Top Hat Sasquatch

Whether you like it or not, Zack Snyder’s 300 is a film that’s pretty hard to forget.  Between it’s innovative use of green screen, it’s multi-speed camerawork, and it’s washed out color palette, it’s instantly recognizable and influential even 8 years after its 2006 debut.  But for anyone who has seen the film – or knows their history book – they might have been surprised when a sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire, was announced for 2014.

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Like most geeks I lived vicariously through the toy bloggers snapping photos of figures and sets unveiled at the recent Toy Fair 2014 in New York. Seeing all the new stuff is the next best thing to having them in your dirty mitts. At the same time, there is a price to be paid for this early access to new toy images.

It’s a phenomenon I like to call Toy Spoilers. Because of the toy industry’s necessary lead time for Toy Fair and the crucial holiday season, we see toy versions of movies still months away from hitting the big screen. While a LEGO Ghostbusters set or ReAction Back to the Future figs now won’t take anything away from these classic franchises, seeing all of Grimlock (or God forbid, an all-new character) ahead of his debut in the next Transformers film very well can.

A toy spoiler doesn’t even have to be a spoiler in the traditional sense. The toy con just turn you off the eventual film. Allow me to better explain with a personal anecdote. Growing up I was an enormous G.I. Joe fan. I loved the figures, the vehicles, the comics—even the humorously non-violent cartoon series. I was all geared up for the live-action adaptation back in 2009. I was the movie’s key demographic that the studio was counting on. I was excited until I saw the toy version of Cobra Commander. As you probably know, he was a radical departure from the iconic bad guy we all knew. It was so shocking for me that I soured on the film completely. In fact I still haven’t watched the movie or its sequel.
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My favorite thing about doing these Missing Links posts is how random the topics are. I never thought I’d write about Godzilla, Vanilla Ice, and Scrooge McDuck in the same post.

Falcon Finally Gets a Character Poster for Captain America: The Winter Solider
The sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger looks great, but I wish they would show Falcon more in the marketing. His lack of posters and significant screen time in trailers is making me worry that he will barely be in the movie. At least he’s finally gotten a character poster. Fun experiment: Imagine it’s the late 90s and you saw this picture of Falcon. You’d be like…is this from a direct-to-video superhero movie? But now, in context with all the superhero movies we’ve seen, it doesn’t seem that strange. Here’s hoping he gets red and white instead of tactical gear in his next outing on the screen. Side note: Check out the first (and only so far) Marvel Phase 2 Character Guide I wrote for Falcon last year. I need to start this series back up.

Ninja Turtles + Vanilla Ice + Mac & Cheese = Mandatory Post on this Blog
At first I thought this was a new reality show about Vanilla Ice’s new career as a stock boy at a grocery store, but instead it’s an awesome commercial for Mac and Cheese.

Epic Godzilla ‘Empire Magazine’ Cover
I’m so excited about this movie, and I even liked the 1998 version. Shh, don’t tell anyone. Also, someone on Reddit (why yes, I do read the /r/Godzilla subreddit constantly) made a version with no text that can now be found as my phone wallpaper.

There’s a ‘Scrooge McDuck’ Inspired Concept Album with Cover Art by Don Rosa
Wait, what? Via Disney Weirdness

Wow guys. I haven’t blogged about the new Godzilla movie yet, but I’m super excited for it. I’ve been a huge Godzilla fan since I was a kid, and this new movie from Gareth Edwards (the director of Monsters) looks amazing. It has a killer cast, and it looks like it understands that Godzilla is a force of nature and not just another movie monster.

Ugh I can’t wait to see this on the biggest and loudest screen possible.

Well, this is already my favorite movie. According to everyone on the internet, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are making a movie based on the (as yet unreleased) book Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation. What. the. hell.

I don’t know if we should expect a Social Network like drama about the business dealings behind the console wars, or something more funny and 90s-nostalgia-driven, but either way, I’m in. I was a Sega kid growing up, but discovered the joys of the SNES after it was already old news, and now I’m a huge fan of both.

As a nostalgia nut who gets giddy with excitement anytime a retro gaming console is seen in the background of a movie or TV show, this should be a sensory overload for me.