Posts Tagged ‘robots’
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Most kids grow up totally enamored by the concept of robots. Not Tom. He’s convinced they’re out to destroy us. His mind has been poisoned by one too many bad sci-fi movies.
I was trying to think of some other kids movies with cuddly robots, but the first that came to mind were Short Circuit and The Iron Giant. Both do a very good job of depicting the lead… appliances – as relatable, gentle characters. Then it’s ultimately revealed that both of their existences were to be an unstoppable killing machine and that whole notion of “A robot you can trust!” gets thrown out the window.
I’m sure I’m forgetting literally DOZENS of other movies where the robots are helpful, but it seems to me the scales tip in favor of my “CRUSH PUNY HU-MANS!” theory. I’m sure Red Robot would probably agree.
I was kind of bummed to see that Theater Hopper dropped a couple of spots over at buzzComix. We were at number two for a while, now we’re down to number 5. I can’t begrudge getting beat out by Alien Loves Predator, but it would be cool if we could place a little higher on the list.
If you vote for Theater Hopper, remember that you get to see an exclusive incentive sketch! I really liked the way today’s turned out. It’s kind of violent, but it’s all in good fun. Check it out!
Regarding the movie Robots, I have to admit – I’m not that excited to see it. I think it’s Robin Williams that’s keeping me away. The way the trailers are cut, you’re lead to believe it’ll be 90 minutes of Robin Williams screaming the whole time.
Hey, I saw Aladdin back in 1992 and when he played The Genie, it was really clever. Why do the same thing twice? You’re not going to top it. The fact that his character is named “Fender” only serves to remind me of Futurama’s “Bender”. And when I start thinking about Bender, I start thinking about how much MORE I would rather be watching that.
Seriously, if my arm got sliced off during an episode of Futurama, I would wait to go to the hospital until the show was over first. I don’t care if I’ve seen it a dozen times.
When I learned Ewan McGregor was the lead voice actor in the movie, I was forced to take pause and re-assess my opinion of him. I mean, I’m sure he did it for his kids, but an actor of his talents couldn’t have held out a little longer for Pixar?
Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh. After all, this is the same man who acted out FULL SCENES against a nonexistent, digital Stephen Fetchit.
The only reason I would go to see Robots is because a good friend of the site (and creator of current advertised site Silent Kimbly) Ryan Sias had a hand in creating it. Apparently he wrote a few jokes for the movie, which he has detailed on his site. So, if for some reason the dogs are unable to keep you away from Robots this weekend, visit Ryan’s site first and become familiar with the scenes he describes. When the flash across the screen, you can show “I KNOW THE GUY WHO WROTE THAT JOKE!” I know it would make Ryan happy.
Something that’s made ME really happy is reserving my hotel room for the Kansas City Planet Comicon comic book convention on April 2 and 3. I made it official today. No backing out now!
Of course, why would I want to back out when I’m sharing a booth with my good buddies Zach and Mitch? We’ll all be crammed together at one table promoting Theater Hopper, Joe and Monkey and Nothing Nice to Say, respectively. I’m really looking forward to it.
Something fun that you guys might not know, but real-life Jared is also coming with me on this trip. He’ll be taking footage of our journey in hopes that we can compile it along with footage we plan to take at other conventions throughout the year for A DOCUMENTARY we’re making! Pretty exciting, huh? We’re taking footage from Planet Comicon as well as Wizard World Chicago in August and the Minneapolis FallCon in October. We hope to have the documentary edited and on DVD by Christmas. If you stop by our booth in Kansas City or our other two stops, there’s a good chance you’ll be in the movie! Something to look forward to!
By the way, did you know that Jerry over at Secret of Mana Theater was trying to organize a blockade of web comics in Artist Alley for Wizard World Chicago? Yeah, he’s thinking that we can all request to sit by each other when we submit our forms so that way we can present a unified front! I think it’s a great idea – a real show of solidarity. Plus, I think it will send the message home that we’re ONLINE comics, not print comics. Which, admittedly, people aren’t expecting when they go to one of these things. I remember last year telling people the comic was online and they were like, “Really? Wow, man! That’s wild!” It’s humbling to be confronted with the fact that our medium is still relatively young.
