Triptych: Shinra Research Department

"Jenova Theory" by A.J. Hateley

"Black Materia" (t-shirt) by Drew Wise

"Fantasy Time" (t-shirt) by Juan Manuel Orozco

Triptych: Gamer's Love

"NES" by Walter Newton

"Gamer's Love" by biticol

"The Coin-Op Kid" by Neil Hanvey

Triptych: So Apparently, This Is A Thing

"Mega Pals" by Harebrained

"Steam Boat Megaman" (t-shirt) by Sam Chapman

"Mr. Blaster: Retro Megaman" by RobotsAreRed

Triptych: The Plumber, The Elf And The Robot Boy

"Megabomberbroszelda" by Arthur Mask

"Ukiyo-e Feudal Nintendo" by Mari Rosa Archambault

"Nintendo Rd." by Matthew Hardy

Triptych: Now You're Playing With Power

"NES" by Charlie Bernatowicz

"Gameboy and Games" by Derek Temple

"Lucky Star and Disk Writer" by Gashi Gashi

If you're wondering about that last one and how it relates to Nintendo, the Famicom Disk Writer was a peripheral that was only ever released in Japan. Basically, games for the Disk Writer were released on rewriteable floppy disk (take a look at the original Legend of Zelda disk, for an example) and led to, as far as I know, the first cases of console game piracy.

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: Dragon Slayer

"Dragon's Lair" by Jayson Weidel

"Dragon's Lair Poster" by Tom Whalen

"Dragon's Lair" by Saeta Hernando

Interesting fact: there is not much in the way of Dragon's Lair fanart that is a) well-done and b) not pervy. There is a LOT of Dragon's Lair fanart that is pervy and very well-done, but this is not that kind of blog. The above three pieces represent basically the only three works of fan-art I was even remotely comfortable posting.

Triptych: Movie Mania

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"The Battle of Wits" by Jude Buffum

"Barf's Space Balls" (t-shirt) by HareBrained

"Grocer vs. Blank" (t-shirt) by Nik Holmes

Triptych: Classic Videogames

"Gaiden V2" by Tonic Vision Design

"Urban Champion" by Gogoporen

"Pitfall! Minimalist Poster" by Bruce Yan

Triptych: Alternate Universe NES Box Covers

"Kraven The Duck Hunter" by Brendan Tobin

"Jack's Nightmare" by Brinkerhoff

"NES Watchmen" by Illustrography

Triptych: Hudson Uses Game Over!

"Alien Eats Alien" by Letter Q

"AlieYUMS" (t-shirt) by Gimetzco

"Alien RPG" (t-shirt) by BazNet

Triptych: Mario With A Shotgun

"Mario Bros." by Danvinci

"Toad Girl" (t-shirt) by Baznet

"Mario 13" by Bob Dob

Triptych: Kneel Before Your Master!

"Skeletor Battle Damage" (t-shirt) by Lofton

"Old School Heroes: Skeletor" by Fabian Ciraolo

"Skeletor" by Carlos Hernández

In my daily perusings of art on the internet the other day, I kept coming across Skeletor art for no particular reason I could determine. Clearly the universe was telling me that I should do a Skeletor Triptych, and so here we find ourselves.

Only those of a very specific generation are going to get the Battle Damage reference by Lofton. For those of you who do... Haven't you always wanted a Battle Damage t-shirt? I mean, that's just genius.

Triptych: Leo, Don, Raph and Mike

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"Polygon Heroes" by The Blackening Co.

"KRAAAAAAAAANNGS" (t-shirt) by Harebrained

"P.F. Krang's Dimension X Bistro" (t-shirt) by Jon Defreest

Triptych: I Didn't Choose The Gaming Life

"I Love 80s" by Jesse Gourgeon

"Gamer Emblem" (t-shirt) by Sean Husbands (Winter Artwork)

"Retro Wizard" (t-shirt) by John Haswell

Triptych: What A Horrible Night For A Curse

"Belmont Pest Control Specialists" by Greg Barnes

"Castlevania Japanese Ukiyo-e" by Jed Henry

"Castle Relics" (t-shirt) by Winter Artwork