#LollipopChainsaw - CHECK!

Finally grabbed a copy of Lollipop Chainsaw today!

Yoink!

Been thinking about it since I saw it in store this past Monday.

Go grab it, like now!
It's a fun old school arcade hack 'n' slash game, from co-creators Suda51 (No More Heroes) & James Gunn (Slither)!! Need I say more?!

Sonic NEWS! 'Generations' Collector Edition

Sonic Generations will have a special edition. And what a collector it is! :D

SEGA already released plenty of Collectors over the last couple of years.
Most of the time exclusive to Europe (don't "BOOH" on me, it's because of the people who buy them in the first place, it seems they sell poorly in the US usually, so Sega prefers to skip them there...).

But this is a first for a Sonic game!
This 20th Anniversary special edition (will join my 10th Anniversary edition of Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast and) will be released on November 4 for the HD systems.
(and later for the 3DS)

It will feature an special limited release of the game, "free" DLC (I'm betting an extra level for retro Sonic from the looks of it), a figurine containing both retro and modern-Sonics, a (numbered) Gold Ring, an artbook, a documentary "The Story of Sonic" and finally the Sountrack itself! (let's hope it will be as good as usual Sega quality~)
But not this game's OST, but one featuring songs from across the franchise...which is kinda in fact the sountrack of this game to begin with...!

And it seems there will be a simpler cheaper Special Edition too with just the DLC-stuff.

Videopac games - 3 more titles!

Around a year ago, put up on the blog a picture of all the games I have on the Videopac/Odyssey².

Here's three more games I added to the collection, that I found on the local market one of these past weeks.
It's getting harder to find the missing games :P

Yay!
Well, two of these seem pretty random, but I can't wait to try out N° 37! Looks like a fun little arcade title.

Blue & Gold Super Hero Figurines

Now, I've never been one to collect "figurines" per say.
For one, it is a sort of big investment for those who consider themselves "collectors". And I'm always on a pretty strict budget and all.
And you also need lots of place to pose these kinda figures around your place. And since most of my place is occupied by games/books/movies already...

Also I tend to prefer the actual media than its merchandising.

Aside from the occasional McFarlane toys bought yeaaaars ago, I have almost little to no super heroes hanging around. Now, I've always wanted to at least have a Booster Gold and/or Blue Beetle.
Since I live in the middle of Europe, getting actual official DC Directs figures was pretty out of question. Finding a Batman or Green Lantern in the local comic book store is easy. But when you're a fan of the C-Lister or D-Lister heroes, forget about it!

By chance there's this European collection of superheroes figurines produced & published by eaglemoss.
Now, my uncle's bought lots or almost all of them. (<- if you wanna see some pics of this, just ask!)
But I manage to at least grab a couple of characters I like for m'self.
For this time, here's just Booster Gold and Blue Beetle!!
What I like about these figurines it's that unlike the action figures you usually get with super heroes, these are well crafted and don't take much space in a collection. They're small-sized hand-painted and weigh enough not to drop off your desk.
Or you can, like, keep them in their original boxes which is transparent enough to showcase the characters.

The level of details' been pretty impressive and the colors beautifully rendered, specially on the DC Heroes.
Oh, wait, didn't I tell you, there's also a Marvel Heroes line.

There's currently almost 200 Marvel figurines out. (counting special big sized figurines like Galactus, Rhino..)
DC Comics started its line much later, and is only now reaching its 100 figurines now. (with its specials non-numbered ones as well)
They come out one at the time. People have to either subscribe or go buy them each 2-3 weeks at the newsstand.

They're pretty cool, right?
Enjoy them in their full glory:

I personally don't plan on buying lots of others...
(though my brother wants to collect the whole Shadowpact gang)

They always come with a little magazine that presents the characters, with a little bio of the character, his allies and enemies, etc..

I just couldn't not have the Blue & Gold duo! (though the whole JLI...mmmh..)
I like how they don't just make the big characters that appeared on cartoons/movies/videogames/whatever.. There's plenty of B and C-listers showcased in this series!

Badass shot for the finale?!

Aaaaaand one more to go:

If you liked these, be sure to check out this French guy's website, featuring his collection and all the latest updates regarding this collection.

I'll probably make more posts about these if you guys and gals demand it!

