2015 nerdy views in Review

Nerdy views is two years old! And boy was it a rough second year for nerdy views. Just to put it into perspective, last year there were 236 posts, and this year will top out at 86 posts. That's two-thirds less posts. I didn't do any of my Game of Thrones recaps, and I didn't even have any posts in June and July. The culprit? I moved. Plus my office moved. And my responsibilities at my real job (you know, the one that gives me money?) expanded. It all happened at once and ate up what valuable spare time I had. So I had to re-prioritize things, and looking back on this year, it looks like I will be re-examining what I want to do with this site going forward.

But first! It may have been a down year for nerdy views, but it was a fun year for me personally! I bought my first place, went to the most conventions I ever have in a year, and met some truly awesome people. Here are some of the things that made my year memorable.

Cosplay

I know there's a good chunk of you out there reading this who don't understand cosplay. I was the exact same way a few years ago. I knew people dressed up for these conventions, but I had no idea of the work and accuracy that goes into these costumes until I started meeting cosplayers. And you know what? Going to a convention dressed up as one of your favorite characters is hella fun! Be it comics, TV, video games, etc, it's something you don't really understand until you actually do it and realize just how fun it is. So I'd like to give shout outs and thanks to (clockwise from top left) Eric Sellin and Matthew Bell, Ani-Mia, Yaya Han, Its Raining Neon, Destiny Nickelsen, Stella Chuu, and Drew Mollo for helping make these conventions awesome.

It's Christmas Day, and I'm after someone on my NAUGHTY list

Merry Christmas! Here's a new Deadpool trailer! And it's a Red Band trailer too, so start your holiday season on the naughty list!



Get your chimichangas on February 12th!

So You Wanna Be a Ghostbuster?

Credit: http://www.asmzine.com/geekly-rewind/2014/05/01/c2e2-2014-the-anovos-booth/

ANOVOS is a high end prop replica company that's fairly famous for producing high end screen accurate uniforms and props. Among their current licenses are Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Wars of which you can see Jango Fett & Clone Trooper armor above.

ANOVOS just acquired the license to Ghostbusters so the entry barrier to dressing up as a one has just gotten a lot easier. Right now you could spend a lot of DIY time building your own costume and proton pack, (which is time consuming but hella fun!) or spend an arm and a leg on ebay for a fan made prop. There's no pricing available yet but with the high quality nature of ANOVOS props, I expect them to not be cheap.

Credit: http://ghostbustersnews.com/2013/07/17/matty-collector-announces-neutrona-wand-prop-at-san-diego-comic-con/

MattyCollector.com put out some affordable props over the past few years. You can see the gohst trap and neutrino wand above. I have all the props and they're pretty cool, but there's still no proton pack prop available. If it's within the realm of reasonably priced, I might pick one up. But considering pre-order isn't slated until Q3 of 2016, I might have already built one for myself. =D

But still, as a Ghostbusters fan, this is exciting news. And you can check out all the information on the press release at the ANOVOS website here.

Star Wars 8-Bit Cinema

Are you tired of Star Wars yet? If not then take a look at CineFix's latest 8-Bit Cinema creation, dedicated to the Star Wars Original Trilogy. The one that started it all is told in "Legend of Zelda" style, The Empire Strikes Back is given the Mega Man treatment, and Return of the Jedi looks like a fun "Golden Axe" or "Final Fight" type game. And that music just takes me back to simpler times. Where can I play this?!?

Han Solo Blaster Project

If you're a casual Star Wars fan, you might not know that Han Solo's blaster, also known as the DL-44 is a pretty iconic movie weapon. It might not have the flash of a lightsaber, and it might not have the coolness factor of a Ghostbusters proton pack, but it's still a pretty good looking prop. So with a little help from this tutorial on instructables.com, I decided to turn this replica toy I got on Amazon into a much better looking gun.

Available on amazon.com

Ranking the Star Wars Films (And My Favorite Scenes)

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming out tomorrow (and tonight in many locations) all I've had is Star Wars on my mind. So I might as well take a look back at the first six movies, rank em, and talk about my favorite scenes and moments.

6. Attack of the Clones

I'm not sure I've been able to sit all the way through Attack of the Clones since I first watched it back in 2002. Even rewatching it this past week, I found myself bored, distracted, and ultimately just waiting for the one good scene in the movie. Yoda vs. Count Dooku. We finally got to see Yoda as the bad-ass that he was and it's hilarious how it starts off with him walking around with a cane. But when he opens his robe and summons his lightsaber, watch out!

Holy Crap! Is That Doomsday?!?

Those were the exact words that came out of my mouth the first time I saw this trailer. It's been about 8 months since the last trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and since then it's been all about Captain America: Civil War and Star Wars: The Force Awakens so we were about due for some new footage. And here it is!



