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By Jon, July 26, 2010 7:18 pm

It was already torturous enough that San Diego Comic Con attendees were going to get their hands on that entirely fucking awesome poster for The Walking Dead by artist Drew Struzan. I would definitely stab someone in the eye to have this hanging on my wall.

Now not only did they have most of the cast from AMC’s The Walking Dead, but director/producer/bad ass mother fucker Frank Darabont debuted the trailer for Con goers. For some reason, AMC hasn’t put a legitimate version out so you’ll just have to make do with this shitty bootleg, courtesy of I Watch Stuff.

I’m all in for this one. Darabont has wrangled every bit of terror and suspense from Robert Kirkman’s pages and somehow gotten them to translate to the television medium.

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By Jon, July 26, 2010 7:00 pm

Of all the items in my Transformers collection there is one thing figure that I love above all others, my original G1 Grimlock. For a kid, Grimlock was just about the coolest thing ever in that he was a robot that turned into a dinosaur. Over twenty years I’ve held onto Grimlock through several house moves, high school, college, graduate school, and even marriage. I even have gotten my wife to engage in the “Cesium Salami/Beryllium Bologna” dialogue from Transformers: The Movie.

A year ago rumors were swirling that Hasbro has deemed the United States worthy of an American release of the Takara Tomy MP-8 Grimlock. This was huge news due to the fact that the Japanese version ran upwards of $150 and was very hard to come by. Over that year there were further rumors of cancellations and who would exactly be carrying this new Masterpiece Grimlock, as Toys R Us were initially slated to carry it. It wasn’t until earlier this month that we had confirmation that it would be a and that it would be a Toys R Us Exclusive and sold through Entertainment Earth during San Diego Comic Con.

My patience paid of late last week as I was finally able to pre-order Masterpiece Grimlock through TRU.com. Unfortunately he will take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to arrive in my Den of Nerdery.

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By Jon, July 22, 2010 11:59 pm

Joss Whedon officially announced that he will be directing The Avengers. [/Film]

A new full-length trailer for Tron Legacy debuted and it looks friggin’ sweet [AICN]

Marvel announced a new Power Man & Iron Fist mini-series that will spin out of the aftermath of Shadowland. [Comics Alliance]

Andrew Lincoln, star of AMC’s adaptation of The Walking Dead offers his thoughts on playing ‘everyman’ Rick Grimes. [io9]

Guillermo Del Toro will be writing and producing a remake of Disney’s Haunted Mansion without Eddie Murphy, and it will be … well scary. [Wired]

Footage from Battle: Los Angeles, a gritty alien invasion flick with shades of Black Hawk Down were screened, and pretty much loved by all. [First Showing]

Bruce Campbell will be starring in a Burn Notice prequel focusing on Sam Axe’s last mission as a Navy Seal. FUCK. YES. [Major Spoilers]

Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, & John Malkovich as retired CIA super agents? RED looks like a very promising comic to film adaptation. [Film School Rejects]

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By Jon, July 21, 2010 11:42 pm

Captain America director Joe Johnston says that Steve Rogers will have a “different spin” [Film School Rejects]

io9 compiled a list of celebrities that actually venture onto the Con floor amidst the smelly unwashed masses. Apparently Daughtry is a huge comic nerd, who knew? [io9]

Marvel released some pretty fucking epic concept art posters for both Thor & Captain America. [Comics Beat]

DC Universe Online, the upcoming MMO from Sony/DC Comics, due this fall has some great voice talent lined up. [Comics Alliance]

MTV Splashpage got the exclusive that Max Brooks’ World War Z has been optioned and that Brad Pitt will star, in theaters in 2012. [MTV Splashpage]

Hasbro has a new 6″ Black Widow/Winter Soldier two-pack coming out and I must admit that Black Widow is kind of sexy. [Cool Toy Review]

Karl Urban might be the new Judge Dredd? I very much approve of this casting rumor. [First Showing]

The Riddler is set to be the main villain in Batman 3? I call bravo sierra on this one. [Den of Geek]

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By Jon, July 21, 2010 11:10 pm

Marvel Studios really is priming the lead up to Comic Con with yet another production still from the set of Thor. Here we see Thor in the midst of retrieving Mjolnir from its resting spot in the New Mexico desert (as we saw at the end of Iron Man 2).

Image Credit: [AICN]

Here are a couple general observations:

• Chris Hemsworth got fucking huge. It’s hard to believe that this guy was George Kirk a year ago.
• Like many other comic book experts, I too believe that Thor will not have an alter ego. In the comics, his Earthly form was that of Dr. Donald Blake who was sickly and required a cane to get around. I think I read an interview with Kenneth Branaugh where he said that there would just be Thor … and I’m okay with this
• Marvel Studios is doing a pretty good job generating buzz, and I really am hoping we’ll see the full cast of The Avengers on stage this week at San Diego Comic Con.

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By Jon, July 18, 2010 11:35 pm

/Film just posted a new set photo from Thor which ran in the print in the Los Angeles Times. One of my chief concerns in the photo of Odin, Thor, & Loki that was released last week was the lack of Loki’s trademark head wear.

News/Image Credit: [/Film]

With Kenneth Branaugh in the director’s chair I was sure that we would see Asgard presented in a grand scale, and this picture pretty much confirms my suspicions. Not only do we get to see Odin on his throne, but take a look in the foreground and you’ll see Loki looking well … more like Loki, and I am pleased.

