Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1731

Diamond Select KINGDOM HEARTS Toy Line Adds TRON and Sark

You can count on a Kingdom Hearts action figure line to include protagonist Sora, and the various key Disney characters he encounters. But a report at Gamespot this week made us feel like the real kings, as we learned that not only are Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy entering the Grid and getting Tron-ified, but that we’re also getting action figures of the original Tron and Sark!

It’s not clear whether these sport the official likenesses of Bruce Boxleitner and David Warner (an inquiry to which Diamond Select hadn’t replied as of press time), but they certainly look close enough for comfort. Tron comes packed with Goofy and a Shadow, while Donald, true to his general penchant for finding trouble, is packed in with bad guy Sark, as well as good guy Sora.

The wave’s not entirely Tron-based, however, as black-coat Mickey comes with a Shadow Assassin and a Shadow.

You can expect these three-packs towards the end of the year, available in specialty stores for $25 apiece; as with others in the Kingdom Hearts line, there will likely be less-deluxe versions at other retailers for lower price points.

Clearly, the team at Diamond Select fights for the users. A full-scale Recognizer is probably out of the question, but we’d gladly take more OG characters like Flynn, Yori, and Sark’s guards. Throw in a build-the-MCP collect-and-connect diorama and you’d have us hooked.

Are these the Tron figures you’ve been waiting for? RES-olve to tell us what you think in comments!

Images: Diamond Select

More toys, more joys

An amazing Ninja Turtles figure set and diorama for Comic-Con.
Don’t cry! I Love Lucy Funko Pops are coming.
How are Hasbro’s non-movie Deadpool toys?

Preview Dark Horse Comics’ ZELDA Encyclopedia (Exclusive)

Late last year, Dark Horse Comics, makers of many fine books and other products that are basically a fan’s dream, unveiled their The Legend Of Zelda Encyclopedia. It comes in a couple of sweet editions, one of which matches the covers of their comprehensive Hyrule Historia and their The Legend Of Zelda: Arts And Artifacts book. The other is more of a direct homage to the series’ physical origins, since it’s a replica of the original The Legend Of Zelda NES cartridge. This is a rare scenario where it makes sense to judge a book by its cover: The outside looks great, and based on the new pages that are being previewed today exclusively on Nerdist, the inside is equally excellent.

The book is set to be published on June 19, and the preview pages… well, preview… what we can expect from it. There’s concept art, lore about the series, maps, character drawings, and other details about the games. It’s literally encyclopedic (it is an encyclopedia, after all), so if you want information about the Zelda series, it’s probably in this book. Both editions are 328 pages, and include, among other things, “an expansion of information from The Legend Of Zelda timeline,” “rare development sketches of your favorite characters,” and “an extensive database of items and enemies.” The standard edition is available for pre-order here, while the pre-order for the deluxe edition can be found here.

Check out the pages above and let us know in the comments which edition of the book you have your eye on!

Images: Dark Horse Comics

THE LOST BOYS Are Vamping Out as Funko POP! Vinyls This Summer

Years before Buffy Summers staked vampires in the pleasant California town of Sunnydale, it was Santa Carla that ranked as the Golden State’s #1 hangout for the undead thanks to the 1987 cult classic The Lost Boys. Now, the vampires (and teenage vampire hunters) from the ’80s classic are finally getting the Funko POP! vinyl figure treatment, with an assortment of five different figures hitting shelves this summer.

Among the first wave of figures are Sam and Michael Emerson, played in the film by the late Corey Haim and Jason Patric, respectively, the two teenage protagonists who get caught up in the vampiric shenanigans in Santa Carla once they move into town. Also in wave one is David, the leader of the vampire biker gang, played so memorably by a young Kiefer Sutherland. David’s POP! figure is holding a box of noodles in his hands… or wait, are they maggots? We can never really tell!

Finally, the vampire hunting Frog Brothers, Edgar and Alan Frog, will be available as a two-pack exclusively through the Funko Shop. Played in the film by Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander, the Frog Brothers work in a comic book store when they’re not hunting bloodsuckers, and fighting for “truth, justice, and the American way.” This first wave of The Lost Boys figures is set to hit in July.

