Jatta Pake

My favorite fireworks show was in San Francisco. Fireworks reflecting off of the bay timed to music playing on a local radio station. But my favorite fireworks experience is watching them with my boys. Nothing tops the wonder and awe in a child's eyes as they watch the sky light up with magic. I enjoy watching them as much as I do the fireworks.

I don't have a lot of sculpting talent but the whole 3-D scanning process would massively improve my work. To me, one of the biggest challenges is attaining symmetry. It would work like this: Sculpt half of something (like half of intricate Minimate throne). Scan with 3D scanner. Take object in software and clone it. Then take the clone object and "reflect" it. Merge the original object and mirrored clone. Now you have a throne with both sides looking identical. This process works in Illustrator for face decals so I assume it would work nicely with 3D as well. Your sculpt doesn't even need to be that good as long as you have symmetry it will look nice.

I had to Wiki this series. I like the concept. Random thoughts: Wouldn't Dexter be a murderer of murderers? Hmmm...how about a rapist of rapists? Um...on second thought...

Magic eightball says: Iron Lad/Hulkling Banshee/Blob Wrecker/Mandroid variant: Enchantress/Mandroid

Crazy cool trailer made awesome when the Japanese subtitles suddenly have "BUMP OF CHICKEN" at the 1:02 mark. WTF?!?!?!

I'm not a big gamer anymore but I found a couple of iPad games that I really enjoyed. Avadon: The Black Fortress - This is an indy RPG game that switches to turn-based mode when in combat. Graphics are old school and harken back to the old Ultima series of games. I think what sets this game apart is the story. Your character operates in a world of ethical gray where none of the choices are black and white. You are a Hand or soldier for the realm's peacekeeping force known as Avadon. Avadon enforces the peace between the nations, but at what cost? You get to fight dragons, ogres, evil wizards while leveling up and collecting cool loot. A sequel is coming this fall. Rebuild - This is an indy city management style game with a twist. You are retaking and reclaiming a city block by block after a zombie apocalypse. There isn't any on screen action in this game, it's a turn based game where battles are resolved off screen and you are told the results. You recruit survivors who can level up and do various tasks - clear out zombies, rebuild a city block, scavenge for loot and supplies, and research scientific discoveries. I think what makes this game so successful is range of events you deal with. Like any post-apocalyptic leader you need to deal with starvation, massive hordes of zombie invaders, marauding humans, and traitors in your camp. There are supposedly something like eight different paths to victory. Towards the end of the game, you get to hand-pick five survivors from your camp to relocate to a new city to rebuild. It's the same process starting over with the difficulty level increased but your survivors keep their experience level and loot. The designer is working on a follow-up.

Some good ideas there. I'm going to try to spray some extra Terminator and Halo pieces in flat black. I think they may fit in nicely with the overall aesthetic. I really like how the reversed chest piece looks.

Anyone else read this, and immediately picture BHM with two massive claw hooks?

OMG: That looks like it came right out of the factory! Awesome!

Anyone know if the second wave of blind packs is out yet? What are the numbers for the second wave?

Didn't he marry Jessica Scones?

I don't know what I'm going to do with all of these Sisko and Picard heads. But I love the problem!

I love these!!! I'm doing my part to make sure these see another series.

Hahaha! Awesome!

Wolfsbane looks like a wee munchkin in that panel.

By "big name" I'd say he has far more mainstream associations with comics than many other comic book artists, even though (and probably because of) his work being primarily in Movie, TV, and Internet (Smodcast etc). I think he potentially brings the Minimates brand to a another subset of comic collector - someone who buys comics and watches movies, but doesn't buy toys. In my brain this puts him in the Independent Comic realm..

Dumb question time: What is the metal thing in the shoulder of farmer zombie supposed to be? Did he get whacked with an old timey scythe? Did he get hit with a piece of a plow blade? Crop duster propellor? Anyone know? Second dumb question: Was this the injury that killed him? Or was he already a zombie when the metal cleaved him? Final dumb question: I have heard that finger nails and hair continue to grow for some time after death. Do you think zombie farmer's beard continued to grow after he became a zombie?

Beautiful photos. Just amazing. You will fit right in with this group, there is tremendous talent on this board. Welcome! What does "Pinoy" mean for those of don't know?

Hat tip to Diamond Select for bringing Kevin Smith on board for a line of Minimates. These look awesome. Now we have two huge names in independent comics doing Minimates lines (Kirkman being the other). Hope this leads to Mignola Minimates in the future.

When you say "stuff in the works" do you mean in general, or with Icon Heroes?

Looks great!

I don't suppose we could get a bigger image of the back of the Iron Man 10-pack? I know these are re-makes of previously released armors, but are these Minimates exactly the same? Has anyone done a comparison? I really appreciate DST and AFX having the balls to do a 10-pack. Looks awesome.

I'm a bit out of the loop on all things Minimates. Is this the complete list of SDCC 2013 exclusives? ThunderCats Series 4 Minimates 5-Pack ($22) Deadpools Assemble Minimates 4-Pack ($22) Iron Man 3 Hall of Armor Minimates 10-Pack ($55) Lost in Space Black and White Minimates 2-Pack ($10) Jay and Silent Bob Minimates 2-Pack ($10) Walking Dead Hershel's Farm Minimates 4-Pack ($20) Wolverine Saga Minimates 4-Pack ($20) On the horizon (but not yet seen) we have: Thunderbolts Now! 4-Pack Marvel Waves 52 (Thor), 53 (Wolverine), and 54 (hinted at but nothing confirmed) TRU Marvel Fan Poll 4-Pack Aliens Battle Beasts Wave 2 Am I missing anything?

I have a ton of games I like. My brother is a big boardgamer too, unfortunately we live 1,600 miles apart. He got me Small World for Christmas which we played a lot. We also played Puerto Rico and The Lords of Waterdeep when I was basck visiting. I really enjoyed both. I don't get to play as much as I'd like but I've gotten family and relatives into playing Settlers of Cataan and Pandemic. From my old school days I played a lot of Axis and Allies, Shogun, Fortress America, Supremacy, and Space Hulk. When I was in highschool (late 80s-90s) I invented a boardgame that my buddies and I played a lot. I called it "Empire". It makes me smile thinking about it as the game was fairly simple but resulted in so many nerd fights and arguments. We'd play for six hours straight, drinking Mountain Dew, and listening to 80s rock music. The "board" was six pieces of poster board sprawled across the family room floor in one of our basements. After six hours of shifting alliances and military build-up one player would launch a devastating attack on another knocking him out of the game. The angry victim inevitably stood up and smashed across the board like Godzilla scattering thousands of pieces across the room.

Are these out?!?!