Illustrator Karen Hallion has combined two of my favorite ‘verses into one magical fairy tale that, for those of us who might still be waiting on our Hogwart’s letter, is all too well a fit. Below are a few favorites, but click here for Ms Hallion’s deviantart page to sample her exemplary nerdery. Which princess do you think would make the best companion?

My vote is for Belle, by the way.

Make sure you click through – Karen Hallion’s art is fantastic, and her titles for these pieces are just as clever as the art.

If you’re tired of just looking at pictures or Tony Stark’s awesome Iron Man armor, then I suggest you get to Disneyland between April and September this year!

It has just been announced via the Disney Parks Blog that a new exhibit will be coming to Innoventions at Disneyland in California on April 13. The exhibit is called Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries, and will give visitors the chance to go inside Tony Stark’s Hall of Armor and much more.

Beginning April 13, Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries will give Disneyland park guests the chance to see Tony Stark’s Hall of Armor, featuring Iron Man suits Mark I-VII – the same suits featured in “Iron Man 3.” And you will even be able to virtually “suit up,” yourself! Through simulation technology, guests will be able to see what it’s like to operate the latest pieces of the Mark 42 Iron Man armor, even getting the chance to test out its infamous repulsor blasts.

I’m not sure what is meant by “virtually suiting up through simulation technology”, but you can count me in. Literally. Lucky for me, the soon-to-be-Mrs. Arse-bot and I will be going to Disneyland in May for our honeymoon, and you can bet your ass I’ll be checking this out. I will be starting a Kickstarter in the next few days to preemptively start raising money to make bail for when I get arrested for trying to don a suit of armor and fly out of the park.

For those of you that may not be able to make the journey to Disneyland during this time frame, check back at the end of May as I plan to have a full report and plenty of pictures from this hopefully-awesome display!

You can follow Arse-bot and all the pointless thoughts he puts out into the interwebs on Twitter @Arse_bot

UPDATE: Concerned over reports that the remaining content from The Clone Wars would not be made available to fans, a Lucasfilm spokesperson contacted me to assure you that the extra content will absolutely be made available to fans.

The bold was their emphasis, not mine.

So, at least we don’t have that to worry about.

Back to the original story:

Many outlets are reporting that Lucasfilm Animation is in the midst of layoffs, eliminating numerous positions held by the crews of Detours and The Clone Wars. Rumours spread that the creative team itself is going in separate directions.

While many assumed and hoped the crews behind these two shows would be reassigned other duties at Disney and in the Star Wars universe, their removal is not wholly unexpected. Downsizing after a major acquisition is an every day fact of life in the despicable world of corporate maneuvering.

TheForce.Net opines that the layoffs are a direct contradiction to the promise made on StarWars.Com that work would resume on episodes close to completion, but that might not be the case. If the plan for Disney is to work on doing the polish work on the last episodes, then, if their plan is to dismantle Lucasfilm Animation, for what reason would they need to retain all of the employees whose work happens before those final layers of polish?

I agree. It’s completely callous of Disney, but this decision makes perfect sense for a giant corporate conglomerate.

The one thing Disney does well is animation. They purchased Pixar for their animation. They didn’t purchase Lucasfilm for its animation department. They purchased it for Star Wars. They might well believe (in a good case of lying to themselves) that their animation departments produce work vastly superior to what Lucasfilm Animation produces. But let’s be honest, no Disney television show has ever or will ever look as good as The Clone Wars did. And it’s a testament to those who worked on it.

More alarming in the reports, however, is the notion that the “bonus content” promised in the release announcing this different direction for Star Wars might not ever actually see the light of day. This is something I’ve heard as well, but can’t seem to confirm it. Sources in the know claim that attempts to mollify fans with the news and pull the rug from them on this “bonus content” are baseless. But why would anyone in the know confirm it if the whole plan is a distraction?

At this point, I have to believe we’ll see the “bonus content,” but I will not–can not–be surprised if it doesn’t happen.

But renewed calls to panic in this case aren’t justified. This seems wholly consistent with the plan we were upset about a week ago. What’s being done to The Clone Wars is unfair, both to the fans and the artists who create the show, and it will never hurt to voice your support, but being upset at a cat for eating a mouse (or in this case a giant mouse eating a television show) is to deny the nature of the thing.

It can never hurt, though, to show your support of the show with a letter to Disney.

Bob Iger
Disney Studios
500 S Buena Vista St
Burbank, CA 91521

If you send a letter, be sure to remain civil and leave it to nothing more than your love of The Clone Wars. Don’t give in to hate. That leads to the Dark Side.

