It’s been hinted at for a while, but now we can finally confirm that Hawkeye makes an appearance in the Thor movie via this puzzlingly context-free clip from Marvel. Why’s the dude just hangin’ out on the crane? Why doesn’t he shoot Thor? Does he shoot Thor after the clip ends? Why is this fight scene so important? I probably shouldn’t be so glib. They’re obviously just trying to toss us a little Avengers bone here, get the ol’ word-of-mouth machine rolling to get people hyped. It’s working! By the way, if you missed Hawkeye, he’s at about 24 seconds in, and shows for less than a second. Hopefully he’ll be in the full film for a little bit longer.
If you want a blast from the past, the official Star Blazers website has posted scans of the original Star Blazers fanzine from the early 80’s. Over 30 years ago, our Fanboy.com founder Michael Pinto started the fanzine in an attempt to see the series renewed after networks had dropped the show in New York. With the series returning to television later this month, these newsletters give us an opportunity to see the passion that fuled Star Blazers’ fandom. It’s a shame that they’ve had to wait three decades, but for those of us who were late to that party, we’ll be able to catch the series the second time around when it airs on SyFy starting April 21st.
Play Pac-Man, apparently! Among several other surreal activities, as captured by photographer Thurston Roscoe. How he managed to fool action figures of normally quite astute characters with a rudimentary hidden camera is a mystery, but I think the discovery speaks for itself. Who knew He-Man was so good at arcade games? And who knew Uhura was into Eternians? These photos will undoubtedly help us further human-figure relations for decades to come. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 28, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
The latest episode of CollegeHumor’s Nerd Alert features an interview with Fanboy.com publisher Michael Pinto (although you have to get a few minutes into the show: Read more…
Whether it is cries of fear or sadness, or maybe even of laughter. Vampires have been a continuing viable market that ensnares people to follow the stories of these tormented immortal individuals. In graphic novels or manga, there are memorable vampires-type characters that left an impression with its fans and viewers. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Mar 26, 2011 in Animation
One of the world’s most beloved children’s book artists and the world’s most beloved fantasy series? Sounds like the perfect team to me. Tony DiTerlizzi says that Maurice Sendak (“Where the Wild Things Are”) very nearly illustrated “The Hobbit” in the 70s, but a misunderstanding between J. R. R. Tolkien and Sendak led to the partnership falling through. Sendak created art that was whimsical but could also be twisted and dark, a lot like Arthur Rackham before him, so he would’ve been the perfect choice for a book like “The Hobbit.” It’s a shame that a silly misunderstanding prevented what would’ve been beautiful work. Check out the whole story at Hero Complex.
For hobby enthusiasts, developing a passion and devotion to an industry takes time, and while it can be visually measured with how much you own (thus bringing in the materialism and consumerism aspect). There is more to the limited examples for what was presented in Tokyopop’s search for the Greatest Otaku. Otaku can be defined as being loving all things Japanese anime, or obsessive introverts, but to be a devoted fan really is have the knowledge and sincere passion for it. Similar to uncovering the layers of an onion are identities and fandoms of this niche cultures that is worth exploring and considering. Before getting to the list, I have to mention that some of the labels I have used is an approximation of how a certain fandom treats aspects of the anime hobby. Read more…
When it comes to otaku clothing, I’ve always found finding fashionable items to be a challenge. Sure there’s some gems out there, but generally speaking, it’s kind of hard to look sharp when you’re sporting a lounge shirt with your favorite Dragon Ball character printed all over it. These gloves, on the other hand, are hardly such an eyesore. Not only do they sport a slick NERV logo, they’re also utilitarian, making them perfect for your Vespa, motorcycle, or piloting your very own Evangelion unit. J-List has them for $60 before shipping but you can probably snag them cheaper elsewhere. Read more…
To honor the return of the anime series Gin Tama to the air Bandai created a limited line of desserts to celebrate the occasion. There are 25 desserts in all which will be sold at Namco Namja in Japan. Here are a few of the clever designs: Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 27, 2011 in Animation
Cartoon Network has granted viewers sight beyond sight with a trailer for the upcoming Thundercats reboot! Check out your favorite cat-dudes and their mummy-dude adversary in their new anime-inspired incarnations. It looks like the gang’s all here, more or less, and Snarf is, dare I say, pretty cute! It’s a brave new world where I can speak his name and the tone isn’t murderous, and I like it. Studio 4oC has done a great job putting their own twist on this established (and admittedly pretty weird) universe, so let’s hope the show itself holds up as well as the art does. Read more…
Could we be seeing a Hollywood-produced Star Blazers live-action film in foreseeable future? Well, it’s not 100% official just yet. Skydance Productions are reportedly in the process of negotiating the license for the series. If some of you recall, Japan recently produced a live-action adaptation of their own that performed pretty well, so I imagine there’s probably some pressure to make sure the Hollywood adaptation will at least hold a candle to that. It probably won’t be a problem, seeing as they plan on hiring Christopher McQuarrie to write the script — he’s also working on the upcoming Wolverine “sequel.”
