Well, that wasn’t entirely unsurprising. The sci-fi series Almost Human, which airs on Fox, has been canceled by the network after only one season. The show featured Karl Urban as a human detective partnered with a lifelike robot played by Michael Ealy. The show never quite impressed critics, and I can attest to being disinterested, despite enjoying Urban. Part of the show’s misfortune, however, stemmed from Fox’s decision to air the episodes out of order, messing up minor continuity and how the characters reacted to each other. My girlfriend stuck with the show and was quite annoyed at how this ruined the show’s pacing. You’d think after Fox did the same thing to Firefly, they would have realized not to mess with a show’s continuity like that, but that’s Fox for you. Read more…
If you’ve ever wanted your own titan from Titanfall, this is as probably as close as you’re going to get! To promote the release of the game, CJ Berg and Daniel’s Wood Land were commissioned to put together a life-size titan. It’s currently making its way across the UK, at various launch events for photo opportunities. SlashGear spoke with the creators about how they made the beast (lots of foam!) and their process of working with Respawn, too. Of course, the article is lavished with a multitude of awesome pictures. I’ve included a few below, but check out the full thing here! Of course, all it does is just make us want a real one! Read more…
I’m still hopeful for Pacific Rim 2 to be officially green-lit, considering how much fun the original film was. But in the meantime, Pacific Rim is coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on October 15. Among the bonus features is this gag reel, showing actors flubbing lines, cracking jokes, and just generally clowning around. It looks like it was a lot of fun to be on Guillermo del Toro’s set, and it’s also interesting to see which parts of scenes were green-screened in. Plus, Ron Perlman is awesome as usual. Watch for yourself below if you can’t wait until next week! Read more…
Pacific Rim is one of the best summer movies this year, and it’s sadly underperforming from poor marketing. (When Grown Ups 2 beats your film, you’ve got a problem.) It hasn’t earned back enough money yet, which is generally a poor sign for those who want a sequel, but it hasn’t opened in markets like Japan yet, so there’s still hope for more international revenue to roll in. Despite this, apparently director/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and co-writer Travis Beacham have been given the go-ahead to start writing Pacific Rim 2! Del Toro is even dropping hints about where the sequel may go. It goes without saying, but spoilers follow! Read more…
If you’re like me, you’re wary of watching too many trailers for an upcoming blockbuster film, because with the way trailers are cut these days, you don’t want every plot point spelled out. (I remember seeing The Dark Knight, whose early trailers I had burned into my memory, and being pleasantly surprised when the Joker was caught and the movie wasn’t even close to finishing.) And yet, when the movie is like Pacific Rim, you can’t help but watch, because it’s simply awesome. This is one of those trailers. Read more…
Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim may not have had a trailer during the Super Bowl — for that matter, no Warner Brothers movie did — but at least we have a bunch of fancy new images to share. If buzz from the recent test screening is anything to go off of, this is going to be a giant robot movie you don’t want to miss. Plus, Looper director Rian Johnson has seen it, and he loves it!
Look at that robot above. That’s a mech from Star Driver, the 2010 anime from Bones that features fabulous mechs. There is a semi-new anime movie coming out simply called Star Driver the Movie, and I can immediately tell that there are not sufficient levels of fabulousness to be found in the ad. For something that is being termed a “new construction” of the TV series focusing on Takuto, Waka, and Sugata (plus a new segment about their lives after the TV series), it seems they are taking the sass right out of that robot. The movie opens in Japan on February 9, so there is plenty of time for them to put those fabulous poses back into trailers to recapture the spirit of, well, that picture I posted above. Get on it! Read more…
Last night, Nico Nico Namahousou hosted a live-stream discussion between Mamoru Oshii, the director of the original Ghost in the Shell movie, and Toshio Suzuki, the producer at Studio Ghibli (known for films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away). While the talk was going on, Suzuki mentioned that he had talked with Tomohiko Ishii, the producer of The Sky Crawlers, a 2008 film also directed by Oshii. Suzuki claimed that he heard some interesting rumors concerning Oshii’s next project: a live-action Patlabor movie. Read more…
In Japan Sharp is showing off two robot vacuum cleaners which have been given a Mobile Suit Gundam theme. Apparently these are variations on their existing Cocorobo robot cleansers which include a voice recognition system. Here they are on display: Read more…
I’m sure at some point you’ve all thought about having your very own robot — I know I have. The closest I ever came was helping a friend build a remote-controlled “battlebot,” only to see it laid to waste by some other kid’s metal monstrosity. It’s been well over a decade since then, and technology has certainly progressed. Designers Peter Seid and Phu Nguyen sought to take advantage of these advancements by developing a unique interface that transforms our everyday smartphones into robots capable of learning, growing, and expanding their functionality through a series of apps. They call it Romo, the smartphone robot.