A game that has been in development FOREVER

Finally! The Duke is back!
I was finally able to get my copy of Duke Nukem Forever.

Only ~15 year of waiting this one, no kiddin'! XD
Seriously though, I did got myself the collector "Balls of Steel" Edition. It wasn't much more expensive than the regular edition, no way I could skip on this one.
The collector edition comes in a nice and fancy box, everything to make Duke seems like the messiah we've all been waiting for.
Kickass presentation from the content to the title itself:

The box came out smaller than what I was expecting... I mean, the bust's not really that big in reality.
At least it won't use too much space 'round here.

Shiny box is shiny.

The content exposed on the side.
Duke's famous nuclear logo on top.

Hail to the king, baby!

This edition comes with lots of Casino-related goodies.
A deck of cards (super small!), dices...

And here's the complete collector's edition opened up.
That's a lot of neat stuff.
Including a (rushed) comic book, prequel to Duke Nukem Forever and recapping both Duke Nukem 3D expansions (!!) for some reason.
My favorite one, a book, "History, Legacy & Legend" of DN Forever.
A papercraft Duke.
Funny postcards. (how very random!)
And moar!

Here's a final picture:

"Damn... I'm looking good!"

8 Bits music & drawing - the Blues Brothers

People who know me, usually know that I'm a huuuuuge Blues Brothers fans.
Now, you do too.

And here's my "little" collection of BB CDs I bought over the years when I was younger, back when people used to actually buy CDs.

So here's the obligatory Blues Brothers related post I was due to post at some point on my blog.
First of all, here's a cartoon drawing I made, kind of a take with in mind what the BB would look like if they would get an animated series.

Oh, and I'm gonna use this occasion to also show an alternate version of this same pic alongside the pencils:

(click for bigger resolutions)

And finally, after all this time, a new 8-bits styled take on one of their songs, like those 8-bits songs I used to post on the blog a long time ago.


Everybody needs somebody to love 8-bits 

The song is "Everybody needs somebody to love".

It's been years since I made one of those!~
(well, more like a year, give or take)
I kinda screw this one up melody-wise. Oh well...like I said, it's been years.
Once again done using FL Studio 8 with the plugin magical8bit.

Hope you like it ;)
(and that youtube won't screw up the sound too much as usual!)

[FRENCH] Lucky Luke Ballads and stuff

Drawing by Eyz (me!)

I've always been a big Lucky Luke fan since...ever!
Lately, there's a song from a Lucky Luke cartoon I've been listening to a lot.
But first, lemme just show you how much of a Lucky Luke fan I am.
Here's my "collection", almost alll Lucky Luke comics.

That's approximatively ~60 volumes.
I'm only missing a half-dozen titles. (though I should try getting them one of these days now that I think about it..)

I've always liked the characters, the little typcial "old west" universe Morris (the cartoonist) crafted over the years which new authors are still keeping alive up to this day.

I'm also a big fan of "western" flicks, spaghettis westerns, etc..
Though I tend to prefer Clint Eastwood-type of characters and the movies they star in over the more classical John Wayne.
(the reason why I also prefer the video game Red Dead Revolver over Red Dead Redemption probably)

Anyway, here's the music I wanted to share on my blog!
It's the main theme (and opening tune) of the 1978 animated full-feature movie La Ballade des Dalton (The Ballad of the Daltons) which was back then one of the biggest project spawned from Francobelgium comics, and had been since then translated into dozens of other languages.

This is the original version, in french s'il vous plait~
Anyways it still is pretty watchable and catchy nonetheless:



I just love that banjo playing!
And Averell Dalton (the biggest one) is saying near the end, when he finds himself trapped outside the penitentiary:
"Hey! That's not fair! Lemme go inside! I've been arrested as well!"

I think the animation still holds up, pretty amazingly well.
Moreso than some modern cartoons which already look pretty bland and badly animated (mostly 80s cartoon, be it for TV or theater)

Since you're probably still here on this post, let me take this occasion to also post some more animated Lucky Luke.
First off, the original opening theme song from Lucky Luke's first cartoon TV series from '84:



Simply, folk-ysh-like.
The animation isn't as good as it was in the movie above, but it still counts amongst some of the best produced by french cartoon studios from that time.

