Tuesday News on the run

Well the news is on Tuesday this week because I was a total slacker and cruised around looking for toys on my day off. Generations Wheeljack is not going to find himself guys, ok?

So have you guys seen some of the stuff Lego's been putting out lately? Damn y'all. Just damn.

The closest we'll ever get to toys for John Christopher's Tripods Trilogy. Unless Gregor Jordan ever makes those movies. So yeah, the closest we'll ever get.

These Alien Conquest sets are just crazy. The higher end sets even have sounds! That's not even going into the craziness of the Pharaoh's Quest sets or even the really cool Pirates of the Caribbean series that just came out.

The inside of this thing is just ridiculous

On top of that, the Lego store online has some pretty sick exclusives including an entire village for the Castle theme and that amazing looking Emporium for the City sets pictured above. I'm coveting the Space Shuttle set they have on there as well; take a look in the store underneath 'Exclusives' and 'Hard to find' for more surprises like the Death Star set.  [Source: Lego]

I'm a long way away from the $100 for this though

Honestly if you really cared about the Muppets, you'd have seen through this immediately. Why? BECAUSE YOU'D HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING IT FROM THE GREENLIGHT.

 The trailer for The Muppets was attached to prints of Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger Tides this weekend, but Disney's released it online for all you people who didn't make it to the theater this weekend. It was really funny to see Twitter blow up about it yesterday as everyone seems to be getting angry that you're revealing the "surprise" of the trailer by saying it's for The Muppets. Honestly, you can see a picture of Kermit in the background long before they show up and it's not like the casting of Jason Siegal and Amy Adams in the movie was some big secret. Anyway, it's a cute trailer that sells the idea to parents/adults but will likely cause kids to ask some questions where Elmo and Grover are. One of the kids at work asked me if Jim Henson was directing the movie which made me really, really sad; not for the unawareness but for the fact that I knew Henson died before the kid was even born. BLECH. [Source: Latino Review]

Please come out where I can watch you without having to convert a PAL VHS tape.

Speaking of movies, there's a few new shots from the CG Animated Asterix movie coming out over at Bleeding Cool, one of the few sites in English that seems to be covering the movie in any detail. I've got pretty high hopes for this; I've never been able to see any of the live-action Asterix films but the animated ones from before the 90's (basically stopping at Asterix and the Big Fight though please don't get me started on Asterix conquers America) were some of my favorite movies ever as a kid. Every time a friend of mine goes to Europe I always ask if they can bring me back The 12 Tasks of Asterix on Blu-ray. Anyway, this new film is being made by one of the studios that worked on Despicable Me and it's based on The Mansions of the Gods which was a favorite despite having a lot to deal with real estate humor. [Source: Bleeding Cool]

Hey look! It's the Infinity Gauntlet! I can't wait to get asked by a certain dweeb at work if the Cosmic Cube is related to it!

There's a few images from the Art of Thor book out now, including some detailed shots of the easter eggs in Odin's vault. I wanted to start picking up the books with the art of the Marvel Movies but the fact that The art of Iron Man was softcover and The Art of Iron Man 2 was hardcover was something of a deterrent. Maybe I'll start fresh from here despite the $50 MSRP. [Source: Comics Alliance]

As a followup to something we discussed on the show, Deadline has an article about how Pirates being in 3D actually might have hurt the grosses. As someone who works in a theater, I can say it's not just kids who hate wearing the glasses; I've had adults crab about that as well. Honestly, people don't seem to care about the price as much as they do the annoyance of running into 3D constantly; it's been obscenely overexposed and people are tiring of it in a big way. It's a lot harder to sell people on a movie they're already iffy on if it's in the format (trust me, I've tried) and no one seems to be learning from the atomic payload that was Mars needs Moms. Sure Gnomeo and Juliet did well but that was a freak accident resulting from a vacuum in the family market early in the year. They need to take 3D out of 5th gear as some people are starting to reject movies based solely on the fact that they have a release in the format (See most of Ebert's recent reviews).   [Source: Deadline]

Well that's all I'm going to be able to get out for now; the dark hand of work beckons to me and sadly, I must obey. The LMS isn't going to map itself for Hangover Part 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2; though I don't doubt that isn't something they're working on...

