Star Wars Anime? Sure. Why Not?

The Star Wars community has long been a creative force on the internet, and for the most part Lucas and Co have been very open to the use of the IP in fan created work.

I recently caught wind of a Star Wars anime project being tinkered around with on 4chan.  The project is far from finished, but this video gives a glimpse at the state of the animation -- the video I'm posting has sound that the /m/ animations lacked.

In all, I think that the animation looks good.  One thing struck me about this brief piece though, and that is how much it humanizes the Imperial Pilots.  The Star Wars films have always presented the Storm Troopers and Pilots as faceless and ominous archetypes -- and eventually as weak willed clones with subconscious "Orders" planted within their minds.  This artist, Otaking 77077, has given us a glimpse into the helmets of the pilots, and it changes the point of view in interesting ways.  I found myself rooting for the Imperials in this video.  It was an interesting sentiment to experience, as I'm used to the Empire as antagonists and not protagonists.

A part of me wonders if my point of view would have been different if the Imperials were represented with Zentradi skin tones or blue skin like the residents of Gamilon.

And Now for the Real AVATAR

From the looks of the second preview, the only problem with this adaptation of the excellent animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender is the casting.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the best animated shows I have seen in quite some time, though Phineas and Ferb is on the list, and you can view some clips and a limited number of full episodes at the links below.

• Avatar Episodes
• Avatar
• Games

Fist of the Northstar: Mad Max Meets Superpowered Kung Fu (Hulu Recommendation Friday)

Happy New Year!

One of the great traditions of celebrating a new year, is looking back to the past and how it portrayed the future. The mid-80s were filled with post-apocalyptic narratives, but none quite as action packed as the anime series Fist of the North Star. The cartoon is best remembered for the exploding heads and bodies of its antagonists and its protagonist's favorite one-liner, "you're dead and you don't even know it yet." This is usually followed by the villain's body exploding in dramatic fashion.

Hulu has all 152 episodes of the series.

Koei Tecmo will be releasing a video game based on the manga/anime classic some time during 2010.

Sporadic Geek Update (9/3/09)

Once in a while I like to imitate the excellent Morning Medieval Miscellany done by Professor Scott Nokes at Unlocked Wordhoard. Doing a daily update of all things pop culture related would be an absurd task for an amateur blogger. I much prefer doing individual posts highlighting things that interest me, at least as my "regular" post technique. But there are times when it's nice to kick out a Sporadic Geek Update featuring things that might otherwise be overlooked.

Following the merger between Marvel and Disney, Sony has backed off on the Spectacular Spider-Man Cartoon. Does this mean that Spidey is headed over to Toon Disney? What about the new Avengers and Iron Man cartoons?

SF Signal has a good discussion about what San Diego Comic Con can learn from Worldcon and vice-versa. With the exception of the highly predictable "pretentiously disdainful view from the old guard" by Lev Grossman, the comments are excellent. Notice the difference between his snarky anti-"common fan" rant and the insightful comments by Jeremy Lassen of Night Shade Books. Lassen presents the difference between the SF "tourist" and the SF "devotee" as a good thing and looks at each con in its proper light. Grossman, a critic for Time Magazine and best selling SF/Fantasy, slanders the unwanted popular rabble in a fashion typical for one who favors "literary" works.

Lassen's Night Shade Books is a publisher of books important to the SF/F historiography. Night Shade keeps alive brilliant writers like Manly Wade Wellman and Clark Ashton Smith by releasing beautiful editions of their works. They also promote exciting, and often overlooked, new talents like Liz Williams and her Detective Inspector Chen series.

Lassen's trying to bring in new fans and introduce them to classics. Grossman is content to denigrate those who are introduced to SF/F via Hollywood. This is ironic, because Grossman's blog at Time isn't usually so filled with venom, and his writing is engaging. One expects a little, "I wish the casual fan understood how rich the SF genre is," but one would rather not read "the rapid expansion and mainstreaming of -- for want of a better term -- nerd culture is a dangerous thing." This isn't to say there isn't room for criticism of SDCC, and how commercial it has become, just that I would have rather read it without the snark. Snark is so 90s.

Matt Tarbit has done a wonderful job in creating a visual representation, with links, to all the games featured in Green Ronin's wonderful Hobby Games: The 100 Best. If you are looking for the perfect resource as an introduction to "Hobby Gaming," you cannot do any better than this book and Tarbit's webpage gives you the pictures the book lacks.

Wolfgang Baur, and his exciting Open Design Project, have announced three new projects that are awaiting patron support. I am particularly excited about Red Eye of Azathoth, though I wish they were offering it in Gumshoe format in addition to Pathfinder and Basic Roleplaying.

Kobold Quarterly has an excellent interview with Joseph Goodman regarding the state of the role playing game industry.

Catalyst Labs, the Battletech people, have a good blog post about role playing gaming and "those kids today."

Topless Robot -- Village Voice Media -- provides us with a trailer for the next installment in the Star Blazers saga. Like the writer on that site, Star Blazers was my first anime. I eagerly awaited each new episode as a kid. I have embedded the preview below, but head on over to the website and give them some traffic.

Progressive Boink has a demonstration of the typical immature fanboy hatred of Rob Liefeld. Liefeld is certainly not among the best artists in the field, but in a field filled with talented artists who are constantly behind deadline Liefeld is a worker. I remember reading in the introduction to a Hawk and Dove trade paperback that Liefeld was one of the most tenacious "submitters" in DC Comics history. He was constantly submitting work and had a huge productivity level. He is also one of those who expanded artist's rights within the industry, took on powerhouse Marvel, and was one of the founders of Image Comics. Image is to this day one of the shining lights of the industry and promotes a number of excellent titles -- books like Invincible, or a number of other titles. Sometimes an artist's legacy isn't in the work itself, but in what that artist has done for the field as a whole. He still cannot draw feet, but he certainly didn't deserve the treatment he received from "Yellow Hat Guy."

Hulu Recommendation Friday: Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood)

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were captivated once a week by a wonderful anime series called Full Metal Alchemist. The show follows the adventures of two brothers as they attempt to learn the secret of the Philosopher's Stone in the hopes that they can reverse the "price" they paid when they attempted to resurrect their mother using the power of Alchemy. The show wonderfully captured the horror trope hightlighted in classic horror tales like Frankenstein and Faust. No power comes without a price, and the brothers paid a high price indeed. As an added bonus the characters are named Edward and Alphonse Elric. How can I not love a show where two of the characters are named ELRIC?!

The cartoon was a hit, but it also varied wildly from the manga on which it was based. The series had an ending that was nowhere to be seen in the manga, which continues to this day, and which left one feeling mildly disappointed. There was much of the world left to explore and Jody and I felt a little bit robbed by the ending.

Thankfully, the animation studio Bones, has contracted to do a reboot of the series and the show is a part of the hulu streaming video stable. The episodes become available two weeks after they air in Japan and are a new start for the series. Old fans will find much that is familiar, but the new series is closer to the manga and goes into greater depth into many of the secondary characters.

As always...CLICK PLAY...then CLICK ON FULL SCREEN...the ENJOY.

Hulu Recommendation Friday: Robotech -- The Shadow Chronicles

Hulu's selection keeps getting better and better. Spend a little time in front of the CRT (or flatscreen) and watch the recent update of the Robotech Saga.

What will be the fate of the Earth? Just click play and toggle the Full Screen button.