The Unsung Heroes: R2-D2 Builders Club

Yes, everyone loves the 501st Legion. But what about the R2-D2 Builders Club? Have you heard of them?

I didn't until I went to WonderCon 2012 last weekend. On Sunday, the crowds died down and fans took their time exploring the booths and presentations of artists, geek clubs, and most noticeably, the R2-D2 Builders Club, tucked towards the back.

The club was founded in 1999 by Dave Everett and is an internet fan based club with over 5000 members worldwide.

I met some of the builders, including David Annetta, who briefly showed me some of the detailed manuals to build different kinds of droids.

It was so interesting, I was actually considering (and only for three seconds) of building one myself. However, after discovering answers to the following basic questions, I had to reconsider.

How much does it cost? 

Hmmm, it depends. One of the other builders mentioned his was $1500. David couldn't recall, but said that it can be as much as $40K.

What is it made out of?

Generally, wood, plastic, metal, and fiberglass.

How long will it take?

David said he is halfway done with his droid and it has been 3 years. Another builder mentioned that he finished his in 3 years.

I would so love to find time and build one of these bad boys for RC fun at fan conventions. 

The builders at WonderCon comprised of engineers, an electrician, an architect, IT, etc.  It made sense, right?

I have complete admiration and respect for these builders. The displayed droids had all the bells and whistles. In fact, I also saw several RC controlled droids roaming around the convention.

Over the years, the club has gathered information from Star Wars exhibits, photos, and actual screen used props to produce blueprints in order to build their droids. 

I find this amazingly, geeky hot. Or is it just me? :)

For more details and information about the club, please visit www.astromech.net


This post was written by:
Betty Geek

Read the full story

Life Imitates Art- Green Lantern

Call me simple, but when it comes to being entertained I prefer being taking in by a writers prose and words, reinforced with an artists illustrations as they were imagined and intimately crafted by a small team (colorists, inker, editor, et al) that has an authenticity to it-- a signature that is easily recognizable after spending enough time with the source material-- by all of that I mean the comicbooks.

Flashback to 2004-06 when a bunch of creators you may have heard of...Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Peter Tomasi, Eddie Berganza, Dave Gibbons, Patrick Gleason, Dan DiDio, Ivan Reis and more helped to craft a world where this second string hero with a green power ring would be elevated to Batman-status.  I was sucked in around 2007-08. 

Alright so we are back to 2011, the world hasn't ended and my boxes of Green Lantern comics be it works of Gil Kane, John Broome, Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil, Alan Moore, Ron Marz, Doug Mahnke, Joe Prado, Tony Bedard, Fernando Pasarin and the aforementioned GL creators rivals my shelf space of all of my years of Bat-books from my childhood, so I guess that Johns and the rest of DCE would be happy with that success right?  Wrong.

So they got this movie coming out in less than a month, called Green Lantern.  The flick stars Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong, Blake Lively, Angela Bassett, Peter Sarsgaard and a bunch of other fine actors.  Put your hands in front of you in a 90 degree angle, palms inward and bring them down to your waist in a waving motion chanting dududuhduh (via Waynes World-- this should make you forget about all of those other GL trailers, minus the Wondercon footage)...this is the only trailer you need to see.



The introduction of the vast, intergalactic scale of the Green Lantern Corps in this trailer made me think of how any book with the GL brand has become like coffee and cigarettes in my life.  A very, very bad habit to kick.  The production budget of Green Lantern is now at around $160 million, $20 mil less than Batman Begins and about $100 mil lower than the supposed Dark Knight Rises purse.

So GL is no Bats, but with Superman and Wonder Woman equating to small/big screen failures of late-- DC and WB Entertainment obviously has a lot riding on the mainstream success of the GL brand.  For me, I am definitely sold on it being a hit not only cause I am well, vested-- but the fantastic new footage rawks and if Geoff Johns says its good, well it just is. 

In Sinestro we Trust.


This post was written by:
big O

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: Cosplayin It

For those of you that get down with the the get down on cosplay at the cons, know you gotta step up your game every other show whether it be with costuming /makeup /accessory details, hooking up with a gang of other similar-themed cosplayers, researching those authentic action poses, partnering with a fab photographer to cover all of your mad action and of course the all important "handler"-- especially if you are going solo.

