WATCH: ATROPA Short Sci Fi Film

Another smart Sci-Fi short film, Directed by Eli Sasich’s, ATROPA is a deep space mystery encounter story you'll only want to see more of - some top notch effect work, great atmosphere, well worth a look and a Vimeo STaff Pick

https://vimeo.com/77761436

The Best Photo I've Ever Taken

 March 2015 Alcatraz State Penitentiary

The trick with this shot was to get in first before the first group of tourists made their way up the main walkway. When you get off the ferry you're supposed to listen to the orientation talk by the park warden on the main forecourt. I decided that capturing the best shot I ever wanted to take was far more important to me and a once in a lifetime opportunity. By ignoring that protocol and in order to get into the prison I made my way up the main walkway with some of the employees that had came in on the same ferry. I headed up to the main cell block and admin building which is the quickest way in. Going on through the main entrance and pretty much straight on I was able to get onto Broadway, the main cell row. I can't tell you how awe inspiring it is to stand in one of Americas most notorious buildings on your own with not another soul in sight, a place that has seen some of Americas most wanted felons locked up, you just soak up so much history standing there looking down the row of steel bars it is incredibly eerie. I had a good 10 minutes to myself before the first group came in because they all wait in line for the audio tour to get their headsets. This 10 minutes gave me a super rare opportunity to capture quite possibly the best photograph I have ever taken.

You can buy a poster of this shot here from zazzle in colour and black and white
 

Stormtrooper Replica Helmet - A Man Cave Must Have!

If like me you're a child of the 70's, (oh god that make's me sound bloody ancient) and somewhere in the vast depths of space in a galaxy far far away you were transported to a realm which completely transformed your life then you'll no doubt sympathize with the same fuzzy feeling I get every time the word Star Wars is mentioned.

My latest purchase has been a lifelong one since I was seven years old, I've always wanted to own a 1.1 scale replica of an Imperial Storm Trooper helmet. Online searches put the price for an official Andrew Ainsworth replica at well over $450 for a standard helmet and $760 for a hero version, (Ainsworth if you remember won the court case against Lucasfilm to retain the right to reproduce the helmets from original molds he and his team had created). The big no, no for me is paying a stupid amount of money for a plastic helmet that I can buy elsewhere for a much reduced cost. My other internet searches didn't fare much better and the current 6 month wait for the brand new (and impressive) officially licensed ONOVOS ANH (A New Hope) design helmet was just too long a wait for me. Frequent visits to the RPF (Replica Prop Forum) where some extremely passionate and talented fans,cosplayers and prop builders build their own also seeded some additional doubt, namely my temptation to buy one on Ebay (don't buy one on Ebay!).

Needless to say there are some very critical opinions and suggestions supported by shouts to avoid anything but proper 501st Legion approved helm makers, all making the decision even harder. Apparently it's an unwritten law of etiquette that you don't sell 'recasts' of other peoples work be it an Iron Man helmet or a Cyberman helmet or a Barberella cod piece. However, as much as there is a 'rule' by 501st cosplayers that they can't actively promote or sell Stormtrooper armor a PM to one of the guys active on the RPF will probably set you straight but alas I'm merely speculating. All of this is further compounded by the fact that although the offer is there you don't actually know who still makes them or not and the 'approved' list you'll find has a lengthy turnaround time, not to mention shipping, insurance and customs to factor in if you're an overseas buyer residing in Europe.

There's a whole new conversation to be had about which helmet you buy too, Hero Helmets are different to stunt helmets ANH helmets are different to ESB and ROJ helmets, the grey and black nasal frowns have a different number of teeth, the grey tear panels are different and the very slight bump on the right hand eye lower eyelid tells you which mold and which variant (ANH) you have. OMG it could drive you absolutely geek crazy.

For me I'm not overly interested in passing some convoluted checklist to the extent I want to join the 501st as a cosplayer - I just want a decent enough helmet as a display piece. what strikes me as kind of weird is that in order to join as a stormtrooper cosplayer you have abide by uniform rules for an organisation that isn't actually licensed or official in the first place. I have absolutely nothing against cosplayers, the 501st or the guys that scratch build their armor, far from it, these guys have more passion and dedication than I could possibly imagine. For me its a personal thing, I want to own something that resonates with people my age, that underlines my interest and passion in a trilogy of films that coloured my life.

