Showcase: Steampunk Transformers

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"Optimus Prime"

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"Megatron"

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"Soundwave"

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"Bumblebee"

A disclaimer: I try to avoid anything steampunk here, because let's be honest - steampunk has been done to death, and then some. I could go into a whole rant about steampunk, in fact, and how it was a novelty for about six months back in 2002 before it got co-opted by the Hot Topic crowd and blown completely out of proportion, but that wouldn't change the fact that blue-haired teenagers wearing corsets, goggles and top hats would continue to celebrate an era of western history typified by its horrific working conditions, abuse of children and the poor, and rampant, unchecked colonial expansionism. So I'll leave it alone.

But, having said that, sometimes I come across something that uses steampunk tropes to its advantage, and that's what we have here, with Brian Kesinger's clever steampunk\Transformers mashup. As you may or may not know, depending on how nerdy you are, IDW published a steampunk Transformers miniseries, called "Hearts of Steel". Kesinger's industrial revolution revisions of Transformers blows that officially sanctioned concept out of the water, thanks to his attention to detail and a number of sardonic touches.

In particular, I love how both Optimus and Megatron are sporting mustaches. I love how Optimus turns into a steam-powered locomotive, Megatron into a baroquely-patterned sixshooter, and Soundwave into a victrola\player piano. I love how era-specific hats have been incorporated into each character's robot mode.

If more steampunk had as much of a sense of humor as this, I probably wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it out of hand.

[Brian Kesinger on Deviantart]

Triptych: Hamburgerdouken!

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"Ukiyo Heroes #7: Street Fighter" by Jed Henry

"Street Fighter Kids" by Kei Acedera

"Super Meat Fighter" (t-shirt) by Bamboota and Ninjaink

John Dies At The End

Somewhat unrelated to the usual fare here at Apocalypse POW!, but I recently read Jason Pargin (A.K.A. David Wong)'s novel "John Dies At The End", and it was phenomenal. Sort of a cross between Lovecraft and Hunter S. Thompson with a dollop of Bret Easton Ellis thrown in for good measure, it's violent and trippy and altogether hilarious, and I can't recommend it enough.

Well, it turns out that it's being adapted into a film by Don Coscarelli, the man behind Bubba Ho-Tep and the Phantasm series, featuring Paul Giamatti as skeptical reporter Arnie Blondestone and Clancy Brown as (an apparently very badass) Dr. Marconi. There's no release date lined up just yet, but I can assure you that I'm pretty excited for it. Based on the trailer, it looks like it will hew pretty close to the source material, and while it has a kind of B-Horror movie vibe to it, that's sort of Coscarelli's wheelhouse and I expect he'll manage to do great things with it.

Anyway, just wanted to share that. Back to our regular programming.

Showcase: Return of the Pixel

"8-Bit Han Solo"

"8-Bit Chewbacca"

"8-Bit Boba Fett"

[David The Destroyer's Deviantart]

---

My girlfriend had the bright idea, because she's awesome, to watch the original Star Wars trilogy this weekend. No reason; she just hadn't seen them since she was a kid, and for my part I will never say no to a Star Wars marathon. Of course, having seen the movies more recently (and much more often) than her, and also being a huge nerd, it turns out I have a lot to say about Star Wars. I tried to keep the running commentary to a minimum, but wasn't always successful, to her infinite chagrin. Observe:

(Return of the Jedi, the Rebels are looking over the Death Star plans)
Me: You know, many Bothans died to bring them that information.
Heather: What? How do you know that?
Mon Mothma: Many Bothans died to bring us this information.
Heather: ARGH YOU WERE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE

(This also happened with "It's a trap!" and every time someone had a bad feeling about something.)

Furthermore, I was on Wookieepedia nearly the entire six-and-a-half hours, because for the first time in my life I could actually do that. I discovered a number of key pieces of information which I would like to share with you now:

· Ewoks and Wookiees are not related. The closest relative of the Ewok is the swamp-dwelling Dulok, who are not very nice to Ewoks and apparently are the race of the Grinch.

· Believe it or not, not only did Boba Fett escape from the Sarlacc by fighting his way out from the inside, he later fell in again (and escaped again) around the time of the Battle of Endor.

· Yoda's species is known as "Yoda's species". He's pointedly not just a very old, green-skinned Lannik. Other members of Yoda's species are Yaddle, Vandar Tokare and Minch (all of them Jedis).

· Under their robes, Jawas are "gaunt, rodent-like creatures, with shrunken faces and yellow eyes". They sew yellow or orange gemstones into their hoods to protect their sensitive eyes from sunlight.

· The musical number added to Return of the Jedi, where a CGI Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza perform for Jabba just prior to the arrival of Chewbacca and a disguised Leia, is one of the most odious things I've ever seen in my entire life. It has absolutely no purpose and it's such a drastic tonal shift that it's not hard to understand why Star Wars purists got up in arms over the Special Edition additions and alterations.

