And we’re back with more blog content! Today’s feature, which comes to us from Andrew Perry of Poker Junkie, is a review of Poker Night at the Inventory. It’s a game I’d never heard of until very recently, but one that will probably appeal to a lot of you netizens out there! Anyway, enough from me — let’s hear what Andrew has to say about it.

If we told you about a poker title that has only one form of poker to play, most of you would immediately go elsewhere. Instead, we are going to tell you about a poker title that allows you to get cussed out by Tycho from Penny Arcade. Interested? If so, you should check out Poker Night at the Inventory.

Poker Night at the Inventory is a poker title released by Telltale Games for the PC and Mac that pits you against several popular characters from games and the web. You get to play in an underground poker game at a secret club called “the Inventory” against the aforementioned Tycho — as well as the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, and Max from Sam & Max. (more…)

Dusty Plastic HELLside #34!

Unsatisfied with fucking up the Transformers, Michael Bay moves to destroy another beloved childhood property on the big screen by inexplicably making the TMNT aliens. I imagine they’ll look something like this.  (3/23/12)

More content so quickly?! WHAT’S GOING ON HERE??? XD

Yeah, I was obviously inspired to mock up the poster that comprises Dusty Plastic HELLside #34 by the recent controversy over Michael Bay’s revelation that the Ninja Turtles in the 2013 movie will be “from an alien race.” I admittedly don’t have a whole lot to say about the matter (ha ha, of course I do), but I will say this — that’s completely stupid. Not because it’s inherently or necessarily stupid, mind you; I’ll grant that it is entirely possible to tell a great story about four alien creatures who touch down from outer space and just happen to know martial arts. But that story won’t be the story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and there’s absolutely no good reason to go about making such radical changes to their origins. (more…)

Dusty Plastic HELLside #33!

In Dusty Plastic HELLside #33, we join Wes on a guided tour of Celestia’s new castle! It might sound like a dream come true for you bronies out there, but Wes probably wishes he’d never made the trip to Canterlot.  (3/22/12)

That said, as seen below, I was planning to make Celestia pink here, as I used the toy as my reference when drawing up this comic. The cool thing about flood fill coloring, though, is that it’s super easy to implement color changes on a whim! 😉

So yeah, here’s another quick HELLside comic — this one featuring the aforementioned pony princess but otherwise in keeping with the theme of these strips as of late. I think we’ll go back to action figures for at least the next couple of comics… and then who knows? Also, in the last comic and this one, you might’ve noticed that I dropped the word balloons in favor of naked text with a line to designate the speaker. The drawings themselves are fairly simple, and I found myself thinking maybe the word balloons didn’t mesh as well with that style. I doubt it really matters to readers either way (I have a tendency to overthink things!), but if you do have any feelings about the change I encourage you to share them. Feel free to comment on anything else about the comic as well! Hopefully you find the joke less offensive than Celestia did…

Anyway, that does it for this post. Remember to enter our “Todd & The Book of Pure Evil” contest if you haven’t already (you’ve got through Monday, March 26, to do so; we’ll be giving away three “Todd” Season 1 DVD sets), and stay tuned to Scary-Crayon!

Dusty Plastic HELLside #32!

Here’s Dusty Plastic HELLside #32, in which comic Wes learns once again that even seemingly nice people can be super-mean meanies. Perhaps somebody should get “PEOPLE SUCK” tattooed on his arm?  (3/20/12)

I probably should’ve saved that title for a comic that’s actually about HEAT — which I anticipate, seeing as how we’ve had the warmest winter I’ve ever experienced and it’s already hella warm in the middle of March — but whatever. Here’s Dusty Plastic HELLside #32, which is totally not about heat at all in that it is not terribly exciting. Honestly? I wanted to do something in keeping with the sad/rejected author avatar theme, and I kinda liked the “not even to save the whales” line. Don’t ask me why. 😛

So yeah, that’s that! I should have another similar comic in the next few days. See you then! And don’t forget about the “Todd & The Book of Pure Evil” contest we’re running — you’ve got through next Monday to enter!

THAT BOOK WILL @%$&! YOU UP!

It’s one part stoner comedy, one part high school drama, and one part supernatural adventure — but “Todd & The Book of Pure Evil” is all good! Well, mostly good. Check out our review for more info on this fun TV show.  (3/13/12)

Hey, folks! So here’s a new Spectare review — a commentary on “Todd & The Book of Pure Evil” Season 1. As noted in the review, you can buy the set on Amazon… or you can win one right here!

Yep, the good folks at Foundry Communications sent me a review screener — along with three copies to give away via a promotional contest of sorts. So we’re going to do this three ways. (more…)

So it probably comes as no surprise to SC readers that I remain strongly attached — and you might even say loyal to — my childhood toys. As in, the actual toys I owned when I was a kid. There are probably collectors who would replace their old, played-with toys with collector-grade or MOC versions, but not me. For me, the fact that I owned and played with that very toy when I was a lad is probably the most important part of its appeal.

Which isn’t necessarily to say that I want that toy to always remain in the condition it ultimately ended up in as a result of our years together. I do, admittedly, have an aversion to restoring my childhood toys in some respects — with the exception of certain details, I would never repaint a childhood toy, and I largely leave the scuffs and marks they’ve accumulated over the years. These I regard as sort of being akin to an old soldier’s scars: just as they serve as reminders of the battles the soldier has fought long after he himself has forgotten the details, these marks are part of the toy’s history. And sometimes I do remember the source of those marks, and so observing those “scars” trigger memories of great TMNT/Batman crossovers and towers made of children’s encyclopedias and injuries incurred by the Batmobile’s engine missile (that thing fired with force) that I might otherwise find myself unable to access.

But while some of my figures also ended up broken during those play sessions, I do find myself wanting to fix them now — probably because I’ve always wanted to fix them. As a child, I wasn’t quite as concerned with articulation, and when limbs broke off I’d reattach them with krazy glue or my own super-sticky mixture of tacky glue and tissue paper. When glue failed, I constructed elaborate wraps and casts made of scotch and double-sided carpet tape to secure those detached limbs to the bodies of their owners.

Since I started customizing, however, I’ve learned more sophisticated methods of fixing action figures. But while I’ve used those methods to repair numerous broken current figures and custom fodder, I hadn’t actually used them to fix my old toys. (more…)