The official website of Star Wars (starwars.com) has been putting up updates from Toy Fair and perhaps the most important has just come to my attention.

It seems as though they’re manufacturing a vintage Boba Fett action figure, but this time the rocket-firing mechanism is actually going to work.  Back in 1979, this Boba Fett toy was a mail-away and advertised as going to be able to fire a missile from his jetpack.  But between the time those ads went out and the toys were manufactured, that was decided to be a serious safety concern.

This action figure has been a long fabled myth for 30 years.

Until now.

At Toy Fair, Hasbro unveiled this figure that they’ll be releasing.

As far as other Boba Fett merchandise, they’ve also revealed a helmet for kids and Boba Fett’s blaster.

Why all this increased excitement in Boba Fett?  Well, aside from being the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett will be making an appearance on the Clone Wars TV show.

A lot of people have been buzzing about, talking about Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s zombie masterpiece The Walking Dead.

What not a lot of people have been talking about is casting of the lead, Rick Grimes.

Big Shiny Robot! has talked to a few different sources about names that are in the ring for the series and we’re pretty happy.  There are a couple of sources we talked to with varying reliability, but these names all made a lot of sense, so we want to throw these out there and get the conversation going.  If you don’t know about Walking Dead and have never read it, it’s perhaps one of the best comics being published today.  Grab the first trade from Amazon right here and you won’t regret it.

The most reliable sources point us to Jamie Bamber as in the running for Rick.  You might remember him from Battlestar Galactica playing Lee Adama.

I’m in the midst of watching BSG for the first time now and I have to say, this would be a great choice.  He’s a strong actor, has the right look and handles televised drama really well.

Next on the list is Mark Pellegrino, who is on Dexter and plays Jacob on Lost.

He has a little bit less of the look, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t work.  He’s an incredibly talented actor and any show would do well with him at the helm.  And really, doesn’t he look like a guy that would make the hard choices in a zombie apocolypse?

And then the last name on the list.  Stuart Townsend.  The “would-be”  King of Middle Earth.  The “would-be” Asgardian….

I’m assuming he could work, but I haven’t seen him in much of anything as he seems to always get replaced at the last minute.  If he does get cast, I’d expect that to happen again.  But who knows.

As far as all three of these possibilities, I’d actually be really happy with any of them.

What do you guys think?

After wrapping up the original Bioshock, I found myself drooling for more. I had escaped rapture, freed the little sisters, done all the good I could imagine, and successfully made my way to the surface. A little over two years later 2K Games is sending you back as a new character to unravel the mysteries of Sophia Lamb, and her twisted groups intent in the underwater colony.
Playing a mysterious character known only as “Subject Delta”, You begin your quest to find Eleanor, your little sister (not relative but gathering, harvesting, creep machine) who has been abducted by Sophia Lamb. With the assistance of another mysterious man by radio you begin your exploration of another huge portion of the underwater world.
The second my copy arrived for review I anxiously ripped open the package to receive what I consider to be another must have collector’s edition, (right along side the Assassin’s Creed 2 piece.) Packaged with a 180 gram vinyl LP soundtrack for Bioshock 1, the cd soundtrack for Bioshock 2, a 164 page hard-bound art book with director commentary, and 3 advertisement posters from the game, wrapped in a stylish box, the cost of 99.99 was to me a great value. If you were intuitive enough to pre-order one, or tenacious enough to find one, I doubt you will be disappointed in the items you received, I know I’m not.

The game looks and feels akin to it’s predecessor in every way. The same dark, rusted passageways, the man you’ve never met radioing directions to you. And you slowly upgrading yourself piece by piece to become strong enough to take on the splicer’s that await. As an alpha big daddy Delta can still fight other big daddy’s to claim their little sister’s. However, you can now adopt them, and use them to gather adam, increasing your own personal upgrade power, and then choose to harvest them, or release them. Based on your decision to harvest the sisters or save them, you are privy to multiple endings. Sophia Lamb is of course not ok with you adopting and harvesting or saving little sisters, so as you do so you will be attacked by her minions the big sisters. They are stronger, faster, and much harder to kill than the big daddy’s and offer a unique challenge to the game,such as…”do I really want to fight the big daddy to gather, only then to fight a big sister?”
Although Bioshock 2 does not feel much different from the first, playing as a big daddy does give it quite different way of going about combat, and the new weapons are also quite enjoyable. Whether using your trusty shotgun, or .50 cal used in the first game, or moving onto newer weapons like the spear gun, and rivet gun. Your slower movements, and increased melee damage with your drill (as well as your ability to drill through splicer’s and other opponents) show you the power of the big daddy.
The joy in Bioshock 2 is not found in what they changed from the last though. Really the story is the major pull of the game. Any redundancy that I felt, was quickly erased by the interesting environments and characters. From Grace Hollaway, to the demented Alexander Gill, I found myself excited to meet new characters and discover what they contributed to the new underwater nightmare. Guiding delta through the seedy underbelly of the world, or guiding him across the ocean floor to the next airlock, didn’t feel cumbersome at all as the story unraveled before me. The game continues to offer unexpected and well written twists, similar to the WYK ending of the first game.

