Ugly Christmas Sweaters Gone Geeky

Holiday cheer is the right of all sentient beings.

Well, here we go. The holiday season is upon us yet again. I'm more of a Halloween kind of guy, but there are at least a few elements of Christmas I can still appreciate. At the very top of the list are the festive yet disturbingly ugly sweaters adorned with tacky graphics, glitter, and bells. I'm not especially keen on wearing any, but I admire their alluring mixture of goofiness and gaudiness. It's all about the alliteration, baby.

Despite admiring these eyesores from afar, I find myself feeling more swayed than ever to actually join in on the fun. This year, the wonderful world of pop culture t-shirt stores have tapped into the realm of ugly Christmas sweaters in glorious fashion. Here are a few that have caught my eye thus far:

Guardians of the Galaxy "Holiday Mix Vol. 1"

Snowflake Cheez-Its: Christmas Infiltrates Halloween Yet Again

I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

Everyone's heard the horror stories of Christmas music blaring in Walgreens and CVS stores as early as August. I've always assumed these accounts might be exaggerated, but signs of the holly and jolly do tend to turn up a bit earlier than I'd like. This year, the first blow was dealt by none other than Cheez-It crackers. Out of nowhere, I noticed the normal stock had been replaced by packages drowning in snowflakes.

Come on, man. It's not even past Halloween yet!

Angry Birds Transformers Toys: I'm Totally Buying A Starsqueel

So Angry. So Birds.

Right around this time last month, we learned that Angry Birds: Transformers would indeed be headed our way. Now, TF fansite Transformers At The Moon has uncovered some trademark applications revealing four character names. So far, we have Optimus Red, Megahog, Bumblebird, and Starsqueel.

If there are indeed toys of these characters — and the applications suggest there likely will be — I'm totally buying a Starsqueel. I don't care how much it costs. I don't even care what it looks like. I'm buying it.

You wanna know why I'm buying it? Because it's named freakin' STARSQUEEL, that's why!

Whoever came up with that name has an open invitation to be my BFF.

That's it for this one, I s'pose. Hit me up on Twitter & Facebook until the next post rolls around!

Fighting Game First World Problems (Evo 2014)

A good friend of mine just invited me to hang out for the first time in a while. I'd love to take him up on that, but it's the last day of the Evo 2014 fighting game tournament! The final matches for BlazBlue, Killer Instinct, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Ultra Street Fighter IV are all taking place, and I should try to watch as much of them as I can if I'm going to continue covering the event here on Castle Geek-Skull.

With that, a new First World Problem arises:

Sigh. Life is so cruel.

The end. These italic words aren't part of the post at all. Shh. If you enjoyed this silliness, be sure to watch out for more via my Twitter & Facebook profiles!

When Fighting Games and The Powerpuff Girls Collide

Here they come, just in time.

I love fighting games, and I love The Powerpuff Girls. As I watched a bit of Evo 2014 today, I saw the two worlds collide. I almost can't believe I'm posting about such a trivial thing, but I have to give props to player JuniorSauce666 for rocking a Powerpuff Girls shirt while playing Killer Instinct:

Magneto #7 Cover Has the Greatest "Come at Me Bro" Pose Ever

Welcome to die!

This is an excerpt of David Yardin's cover for the upcoming Magneto #7. It's an incredibly striking piece of art, but I couldn't help myself from subjecting it to the "Come at me, bro" meme:

Evo 2014 Day 1 Ultra Street Fighter IV Tournament Full of Upsets

Battle of the blondes

The first day of Evo 2014 is now behind us, and among its highlights were a ton of exciting Ultra Street Fighter IV matches. Interestingly, many of the game's most well renown top players were eliminated earlier than most would have predicted. Examples include:

Momochi (Ken) eliminating Dieminion (Guile)

Star Wars SubReddit Engages in Starfighter Gif Wars

Do A-Wings, in fact, rule?

Heads up, everyone. Over on the Star Wars SubReddit, things are getting incredibly real. Recently, user oweeeeendennis posted a fancy schmancy animated gif to "prove that A-Wings are cooler than Y-Wings." Here's the animation in all its glory:

Boom. Gauntlet thrown.

Visions of Batman Dancing in My Head

:O

Of the many "Bad Batman Drawings" I produced last year for the blog/website project of the same name, this was one of my favorites. While going through files on my computer today, I rediscovered its original inspiration:

I Love This Ultra Street Fighter IV Hugo vs Zangief Match

Get grabbed.

In another adventure through the Youtube vortex, I came across an incredibly fun Ultra Street Fighter IV match featuring Hugo vs Zangief from a semi-recent "Wednesday Night Fights" event. Ch-check it out:

Shovel Knight's Butt Mode Adds a Cheeky New Bit of Fun!

Yep. I'm totally naming my next band "A Terrible Butt."

The Steam Community Discussion forums have been abuzz with a myriad of cheat codes for Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games' popular new indie platformer. Of the 300 plus codes, the most attention grabbing is undoubtedly "Butt Mode." When activated, select parts of the game's text are replaced with the word "butt." The resulting giggles can be heard far and wide.