I think for the most part its also about ownership of a design that I've loved for 40 years, my absolute favorite from any aspect of the films is the Stormtrooper, the ice white armor clad soldiers of the galactic Empire.

So here it is in all its glory a replica Imperial Stormtrooper  'Stunt Version' helmet as created and sold by New Image 58 props at a much more comfortable cost of $257. I opted for the fibre glass version because its primarily for display and the wait was just over two weeks. The box was sent tracked and insured and the helmet was very well packed with plenty of bubblewrap.

Was it worth it? - for the satisfaction of owning it as a display piece, yes, absolutely and I couldn't be happier, is it a perfect replica?, no absolutely not, there are aspects of the helmet that probably need a bit more love, namely the painted frown, the mouth area and the green lenses are pretty flimsy and internally the hot glue application was a bit 'mashed on' - the helmet also needs to be turned to the side in order to put it over your head because the diameter is too small and the neck seal could probably be improved but these are relatively small niggles.

The Imperial Stormtrooper Helmet, (stunt version)

WATCH: SINGULARITY [short film] 2015

SINGULARITY [short film] 2015

In the midst of a war between humans and sentient androids, a Delta
Force team must battle a dangerous enemy to rescue the US President.



Directed by Samuel Jorgensen

Produced by Jeremy Pronk

© The Bicycle Monarchy







Web ► thebicyclemonarchy.com/

IMDB ► imdb.com/title/tt3442982/

Kickstarter ► kickstarter.com/projects/jeremyp/singularity-the-short-film

Facebook ►facebook.com/Singularity-The-short-film-573415829490916

WATCH: Sci-Fi movie short 'The Last Man'

For a movie short the production quality is superb, if you're into sci-fi, short stories and badass gear then this one's for you. lets hope we see more from Gavin Rothery.

Latest Project: Custom Star Wars Stickers

Thought I'd have a crack at creating some custom vinyl stickers, the great thing about print on demand services like Diginate.com is that you can pretty much print as many or as little as you need. 

Being the geek that I am I chose to base 3 of the designs on specific Star Wars references, The Thundering Herd ATAT's from Empire Strikes Back, Vaders Death Squadron from Empire Strikes Back and a fictional Delta Unit Special Weapons Squad patch from Star Wars A new Hope.
 

Here's a link if you wanted to buy

STAR WARS : 10 Things You Probably Collected

 10 THINGS YOU PROBABLY COLLECTED

I have vague recollections of my childhood, that is to say I remember key moments, but alarmingly there are large voids I simply cannot remember. I'm hoping this large expanse of mental fatigue is not the onset of dementia but then there are times at home I can forget what I went upstairs for in the space of 12 steps, this is normal right?
We take for granted that our kids have digital devices like phones and tablets and are creating moments of their lives and storing memories on things like Facebook and YouTube, for my generation its carefully navigating the perils of a darkened loft hunting through musty cardboard boxes for frayed photos or scrapbooks. 

1977, I was 7 years old,and now at 45 years of age I stand witness to my own son enthralled at Star Wars, albeit in a more digital format, (even he's grown out of figurines ). These days fads come and go, there's the odd revival here and there but I have to say that Star Wars has outlived everything else I was into as a kid. I still have a boxed Millenium Falcon and numerous figures, and like a complete sucker all those years ago fritted away cash on Episode One dolls of Queen Amidala (still boxed and loftbound) and Darth Maul (also boxed).

But after the crushing disappointment of the prequel trilogy which were at best animated effect driven nonsense Star Wars went away. In fact forme it went away for a long time, then something changed, this year I bought my first Star Wars collectible in over 15 years, a Black Series Sandtrooper figurine, I'm 45 for gods sake and I'm buying toys!!

Here's my own run down of 10 Things the avid Star Wars collector probably bought into. Feel free to comment below if I've missed anything glaringly obvious.

