The Art of Blade Runner 2049

If like me you're heavily into all things Sci-Fi then be sure to consider adding this gorgeous book to your coffee table pile. The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049 is available at the end of Oct and is 224 pages of eye catching on set photos, behind the scenes images and set design content all centered around the visual look and style of the movie, not to mention some of the art from the incredibly talented team of designers and visual artists that collaborated their ideas and impressions in bringing the movie to life.
While Blade Runner 2049 has appeared to have struggled with a convincing Box office run of late there will be no denying it'll find its home as a cult favorite among a hardcore sci-fi audience and fans of the original movie. Judging by the Amazon reviews, the standard edition of the book (shown below) appears to offer more value for money over the Special Edition version.

 

Visual artists create the initial building blocks of what the environments, style and visual effects should look like, Blade Runner 2049 employed an impressive art team which included talented artists like George Hull who was employed at Lucasfilm ILM as Lead Visual Effects Art Director and Victor Martinez who has previously worked on Avatar, Terminator Salvation and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
Emmanuel Shiu's, an artist who also worked on films such as Christmas Carol and After Earth also contributed art to the film - more of his work can be seen on his official website here

Check out more inside the book with this unboxing video courtesy of YouTuber shAI Dawn here

Art by George Hull

Art by George Hull

Art by George Hull

Art by Victor Martinez

Art by Emmanuel Shiu

Standard Edition format.

How Pin Up Model Tamika Rawson Made Carboard Boxes Sexy

I'd probably be right in saying that most people have never heard of Tamika Rawson, she's the extremely pretty lady in the photo below.She's actually an Australian pin up model and full on Metal Gear Solid fan as well apparently. 

Tamika visits the studio to see how the development of her image was used in-game.

Tamika Rawson also happens to be the curvy model used for various gravure posters in the latest Metal Gear series, in particular Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (or more specifically, its HD and 3D ports), and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. 
Everyone knows the Metal Gear Series is famed for is wacky in-game assets for Snake to utilize on his daring missions behind enemy lines, but its the good old cardboard box that wins through. Ever caused a huge full on manhunt and enemy base alert in Metal Gear Solid?, fear not, just hide in the trusty cardboard box which you could equip to avoid detection almost anywhere.
The box is such an iconic asset in the entire series they even created a collectors...Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain...box to celebrate it.

 The iconic Metal Gear Solid cardboard box has been a mainstay of the series.

Snake (Desert), Snake (Rocky/Sandy), Kazu (Woodland), Kazu (Urban)

In MGSV The Phantom Pain the trusty cardboard box came in a selection of camo's that Snake could use in the field, in the main Motherbase, the area in MGSV where all of Snakes research and intel was being developed you could 'research' the box and adorn it with different covers. Two of the most popular being the saluting soldier and the other was a bikini clad Tamika Rawson which could be used to distract enemy guards long enough before drawing your tranquilizer dart gun and shooting said enemy soldier in the face with it.

Pin up girl Tamika distracts the enemy troops on the side of a box.

To date the MGSV Phantom Pain has sold in excess of 6 million copies which means that bikini clad Tamika Rawson has been responsible for the distraction and shaming of countless millions of 'highly trained' enemy soldiers.

As modern day video game espionage goes, the cardboard box in the Metal Gear series has been an instrumental asset in counter terrorism and interdiction missions and its services to maintaining world peace should not go unnoticed.

 Tamika Rawson Twitter

This Black Series Full Size Vader Helmet is Insane!

Coming Spring 2018 Hasbro will be gracing us with what could be one of THE most collectible items for any Star Wars fan.
Hasbro follows up its full size Rogue One wearable Black Series Imperial Stormtrooper helmet I previously covered here  - with a full size reproduction of the Return of the Jedi helmet of Darth Vader.
The news was announced earlier this year at the Hasbro Hascon event with pricing details to be revealed closer to launch.

Whats so special about the Return of the Jedi Helmet? (ROTJ)
Okay so here's where things get super geeky, the sculpts for Vader's helmet are different in the original trilogy , each movie has a different variation in the design from Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. To that point the the prequel trilogy also introduced a totally different sculpt to that of the original trilogy as well (flatter eye lenses smoother, less pronounced brow-line and more flared helmet hood).

Star Wars Prequel helmet on the left - Original Trilogy on the right.

The Vader helmet from 1977’s Star Wars, was sculpted by Brian Muir ( he also sculpted Vader's helmet for Rogue One) and the helmet was asymmetrical, with a red tint to the eyes that you’ll notice in certain scenes from when Vader is on Bail Organa's ship,Tantive IV. The helmet design in The Empire Strikes Back got rid of the red eyes and the more pronounced sinister brow over the eye lenses with its pronounced widows peak. 