Awkward, Bizarre, & Unsettling Transformers Commercial Moments

Hell awaits.

While the lovable characters, rich mythos, and hooky underlying concept keeps us invested, the hope of selling droves of toys has always been at the center of the Transformers franchise. In its 30 year history, there has been an absolute onslaught of additional promotional material hoping to aid the cartoons and comics in their quest to send the Autobot and Decepticon toys flying from the shelves. Naturally, the copious television commercials have been the most memorable.

Despite dramatic narration and dazzling robot money shots, some of the Transformers commercials stick out more for their flirtation with the bizarre. This was especially true in the 1980s, but weird moments can be found throughout the entire history of TF adverts if you dig long enough. Let's go over a few examples!

We must go. Our people need us.

Kellogg's Late Night Snack Cereal Boxes Give Away My Dirty Secret

Insert your own "they're great!" joke here.

Though it's something I'm working on, I'm historically the type that cares way too much what people think of me. It can be paralyzing in many ways. One of the most ridiculous is feeling weird about the mere possibility of someone judging me over the items in my cart when checking out at department or grocery stores. I've even been the sort to throw unneeded stationary, batteries, or cleaning supplies into the mix just to make the overall purchase appear more "adult" or "responsible" when buying things like action figures. I actually have been given crap from people (even cashiers) in the past about my purchases, and the "old me" wanted to completely curl up into a ball and hide rather than rock a well deserved "get funked" or simple "it's a gift" excuse. For shame.

I try to live my life with a little more "IDGAF" attitude these days, but you know, old habits can be difficult to completely turn around. It's probably part of bigger issues that need to be corrected through mystical means, but I do still find myself feeling a bit shy about my purchases here and there. Oddly enough, groceries can be one of the biggest worry inducing items. What if I want to buy horrible sugary kid's cereal for some reason? OH NO, WHAT WILL THEY THINK?!

My Vicarious E3 2014 Experience Began With...Amazon?

Of course Amazon would be the first place I go for E3 news. Why are you looking at me like that?

Despite how wonderful it would be for Castle Geek-Skull, I'm not attending E3 2014. Fortunately, the internet usually allows a fairly solid vicarious experience for those of us who are stuck at home during such events. When I first checked my e-mail on this fine day, a message from Amazon.com titled "Video Games E3 Coverage" was right on top of the list. I don't know what I expected, but I figured I'd click through and see if they actually had any interesting coverage on hand.

Luigi Death Stare FanArt Frenzy!

Be afraid.

On the last edition of "FanArt Frenzy," I celebrated the release of the X-Men: Days of Future Past movie with a nice assortment of mutant centric doodles and sketches. This week, the "Luigi Death Stare" from the ever-alluring Mario Kart 8 has been all the rage. It's been such a widespread meme that even major news media outlets were compelled to cover it, and sure enough, plenty of fans are putting pen to paper to immortalize Luigi's ice-cold gaze in illustrated form. Let's check out a few examples!

Twitter Reminds Me Of Oldschool Myspace in the Best Way

How could I possibly say no?

When Myspace was still huge back in 1812 (ooh, such original and scathing commentary!) my favorite aspect of it was not in listening to low quality music uploads or keeping up with anyone I actually knew. I had much more fun filling my friend list with endless parody accounts.

There were many wonderfully bored individuals spending their time creating entire Myspace profiles under the guise of characters like Batman, Leon Kennedy, and even freakin' David Lo Pan. It was actually pretty amusing. Even better? More and more began to send me friend requests over time. Aww, shucks. It was a blast while it lasted.

It's not something I ever thought I'd say, but Twitter is actually reminding of Myspace these days. Rest assured, if there's a character or personality you like, you'll often find someone essentially roleplaying as them for all to see. Let's check out a few of my recent finds!

Baby Skeletor Unleashes One Collector's Paternal Instincts

Born to Rule. Born to Myaaaah!

Mattel's latest collector targeted Masters of the Universe toy reveal is none other than Baby Skeletor, an apparent Robot Chicken tie-in that has proven to be quite controversial. Toys are serious business of course, inspiring many from the collecting community to lash out at the famous toy makers for producing something so silly. One fan remarked that this reveal is merely Mattel "taking another big dump on collectors." You can feel the look of disgust through the screen:

The general fan reaction to this vile joke of a product.

Still, the toy has been a revelation for some. With his adorable little powder blue feet, Havoc Staff rattle, and innocent skeletal smile, Baby Skeletor has brought forth previously unbeknownst paternal instincts in one noble collector. Behold:

Baja Blast Hits Stores (How My Affair with Mountain Dew May Have Ended)

Baja Blast Mountain Dew. Bottled. In Stores. God help us.

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.

15 Random Pictures From My First Free Comic Book Day

I see Sand People.

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:

Atari Landfill Aftermath

So you've dug up a bunch of old Atari game cartridges...now what?