· Leia is way, wayyyyyy too casual about the fact that she made out with Luke when she discovers that he's her brother. Wayyyyyyy too casual.

· Before the release of Empire Strikes Back in 1980, Alan Dean Foster wrote the very first Expanded Universe tie-in Star Wars novel, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye". The book was written prior to the major success of A New Hope, and if that film flopped, George Lucas had intended to film "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" as a low-budget sequel. The story deviates significantly from what ends up being established in Empire, and ramps up the sexual tension between Luke and Leia to an unbearably awkward level. In an alternate universe, Splinter ended up as the filmed sequel to Star Wars, and our alternate selves are all much, much poorer for it.

Showcase: We Do What We Must Because We Can

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"Propulsion Gel"

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"Conversion Gel"

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"Repulsion Gel"

[wd.farmer's Portal 2 Poster Series]

Triptych: Power Pills

"Pac-Snack" by Agent-X Comics


"Vapor Chase" by Mitch Loidolt


"Pac-Man Poster" by Chris Clegg

Showcase: Caldwell Tanner's TV Show Mashups

"Walter's Laboratory" (Breaking Bad vs. Dexter's Laboratory)


"My Game of Thronies" (Game of Thrones vs. My Little Ponies)


"BattleDuck Gaquacktica" (Battlestar Galactica vs. DuckTales)

[Caldwell Tanner]

The Return of iam8bit: SUPER iam8bit

"MK Kalamari" by Jose Emroca Flores


"Plight of the Koopas" by Derick Maasen


"'Zeruda no Densetsu" by Carlos Ramos


"Portrait of Rockman" by Chris Sanchez


"Absolute Power" by Tim Shumate

Gallery Nineteen Eighty-Eight is doing a sequel to their legendary iam8bit show, entitled SUPER iam8bit! If the promotional pieces that G1988 have released are any indication, SUPER iam8bit should be absolutely outstanding.



It appears that G1988 is also releasing the second volume of videogame-inspired art to coincide with the show. I was a huge, ginormous fan of the first volume, entitled simply "i-am-8-bit: Art Inspired by Classic Videogames of the '80s" and will definitely be grabbing Volume II once it's been released.

SUPER iam8bit starts August 11th, 2011 at Gallery Nineteen Eighty-Eight in Los Angeles. You can buy the first iam8bit art book here, while the second book should be sold hereabouts whenever it's out.

Triptych: With A Cherry On Top

"It's A Lie" (t-shirt design) by D4N13L


"The Monster Kingdom" by Ninjaink


"Metroid (Secret Ending)" by Albino Raven

Ol' Fuzzy Bastard's 16-Bit Cast Portraits

Ol' Fuzzy Bastard likes the same TV shows I like! Which is awesome, because I'm really digging his bitbotized cast portraits and shows like "Parks and Recreation", "Party Down" and "Freaks and Geeks" need more love.

Click on any of the images for a full-size version.



"Lost: Finale One Year Anniversary" by Ol' Fuzzy Bastard (Click the link for a cheat-sheet)

Triptych: Do The Mario!

"Portal Mario" by The Awkward Gamer


"Mario Redesign" by MaroBot


"Nintendo Roof" by it8bit

Portal 2 Poster

Okay, okay, I know I said I was done, but then I found this and I couldn’t resist.

“Portal 2 ’70s-Style Poster” by Tristan Reidford

Penney Designs: Retro-Modern 2600 Games

I posted about Penney Designs' Lost adventure game a while back. I thought I'd posted these faux-2600 game cartridges of demade games as well, but I guess not!

ExciteBoost

"ExciteBoost" by Justin Harder

An ExciteBike-themed promo created for Fuel TV by Justin Harder. Awesome. I killed so many hours playing this game as a kid.

Wooden Pixel Art by 8BITWOOD

"1-UP Mushroom"


"Flying Mario"



"Goomba"

[Courtesy 8BITWOOD]

Triptych: I Want To Roll You Up Into My Life

"We Heart Katamari", official artwork from Namco Bandai


"Prince of Darkness" by Mike Mitchell


"Katamari Colossus" by Leo Zuniga

Scott Pilgrim Extravaganza of Doom!

"Scott Pilgrim" by jjar01

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World had its flaws, and I'll be the first to admit that, but it was still one of my favourite movies of 2010 and I think that it deserves a lot more love than it got. Sure, Michael Cera - as Hollywood's go-to awkward teenage white boy nerd - was miscast (overcast?) as Scott, but on the whole it really felt like a genuine labour-of-love adaptation of a cult comic book rather than a studio attempt to cash in.

So to that end, here's some Scott Pilgrim-related artwork and miscellany.

Triptych: Wakka Wakka Wakka (Part II)

"The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship" (t-shirt design) by Spiritgreen Art

"8bitFuzz" by Pauline Acalin

"Pakku-Man" by pop-monkey