An image from the line for Rogue One at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. Image: Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images
You’d think with the advent of online ticketing and assigned seating, the idea of waiting in line to see a movie would be obsolete. You’d be wrong, especially when it comes to Star Wars.
With mere hours to go before the opening of Rogue One, there are fans camped out right now to see the latest Star Wars film, even though they’ve already bought tickets with their seats already reserved. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We have discovered that even though people can reserve seats, there is still a subset of fans that love hanging out with other like-minded fans,” said Peter Genovese, Co-Owner of LiningUp.net, a site that facilitates the process. “When we put on these lines and get people who have never participated before, they quickly realize how fun it is to hang around with others that understand them and their fandom.”
Long lines of crazy fans have always been a huge part of the Star Wars narrative. Some of the most famous Star Wars photos ever feature huge lines of people waiting to see the movies. For the prequels, lining up almost became an endurance test (more on that in a bit).
While Star Wars has always been known as a franchise at the cutting edge of technology, that technology has also done its best to hamstring the franchise’s social experience. After what most fans assumed would be the last Star Wars movie, 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, online ticketing became the industry standard. Assigned seating is becoming more and more popular every year too. Lining up had become outdated. And yet, when the team behind LiningUp.net heard that Star Wars was coming back with Episode VII and beyond, they quickly jumped into action.
“When we finally heard about an Episode VII being made, we all decided we wanted to do another line again, albeit it a shorter one since the movie was going to be released in December,” said Genovese. “We had to factor in weather, so we did a 12-day line event for Episode VII, which was a great success.”
Lining up isn’t just for adults. Image: Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images
How can a line be a success? Well, it’s two-fold. Since the line for 1999's The Phantom Menace, Star Wars lineups have generated over $10,000 for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. “Charitable work has always been part of the Star Wars community,” said Ric Peralta, a California optician who does PR for the line. “And it certainly creates a level of legitimacy to our presence for weeks on end on the sidewalk.”
Beyond that, people who wait in line liken the experience to a party. “To us, this is no different than tailgating at any sporting event,” said Craig Haasis, a LiningUp.net co-founder. “You’ve got your tickets and your seats, but you’re out there in the parking lot having a blast with fellow fans. Granted, tailgating doesn’t last for 48 hours or six weeks like our lines have, but the camaraderie is just one facet of why we do this.”
Six weeks is how long Haasis and several others waited for all three Star Wars prequels; when Rogue One premieres, they will have only waited in line for 48 hours. “We want to treat the Star Wars story films differently from the saga films so we went for a dramatically shorter line,” said Peralta.
However, any length of time in line poses some logistical questions. LiningUp.net works carefully with the theater they’re at, in this case the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, Cali., to make sure everyone is safe and relieved. They have 24-hour access to the theater restrooms. People can clock in and out of line for set amounts of time if need be and the theater hires security guards for the overnight portions.
The scene outside the TCL. Image: Brian Sims/LiningUp.net
In the meantime, memories are made. Friendships blossom, marriages have sparked, and eventually, everyone watches the movie. But when it comes to Star Wars, no matter the place or time, it’s never just about the movie.
“Since 1999, the mechanics of moviegoing have changed dramatically,” adds LiningUp.net organizer Sameer Bakhda. “We could indeed buy our tickets online, and get our reserved seats, and show up five minutes before midnight; and for the vast majority of moviegoers, that will be their experience. Sterile, passionless, and without any human interaction. But that is not what the Star Wars experience is all about.”
The Rogue One line is currently sold out, but LiningUp.net plans to party for every Star Wars movie for the foreseeable future. You can join in at Liningup.net. For more on the Starlight Children’s Foundation, click here.
Oh, Riverdale, you didn’t need to. Your hilarious teenage soap opera game was already on point, based on the pilot we saw. And Archie’s dad was already Luke Perry, but sure, cast Molly Ringwald. It’s just icing on the cake at this point.
Ringwald will play Mary Andrews, Archie’s mother who left Riverdale a couple of years ago to “follow her dreams.” When things go wrong for her family, she’ll be back to support her son and husband (again, played by Luke Perry), appearing in episodes nine and 10 of the first season. Naturally, her return will coincide with the Riverdale Homecoming Dance. I love you, Riverdale, you crazy show.
They are Godzilla: King of Monsters and Pacific Rim: Uprising, respectively. But while Pacific Rim: I Bet They’ll Change This Again’s new title is a bit boring, there’s some delightful backstory to Godzilla 2's.
The two new titles were revealed today in a press release from Legendary covering the announcement of three new executives for its film division. Uprising is actually the third different name we’ve heard for Steven S. DeKnight’s follow up to Guillermo Del Toro’s Kaijutastic monster movie, after Pacific Rim 2 and Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, but Godzilla 2's new name is the first official word we’ve had on a title for the sequel.
It’s got a brilliant throwback to it, to boot—King of the Monsters was the subtitle given to the American release of the original 1954 Godzilla movie, first shown in 1956 with extra footage featuring Raymond Burr in the lead role for American audiences. It’s got a great ring to it too, aside from the shout out.
Godzilla: King of Monsters is due for release March 22, 2019, while Pacific Rim: Uprising is currently set for a February 23rd, 2018 debut.
You know what the worst part of most traditional stories is? The protagonist. Protagonists are never the best part of anything. This is why ensembles were invented. Protagonists are like... walls. They’re functional, and you can decorate them a little bit, but it’s the rare wall that really grabs your attention.