Another portion of the game that really stands out is the music. The soundtrack to the game is beautifully mesmerizing. From the stylized load screen music to the great symphonic score, I feel the music from this game compete’s with the soundtrack from Modern Warfare 2. Blend the well composed music with terrifying splicers, and a beautiful underwater world, and you get the greatest overall immersion that a game can create. If anything can be said of the Bioshock team, they know how to place you in a world, that not only terrifies you, it enthralls you.
Take the great twisting story, huge pile of plasmids, 2 endings, and 12 hour play-through time for my first go, I’d say this game is a must have for the gamer’s collection. And a must play for anyone who likes a tough game with a great story. Putting the element’s that 2K has delivered together, and package it with a well developed multi-player with that same Rapture twist, and we get yet another solid entry into the q1 gaming list. It’s hard not to be a fan boy of a series designed so well.

Liked:

• Fabulously composed soundtrack, and well placed ’50s style score.
• Once again the beautiful art deco world stunned me every step of the way
• Spoiler Alert: Playing as a little sister
• Pretty much the entire game

Disliked

• I really do wish the game was longer, but even the 12 hours for my hard play-through was a blast.
• There were times that I found the splicer’s so difficult that I felt less like a big daddy, and more like the regular Joe from part one.
• The new research system, it didn’t make quite as much sense as the first, and was harder to understand if I was doing well with the camera.

Score:

• Graphics : 9
• Controls: 9
• Audio : 10
• Replay:8
• Story:10
• Overall:9

An incredibly trusted and wise source of Big Shiny Robot!s has consulted his trusted and wise source at the Marvel/Paramount camp about the recent flurry of casting rumours that have plagued the internet in the last week (yes, we’re guilty, too.)

Here is what our good friend had to say:

According to MY studio guy, the rumors about Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), Ryan McPartlin (Chuck), Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) and other unknowns/television actors reading for Cap are true.

Apparently, when the script came in with World War II sequences (featuring the Invaders), the studio heads decided it was beyond their means to make this movie AND afford A-listers like Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.

Sure sounds like everyone’s high on McPartlin, who evidently just lost out on the Superman role to Brandon Routh.

As for Spidey, the Logan Lerman rumors are just that … rumors. Apparently Sony is waiting for James Vanderbilt’s script to come in (he’s balking on whether Peter Parker is still in school or just out). And they haven’t even come to terms with director Marc Webb yet.

So it seems as though pretty much all the rumours about Cap have been true, and the rumours regarding Spider-Man have been bunk.

In any case, there’s been a lot of news about Captain America coming out of the floodgates from Joe Johnston as well, and his take on the character, the costume, and the story was actually pretty interesting.  He said that the classic Cap costume in the film appears because they use Cap as a USO publicity tool, but Steve has that desire to lead and tries to ditch the costume, but realizes the worth of it when he notices that it’s an effective tool as a symbol of leadership.  So he begins to shape the costume into something more akin to the present-day Cap costume.  It’s a take on the character and the costume I’ve never heard, but I’m actually pretty in love with.

Also, he says the Red Skull is the villain, which isn’t a huge surprise, but interesting to get a confirmation of nonetheless.

In any case, check back here frequently for all the news that’s fit to print!

UPDATE:  A lot of sites are running quotes to our piece here and saying “The top three choices for Cap are these guys”.  This article says no such thing.  These guys read for the part.  That’s all our man said.  We have no idea who’s at the top of the list, but these three have read for it.

Chad Michael Murray is the latest name to be rumoured for the coveted role of Captain America that rightfully belongs to Matt Damon.  I have seen nothing he’s been in and have no idea who he is.