At three minutes long, there's a ton going on in this trailer so lets take a closer look.

The trailer starts with some kind of formal gathering, perhaps a press event? Anyway, Clark Kent, who seems to be covering the event wonders who's the popular person pulling up.

Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?

First Harrison Ford surprised people with a chance to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens and meet the cast. Now Mark Hamill is spreading the word about Star Wars: Force for Change dressed as a Stormtrooper. And it honestly shows you just how funny Mark Hamill can be.



I kind of wish he took the helmet off and surprised people, but asking a cellphone vendor for power converters, confusing Iron Man for C-3PO, and an awkward encounter with Daddy Vader make the video entertaining enough as it is.

And if you'd like to win a chance to see the premiere of Star Wars: The Force awakens and meet the cast, go to forceforchange.starwars.com and make a donation.

Batman Unmasked

A new clip from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice debuted last night during Gotham, and in it a visibly pissed off Superman confronts a captured Batman and unmasks him revealing an equally pissed off Ben Affleck. The scowl meter in this clip is off the charts.

Whose Side Are You On?

Well I'm on the side that's going to be throwing money at Marvel because the first trailer for Captain America: Civil War is out and holy crap it looks awesome!

That was 150 seconds of awesome. There's tons going on this trailer so let's take a closer look.

"You Don't Know a Thing About Me"

But we're starting to, because another TV trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens just came out, and this one focuses mainly on Finn played by John Boyega.



This trailer reminded me of some of the themes in The Matrix. So let's take a look at the new footage, and this time there's actually a lot of it.

Surprise! It's Harrison Ford!

About a year and a half ago, J.J. Abrams started promoting Star Wars: Force for Change, a charitable initiative in association with UNICEF which supported good health for kids all around the world. Donors had a chance to actually BE in a Star Wars film. The cause raised over $4 million and while this contest is over, a new one has just become fully operational. Donations have opened again and this time, you have a chance to attend the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in either Los Angeles or London, walk the red carpet, and meet the cast!

The news was announced to some of the previous donors by staff at omaze.com, and were joined by a particularly jolly Harrison Ford to deliver the actual news.



Harrison Ford has taken on a very grumpy and crotchety persona the past few years, so it's really nice to see him in a good mood here. And the fan reactions to his surprise appearance are pretty cool too.

The last campaign was solely dedicated to kids. This time, donations will be split up among 15 different charities chosen by the cast of The Force Awakens. For instance, Harrison's charity is fStop Warrior Project, which helps wounded warriors transition back to civilian life through digital photography. And John Boyega's charity is Damilola Taylor Trust, which provides inner city youths an opportunity to live a life free from fear and violence. So head on over to omaze.com, make a donation, and hope for a chance to go to the premiere and meet the cast!

RIP Michael C. Gross

"Michael C. Gross on September 17, 2014" by Invertzoo -
Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_C._Gross_on_September_17,_2014.jpg
#/media/File:Michael_C._Gross_on_September_17,_2014.jpg

I'm very sad to hear of the passing of Michael C. Gross from terminal cancer. You probably don't recognize the name, but you've definitely seen his work. He was a producer on Ghostbusters and designed the iconic No Ghosts logo. I basically have this all over my apartment.

While he hasn't been in the movie industry for about 20 years, his time in it was very successful. He was also an executive producer on Ghostbusters II and The Real Ghostbusters cartoon. Among his other credits are Twins, Kindergarten Cop, and Dave. 

Rest in peace Mr. Gross. Thanks for your contributions to cinematic history. I will forever be proud to wear this symbol.

"Get Ready!" "For What?!?"

For another Star Wars: The Force Awakens TV trailer of course!!! You would think I'd be getting tired of these but no. I still look as shocked as Rey does here every time some new footage comes out.



As usual, it's new footage mixed with old so let's take a look at the new scenes.

"You Might Need This"

Well no one really needs another Star Wars trailer, but you always want one. At this point we're heading into dangerous spoiler territory with any new footage that gets released which just fuels more fan rumors, but I'll be damned if I'm not a part of that! ;) Anyway, here's the latest TV spot featuring a few new scenes.



It's new footage intermixed with old, so let's just take a look at the new scenes.

Ip Man 3 Trailer

I had only heard about a third Ip Man movie about a month ago, and news that he'd be fighting Mike Tyson was certainly a shocker when the short teaser was released. Now here's the full trailer for Ip Man 3, and it certainly looks like people are lining up to fight him.


The Grandmaster Returns to Hong Kong theaters on December 24th, and according to this trailer, it comes out January 22nd, 2016 possibly in the United States? I certainly hope so.

A Closer Look at the LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse

The LEGO Facebook page just dropped an album full of detailed pictures of the LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse. So let's take a closer look at some of them. Above is the cover for the box and here's the back.