1) You know exactly what’s going to happen to them
When it comes to protagonists, there’s a lot that makes it really easy to not engage with their story. First of all, a lot of the time their development is basically just the hero’s journey again. That’s not to say that a story with the hero’s journey can’t be good. Any trope can be good. What it does mean is that the protagonist tends to have a path that is fairly predictable mapped out for them. Which tends to make them the least interesting person around.
Examples: Harry Potter, James Bond, Duke from G.I. Joe, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, Neo from the Matrix
The one in the center, there. She was the least interesting one. (Image: Dollhouse, Fox)
2) They’re usually bland and boring
Protagonists, because they’re going to be the center of the marketing plan, also get all their edges filed way the hell down. And, in an effort to make them relatable, chances are they’ve had everything that makes a person interesting and dynamic turned into something bland and generic. Although we are, thankfully, finally seeing executives cling less to “likability” as a requirement for protagonists.
Protagonists also have to carry a lot of the plot on their shoulders. And that can be a huge problem if the plot is bad. A side character can still be fun and entertaining even if the actual story they’re in is bad. The protagonist can’t shed the weight of a bad story nearly as easily. If the show’s going down, the protagonist is probably going down with it.
Examples:Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean, Jake Sully from Avatar, Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings, Raleigh Beckett in Pacific Rim, Barry Allen in The Flash, Echo on Dollhouse
Oh, Methos.
3) The supporting characters are more interesting than they are
This goes part and parcel with protagonists being bland, of course.It is very rare that I come out of a movie or television show or movie thinking to myself, “Man, would I love to know more about the guy everyone spent the whole time talking about.” But I have come out of a theater demanding to know everything humanly possible about that character that was only in five minutes of the movie.
Supporting characters have all the benefits that the protagonist does not. There’s a lot more open to interpretation because everything about them hasn’t been spelled out. They can be weird, funny, crazy, interesting—all the things the protagonist usually can’t be. And since they aren’t locked on the hero’s journey, it’s a lot easier for the writers to make their storylines much more surprising.
Examples:Boba Fett, Agent Coulson in the Marvel movies, Agent Carter from Captain America: The First Avenger, Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead, Wolverine in the X-Men comics, Methos from Highlander, Sierra and Victor from Dollhouse
Also? When breakout characters have been brought up from the minors to the majors, they can start to suck, too. Remember when Felicity Smoak was a beautiful and pure light? She’s not awful now, per se, but she’s definitely not the spotlight stealer she used to be. How about Helo from Battlestar Galactica? They didn’t kill him like they planned, and then, by the end of the show, we had Helo doing whatever plot-convenient job they could find for him that week. When characters are around sporadically they’re mysterious and interesting, but too often the more you know about them the more you realize there’s not much else to them.
Examples:Agent Coulson in Agents of SHIELD, Felicity from Arrow, Amanda from Highlander, Spike from Buffy, HRG from Heroes
4) They’re very rarely diverse
Protagonists, especially in movies and television, almost always default to white male. It’s an endless sea of white men all going on the same journey. Joseph Campbell got a few things wrong in with the title “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” There’s way more than a thousand of these dudes running around. And they don’t have a thousand faces—there’s pretty much just the one. (Although the hair can come in blond or brunet.)
That’s clearly what he’s doing to this poor Stormtrooper, right?
Hot Toys is slowly working its way through unveiling its full collection of Rogue One figures—we’ve had the Deathtroopers, we’ve had Jyn and Chirrut, and now, we’ve got everyone’s favorite, non-shit-giving droid, K-2SO.
As befitting the lanky droid’s stature in the movie, Hot Toy’s K-2SO clocks in at a lofty 36cm tall (that’s about 9cm taller that Jyn, so there’s an impressive difference between the two). He’s got some glowing eyes, a blaster pistol and grenade, and he unfortunately does not have the dry humor of an Alan-Tudyk-voiced sound chip. That’s pretty much all you get with him.
Which is a bit of a shame compared to other Hot Toys figures, but I guess the uniqueness of K-2SO’s almost skeletal design is the appeal, rather than a bunch of cool gizmos. Plus, if he’s actually sturdy enough with those tiny joints to be able to heft up a Hot Toys stormtrooper, then at least he’s impressively put together.
If you want an acerbic security droid of your own though, you’ll have to wait a bit: Hot Toys’ K-2 won’t be out till late 2017, and will set you back $230 if you want one. You can check out a few more pictures at the link below.
Part of the book cover to The Lost Property Office.
The right franchise can make or break a film studio and the easiest way to find a franchise is in the world of literature. Studios regularly scoop up book properties hoping they’ll get the next Harry Potter or Twilight, but most the time, they get The 5th Wave or Mortal Instruments.
Sony Pictures just acquired a property they hope falls into that first category. It’s called The Lost Property Office, based on a book by James R. Hannibal.
Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things. Not just a missing glove or the other sock, but things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace.
But Jack’s father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries—and membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack’s inheritance.
Now the only way Jack will ever see his father again is if he finds what the nefarious Clockmaker is after: the Ember, which holds a secret that has been kept since the Great Fire of London. Will Jack be able to find the Ember and save his father, or will his talent for finding things fall short?
It goes without saying it’s a cool premise. How are these people so good at finding things? What does a secret society of detectives do for the Crown? Where’s Jack’s father?