My guess is that with all of the Asgardians in what seems to be ceremonial mode and Odin is passing judgment on his son Thor. The tone in this photograph seems ominious, and that coupled with the official synopsis my analysis seems legit.

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, “Thor,” which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Odin’s throne room look like it belongs in the 1980 classic Flash Gordon, which is a great thing. Flash Gordon had fantastic sets and production design, and as I alluded to last week Thor needs to work harder to sell the fantasy aspect in a pre-established Marvel Universe of more Earthly superheroes.

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By Jon, July 16, 2010 1:08 am

I picked up the following video from Deadspin, (who in turn picked it up from Barstool Sports), of a “freak hoe fight” in a Burger King parking lot in Oakland. While I consider myself an educated man and rather adept at this whole writing thing … I can’t describe it better than it already has been on YouTube:

A bunch of freak hoes fighting in a BK parking lot in Oakland. Girl hits pregnant girl, pregnant girl throws high chair, dude wrecks pregnant girl, pregnant girl talks shit to old lady, old lady chases pregnant girl with water bottle, some more fighting, then a motorcycle cop gets hit by a car. regular stuff.

I’d like to point out a couple things:

• Where’d the random dude with a pitbull come from?
• Why are the principal female combatants running around sans pants?
• When the police responded one of their motorcycles got hit by a car.
• Highchairs are not effective weapons, it’s common sense.
• Minivan Guy and his Girlfriend beat the HELL out of the Pink Pantyhose girl … who was Pregnant.

It’s been rough going for Oakland, with the recent rioting and looting in response to the involuntary manslaughter verdict (which is the verdict they are referring to the video) in the trial of former BART Police Officer who was accused of murdering 22-year-old Oscar Grant on a BART station platform in January 2009.

So all in all this really isn’t helping Oakland’s image, which has the nation’s fourth highest violent crime rate and is facing the likelihood of laying off nearly 100 police officers this year … and even more next year. So what did I take away from this experience? To never find myself in a Burger King parking lot in Oakland … because this is just “regular stuff” there.

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By Jon, July 16, 2010 12:37 am

While I fully expected the movie studios to bait the frothing nerd masses in the lead up to Comic Con; I was not expecting big reveals from two of next year’s blockbusters, Thor and Green Lantern. The aesthetic for both of these films are very important because they are drastic departures from the superhero movies we’ve seen so far.

With movies like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, The X-Men Films, and Spider-Man there is a certain grounding in reality. Now Thor and his family are Asgardian Gods and as Green Lantern, Hal Jordan is part of an intergalactic police force which is based on the alien planet of Oa. These costumes should look different, because they aren’t of this world. Even though both pictures have been reposted everywhere I’ll leave them underneath the jump in case anyone wishes to remain spoiler free (that is if you consider costumes to be a spoiler)

Continue reading 'Superhero Costume Faceoff: Asgardian Gods vs. Green Lantern'»

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By Jon, July 13, 2010 11:57 pm

Every year at San Diego Comic Con there is a slew of retailer exclusive action figures, variant comic books, and shiny metal that sends fanboys into a froth covering every franchise from Twilight to Ghostbusters. For people like me, they have to rely on the secondary market or on the retailers themselves after the convention to secure the exclusives of their choice.

Unfortunately for my bank account there are some very strong showing from my three favorite properties:

• GI Joe: Sgt. Slaughter 3 3/4″ – $9.99
• Transformers: G1 Prowl Mighty Mugg – $15.99
• Marvel: Ultimate WWII Captain America 3 3/4″ $9.99 & Iron Man 2 Mark VI Mighty Mugg – $15.99

The greatest difficulty in obtaining these exclusives is that when they go up on Monday on Hasbro’s consumer site … things get ugly real fast. There is never a set time for them to be released so if this year is anything like the last two years I will spend half of my day hitting the F5 key.

It’s like triage in a disaster zone, you have to pick what you want the most and make the difficult decision and cut your losses. Not that I want to jinx myself, but I have a pretty strong record … let’s hope for a good day on July 26th. For a more in depth look, io9 put up a decent rundown of their top 25 picks for SDCC ‘10 Exclusives.

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By Jon, July 10, 2010 10:26 pm

Despite my enormous love for the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen left a bad taste in my mouth. It was a product of the writer’s strike and seemed to be a couple of big action sequences strung together with a hackneyed storyline.

Did I still buy some of the toys? Of course I did, because that’s what fanboys like me do … we bitch about the movie but still go out and purchase the merchandise.

While I was well aware that production had begun for Transformers 3, and I was doing my best to stay spoiler free once again. However, when I stopped by TFW2005 (my Transformers fansite of choice), I had found that board member 245am was able to snap pictures on set in Chicago … of Optimus Prime with his motherfucking trailer!

And not only did 245am uncover this significant spoiler, but also took some pictures of some of the other Autobots in addition to what appeared to be NASCAR racers armed to the teeth. Fan speculation has that they could be Stunticons … which could lead to another combiner in Menasor. From 245am’s set report:

Saw a chase scene being filmed with several Autobots racing behind what looked like demolition derby cars… closed top with plastic net windows over the door windows, scrapped together bodies, etc. Mostly black with some color paint. My first thought was they were filming crew vehicles, and they might have been, but they also had sponsor decals (Gillette I saw for sure) and big racing numbers (again, 13 I saw for sure) and figured they wouldn’t put those on cars that weren’t being filmed. My first thought when I saw them: Stunticons, but that’s total conjecture.

Michael Bay may have gotten me excited about the next Transformers flick … but we all know better than to trust him. Serious Bay, do NOT fuck this up.

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