at the Udon booth, which was just diagonally across the aisle from Capcom's area. There, a fan brought a copy of Saturday Night Slam Masters for the Sega Genesis for Ono to sign. Ono just burst into a ball of excitement when he saw it. He had never seen the American cover art for the game before and it was the first game he ever worked on. He signed it and took a photo of the game with his Blanka figure. Quite an awesome moment for him, the fan, and everyone watching.
Continue reading SDCC '10: Capcom Earns That S-Rank... - Shawn - 7/28/10 SDCC '10: Halo Reach McFarlane Toys, Square Enix, Minimates, and More. McFarlane Toys: I was hoping that McFarlane Toys' Halo figures would have a bigger display case presence than last year's SDCC, but they really didn't. The Halo: Reach figures and vehicles were in two small cases on the inside of the Diamond Distributors booth. One case held the awesome Warthog and Ghost with a few Reach figures, while the other case held some of the packaged Reach figures. What you see in the photos is really all there was except for an Elite on display in the packaged figures case, but it due to the placement of the cases it was damn near impossible to get a decent photo of it unless you had a small camera and reached in between them. My camera is not small. My main draw was the awesome McFarlane Toys Warthog. The Warthog is in-scale to the figures and is actually a bit bigger than I thought it would be. The thing has got to be at least $50 when it comes out, if not more. Overall the presentation was disappointing. They really missed an opportunity to set up a cool battle scene, like what Hasbro always does with their G.I. Joe and Star Wars dioramas. It's not like they didn't have the space, because they did. There was plenty of room for a decent diorama at the booth. At least they had the Warthog and Ghost on display. Square Enix: When I went to the Square Enix booth, I was expecting to see the usual mix of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, more Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid figures, and possibly some Final Fantasy. What I did not expect to see were Halo: Reach figures. Man, I though McFarlane had the Halo action figure license on lock-down, but since Square Enix is based out of Japan I guess they can make them too if Bungie feels the need for more licensing cash. Six Play Arts Kai prototypes were on display at the Square Enix booth, three of them painted. On display was the main Noble team in Halo: Reach: noble Six, Emile, Jorge, Jun, Carter, and Kat. These look freaking amazing. The Play Arts Kai figures are almost twice the size of McFarlane toys figures, so the amount of detail that they on these was already quite impressive.
Continue Reading SDCC '10: Halo Reach and see more photos... - Shawn - 7/27/10 SDCC '10: One Question with Todd McFarlane About Halo Figures The big daddy of Spawn, Haunt, and McFarlane Toys, Todd McFarlane, was doing a quite a few signings at SDCC 2010. I was able to meet him at his signing at the Tor Publishing booth where he would be signing a Halo: Reach figure poster and one additional item of your choice. This particular signing was open to the first 75 people who showed up at the Tor booth on Saturday morning. I was running a little late that and didn't get through the convention doors until well after they had opened, but I went straight to the Tor booth to see if 75 people had claimed a spot yet. Remarkably, I was the only the fifteenth person. The Tor rep stamped my hand which meant I was guaranteed to meet him and get a signature. Since I didn't have any of his Spider-Man work signed by him yet, so I had brought a Spider-Man book with me, but I also wanted to ask him something. Now, I have to say, Todd McFarlane is starting to look old with a bit of grey peppering his hair. Definitely a lot older than the first time I met him at a Chicago Comic-Con (long before it was Wizard World) over a dozen or so years ago. He does have a great tan, though, and is still a super nice guy as he was back then.