Also, this property reminds me of the old Nickelodeon show Finders Keepers. Remember that show? It was just kids breaking shit looking for little knickknacks. It was the best. Anyway, I digress.
Will The Lost Property Office be the next Harry Potter, Twilight or Hunger Games? Probably not. But as long as it tells an interesting story in a compelling way, audiences will show up.
Star Trek: Discovery has finally found its Number One: Sonequa Martin-Green.
As previously announced, the focus of Star Trek: Discovery won’t be the ship’s captain, but a lieutenant commander “with caveats.” Bryan Fuller, the former showrunner, said a while back that the idea was to buck the tradition and “see a character from a [new] perspective on the starship — one who has different dynamic relationships with a captain, with subordinates, it gave us richer context.”
Entertainment Weeklybroke the casting news, but no fresh information about the character has surfaced. We don’t even have a name, just a rank. (Update: She’s Lieutenant Commander Rainsford) Martin-Green will supposedly continue to have a regular role on The Walking Dead as Sasha Williams, but we’ll see how long that lasts.
Image: Go North screencap from the trailer, Gunpowder & Sky
I actually cannot think of a hell worse than being trapped in a high school with the jocks running things. That’s enough to make anyone long for their parents, principals, and teachers.
Go North takes place after some disaster has led to Lord of the Flies/Children of the Corn-style community of children, led by children. Only, in this case, it’s being run the way we all imagine high schools are run: by the popular.
Jacob Lofland (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) and Sophie Kennedy Clark (Philomena) go looking for their families and, you know, the hope of not being controlled by a varsity letter by, you guessed it, going north. They’re chased by the evil Caleb (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and his minion (James Bloor).
Enjoy this trailer, which contains the second creepiest use of the Pledge of Allegiance I’ve seen this year, after Man in the High Castle.
Go North will be available in theaters and VOD on Jan. 13.
My BFF doesn’t actually like me, a story in 4 acts. Screengrab: The Epidemic of Passable Movies
Movie quality falls along a bell curve: plenty of shitty Mall Cop and Saw movies, far fewer stellar hits like Mad Max or Spotlight get easy Oscar praise. The overwhelming majority will just be standard, two-unremarkable-hours-of-easy -consumption fare. Why do so many movies fail to make an impact, either good or bad, on viewers?
In his latest video, Nerdwriter has an easy answer:
As Nerdwriter explains, a really good movie will look at something in the human experience (loss, heroism, romance) and approach it with complexity and empathy. A bad movie will approach it in an overly simplified and ham-handed way. Like in Saw where people are tortured half to death because they’re drug dealers or deadbeat dads. But a passable movie will look at something, then approach it in terms that the audience is already familiar with from watching other movies, using cliches as a shortcut to say something deep:
When passable movies observe human experience, they observe it not through the lens of real life, but through the lens of other movies. There is this huge library, this huge vocabulary of actions built up over the years that people you know don’t really do, but which happens so often in TV and movies that they’re familiar enough to an audience that they become, well, passable for human motivations.
So if you’re watching a decent, docile movie chances are it’s just a hodgepodge of movies you’ve already seen, checking off all those little boxes needed to be decent. And nothing else.
If you live in one of the cities that’ll be screening rare Studio Ghibli film Ocean Waves, you could be among the first Americans to see it on the big screen. The teen drama was originally made for Japanese TV in 1993, and it never got a theatrical release in the US—until now.
Here’s a synopsis, followed by some additional details on its creation, courtesy of Studio Ghibli:
Rarely seen outside of Japan, Ocean Waves is a subtle, poignant and wonderfully detailed story of adolescence and teenage isolation. Taku and his best friend Yutaka are headed back to school for what looks like another uneventful year. But they soon find their friendship tested by the arrival of Rikako, a beautiful new transfer student from Tokyo whose attitude vacillates wildly from flirty and flippant to melancholic. When Taku joins Rikako on a trip to Tokyo, the school erupts with rumors, and the three friends are forced to come to terms with their changing relationships.
Ocean Waves was the first Studio Ghibli film directed by someone other than studio founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, as director Tomomi Mochizuki led a talented staff of younger employees in an adaptation of Saeko Himuro’s best-selling novel. Full of shots bathed in a palette of pleasingly soft pastel colors and rich in the unexpected visual details typical of Studio Ghibli’s most revered works, Ocean Waves is an accomplished teenage drama and a true discovery.
And the trailer:
Ocean Waves will first screen in New York City starting December 28, followed by dates in select cities through March 10. Check out this list of theaters to see if it’s playing near you—but if not, an eventual Blu-ray release is also planned.
Like a toasty mug of cocoa on a winter’s eve, let the smooth sound of Neil Gaiman reading the Edgar Allan Poe classic enrich your soul.
Gaiman recorded a full reading of the narrative poem recently—surrounded by dim candlelight, as all capital-R-romantic readings of poetry demand—to mark the currently ongoing fundraiser for Worldbuilders, a charity that helps deliver books and education opportunities to children all over the world, which hit a million dollars last week.
So not only is it just delightful to watch, it’s for a very good cause to boot.
We knew that Matt Lucas’ Nardole, who first showed up in “The Husbands Of River Song,” was going to be in more than one of the new Doctor Who episodes. But now we have a few more details about what he’s doing and how long he’s staying.