This year I elevated my TK-stylee by installing some fans in the bucket(helmet), contouring the armor more to my body with strategically placed industrial velcro and finally hooking up a boom mic and speaker in the bucket and chest hull.  Everything worked out well minus the fact that I just didn't take into mind the problem of over-condensation that wore down the glue in one of my fans and the mic.  With those kind of things you just can't always account for until it goes wrong.  Lesson learned.   

Was so crazy how this year felt so much more congested from the past few years but despite the crazy crowds and madness I always get re-energized from chatting & taking pics with all the attendees, kids and just enthusiastic on-lookers that don't know why the hell everyone is dressed up! I took it upon myself to help with the street traffic a bit and even put the smack down on some Rebel-scum.  Gotta keep it Imperial-- you know how we do!

Major props to everyone that came thru and showed up with all their creativity and passion in cosplay-- especially to the major standouts for me-- the Warriors Three, The Justice League of Gender Benders, Zatanna & Vixen, Babydoll, Hitgirl & Kickass, the performing Poison Ivy, the 501st, Ghostbusters, Blade, Reptile and everyone else that flat-out killed it.

Oh and did we catch you in some of these shots?? Drop us a line! More Wondercon photos will be uploaded this weekend.

Photography by:

chessie


Written by:
big O

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: Max Brooks

When it comes to the zombie faction of Wondercon's nerd festival, Max Brooks is the crown prince. (Robert Kirkman is the current king, obviously. And George Romero is god.) With an hour's time to interact with a packed room of overzealous zombie fans on Friday, Brooks proved more than worthy of his position.

If Brooks has a politically correct filter, he removed it before stepping on the stage. He teased an audience member asking a silly question. He made fun of Hollywood bigwigs. He talked about Ronald Reagan (bad president), gays in the military (America's future saviors when China finally invades) and the culture of fear in America (bad, but good inspiration for writing). And, somehow, it all related back to zombies.

Then, when his hour was up, he thanked the crowd and sprinted (well, more like power walked) out of the room before the audience could surround him. Put some makeup on the crowd and it would have looked like he was escaping a zombie hoard.

Tidbits:

The World War Z movie: Apparently, Brooks has been asked about the film adaptation of his book World War Z a time or two. He started the session by saying, "Let's get the movie stuff out of the way first, then the people who only care about that can leave." He says he has no idea what's going on with the movie - he sold the rights, and no one has to keep him in the loop.

When telling the story of how he sold the book rights, he dropped this gem: "Brad Pitt read it and said, 'I would like to adopt this book.' He says 'adopt' a lot."

A writer's biggest fear: "For a writer selling the film rights to a book, there are two words that keep you up at night, sweating, hiding under the bed holding a shotgun. And those words are Michael Bay."

Writing inspiration: "You've gotta write for yourself. Write something that you'd like to read. If you write to be liked by others, and you don't like it and they don't end up liking it either, then you're a failure. You just wasted your life."

The Zombie Survival Guide: "In 1999 everybody was freaking out about Y2K. It was so bad that there were all kinds of survival guides being published. But there were no zombie survival guides, so I decided to write one, never really expecting it to be published. A few years later I showed it to an agent and he said he could get it published. I said 'Sure,' and he went out and got it published."

World War Z: "When AIDS first started popping up, there was a great denial, like only gays could get it, or you had to have sex with a monkey to get it. Then, once we realized that wasn't true, there was a great panic. We could have killed AIDS with a pamphlet, but our flaws and stupidity let it grow into something we couldn't control. And that's kinda the idea for how zombies get out of control in World War Z."

Zombie characteristics: Depending on the book/film/video game, zombies can be slow and weak or sprinters with super-human strength. Brooks prefers the former but doesn't think zombies have to be confined to one set of characteristics. "Zombies are constantly being redefined. But Return of the Living Dead? That's a zombie I don't like. That's a minstrel zombie show. Return of the Living Dead did for zombies what Adam West did for Batman."

That's not a compliment, Adam.

