Now as much as we want to forget it, Built to Rule happened. It was a great concept, but horribly executed. For those who don’t know, Built to Rule was Hasbro’s last attempt at a building block series, and it wasn’t very good. The bricks rarely stayed together and the end products were pretty disappointing once finished, especially the Transformers. This time, though, it seems Hasbro got a few things right, but there’s still room for improvement.

I made my first foray into Kre-O with Sentinel Prime, since I like buying the characters we DON’T see every year. And because he was cheap for me, but that’s neither here nor there. Unsurprisingly, his design here is based on his appearance in Dark of the Moon, but there are a few other influences which I’ll get to later.

His vehicle mode is the similar to the airport firetruck he transforms into in the movie, and it is surprisingly big; certainly bigger than any time LEGO did a vehicle like this. He has opening doors and a positionable, spring-loaded water cannon as well as ladders that don’t really do anything. Unfortunately he only has one seat for the driver, but I can’t say I’m that surprised.

There’s a bit of a blessing and a curse with the Kre-O sets. The Built to Rule sets had a basic frame they were all built around that could transform, with some parts being rearranged for the robot mode. Here, the ENTIRE SET needs to be disassembled to switch between the modes, which can take quite awhile. On one hand, both modes look better, but on the other, it’s very, very tedious, so I suggest just building it in the mode you want and keeping it there.

Much like his vehicle mode, Sentinel’s robot mode draws heavily from his movie incarnation. He’s a bit spindly, but the overall design is pretty cool. My only real complaints come from the weight that hurts his articulation, and the fact that his weapons are built into his hands. Of course, you can just take them out, but it’s an odd design choice. The joints are coated with a soft plastic, which seems to hold some poses, but not others. They’re like polycaps, but not as resilient.

What amazed me the most about this toy is the head—yes, it’s based on Transformers: Animated Sentinel Prime! It’s AWESOME, and I can see plenty of people buying this guy just to make customs.

But of course, nobody cares as much about the sets themselves as they do the Kreons, Kre-O’s answer to the minifigure. They’re awesome and adorable, and Sentinel comes with a Kreon of himself (based on his design from the comics), Skywarp, Soundwave, and… a fire chief with a ton of gear, but nobody cares about him. Of the four, my favorite is Soundwave. Just look at the mouth under the helmet! Awesome.

Kre-O is still in its infancy, but I can see it becoming much better as the years go on. Sentinel Prime is definitely recommended for his great design and Kreons. And before you ask—yes, FPNYC does carry these, so if you want to literally build your Autobot army, come on in!

…

Up until fairly recent I was only vaguely familiar with Ito’s work, mostly from the live action adaptation of Uzumaki and seeing his name on various books in the store.  That is until I picked up Gyo. Immediately blown away by every aspect of it I’ve been rabidly devouring any of his stuff that I can find. The setup is simple yet so original and unforgettable… Fish grow legs, come out of the water and start taking over the land.  Now I’m not talking about smart talking fish people devising a world conquering plan. I’m talking about a massive amount of stupid fish, all types of fish, small fish, big fish, red fish… you get it…fish with legs that simply force the humans out due to strength in numbers and stench for that matter.

After getting about half way through the first volume I began to wonder why this was never adapted into a live action film like some of Ito’s other work like Uzumaki and the Tomie series.  I’ll settle for an animated version, but hopefully it generates enough interest for a live action Gyo.

Seriously though who wouldn’t want to see a real land shark!

Josh’s new short How top Talk to Women will be playing at the Audience Choice Screenings for the 8th Annual NYC Downtowm Short Film Festival.  It’s all going down this Saturday May 21st at 8PM at Duo Theater 62 East 4th Street Manhattan between 2nd ave and Bowery.

Get advance tickets online at Smarttix while they last!

Viz Media’s Detroit Metal City is like nothing you’ve seen before.  I remember when the first volume came out.  I knew nothing of the book, but as a Heavy Metal fan myself, I was instantly attracted to it. Now Volume 8 is hitting the shelves this Tuesday, and I’m salivating for it because I’ve become a totally obsessed follower of the cult of Krauser!  I’ve throughly enjoyed every single volume, the cartoon series, and the live action DMC movie adaptation of this… manga.  There, I said it. I like manga, but you won’t see me cosplaying anytime soon. Hmmm… although a Krauser halloween costume could be pretty cool.

By all appearances, Soichi Negishi is a sweet, well-mannered boy who loves Swedish pop music, trendy boutiques, and all things fashionable. But at the same time he’s also Krauser II, front man for Detroit Metal City, an indie death metal band whose popularity increases by the day. Once the DMC makeup goes on and Soichi takes the stage, his natural talent as a death metal god can’t help but flourish. Is this the band he’s truly destined to be in?