Conan Plays Fallout 4

I find it funny that despite Conan O'Brien's obvious disdain for games and his general incompetence at them, he still receives early copies of popular releases. The reason? He's just too damn funny playing them. In the latest edition of Clueless Gamer, Conan plays Fallout 4 which comes out today. Conan plays the game like any other game by making fun of it, abusing his partner Aaron Bleyaert, and by trying to have sex with every female character in the game. Plus, those are some form-fitting vault jumpsuits...



Conan even had a Fallout 4 styled opening on his show last night!



And you know what? He really does look like the Vault Boy...

The Force Awakens International Trailer Breakdown

I did not think it was possible to get more excited but an international trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens just dropped with a bunch of new footage! Check it out!



Let's take a closer look at some of the new footage in this trailer.

LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse

Credit: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/27/lego-ghostbusters-firehouse-photos

This is it! This is definitely it! Entertainment Weekly just gave us our first look at the official LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse set which is set for a January 2016 release. The set has 4,634 pieces, will include 9 mini-figs, and will retail for $349.99. It looks to be a great companion piece to the LEGO Ecto-1 that was released last year. It's time to make some room on the old Ghostbuster shelf.

UPDATE: And here's a closer look at the mini-figs that will be included in the firehouse set! It includes the four main Ghostbusters along with Dana Barett as Zuul, Louis Tully as Vinz Clortho, Janine Melnitz, the taxi driver, the librarian ghost, Slimer, and two other ghosts. 

Jessica Jones Trailer

I know nothing about Jessica Jones. She isn't from Marvel's deep history of characters. In fact, her first appearance was only in 2001. But if this trailer is any indication, consider me excited for it. With the success of Daredevil, I'd say the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Netflix is starting off very nicely.



Here are a few things to take away from the trailer.

30th Anniversary Of Everything Nerdy Part II

2015 is almost over, and lately all the talk has been about the 30th Anniversary of Back to the Future. Well, that's not the only thing that celebrated its 30th birthday this year. Here's a look at some of the nerdy things that I was totally into 30 years ago that maybe didn't get the fanfare that Back to the Future is getting.

Robotech

Premiered Mar 4, 1985

Much like Voltron the previous year, Robotech was pulled from already existing Japanese animation. Except in this case, it was three completely separate series woven into one 85-episode season. Contrasting the kiddie nature of Transformers, Robotech was a sci-fi space opera that dealt with adult issues like love, war, and death. But who are we kidding. Robotech is popular because of the robots, and one in particular, the Veritech fighter, is still ridiculously popular today. Toys at the time, were unfortunately very scarce. The only thing you could even remotely get was a Transformers Jetfire figure and even that was pretty limited. Thankfully, collectibles are readily available now even on Amazon. And right now, there are these 30th Anniversary 1/100 (6 inches) scale transformable figures available.

 

Brick to the Future

October 21, 2015. This date is important in movie lore as the day Marty McFly & Doc Brown travel to in Back to the Future Part II. YouTube user MonsieurCaron, whom I've featured on nerdyviews before for his wonderful work doing LEGO Ghostbusters stop motion, has applied his talents to Back to the Future with this short little gem titled "Brick to the Future." Once again, it's full of awesome and has some very familiar mini-figs and vehicles in supporting rolls. Check it out!



MonsieurCaron has also made a game out of it by challenging you to find some of the LEGO hidden in the video such as Ant-Man, Captain America's shield and the Flash. Plus there are three additional Ghostbuster references that I think are pretty hard to miss.

You can check out more of his awesome LEGO work at BrickFun.net.

The Force Awakens Trailer Breakdown

There's no Star Wars fanfare this time, nor is there a surprise appearance of Han Solo triggering waves of nostalgia. But that doesn't mean this latest trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens gives me any less goosebumps. And here it is!



And in case you're not on Star Wars overload yet, here's my breakdown!

Transformers: Devastation Rolls Out Today!

Just a friendly reminder that Transformers: Devastation is out today! The game is about Optimus Prime and the Autobots trying to stop Megatron and the Decepticons from "cyber-forming" the Earth. Devastator has been featured pretty often in the trailers, I mean c'mon, his name is pretty much in the title of the game. But it looks like Menasor is in the game as well! And as Bumblebee says in the launch trailer below, "I did not see that coming."

Ip Man vs Mike Tyson?!?

Okay, a third Ip Man film is news to me. But what's even wackier is that Mike Tyson is in the film as one of his adversaries!!! Check out the teaser trailer below.



I'm a fan of Donnie Yen's work especially the first two Ip Man films. But Tyson's inclusion in this film is extremely odd. And not in a Hangover odd kind of way. But consider me curiously interested. Ip Man 3 is scheduled for a Hong Kong release on December 24th. There is unfortunately no scheduled release date for the United States.