Best and worst place to be during a zombie attack: "The best place to be would be New York. New Yorkers are tough and can survive through anything. The worst place? L.A. I grew up in L.A. I live in L.A. And I wouldn't want to be in L.A. when it's raining, much less when zombies attack. L.A. is so ass-backwards."

Video game zombies: "I love all the different zombies and games. I love Left 4 Dead. I love Resident Evil. You know what's not fine, though, is a game about fighting zombies in a mall and giving no credit to Romero. Those guys can kiss my ass. Everyone rips off everyone, I know, but how are you going to make a game fighting zombies in a mall and not make Romero rich. C'mon dude."

It's ok to be mad, Max. Dead Rising sucks anyway.

This post was written by:
Trey

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: Richard Hatch

Richard Hatch should teach a course on public speaking. You know, should the whole acting and writing thing not work out.

Hatch is best known for his roles as the O.G. Apollo from the '70s Battlestar Galactica and political-prisoner-turned-populist-politician Tom Zarek in the show's recent reboot. As soon as he arrived on stage at his Friday "So Say We All" Wondercon panel, he handled the crowd like a routine landing of his old Viper.

After complimenting the cosplayers in the audience (especially the Battlestar pilots), Hatch borrowed a page out of his character Tom Zarek's notebook and appealed to the downtrodden sci-fi fans, whom time and again have had their favorite shows taken away from them by cop/lawyer/hospital drama-peddling networks.

"Why do they cancel all the good shows, like Caprica and Firefly, before they have time to develop? And why do they keep all the bad shows?" asked Hatch.

Amid the smattering of replies, one audience member shouted, "Frak the networks!" Hatch laughed and responded, "Yeah, frak 'em!" before praising the genius of the FCC-dodging F-word.

Other highlights of the Hatch panel:

On dying in Battlestar Galactica: "Every actor whose character died on Battlestar Galactica prayed they were a Cylon. Everyone loved being on that show."

On Battlestar's final season: "It wasn't as fun as the rest of the show. A lot of actors were moving on to new shows, and we couldn't enjoy the experience like we had in the past."

On Battlestar's final episode: "I think the show lost its sense of family in the last episode. Why would everyone separate? You're on a planet full of strange creatures - you might want to stick together."

On Tom Zarek's politics intersecting with his own: "I'm pissed off that Zarek is the bad guy! Here's a guy with a different idea that ran contrary to those in power - he thought everyone should be represented. And for that he is maligned! But the hero is a military general who would prefer to rule by force.

"Battlestar Galactica showed how easy democracy can be lost. There's a catastrophic event and most people close their eyes and turn over all their power to an unaccountable government."

On Battlestar Galactica's future: "That universe is still pregnant with great ideas and storylines. The networks try to get rid of it, but the fans keep it coming back."


This post was written by:
Trey

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: Four Horseman and Mattel

Attended Mattel’s “Methods & Materials: Sculpting with the Four Horsemen" panel and was unsure what to really expect from what I believe was the lone toy panel of the show. 

The house was jam-packed with pretty much a butt connected to every damn seat.  All of the panelists from Mattel were super knowledgeable, friendly and the nature of the information flow from start to finish of a sculpted figure seemed almost conversational-- primarily handled by the Four Horsemen’s Jim Preziosi.

In the opening introductions every member of the team stated their name and the lines of projects that they are working on, be it Masters of the Universe, DC Universe Classics, WWE and etc.   I was surprised to hear that the just announced DC Retroactive line was mentioned a few times so I called Mattel to see if this was a press release that we just missed and low and behold, not the case.  Looks like we will be getting some news on the new DC Retroactive toys by Mattel at Comic-con this Summer.  With the buzz going around on some of the Batman Legacy figs, especially the Golden Age versions of Batman and Joker-- I could see why Mattel would want to get those more artist and

time-inspired figs out to the fans.  Love it.  WonderCon was also the premiere of their 1st ever Collect-and-Connect Swap!  Which I unfortunately missed the boat on, but will definitely jump on this Summer.

All you need is a CNC piece and you can look through their bucket of CNC pieces to find your treasure.  Can anyone say Giganta??

Being a space / design guy by trade, I truly appreciated the booth layout that had a comfy basement-lounge feel and was appropriately urban spohisticated.