After a screening of the Christmas special, Lucas said, “You’re stuck with me for a little bit” and said his character was more of a “valet” than the traditional companion. He added that, over the course of his episodes, “You learn a little bit more about me and I’m a bit of a thorn in [the Doctor’s] side. I have a job to do, but I think [the Doctor will] regret giving me that job.”
We still don’t know exactly how long Lucas is around for, although it seems like it’ll be for at least a few episodes at the start of the season. Lucas said the dynamic between Nardole, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), and new companion Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) is “novel” because she’s the only human among two different aliens. “She grounds us. There’s something very contemporary about that character I think, and her performance,” Lucas said.
It is true that the Doctor has had many fewer nonhuman companions than human ones, and it’s been a long time since the TARDIS housed one. We’ll have to wait until April to see how it all shakes out.
Jon Spaights gives an update on his Forever War adaptation. We know when to expect The Batman to be released. 12 Monkeys adds some important new cast members. Plus, what’s to come on Shadowhunters and Incorporated, and The Flash adds another comic book hero with ties to Cisco. To me, my Spoilers!
The Forever War
Jon Spaights discusses the progress of the adaptation of Jow Haldeman’s 1974 scifi novel about soldiers fighting a galactic war:
I’m working on it every day right now. It was delayed a little bit, unfortunately, by the incredible time commitment that Passengers became. That’s the way in which I was bitten by the depth of my involvement in the production and post-production of Passengers, but The Forever War is easily in my top five favorite sci-fi novels of all time.
Departing Warner Bros. creative chief Greg Silverman confirms Warner Bros is eyeing a 2018 release for the film (and several others, including Ready Player One and the Fantastic Beasts sequel).
In 2018, there is a second Fantastic Beasts film, and Ready Player One feels like an ambitious movie by the world’s best filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, that will set the world on fire. There is Aquaman with James Wan, and Scooby Doo will be a huge launch and then there is Lego Ninjago. And then there is Ben Affleck’s Batman.
Alex Timbers is in talks to direct the villainess’ origin story. [Deadline]
Assassin’s Creed
Here’s a new featurette discussing the film’s soundtrack.
Game of Thrones
Watchers on the Wall has a new gallery of set pictures that confirms previous reports back in September that Euron Greyjoy will indeed be teaming up with Cersei Lannister. The images feature Euron on horseback, flanked by gold-cloaked city guardsmen as he escorts Yara, Ellaria, and Tyene in chains through the streets of Kings Landing.
We’d previously heard that Euron would both capture at least one of the Greyjoy siblings after a big water battle following his deal with Cersei, as well as be responsible for the taking out multiple Sand Snakes. It looks like these pictures confirm that Nymeria and Obara are the ones kicking the bucket. Head on over to the link above to see the pictures.
12 Monkeys
Hana Waddingham, who play Septa Unella on Game of Thrones, has been cast as Magdalena, part of an apocalyptic cult that aims to protect the Witness, described as “both ruthless and expedient” in her methods.
Meanwhile, Warehouse 13's Faran Tahir has been cast as Mallick, “an imposing and devout enforcer of the Army of the 12 Monkeys who resides in Titan.”
Finally, here’s two new synopses for episodes two and three, “A Door in the Dark” and “Parabati Lost,” have hit the web.
The hunt is on for Jace Wayland, and Alec and Isabelle hope tor each him before the rest of the Shadowhunters do. With orders from the Clave of “shoot to kill”, the Lightwood siblings must act fast. Also on his own search, Simon turns to Magnus for help when he finds himself at odds with both Raphael and Aldertree.
Meanwhile, Clary struggles to find where she belongs since she doesn’t seem to fit into the Shadowhunters world, yet can’t go back to her mundane life.
Already cut off from the institute and his friends, Jace finds his situation worsen when he becomes a target for the New York wolf pack who believe Jace to be a killer. And don’t forget about Aldertree and the Shadowhunters who continue their own hunt for Jace! With Jace becoming the most wanted man in New York, can his friends get to him before everyone else?
Meanwhile, Simon is on a search of his own as Raphael puts pressure on him to find Camille.
Comedian and author Aaron Gillies, who goes by TechnicallyRon on Twitter, has envisioned what Rogue One’s logo would look like if it had been named after the very angry things horrible people are saying about it.
Even better, this is technically the second in a series. Back in August, he turned YouTube comments into an opening crawl:
Presumably, he felt the need to do another after he realized there was no opening crawl in Rogue One. And not for any other reason related to the complete torrent of madness the existence of Jyn Erso as a lead character has unleashed in some people.
Welcome to the first annual Toy Time Holiday Gift Spectacular, with special guests Batman, Spike the Dragon, The Walking Dead, Transformers and more. These are the toys and collectibles that would have made my Christmas list, were they not already sitting right over there.
Originally planned as an elaborate video, the inaugural Holiday Gift Spectacular ran into some trouble, mostly involving my relatively expensive Canon EOS 70D suddenly developing a freezing issue. See this hat-bearded face?
So many Santa tears were shed.
Imagine that face sitting in front of hot lights, tears trickling down its rosy cheeks as it stared at its frozen reflection on the camera’s viewscreen. Imagine it is 3AM, and that face (along with the rest of its body) had been trying to get the camera working for the better part of a week. That poor face.
And so our first Holiday Gift Spectacular is presented in still imagines. I hope you enjoy them.
The Animated Dark Knight Rises Again
What’s in the box?
