By Thor’s Adorable Hammer

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Jon

I haven’t done much toy hunting in recent days (having twin toddlers has something to do with it), but my interest in The Avengers toy line is pretty high. During a recent trip to Toys R Us/Babies R Us I stopped to check out the Hasbro’s offerings for the super hero team up mega movie. I bypassed most of the 3 3/4″ offerings and settled on this terribly adorable Thor Mini Mugg.

There is a good contingent of collectors out there who eschew the Mighty/Mini Mugg pseudo designer vinyl style. I happen to be a fan, I’ve got about four or five and this will definitely flesh out my Marvel shelf in my nerd cave.

By Thor’s Hammer, Chris Hemsworth Set for Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Jon

I’ve been going to Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con for quite a while, and I’ve never seen a lineup like the one they’ve amassed for the 2012 incarnation. It’s pretty damn heavy on the celebrities with William Shatner and Stan Lee being the headliners… but that was until the most recent announcement that Chris Hemsworth would be in attendance. Yeah, Thor is coming to Philadelphia this June.

With The Avengers opening a month before, I expect the only day he is attending, Saturday to be a total madhouse. Now, if you wanted to get an autograph from Mr. Hemsworth, that will set you back $125.00. Want a photo? That will be $100.00. Or if you really wanted to meet him, you could shell out $350.00 for the VIP experience. So with Hemsworth in town, you can be sure that no one will be visiting Virgil’s booth this year.

You can check out the full press release after the jump:

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Insta-Buy: The Horvitz Butcher Shop

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Jon

There are few shows currently running on television that have such a deep and rich character roster like Boardwalk Empire. One of the standouts from the show’s second season was Manny Horvitz, played by the always awesome William Forsythe. Horvitz is a a Jewish butcher and ruthless gangster running booze outside of Philadelphia.

Today’s offering on TeeFury, “The Horvitz Butcher Shop” by Castle commemorates the greatest homicidal butcher that never was. Like their other offerings, this shirt is only $10 for the next 24 hours.

Is The Back To The Future Hoverboard A Justifiable Nerd Purchase?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Jon

When Mattel announced their Back To The Future II Hoverboard replica back at Toy Fair I nearly lost my mind. Prior to the show there was no indication that something of that scale was in the works. And it took a lot of people by surprise. What was even more suprising was that they did not have a prototype on display, and they announced that there would be a pre-order starting in March and a price really was not discussed.

While Mattel has done a very good job with the Ghostbusters replica PKE Meter and Ghost trap, forking over $120 for something sight unseen is a leap of faith. To address those concerns, Mattel posted the following on their forums regarding the features that are being included in this replica.

There have been a few top line questions about our amazing new prop replica, so I’d like to try and hit them all here. So what exactly does the Hoverboard do?The Board will do pretty much everything the “real” Hoverboard does in the movie – except actually Hover.

It will be made of plastic and will house electronics, so as the board is “moved” (i.e., pushing it with your foot or kicking it across the floor) it will make all of the film accurate noises, including the “whoosh” and “buzzing” noises. All will be sampled directly from the original movie sound effects (provided by our amazing partners at Universal!). It will gently glide over most flat surfaces, but as hovering technology is not expected to be invented until 2015, it does not actually leave the ground.

The sound effects are being added in a very amazing way. The speaker vibrates the sound through the plastic giving it that film accurate organic magic (and preventing us from adding film inaccurate sound holes!)It really is an amazing sensation causing sound and just the right amount of humming as it detects side to side as well as forward and backward momentum. Pick it up and it will detect this as the board instantly turns off just like Marty’s did!

As an added bonus to anyone who pre-orders Mattel is throwing in a 6″ scale hoverboard that can be used with the appropriately scaled action figures. Is this a sign of a BTTF action figure line? Nothing official as of yet, but with the way that Mattel has handled other movie lines (ahem Ghostbusters) it would a mixed blessing. While I would love to have this on my nerd mantel, I’m just having a hard time committing to this either way. Maybe once a review shows up somewhere I might be able to pull the trigger.

Credit: [ToyArk]

A Closer Look At The Avengers Villians Courtesy of LEGO

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Jon

As a collector and lifelong fan of LEGO, their 2012 lineup is very impressive. Not only did they renew their DC Comics license but also landed the rights to Marvel Comics. We saw bits and pieces of the Marvel sets at Toy Fair 2012. Being that some of the sets were tied into The Avengers, Marvel and LEGO opted to wait it out.

Well that didn’t last long as Toys R Us posted updated box art, which gives a closer look at the villains Loki enlists to wreak havoc on Earth’s mightiest heroes.

SPOILERISH SPECULATION ALERT!!!

These little guys sure are alien looking as they swoosh around on their version Serpentor’s Air Chariot. This all but confirms for me that we’ll be seeing Skrulls in The Avengers. Also notice the purple accents … another indicator. The Skrulls have been rumored for a while, but I don’t think we’ll have the official confirmation until we are closer to the release of The Avengers.

As far as the sets go, I’m definitely going to pick up the Captain America set … and possibly the Quinjet as well. Unfortunately the completest in me will have no choice but to buy them all so I can get The Avengers lineup in LEGO minifigure form.

Credit: [Brickset]

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Where Are They Now?

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Jon

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to participate in the second assignment set forth for The League. This week, Brian from Cool & Collected challenged members with the following

The 80′s and 90′s were filled with kids and teens in the movies. Which movie would you like to see a sequel made in 2012 with the original cast members, who have aged the same as you and me.

I think for many of my generation, the obvious choice would be The Goonies. While I have a certain affinity for that flick, it pales in comparison to The Monster Squad. To this day, I still think it has the best ‘modern’ interpretation of the Universal monsters. What makes The Monster Squad so appealing is that a movie which prominently features kids cursing, bullying, smoking, talking about tits, and firing guns would never get a PG-13 rating in 2012 … let alone released. Weren’t the 1980s a beautiful thing?

