Just check out this video for more details.

OR

Just pre-order it here! <— by clicking this duh!

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May 19 (Sat.) 3:00 Severed Short Film Night The 1st ever VHS Convention. Come buy, sell, trade, and collect obscure horror and cult VHS. Uncover forgotten films not yet on DVD, revel in trashy, low budget directly to video masterpieces and meet other collectors and film junkies! Plus, the 3rd Annual Severed Sinema Short Film Night competition. Submission chosen will receive official selection status and have the chance to win the coveted audience choice award. Tickets $7

https://www.facebook.com/events/405693446117841/

The Avengers movie is AWESOME, you have to go see it right now! Well, it was alright. Actually, I kinda’ didn’t like it. I know that’s strange, I mean, the director has done such impressive work, and it had that REALLY hot girl in it…what was her name? Dang it, it’s on the tip of my tongue. You know, she has the crazy red hair and the skin-tight cat suit. UMA THURMAN, that’s the gal.

I don’t see what all the fuss is about…folks have said that the Hulk steals the show, but he wasn’t even IN this picture. Plus, and let’s be honest, it was cool seeing Sean Connery, but the whole weather dominator thing was a little hokey.

I just felt like I wasn’t seeing the same movie as the critics.

WHAT NOW?

Did you know that the Forbidden Planet has a plethora of other, totally fun and non-Avengers related products that you can purchase and enjoy while you try to fill the empty shell that is the wasted time in your life between rewatchings of the Avenger’s movie?

OF COURSE YOU KNEW. You had to walk in the door just to pick this newsletter up, right (or maybe you’re reading this on our blog, between reviews for many of these fine non-Avengers related products)? You must have seen all the kick-ass stuff littering the display cases, shelves and walls. Did you need Doctor Who TARDIS salt and pepper-shakers? Do you need an officially licensed Hellboy or Buffy Ouiji Board? Do you need recreations of old hot rod plastic model kits?

You need it as much as you need this week’s Wonder Woman comic, or the new issue of Amazing Spider-Man. If only there was a place which had new comics AND fun, geeky chotskis, plus t-shirts, GI Joes and spiffy card games.

UPSTAIRS, and yes, I am aware that, to some of you, it is news there is an upstairs; there are card games, role playing games, dice games and MORE! In fact, the upstairs alone is a role playing game…you pretend that you’re a customer looking for nifty manga, and we pretend that we’re clerks. In reality we’re hard-light holograms, and the entire store is one giant holodeck.

Let’s say you want to purchase a copy of RISK because you want to develop your script treatment for the inevitable RISK feature film that is sure to follow on the wings of the successful Battleship motion picture. Well FIRST you will find it UPSTAIRS, and second, that movie’s going to suck worse than summer school.

The actual place, summer school, not the movie. The movie “Summer School” was pretty cool…and it had the voice of ZIM in it!

THIS WEEK

Adventure Time #4, Dark Horse’s FLCL reprint edition and the afore mentioned Amazing Spider-man #682 and Wonder Woman #9 are all hot books, but only Catwoman #9 features Catwoman hanging out with the Penguin and a bunch of dudes in crappy owl costumes.

PLUS, this week sees the publication of Chris Schweizer’s well executed graphic novel about the Crogan family with Crogan’s Loyalties! If you like BONE or the actual Revolutionary War then this is a must see!

A RETRACTION: The Weekly Planet would like to apologize for the error in Unkiedev’s column of two weeks ago in which we stated that you should buy Mark Millar’s Ultimates Vol. 1, stating it was “good.” It has since been revealed that it was only “OK.”

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More musings from Unkiedev, Earth’s own sidekick, can be read at unkiedev.blogspot.com

Ratchet’s vehicle mode is an ambulance (what else?) that’s made up of… quite a lot of panels. Also he has no lightbar. Bleh. I hate panel-formers. The mode looks good enough, and there aren’t many color matching problems. I just can’t seem to get all the panels aligned properly. Oh well.

Like Wheeljack, he has his own STABCAR mode! This time with knives. It’s not as cool, honestly. I’m also not entirely sure where the knives are supposed to go in this mode? I think they’re supposed to go in the doors, but I can’t find a tab for them to peg into.

Ratchet’s transformation is much more complex than one would think, involving a lot of parts turning around and sliding unlike most other toys. The forearms are very panel-y but I like the end result. I always think I’m going to break the hinges on the back leg armor by accident. Also, the head springs up with a great automorph gimmick.

