Barry Allen Is Feeling Better

By Rob Bricken in Comics
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 4:20PM

theflash_comics.jpgTouché, DC. Touché. As soon as I say you've got nothing going on, you resurrect Barry Allen, a.k.a The Flash (well, a Flash, at any rate), the one who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths back in the mid-'80s. We can blame Grant Morrison for this, as it's his doing as shown in today's 50-cent DC Universe release.

I could go on a huge tirade about how this is pretty much the last comic death to have meant something, and now every future comic death will lack any sort of legitimacy (in fact, I think the only hero who's currently dead with any kind significance is Captain America, like he won't come back), but I doubt any of you were thinking otherwise, Barry Allen notwithstanding.

I will say with this—after bringing back Supergirl, Earth-2 Superman, Alex Luthor, and all those parallel universes—DC has now totally destroyed everything they managed to accomplish with Crisis on Infinite Earths. Well done!

Tags: DC, Death, The Flash

Indiana Jones: The Lego Toy: The Videogame: The Cartoon to Come to Cartoon Network

By Rob Bricken in Cartoons, Toys, Video Games
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 2:34PM
The line of products kind of hurts my head a little, but it's true—there will be a short, 4-minute CG Lego Indiana Jones cartoon on May 10th, airing at 9 p.m. on Cartoon Network. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull star Shia The Beef will host it (can you really host a 4-minute cartoon?), which will be titled Raiders of the Lost Brick. Astute nerds will remember that CN and Lego did the same thing for Lego Star Wars with a Revenge of the Brick cartoon a few years ago. Oh, that video is a trailer for the game, not the cartoon. Although they'll look exactly alike.

G.I. Joe: A Real Indian Hero—Wait, What?!

By Rob Bricken in Toys
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 1:31PM

There is a traitor in G.I. Joe's midst, and shockingly,I'm not talking about the G.I. Joe movie. No, it's the 25th Anniversary Duke figure in Wave 7 from Hasbro, in which one fan has noticed a small variant from the normal figure, which is usually packed with an American flag:
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Duke, you bastard. You think you know a super-patriotic Aryan guy with a flat-top, and then this happens.

There are actually two explanations for this: 1) G.I. Joe has always been incredibly popular in India for some reason, and thus could be one of its variants that accidentally made it onto American shores, or 2) it's a big, fat hoax. Either way, I may never trust again. (Via 16bit)

Tags: G.I. Joe, Hasbro

Super Terrific Japanese Thing: Funawari Milk-Chan

By Rob Bricken in Merchandise
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 12:30PM

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Please don't confuse this with the surreal and hyper-annoying anime Super Milk-chan. Funawari Milk-chan is a series of plush character who, as you might have noticed, are all breasts. They have nipples at the top of their heads. They're soft and adorable, just like regular breasts. As Japan Sugoi says, each breast has its own distinct personality:

Funwari Milk-chan is easygoing, Milk-san is a celebrity entertainer, Ganguro Milk-chan is a gyaru, Peach Milk-chan is a fashion follower and Milko-chan is baby genius.
showmeyourtits.png Let me repeat that, in case you missed. JAPAN HAS MADE A PLUSH BREAST THAT IS ALSO A CELEBRITY ENTERTAINER. Each plush breast costs about $10, and you can see their site here. If I was a chick, I'd definitely buy one of these, then hit Mardi Gras or those sleazy clubs where guys scream "Show me your tits!" Then I'd whip one of these bad boys out. In related news, I'd be a very odd girl.

Venom Has Turned into a Honky

By Rob Bricken in Comics
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 11:30AM

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Entertainment Weekly has revealed an exclusive look at Venom's new design above, and says that he's going to be called Anti-Venom. I have no feelings about this, but EW also has a collage of pics for Spidey's "New Ways to Die" summer storyarc, which includes a pic of someone standing over Kraven the Hunter's grave, which makes me think he's getting resurrected and makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Hey, sorry for three days of Marvel news in a row—I'm not trying to pimp them or shit on them, I just never hear any DC news, and thus never know what the hell is going on there.

