Toronto Thumbs

Awesome Art
Inspired by Masters Of The Universe

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was one of my favourite shows growing up despite its unapologetic overuse of stock animation. Yes, I noticed this even at the age of seven. Anyhow, this collection of art from the Masters of the Universe Tribute Show at Gallery 1988 is nothing short of astounding. Those who like collecting art can either purchase select prints or even original pieces. Incredible stuff.

Via @plentyspace

Posted in Art, Awesome, Cartoons | 1 Comment »

Best Press Kit Ever?
Halo Legends + Pizza = WIN

With the amount of press releases that find their way into my inbox on a daily basis, it’s often difficult to choose which news, if any, to write about (especially given that I don’t work on this site full-time).

Today, however, I received a press kit that I simply could not put off till later – because it came with a delicious pizza. I arrived at my desk after a coffee break to see two pizza boxes sitting on my chair, the aroma of fresh pizza teasing my co-workers who probably wanted to hurt me for not being around to share the pizza with them immediately. One box had the tastiest pizza I’ve ever had in it. The second one contained a Blu-ray copy of the upcoming Halo Legends from Warner Home Video as well as a little Master Chief figure from MacFarlane Toys.

Now as you can see the pizza box is performing double duty by also advertising the upcoming release of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. I hope that press release comes with Chinese food.

Posted in Awesome, Cartoons | 7 Comments »

Halo Legends
Clip from “The Babysitter”

Warner Home Video is kicking up the promotion of Halo Legends, the upcoming seven-story animated anthology that explores the origin historical events of the Halo universe. Today Warner released the opening clip from the episode titled “The Babysitter,” which was animated by Studio 4oC, directed by Toshiyuki Kanno, and produced by Eiko Tanaka.

Halo Legends was produced by Microsoft Game Studios’ 343 Industries subdivision. It will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray February 16, 2010. In other Halo Legends news, Warner is running a fancy sweepstakes where fans can enter to win a trip to 343 Industries, among many other cool prizes.

Watch the clip »

Posted in Art, Awesome, Cartoons, Microsoft | No Comments »

GO TEAM VENTURE!
Venture Bros. Action Figures On The Way

Adult Swim’s best cartoon, The Venture Bros., is about to finally break into the world of action figures, vehicles, and bobble heads. Bif Bang Pow! will be bringing the collectibles to the world in collaboration with Cartoon Network Enterprises, starting with a line of seven-inch bobble heads this spring.

Fully articulated action figures based on the series’ more popular characters such as Dr. Venture, Brock Samson, The Monarch, and Hank and Dean Venture will be released in the summer along with several exclusive collectibles.

According to Bif Bang Pow! CEO Jason Lenzi, the company has been courting The Venture Bros. brand for quite some and are happy to be involved with the show. “With the ever-expanding cast of characters in the Venture universe, the possibilities are endless,” he says. “And, as always with Bif Bang Pow!, expect the unexpected!”

Jackson Publick, the show’s creator and co-writer, who has been working closely on the planning and creation of the toy line, says, “Finally. It’s about time someone made some action figures based on the show. This is going to be great!”

Meanwhile, I’ll be saving up to buy every Venture Bros. toy they make.

Posted in Awesome, Cartoons | 2 Comments »

The Venture Bros.
The Monarch, Henchman 21, and the Moppets sing “The Chipmunk Song”

Each Christmas since 2004 the gang at Astrobase Go, the studio that brings us the amazing cartoon The Venture Bros., releases a holiday tune via Quick Stop Entertainment. This year their contribution to the ever-growing collection of Venture Christmas music is a rendition of “The Chipmunk Song” by The Monarch, Henchman 21, and the Moppets Tim-Tom and Kevin.

If you’re a fan of the show, be sure to check out these songs. They might even be funny to those who aren’t familiar with the show at all, but I can’t say for certain since I love the show so much. Quick Stop Entertainment has compiled every Christmas song contributed by Astrobase Go in one handy article. Be forewarned: Some of these songs contain spoilers regarding the show, so if you’re not caught up you might not know what’s going on.

Please to enjoy, and have a safe and happy holiday, however you choose to celebrate it.

Posted in Awesome, Cartoons, News Bytes | No Comments »

I Heart The Transformers But
No, I Don’t Like The Michael Bay Movies

When Michael Bay’s Transformers was released in 2007, I was initially quite excited about seeing my favourite cartoon being brought to life through the magic of modern technology. Big explosions, cool cars, and crazy fights were just about guaranteed to give me my giant robot fix of that summer. But I was immensely disappointed upon seeing it. I remember the experience quite vividly. As the movie started, I was incredibly thrilled. The opening scene was excellent and seemed to set what I was expecting to be the pace for the remainder of the film.

Unfortunately all the special effects in the world can’t compensate for poor acting, a convoluted plot, and stiff, unlikable characters. It couldn’t even justify the creative liberties taken with the characters of The Transformers’ universe. Having Bumblebee, the most humble and gentle of Transformers, urinate on a character was just about the low point of the movie. That, however, is arguable; there was far too much that was far too horrible in that movie for a longtime fan like me to possibly forgive. For instance, why such a huge unnecessary emphasis on the humans who have zero redeeming qualities whatsoever?