In Return of the Jedi, Vader’s helmet is considerably more glossier and reflective, something that is clearly evident when he exits his shuttle on the Death Star at the begining of ROTJ. For the most part the design is relatively consistent with that of the design in Empire albeit a slightly flatter more condensed profile for the Jedi design. In ESB and ROTJ the neck of the helmet was actually a gun metal silver as was the left cheek segment and side flashes, black was merely limited to the main face area. The helmet for Return of the Jedi underwent a redesign which would allow for the grand reveal as to how Vader actually wore the helmet in 3 pieces, this added even more tension and drama during the unmasking scene with Luke at the film’s climatic end.

Its this 3 piece segmented helmet design that draws the main appeal for the Black Series version coming in 2018.

 Shiny Happy People - A glossy Darth Vader.

 Luke removes his fathers helmet in the climatic ROTJ scene.

Three sections make up the Black Series Vader helmet as true to the movie.

Stunning attention to detail is sure to be a winner for collectors.

The Hasbro Black Series 3 piece Vader helmet was revealed at Hascon 

The Black Series helmet provides a more affordable collectible  to a broader range of fans but die hard prop makers and collectors will always aim for specific helmet molds and pieces (Don Post and EFX) that prop sculptors or movie auctions provide. Anovos, the costume collectible specialist also provides a complete Vader costume and helmet also available in segments but the finish is more in line with movie prop materials than the mass produced plastic Hasbro offering but interestingly Anovos only created a 2 piece helmet.

Above: The Anovos Vader Helmet.

Above: The Anovos version - note that the neck piece is all connected to the facemask.

Conor McGregors 'F**k You suit

They say clothes maketh the man, apparently we have Mr William Shakespeare to thank for that one, I can neither deny or confirm if that's true or not, a quick Google search suggested it was from ancient Greece but hey, what do I know?
You may or may not be into boxing or MMA fighting, I'll claim ignorance to knowing much about it to be honest but the recent words of wisdom between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor last week were talk of the town, things got pretty amped between the pair, one turned up in a baseball cap with a big bag of money ( well, stacks of $1 dollar bills) and one turned up in a sharp looking 'pinstripe suit' and a truck load of attitude.

Getty Images

However, on closer inspection,what everyone thought were the traditional designer lines on McGregor's pinstripe suit were hugely mistaken, closer inspection reveals the suits pinstriped lines were actually in fact very small text that said "fuck you". Designed exclusively to wear at the press conference this week to promote their mega payday fight on August 26th.
Much of pre-fight press conferences  for big mega pay day fights is all about the psychology between the fighters and for setting up the hype to push ticket sales for pay per view, its about putting serious doubt into your opponents mind before the fight- unless of course things get really heated and fists fly which isn't unheard of.

The 'fuck you' suit is actually an inspired piece of mind games, for all of Mayweather's material wealth and TMT self-endorsed branding (The Money Team)  not to mention the endless Instagram money stack photos he posts - all this despite the fact it appears that the IRS is chasing him for around $29 Million in back taxes. McGregor went into this press conference to get inside Mayweather's head. 'The man had a pinstripe suit which said 'fuck you' all over it - now Floyd is a big boy, he's probably not all that bothered about the man inside the suit but from now until the fight he'll be wondering how much did that suit cost to make, who made it and who the hell came up with that idea?. Additionally it gets press talking, GQ already did a big article on it.

The suit was designed and made by David August who makes all of McGregors suits, this one was custom made, Navy Wool and was designed with McGregor's personality in mind.
Mayweather's track record speaks for itself, the man has made lots of money from winning in a career that is currently 49 wins with no losses so lets hope that McGregor's press conference willy waving and grandstanding doesn't make him look the fool come August 26th.

JAWS: The Art of the Poster

Back in 2015 the movie JAWS hit its 40th Anniversary, released on June 20th 1975 (December 26th  in the UK) the film did for beach holidays what Fatal Attraction did for having an affair. Jaws installed a fear of deep ocean water in me, I will not swim in deep open water from a boat unless I'm with lots of other people (the chances of being attacked are somewhat reduced if there's more meat swimming around). The film was responsible for the massive decline in the shark population in the late 70's and very early 80's when fear and the 'cool factor' of shark fishing, "hey look ma, I killed a predator" painted sharks in a bad light rather than the crucial role they play in the ecology of the ocean. The point is the only thing more dangerous than a man eater is a man hunting for the thrill of it.Man remains at the top of the food chain, 11,417 sharks are killed every hour according to a 2013 Huff Post article. Anyway, I digress  -(sorry about that), when JAWS reached its 40th milestone back in 2015 the Alamo Drafthouse in Texas celebrated by showing the movie Jaws on Austins Lake Travis where viewers could sit on inflatables to watch the movie at night. It's been a yearly event and shows the movie through June and July.

