Star Wars Head Exploder Playset

The Force TrainerThis is kind of messed up. A new Star Wars toy that lets you move shit around with your brainwaves. Think twice before you give this to your kid, especially if you’ve let him watch Scanners.

Utilizing advanced dry neural sensor technology, the Star Wars: The Force Trainer headset reads and interprets your brainwaves. As you concentrate, beta waves are generated. This information is translated in the headset into a digital signal and sent to the training tower, causing the training remote to rise and fall. The more you concentrate, the more you control the remote sphere. Advance through 15 levels of training, from Padawan to Jedi Master. With exclusive Star Wars sound effects, this headset will prove that the Force is with you!

New Joshua Hoffine Photography

We have had a couple of entries in the past featuring Joshua Hoffine’s photography. His photographs are some of the best horror artwork I’ve seen in the last couple of years. The photos and sets always bring back memories of hiding under the covers, hoping that the blanket would somehow shield you from the monster under your bed or in the closet.

Here is his latest entry from the “After Dark, My Sweet” series, “Snake”:

snake

The “Welcome” sign over the air vent is a very nice touch. Visit his blog to read about the production of “Snake” as well as his other photographs.

And for us ladies, Josh now has an Etsy store featuring just a few of his photos within pendants made by the Strychnine Sisters. Let’s hope to see more soon!

Joe Naming Conventions

Now here’s an issue that’s really important! I don’t think I’ve ever admitted it here on Dead Lantern, but I’m a total G.I. Joe nut. I check YoJoe.com daily for news on new figures. Today they have a commentary posted about naming conventions used by fans/collectors when referring to figures from different periods in the 3.75 line(s).

I’m totally on-board with the writer’s proposal to use a “Generation 1, Generation 2 & Generation 3″ scheme. The 25th Anniversary (Generation 3) stuff has been amazing. Sure, there are a few duds, but overall it’s great. At the time Generation 2 was coming out, I had more disposable income than sense, so I bought up almost all of that stuff. Looking back, I think the G2 stuff is largely inferior to both G1 & G3 (especially that very first wave of true G2 new sculpts, woof) but there are plenty of cool G2 figures, too. I love that G2 Ripper mold, love the G2 Cobra Commander (also available in black for formal occasions), etc.

Pimpin Our Friends: Joshua Hoffine’s latest creation- Isolation

A while back we posted a link to Joshua Hoffine’s killer horror photography. Well, he was kind enough to send us an e-mail letting us know he’s got a new photo up to inaugurate his brand spankin new website. Head on over to view the full size version of his newest creation: “Isolation”.

Good job, Josh!

p.s. You can also check out some “Making-Of” stuff right here.

Joshua Hoffine Photography

Wow, these horror-oriented photos by Joshua Hoffine are stunning. He sets up the scenes almost like a movie, with “actors” getting into monster makeup and minimal Photoshopping after the fact. I would caution you against looking at these right before bedtime because they may just give you a nightmare!

Cheers, Josh, this is some killer work. I would totally buy a print and hang it on my wall… but your stuff is too scary, I couldn’t bear to have it in my house! (that’s a compliment, of sorts)

Top 5 Most Awesome Things I’ve Ever Bought. Ever.

5. 18 inch talking Ashley J. Williams Figure.

That’s right bitches. No apartment is complete without an Ash figure. And this one comes with a detachable metal hand which can be replaced by Ash’s mighty chainsaw of Deadite doom. Ash also sports his trusty shotgun and three action phrases.

“Well, hello Mr. Fancy-Pants.”

“Alright you primitive screw heads, listen up. See this? This…is my BOOMSTICK!”

“Groovy”.

Good stuff. And I know what you must be thinking right now. “If Ash is only #5 on the list, how badass must the rest of Steve’s stuff be?” Read on…

4. Spooky.

The Thing What Squeaks! Spooky is chock full of greatness. It’s a little known fact that every time Spooky squeaks, he steals a soul. Commonly believed to be a dog chew toy, Spooky is the cutest little fat rubber skeleton toy you’ll ever see.

3. Generation 1 Ultra Magnus Transformer.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=kFXkychyijM]

Sure he was pretty much Rodimus Prime’s bitch after the animated TF movie came out, but that doesn’t stop him from being full of awesome. Just think about it. If Magnus hadn’t saved shitty Hot Rod’s ass no less than 78 times in the film, then Rodimus may not have been around to light the Autobots’ darkest hour. Which means that the Earth would have been essentially fucked under Unicron/Galvatron’s rule and society as we know it may not have developed to the point where Bagel-Fuls could be easily produced. Speaking of which…

2. Bagel-Fuls.

A bagel. With cinnamon cream cheese. In Hot Pocket form? Holy shit! Where do I sign up? This is truly a lazy bachelor’s dream come true. A tasty cream cheese bagel with almost none of the work. What Bagel-Fuls lack in action phrases, they make up for in tastiness.

1. Green Power Ranger Toy.

That’s right bitches. Tommy Oliver. Before he was the black Dino Thunder Ranger, the Red Turbo Ranger, the Red Zeo Ranger, or the craptacular White Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger, he was the Green Ranger. Sure he may have lost his Sword of Evil during his first five-part origin arc, but he still had the Dragon Dagger. The Dragon Dagger doubled as a flute which allowed him to call the Dragon Zord, which was totally not a rip off of Mecha-Godzilla. Totally.

Well there you have it. The most bad ass things that I own. They easily surpass anything the rest of you could ever hope to have. As Bender would say, “compare you lives to mine and then kill yourselves.”

Magic: The Gathering – Shadowmoor

I mentioned it briefly on Splattercast #75; we’re having a bit of a nerd relapse over here. Mat, Brady, Spooky & I played a few rounds of Magic: The Gathering the other night. It had been literally 6 or 7 years since I last played MTG, but it’s like riding a bicycle: you never really forget how.

There’s a new set called Shadowmoor coming out next week and it looks like it’s going to have some killer artwork. I browsed through this visual spoiler list and picked out a few that I liked (see above). I don’t suppose I can call it a “horror” card set but it’s at least got some gnarly monsters and junk. I’ll probably grab a couple preconstructed theme decks when they hit the stores.

Any other MTG players out there? Don’t be ashamed – we’re nerds, too! Spooky McPhee’s even got us dipping our toes into the World of Warcraft trading card game. Where’s my pocket protector?

Cool photos by Boogeyman13

Forum poster Boogeyman13 has a really cool collection of horror memorabilia photos on his Flickr page. Check it out, it’s full of neat stuff.