Hopefully we’ll get a second wave soon with the other members of the vampire gang, and maybe the oiled up saxophone player from that one party scene on the beach too. You can see all the wave one figures down below in our gallery. By the way, Funko, while we’re on the vampire tip, how about an Interview with the Vampire Lestat, Louis, and Claudia 3-pack sometime, hmm? Just putting it out there.

Are you excited for these long awaited Lost Boys Funko toys? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Funko / Warner Bros

More fun stuff!

Everything coming to the Nintendo Switch out of E3 2018!
You can have your own Pikachu robot!
Iconic David Bowie images reimagined in wood block prints

Nintendo Fans Hilariously Protest Waluigi’s Snub in SUPER SMASH BROS. ULTIMATE

Earlier today, Nintendo officially unveiled Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at its pre-E3 2018 presentation with a promise that the game included every previous character from the series. However, gamers immediately noticed that Waluigi was once again relegated to being an Assist Trophy, instead of a controllable character. It’s already led to a “Waluigi for Smash” campaign on social media, with a few hilarious reactions from fans online.

You did this @NintendoAmerica#WaluigiforSmash pic.twitter.com/or4ktna7i1

— Graeme (@RiskyPixels) June 12, 2018

Made this. #WaluigiforSmash pic.twitter.com/HbcNSrth3q

— MayRey (@TheTransHeel) June 12, 2018

Patience is a virtue

We shall riot

But patience is the key to success.

The cries of the WAAAAAAAAluigi shall haunt and motivate Sakurai to put Waluigi as a playable Smash Character. #WaluigiforSmash pic.twitter.com/xHm1KnTiwI

— GalaxyStar (@Galaxy_Sketch) June 12, 2018

Waluigi may still be an assist trophy, and Ridley, who looks weird as a playable character, may have usurped him of his spot, but the dream is not dead.#WaluigiforSmash #SuperSmashBrosUltimate #SmashBros #Waluigi pic.twitter.com/v00cfuY5CL

— PhantomZkullX79 (@Negax79) June 12, 2018

How to avenge God/Waluigi.

Step 1: Fight Ridley

Step 2: Beat Ridley. If you fail, do not give up.

Step 3: Assert your dominance on the shrunken pterodactyl.

Bonus step 4: Do it all as Wario#WaluigiforSmash #SuperSmashBrosUltimate #Waluigi #JusticeforWaluigi pic.twitter.com/9MiZcrKfrI

— PhantomZkullX79 (@Negax79) June 12, 2018

#WaluigiForSmash…. that is all! MAKE IT HAPPEN @NintendoAmerica! pic.twitter.com/kb6QIWBAGE

— Nindie Spotlight (@NindieSpotlight) June 12, 2018

one day, my friend #WaluigiforSmash pic.twitter.com/hv0DP63TXh

— Furi Mirakuri (@shiroflcl) June 12, 2018

#NintendoE3 Everyone is here, apart from #Waluigi .@NintendoUK why don’t you love him!!! Waaaaaah!#WaluigiforSmash pic.twitter.com/9NBqHgu8FI

— Jinxy_Gee – will cosplay for chicken nuggets (@Jinxy_Gee) June 12, 2018

So gloriously weird. Technically, Nintendo’s claim about every returning fighter is correct, since Waluigi hasn’t been a controllable fighter in any of the previous Smash Bros. games. But we think his time should come, if only for the future memes it will inspire.

Do you want to see Waluigi become a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Image: Nintendo

More from E3!

A breakdown of the Super Smash Bros. presentation
You can play as Mew in the new Pokémon game!
Super Mario Party looks like it’ll maximize the properties of the Switch

George R.R. Martin Confirms GAME OF THRONES Prequel Pilot Details

Last week, HBO finally gave a greenlight to film a pilot episode for one of the five Game of Thrones spinoff series that were in development at the network. George R.R. Martin and Kingsman screenwriter Jane Goldman are producing the still untitled show from Goldman’s script, which will be a prequel story set thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones. While it may be two years or more before we finally see the new show on HBO, Martin has offered an update on the project and reconfirmed its setting.