Also, Entertainment Weekly—what the hell is up with all these comic book news exclusives recently? Why you gotta take this shit away from us? We nerd sites need something for our own, since you guys get all the comic movie news too. Kindly back the fuck off. Or hire me. One of the two.

There Are No Ghosbusters Videogame Details, Only Zuul

By Rob Bricken in Video Games
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 10:22AM


A batch of new screenshots for the upcoming Ghostbusters game have been released, and rather than tell you were to see them, I decided to post the above video interview which ends up running them as a nice slideshow. There's also some good news in there, although it comes close to the end: all the original 'busters will voice their videogame counterparts, including Bill Murray; Zuul will use pieces of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to make marshmallow dogs; and best of all, original Ghostbusters nemesis William Atherton will repirse his dickless role. Yay! Oh, and Kotaku says Wii owners will be able to hook up a Nintendo DS to the Wii game as a PKE Meter. I can't believe this game sounds as good as it does.

Tags: Ghostbusters

George Lucas, Master of Terror

By Rob Bricken in Movies
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 9:24AM

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StarWars.com accidentally made me start drinking before breakfast when they showed the above bit of insanity, along with nine other twisted/awesome Japanese Star Wars posters. You can check them out here; I'm going to go around my house and make sure all the windows are locked, because if George Lucas flew in on a satellite dish with Wicket and Chewbacca, I would literally shit my pants in terror.

The 10 Most Ridiculously Stereotyped Fighting Game Characters

By Rob Bricken in Daily Lists, Video Games
Wednesday, Apr. 30 2008 @ 5:05AM

tiffany.pngBy Todd Ciolek

Street Fighter II has a lot to answer for. Sure, it founded an entire subculture of videogames and offered a nicely complex tournament fighter that holds up even today. But it also relied on the most basic of international prejudices, from its South American beast-man to its stoic Japanese warrior, ensuring that each and every fighting game to follow would paint its cast with similarly broad strokes.

Not that we’re really offended or anything. Fighting games are all about visual impact and overbearing style, and their lack of any coherent story (no, Soul Calibur doesn’t count) makes it easy to laugh at the misguided caricatures they present. So let’s just point out the most ridiculously stereotyped characters in fighting-game history.

Okay, Marvel Has One Good Idea (Boris Karloff Agrees)

By Rob Bricken in Comics
Tuesday, Apr. 29 2008 @ 4:15PM

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...and that's turning their Marvel heroes in the goofiest of all horror villains, mummies, which I've learned of that to a tip from dapper TR commenter Steve Banes. It's not a stand alone project, but actually a copy of Marvel Adventures #13, where the Hulk returns to Earth and finds "Earth's Mightiest Mummies."

The reason this is cool and Marvel Apes is not—well, besides the fact that DC did J.L.Ape a decade ago—is that mummies are so goddamned ridiculous, with their wrappings and ancient Egyptian-ness. I love the idea that someone went out of their way to kill, embalm and bandage up the Marvel heroes in the present day, then someone disturbed their sarcophagi and awoke their terrible curse. That sounds like a great read.

However, far be it from me to see something wonderful and not find a way to poop all over it. Sure, Marvel Zombies was great, and this looks like an even more fun version of that. But if it's any kind of success, you know Marvel won't stop—we'll have a mediocre Marvel Vampires next year, followed by an absolutely terrible Marvel Werewolves, and finally, Creatures from the Marvel Lagoon, which will make me kill myself in despair.

Yeah, He Can Fly (Because He's Got a Jetpack)

By Rob Bricken in Comics, Nerdery
Tuesday, Apr. 29 2008 @ 3:05PM


There's a new Iron Man clip out today, but I've decided to show the above video instead, because jetpacks are the among few items that are cooler than everything else. This gent has dressed himself up in Iron Man team colors (yeah, it looks like a real outfit when he's flying around, but it's more like a cheap, homemade Halloween costume) and flew around Austin for a few seconds, and it's totally awesome and I'm jealous. Well done, sir. Well done indeed. (Via FilmDrunk)