For more addresses to send letters to, visit Save The Clone Wars.

I’ve been asking since January, the first to raise the specter of this possibility, What if The Clone Wars Doesn’t Come Back? I’ve been bracing for this as a worst case scenario for a while now. I was called out for being an alarmist, but I was being a realist and am being a realist now. And I really hate to say, “I told you so.”

I don’t think we’re going to get The Clone Wars back.

Don’t focus on the possibility of getting it back, if it happens, it will be because we remained civil and showed our love and care. Anger isn’t going to help the situation. Enjoy what we’ve had and don’t dwell on the rest. Show your support and embrace all the Star Wars we have yet to come.

Be sure to listen to the Full of Sith podcast for the latest news and analysis.

Two major reports have come out in the last few days regarding Episode VII. One of them is straight from a direct source (but still unconfirmed!) and the other is a blatant rumour and is to be taken with a grain of salt.

The first, more reliable report, is Harrison Ford.

WGN in Chicago caught up with Ford on a red carpet and asked point blank about his involvement with Episode VII, to which he replied: “It’s not in the bag yet, but I think it’s going to happen.”

Harrison Ford is much more reliable at such things than Carrie Fisher, so this can be taken with a greater degree of certainty, but until it’s announced officially, anything can change. Even Ford in his quote hints at the idea that it’s not a done deal yet, and that’s how we should approach it.

The more unsubstantiated part of this report comes from Cosmic Book News. I’ve never heard of them and have no insight into their reliability, but their report swings from “obvious” to “you’ve been reading too many early 90s Star Wars comics.”

Here are their major points from their report:

Star Wars Episode VII will be set 30 years after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

It will indeed feature the Skywalker/Solo children coming to the peak of their powers

The Jedi Order has been rebuilt with Luke Skywalker as Grand Master

A disciple of Emperor Palpatine aims to rebuild the Sith Armies of the Old Republic and destroy the Jedi where the Skywalker children will be thrust into battle and face their inner demons of their Skywalker lineage.

The first one proves they can count. The second one leads me to believe they read the Internet. And it’s the last two that lead me to believe they’ve been reading too much. I just don’t buy it. The “source” in their report says to take this as a rumour, which says to me their source is pulling things out of thin air. The story has been set and the script has been worked on from an approved treatment. The story is in place. For anyone in the know, they’ll know how to separate fact from fiction in that regard.

This sounds like a licensee or some random person not actually in the know reading tea leaves.

Sure, they could come to fruition, but you’d do well to take each and every one of these with a grain of salt large enough to melt a Hutt.

(via Club Jade)

This first appeared on The Huffington Post.

In honor of the 25th anniversary Blu-ray release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (which is in the running for the best film ever directed by Robert Zemeckis) I was given the extreme pleasure of interviewing the voice of Roger Rabbit himself, Charles Fleischer. In the intervening 25 years, Fleischer has become something of a renaisaince man. In addition to his acting, he’s an accomplished stand-up comic, and has even made scientific discoveries in the field of gamma rays, leading me to believe he might actually be The Hulk.

He was more than happy to talk about this classic film from his past, however.

Bryan Young: Roger Rabbit has a staying power not frequent with movies. It gets played with noir films like the Maltese Falcon. Why do you think it has had the cultural staying power it does.

Charles Fleischer: There are a few reasons. Number one, Robert Zemeckis and in addition to that, Richard Williams who did the aspect of designing Roger and the animation. Both of them are geniuses. When you factor that into the script and the fact it took place in the past, introducing cartoon characters, so it created a sensibility whereby he already existed, it made it easier to accept as something that’s always been as opposed to trying to present a new cartoon character in the world of 2013.

BY: You insisted on being in a Roger Rabbit suit for the duration of filming, and I’m wondering what your thinking was behind that.

Charles Fleischer: Unlike other voice over situations which are done in a recording studio, Roger Rabbit was live action and animation combined, and there was a time factor, so my voice was recorded live on the set. So I’m on the set rehearsing and recording my voice as a performance with the other actors, and they’re all wearing costumes, and it made sense to me. When you do a movie, you go to the location and get into your costume. It’s part of your metamorphosis into your character, and it just made sense to do it. At first, Bob Hoskins thought I was just a crazy American, but later he did thank me for doing that because it helped him visualize a character who wasn’t really there.

Bryan Young: Aside from the gorgeous HD transfer, what should we be excited for on this new Blu-ray release?