Enough airspace to walk around in-- though I am sure that if this is replicated in SDCC, it will be much more open.  These toy guys really did an awesome job showing what Wondercon was all about...Green Lantern!!!

 
This post was written by:
big O

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: Robert Kirkman and The Walking Dead Barcrawl

Every year James Sime, life devourer / comic-pimp of Isotope arranges some of the most ridic, creative entertaining events to coincide with Wondercon.  So once I found out that it was Robert Kirkman of Walking Dead fame that would be the centerpiece to Isotope and iFanboy's annual soiree-- I thought it was a good time to get to know the guy a bit more than what I have experienced through his zombie comics and show.

Entered the panel and though the house was pretty full I got lucky and scored a front row seat...yeah no shame here yo.  In attendance with Kirkman was his Editor at Image, Sina Grace.  Kirkman lived up to his rep of being the funny guy by bellowing over the mic- "this isn't the Green Lantern movie panel!!" 

Laughter and cheers came from the crowd.  Well done.  Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of the zombie genre, but since catching Zombieland and reading through some of the Walking Dead Compendium-- I am a born-again post apocalyptic fan.  And those kids at AMC hit me with the TKO.

The self-proclaimed Golden Globe loser went though a B-roll of images and chatter on his works ranging through Walking Dead, Super Dinosaur (dedicated to his son) and a new collabo with co-creator / illustrator Rob Liefeld (a cool guy that still can't draw feet) called The Infinite. 

And from there they went straight to the mic to spit the Q&A session that was zombie-centric as you would expect.  The most interesting thing that got me was how amazingly, un-geeky many of the attendees were as they showed little to no backlash on Kirkman's unrelenting assault on the TV series not having to mimic the book.  He reinforced that by saying how boring would it be for readers to watch the show and know what to expect.

Quite cavalier of the guy and he was growing on me more and more through the panel.  I decided to make myself remembered for the crawl later by going up to the mic and even ended up getting my shirt signed!!  WOOT!

Went back to the lab to write and rest up with some soju/beer and jumped back out on the streets to meet up with my partner in crime for the crawl-

Candice of Geek Girl on the Street and made it to the first stop of the event- Shine.  Was given the red carpet welcome just like everyone else directly by James and as you can see this was before we were "killed off" by the eventual zombies that showed later on the magic bus.

The evening was filled with a lot of booze, a crazy freakshow performance that involved spikes, circus music, hammers, nails and staples...of course the horde of zombie fans that were local and even some that traveled here from across the state to meet up with the man- Robert Kirkman.

Major props to the whole squadron of Isotope, iFanboy, Image and others that made that night so worth dealing with one of the most ass-kicking hangovers I have experienced in at least a few months (yes, this is what happens when you go to 5 bars-- Shine, Zeitgeist, Tosca, Cat Club and stumbled thru Bloodhound-- and rage like a beast...next time will H2O it some more).

Here are some of the shots before I got too hammered to care about capturing the night and just having FUN!!!

This post was written by:
big O

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: Green Lantern

Immediately after the DC Nation panel, Geoff Johns-- Chief Creative Officer of DCE and Green Lantern guru-- with a Green Lantern prop from the film in hand joined Eddie Berganza on stage and jumped right into everything GL.  Most of the crowd remained from the last panel and we were joined by many others to pack the room.

Despite it being the comics panel, there were many jumps by Berganza and Johns back and forth with attendees between the excitement of the film along with the book which made sense.  Started off with talks on War of the Green Lanterns and its focus on the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814-- Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan.  And more specifically who these guys are behind the rings.

For those of us that have read GL: Emerald Warriors #8, we know what they mean by that.  Especially between Guy and Hal.  Awesomeness that you just gotta read.

Most of the question portion was meh until Johns and Berganza announced that Ivan Reis and Joe Prado would be joining Johns on the new Aquaman monthly.  Obviously with a creative team like that-- I will be on it, though Aquaman as a character holds less interest for me versus the ancillary characters of Black Manta and Mera.  A fan asked Johns what Aquaman was to him if he can be summed up in one word and he replied "tough." 

