It's already been stated that Batman: Arkham Knight will have a map around five times the size of Arkham City's. While my initial response was in worrying they'd use that to amp up the collection of Riddler trophies to even more ridiculous levels, seeing Batman glide from great heights down to street level only to immediately hop into the Batmobile in E3 2014's Batmobile Battle Mode gameplay trailer has completely won me over.
Toys and collectibles. I often want them. On the "Weekly Want," I share the latest product reveals and promo shots that have struck my fancy. Last week's "Weekly Want" had cool thangs such as Revol Mini Iron Man Mark VI and Transformers Masterpiece Wheeljack. Now, let's move on to all of the lovely wallet draining goods from May 26th through June 2nd!
So far, my sole experience with the LEGO video games has been playing a bit of LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. I love LEGO toys and Star Wars, so you'd think I would have had the time of my life. It was too long ago for me to give you a detailed rundown, but it turns out I just didn't have fun with it. I didn't even own the game and I only played a very early portion (based on The Phantom Menace), so I admit it was barely given a fair chance. Still, the initial "eh, whatever" impression stuck, and the LEGO video game releases that followed basically flew under my radar.
I love properties like Indiana Jones, Marvel Superheroes, and Batman, so of course I figured I'd eventually give their corresponding LEGO games a try. However, if they had any real slot on my "yeah, I'll get to that later" list it was probably pretty close to the bottom. Even after hearing many great things and seeing several fun cutscenes, I never found the spark to dive in and finally give the series another shot. After seeing tons of buzz surrounding the new LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham announcement trailer, I thought perhaps the time had finally come.
During my most recent trip to Target, I came across the wonderful Hero Buddies Batman, a 16 inch plush complete with several Kevin Conroy impersonator sound clips. When I first spotted him, I'm pretty sure cartoon hearts shot from my eyes. I'm sure it could be easily dismissed as "just another Batman toy," but it really won me over. Just look at him, so wonderfully chubby and reaching outward as if gesturing for a hug. I can't take it.
Oh no, it's "Weekly Want" time once more! Last week's installment featured some cute Godzilla Minimates, DC Collectibles' animated Batman figures, and so on! On to more pressing matters: let's see what May 19-26 had to offer in the realm of action figure and collectible promotional imagery:
I've been talking about the upcoming DC Collectibles Batman: The Animated Series and New Batman Adventures action figures left and right. I can't help it, they just look too freaking good! I've even considered shirking all responsibility just to Pre-Order them, and now I'm even imagining how the assortment might expand. To keep my expectations realistic, here's a small 5 character wishlist for future B:TAS and TNBA toys:
I was apparently too busy to get a "Weekly Want" post up last week, but I featured the likes of Captain America Figmas and LEGO Ghostbusters the week prior. What madness lies ahead this week? Stay tuned, lovely readers:
While the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Batsuit reveal inspired just as much fan discussion as you'd expect, it also gave us fuel for plenty of ridiculous Photoshop imagery. That is definitely something I can get behind! I've had quite a bit of fun seeing new versions of the "Sad Batman" meme pop-up with "Batfleck" center stage. Let's look through 10 of the best Sad Batman images, shall we?
Despite my love of action figures, I took a major step back from actively collecting them some time ago. I've had a much more pressing desire to get my life in order as of late. You know, boring adult stuff. Outside of taking care of the essentials like bills, groceries, and pet medicine, I've tried my best to save or only buy what I truly need. However, now that the DC Collectibles Batman: The Animated Series figure Pre-Orders are live, I'm starting to question everything remaining on my boring old financial to-do list.
