Entries Tagged 'Toys' ↓
March 13th, 2008 — Gaming, Toys
Valve, creators of the landmark, 2004 Half-Life 2 PC game, is selling a 13″ plushie version, above, of their unstoppable Hunter attack “synth,” below. (The Hunter appears in the 2007 Half-Life 2: Episode 2 mini-sequel.)
Available for $39.95 through their online Steam service, the soft toy features the original, three-legged, “bioengineered” “shock troop”‘s ice-blue eye sensors, and poseable appendages, all featured prominently and lethally in this Episode 2 trailer.
Half-Life 2 tells the story of a rebel insurrectionist group attempting to overthrow the totalitarian and oppressive Combine, an invading alien race. Both iterations of Half-Life are considered milestones in the history of computer gaming, breathtaking for the breadth of their narrative and design.
Half-Life 2 has sold over four million copies. (Thanks to TOMOPOP.com for the tip!)
March 4th, 2008 — Gaming, Toys
You’re looking at a soon-to-be-released Locust Horde “bad guy” action figure from the multimillion-selling Xbox game, Gears of War.
The ne’er-do-well in this image replicates one of the game’s most devastating moments: the immediate aftermath of a sniper shot to the Horde head. If you look near the top of the image, you can see the creature’s still-intact face heading towards Saturn.
(Thanks to Tomopop and Destructoid for turning me onto ActionFinderInsider.com’s photo stash!)
February 28th, 2008 — Design, Film, Pop Culture, Toys
Why didn’t the recent DirecTV commercial, featuring Sigourney Weaver as “Ellen Ripley” in James Cameron’s 1986 movie, Aliens, get more amore?
You’ve seen the original: At the film’s geekalicious climax, Ripley takes on the villainous Alien Queen with an “anthropomorphic exoskeletal” Caterpillar P-5000 Powered Work Loader. (Weaver got a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.)
DirecTV, as they’d done with well-known flicks from the ‘80s and ‘90s (Star Trek: Generations, Major League, Back to the Future), remixed the scene into an ad pitching the virtues of satellite over cable. Their digital fx hoo-haa even lip-synced Ripley’s 22-year-old footage to new script. (Hey: If we all yell and stamp our feet loud enough, maybe they’ll sign Pacino to remake the climactic “Sigh ay-low to mah lee’l frah!” bloodbath from Scarface.)
Yet, if you’re even a tiny bit like me, even a quarter-century in, there’s still no such thing as too much Aliens. If so, wrap your head around this: Hot Toys‘ 1/6-scale, 21″ high, fully articulated Power Loader model kit.
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