Monday News Cheap Thrills

[Source: NASA]

I've had a pretty busy day already, what with getting up to watch Endeavour launch for the last time and helping with some errands (as well as sneak a peek at the new Transformers 3 and Captain America toys); as a result, I've only been able to go through some (mostly) movie news so you're gonna have to deal.

The first trailer for the Fright Night remake is out and it's got a surprising amount of emphasis on the horror but not the comedy. Strange to me, in light of how I think of the old movie as being more funny than I do scary but I guess we won't really know until it hits in August, bravely battling it out for screens with Spy Kids 4 and Conan the Barbarian during a weekend I can only think of as being 3D-MAGEDDON(TM)! You get a good look at everybody excusing David Tennant as Peter Vincent; the focus is mostly on Anton Yelchin and Collin Farrel as the new Jerry Dandridge (or as my brother used to call him, Disco Dracula) [Source: Deadline.com]

In exciting poster news for movies I deeply hope do not turn out awful despite some questionable production choices, the first one-sheets for The Muppets and The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn have appeared, part of the theater businesses continual attempt to lure me into hanging around forever. The former is ok I guess; I'm not blown away with evocative imagery but it does show the characters well which will hopefully get kids asking their parents about them. I find it funny that the only picture anyone's got of it has that lens flare as people are mistaking it as part of the poster; I already have some on the way to work so I'm amazed that no one else has a better image yet since we usually get stuff last (if at all). As for Tintin, I'm already highly covetous of both versions though I admittedly prefer the international version, pictured below.  The US is getting really screwed over as the international Thor posters were a damn sight better than the domestic final, something I will never let go. The domestic version is here though ignore Harry's commentary as he's an idiot. I'm really excited to see anything from Tintin despite disliking the majority of it's cast (yeah you heard that right) and being iffy on how the characters have translated from those pictures in Empire last year. Still, everyone's talking about the Tintin posters on most of the sites I've seen with varying levels of accuracy/excitement. A special credit goes to Nordling at AICN for actually admitting he knows nothing about the source material. I appreciate your honesty! [Source:  Ain't it Cool News]

Cool... sure wish I got a shot at one Paramount

Speaking of cool stuff that totally relates to the movies that I never get to see despite working at a theater, here's a look at one of the SHIELD Field Agent Test Kits that Marvel and Acura were using to promote Thor. Sure, it comes as part of a story about how it was mistaken for a bomb but that's a little cathartic for me since I'll never have one. [Source: Comics Alliance]

Takara announced what the 10th Masterpiece Transformer was going to be: a new mold of Optimus Prime, trailer included this time and meant to better fit the scale of MP Rodimus and Starscream. Where that leaves MP Megatron and Grimlock, I'm not sure; if they want to redo Megs though I'm definitely not going to protest as mine has the tarnishing issue on top of how he's the weakest of the Masterpiece TFs. In the meantime, I'm hoping Hasbro gets their act together and puts out the MP Rodimus and Thundercracker, all features intact; not looking forward to springing $200 on the new Rodimus 2.0 that was just released. Anyway, the irony of how this comes out after the original MP-01 Prime mold was highly touted as being retired is not lost on anyone. One thing's for sure though: I'll be glad to finally have an Optimus with a trailer! I may even import him so I can have my highly illegal long smokestacks... [Source: Seibertron.com]

Ruminating on ridiculous US toy regulations aside, I'm done for now; I have to catch up on the sadly canceled The Chicago Code before trying to squeeze some enjoyment from my precious, precious day off. Don't worry though: I'm sure some jackass will send me into a rage at work tomorrow for your guys future enjoyment on the show.