Dr. Doom's Mark VI Hoberman Chassis - SPOILER

In episode 3 of the new Ultimate Spider-man series, spidey and the rest of the gang lure what they think is Dr Doom onto the SHIELD Hellicarrier only to discover that it is in fact a Mark VI Hoberman Chassis (aka a Matroyshka Doom Bot).  I particularly liked the foetal position each bot is in as it deploys from its parent bot.

The Mark VI Hoberman Chassis (aka Dr. Doom's Matroyshka Doom Bots)

This is a pretty cool idea for a robot and makes a change from the now clichéd transforming or combining robots.  Despite it's cool factor, it does have it's drawbacks in that a 1ft high Doom Bot doesn't represent much of a challenge for a superhero.

Some creative type should definitely come up with a stat block for this puppy.

Star Shadow - D&D Comic Strip Adverts Circa 1984

Whilst re-reading my old 2000ADs I stumbled across a series of D&D Comic Strips entitled Star Shadow.

Commissioned by TSR UK to advertise the Red-Box basic D&D set, each one page strip charts the continuing adventures of Morwyn Starbrow, an Elven fighter mage, and Matt Greyshadow a Halfling rogue.  The artwork is by Tim Sell and story by Graeme Morris.  Unfortunately there are some gaps in my 2000AD collection and therefore gaps in this series so if anyone has copies of Progs 391 and 392, I'd love to hear from you.

Star Shadow Episode 1 (2000AD, Prog 387) - When The North Wind Blows
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Star Shadow Episode 1 (2000AD, Prog 388) - Footsteps in the Snow
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Star Shadow Episode 3 (2000AD, Prog 389) - The Keep of the Frost Giant
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Star Shadow Episode 4 (2000AD, Prog 390) - The Ice Gem
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Star Shadow Episode 7 (2000AD, Prog 393) - Flotsam and Jetsam
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Star Shadow Episode 8 (2000AD, Prog 394) - Upon the Blasted Heath
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Star Shadow Episode 9 (2000AD, Prog 395) - The Betrayer Unmasked
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Star Shadow Episode 10 (2000AD, Prog 396) - Tomb of the King
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Moviewatch: Grabbers

Grabbers is an Irish monster movie, yes you heard right, an Irish monster movie.  Set on the small island of Erin off the Irish coast which unwittingly becomes the new home of a breed of monstrous aliens after a meteor crash lands in the sea.  Alcoholic local policeman Richard Coyle (Coupling) is the unlikely hero who, with the help of straight-laced mainland policewoman Ruth Bradley (Primeval) and a bunch of sozzled locals, uncovers a series of strange deaths and sets about saving the islanders from an unspeakable tentacled horror.

Grabbers - Movie Poster

Director Jon Wright makes excellent use of the small budge, aided by an ensemble cast including Russell Tovey (Being Human) and Bronagh Gallagher (The Commitments) to create a story which literally sucks you in.  He is of course aided by the fantastically picturesque town of Moville (near Derry) and economic use of a well thought-out and well executed CGI monster.

Essentially an Irish Tremors, Grabbers has its truly funny, if  little stereotypical, moments and there's plenty of shocks.  The monster is also quite scary, in a slimy tentacley way and plenty of craic is thrown in for good measure.

Awesome Aliens T-Shirt

The guys at fingerfunk.se have produced this awesome Chestburster Augmented Reality T-Shirt. 

Chestburster!!

Download the accompanying ChestBurster app from either the iTunes or Android store (depending on your mobile OS) and then point your smartphone camera at the image on the T-Shirt for a surprise!

You can buy the high quality printed t-shirt from fingerfunk or just do what I did and print it onto iron-on inkjet paper.

Red Dwarf X - Go Vindalunar!

To celebrate the release of the new series of Red Dwarf (X) on the 4th October 2012, the boys at Dave have launched a vindaloo and a can of JMC Leopard Lager into space.