And now Lucky Luke's modern cartoon opening theme from 2001:



Yeah, Lucky Luke had a pretty successful return, at least in french speaking countries with a new cartoon from the animation studio Xilam.
The lyrics are pretty funny here as well with a sort of frenglish. Which really suits this Francobelgium cartoon taking place in the US.^^

And finally here's a trailer for Lucky Luke's latest animated project, which was a big budget modern 2D animated movie called Tous à l'ouest. (which, I'm not sure, looks like it wasn't translated in English - at least for now):



The animation, the art style are top notch. But the reception has been mixed overall...Me? I haven't seen it so far...

And that is all for this animated Lucky Luke blog post!~

Score!!! Free swag~ (episode 3)

So my local comic store is finally closing doors....on its old address and moving some blocks away!

For that occasion they were cutting prices, like a lot!
And selling off stuff for ridiculously small prices..
And giving stuff away...

Anyway, figurines, CD and DVDs didn't grab much my attention.
I wasn't gonna grab stuff I wasn't looking for in the first place. (that's the way to end up with tons of useless stuff you don't really want)
Instead I was looking through comic book boxes and searching for series that interested me or issues I was missing. (not like some nerds I saw going away with WHOLE darn' boxes! what will they do with that stuff? sell it on ebay?? probably...)

Anyway I was looking specifically for Young Justice, Birds of Prey, Batgirl or Spider-girl issues... Only found 1 single Young Justice! -sigh- :(
(and another one I already had...in my only 5-6 issues I have currently)
Someone probably got away with a box from the end of the alphabet. (probably some Wolverine or X-men fanboy..)
I found a ton of Spider-man, Batman, X-men books..but not really interested in getting more of those. (I'd rather read some Batman in TPB instead)
Found some Amazing Fantasy/Araña, which is no Mayday Parker, but nice nonetheless.
No Spider-girl this time.
Old Green Arrow issues, some What if..., some Elseworlds, an Azrael....
Only one issue of Superman/Batman I really wanted, one of the parts of the Metal Men crossover! (I luv the Metal Men!)

Biggest surprise/catch?
The Great Lakes Christmas Special! (which I'm currently reading as I write these lines)
FantastAwesomEpic!

And that is all...
I'll miss the ol' comic book store.
The new one will be farthest from home but closer from work. (guess I know where I'll be spending my time at lunch)

Score!!! Free swag~ (episode 2)

The local (and only) comic book store (of US/superheroes comics) here in Geneva (that's where I live in case you missed previous mentions of it) will be changing address and moving some block away from where it had been this last (two) decade(s) or so.
For that occasion they've been cutting prices, selling off at pretty cheap prices most of their stock and getting rid of their old comic issues.

Here's what I was able to score!

Apart from a Flash trade paperback and a Star Wars collection I've been trying to get my hands for a lot of time, I was also able to get a dozen nice issues of stuff as different as Ghost Rider 2099, Battle of the planets (some issues missing from my collec'), "Silver Age" DC event, etc...
And a TON of Spider-girl issues! :D
(seriously though, when I had all those in hands at the store, it really felt like they weight a ton)
I luv Spider-girl! Such as fun book like I said previously already.
With the issues I had at home, I've almost covered most of her classic run now :'3


That's all I had to say~

Gamera collector action figurine supaa epicuu DESU!!

Alright, even if you've been following my blog (or my deviantart), you probably don't know it, but I'm a huuuuge Kaiju fan! (Kaiju? See this!)

Anyways, my good ol' buddy Anton's just been back from a month-long trip to Taiwan and he brought me back a present!
This awesome looking kickass lil' GAMERA!!

HOLY FRIGGIN' COW! IT'S GAMERA!!!

First of all I'd like to thank you again a thousand times!
It does make me happy :)
1) Gamera kicks ass!
and 2) Awesome looking figurine! Thanks buddy ;)

I'll come back to you with something as well...as soon as I find something as kickass as this and/or I go somewhere where I'll be able to get you something like this~

Anyways...
I thought it would be a nice idea to post some pictures of this Gamera and show it on the blog ;)

 DUUUN DUUN DUUUN~

Angry GAMERA is angry!! GRRRRR!

You know it's serious business when you see that many exclamation points.

 Oh-ho! I see he/she's able to get some action figure action!

 Even the packaging is EPIC!