Japanese anime run on a four season schedule, so to be serious about this hobby, a fan must be aware of anime that is going to be happening in the following season. The next season is slated to begin from March until June. Referring to the chart below, anyone would realize that there is a number of titles already announced. From those announced titles, these are my ten choices to not just watch, but know that a lot more fans might be checking out. Read more…
Seems like we’re seeing lots more anime adaptations of quintessentially American IPs, like Supernatural, coming out of Japan these days, and a lot of them are through the animation studio Madhouse. Their latest offering, an X-Men anime, has all the hallmarks of such an adaptation — achingly beautiful hero (Cyclops), a whole lot of fire, and a Thundercats character. Wait, no, that’s Beast. But you can’t deny that there’s a family resemblance there! I think that X-Men is actually a property that might work well in anime, with its mix of character drama and over-the-top action, so I’ll be interested to see the final product. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 16, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
You know how when you go to a really popular anime convention that there might be say a 100 people waiting on line to get their badge? Well back in the 80s those 100 people would be pretty much the sum total of anime fandom in New York City! Thanks to Saul Trabal (show in the photo above) we have a wonderful little photo essay from that era when anime was limited to getting VHS tapes from friends of friends who had pen pals in Japan: Read more…
Check out this fantastic little mash-up by writer & graphic designer Ben Huber. Anyone who’s a fan of Baccano! will recognize the characters but the image is quite clearly paying homage to a certain poster from Christopher Nolan’s box office hit, Inception. On top of that, you’ll really appreciate the attention to detail, as while you may be unable to see the text without enlarging the image, those credits are completely accurate. It sort of blows my mind that he had time to do that, but it’s certainly cool that he did.
Licensed games, especially those based on kids’ properties, tend not to be so great, and Transformers games are no exception. Thankfully, Hasbro had the gumption to let High Moon Studios release a non-tie-in, fully canon Transformers game — War for Cybertron — in 2010, and that gamble paid off in the form of a fun, beautiful game. Now it seems Hasbro is banking on High Moon to produce another Transformers title, but this time it’s a tie-in for the upcoming movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon. High Moon’s Sean Miller assured IGN that they got the franchise because they’re all big Transformers fans, and that since the game acts as a prequel to the film, they’re not beholden to a particular script or scenario for their set pieces and gameplay. Can High Moon one-up themselves and make not only another good Transformers game, but a good Transformers movie game? Time will tell. Read more…
We had heard a rumor several months back that the forces behind the American live-action Akira remake wanted Zac Efron, of all people, to star as Kaneda. It’s bad enough that they’re remaking Akira with no Japanese people, but Zac Efron? Let’s get real, people. Apparently the original rumor was or is now false, because the newest rumor says that James Franco is being courted for the role of Tetsuo’s biker pal. Well, it’s better than Zac Efron, and dude looks good in a leather jacket, though, you know, still not an Asian person. Maybe we can hope for a sequel, Akira 2: Tokyo Drift. Read more…
Rob Pratt, a veteran animator and storyboard artist who has worked on numerous projects including Disney’s Pocahontas and, more recently, Kim Possible, has put together this amazing tribute to the Superman of old, simply titled Superman Classic. The character designs are very reminiscent a mid-90’s Disney film, but Pratt made sure to include a number of features we’ve come to identify with the Man of Steel, such as his signature hair style and Clark Kent’s mild-mannered demeanor. I don’t expect the upcoming film to retain any of those features, but seeing this hand-drawn short was definitely a welcome change. Now if only Warner Brothers would option this instead.
Shown here are two cosplay uniforms from Evangelion (Ichi Junior High School girls uniforms of the New Tokyo City 3) which are being released in Japan. According to an interview on the site selling the apparel they actually went a step further and added some additional detail that wasn’t in the anime series. And just to make sure those detail were right the character designer from the show was involved in the design process. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 31, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
This amazing footage is a must watch if your grew up with Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) — it’s from a Japanese TV show which shows cast members breakdancing to the opening theme music while dressed in the appropriate costume. Found via Patrick Macias…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jan 30, 2011 in Animation
Japan’s Fuji-Q Highland amusement park is ready to unveil their…well, it’s a life-size replica of Evangelion Unit 02’s head. Which is definitely something you can’t find in the US. Another thing you can’t find in the US: the Highland’s Eva-themed hotel room, open for booking in March. It’s got a replica Eva entry plug to sleep in, a touch-panel telephone that talks with Ayanami’s voice, and Eva art all over the walls. You can even have Ayanami give you a wake-up call! After all, she’s right there by your bed, in statue form. It’s more than a little weird, but so is Evangelion. Should you be in Japan in March, you can book the room for around $450 USD a night. Read more…
Last year, it was revealed that ThunderCats would be making its return to television. It was exciting news, but until recently nobody had any idea as to what we could expect. Warner Brothers had mentioned the involvement of Studio 4°C, the animation studio responsible for numerous projects such as Detroit Metal City, and Spriggan. More recently, the studio was involved with several Warner Brothers projects including The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight.
As an old school anime fanboy I found myself drooling over this collection of Lupin III figurines from Japan. Of course the sad catch is that this line is a limited edition series, and in order to get them you have to be part of some lottery system — and as such are forced to buy in Japan. I realize that I’m just looking at the photos from Banpresto but the wonderful level of detail and craftsmanship is quite eye pleasing: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
Call it Danny Choo Syndrome! My favorite animation network in Taiwan recently slagged otaku as one of the reasons that Japanese men are losing their interest in sex with real women. Although there is something a bit ironic that the animators would use 3D techniques to render what a real women looks like (as seen on the left above) as opposed to the cartoony cheesecake version (as seen on the right). This was part of a larger segment on “Herbivorous men” which seems to be a Japanese take on metrosexuals: Read more…