As a kid, I loved collecting Kenner's Batman: The Animated Series action figures, especially the villains! Whenever I've looked back at them in recent years, I've felt that they managed to hold up fairly well. The sculpts are too "soft" in places and they're certainly on the simple side, but there was a decent overall match to the style of the corresponding cartoon. I've never felt as if updated versions were essential since the existing figures were just fine as is. However, the upcoming assortment of Batman: The Animated Series figures by DC Collectibles has shown me the light:
On May 12th, 2014, Zack Snyder (director of movie films such as 300, Watchmen, Man of Steel, etc) tweeted a picture showing the back end of the new Batmobile from the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As far as teasers go, it's what you'd expect. You could pretty much only make out some tires and the hint of a spoiler. However, the tweet ended with a promise to show more the next day. Surprisingly, what followed was actually a major reveal: the film's new Batsuit! Ooh. For the two of you who haven't seen it, behold:
Ok, I admit it! I tend to be a sucker for any new Mountain Dew product. Whenever there's some new version on the shelves, I inevitably end up giving it a try. I know it's awful for me, but I keep getting lured in all the same. Even after the decision to cut soda and it's nasty cohort high fructose corn syrup from my life, I couldn't help myself from giving in when I spotted "Baja Blast" (the flavor famous for only being available at Taco Bell) at my local grocery store. Crap.
I don't mean this to sound like a brag — because being proud of it would be silly — but I have a Platinum trophy for Batman: Arkham City. I played through the game once on "normal difficulty" and then again on "hard," and I pulled off 100 percent completion both times. You'd think I would have had enough by now. There's a lot to do in this game, and working my way through all of it twice took the better part of a week. I did enjoy myself, but the experience left me feeling absolutely spent. I never would have guessed I'd be playing it again, but a barrage of advertising turned that around pretty quickly.
As previously mentioned, I somehow managed to miss every Free Comic Book Day up until now. I am happy to report that the curse has been lifted! With the promise of Tusken Raider cosplay fresh in mind, I made the effort to venture to my nearest comic shop today and I had a grand time overall. Here are 15 random pictures that loosely illustrate my adventure:
While I may be the type of guy that can wax poetic about Kenner action figures and how awesome it is that my Transformers: the Movie VHS looks battle-scarred after frequent childhood use, there are some ways in which I've completely failed at this whole "geek" thing. The first step to overcoming a problem is admitting you have it, right? Well then, I suppose it's time I fess up:
I've never participated in Free Comic Book Day.
Ahoy there, it's time once again for the "Weekly Want," a rundown of some of the past week's coolest new toy and collectible promo shots! If you missed last week's installment, let the beauty of linkage assist you: Weekly Want Apr 7-14. Now, on to more current affairs:
When I first hopped online this morning, I was greeted with several new promo images for Batman: Arkham Knight. The gallery I checked out (seen in full on ComigSoon.net) had just about every existing image thrown in, so I'm not quite sure what was new or old. Either way, it is safe to say that this is going to be a great looking game, with an overall pitch-perfect atmosphere. The same was true of the Arkham series' previous installments and I'm greatly looking forward to revisiting Rocksteady's take on the world of Gotham.
The images of the Riddler have me curious about his exact role in the game however. Batman left him in quite the predicament in Arkham City, so it's a safe bet that he's going to have a substantial revenge plot in the works. If you need any convincing, this promo shot says it all:
At the beginning of last year, I started a new blog project: Bad Batman Drawing! Every day, once a day, I aimed to post crappy drawings of Batman and other related characters. Crappy drawings like this:
In the summer of 1989, Tim Burton's film adaptation of Batman came along and kicked all kinds of box-office ass. No matter what you think of the flick, it was quite a pop-culture phenomenon. As you would expect, the advertising campaign was vicious. After Batman was a proven hit, well, ca-ching! Good lawd was there ever money to be made, and the opportunity wasn't passed up. Bat-logos ended up being slapped onto just about everything. It's no surprise this Bat-flood of Bat-products (ouch, that was painful) carried over into the cereal aisle as well.
We all know the rush of mastering our favorite video games. Whether it's leveling our RPG characters so much that the bosses feel puny in comparison, crushing speed-run records, or learning Mega Man patterns enough to beat the game without being hit, there are a myriad of ways in which games offer us the reward of overcoming obstacles.
However, the road to these achievements can be quite grueling sometimes. If you fixate on a particularly hard-to-reach goal long enough, the act of playing games to get away from your real-life frustrations might leave you with your blood boiling. "Casual gamers" that only play games here or there are regularly scoffed at by the more devout gaming crowd, but maybe they're on to something.
Maybe sometimes it's good to be "bad."