 GAMERA! SUGOOOOI!! ACTION MONSTER EPICU DESU!!

 He/She's going to destroy FUJI SAN desu!!

 GRAAAOOOOOW!!

 Alright...I'm getting bored of these shots already...

 He/She's not really that gigantic or terrifying... He/She's even smaller that my desktop-Bender.

WOOAH!! Okay! Maybe a bit tiny terrifying...

And that's all for now!
I guess I'll try getting some better funnier pictures next time~

It's not quite WEDNESDAY yet but...

Today after work, when I arrived home I found this great surprise I almost completely forgot about....

I put the little cutter on it for size comparison

Wow! That's a big huge flat box!
What could be inside this box? I don't remember anything that was supposed to arrive these days...

It was quite flat, so it could either be a comic(s), some bandes dessinée (franco-belgium comics), posters (did I bought some online? I don't think so...), games, movies??

I started opening it...and surprise! It was some kind of giant-sized comic(??)!

What the?!
What is this thing?

It's...woah! I almost forgot all about this one... A book!
The book!

It's WEDNESDAY COMICS an incredible comic by DC Comics. It's a fun project DC did not that long ago. Various comic strip-styled stories of different characters by various popular creative teams.
This is the collected hardcover edition, the originals run in a newspaper-like format.

I had this one bought from a local library, but they were never able to get a copy back then, so each month I kept asking them news about my order but with no luck...and then, today, randomly...BAM! The book finally!

It's a beautiful book I can't recommend enough. A great way to either dig in (american) comics and/or the DC universe!
Beautiful artwork with lots of fun interesting stories that take these classic characters into reader-friendly tales.
(and it's all in "continuity", so...)

MR Army of Darkness

Hey! What's that you got on your face?

I kinda put this series review on hold for a while... but it is finally time to dig in the 3rd and last entry of the Evil Dead series!

This one's a bit special to me since it's one of my all-time favorite flicks!
Why?
How?
What did Sam Raimi turn this horror series into? Does Bruce Campbell still kick ass? Let's check it out~

Movie: Army of Darkness aka Evil Dead III, Medievil Dead or also Bruce Campbell vs. the Army of Darkness
Directed by Sam Raimi
Release date 1992-93
Genre Fantasy/slapstick comedy
Country USA
 
After the huge unexpected success of Evil Dead 2, a sequel was inevitable.
The follow-up would be continuing the adventure of Ashley Williams after the 2nd film's cliffhanger - an obvious move.

But first,
With that successful second episode, the original trio behind this series was finally able to make it into Hollywood.
Sam Raimi produced and wrote a couple of films. He appeared as an actor in some production and even directed the now cult original superhero/thriller Darkman in 1990.
Rob Tapert would launch several popular projects like the Hercules and Xena tv series during the 90s.
And the now cult Bruce Campbell became as popular as he is nowadays thanks to Evil Dead 2. He developed over the years a huge fandom, would star in hundreds of pictures, non-Hollywood-ysh mostly, including a ton of roles in science fiction B-movies or horror movies like the Maniac Cop series.

Bruce Campbell was now a part of the horror and slasher genre. You'd expect from another Evil Dead movie to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, right?
But Sam Raimi liked originality, that's the way the orginals surprised the audience afterall. So instead of proposing yet another gruesome horror movie (like Evil Dead 1) or a more comedic slasher (like Dead by Dawn) the 3rd movie went outside the cabin and into a whole new genre and direction.

Time Traveler

What's the story so far?

After the incident of the cabin (Evil Dead), where everybody died and Ash had to cut his own hands to get rid of the evil in himself (Dead by Dawn), a giant portal opened up in the sky (remember?).
Ash wasn't able to destroy the book of the dead, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. And instead got sucked in the past along the book.

This epic tale opens up then with Ash falling from the sky in the 1300s, somewhere in England.
Ash finds himself trapped in a war between a certain Lord Arthur and a Duke Henry.
But worry not Evil Dead-fan, the Deadites tagged along for this story.
Soon a wiseman tells Ash he is the chosen one, the one who'll save the world from the evil Deadites. He must find back the book, destroy it before its too late and will be able to go back to his own time.

Long story short, Ash makes a big mistake, the problems get worse, the evil inside him comes out in the form of the coolest horror movie villain ever, Evil Ash, the so-called Army of Darkness rises...