Continue Reading SDCC '10: One Question with Todd McFarlane About Halo Figures... - Shawn - 7/27/10 SDCC '10: Awkward Moment / Awesome Moment Featuring Artgerm One thing I always do at any convention I attend is I bring along my Street Fighter and/or Darkstalkers Tribute art books from Udon. I enjoy meeting and getting autographs from the countless talented artists who contributed to the books. One artist whose signature I hadn't gotten yet was Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, whose name I noticed on the Artists' Alley list for SDCC 2010. With my Street Fighter Tribute book in hand, I headed to his table in Artists' Alley. There were six people standing at his table. I stood with them and just watched as Artgerm drew a sketch for one of the girls there. He finished the sketch and the girl left with her two friends. A guy asked him about doing a sketch and I patiently waited my turn. As I waited it became clear that two of the people standing at the table were Artgerm's friends and just hanging out. As Artgerm was finishing with the guy in front of me, another guy came up and was excited that he found where Artgerm was sitting. I mean he was super immensely overly excited. This guy couldn't seem to stand still and was saying things to himself. He just wanted to ask something and it seemed like he was in a hurry to get elsewhere, so I graciously let him ask his question. He asked Artgerm if he would be at his table from 4-5, or 5-6, I don't remember the exact time. Artgerm said he would and the rabid fan hurriedly blurted out the following: "Okay great I'll be back then... I love you!" and jetted off to wherever he was going. That last part really stuck out and from the looks I saw Artgerm's friends give each other, I think they heard it, too. I'm not really sure that Artgerm heard him say that last part. If he did, he didn't give any indication. Now, I could understand if the fan said, "I love your work," or "I love your art," or something to that effect. Hey, he probably meant to say something like that, but it clearly came out as, "I love you." With me trying not to laugh about it I asked Artgerm if he would sign my book. I handed it to him and he didn't sign it, no, he started to do a full head sketch next to the page his Chun Li piece was on. I was just standing there in awe. Of all the many signatures I've gotten in the book, no one had done an additional sketch in it just because. This seriously blew me away that he was doing a full head sketch and I didn't even ask him to. Maybe he does this in all the Street Fighter Tribute books he signs, but even so, it is incredibly awesome and generous of him to do so. I learned that not only is Stanley "Artgerm" Lau an amazing artist, but he's also super awesome to his fans. Check out more of his work over at deviantART. You'll love it.
- Shawn - 7/26/10 Direct link: SDCC '10: Awkward Moment / Awesome Moment Featuring Artgerm SDCC '10: HasbroToyShop If you want cool exclusives at SDCC, one of requisite stopping points is the HasbroToyShop booth. Over the past few years Hasbro has gotten into a regular flow with the kinds of exclusives they have. There is always some kind of a Transformers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Star Wars, and Marvel exclusive. This year some of Hasbro's items were two versions of Sgt. Slaughter in the G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary style, Generation 1 Blaster from Transformers, and a slew of Marvel exclusives including Dr. Doom in a bathrobe and a 19" Galactus figure. The Galactus is basically the largest carded figure ever. Of course, if you bought the Galactus and opened it you'd be a fool because the figure will be released later and include Silver Surfer, albeit in a box. The point of the SDCC version is it being on a giant card. Hasbro also never leaves out their lady fans with their My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop, and a Strawberry Shortcake exclusives. One thing that Hasbro was doing differently this year were the slipcovers. The Marvel figures and Blaster all had fancy slipcovers over them. Also, Galactus came in a box. Galactus was still on a card, but since it was so enormous, the carded Galactus was in a box with a handle. Imagine trying to carry around a 19" carded figure through the craziness of Comic-Con. It would be damn near impossible to keep it in mint condition. So the slipcovers were a nice additional thing for the smaller figures and Blaster, but the box was a necessity for Galactus. I had also wondered if the 12" vintage carded Stormtrooper at the Gentle Giant booth would receive a similar treatment and it did. Someone I was standing in line with had the 12" carded Stormtrooper which was in the same kind of plastic shell you see the fancier Star Wars and G.I. Joe figure in, just a lot bigger. Preview Night is the best time to try to buy any exclusives at the show because there are far less people and the lines are a little more manageable. You also don't have to deal with getting tickets to get into the line. Any other day at the convention you need to stand in line to get a ticket that allows you to stand in the line at the HasbroToyShop booth (and some other booths). Some booths don't sell exclusives during Preview Night, but most do, so if want the goods and want to help eliminate some stress from getting them, Preview Night is when you go. As soon as I entered the doors on Preview Night I headed straight for the HasbroToyShop booth, but when I got there the line was already capped. The "Elite" security were telling people the line was done for the night. I took that with a grain of salt and decided to get some other things that I and some of my friends wanted. I came back about a half-hour later to hear the Elite guards telling people to come back in an hour because they might let some more people in the line then. I still had some other things to get, so I decided it was safe to go get those and come back. I may have been wrong.