I’d have to imagine that The Monster Squad 2: Monster Harder (just a working title) would show a group of late twenty somethings whose greatest accomplishment was fighting the forces of darkness before they reached high school. Much like Olympic Gymnasts, their best years are behind them. Horace can only get so many free meals on his epic take down of Gill Man.

Let’s be honest, just because you sent Dracula into a vortex doesn’t mean that he’s gone. I can definitely envision a story where the kids (now adults) have to sharpen their stakes and melt down their good silverware once more to finally end the threat of the living dead claiming their world. All I really want, is a new version of my favorite montage of any film put out during the 1980s.

Seriously, how can you beat that montage? And with that, feel free to check out other members of the League and their musings on this week’s topic:

The Breakfast Club: Where Are They Now? – [Cool & Collected]

KIDS: Where Are They Now? – [Sideshow Cinema]

The Last Starfighter – [Lair of The Dork Lord]

Coming Soon: “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope”

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Jon

I’ve had the opportunity to attend comic book conventions both as a fan and as a credential member of the press (crazy I know). Despite the poor hygiene, over priced action figures, and dingy long boxes … there is something intangibly cool about a large group of people gathered in the interest of fandom.

Director Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) put together Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope during the 2010 edition of San Diego Comic Con and from the trailer looks to be an fun take on the largest fan convention in the United States.

Unfortunately for me, this movie looks like the closest I’ll get to SDCC for the foreseeable future. Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope will get a limited theatrical release on April 6t h 2012. There will also be a mini tour which will feature “Con” related activities.

[H/T] Cool & Collected & Comics Beat

Of Big Trouble, Autobots, and Saviors of The Universe: My Ideal Saturday Matinee

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Jon

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers is a group of like-minded individuals organized by Brian from Cool & Collected. Each member contributes a post on the weekly assignment, which is shared and cross posted across the group. The first assignment:

What movie is, or was, your “go to” Saturday matinee — the comfort movie you always popped into the VCR on a rainy Saturday afternoon, the movie you watched over and over again, driving your parents crazy while you recited the lines along with the characters on the screen?

Most people can point to a movie as being their go to childhood flick. You know the one I’m talking about, it’s the one that your parents would begrudgingly pop into the VCR every weekend. Over time the sound would pop or the picture would jump because it had been rewound far too many times.

I never had just a movie. I had three movies, which I know refer to as my Trifecta of 80′s Awesomeness: Big Trouble in Little China, Transformers: The Movie, and Flash Gordon. And you want to know why it was so awesome? They were on just one VCR tape. My dad had a knack for making *ahem* duplicates of VHS tapes through an elaborate system of VHS decks. With love and dedication, my dad worked it out to get all three movies on to one VHS tape, guaranteeing close to 5 1/2 hours of uninterrupted TV time.

To this day I still have a deep and profound love for those movies. Partly due to the dedication from my dad to ensure that I had uninterrupted flow of 80s cheese pipelined directly into my cerebral cortex. To this day I can listen to the score from Transformers: The Movie and articulate the scenes in which each movement occurs. I can go line for line with Jack Burton, and the Flash Gordon soundtrack is among my most played on my iPod. To this day, I never grow tired of any of these movies. And I may argue that these three movies could be tied for the greatest 80s movie theme songs (Footloose can suck it!)

I have a primal compulsion to watch them every time they pop up, much to the chagrin of my wife. Of the three, I think she prefers Big Trouble in Little China … but she will never admit to that.

Insta-Buy: Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Jon

My father is a responsible for a lot of the nerdy passions in my life. At a very young age I would sit with him and watch a copy of Giorgio Moroder’s contemporary restoration of Metropolis on our kick ass 19″ Magnavox television. On a side note, It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that my father was making illegal dubs of movies that he had rented from West Coast Video. We really didn’t have a lot of disposable income for entertainment, yet we always had good VHS copies of some of my favorites: Big Trouble in Little China, Transformers: The Movie, and Flash Gordon.

Back to Metropolis, it wasn’t until I was well into my college years that I finally got a chance to watch the “original” Metropolis. While I have an appreciation for the tremendous vision that Fritz Lang had in 1927, there’s just something about the color filters and the all-star soundtrack of Moroder’s version. Several years back I went so far as to import the soundtrack from the UK because it was out of print stateside (I kicked myself when it became available on iTunes a short time later)

On November 15th, Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis will be released on Blu-Ray for the very first time. Previously this had only been available on LaserDisc and VHS. And yes, there was a point at which I considered picking up a LaserDisc player specifically for this movie.

Geeks For Tots Is Back For 2011

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Jon

Toys for Tots is one of the charities that I’ve always supported. As a kid I was fortunate to have some kick ass Christmas mornings, and now that I’m a fully functioning adult with stable employment, I do what I can so that kids that are less fortunate have something underneath the Christmas tree.

Geeks For Tots rewards people for doing the right thing and helping kids during the Christmas season. To encourage increased contributions to this worthy cause, Geeks For Tots is offering prizes to anyone who submits proof of donation. These could either be pictures of aforementioned geek dropping off their toys or a proof of an online donation to Toys For Tots.

Some of the kick ass prizes:

Gift Cards to BigBadToyStore
Gift Cards to 80sTees.com
Star Wars Action Figures from Brian’s Toys
Premium Format Clone Trooper from Sideshow Toys
Spider-Man Minimates from Luke’s Toy Store

Complete rules and the fine print can be found over at Geeks For Tots

doubledumbassonyou.com

more than a colorful metaphor

Category Archives: general nerdery