“Yes, this is a prequel, not a sequel,” wrote Martin on his blog. “This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before Game of Thrones (like Dunk & Egg), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long). We’re very early in the process, of course, with the pilot order just in, so we don’t have a director yet, or a cast, or a location, or even a title.”

Martin added that The Long Night would be his preferred title for the new series, but he expects HBO to keep Game of Thrones in the title. He also indicated that only one of the potential prequel series has been shelved and that the other three prequel scripts may eventually be filmed as well.

“Three more Game of Thrones prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development,” said Martin. “Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come. We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain.”

Do you want to see more than one Game of Thrones prequel series? Take flight in the comment section below!

Images: HBO

More of the best of Westeros:

Game of Thrones‘ theme played on Nintendo Labo.
An algorithm predicts the final Game of Thrones deaths.
The Winds of Winter: still not coming yet.

SPIDER-MAN Faces His Greatest Enemies In New E3 2018 Trailer

For the last two years, Sony has used E3 as a showcase for its upcoming PlayStation 4-exclusive Spider-Man title from Insomniac Games. Last year’s gameplay trailer was one of the highlights of the show. This year, Sony and Insomniac dropped an intense seven minute preview that put Spidey in the middle of a breakout at the maximum security prison known as The Raft. Along the way, Spider-Man will have to confront at least five of his greatest foes. That’s just one bad guy away from a Sinister Six!

The biggest takeaway here is the fluid movements that allow Spider-Man to replicate many of his most impressive moves from the comics. Spidey can perform acrobatic fight moves and even slide under his enemy’s legs before running full speed up the side of a wall. As seen in this video, Spider-Man is working with Yuriko Watanabe, an NYPD captain who became the Wraith in the Marvel Universe. It remains to be seen whether Yuriko’s current incarnation will also don a costume, but Spidey needs as much help as he can get!

So far, the classic Spider-Man villains include Electro, the Rhino, Scorpion, and our old favorite, the Vulture.

Mister Negative also makes an appearance late in the clip, but he implies that the villains are all working for someone who wants Spidey alive. There’s even a cliffhanger ending as Spider-Man catches a glimpse of the mastermind.

Spider-Man will be released on September 7.

What did you think about the new trailer? And who is the mystery villain? Share your theories below!

Images: Sony

More Gaming News!

See the Game of Thrones theme on a Nintendo Labo!
This Overwatch fan made ASL signs for all of the heroes!
Check out the new Walking Dead trailer for the final season!

RESIDENT EVIL 2 Remake Trailer Finally Debuts At E3 2018

Twenty years ago, Resident Evil 2 was a breakout hit for the original PlayStation and helped solidify the survival horror genre. Fans have clamored for a remake of the seminal title for years, and it finally surfaced during Sony’s PlayStation 4 presentation ahead of E3 2018. In the first video, the game appears to adopt Resident Evil 4‘s over-the-shoulder perspective as Leon S. Kennedy reports to the Raccoon City Police Department on the day a zombie outbreak has claimed almost everyone.



The trailer features a few callbacks to the original RE2, including the fatally wounded police officer who warns Leon to save himself. This video only offers a brief glimpse of Leon’s co-protagonist, Claire Redfield, but she won’t be left out of the action in the remake.

During the actual presentation, Capcom dropped a longer video that spent the first minute from the perspective of a rat as it desperately attempted to escape a fight between a police officer and one of the zombies. It also offered a better preview of the game and even teased a few of the brutal battles ahead.



The modern graphics have given this game exactly what it needed in terms of visuals. Capcom has also modernized the controls, which should make it considerably easier to play than the original title. The trailer also confirmed that the wait is almost over. The Resident Evil 2 remake will be released on January 25, 2019.

What did you think about the newly updated Resident Evil 2? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Capcom

More news from E3 2018!

New Shadow of the Tomb Raider jungle gameplay.
Bethesda unveils a sequel for Doom.
Kingdom Hearts 3 welcomes a Frozen inspired world.