If there is one thing I learned in 2016, it’s that human beings can be kind of stupid (happy holidays!) and I should never visit the DC Collectibles website on payday. Not when they’re producing outstanding figures and accessories based on the greatest Batman cartoon ever made.
The wonderful thing about Batman: The Animated series, aside from the excellent stories, dark (but not too dark) tone and amazing voice cast, is that the sleek style of the characters and vehicles translates perfectly into toy form. I collected them back when the show was running, and I fear I’m starting over again.
Just look at the detail on the deluxe version of Clayface ($40). Mainly a single color, but so damn expressive, and packed with plenty of accessories to make use of Matthew Hagen’s unique properties.
“You have my axe!”
Those looking for a something a bit more festive, there’s always “Christmas with the Joker.”
Joker comes with seven different hands. This is one of them.
Based on the classic holiday episode of the animated series, the Christmas with the Joker figure ($30 to $40 depending on where you find him) is ready to give fans old and young some holly, jolly nightmares. Putting animated Joker in normal situations was always so terrifying, wasn’t it?
The ornaments are separate, which is a very nice touch.
It’s sitting right next to me and still this picture gives me chills.
No really, look at it.
Those lines are just, man. I never say this, but hhnnngggg. Is that right? I can never tell. Fins!Safety first!
Featuring working lights and sounds, the Batmobile is a magnificent beast that fits a pair of six-inch animated figures in its cockpit. The $99 ride also comes in a $175 deluxe version, featuring Batman, the Boy Wonder and a Bat-signal.
The Bat-signal actually lights up, and the kids stays in the car. I mean, you can take him out, but STAY IN THE CAR, ROBIN.
I love the DC Collectibles folks for drawing my attention to this series. I also hate them, because this is going to hurt me so bad in the long run.
IN THE CAR, ROBIN.
Two Headmasters Are Better Than One
Chromedome’s color scheme is so late ‘80s.
While the animated Robots in Disguise line has been pleasing younger fans of Transformers in 2016, older collectors have been treated to a brand-new line that’s several heads above the Combiner Wars. Titans Return is a modern take on the Headmasters, late ‘80s Transformer toys featuring smaller robots that transformed into the heads of larger ones.
The small heads aren’t great, and I miss the tech specs pop-up, but they’ll do.
While Headmasters toys did make it to North America, along with an animated miniseries, the line flourished in Japan, where it was subject to its own animated series. The Titans Returns line features many of the characters showcased in that Japanese series, including a new version of he who was once the largest Transformer of them all, Fortress Maximus.
The scale here is kind of nuts.
Standing nearly two feet tall, the new Fort Max is a great deal less blocky and awkward as his earlier incarnation, while still evoking those signature giant bastard feels.
Fort Max’s head, Cerebros, transforms into a robot. Cerebros’ head, The Emissary, also transforms into a robot. It’s robotception.
Cerebros, also the nickname for Charles Xavier’s college frat. In the Headmasters series, the smaller robots were actually modified humans. This one would have been very upset about its legs.
Meanwhile, the big guy himself is changing into an Autobot city and a flying fortress.
Pictured here: Flying fortress mode, possibly in a race with the Batmobile. I had no room for city mode, so here.
The best thing about Fortress Maximus, aside from the fact that the $149.99 figure can be found heavily discounted if you look hard enough, is he comes with a giant sticker sheet, which I have yet to apply. Waiting for just the right moment. Christmas night sounds good.
Based On Hitting AMC’s The Walking Dead
Give a boxed toy collector uniform packaging and they will love you forever.
McFarlane Toys’ six-inch The Walking Dead line got a new look this year as part of the company’s Color Tops line, which collects toys from different properties (including Titanfall 2 and Gears of War 4) under one unified packaging scheme. It’s clever marketing that gives figures from more obscure properties a chance to shine.
But we’re not talking about an obscure property. We’re talking about AMC’s popular adaptation of the comic book sensation, which recently went through a bit of turmoil, or so I hear. Unfortunately I only had time to showcase two of the five figures I had on hand, so I arbitrarily picked Abraham Ford from the Color Tops red collection and . . . okay, we’ll go with the Deluxe Glenn figure.
This is probably to scale. Seems right to me.
McFarlane’s The Walking Dead figures fall somewhere between statue and action figure, with articulation for some basic posing without compromising the look. It’s a nice balance to hit.
They’ll be fine.
Oh, and I mustn’t forget Lucille, the barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat of a fellow named Negan. She’s really pretty, and rather massive. She may be plastic, but she’s plastic with a bite.
Look everybody, it’s TV’s Negan, and definitely not just my nephew trying real hard to grow a beard.
There, doesn’t that make for a nice picture? I probably could have done better, but I am way behind on the show.
Seriously though, this is an excellent combo for a fan of the show. Maybe go for a smaller Glenn.
My Giant Dragon
This is technically a Weird Al action figure.
It’s been pretty hard to find the latest line of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic figures on store shelves this holiday season, and for good reason. The Guardians of Harmony line trades the pretty plastic statues with brushable hair with real articulated figures.
Princess Celestia’s wings move, and her hair fights cavities and keeps your breath minty fresh.
Well, mostly real articulated figures.
Seriously, Hasbro should win an award for most improved toy line of 2016. While there will always be a place for pretty hairbrush ponies, adding articulation and action features to the mix creates a toy that offers more play potential for both girls and boys.
If you’re going to get one Guardians of Harmony toy this year, it has to be the mature, battle-ready version of Spike the Dragon.