A fan brought up to Johns how he felt about other creators using his creations-- he responded that it's really cool and talked on Peter Milligan's forthcoming Red Lanterns book that he can't wait to see.  The love fest continued and Berganza & Johns awarded many of the fans asking questions with White Lantern exclusives that were being sold by Graffiti Designs, GL trades and even holding the GL movie prop.  A funny moment took place when a Batman cosplayer was asked by Johns to come up and hold the Lantern...ugh guess you had to be there.

Being that I didn't make the GL movie panel-- why not take in 4 minutes of the exclusive Wondercon footage??



And of course some more of my choice cosplay interactions at Wondercon  ; P

 

This post was written by:
big O

Read the full story

Wondercon 2011 Edition: DC Nation

Day one of our very own local, Bay Area based geekfest for all things Poparts is here!!  Hello Wondercon = )

After cruising through the floor a bit we headed straight to the DC Nation panel-- headed up by Co-Publisher, Dan DiDio that was hoarse from the geeky-fab trifecta of C2E2, Megacon & Wondercon but his signature hype and energy was definitely in abundance.  Along the panel were VP of Sales Bob Wayne, Executive Editor Eddie Berganza and creators- JT Krul, Eric Wallace, Frank Quitely, Francis Manapul and the legendary Len Wein.

DiDio took the audience by our horns stating how a code of silence is in effect for everything post- Flashpoint and jumped right into asking
around the crowd on what everyone is loving about Brightest Day.  We went from getting a heat-check on Deadman to Aquaman to the Hawks, Manhunter, Firestorm and all of the other resurrected 12.  Responses were overwhelming on the popularity of Aquaman and Deadman, while there wasn't as much buzz and excitement for some of the others.

Speaking of Aquaman it was mentioned that the new Aquaman ongoing would be headed up by Geoff Johns which was well received by most in attendance. 

Other DCN topics consisted of War of the Green Lanterns, Flash (a fan thanked Manapul for making a book he could share with his 6 yr old), Wonder Woman- both the book and TV series (yes, with emphasis on the costume) and JLI-- that seemed to create a major buzz on the love of  Booster Gold amongst fans.  From there, DiDio asked peeps to stand-up to gauge how long we have been reading comics for-- and then this transitioned  into the announcement on DC Retroactive.  Which will celebrate the 70's, 80's, 90's with 3 one-shots by the creators that made their mark in each era with DC's icons. 

Superman one-shots will be written by Martin Pasko (‘70s), Marv Wolfman (‘80s), and Louise Simonson (‘90s) / Wonder Woman will be by Dennis O’Neil (‘70s), Roy Thomas (‘80s), and William Messner-Loebs (‘90s) / The Flash will be written by Cary Bates (‘70s), William Messner-Loebs (‘80s) and Brian Augustyn (‘90s) / Justice League of America will be written by Cary Bates (‘70s), Gerry Conway (‘80s), and Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (‘90s) / Green Lantern will be Dennis O’Neil (‘70s), Len Wein (‘80s), and Ron Marz (‘90s).  Batman scribes will be Len Wein (‘70s), Mike W. Barr (‘80s), and Alan Grant (‘90s).

Each of the Summer specials will have 26 pages of all-new story, including 20 pages of classic reprinted stories and exceeding the $2.99 line at $4.99.

More questions and audience comments revolved around Multiversity, if the Anti-Monitor is just going to go away (I think he rocks BTW), whether the Titans will return back to a more heroic feel (please don't let it Eric Wallace!!) and DiDio spoke on why the DC trinity will always revolve around Batman, Wonder-Woman and Superman.  Real interesting stuff like how they are DC and it is there obligation to do those characters justice.  Wayne eventually brought up what about DC Nation on the Cartoon Network??!!  And DiDio clarified it will be animation based on lesser exposed characters (ala the second features in the DVDs) paired with behind the scenes in everything DCE.  Sweet!!  Finally, someone yelled what about Nightwing!!???  Which may or may not have been staged (funny being that it was DiDio that was going to kill him off a few years back but didn't cause of Grayson's popularity amongst fans)-- and he exposed a Nightwing shirt on under his button-down that incited cheers, claps and the like.  You like?! 

Now how about some cosplay?!!

This post was written by:
big O

Read the full story