Halo 5 Blue Team Opening Cinematic

A few weeks ago, the Halo 5: Guardians opening cinematic was revealed showing a newly upgraded Spartan Buck (played by Nathan Fillion) along with the rest of Osiris team. Now here's Blue Team's turn, led by the Master Chief himself.



Halo 5: Guardians hits the Xbox One on October 27th.

Force Friday

Force Friday is the most awkward sounding name... ever... But, it's Disney's way of making a Star Wars-centric Black Friday without any of the discounts. New toys and collectibles have just been released today for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which doesn't open for 3 months! I guess they're trying to avoid the toy shortages of 1977. Anyway, here are some of the things that I'm most interested in.

LEGO Millennium Falcon

If you missed the Millennium Falcon LEGO set the first time it came around, here's your second chance. It's a beautiful looking piece that's 18 inches long and 12 inches wide so there's plenty of room for the 7 figures it comes with. You've got old Han & Chewie, newcomers Finn & Rey, a couple of bad guys and even a little BB-8 droid. You can order the set on Amazon for $150.

Goku VS Street Fighter 2

Gamebill Studio just pit Goku from Dragon Ball Z against the entire cast of Street Fighter 2, and the results are expectedly pretty catastrophic for the SF2 folks, showing just how overpowered Goku really is. I mean he doesn't even have to go Super Saiyan for most of these guys.



So what have we learned? Kamehameha always wins... :)

Buck's Back! And He's a Spartan!

Well this is news to me. Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck played by Nathan Fillion, last seen in Halo: ODST and Reach will return for Halo 5: Guardians upgraded to a Spartan! Check out the opening cinematic for Halo 5.



Halo 5: Guardians hits the Xbox One on October 27th.

Transformers Devastation Is All About Nostalgia

Transformers: Devastation looks to be the badass offspring of the G1 cartoon series and Devil May Cry. Add to that the original voice actors, and you've got a healthy dose of nostalgia mixed in with a lot of hack and slash combo action. Just check out the latest gameplay trailer and you'll see these Autobots know kung fu!

It's Finn and a Lightsaber!

The Star Wars hype train just keeps chugging along as another teaser for The Force Awakens has been released. And it was on Instagram of all places showcasing a few new scenes, chief among them, newcomer John Boyega as Finn wielding a lightsaber.

A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

And here's a look at those new scenes.

A new look at the First Order as some high ranking officials look out over their massive army of Stormtroopers.

A new shot of Daisy Ridley as Rey looking back in shock with BB-8 in the background.

The all too familiar Kylo Ren and his much debated tri-blade lightsaber make a return appearance.

But this time it looks like Finn is in the forest ready to fight him with his own lightsaber. Or maybe since it's blue, it's the Skywalker lightsaber? Who knows?

Man, what a tease... Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18th.

Connecticut ComiCONN 2015

This past weekend I went to Connecticut ComiCONN. Last year, it was a one day event at Webster Bank Arena. This year, they expanded to three days at Mohegan Sun, and it was a great decision. While the convention itself has gotten much larger, it's still not the utter crowded chaos that New York Comic Con is, and that ultimately is a good thing. It was a well organized event and Mohegan Sun is an excellent venue. I'll admit, by midday Saturday, I was getting kind of "conned-out." But I took a breather in the casino, played some slots, had a couple of drinks, and after that I was ready to head back in. I guess you can't really nerd out for three days straight. So here are some of the highlights of my Connecticut ComiCONN experience.

It's the Batmobile! The car from the 1966 series was on display along with a few cardboard cutouts of the Dynamic Duo.

Doctor Who Series 9 Trailer Breakdown

The Doctor and Clara Oswald will be back in a little over a month for Series 9 of Doctor Who. It looks to be a lot more of the same, but you know what? That's exactly what I want! Here's the second trailer for Series 9.



There's a lot going on in this trailer, and at this point none of it makes any sense. So let's take a closer look.

The Hateful Eight Teaser Trailer

Are you a fan of Quentin Tarantino movies? Well his latest film, The Hateful Eight has finally gotten a proper teaser trailer, and here it is!



The film looks to be packed with talent and Tarantino veterans like Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Michael Madsen. Here's a plot synopsis:

"In post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunters try to find shelter during a blizzard but get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception. Will they survive?"

The Hateful Eight is set to hit theaters January 8th, 2016.

LEGO Dimensions Ghostbusters Packs

LEGO Dimensions is the upcoming LEGO video game that will mash together various franchises like The Simpsons, Doctor Who, and Back to the Future. Well one of those franchises is Ghostbusters and here's a look at some of the packs that will be released for it.

Here's the Peter Venkman Level Pack which comes with a little Ecto-1 and containment unit!

Here's the Stay Puft Fun Pack which comes with a terror dog.

And here's the Slimer Fun Pack

The busting begins September 27th.