Funko (Or Is It Fünke-o?) Brings Sharks and Bluths To Fans In June…

Sharknado PopI’d almost forgotten about the hot mess that was Sharknado and its upcoming (and guaranteed campier) sequel, Sharknado 2: The Second One, but Funko sure hasn’t, as it’s going to be releasing a Pop! vinyl figure in June for those of you who want a little reminder that SyFy is going to invade your television space on July 30, 2014 with that sequel.

AD 113 AD 114 AD 115 AD 116 AD 116 Chase AD 117 AD 118 AD 119 AD 120

Funko is also dropping eight (no, nine!) Pop! vinyls for Arrested Development, which is cool and all… but where the heck are the Bluth babes? That not hit but cult show wasn’t a total sausage-fest, you know, so I’m a tad ticked that the ladies aren’t getting Pop!-ed (yet). Or perhaps I’m missing something because I’m too busy (lazy!) to check the Funko site. Ah well, all is right in the world otherwise… Maeby!

Hmmm… perhaps this is one of Tobias Fünke’s ideas, as he’s the only one getting a rare “chase” figure? Aha. I see what’s going on here. Well, hopefully, this nefarious plan pans out better than anything Tobias ever did. That and if this DOES all work out, he’ll want to change the company name to Fünke-o… Hmmm… I dunno about that plan, mister man…

Random Art: Of Somewhat Recent Vintage On A Saturday…

More of the Same... 
Okay, it’s just a few days old and not really “vintage”, but one has to be clever in disguising this sort of thing, you know. Anyway, I think I did this while waiting for yet another download to complete. Hey, a guy’s got to do SOMETHING with his hands that’s useful or creative, right? I guess this counts as one of those two (I hope)…

Gallery: Tales of Xillia 2

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Elle&Lulu LudgerThe past year plus has been quite good for fans of Namco’s Tales series here in North America as we’ve been getting some nice games and more on the way in a relatively “speedy” manner. Granted, not ALL of the games in the long running franchise have made it stateside, but Hideo Baba did promise last year at the Namco event I attended that fans would see some nice surprises over time from the eternally busy Tales Studio.

Tales of Heart R is one big surprise for Vita owners and here, Tales of Xillia 2 is the other, as it coming this August exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Screens below the jump and that $129.99 Collector’s Edition is below. Yes, pre-ordering this or the plain vanilla standard edition is probably a good idea as some retail locations will only stock what their customers have actually put down some money for and Tales games have the tendency to sell out rather quickly.

ToX2_CE_ShotAugust isn’t really that far away, you know…

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Lazy or Late? Here’s What’s Up On Game of Thrones…

 
Uh-huh. I’ve heard all the excuses, people. You KNOW you have time to catch up because you can dump most or all of those crap “reality” shows that are ALL the same and actually be entertained by real writing and people getting paid to act well (as opposed to real fake writing and people acting badly wasting your time).

 
Anyway, it’s not as if Game of Thrones needs more fans watching the show on Sunday instead of waiting to binge away, but it couldn’t hurt if it gets even more people camping out for an hour just to get another season extension so we can see more of what’s inside the heads of George R. R. Martin’s head (as well as the folks who script the show once they commiserate with the man himself).

On the other hand, now that Sunday has become the new Thursday (remember when THAT was the big TV night?), it’s mighty tough to choose what to watch if you’re not a crazed DVR-head packing every free hour with all the stuff you want to watch…

The Only Problem With Dark Souls II On PC Is The Usual One For Any Hard Game…

 
I’m sure FromSoftware knows this already, but with Dark Souls and now Dark Souls II, they’ve gone and made a game that’s too hard for those “gamers” who can’t deal with the level of challenge, so yes indeed, hackers and cheaters will be rampant. Granted, once you buy a game you’re more or less free to do with it what you desire, but what’s the point in playing a game that’s supposed to be difficult if you hack up the ability to one-shot anything that comes at you, maybe survive a fall that’s SUPPOSED to kill you (to teach you a lesson in paying attention to the environment) and so forth and so on? I don’t mind messing with a game after I’ve completed it a few times (as I’ve played Diablo II offline solo with a bunch of crazy mods that made my characters invincible killing machines or I’ve changed up the gameplay in that gem to make it much more challenging). But I just don’t get the automatic urge to cheat one’s way through a game and claim “victory” when no actual hard work was done outside of dinking around with the game code to make it work in a way it wasn’t intended to.

