Thursday, January 30, 2025

FYI, Entertainment Earth has a damaged box 1000 Toys Noble One figure for $45 off

List price is $180 and up for Halo figures in the line, but EE has one for $134.99 in stock (rifle, emergy sword, and "exclusive" chrome visor), described as having a not mint box.

Marvel Legends movie Electro up for preorder

Good design.

Today's news and jokes



Unlicensed Superman figure

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Today's news and jokes



Good interview with Chris Anderson about why his drone business ultimately failed (and Silicon Valley investing in general)



The best moment is around 56 minutes in when they discuss when they realized they were "screwed"

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Darth Vader Tamagotchi up for preorder

at EE:

Follow Anakin Skywalker on his journey to the dark side as he becomes Darth Vader! Play 5 mini games, feed food, meet characters, and view 12 special scenes. It's up to you to influence the Sith Lord, and how you do will change him into one of 10 different appearances. Plus, a silicone case shaped like the Sith Lord's helmet is included to protect your tamagotchi! 

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Clever cover for Birds of Prey issue 20




Good Nightwing cover, too:

Monday, January 27, 2025

Homemade Costume Spider-Man by Hono Studio up for preorder

These Hono Studio figures all sell out.


Today's news and jokes







Surreal painting of a dazzle camouflage test

new favourite painting is this one by James Yunge-Bateman of dazzle camoflague being tested on model ships in a pool on the roof of the navy's camoflague testing department in Leamington Spa during WW2. this is both a true-to-life and purely surrealist painting

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— Ben (@cinemashoebox.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 1:09 PM


Gallery of his art.


This one, too, prints available:

Sunday, January 26, 2025

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David Lynch’s Dune (1984) pop up book



















A little more information here





(Text is easier to read here)

Saturday, January 25, 2025

The China Miéville/Keanu Reeves novel "The Book of Elsewhere" is $2.99 right now

at Amazon. (Going to try it, never saw a review, not that I sought one out.)

Also, Neal Stephenson's trilogy "The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World" is combined into one massive 4347-page kindle version for $3.99 right now. (This I read and loved.)  

Today's news and jokes

@kim.jaeah Donkeys are everywhere at ucr #fypシ #ucr #ucriverside ♬ original sound - Kardashian clips 🎬


Stage show featuring a melting marionette







Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Tom Reilly is selling a bunch of small comic book character sketches starting at $30



Link.

Today's news and jokes

Oh thank god I held on to my foam promotional Blade throwing circle knife thingy from 1998!

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— Mike McMahan (@mikemcmahan.bsky.social) January 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM


Fun thought experiment about maintaining a modern tech stack and quality of life in Iceland (and how much harder it would be to do so in space)

Great interview with Gideon the Ninth cover artist Tommy Arnold

Packed with anecdotes about the people that helped him when he was starting out, and the issues he's faced as a professional:

In art, there is so much room at the top. People have been a little afraid about that because of AI, it seems like, but there's pretty much a whole world of artists that are pretty good, but that you could switch out with each other. And then there's the people that are always busy, and the people that are always busy: there's not enough of them to do all the work. That's why they're always busy.

...

Recently, I was doing a job negotiation with a company on doing the cover art for a big video game release, but they didn’t want to pay the same rate that we had used in the past. They were a little tight on money on this project and normally the contract is written to say that I can't show the work I do for them. This time though, I said if they wanted me to come down on the rate, they would need to allow me to show this publicly later, (which has a huge marketing value to me because it's a game that millions of people play), and be able to go, “Hey, I did this.” So, they agreed and we got it approved that way.



Tuesday, January 21, 2025

The LA Times wrote about the updated version of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion

LAT (plenty of photos):

The last time the attic received a major overhaul was in the mid-2000s, and that figure, known as the “black widow bride,” had a more aggressive, sinister story to tell. Holding an ax, she was portrayed as a murderous, wealth-seeking seductress who had beheaded her husbands, evident by their heads disappearing from the wedding portraits scattered around the attic. Those pictures are still present, only now the full bodies of the men vanish — leaving their departure up to the imagination.

Irvine said the attic scene was redone, in part, because the projection technology on the prior figure had become so outdated as to necessitate regular maintenance. But rather than update what was there, [Disneyland Creative Director] saw an opportunity to add a greater contrast with the more festive waltz in the prior room as well as to embellish the Mansion’s tale.

...

“The bride that used to be in there was an ax murderer, and in this day and age we have to be really careful about the sensitivities of people,” [Creative Director] said. “We were celebrating someone chopping off her husband’s heads, and it was a weird story. 

Entertainment Earth has an exclusive version of Mondo's vinyl Juggernaut figure (eye-popping yellow prison jumpsuit)

It's estimated to arrive in February.

Today's news and jokes







The Ankler's "Tales from the 90's" series of podcasts is fun

So far, I've enjoyed, "'Last Action Hero' Screenwriters Tell All" and "How New Line Dominated the Decade."

Monday, January 20, 2025

Today's news and jokes





wait what if i go live on YouTube and scroll TikTok for youse

— chipzel (@chipzel.bsky.social) January 18, 2025 at 9:11 PM


(The ban was shorter than the long car ride I took yesterday)

Jamie Hewlett and Frank Quitely variants for Batman Gargoyle of Gotham

Jamie Hewlett and Frank Quitely variants for Batman Gargoyle of Gotham

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— Billy Hynes Comics Enabler (@billyhynes.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM



(Three other covers and a variant for the issue)