Standing 13-inches tall and fitted with a harness so his pony friends can use him for drive-bys, big Spike would be a fearsome creature if not for his oddly-pleasing mint and lilac color scheme.
Is it me, or does Shining Armor look like he is all out of ***** to give?
Somehow I doubt this version of Spike is to be helping Twilight Sparkle dictate letters to Princess Celestia any time soon.
With electronic lights and sounds! Also fires missiles! I have lost the missiles!
Luckily, in a bit of either alternate reality or time-twisting, large Spike comes with the smaller, cuter version of himself.
Kind of a Hulk/Banner thing going on here, I would imagine.
Best Lego Combo Ever
Rounding out the list, as anyone probably knew it would, is good old Lego bricks. Rather than focus on one specific set, I decided to highlight a pair of kits that combine into a compelling tale of humanity versus nature.
A child rides a playground spinner while a woman pushes her baby along in a carriage.
Green base plate not included. Sad child face included. Also, that baby.
It’s a great day for a bike ride!
I found the other wheel for this bike 10 minutes before this shoot.
A young lad and his best friend enjoy the sunshine. Such a lovely scene!
The set also comes with a very small section of fence for that poor woman to paint for all eternity.
On the other side of the park, Billy Mays has a picnic with his family.
I wonder how much he’s charging his daughter for the picnic food. But wait, there’s more!
Pretty idyllic, isn’t it?
Then comes the $119.99 Lego City Volcano Exploration Base. It features scientists and engineers, a cool research vehicle, and a live volcano.
You can probably see where I am going with this.
That is definitely a volcano. Shut up.
Now the folks at Lego made me promise to keep things from getting too horrible, so your imagination will have to be your guide here.
We’ll just imagine this as an exciting adventure in which a group of townsfolk find themselves face-to-face with the full brunt of nature’s wrath, only to be saved at the very last minute by an intrepid resurrected TV infomercial host.
Billy Mays to the rescue. I bet he has all sorts of handy As Seen On TV gadgets to help save that baby.
Don’t worry, in this narrative the baby is completely fireproof.
I really love his smirk.
As are the wheels on this chair. No molten lava is going to keep this plucky kid down. Nuts to you, volcano!
And then Billy Mays went back to heaven, having fulfilled his earthly purpose.
See? Everyone is safe and sound. We had a pretty amazing adventure today, didn’t we?
Who said kit builders can’t be creative?
Hugging Fortress Maximus while holding a cell phone in my other hand. That’s how art is made. Damn it, Canon.
That about wraps things up for the first annual Toy Time Holiday Gift Spectacular. Feel free to share your own toy and game holiday wants in the comments, while I package up this stupid camera and ship it back to Canon.
Well, technically, DC Comics’ adaptation of Young Justice’s Aqualad is coming to Teen Titans. But this is pretty much the closest we’ve got to an actual Young Justice comic ahead of the show’s return for a third season at the moment.
Announced through Multiversity Comics, Jackson Hyde—the alternate take on YJ’s Kaldur’ahm introduced into the comics in 2010 following the success of the character on the show—will make his first full DC Rebirth appearance in Teen Titans #6, the start of a new arc for the book called, appropriately, “The Rise of Aqualad.” Here’s the solicit detail:
New story! New city! New member? As the team adjusts to their new lives at Titans Tower, Damian investigates a series of strange disappearances in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Jackson Hyde heads west to fulfill his destiny…and finds himself in the crosshairs of the Teen Titans!
This isn’t actually the first time we’ll have seen Jackson since DC launched its “Rebirth” initiative. He made a very short appearance in the one-shot DC Rebirth special, which showed him in an argument with his mother about his powers—and the fact that Jackson had come out as gay.
While we hope for the revival of the Young Justice comic alongside the show’s long-awaited return for season three, this will be the next best thing. Teen Titans #6 is due to release March 22.
I am left wondering why the Guardians of the Galaxy’s spaceship has a fireplace. And if this isn’t a fireplace, what the hell is it supposed to be?
I say this as someone who actually likes the absurdity of the Yule Log on TV: What in the world were they thinking with this? Five Marvel superheroes have been graced with the honor of having their “fireplaces” turned into hour-long videos on Marvel’s YouTube page. And each one also has an hour-long video that’s a close-up on the burning fireplace.
Does this sound like a promotion made up by two giant companies forced to come up with something for the holiday season? Because that’s absolutely what it is. Congratulations, Marvel and Coca-Cola. This is absurd.
The five heroes involved are Captain America (who has apparently hung his old shield on his wall and just leaves his current round one on the floor), Ms. Marvel (who’s rather alarmingly just left her costume out on the couch), Thor, Iron Man (Tony Stark has a GIANT portrait of himself over his hearth, which I will admit is hilarious), and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Also, was this made by filming a miniature home? Because the proportions and lay-outs look like they came from a dollhouse:
All told, there’s 10 hours of footage available right now. It’s not quite enough to be funny, like the 24-hour Yule Log, and not small enough to just be a fun gimmick. It’s just... so weird.
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Anker’s SoundBuds are our readers’ favorite Bluetooth headphones, and the entire product line is getting a huge price cut in today’s Amazon Gold Box.
You get to choose from the original SoundBuds, the smaller Sport models, and the wraparound NB10s. Even the cheapest model works and sounds great for the price, and today’s prices are some of the best we’ve ever seen, just in time for last minute gift purchasing.