This year the world was gifted with Bay’s follow-up to the original crapfest and, in true fashion, the sequel just took everything about the first movie and cranked it all to 11. Sadly this meant out of place comedic sequences were even more out of place, racist jokes and characterizations were even more offensive, the story made even less sense, and the battles were even more confusing. Two years after the first blockbuster raked in millions of dollars, the sequel did the same despite not doing anything differently – or well, for that matter.

Read the rest »

Posted in Blast From the Past, Cartoons, Editorial, Film | 5 Comments »

DEDICATION
Ultimate Iron Giant

“Eyes of the Hurricane” print by artist: Joel Parod

The first time I saw The Iron Giant, I was a college student out at a friend’s house and was too drunk to remember anything about it other the fact that it was both amazingly awesome and terribly sad. The second time I saw the movie in a much more sober state and was blown away by how amazing it was. It soon became one of my favourite movies of all time.

When I got my first DVD player, it was the first movie I bought. I watched it frequently, including the special features that are by today’s standards fairly bare bones. At the time of its release I was a huge toy collector but I unfortunately missed the short window of opportunity to purchase merchandise from The Iron Giant at retail. Because of the scarcity of toys based on the movie, I still have none save for the little figuring of the giant that came with the VHS release.

The curator of the site, Ultimate Iron Giant, does not have this problem. Instead, Dave is in quite the opposite position as he has what appears to be the world’s largest collection of The Iron Giant memorabilia. He’s photographed it all, too, and put it up on his website.

Dave’s growing collection includes not only items that were once available at retail, but also rarer items such as cast and crew promo materials, press kits, lobby cards, storyboards, model sheets, and much more. If you’re a fan of the film, be sure to check out the site. It amazes me just how much stuff was created to promote the movie despite it being lesser known to the general public than most animated films.

Posted in Awesome, Cartoons, Film | No Comments »

Holy Guidelines!
Batman: The Animated Series Writer’s Bible

Batman: The Animated Series has been one of my favourite cartoons since first seeing it when I was in the tenth grade. Its darker approach to the characters of Gotham was new to me, as I had typically only watched bright and goofier cartoons. While the series did have a few absurd and funny moments it was, for the most part, a more serious take on the tale of The Dark Knight.

Roughly 10 years ago I came into possession of a Batman: The Animated Series Animator’s style guide. It was a hard copy that had been photocopied from photocopies. I have no idea what generation of copy my Batman: The Animated Series style guide is. However, it still looks great and for the longest time it just felt cool to have since it was ultimately tied to someone who worked on the show; I was somehow connected to it, via friends of friends of friends.

This morning I was sent a link to an online version of the Batman: The Animated Series Writer’s Bible. It’s a 153-page file that has many of the same art assets as my animator’s style guide, but it also includes a lot of written description of the characters, including an episode guide. Check it out if you’re a fan of the show or if you’re interested in putting your own show together at some point.

Posted in Art, Awesome, Blast From the Past, Cartoons | 2 Comments »

WISH LIST
The Venture Bros. Season 2 & 3

Shaun got me The Venture Bros. Season 1 as a gift last year and I devoured it within a few days. This series is absolutely hilarious and I couldn’t get enough of it. I love the adult swim line of cartoons and how they completely make fun of a lot of the old cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. If you haven’t watched The Venture Bros., you need to pick it up and give it a go.

When I first met Mike Jackson, I told him that I had started watching the series. He excitedly launched into a dialogue about how awesome the show was.

The design of the boxes is also excellent. Each one offers a different flavour of eye candy. The first two season boxes are fairly simplistic in design, but the third season box is especially hilarious, as it resembles an old Atari 2600 game box (both the regular and Blu-Ray versions). I would probably bite the bullet and get the Blu-ray version, only because of the extras that it comes with.

The only thing holding me back from buying these is my addiction to Naruto (and games). That being said, if I don’t get these for Christmas, and I find myself with some extra cash, I will be grabbing at least one of these.

Posted in Cartoons, DVD | 3 Comments »

PILOT PROJECT
Nerdland Has Irresistable Charm

By the time you read this, Nerdland may no longer be the first video you see on thedetour.ca. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it. Nerdland is just one of 10 pilot episodes being debuted online by TELETOON Detour on their official site and on tvguide.ca. With a new show debuting each week, chances are if you’re into absurd comedy, you’ll find something you’ll like.

Nerdland, which was filmed in Toronto, is the fourth show released via the Pilot Project and is so far my favourite of the bunch. The episode chronicles the misadventures of a group of lovable nerds who, despite being brought to life in stop-motion, are surprisingly real. Odds are you can identify with at least one of the characters, or know someone who is eerily similar to one of the nerds. It even pokes fun at elitist video game bloggers.

Watch it now »

Posted in Awesome, Canada, Cartoons | 4 Comments »