For his robot mode, Ratchet uses a lot of cheats. A LOT of cheats. Fake chest being the most obvious, of course. I mean geez, look at those tiny doors! Honestly though, it works for me. In some of the early test shots, Ratchet was missing quite a bit of his red paint applications. It really hurt the overall look of the toy. The only way for Ratchet’s design to work in toy form is to make a lot of cheats, although chances are, if he’d been released as a first edition, he’d be putting some parts of his vehicle form in a pocket dimension.

I don’t like the way the back of the ambulance just hangs on his back. It’s kind of unsightly, bleh.

I really like the way the arms look and transform. It uses a lot of panels, but it feels like an evolution of the arms the movie Jazz figure had. They’re really poseable, too!

In fact, it’s really starting to seem as though higher levels of articulation are becoming standard. They have been for awhile now, sure, but now figures are starting to hover around the same range, design limitations be damned.

Ratchet’s knives are… really uninteresting. Why couldn’t he have a cool cannon or a scalpel or something? These just don’t work. They’re really rubbery and look like they’d be better suited to sit on the end of a bayonet.

Despite a few gripes about the weapons and transformation, I find Ratchet to be a pretty worthy purchase. He’s as show accurate as we’ll get, and while he’d benefit from some added height, he’s good enough on his own. Recommended!

Want your own? Remember to stop by FPNYC!

First off, there’s the comics “Fury’s Big Week” is one of 2 tie-in books, which ships in trade format this week. Collecting the 4 issue Avengers Prelude comic, is details Nick Fury’s actions prior to the Avengers flick. The 2nd tie-in series is “Black Widow Strikes“, and issue 2 ships this week as well. Written by Fred Van Lente, it’s an insanely great book (let alone tie in) and is worth a read if you dig the Black Widow/Avengers movie-verse. “Fury’s Big Week” retails for $14.99, and “BW Strikes” goes for about $2.99 per issue, and will be on shelves this Wednesday.

Moving on to the toy ends of things, we have the inexpensive Avengers Mini Figures. Standing at 2″, these $4 figures consist of the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Loki all sporting their movies designs. Granted the lack of Phil Coulson, Black Widow and Nick Fury sucks, these are small inexpensive figures, so what do you expect. They’re good for the kids or desks, otherwise I would go with the the 4″ inch figures, which we’ll look at soon. There’s also  a 6″ line in the “Marvel Legends” mold, but those are Walmart Exclusives, so screw that. Diamond Select is also coming out with a whole slew of Minimates that tie into the movie, and they’ve just announced that Agent Coulson will be getting the Minimate treatment, making it the best toy to be released this year.

The 4″ Marvel Avengers figures are the line Hasbro’s been pushing the most, and probably the more in-demand line, as it maintains the same scale that previous Marvel movies/Marvel Universe toy lines have established. As of now, there’s about a dozen figures on the shelf, consisting of the big guns of the Avengers movie-verse. There’s no less than 3 variants of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor each on the shelves, which makes sense, as they’re the big trinity of the Avengers. And to be fair to Hasbro, they did show some diversity, as each of them have a version faithful to the movie, the Ultimate Universe and one “Concept” figure that are a mixture of both. Rounding out the line are movie faithful versions of both the Hulk (who’s definitely now everyone’s favorite character from the movie)  and Loki, as well as a figure of…Ultimate Hawkeye from Ultimates 3. Why you ask? Probably because Hasbro hates me, and Joe Maderia’s design for that character does scream G.I. Joe wannabe.

However, that plastic sin against me will be “avenged”  come July, when the next assortment of figures drop. Iron Man, a weird variant suit, Loki and Hulk are repacked in this wave along with a Skrull warrior (which is obviously a hint who the movie’s  villains are, and will probably be dropping in July as well) and movie faithful versions of both Hawkeye & Black Widow, which complete the roster. Will I be buying Widow and Hawkeye upon sight? You know it. And if you’re interested in these figures, or what’s been released so far, let it be known that they sell for about $12.99 each. And this isn’t the last of Marvel’s summer offerings, as there’s at least 1 wave of Marvel Universe figures dropping this summer, as well as some Amazing Spider-Man tie-in figures coming out in the coming weeks. But man, believe it or not, there’s only so much Marvel I can talk about per day.

