Titans Terrors and Toys

In this final post of this four-part series devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising , we'll be taking a look at the various Grid landscapes in the world of Uprising . Of the many aspects of Tron: Uprising that I've covered in this series, the Grid landscapes illustrate the paradoxical nature of the Tron universe. It is a world-within-a-world, something that is both infinitely vast and infinitely small, something that is derived from common technology we can see, hear, touch and use yet remains invisible to almost every human being. Adding to the Grid landscapes' ethereal aura is the omnipresent neon glow that appears to emanate from the Grid itself. Since the Grid and everything within it exists in a sunless, electronically-generated space, it is up to the Grid itself to provide light sources for its virtual inhabitants. Emphasizing the artificiality of the Grid in both Tron: Legacy and Uprising is the contrast between the cities where the programs live and the wastel...

In this third of four posts devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising , we'll be taking a look at the buildings and interiors that the characters inhabited in Uprising . Even though Tron: Legacy is a direct continuation of the events in Tron , it differed greatly from the first film in terms of the programs' behavior and environments. The programs in Tron adhered to the programming that their users at Encom gave them, while the programs in Legacy behaved according to how Kevin Flynn structured the environment that he built for them in the stand-alone Grid. Tron: Uprising gave fans a closer look at the relationship between the Grid programs and their environments, and what Flynn might have had in mind when he originally built the Grid. Unlike the Encom programs in Tron , the Grid programs in Uprising build, populate and maintain locations that are akin to locations built for humans: offices, garages, medical facilities, night clubs and shipping container yards. By buildi...

In this second of four posts devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising , we'll be taking a look at the vehicles and equipment used by the characters in Uprising . The original Tron movie revealed a selection of vehicles and equipment that became closely associated with the franchise. The Light Cycles, Recognizers, Light Tanks, and Identity Discs of Tron were also featured prominently in the movie's tie-in arcade games and would reappear later with updated designs in Tron 2.0 and Tron: Legacy . Uprising featured these same items as well, along with new vehicles and equipment that are analogous to things in the real world: boats, helicopters, rail transportation, and hand-held tools. Of particular significance is the Recoder tool used by Beck, which gave fans a look at how programs assemble, disassemble and repair the virtual machinery within the Grid. Click below to see the portfolio of vehicles and equipment from Tron: Uprising .

This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with ...

One of the things that I love about the horror genre is its unique relationship with low-budget filmmaking. Cheaply-made terror trashfests have been a dime a dozen for decades, but on the other hand I cannot imagine where horror films would be today without low-budget classics such as Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre . Thus, it makes sense that the subgenre of found footage films, films that deliberately look rough and amateurish, has made its home in horror. There are exceptions to the rule (such as Cloverfield , which relied on high-quality CGI effects and green screen composite shots), but the found footage subgenre has largely been populated by filmmakers of limited resources. With that in mind, what happens when a filmmaker decides to make a found footage film due to budgetary limitations but also wants to include special effects? This post will look at that question through the approaches taken by two found footage titles, V/H/S/2 (2013) and Occult ...

When I was growing up, the most reliable toys were the ones you could make yourself: paper airplanes. It didn't matter how much money you had in your pocket, because all you needed was a sheet of paper to have a few minutes of amateur flying fun. There were books you could buy that featured sleek, complex designs from engineers who wanted to take the paper plane to higher levels, but anyone who had basic paper-folding skills could produce at least one type of paper plane to throw around until it became to damaged to go anywhere. Of course, if you wanted a battery-powered flying toy, paper planes just couldn't compete ... until now. Meet Power Up Toys. A while back, Power Up was selling "Electric Paper Airplane Conversion Kits" that consisted of a durable, lightweight and rechargeable propeller that you could attach to a paper plane to make it fly for longer distances. I've seen the first two versions of this kit for sale on a number of sites, and I've a...

The face of madness revealed in Moryo no Hako . As someone who lives in a country where animation is overwhelmingly aimed at children and general audiences, I'm fascinated by the amount of freedom that animation has over in Japan. In particular, I'm still amazed at how anime is used as a means of telling serious horror stories, something that you'll never find here in the U.S. In this post, I will look at three horror anime series--each of which are based on a novel--that are great examples of how hand-drawn monsters, murders and mysteries can chill the soul of even the most jaded horror fan. Read on ...

A few weeks ago, I did an update post about the Alien franchise that listed new projects that are currently in development: comic books, a trilogy of novels, and a video game. The video game in question, Alien: Isolation , got a significant push forward this week in terms of media publicity, with a few articles, interviews, video clips, and an official Web site and Facebook page . According to the new information, Isolation should be ready for release by the end of this year. Read on for additional details about Isolation and what it could mean to the future of the franchise's video game titles.

Given the number of comic book, movie, novel and TV series that I've followed over the decades, I'm used to having key questions, plot developments and character fates remaining unresolved. I don't like this--I much prefer to explore interesting ideas in further detail instead of forgetting them--but I suppose it comes with being a horror and sci-fi fan. That said, Dark Horse has brushed the dust off of its Terminator license and is currently publishing Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle , a 12-issue miniseries that's written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Pete Woods. The first issue arrived last month and the second issue is currently available at comic shops, newsstands, and other places that carry Dark Horse titles. The miniseries sets itself up to answer certain questions posed in the first four Terminator movies, questions that will probably not be addressed when the franchise is rebooted in 2015. So far, Final Battle looks to be the most ambiti...

In September 2012, I did a two - part interview with Nigel Humphreys, sculptor and founder of Sculptoria Studio, about a selection of collectible dioramas that he was preparing for avid horror and sci-fi geeks like me. I recently received word that one of these dioramas, which depicts the Estuary Attack scene from Jaws , is ready for sale. Click below for more pictures of this amazing piece of Jaws art.

With 2014 just beginning, I'm going to kick off this year’s posts the only way a geek like me knows how: by talking about some of the swag I got for Christmas. For now, I’ll be taking about Star Wars Art: Concept which was recently published by Abrams Books. Read on for my complete review.