Charles Fleischer: What you will find on the Blu-ray that has not been on other releases are the inclusion of the Roger Rabbit shorts, “Tummy Trouble” and “Rollercoaster Rabbit”, those have not been together in one package. That really makes this an extraordinary situation that not only can you get the movie on blu ray and all the features that have previously been there, but you get the inclusion of the three separate shorts which were originally released with other films the way they used to in the other days where you’d have a cartoon short before the feature. In fact, one of them was before Dick Tracy, and I appeared in Dick Tracy, so I had a double billing in that movie.

And then talk quickly turned to the rumoured Roger Rabbit sequel starring Roger and Mickey Mouse.

Bryan Young: Gary K. Wolf, who wrote the book the movie is based on, posted on his web site recently that there was going to be some more Roger Rabbit. Is there anything you can say about that?

Charles Fleischer: Because I am not an executive at Disney Studios, I would say it’s premature to make any comments, however, if there is to be a sequel, I would more than likely consider that Rob Zemeckis would be the man at the helm, and all those other things are premature or authentic and doubtful in my opinion. I do still have hope that Bob Zemeckis will again take the helm and bring Roger back. It’s been 25 years, and that’s a good amount of time to wait.

It’s hard to imagine a sequel happening without Robert Zemeckis, and without him, I’m not sure I’d want to see a sequel to this classic film at all. But anything can materialize, and Disney isn’t in the habit of leaving cash on the floor anymore.

The 25th Anniversary Blu-ray of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is available now.

Bryan Young is an author and the editor of the geek news and review site Big Shiny Robot!

Amid rumors that EA is set to reveal Battlefield 4 at GDC next week, we have received some sideways confirmation of that happening via a “leaked” promotional image. The image isn’t going to spoil much for you, it’s just a well-armed man running through the rain with military ordnance and a cityscape behind him. The city probably suggests that there will be a return of urban warfare, but I would bank on that until the official reveal. Coincidentally, EA’s Vine is also looping a short clip suggesting we “Prepare 4 Battle” and the date of 3/27 – all but confirming the announcement next week.

Retro fans have something to look forward to on PSN and XBLA “soon.” Despite carrying the Dungeons & Dragons name, Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara aren’t actually RPGs. In classic 1990s fashion, they’re sidescrolling beat-em-ups with RPG archetypes. For those of us that grew up in arcades 20 years ago, games just don’t get much better. No word yet on price or a solid release date, but I’m expecting somewhere around $6/piece or $10 for the double pack and releasing before month’s end.

That’s not the only piece of Capcom’s back catalog you can expect to see re-released soon. Strider, the action platformer that hit arcades in late 1980s (and consoles in the early 1990s), looks to soon have a revival on PC, PSN, and XBLA. Unfortunately, there are basically no details since this comes from a reliable leak rather than an official announcement. Capcom reportedly has plans to announce two new releases at PAX East this week. This may be one of them.

Despite lackluster sales and a poor critical showing, Disney has one last trick up its sleeve for Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. The original console release was developed by Junction Point, who has since shut their doors. The announcement didn’t mention who will be developing the Vita port. A release date was also not included, but it was slated for later this year.

Current CEO of Electronic Arts, John Riccitiello, has announced his plans to step down on March 30th. Larry Probst will stand as the Executive Chairman while the board looks for a permanent replacement. Riccitiello has been in the CEO role since 2007. Details behind this “mutually agreed… transition” haven’t been forthcoming, and I wouldn’t expect much either. EA has done well under Riccitiello’s leadership, though they have suffered economic losses along with the rest of the world. The resignation announcement also included a note indicating “revenues and earnings per share for the current quarter will be at the low end of, or slightly below previously issued guidance.” Which sound like they’re operating near budget forecasts, if not as well as they hoped. In this industry, right now, that’s not bad.

You may have already heard about Microsoft’s XBox Entertainment Awards, which will allow fans to vote on the best in television, film, and games over the past year. It’s new, but it’s nothing groundbreaking. What makes this newsworthy is that the voting website was only up for a short time before being taken down to resolve technical issues: visibly posting the email addresses for over 3,000 users and allowing visitors to edit or delete votes already cast. Yeah, good job on that one Microsoft.

That takes care of our early edition. Check back on Friday for more gaming goodness from the rest of the week.

Overkill Software has announced Payday 2 for release this summer on PSN and XBLA. The sequel to the acclaimed Payday: The Heist returns the player to the roles of Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chain as they head to Washington, D.C. for an “epic crime spree.” Featuring single-player and four-player co-op, the sequel will also have randomly generated dynamic events, insuring fresh takes on multiple playthroughs. The first game received high praise and the sequel should be an event release for fans.