This is a stretch, I know…  but we’re running this purely as a rumour and that’s all it is at this point.

I got some info from an anonymous fellow who frequents some forums that some of us Robot’s visit.

This is what he had to say:

So I work in a place outside of LA where some celebrities frequent. Chad Michael Murray is one of these people. He was in the other night and one of his friends with him told me that the casting for Cap is down to Chad and one other person. He didn’t tell more who the other person is perhaps he didn’t know, but I found it interesting. The friend told me that he’d have to lend Chad all his comics and teach him about the background of the character.

Not a ton of info, but I thought you guys might find it interesting.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Personally, I still want Matt Damon to play him.

What do you guys think?

UPDATE: The fact that he’s reading for the role has been confirmed.  Check out our article about it here.

Access Hollywood sat down and talked to 18-year-old actor, Logan Lerman, the star of the upcoming Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (he also was in 3:10 to Yuma, Gamer, and The Butterfly Effect). During the interview, Lerman revealed that he is currently “in talks” to play the titular role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the upcoming reboot:

“There have been a few discussions, it’s definitely something I’m looking into,” Logan told Billy on Thursday.

“It’s one of my favorite characters ever and I’m a huge fan of the series,” he continued. “I’d love to have more conversations about it. I’m definitely very interested in it.”

The “Percy Jackson” star explained that the interest in him playing Spider-Man was “vice versa,” and that both he and the studio have expressed interest.

“It’s just, you know, conversations are starting. It’s a long process with the studio and the producers and everything. But it’s definitely a project that I’m really interested in, of course,” he told Billy. “I’d love to focus on the human element a little bit more. It’d be such a fun experience.”

So there you have it folks. I think we may have our first official hat in the ring for our new Spider-Man. I remember him from 3:10 to Yuma and The Butterfly Effect and I don’t remember him being bad by any means. What do all of you think of this potential casting?

Get excited! We’ve got some great comics bending over the examination table this week!

Starting with Kick-Ass #8

Every time I pick up a new issue of Kick-Ass no matter how wrong I’ve been every other time, I say to myself, “This one can’t possibly be as good as the last one.” And I’ve been wrong every single time. This last issue didn’t let me down in any way. I thought I wanted to see the movie before, but I have to say before reading this issue, I never knew what it was really like to want to go see a movie. Kick-Ass is easily on my list of favorite comics, and Mark Millar’s best to date. This issue was so gory, and so hilarious, read it before the movie comes out! It was worth the wait!

If I had to choose between life, and Kick-Ass, I would choose life. But only because then I couldn’t appreciate Kick-Ass! -Slugtron

Overview: I creamed in my pants from a mere glance of this ass-hole, and not just a little bit. It’s like concentrated anti-Medusa.

Prognosis: It’s bloody, hairy, leaky, and spongy, and I love it!

Next on the list, Siege #2

There has been quite a bit of hype going on with Siege, and when I read the first issue I didn’t think it was bad, but I didn’t think it was as good as the raves going on about it. I sensed it would get better and better for every Marvel comic you’ve picked up for the last five years, but I haven’t been reading that many. I was still versed enough to understand what was going on, but save to say, I was asking a lot of questions.

As for the second issue, I thought it was way better than the first, and in fact it was better than most comic books. But at the same time I felt there were a lot of things that didn’t hold as much weight without the back story. I think a dead give away of this fact is the roll-call page they put into this issue. Then there were some things that held just as much weight, (like the sentry ripping Ares in half.) That’s right, spoiler alert sucka’s! And I thought the ending was cool, but I don’t think Bendis brings the majesty to Cap the way Mark Millar does. I’m just sayin’.

Overview: If I had to pay for ass, (which I don’t) I would pay for a slice of this one. (Although you’ve got to hate the 4 dollar price tag on popular comics.)

Prognosis: Safe for banging.

Last up, Ultimate Enemy #1

Another Bendis title, one that proves he’s stretched a little thin. This was essentially an issue of Ultimate Fantastic Four after Ultimatum, with a few other cameo rolls granted. The thing is, Bendis has written UF4 and it was much better than this. I’m not a Bendis fan but I know he can do much better.