Ah well, it’s not my problem, so I’ll just let it rest. Still, I’d love to see a developer cook up a game that can’t easily be cracked apart or at the very least, identifies cheaters with a nice big flashing neon sign so people who want to play legit can do so in peace. Of course, cheating is rampant in many console games as well, but in some cases, those people can be easier to avoid if one decides to stay the heck offline or just play with people you know where applicable…

Oops. One Tiny Mistake There, TCM. Otherwise, Both Thumbs Up!

 
While it’s wonderful to see William Friedkin’s 1977 film SORCERER getting some much needed love at TCM’s yearly film festival (held this year at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood), I’ll admit to my eyebrow shooting up at the word “The” in that video title.

(thanks again, robatsea2009!) 

Eek. Yeah, it’s a minor mistake that can easily be corrected with a few keystrokes, but I’d never heard of “the City Lights” “The Ben Hur”, “The Frankenstein”, or “The King Kong” in my film studies. So that sort of thing is a bit pesky to me. Anyway, perhaps the person who posted this video was thinking of the film Friedkin’s is based off of, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s brilliant 1953 action/drama The Wages of Fear. Hmmm… now I want to see both films pop up on TCM soon. Or even better, FINALLY see Friedkin’s film make a decent Blu-Ray appearance, as it’s one that’s LONG due.

Doubling Your Fun With An Orphan Black FX Spoiler…

 
Well, it’s not MUCH of a spoiler, as I knew they used a double for Tatiana Maslany when she’s interacting with another clone. Still, I tend to avoid immersion-busting stuff like this because I tend to end up sitting there blocking out shots and figuring out angles needed to make it all see so real instead of enjoying the ride I’m supposed to be on. Anyway, just in case you’re one of those folks who thinks TV shows are “magic”, here’s proof positive they’re not. Besides, this won’t stop you from watching Orphan Black on Saturdays anyway, right? I thought so…

PlayStation Plus Brings May Showers Of FREE Games!

 
Yeah, the pay for online multiplayer access thing is still here and silly, but PlayStation Plus is still the best deals in console gaming in terms of what you’re getting otherwise for that $50 a year. Next month’s pile of stuff you’ll need a working time machine to play is quite awesome (as you’ll see above) and overall, you make that cost back each month and then some if you also own a Vita in addition to your PS3 and/or PS4. I keep wondering what will happen when Sony runs out of stuff to give away, but given the large library of old first and third party titles people are clamoring for from the PS1 and PS2 era plus the amount of indie titles currently on PSN, I’m gathering this won’t be an issue they’ll need to deal with for quite some time…

Telltale’s The Walking Dead Is Nearly Everywhere You Look. Go Get Caught Up In This One, I Say…

 
Between the Complete First season being released on Google Play and Season Two dropping onto the Vita, Telltale Games’ stellar The Walking Dead series is taking over just about everything that can play this multiple award winning series and letting an even wider audience experience the horror. Telltale’s games are more accessible than your typical action-heavy PC or console games thanks to a simpler to use interface, story-focused dialog trees that require reasonably fast (but not insane) timing and choices that truly affect the outcome of each chapter. This also makes TWD highly replayable because of how your decisions stack up as the chapters flow onward.

So, your interest is piqued, no? Well, go whip out that favorite device and go get some Walkers into your now more entertaining life, I say.

Mad Max “Magnum Opus” Teaser: Is That Ride Street Legal? Oh, Never Mind…

 
Well, I think it’s a wee bit elaborate compared to what was seen in thee first two films, but apparently, West Coast Customs is making a real version (or has made one already, because you know, TV “reality” shows operate outside of the real world in terms of their schedules):

 
I actually got a Carmageddon meets Twisted Metal feel out of that WCC video above, but hey, enhancing the pointy and shooty stuff on the rides makes them stand out visually. I’m hoping that suspension can actually stand up to some major bumps and jumps, as I’d be taking that thing sailing over a few barricades in my own post apocalyptic imagination. Which, by the way, isn’t post apocalyptic until I start watching the news for more than twenty minutes, ugh…