And once again, I find myself reviewing Megatron…

I wasn’t too big on the design for Megatron in Transformers Prime originally. It just felt like a shameless rehash of his design from the first movie, only scarier. But well, Frank Welker’s performance as him really sold me on it. Heck, I didn’t even recognize him at first. It’s much better than the voice he used in the games for the live-action movies, that’s for sure.

In vehicle mode, Megatron is a… thing. Okay, I usually don’t mind Cybertronian alt-modes but god, this thing is just weird. It’s like Megatron tried to scan a Klingon Bird of Prey and got distracted and scanned a pile of metal halfway into it. I just can’t get over the exposed head in this mode. It’s too silly even for me. Everything IS quite stable in this mode, though. Many of the parts peg into other parts nicely and securely.

Megatron’s transformation drives me nuts. But not in the bad way, I guess. It’s that good kind of complex that’ll actually stump you. Either way, he has way too many hinged parts. They really clash against each other and I’m always worried I’m gonna break one of them off.

Despite all that, though, holy crap is this robot mode menacing. All the glowing translucent purple plastic looks so good here, and I really wish purple showed up better on my camera. It’s like he has Dark Energon flowing right through his body. His plastic is even textured, too, making him even feel like a crazy, war-mongering Decepticon general. Unfortunately, as cool as the textured plastic is, the gray color just doesn’t do it for me. It feels a little too light, though the dark color in the animation may just be due to the lighting conditions in the show.

His face is sufficiently nasty and creepy, but I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of red eyes. Considering how many figures I’ve seen with nerfed light piping lately, I’m actually surprised they didn’t paint his pupils. The purple eyes just get kind of lost in his face. I might repaint the eyes at some point and see how that looks.

I really have a problem with all this crap on his back. It’s a shame it has nowhere to go, but I guess it could be worse.

His articulation is decent, but his spiky-by-nature design inhibits him somewhat. He also lacks a waist joint, but again, it doesn’t hurt him so much.

Megatron’s finally got his old fusion cannon back, and it’s here in the form of some crazy mechtech weapon. It’s pretty cool, but I don’t think it can lock into place like the Voyager mechtech weapons from Dark of the Moon. It certainly looks awesome, though.

But that cannon pales into comparison to this totally awesome claw. Oh man. As if Megatron wasn’t scary enough. I bet he doesn’t use this against the Autobots… it’s something he uses to punish Starscream for misbehaving. Oh that sounded dirty, didn’t it…

Prime Megatron isn’t perfect, but he’s a totally worthwhile purchase. Maybe we’ll get a better one somewhere down the road, but this one fits the bill just fine, I think. I’m just happy to have the “Big 3” Decepticons already.

Want your own? Remember to stop by FPNYC!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Toxic Tapeheads Rejoice!  This killer collector’s edition VHS of the Toxic Avenger is limited to only 300 copies, comes on a nuclear green tape and comes in a classic oversized Big Box with a hard Clamshell case inside.  Forbidden Planet is proud to play host again to Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma crew. Watch as the citizens of Tromaville take over our Union Square location.  Be one of the first to own this one of a kind piece of Tromabilla and have Lloyd sign it himself! Who knows maybe even Toxie himself will slime a few autographs!  So come out to Forbidden Planet on Thursday May 24th at 7:30 and grab a copy of the Toxic Avenger on VHS!

Comics and t-shirts! T-shirts and comics! DC has a new Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Batman, and Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., plus the collected Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls.

Also, a slew of new #1s, including Dark Horse’s Alabastar Wolves, Boom’s Higher Earth, Image’s Mind the Gap, and DC Vertiogo’s Mystery in Space!

All that, and a visit from a special guest! Check it out, Forbiddenites!

Celebrate the historic first meeting of the Doctor and your pals on the Enterprise D with a special Forbidden Planet NYC signing!  Series and cover artist J.K. Woodward will be here signing copies Star Trek TNG Doctor Who Assimilation2 issue #1 on Wednesday, May 30th starting at 5:30pm.

Mr. Woodward will also be doing head sketches for everyone who purchases an issue at the event.

ALSO every attendee will receive a raffle ticket, good for entry into a drawing for a one-of-a-kind 12×18 Trek/Who watercolor painting by J.K. Woodward (First Prize) and a rare limited edition 1:25 variant cover of issue #1 (Second Prize)!*

About the book:

They said it would never happen! Nearly five decades and 1500 episodes in the making! The two greatest science-fiction properties of all time cross over for the first time in history, in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/DOCTOR WHO: ASSIMILATION2!