How did this happen? When and where did I go wrong? This is not the kind of band I wanted to be in!

It’s like Metalocalypse meets Mrs. Doubtfire on acid.

The live action movie stars Kenichi Matsuyama, a pretty high-profile star in the manga adaptation genre, having starred in the Death Note series as L, and in the Nana movie.  It also features a guest appearance by one of my favorite people in the world… None other than the Devil Bat himself, Gene Simmons! You might know him from such films as Never Too Young To Die, Trick Or Treat, and a band you might of heard of called KISS! Unfortunately, the music in the live-action film does not evoke the true evil spirit of the manga, going for a nu-metal sound, unlike the anime, which used more traditional death-metal music.  I still wholeheartedly recommend the film, for the characters are spot-on and hilarious.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now can someone please tell me where I can find a DMC shirt?

Quick Warning: this video is not necessarily all-ages friendly.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Except I’m not made of vinyl and I don’t have Kidrobot tattooed on my butt.

“Futurama” is back! Everybody’s favorite zany group from the future has returned with twelve brand-new episodes, premiering on Comedy Central June 24^th at 10PM. Twentieth century boy Philip J. Fry is still jetting around the universe with his favorite drunken robot, one-eyed mutant, mad scientist, rule-abiding Jamaican accountant and Nibblonian monster in a host of brand-new adventures from the team at Planet Express.

Hatched from the mind of “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, “Futurama” blasts contemporary culture and science fiction alike with an animated comedy barrage. Hapless NYC pizza guy Philip J. Fry makes a fateful delivery to a cryonics lab on New Year’s Eve, 1999 when he’s accidentally flash-frozen until the next millennium. Reawakened in 31st century New New York, he finds work at his great-great-etc. grandnephew’s Planet Express delivery service. Together with his hedonist robot buddy bender and cyclopsian love interest Leela, Fry travels to the farthest reaches of the universe. Along the way they discover strange alien life forms, velour-clad lotharios, freaky mutants, intergalactic conspiracies and the disembodied heads of celebrities throughout the ages.

You can jazz yourself up for the new season by following a countdown to 6/24/10- filled with stills, interviews, videos and other neat stuff- on the show’s Facebook page.

Stan is digitized a la Kevin Flynn and sent to the Game Grid for having the audacity to attempt to delete his profile… and Facebook the MCP will have none of that!

So what sort of games are the conscripts profiles forced to play to gain their freedom? Jai Alai?  A Light Cycle race to the death?

NO!  Yahtzee!

Looove the episode’s Tron parody segments (the little touches go a long way- Facebook Saark is a more accurate cartoon depiction of a real person/character, actor David warner in this case, than any featured on The Simpsons in a long time… The MCP’s voice and the line, “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Stan Marsh.” ), but the episode’s real strength is its biting commentary on the Facebook phenomenon and the various social changes it has loosed upon the world. For better, but mostly worse.

Great episode.

END OF LINE.

• Harlan Ellison’s lawsuit against CBS/Paramount has concluded to his apparent satisfaction, with an “agreed-upon statement” from both parties forthcoming in the next few days.  Wait for it.

• CBR has an exclusive first look preview of Corey Lewis’ Longshot (a personal fave!) story for the next ish of Marvel’s Strange Tales.  “Hmmm… ‘Disco-Mecha Infernus’ Could be Dazzler’s style!”

• Hosting a Halloween party in NYC? Looking for a a swell, geeky conversation piece of a pumpkin? Look no further than FP buddies maniacpumkincavers.com.  Commission them before they’re booked for the heathen holiday, you pagans.

• Andrew Wheeler reviews David Small’s Stitches, recently nominated as a finalist for the National Book Award in the young people’s literature category, over at ComicMix. It has otherwise been very well received, though I’ve not taken the opportunity to check it out yet.

• If you’ve not been keeping up with them you simply must check out Tor.com’s recent interview series with writer sui generis, the magnificent Mr. Ray Bradbury.  Up on the site today is the segment “They’re all Graphic Novels.”

• Finally, The Beat reports on Nickelodeon’s purchase of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for $60 Million.  Oy!  That reminds me of a recent conversation I had this past weekend with FPNYC staffer and Blue Beetle enthusiast Josh Weisbrod.  Y’know what would be a killer Halloween costume?  Krang in the strong man body!

If anybody out there has pulled this off before The Daily Planet wants to hear from ya!

…And all I can think in response is a shudder, a la Homer at the thought of shaving the legs of his sisters-in-laws.