The second episode of the “Tyranny of King Washington” DLC for Assassin’s Creed III is releasing next week. Called “The Betrayal,” this episode adds a new animal spirit to Connor’s arsenal, the eagle. The new Eagle Flight power lets Connor travel long distances in a blink (as in you just aim the power and it works like Blink from Dishonored). This chapter is releasing on March 19th for $10, or free with the season pass.

It’s been a long time, but older gamers may remember a classic called Road Rash. It sounds a little simplistic in the modern age, but a game about racing motorcycles and beating competitors off their bikes was actually a big hit at the time. The 1991 original game was a SEGA Genesis title and the only featured weapon was a club. Later iterations added chains, bottles, and other tools of mayhem. The most recent release was a port of Road Rash: Jail Break on Gameboy Advanced in 2003, but the original creator, Dan Geisler, hadn’t been involved since 1993’s Road Rash 3: Tour de Force. Geisler recently resurfaced on Reddit where he expressed an interest in renewing the series via Kickstarter “if there is enough interest.” An actual sequel or reboot may not be possible through that avenue, as EA currently holds the IP. With enough Kickstarter money, Geisler may be able to convince EA of the validity of his project. More likely we’ll see a “spiritual successor” without the name. Regardless, count me in.

The upcoming Disney Infinity has been delayed into August. Oddly, the delay doesn’t come from the developer, or even the publisher, but from requests by retailers. The title is an obvious competitor to the successful Skylanders franchise and will likely do very well with Disney’s juggernaut media machine and well-known IPs. According to John Pleasants, Co-President of Disney Interactive, “The date became an issue in terms of them [retailers] asking, ‘is there a better opportunity here?’” Retailers explain that the August window is a time when game consumers are more actively buying content, leading them to believe they’ll get better sales on the game and its figurine expansions. I might contend that consumers spend their money when good titles are released and good titles come in waves, but they make more money than me so they’re clearly more intelligent. I might also contend that cloning an Activision game is a pretty lame move by Disney, especially while they are in the midst of cancelling Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault.

The survival horror genre seems to be reviving slowly, though not necessarily in the ways you would expect. When the indie-developed Lone Survivor released on PC in March 2012 it received great critical acclaim. But you still may not have heard of it. It’s now set for greater exposure with a cross-buy release on PS3 and Vita in July. The unnamed hero is working his way through a “psychological-survivor-adventure” in a city filled with diseased monsters. A system of “meaningful” choices will determine your ending, including the newly added “yellow” ending. This looks intriguing and I’m anxious to hear more about it before its summertime release.

If you’re a fan of Bethesda classics like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, you may want to check out their updated web store. There’s some pretty cool stuff, like Vault 101 sneakers, a sick Dragonborn statue (for a sick price as well), and even a Mark of the outsider (Dishonored) pendant. The obvious item missing though is the complete set of New Vegas snowglobes or DC Wasteland bobbleheads. Which I’m actually kind of glad to see. The whole set probably wouldn’t be cheap and I don’t think I could stop myself from buying it.

The Phantom Pain is still fooling no one by pretending to be anything other than Metal Gear Solid V. Unfortunately Konami and Kojima still want to maintain the farce. That hasn’t stopped them from sharing more information though. According to “Joakim Mogren” of Moby Dick Studios, the game will be running on Kojima’s new FOX engine. At about the same time this was revealed, Kojima announced that he is expanding their presentation at GDC in a few weeks. Expect more details about the engine and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, and likely an end to this silly prank when they do the full reveal.

You may remember that Ubisoft picked up THQ Montreal in the fire sale resulting from the developers financial collapse. At the time there was all sorts of speculation about Patrice Desilets‘ return to the company where he helped create the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Of course, at the time, neither Ubisoft nor Desilets had anything to public to say about their relationship. Happily, Ubisoft has now announced that he plans to stay with the company. His first expected task with the company is to finish 1666, a game he was already working on but which we know very little about. Personally, I see this as good news.

But that’s not the only phoenix rising from the ashes of THQ. Volition was snatched up by Deep Silver in the auction and it was only a matter of time before we saw the return of their biggest franchise with Saints’ Row IV, which has just been announced for release on August 20, 2013. Look for this iteration to top the third game in every way, including super heroes and a dubstep gun.

