Last Friday marked my niece Courtney’s eighth birthday, and what was she hoping for most? An iPod. Now, in my opinion, an 8-year-old doesn’t have much business with an iPod, but kids today are getting into electronics at a much younger age. Though part of Courtney’s argument for “needing” an iPod was, “everyone has one [...]
COMMENTARY: Everyone Has One, But I Want Mine to be Unique
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DC Collectibles Injustice Raven Revealed
Since Toy Fair in February when the 3.75″ Injustice Flash figure was revealed to us his 2-pack counterpart has been shrouded in mystery, and listed as TBD. Last week came the news of two new playable characters in the game: Doomsday and Raven. Today on their Facebook page (which just hit 200,000 likes!) DC Collectibles [...]
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Diamond Select Announces Marvel Select Action Figure, Minimates for ‘The Wolverine’
The Avengers. X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The Amazing Spider-Man. The Marvel cinematic universe is constant source of great characters and costumes for the Minimates mini-figure and Marvel Select action figure lines from Diamond Select Toys. This year three films based in the Marvel Universe will make it into Select form, and while all three films are [...]
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April Fool’s Custom Painted Hobart Release
The April Fool's custom painted Hobart (Da Shaka Monsta) toy release will feature customs by Martin Ontiveros, Kiyoka Ikeda, Le Merde, Chanmen, Bwana Spoons, Koji Harmon, Brian Flynn, Naoya Ikeda, and Scrappers. The release will happen at thedepartmentofawesome.com and you can get on the preview list by sending the secret password "Shaka" to aloha@thedepartmentofawesome.com Here's [...]
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Raven revealed to be DCC Injustice Flash's 2-pack partner
DC Collectibles has revealed the mystery figure in Flash's 2-pack as none other than Raven, whom herself was recently announced Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Raven is a name closely associated with The New Teen Titans (having been paramount to bringing together the team together at the time) and might be best remembered around casual fans for her role on the animated Teen Titans (which inspired Teen Titans Go!). Raven's Injustice look might please fans of all camps, as it seems to take a bit from each.
I generally like Raven's look although, at the same time, there seems to be a few trends among DC Collectibles' 3.75-inch female figures that give the figures a certain feeling of sameness (such as lack of a bicep joint). While her biceps and thighs look generic, Raven appears to feature original sculpting on her torso including a sculpted chain that holds her broach.
Raven joins Flash's pre-order which started around the time of Toy Fair and is slated for a June release. This means she leap-frogs the recently announced Superman, Nightwing, Aquaman, and Black Adam.
[ DC Collectibles ]
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Cosplay Monday: MegaCon Edition (part 2) Here are some more...
Cosplay Monday: MegaCon Edition (part 2)
Here are some more photos from MegaCon this weekend. The Cable and Dr. Doom is absolutely astonishing. Here’s part 1 to the post.
Any cosplay credit wanted, please contact cortez (at) albotas (dot) com and I’ll be happy to link it.
Check it: More Cosplay Monday posts on Albotas
Buy it: Cosplayers in America
Follow Albotas on Twitter | Like Albotas on Facebook
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Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #15 Comic Book Preview
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Just in from IDW Publishing is the Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #15 Comic Book Preview. This comic will be out in comic shops and online this Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Get the details and and preview pages on this newest installment: DEATH IN THE RANKS! Rodimus and his crew are confronted by the enemy within"and not everyone will survive the encounter. Everything has been building to this: all-out war aboard the Lost Light!
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KusoVinyl x Fuller Batman and Batgirl for WonderCon 2013
It's no secret what a fangirl I am for Fuller's custom toys, and this is no different of a case. KusoVinyl and Fuller Designs have teamed up for WonderCon this year and Fuller has created a Batman and Batgirl based on Robotox's popular characters Celsius and Revolver Girl.
These are one of a kind customs that will be available at the KusoVinyl booth, #1176, at WonderCon (March 29th through 31st). I imagine that you'll have to be speedy to get your hands on these if they're for sale, so hurry up and gather that money so you'll have it ready to bring with you to Anaheim when you come for the convention.
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The Four Horsemen's New Line Of Figures Are For The Birds
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Mini 10-Doh! Series 2 Kickstarter Campaign
Nate Mitchell and his So Analog label have taken to Kickstarter in an attempt to get his Mini 10-Doh! Series2 into production. There are a total of 16 unique designs by 14 different artists, using the platform. Artists include: • Riccardo Bucchioni • Gary Ham • Honi Koni • David Horvath • Hydro74 • Kano [...]
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Black Dallas x SB x Usugrow Exclusive Rebel Ink (3.21)
Hiddy recently revealed the upcoming Black Dallas Exclusive Rebel Ink from Usugrow and Secret Base. Cast in what appears to be opaque gray/black, the new edition features silver spray and what look like brand new belly and back graphics. The back image is rather stunning. For overseas customers, this drops...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Animated, Vol. 1 Preview
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Shoot ‘em ups, shmups, shooters, STGs - call them what you want. They’re undeniably...
Shoot ‘em ups, shmups, shooters, STGs - call them what you want. They’re undeniably one of the most enduring yet progressive game genres around. From Space Invaders, the game that kicked off Japan’s arcade craze, to DoDonPachi Saidaioujou, Cave’s latest release, shooters have kept our index fingers pounding on the Shot button and our middle fingers precariously hovering over the Bomb button. Hit the link for a list of our favorite shoot ‘em ups.