The Great Garloo was first manufactured by the Marx toy company in 1961 — this very creepy looking two foot tall battery powered humanoid lizard robot could go forward or backward and turn his arms. And for extra kitsch we wears a “Garloo” medallion and cute leopard print loin cloth. How to Be a Retronaut discovered this great commercial from 1963 for the little green guy: Read more…
Future Fighters is in the early stages as a film, but as a mecha fanboy who is obsessed with robots and spacecraft I really like what I see so far. This international project is being produced by British movie producer Guy Orlebar who is teaming up Korean director Nelson Shin (who was behind the 1986 animated Transformers film) and will star Japanese actress Rina Takeda of High-Kick Girl fame. But what I really love about what I see so far is the colorful anime inspired pre-production art which makes my inner geek happy: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 11, 2010 in Animation
Before Robotech there was Voltron which was the ultimate Japanese robot show about robots that came together: The series featured smaller robots that came together to form a larger robot, and the show itself was create by editing two anime series together (Beast King Go-Lion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV). Incubot is honoring this old school show with a Voltron Nekobot Flash Drive which will hold two gigs of storage and features a blazing sword. Read more…
You know, it seemed inevitable. C-3PO and R2D2 always seemed so inseparable, so it would stand to reason that they may or may not have given birth to an illegitimate lovechild-droid. At least, web dev and caricature artist Jon Plante, seemed to think so — I just never imagined it’d be so hilarious or horrifying . That said, it sure makes for an awesome t-shirt. The shirt is currently available at teefury.com for only $9 plus shipping, but if you want one, you’ll need to hustle. Due to the format of the site, the shirt will only be available for the next 24 hours and once they sell out, they’re gone forever. If you’re worried about the quality of the shirts, I can actually vouch for them as I order from the site quite often. For more of his work, you can also check out Jon’s infrequently updated web comic Celebrity Skinned. Read more…
I’m sure it’s not every day that you come across house music featuring robots — famous ones, at least. The video here features some of our favorites lending their robotic talents to Eclectic Method’s latest release entitled, you guessed it, “Robots.” Clever name, right? Yeah, I thought so too. I was really hoping they’d throw in some Mechagodzilla, but I suppose it was just wishful thinking. Still, it’s a pretty cool video and if you’d like a copy of the song or more info about the group, check their official website. Read more…
K-9 made his first debut on Dr. Who in 1977 and he’s been beloved ever since. This Doctor Who Remote Control K-9 pays tribute to our cybernetic canine companion and includes flashing lights and speech. Judging by the fact that he runs on AA batteries I think the only flaw that I see with this K-9 unit is that he’s not life sized which would make him the perfect cosplay accessory (or ultimate office toy). Read more…
Medicom Toy is one of the cooler Japanese hobby companies which has an beautiful series of super realistically rendered figurines known as Real Action Heroes. This series is based upon well known licensed media properties and in the past they’ve put out figures for everything from Dragonball Z to Indian Jones. And they have just branched into Star Wars — shown above is the Real Action Heroes #494 Star Wars R2-D2 and shown below is the Real Action Heroes #493 Star Wars C-3PO: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 20, 2010 in Science
This amazing video shows Mr. Woo a folk artist from China who builds beautiful homemade robots from scratch. What’s even more amazing is that he has no formal engineering training, in other words he a very talented hobbyist with a passion for robotics. By the way my favorite part of the video occurs at 3:40 when a robot stars walking by with a rickshaw. Found via the very talented Angel Wardriver.Read more…
Editor’s Gold Award Pick: As much as I love toys I live with the guilt that so many of them are filling the landfills of the world with toxic plastics and who knows what else. So when I met the robot shown above it was love at first sight. Now what’s interesting about this robot is that most of the parts that you see aren’t included! In fact 90% of what you’re looking at in this toy is made out of recycled items that we throw away every day — which is what makes this hobby kit so ingenious. The Makedo Find & Make a Robot Kit includes a easy-to-use cutting device to hack cardboard and a series of fasteners to hold objects together — and thus by applying the age old toy concepts that you see in Tinker Toys or Lego combined with the idea of recycling you get an amazingly creative activity for your kids. Read more…
When I came across the above photo I was blown away: I’ve seen Metropolis and looked at so many stills — yet I never came across a image that represented so well the amazing amount of work that went into this film. So I set on a quest to locate other behind-the-scenes glimpses of the work that Fritz Lang did before he fled Germany in 1933: Read more…
I’ve seen tons of iPod themed goodies on Etsy but as far as I can tell Google has beaten Apple to the punch in the urban toys market with this set of Android Mini Collectibles Series 01. Frankly the thing that find heart warming about the Android logo is that it’s so darn cute which makes it an ideal collectable, and mind you that this is something that Tux the penguin logo for Linux could never pull off (it was the far body and eyes that made it look so doofy). This set was designed by the artist Andrew Bell and there are a dozen different designs each of which stands at three inches tall and features a rotating head: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 28, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
This is the video for the Ichirou Mizuki song It Is Not This! Korejanai Robo! which tells the heartbreaking tale of a child otaku who years from a Gundam toy but whose clueless parents get him a cheap bootleg instead. Of course our little hero isn’t going to take this slight, so he takes his revenge on the wannabe Gundam. But this mecha knockoff has a few tricks up his sleeve. Read more…
David Lipson of Lipson Robotics has been doing some impressive work with his homemade robot sculptures. His latest Speaker Bot creation takes this to the next level — it features a working speaker which can be plugged into a mp3 player. Shown in this photo is Lipson’s retro first generation iPod: Read more…
Shown above is an NTT ad for the Docomo for PC service which features Tetsujin 28-go, which is lovingly known to American fans as Gigantor. I love how while the two giant robots are destroying Tokyo the Docomo PC user is still spellbound by his nifty software…
When I came across the above photo I was blown away: I’ve seen Metropolis and looked at so many stills — yet I never came across a image that represented so well the amazing amount of work that went into this film. So I set on a quest to locate other behind-the-scenes glimpses of the work that Fritz Lang did before he fled Germany in 1933: 