It’s issues like this that make me wonder why they even bothered with Ultimatum. I’ll admit I’ve liked all of the Ultimate titles since Ultimatum, but this issue was bad. It was literally flashing around the world to different super heroes, capturing a boring moment of their lives right before a mysterious explosion goes off, five times in a row. Ultimatum was so confusing I don’t know what’s what in the universe anymore, I need some more exposition to be entertained.

Unfortunately just because this issue was bad it doesn’t mean that the next one will be. That means we still have at least four more dollars to gamble on Bendis, if he lets us down again I think we need to start an ass e-mail campaign. (Which is similar to a normal e-mail campaign.)

Five explosions! -Slugtron

Overview: This title worries me about the future of the Ultimates universe, especially with the news that Jeph Loeb is writing New Ultimates.

Prognosis: This ass-hole is as shriveled as an eighty-year old’s and it’s brand new! It’s the Benjamin Button of ass-holes.

Spoilers Ahead! – Only read on if you have already watched the two hour premier of LOST!

Proletaria-tron: Its been a while since we’ve had something to be really excited about for Lost, sure we’ve had some tid bits of info here and there but nothing really got me all too excited. The premiere of the final season didn’t excite me either. A lot has happened since that last episode of season 5, for me at least. Through the glory of the internet, cable, and my new god Netflix I have been exposed to some really good TV; Mad Men and Dexter topping my list. I have kind of forgotten how much I loved Lost. How excited I was to watch every week, speculating about what was going on and being pissed about what just happened.

Tonight after the episode was over all I could think was ‘Meh, that was decent but fuck nothing really happened.’ Sure Juliette is dead but a damn bomb blew up next to her I kinda figured she’d be dead, plus this is Lost nobody stays dead. Case in point; Sayyid comes back to life right at the end. So I guess I’ll go back to the beginning or at least the first hour of last nights 2 hour premiere.

Nothing Happened. Juliette was pulled out of the rubble and died, Sawyer was pissed. The End. Oh all the stuff about the alternate reality where everyones on the plane and fine? Yeah I don’t fucking care because thats a different group of people, a group I never cared about, the ones I care about are still on the damn island.

Hour 2? A little happened. We learned that Locke really is dead and that the Smoke Monster is actually a who and can inhabit a zombie Locke, but not who he is. I forgot how annoying that is. Two steps forward, one step back. Hey we found some more Others, an angry Japanese guy and the Temple. That was pretty cool but man what a lackluster premiere. Of course I’m tuning in next week though, so I can be upset that I still don’t know what Locke is.  Arse-bot are you somehow less cynical than me?

Arse-bot: Actually Proletaria, I am less cynical than you this time around. I actually agree with you that it was kind of a lackluster premier, but I didn’t think it was bad. A lot has happened over 5 seasons and this was a good way to ease everyone back into LOST that has once again been off the air for almost a year.

As is par with LOST, I am confused as hell after two hours, but I’ll start with the first hour. Again, not a lot happened, but it seems that the creators are easing us back in. After all, our characters are all reeling from an atom bomb explosion (as far as we can tell from Juliette’s post-death message) and are trying to figure out what to do now. Their plan didn’t work, Sayid is dying, Juliette is dead, and Sawyer is toying with the idea of killing Jack for this mistake – it was supposed to fix everything. As far as this alternate reality we are being shown, I find it kind of depressing. I think we are going to experience a big twist (obviously) with this reality though because many characters are not acting like the people we have been seeing on the island, even in season 1. I 100% agree with Proletaria with that I don’t care as much about this alternate reality right now because it’s the Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid and company back on the island that I have been watching for 5 seasons that I care about.

For the second hour we did get a few answers, but again, in typical LOST fashion, twice as many questions to go along with it. Who is “Locke”? Who is Jacob? Who are all these Asian dudes in the Temple our castaways have come to? I think LOST fans all over have suspected the existence of a Lazerous (sp?) Pit on the island, so it was nice to have that revealed. Again though, not a lot happened. I’m not concerned though, JJ Abrams hasn’t let me down as long as this show has been around and I’m sure the whole creative team is just ramping up for an incredible final season!

Lackluster or not, I am glad to have LOST back on the air – even knowing that this is going to be it for the series. Be sure to check back every week for mine and Proletaria-tron’s recap and reviews of each episode! Most importantly, feel free to sound off in the comments about your ideas, disagreements, theories, etc!

Finally, make sure you check out our new weekly LOST web comic, ‘Previously on LOST’!