Just note that like all Gold Box deals, these prices are only available today, and they could very well sell out early.
Amazon’s back at it again with another Logitech peripheral Gold Box, for all of your last minute shopping needs.
There aren’t a ton of high-end or professional accessories here, but there are plenty of solid keyboards, mice, and more that should make most computer users happy. A few of our favorites are below, but head over to Amazon to see the rest.
If you still haven’t upgraded your home network to 802.11ac, or if you just want to fill in a few dead zones in the corners of your home, Amazons running a huge sale today on routers, range extenders and more from TP-Link.
Have a boss you like, but don’t really know well? Gift basket. Need a good idea for the office Secret Santa? Chocolate. Don’t want to spend $50 on perishable goods? Amazon’s one-day sale on chocolate, gift baskets, and more. Actually get something for the people you were stumped about last week, and maybe something for yourself too.
If you don’t own a pressure cooker, today’s a great day to fix that, as Amazon’s knocked the highly-rated Instant Pot IP-DUO60 all the way down to $79 today. This was one of the most popular items of Black Friday at $69, but if you missed that sale $79 is still one of the best prices we’ve ever seen.
The final J.Crew Factory flash sale includes *takes a deep breath* 60% off men’s and women’s, 50% off boys’ and girls’, an extra 40% off clearance, and free shipping with the code FUNSALE. It’s your chance to easily get those last minute gifts instead of elbowing an old lady for the last crewneck sweater on the 24th.
Time’s running out to get a solid PS4 discount before prices return to normal, and Amazon’s sweetening the pot with a $25 gift card, in addition to the standard $50 holiday discount on the PS4 Slim Uncharted Bundle.
That’s not quite as good a deal as last week’s PlayStation Plus bundle, but hey, that’s what you get for procrastinating.
There’s never been a better time to get into Destiny, or gift it to a friend who hasn’t played. For just $25 today, you get the base game, four expansions, and a level 40 character boost so you can skip the grinding, and jump straight into battle.
Just in time for holiday travel, you can save on RAVPower’s Filehub today, which is actually two travel-friendly devices in one: A 3,000mAh USB battery pack, and a file streamer that can let you access files on USB flash drives and SD cards wirelessly from your phone or tablet. That’s perfect for, say, watching movies on a plane when your tablet is low on space.
Bose’s Solo 5 sound bar promises to dramatically improve your home theater’s audio with the simplest setup possible, and you can get the sound bar plus a wall mounting kit for $220 right now on Amazon.
$8 would be a good price for a standalone Quick Charge 2.0 wall charger with one port. Today though, that gets you two QC-compatible ports, and two compatible microUSB cables thrown in for good measure. Just be sure to use promo code DUALWALL at checkout.
You never want to be in a situation where you need a solar and hand crank-powered weather radio with a flashlight and USB port for charging your phone, but when you can get one for $20, you probably should buy it just in case.
The Corsair K70's aluminum chassis lends the keyboard a premium feel, and its key-by-key customizable backlighting is just plain cool. If you don’t already know what kind of key switches you like, Lifehacker has a great explainer to help you understand the difference.
Like the original Evolution, the Evolution Cool is made of memory foam, and wraps all the way around your neck to provide support if your head nods off to the side while you’re traveling. The key difference is the integrated vent running along the middle of the pillow, which should keep your neck from getting too sweaty.
If you have any long trips on the horizon, you can save 20% on all four colors today with promo code WSUDKC3V. Cabeau’s pillows almost nevergo on sale, so if you’ve had one on your wish list, this is a great opportunity.
Lifehacker has a great explainer on sous-vide cooking for you to check out, but the basic idea is that you seal the food in plastic bags, and then cook it in precisely heated water over a longish period of time, resulting in meat that is heated all the way through to a very precise temperature. It sounds weird, but trust me when I say that it works like magic.
The Instant Pot circulator doesn’t actually require an Instant Pot to function, and won’t integrate with one in any special way either; it simply clamps to the side of any pot just like the Anova. It also lacks the Anova’s wireless connectivity, which is mostly useless on the Bluetooth model, but is somewhat helpful on the more expensive Wi-Fi version.
That said, if you’ve been meaning to buy one of these things, $100 is a great price for anyone that missed Anova’s $99 Black Friday deal. If they were the same price today, I’d probably buy the Anova, but for $50 less, the Instant Pot should still turn out some amazing steaks (and a whole lot more).
The Bonavita BV1500 is the 5-cup little brother of your favorite coffee maker, and Amazon’s serving it up for just $71 today. That’s an all-time low, and a solid $10-$15 less than usual.
Razer makes some of your favoritegaming peripherals, and two of their mice are on sale for $40 each today.
The Diamondback features an extremely precise 16,000 DPI sensor and Razer’s customizable RGB backlighting, while the Orochi is perfectly sized for travel, and can operate wired or over Bluetooth, but it still punches above its weight with a respectable 8200 DPI sensor.
Finally, someone made the Glow Bowl, but for everywhere else in your home. This motion-sensing light strip is billed as an under-bed night light, but you could just as easily attach it under your bathroom counter, along a railing, beneath your baby’s crib, or anywhere else you might need to venture in the middle of the night. For a limited time, you can get one for just $18 with code SJMFQK08.