Fans of pinball certainly already know about The Pinball Arcade which realistically recreates classic tables in digital format on PS3 and Vita (as opposed to Zen Pinball, which makes unrealistic “video game” versions). Fans of that franchise should be very excited for Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s debut in the game next week. Table Pack 10 will be coming a week later and bringing classics like Gottlieb’s Genie and Bally’s Attack from Mars. As if that’s not enough, FarSight Studios has also announced that this gem will be making its way to PS4. They haven’t mentioned timing, whether it’s launch window or later, but I’d expect this very soon after the console’s retail release, if not day of.

That looks to be it for this week. Come back Tuesday for all the news from the weekend. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see what’s so great about this Dishonored thing everyone’s been talking about for months.

For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, I somehow managed to miss Wreck-It Ralph’s theatrical run. Seeing it now on Blu-ray, I realize how much of a colossal mistake that was.

Wreck-It Ralph tells the tale of a 1980s video arcade game bad guy who has grown weary of being treated like a bad guy because he’s not really a bad guy. His job just happens to require untold amounts of property destruction. He goes on a quest to win a medal and be a good guy and finds himself in other games, learning about himself, his world, and others around him through a series of exhilarating adventures.

As a kid who grew up playing video games of the 80s and 90s, this movie was nothing short of perfect. From the cameos of various characters of franchises I love (from Zangief and Bowser to Doctor Robotnik and M. Bison) and kept me smiling the whole way through.

I had to check the cover repeatedly to make sure this wasn’t actually a Pixar film. And maybe that’s the best news we’ve had from the entire Disney/Pixar merger. If the boys at Pixar have been able to infuse this much creativity back into Disney’s animation department, we’re all going to benefit. Let’s hope they apply the same vigor to their 2D animation as well.

On Blu-ray, these modern 3D animated films are indeed stunning. The quality is sharp, and the visual motifs between the 8bit games and the stand up arcade machines was nothing short of breathtaking. The way they incorporated the different styles, established the world, and the rules of that world with cinematic storytelling was gleeful. It was apparent the makers of this film were having a fun time and it comes across with every frame of animation.

And I can’t say enough about John C. Reilly. I’ve long been a fan of his work. His turns in P.T. Anderson films and many, many others, have instilled me with a confidence about him that adds a layer of likability to any movie he’s a part of. Hopefully the rest of the world will catch up with that thinking, because I think he’s absolutely charming. He’s not handsome in a Hollywood way, but he is a fantastic actor with a flawless understanding of craft and is incredibly fun to watch (or listen to, in this case.) His voice is so perfect for the role, but you’d never have thought of it before, much the same way I reacted to hearing Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible.

Overall, my only complaint about this Blu-ray disc was the intermission screen. The way it is now, Chris Hardwicke hosts a variety of video game and movie trivia and visual gags. I’d have much preferred something a little more traditional and involving the characters of the movie since it wears thin fast.

Aside from that one complaint, which is minor, I would put this disc in the “MUST OWN” category. It’s available on Amazon and at fine retail stores everywhere.

Croissant de Triomphe on Disney Video

Even though I’m feeling a little upset with Disney, there’s no way I can remain that way. If this short is any indication of the creativity flowing out of that company that we’ll be seeing on a regular basis, consider me a happy camper.

Also, I’m a nerd for shorts like this. I’ve long felt we needed a return to them and this is an amazing leap forward in that direction. Well played, Disney. Well played.

We’ve all been expecting Dr. Strange to come together sooner rather than later. He’s a character perfectly suited to this new Marvel Universe, he’s of about the same level of importance and popularity that Iron Man was before his film launched, and he’s owned by Marvel Studios outright.

Marvel Producer Kevin Feige confirmed to MTV News that Dr. Strange was, indeed, in:

“‘Doctor Strange,’ which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them,” he confirmed. “He’s a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he’s totally different from anything else we have, just like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ He’s totally different from anything we’ve done before, as is ‘Ant-Man,’ which keeps us excited.”

For those who may not know, Dr. Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme. A former brain surgeon who lost the finer use of his hands in an accident is chosen to be brought into a life of cosmic magic. He’s one of the most epic characters in the Marvel Universe and when things are beyond his power, you know things are grim. He’d mesh well with many aspects of the current Marvel movie continuity and I’d love to see him face off with The Avengers.

Perhaps we’ll get a Secret Defenders movie out of this? Why not? I mean, Guardians of the Galaxy was equally unexpected, why not The Secret Defenders?

If you’re interested in catching up on some Dr. Strange comics, Brian K. Vaughn’s “The Oath” is a great place to start.