When the Federation’s most terrifying enemy strikes an unholy alliance with one of the Doctor’s most hated antagonists, the result is devastation on a cosmic scale! Spanning the ends of space and time itself, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise find themselves joining forces with the Doctor and his companions, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance!

Written by Scott and David Tipton, the authors of the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Infestaion, and featuring the beautiful painted artwork of J.K. Woodward (Fallen Angel), this is the adventure that both Trekkers and Whovians have waited for all their lives! Geronimo? Make it so!

We’re really psyched to be offering this event and hope you are, too!  Come on by and let’s make this historic occasion one to remember.

*Drawing will take place at the end of our event.  Raffle entrants must be in attendance to participate, however winners do not have to be in attendance at the time of drawing.  Mail orders for signed copies ARE being taken in advance, and can be placed online here.

It’s all a big, stupid misunderstanding. There were these guys who were saying that Brandon Graham’s King City wasn’t one of the best graphic novels in the past five years, and I took great umbrage with that statement as I believe the antithesis. Go read that sentence back if you don’t believe me. NOW believe this: Brandon Graham’s King City is NOT ONLY one of the best graphic novels of the past five years, it’s also ONLY $19.99 for over 400 pages of pure comics dynamite!

KING CITY

There’s this guy with a magic cat trying to either win back his ex-girlfriend or stop the hell-beast of the Apocalypse from destroying the eponymous, sprawling, insane city he calls home. He’s on the fence because he can’t really figure out if he still loves this girl, or if it’s just his love of nostalgia, OR if this hell-beast thing could blow over without him getting involved because, really, he should probably be helping his luchador roommate rescue a water alien before she’s thrown into intergalactic sex-slavery by mobsters.

THAT is essentially the plot to King City as I loudly explained it to the two gentlemen in question right after they said that King City could “Eat it.” Now that I think about it, they may have been saying “Take this, all of you, and eat it, this is the blood of my body.” I did so many whip-its that day, it’s hard to remember. As I walked up the aisle of the bar to explain further, I rolled up my sleeves anticipating trouble, as well as taking off my shoes so I had a place to keep my glasses safe. I took my sock off so I had something to protect my other sock in, and I took my pants off to keep my socks company. It was only once I was PARTIALLY naked that I realized I wasn’t in a bar, but a church.

“Didn’t I hear you two guys about five minutes ago reading the new Image comic, Prophet?” I slurred. “EVERYBODY knows that this new Prophet reboot is amazing, and it’s drawn by Brandon Graham, too! LOOK at the difference in art styles! Graham has such a versatile pen that Prophet is the best looking sci-fi comic since Moebius, but King City is all in a fluid, funky cartoon/graphiti style…almost like Crumb drawing the Muppets!”

Now this smarmy SOB tried to take it all back, saying he was talking about “The Lord, our Prophet,” and not Image’s Prophet at all. Pfff. Like THAT’S a comic book at all.

By this time these two yutzes up at the roster where getting really pushy, and I noticed a crowd had gathered in the pews to watch the fight. First they just chased me, grabbing my shirt to try and pin me to the floor, but I escaped by wriggling out of what clothes I had left. HA! Grab THAT, Mr. Funny-Hat.

“Look,” I yelled, “The modern look of comics is defined: Craig Thompson’s Blankets, Aaron Renier’s Spiral-Bound, and stuff like Fun Home and Scott Pilgrim! Clean lines, interesting ideas and characters! Hip comics about modern problems, but still FUN and energetic! Dark sometimes, but also CRAZY! Stuff that TV and movies still can’t hold a candle too!”

And THAT’S when I remembered that the whip-its were NEVER supposed to be combined with the medically prescribed pain medication I was free-basing because of my tennis elbow. I started flopping around, foaming at the mouth and trying to get my two cents in about the overlooked genius of Adam Warren and Mark Martin when the cops tazed me.

I woke up in the clink with no money, no clothes, no free comic books and worst of all, NO ticket to see the Avengers, because I had to use my one phone call to get in touch with my lawyer instead of calling Movie•Fone.

Whatever. I was still right. King City is one of the best Graphic Novels in years. Can I borrow some pants?

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More musings from Unkiedev, Earth’s own sidekick, can be read at unkiedev.blogspot.com