Top Hat Sasquatch

There are two things I’m usually always in the mood for; animated shorts, and anything related to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So when I saw this little animated tribute to the TMNT I had to share it with you all. Canadian Malcolm Sutherland animated this short tribute to everyone’s favorite anthropomorphized ninjas in a style that almost reminds me of 90s Nickelodeon cartoons. I’d love to see Malcolm make another TMNT short, and introduce some villains.

You can check out Ninja Turtles Tribute on Vimeo via Nerd Approved

I saw the new Spider-Man movie and I liked it quite a bit. When I heard there was an iOS game out that was actually pretty fun and let you free-roam (or free-swing?) around New York City I had to check it out. It’s a bit pricey at $6.99, but after buying it and playing it all week I can say that if your’e a Spider-Man fan, it’s worth it.

I’ve been a fan of Spider-Man video games as long as I’ve played. I remember loving Maximum Carnage on my Genesis and being obsessed with the first Spider-Man game on Playstation. They’ve gotten a bit repetitive over the years, but swinging around town as Spidey is still one of my favorite things to do in video games.

The Amazing Spider-Man by Gameloft is a pretty nice Spider-Man game considering it’s for mobile devices. It sure beats the hell out of the old Game Gear game I use to play. The graphics obviously aren’t as great as you’d find on Xbox or a Playstation 3, but they’re on par with Wii graphics.

You’re given a surprisingly large area of New York to explore (which is probably why the game is almost 700 MB), and various missions and challenges to keep you busy. There’s a level system to upgrade your moves, and some fun mini-games where you can snap photos (like the one above).

The mechanics are simplified for the touch-based game, with one button swinging and a pretty easy combat system. It makes for a really fun game to keep you busy whenever you have a few spare moments to kill. On my old, spazzy iPhone 4 the game is a bit laggy, but I imagine it works just fine on newer or not-so-jacked-up devices.

My four-year old newphew loved it too. He kept yelling “I killed the bad guys!”

You can buy the game for $6.99 on iTunes.

Modern superhero movies are officially old enough to be rebooted now. That thought makes me feel old. I was a sophomore in High School when the first Spider-Man movie came out, and I loved it. I was an awkward geek, like Peter Parker but minus the academic abilities, and even though I thought Tobey Maguire looked way older than me, I connected with him. Looking back through the lens of more recent superhero movies though, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films seem a little silly. Spider-Man 2 is still a great film, and I never saw the third movie, but when I heard that Sony was planning to reboot the franchise, I understood. I was ready for a new take on Spider-Man.

And boy is it dividing fans. I saw it on opening day at my local IMAX theater, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot, trying to figure out what I thought. Rather than writing an in-depth review, I thought I would just round up my likes and dislikes and see if we could get a discussion going.
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The Top Hat Sasquatch team reads a lot of blog posts every day, and some slip through the crack or just don’t warrant their own post. That’s where Missing Links comes in. Every few days we collect the best links we’ve come across and pass them on to you.

This Summer’s Best Water Gun
Gizmodo always delivers on the water gun front every summer, and this year their round up has an interesting winner.

The Great Muppet Road Trip, part 2: Middle America « ToughPigs
I missed Part 1 of this series, but it's very cool if you're a Muppet fan. I can't wait to get down to Atlanta sometime and see the Puppetry museum.

Oni To Debut Limited Edition "Scott Pilgrim" Color Deluxe Packages – Comic Book Resources
I still haven't read the Scott Pilgrim books, even though I'm a huge fan of the movie. This looks like a good place to start.

SDCC Exclusive Shazam! Minifigure
Yet another thing I'm missing out on at SDCC this year.

If you’re a geek and use the Internet much you probably remember seeing Dave Rapoza’s awesome TMNT prints a while back. Dave specializes in punching your nostalgia in the face with his ultra-realistic style and his latest target is the Red Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He’s teamed up with ACME to release this print at SDCC and on ACME’s website sometime soon. I don’t think a Power Ranger has ever looked so badass.

You can check out Dave’s website and the Red Ranger print page on ACME’s website, and stay tuned for an announcement on when they’ll be available online, if you’re lame like me and won’t be attending SDCC.