USB-C is eating the world, but until it totally replaces the old USB port, you’ll want a collection of USB-A to USB-C cables to ease the transition. A 2-pack for $7 is just about the best deal we’ve seen, so grab yours before they sell out.
Stock up on some undies (or give some awkward gifts) with $3 Uniqlo skivvies. Basic bikini or boyshort for the women and briefs, boxer breifs, and boxers for the dudes. Seriously, $3 underwear is not something to pass up.
The new GoPro is about two months old now, which means it’s high time for the deals to roll out.
The full-sized GoPro HERO5 Black will still set you back its usual $400, but you’ll get a $60 in Amazon gift card to use on anything you want thrown in for free. You can read Gizmodo’s full review here, but you’ll be getting the Cadillac of action cameras, including optical stabilization, 4K recording, and even voice control.
By now, most of you probably have a USB battery pack or two to keep your phones charged, and that’s great! But I’m willing to bet most of them won’t start your car if its battery dies.
The $59 Anker compact car jump starter has your standard pair of USB ports and a 10,000mAh built-in battery, but it also ships with a set of removable jumper cables to jolt your car’s engine to life in a pinch. Once you’re up and running, it’ll even recharge itself via an included 15V car charger, so it never even has to leave your glove box. Plus, it makes a really easy gift for the car people in your life.
Hopefully you don’t need to use this often, but it’s one of those things you’ll be really glad you bought when the time comes. This particular model has been a little cheaper during a couple of Amazon Gold Boxes, but today’s price is still well below its usual $70-$80.
Star Wars: Battlefrontisn’t a perfect game, but it’s pretty tempting at $10 on PS4 and Xbox One, the lowest price we’ve seen. If nothing else, it’ll give you something to do while you wait to see Rogue One.
There are too many new deals to list them all here, but you can find all of the links and promo codes on this post.
In case you missed out during Deals Week, several of Amazon’s most popular gadgets are back on sale for one last push during the holiday shopping season.
The Echoes and Paperwhite are back down to the same prices at Black Friday, while the $40 Fire Tablet deal is $7 higher than it was before. Interestingly, the Fire HD 10 actually didn’t get a Black Friday discount, so today’s $200 deal is your first chance to save on that model in quite some time.
Anker’s home goods brand, Eufy, put its new set of copper string lights back on sale today for their lowest price ever, complete with adjustable brightness and multiple effects. A version of these lights without the remote was on sale for $7 last week, but the remote’s convenience and added lighting options make it well worth the price premium.
Hot off the heels of its $10-off-$25 physical book sale last weekend, Amazon’s now taking $5 off any $15 book purchase (including multiple, cheaper books) with promo code GIFTBOOK.
Just like last time, this deal excludes Kindle titles and audiobooks, but if there are any commemorative coffee table-type books or collector’s editions that you’ve been eyeing, this is a great opportunity. Just choose carefully; you can only use the code once per account.
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A group of hairy-chested Hoff crabs. (Image: University of Southampton)
Marine biologists have discovered six new animal species in undersea hot springs nearly two miles deep in the southwest Indian Ocean—an area already slated for future seafloor mining.
Four of the eight active hydrothermal events explored at Longqi. (Image: J. T. Copley et al.,2016)
Researchers from the University of Southampton and the Natural History Museum in London and Newcastle found the new creatures hiding around hydrothermal vents at a place called Longqi (meaning “dragon’s breath”), about 1,200 miles (2,000 km) southeast of Madagascar, and at a depth of 9,200 feet (2,800 m). This latest research, with its description of six new species, has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Using a deep-diving remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the researchers managed to explore an area about the size of a football field, and it was littered with more than a dozen mineral spires known as vent chimneys. Some of these spires rise more than two storeys above the seabed, and they attract deep-sea animals who are nourished by the hot fluids streaming out from the chimneys. In addition to hosting marine life, these spires are rich in copper and gold, hence the interest in deep sea mining.
A new species of scaleworm. (Image: David Shale)A new species of ragworm. (Image: David Shale)
“We can be certain that the new species we’ve found also live elsewhere in the southwest Indian Ocean, as they will have migrated here from other sites, but at the moment no-one really knows where, or how well-connected their populations are with those at Longqi,” noted Copley in a statement. “Our results highlight the need to explore other hydrothermal vents in the southwest Indian Ocean and investigate the connectivity of their populations, before any impacts from mineral exploration activities and future deep-sea mining can be assessed.”
A stalked barnacle. (Image: David Shale)
In addition to the new species, the researchers also uncovered a batch of marine animals known to scientists, including a scaleworm that lives at vents near the Antarctic, and a ragworm that lives at vents in the eastern Pacific some 6,200 miles (10,000 km) away. The new research shows that vent animals are more widely distributed across the oceans than previously assumed.
Sadly, seafloor mining is expected to be a growth industry in the near future. Over 400,000 square miles (about a million square kilometers) has already been earmarked in the high seas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans by over 16 countries. It’s not clear if this latest survey, which was commissioned by the International Seabed Authority of the United Nations, will have any impact on future mining efforts around Longqi.
The first look at Trollhunters revealed a show that looked like it was going to balance big doses of humor, action, and worldbuilding. A new video featuring the director and cast gives a hint at the thinking behind the upcoming series.
Maybe it’s the way that it’s promising a deep mythology, but something about Trollhunters comes across as a throwback to older animated action shows of the past. In the video above, Del Toro and the cast talk about his aesthetic aims for the Netflix offering, which debuts on December 23.