Will Ash save the day once more? Will he get the girl, Sheila, as well? And more importantly, how does this story really ends???

Building The Deathcoaster

As you can see from all this, this last episode is nothing like the first movies.
But it was always the idea behind this conclusion. In fact much sooner in production, it was even supposed to already be the second part of Evil Dead 2, before a part of it became a remake of the first one.
Sam Raimi always wanted to take this series outside the cabin and even the forest.
When the budget was enough with the success of his series and other films (such as the already mentioned Darkman), he was finally able to make things bigger this time around.

And with the involvement of his brother Ivan Raimi, both co-wrote AoD has a big tribute and homage to the old classic epic movies.
As the original movies were tributes to the slasher/gore genre.

Only this one turned out more comedy and fantasy and less horror. Though the horror influence is still here.
But after Evil Dead 2, it looks like a natural evolution for the series. The main character Ash (and Bruce Campbell) went through so much in the past that he couldn't continue to be reactive and had to turn pro-active down the line. That's why all of this movie seems based around the fact that Ash is now a total badass - the reason why there's a background storyline about his past days as a S-Mart employee to establish his old normal live long gone by now.

Night Court

The Necronomicon takes us in the past (and changed his look for this final tale - though the other 2 looks make an appearance at some point in a graveyard) and Raimi moves the series into new horizons.

This time the genre's definitively fantasy. Returning composer Joseph LoDuca makes an exceptional score, very medieval and epic.

The movie in itself is a work of love from the crew, Raimi & co worked up a lot of references in the movie itself and based it around old classic tropes and themas.

Klaatu barada nikto, with this line Ash is supposed to sell away the book of the dead, but mispronounce it which results in the final act of the film. It was also the famous classic line from the 1951 scifi classic B-Movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. The movie in itself is a big tribute to classic adventure stories like Gulliver's Travel, Sinbad, etc..
Even more, Sam Raimi had a lot of stop motion work done for the final, the last act is very much inspired and done similarly to Jason and the Argonauts. Which was pretty unusual for the "modern" 90s.

End Titles

Finally I'd say a lot of love was put into this movie, and it really shows. There's so much fun, energy...all the lines sound perfect, the action is great and Bruce Campbell is at his best.

It's a movie made for fans before anything else.
And it was quite a success to much surprise, I'm sure most producers wouldn't had expected it by then.
It became the cult classic it is today because it's a work of love where the creative team had entire control over it.
Sure, some hip kids might say the stop motion animation isn't the greatest, but it wasn't back then too. It was made old school, like in Jason and the Argonauts for a reason. There's so much style in the way they interact with the living Bruce Campbell facing the practical effects Evil Ash! So many things are going on at the same time in the climax!

Overall, a great movie!

Bruce, and Ash, badass and at his finest!

His over-the-top lines.. The way this guy who butchered his own hand in the previous movie continue to move on be it by using a chainsaw in its place or making a mechanical fully animated hand in medieval times... The way nothing seem to be able to stop him, like a sort of anti-slasher (like the opposite of a Jason or Freddy)..


A whole cult for the series was born after this movie! Perhaps even more so than Evil Dead 2 (didn't most people check back the past 2 flicks because of AoD, honestly?)

Perhaps not as loved for horror-fans, but better directed and constructed as a film.

Raimi was even able to get Danny Elfman score a track, the big final confrontation theme, the March Of The Dead. (whom he had on Darkman - him again yeah)

This time it's more like 80% comedy and 20% horror, but as an horror fan I'm perfectly fine with this choice!
It's really fun and shows how creative Sam Raimi was as a creator and director.

Over-the-top, perfect.
Ash is an invicible deadite killer, monsters, demons and zombies better fear him and hope they never cross path with him!

Sidenote: On most releases, the movie feature an alternate ending. A darker and less optimistic one. I'm sure a sequel would follow it. And don't worry if you don't see it, it's not like an Evil Dead never remade/reshot details of the previous one.
(this time, actual scenes from ED2 were used in the prologue..but for copyrights reasons they couldn't keep the "Evil Dead" title, so they tweaked a bit of the previous one ending)

Final word? Watch it! Rewatch it! Buy it! Have it in your collection!

I give it:

 3 / 3 Necronomicons!