Designer Roger Kastel was responsible for the original JAWS movie poster painted as an oil-on-board painting for the purposes of the films marketing for Universal. (He's also credited with The Empire Strikes Back movie poster.) The JAWS shark mouth and swimmer design was based on Paul Bacons original book cover for the Doubleday hardcover which was created in 1974 depicting a shark below a swimmer, the image was black and white. Kastels updated version for Universal brought more life and menace to the premise of the story and the terror of an impending shark attack.

The Kastel cover featuring the nude swimmer ended up getting the book banned in Boston, Massachusetts and St Petersburg Florida. Further complications including a  lawsuit between DoubleDay and Bantam over the revised and updated cover and Paul Bacons original concept ended up with DoubleDay receiving compensation.

The original Kastel artwork, once framed and hanging in the Society of Illustrators in New York was shipped off to Hollywood for the movie promotion back in the late 70's, it was never returned, lost forever and has never been since since.

JAWS remains a iconic movie over 40 years on, an almost ageless classic -  it defined the summer blockbuster and created a cultural phenomenon. 40 years down the line it inspired fans, designers and artists all over the world to express their love and respect for the movie with some truly awe inspiring poster designs. Here's a selection of some of the best.

Phantom City Creatives JAWS poster print limited to a run of 325 now fetches a tidy sum if you can get your hands on it via Ebay with prices in the region of $299
Check out the red variation below.

Phantom City Creative: Red JAWS variant - Ltd Edition print run

Designer: Laurent Durieux

Designer: John Barry Ballaran

Designer: Anthony Petrie

Designer: Flore Maquin

Designer: Kyle Brown

Designer: Matthew Thomas

Designer: Remulous

Designer: Phantom City Creative

 Designer: Matt Ryan Tobin

Designer: Mike Wrobel

Designer: Kevin M Wilson

24″ X 36″ 3 color screen prints, regular “Beach Open” edition of 100 and variant “Beach Closed” edition of 75. Private commission.

Designer: Patrick Connan

 

Designer: Paul Shipper

Links

Check Out Roger Kastels art here
The Literary Hub showcased Paul Bacons Book covers here

What The F***k is NEX MACHINA?

You may or may not be familiar with the side scrolling voxel based shoot em up Resogun back in 2013, beyond that, you might remember R-Type or even perhaps 1942 with the WW2 plane that spewed out ridiculous amounts of firepower against waves and waves of enemies....yeah that.

R-type in all its glory

Well, dial that all up to 11 and add a neon disco like you've never seen before because Nex Machina is the arcade players dream shooter. A marriage of what Robotron and Smash TV were back in the day, frantic eye busting affairs of onscreen digital mayhem.

Developed by Housmarque who developed the original Resogun, Nex Machina is a twin stick shooter, on PS4 you can either use both the analogs to move the character and shoot or use each of the joypad buttons to fire your characters weapons in the direction of the button press. 

What initially looks like a manic onscreen frenzy is actually a well choreographed enemy threat, timing is crucial to utilize your characters dash ability to avoid the seemingly impossible pulses of plasma shots and spinning shurikens of laser filled death. If you actually watch the patterns you'll see that timing and strategy...as well as pulling off some crazy moves can work in tandem.

Onscreen pickups like shields are essential, multi-shot blaster upgrades and dash pickups are challenging to reach too, you'll need to blast your way through a wall of enemy bots homing in on you or the hapless humans that are wandering around on each level that you need to save.

Resogun - developed by Housemarque in 2013

Waves upon waves of enemy droids will stream towards you in a seemingly endless tsunami,walking spider bots with cannons lumber towards your position from all angles and stationary mortar stations target you from afar with a neon crosshair that gives you enough heads up that standing still is a death sentence. The game is tough but very easy to play, dying a lot is the norm, as is utilizing copious amounts of continues as you look to keep the action going. One of the most striking aspects of the game is the visual chaos, electric neon blues, pinks, greens and purples mix with a heavy dose of reds and blacks which are then further contrasted by exploding enemies that disintegrate into a mash of coloured pixel spray as your shots hit home. 

The game takes up less than 1 Gig of space on a PS4 and is a perfect pick up and play blaster that takes what Resogun, R-Type,Smash TV and Robotron did but cranks it all up another level and delivers an eye bleeding and satisfying arcade shoot em up.

Above: The on-screen arcade mayhem of Nex Machina.

The video below was me on 'Rookie' setting, I was sweating like a demon even on this setting, I think my wife thought I was going to have a heart attack, all she could hear from the lounge was me shouting "holy shit" or "this is bloody impossible"...additionally flavored with 'thank Christ that's over".

Check out the Gameplay video here and see for yourself

The Good Stuff

• Pick up and Play instant Arcade action
• Visuals are incredible
• Challenging and also has co-op mode
• Bound to become a classic much respected arcade shooter
• probably THE best arcade shooter since Resogun

The Bad Stuff

• Insanely challenging for novice arcade players, you'll die...a lot
• Limited Scope after prolonged play
• lacks any real customization to make the game your own.

End.