Continue reading SDCC '10: HasbroToyShop... - Shawn - 7/26/10 SDCC '10: Kojima!!! Hideo Kojima was signing and judging cosplay at San Diego Comic-Con this year as a part of the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker world tour. About a year, year and-a-half ago, I tried to get his autograph at a signing he was doing in San Francisco. I got there about two hours early and the line was insanely long. He only signed for an hour or so and needless to say, I didn't get to meet him or get his autograph then. He would be here for 4 hours at SDCC, so I wasn't about to let this pass me by. I arrived at the Marriott two hours before the signing was scheduled to begin. Surprisingly, there were only fifteen people waiting in line. Fifteen compared to the hundreds and hundreds in line at the San Francisco signing. As I waited in line more and more people showed up, but it looked like there were only a little over a hundred people or so by the time the signing actually started. More and more fans showed up while those in front of me were getting things signed, but it was a paltry number compared to the insanity of the SF signing. Apparently there are way more Kojima fans in the San Francisco Bay area than there are in the San Diego area. Before Kojima arrived, a stage had been set up with a table at the edge of the front of it. I had wondered how exactly they were going to do the signing because of the awkward placement of the table. Either the fans would have to be at the front of the stage where Kojima and them would have to stretch to shake hands, or they would have to go up the stage and walk behind him when they leave the stage. Of course, the obvious solution was to move the table to the back of the stage; fans could walk up the stage, and down the stage without any hand-shaking awkwardness or trying to maneuver. However, it wasn't until Kojima arrived until the table actually got moved to the back of the stage. Kojima is a man who gets things done. After the table placement was decided, it was a very well organized event. Each fan was allowed one autograph. Once a fan got to the head of the line, a Konami rep would ask if they had the item ready that they wanted signed. Fans had many different things. The very first person in line had Kojima sign a MGS doll (probably Solid Snake). I saw someone else with the original NES Metal Gear, and many had MGS: Peace Walker or MGS4 with them. One guy even brought his NES console itself to have signed. As for myself, I brought with me my Metal Gear Solid (the first one on PlayStation) cover sheet. Once the person in front of you was getting their stuff signed, you walked up the stairs of the platform and handed your item to another Konami rep. Once it was your turn, the Konami rep would present the item to Kojima, you would shake his hand, and he would sign it, thereby instantly making it a priceless artifact in the world of gaming. Then a professional photographer would take a photo of you with Kojima, which would be posted on the Konami Facebook page within minutes. After Kojima signed my MGS cover sheet and my photo was taken, I said to him, "Zone of the Enders 3," and gave him a thumbs up. Kojima laughed and nodded. I think that confirms ZOE 3.
Continue reading SDCC '10: Kojima and see more photos from the event... - Shawn - 7/25/10 Weekly News Roundup: 7/18/2010 Games
Movies / TV
Figures
- Shawn - 7/18/10 Direct link: Weekly News Roundup: 7/18/2010 Grobda Tank Gets Xevious'd Master shooter model makers R.C. Berg Ltd has revealed the next and best version of their Grobda tank resin kit, the Xevious version. The game Grobda is actually a spin-off where you take control of one of the tank enemies you destroy in Xevious, so this variant is not only incredibly awesome, but also makes a lot of sense. This version is redone in a color scheme that's more like it's monochromatic gray from Xevious. It has a smoke canopy, as opposed to blue, and is a different shade of gray and blue from the metallic version. If I could get my hands on one of these tanks I'd definitely go for the Xevious Grobda. Xevious Grobda should be at Japan's Wonder Festival and will probably be super limited.
Continue for an awesome Grobda Tank Vs. Xevious Solvalou photo... - Shawn - 7/14/10
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