Anyway, that about does it for now. I hope all of you have a great weekend! Support Ryan Sias – Go see Robots!
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I suppose this is as good a place as any to throw in a cliff-hanger, eh?
Just imagine… a self-storage unit in Van Nuys full of Ben Affleck robotic duplicates. The possibilities! We’ll be sure to revisit the concept on Monday.
Introducing the Benbots is a bit of a patch job over Monday’s comic. I put Ben if Afghanistan. But eagle-eyed readers with pay-cable wrote in to tell me that Ben had been spotted here in the states a week ago on Real Time with Bill Maher. Well, here’s your explaination. The fact that Affleck is now rotting in some cave somewhere is almost incidental. We’re gonna have a lot of fun with these robots in the near future! This, I promise.
Because you’ve been so interested in what I’ve shared with you so far, I have one last image to share with you.
It’s the last preview image from the cover of "Theater Hopper: Year One" which will be available for pre-order in 4 short days! Monday, April 17, to be exact!
I think you guys already know the story about the book. How it collects the first 156 strips from the first year of the site and includes brand new commentary for each strip? You know, the commentary that talks about how I got Theater Hopper off the ground and what I learned along the way to help improve my art and writing? Don’t forget the 11 guest strips from that era as well as a 6 part crossover I did with Movie Punks!
I gotta tell you, you’re not going to get a bigger bang for your buck than this book. 200 pages. Full color. It can’t be beat!
Of course, don’t neglect the street team! Pre-order the book and get five of your friends to do the same and I’ll send you a $20 gift certificate from Fandango.com! If you show a lot of hussle and you’re one of the first 25 people to complete the task, I’ll throw in a FREE Theater Hopper t-shirt, too! Good deal, huh? Click here to learn more! That four page preview of the book in there will come in really handy for showing your friends what Theater Hopper is all about!
I know I’ve been a bit of a broken record this week, but I want to make sure no stone is left unturned and that all of you who read the site are aware that the book is available for pre-order Monday, April 17! It’s imperative that we get as many pre-orders as possible as quickly as possible so we can put a copy of the book into your hot little hands that much faster!
I put a lot of work into writing the commentary and I’m very interested to get feedback and hear what you guys think about it. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and I hope you guys will enjoy it, too!
I hope everyone has a good weekend. We’re supposed to have highs in the 70’s! I’ve actually talked Cami into going frisbee golfing on Saturday! How awesome is she?
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I wish I had a little more room in the comic to really capture the epic-ness of a Monster versus Alien versus Robot versus Ninja versus Monkey beat down. I hope the ASPCA doesn’t mind that I put a shuriken between the eyes of Bobo there.
I’m still pretty pumped to see Monsters vs. Aliens this weekend even though some reviews are starting to come back negative. I guess some are complaining that it’s kind of short on laughs and not very innovative. Some people are saying it’s the Bad Old Days of Dreamworks Animation and not the blockbuster Kung-Fu Panda was.
I suppose maybe some of that is to be expected. After all, the director is the same guy who wrote and directed Shark Tale. But I don’t care. I just want to watch something fun, bright and colorful. MVA fits the bill. Heck, I think I’m even going to shell out a few extra bucks to see it in 3D! Why not? What else am I going to see A Haunting in Connecticut? I think not. I’ll report back later with my findings.
I don’t have very much to talk about today. So, instead, I’ll take this opportunity to point you to my good friend Joe Dunn’s web comic Joe Loves Crappy Movies. Joe recently made a big announcement. His first book Joe Loves Crappy Movies: Volume One is now available from his site.
You guys really gotta check this out. Odds are, if you’re reading Theater Hopper, you’re probably already reading JCLM. But if you’re not, you’re gonna love it. Joe put a lot of work into this book to really add value beyond what you get on his site for free.
Most impressively, he’s selling “Artist Editions” of the book featuring kick-ass original sketches inside. People who order before Sunday get upgraded for free! You gotta look at the work he’s doing with these sketches. Check out this thread in his forum. They’re amazing.
Joe’s a great guy and I really want him to have a lot of success with his first book. So maybe you can take some of your tax return and invest it in something you’re really going to enjoy. Take my word for it.
That’s all I have for today. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys next week!
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