Mushihimesama Futari is the best of Cave’s modern-era shoot ‘em ups. “Bullet hell” and “danmaku” (bullet curtain) are perfect descriptions of the game. You play as Reco, the well-endowed forest spirit, or her new buddy, Palm. Reco rides a giant beetle while Palm rides a dragon. Like most Cave games, Futari puts a huge emphasis on comboing for huge scores. The redrawn graphics for the 360 port look amazing. And the difficulty is just right - hard enough to keep you working for months on that 1CC but not so bad that you throw your arcade stick out the window.
With all the PS2 ports and the recent HD-ified versions of games, there aren’t a lot of shooters still exclusive to the Dreamcast. Thankfully (at least for diehard Dreamcast fans) the best shooter on the system is still an exclusive (unless you count the original NAIOMI version). Border Down is an amazing horizontal shooter created by G.rev. Inspired by Taito’s Metal Black, the game is a dream to play but has a strict rank system. In shooters, rank refers to the variable difficulty of the game. The better you do, the harder the game gets. In Border Down, the game gets harder the longer you stay alive. But it gets way harder when lose a ship. Upon dying, you restart from a checkpoint, but the game has risen by a significant degree of difficulty. Once you die while on the red difficulty, it’s game over. Border Down is brutal and beautiful. It also features my favorite game soundtrack.
Toaplan’s Batsugun is basically a proto-Cave game. The developers tried to get as many bullets on screen as possible. To combat the huge number of bullets and enemies, you get enormous weapons that at times fill up an eighth of the screen. The game introduced a lot of elements that would be incorporated into the bullet hell genre, so at 1993, it was definitely ahead of its time. And the greatest achievement of all is that it has aged well. Even after two decades, it still feels as manic and fluid as a modern Cave shmup.
The word “Cave” is showing up a lot in the article, and for good reason. Guwange is masterpiece from Cave’s golden age. Taking place in a supernatural feudal Japan, you and your spirit buddy must destroy everything from foot soldiers to a giant plasma-shooting centipede. Oh yeah, and a spidercat. Your character controls a spirit character that can move about the screen depending on the shot you’re using. This mechanic is hard to master, but is a huge tactical advantage and something that makes Guwange so unique and enjoyable. But the atmosphere and intuitive combo system are really what makes the game one of the best shmups ever made. Now that it’s easily available for any 360 owner, it should be experienced by all shoot ‘em up fans.
Under Defeat is a bit out of the ordinary. Your ship is a helicopter and you can lock in your shot’s angle, resulting in some unique gameplay elements that kept your thumbs moving even more rapidly than a normal bullet hell game. The game was developed by G.rev and its graphics were absolutely stunning when it was released on the Dreamcast in 2006. Since the cosmos is bent on devaluing my game collection, an HD+ version of the game was recently released for Xbox 360 (Europe and Japan only) and PS3.
I’d certainly hesitate to call Ikaruga’s gameplay “boring,” but it doesn’t have that same feeling of speed that most modern shmups have. And it’s not exactly the gameplay that gets Ikaruga on this list. It’s the painstaking attention to detail taken by the game’s developer’s, Treasure. Every bullet pattern and enemy formation is meticulously laid out so that you can never call the game “cheap.” There’s always a way out. If you die, it’s your own damn fault. A lot of people say that Ikaruga isn’t a shmup and that it’s really a puzzle game. That’s a load of shit. It’s a different shooter, and different is good.
- Cotton Series
- Star Soldier Series
- Progear no Arashi
- Deathsmiles
- DoDonPachi Series
- Mars Matrix
- Giga Wing
- Crisis Force
- Aleste Series
- Raiden & Raiden Fighters Series
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Hasbro's 2013 Jurassic Park Product Info & Images
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Reticulated Mario & Luigi from Carson Catlin Carson Catlin...
Reticulated Mario & Luigi from Carson Catlin
Carson Catlin has 1-upped himself this time. He’s customized these Mario and Luigi toys for Game On in San Francisco. Love ‘em more than ‘shrooms and facial hair? Plunk down 500 coins for one of the figures or 900 for both at the show on March 22.
Check it: More Carson Catlin customs on Albotas
Buy: Tanooki Suit Mario 8" Plushy
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Baby Ninjas Series 1 from Shawnimals You can’t learn to be...
Baby Ninjas Series 1 from Shawnimals
You can’t learn to be a ninja. You’re born as a ninja. These handmade plushies from Shawnimals depict primordial ninja using their skills of kawaii for massive damage.
The ninja stork drops them off in a blind-bagged package complete with hangtag. There are 10 Baby Ninja plus one chase. Pre-order one here. Currently gestating, they’ll ship in April.
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Family & Meal Traditions
As a little girl I spent hours watching my mom cook every night. Every night she cooked us a hot meal. I’d sit in the kitchen and study what she did and then finally one day she let me start helping. She let me make cookies and help with the holiday baking. Some of my... [Continue Reading]![]()
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Name That…Body Armor
Body armor is expensive. Yes, I’ve looked.![]()
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Geek Shall Inherit Episode 064 – Highly Contagious
Just like the Geek Shall Inherit podcast, Daniel is highly contagious. Being sick and on his deathbed didn’t stop the guys from recording a new episode. Daniel’s doing a bit better now, but still sounds a bit like if Barry White and Froggy from the Little Rascals had a baby. In order not to get [...]
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A Message from Cobra Special Forces & Snake-Eyes Delivers
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More Pages to Explore .....