1.) THE ORIGINAL KENNER STAR WARS FIGURES.
The license for Star Wars action figures was offered in 1976 to the Mego Corporation, which was the leading company in action figures in the 1970s. Mego refused the offer and the license was subsequently picked up by Kenner, a subsidiary of General Mills. Vader and Kenobi had those awful vinyl capes ( a mint vinyl cape Jawa is worth $2000) and the lightsabers slid out of the grooved sleeve area and had that really thin pointy bit that always bent. To top it off you could never have enough Stormtroopers. The holy grail of all the figures was the missile firing Boba Fett , which if you had a prototypes in mint condition can easily fetch up to $20,000.

2.) THE ORIGINAL KENNER SPACE CRAFT
It was either or during the late 70's, you either had the Millenium Falcon as your cornerstone vehicle or you had the AT-AT Walker which had that awesome firing mechanism where the laser canons lit up and moved when you pressed the button on the neck area. For Millenium Falcons owners you had the removable smugglers floor, the engine noise button and the central footstand which doubled as a hand grip to 'fly' it around the lounge.

3. THE TOPPS TRADING CARDS

The beauty about these things is that they never really went away but the original trilogy set were the ones that people remember most. The size of a playing card with a blue, red,orange, green or yellow border ( 5 sets in all) and an image from the film, on the reverse side of the card they made up a larger Star Wars image.

Highly coveted among collectors who hunt for full mint, unopened sets and all five sets equates to 330 cards, the more recent Clone Wars and prequel trilogies just aren't the same, however, I defy anyone not to croon over a modern foil or hologram effect card these days.

 

4. THE LUNCH BOX

Star Wars didn't come soon enough for me at school, 1975 and I got stuck lugging a Snoopy flask with soup in it and whatever lunchbox design was current and cheap to buy with Mackeral sandwiches. The Plastic ones were commonplace but all the cool kids, especially in America had these small metal suitcase affairs. The best one you could get was the sandtrooper road block cover. "Move along".

5. THE BEDROOM WALLPAPER

This stuff is currently going for $150 per roll (Ebay), vintage 1978 Star Wars Wallpaper, there was an Empire Strikes back one I remember with a cloud city design but alas, I think for the most part my 1970's and 80's were devoid of such cool bedroom design. Did you have Star Wars Wallpaper as a kid, if so which one?

6. STAR WARS PEZ

Who could ever forget the famous Austrian candy and its famous mechanical pocket dispensers.Why Star  Wars versions never really materialized until 1997 is anyone's guess - I still have an Imperial Stormtrooper unopened, ok so its only about 6 years old but I haven't had the heart to open it. I love the Vader one and the full range blossomed with the extremely limited and hard to find Crystal head versions of Vader, Yoda and C3PO back in 2012.

 

7. DARTH VADER CARRY CASE FOR FIGURES

 If you had one of these on our block you were pretty spoilt, everyone else just chucked their figures into the back of the Millenium Falcon or inside their AT-AT but opening one of these babies was like the scene in Pulp Fiction with the briefcase, the room when quiet and your mouth went dry as you waited to see if your buddy had full racks.

8. THE STAR WARS BED COVER

I can't claim to ever owning one of these, probably need to ask my mum why she denied me the joy of gracing my bed with this amazing woven delight, I mean, look at that blue, as bright as cobalt, that's enough to brighten anyone's morning.

9. THE STAR WARS T-SHIRT

Okay so you don't really collect a t-shirt as such but ownership was enough to declare your love of the science fiction juggernaught in your life at the time, all kinds of variants but lets not forget, it was the cool brush script fonts with the 70's flair that made it pop.

10. STAR WARS MARVEL COMICS

The art was awful, the characters bore no resemblance to their on-screen counterparts yet somehow the illustrated adventures inside kept us coming back for more. I've never really been a fan of these at all simply because the art sucked. Stan Lee was approached by Lucasfilm in 1975 for the comics to co-incide with the film but Stan Lee wanted to see the film finished. The comics ran from issue #1 through to #107 and lasted from 1977 through to 1986 with three annuals. Renowned comic book artist Howard Chaykin (American Flag) had art duties on issues #1 through #10. 

*As a side note there's a really cool 548 page book available on Amazon for the Topps card collectors called Star Wars : The orginal Topps trading Cards