RICK AND MORTY Co-Creator Reveals New VR Game at E3

That pointy font. The amusingly anxious voice. That deadpan dialogue that clearly required a lot of real work to sound as hilariously lazy as it does. And of course, the blobby eye pupils. You can tell that a substantial amount of Rick and Morty‘s creative essence has found its way into Trover Saves the Universe, a new VR game from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland.

Let Roiland’s newest and most pointedly, humorously banal character “Bathtub Guy” explain it to you… without evincing much actual knowledge of how the game works or what it does.

Now, let us give it a shot: In the game, you’ll play two characters—”Yourself,” and “a little purple eyehole monster” named Trover (that’s him at the end of the video). In a mix of first-person and third-person play, you have to track down a beaked monster who stole your dogs and plugged them into his eyeholes so he can drain their energy and use it to destroy the universe.

And if that doesn’t make sense, here’s a comic that tries to explain it in a totally different way (click to enlarge):

Just don’t be like Bathtub Guy, who plays games in the bath and, ah jeez, it’s really dangerous, hooboy. But what we really want to know is: was Trover once a Mr. Meeseeks? He looks like an evolutionary offshoot, save for those freaky eyeholes.

Is there enough Szechuan sauce in the world to sustain y0u while you fill your own eyeholes with Trover’s adventures? We should find out in 2019, but in the meantime, let’s have you tell us what you think in comments.

Images: Squanch Games

More video game news!

Check out a very strange Death Stranding trailer.
A little bit of Shadow of the Tomb Raider gameplay.
Oh, there’s a new Doom sequel?

DEATH STRANDING’s E3 Trailer Is Even Weirder Than We Expected

It’s like Hideo Kojima goes out of his way to make us scratch our heads or repel in disgust. He loves it. But his vision of gaming is so singular we can’t help but sit up and take notice…and then scratch our damn heads. Death Stranding has been on the radar for years now, and we got a good look at, well, something at E3 in 2016, but it didn’t quite give us an understanding of what the game actually was. Now at 2018’s E3, we got an eight-minute teaser presentation during the Sony PlayStation conference.

…and we still don’t really know what’s going on.

Any trailer that kicks off with the butt of a fetus in utero is already off to a decidedly Kojima-ish start. Then we’re treated to star Norman Reedus walking around the somewhat alien landscape, with robot tractor drones and a whole back full of boxes, almost like a one-man Oregon Trail. We also get a look at what seems to be the game’s third person gameplay for a bit. We don’t really know what that gameplay is yet, but we got some.

But then it kicks into another gear, with ghostly presences—including the ghost of a bear-creature making footprints (or human handprints?!?!) in the mud—and several floating apparitions. Plus, we get our first look at Lea Seydoux, who at once seems to be helpful (she and Reedus hold their breath together as a ghost-bear walks by) but then also seems über creepy, eating slugs and just being generally menacing. She also has an umbrella that makes people invisible.

Then Sam (Reedus’ character) straps a fetus to his chest and a satellite dish to his back and heads off into parts unknown with ghosts everywhere. But the game leaves its biggest surprise for the end. The cast list reveals Reedus, Seydoux, the previously announced Mads Mikkelsen…and Lindsay Wagner! Yes, the star of one billion TV movies in the ’70s and ’80s. We hear her say, “You still don’t know who I am, do you?” As Reedus asks who she is, she turns around, revealing a very young Wagner, possibly from her iconic role in The Bionic Woman?

Is Death Stranding secretly some fanfic sequel to a show from the ’70s? Who can know except Kojima himself? And us, of course, whenever the game actually comes out.

Images: Sony/Kojima

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

More from E3!

Pirates of the Caribbean is set for Kingdom Hearts III !
Ghost of Tsushima trailer looks bloody and beautiful !
The Last of Us II trailer is heartwarming and bone-chilling !

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Is Back for KINGDOM HEARTS III

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me. The Kingdom Hearts III (KH3) trailer debuted at Sony’s E3 Expo press conference on Monday evening began with those familiar notes, leaving no doubts about the latest world revealed for the upcoming game. On the heels of announcing the Frozen addition to the title during Sunday’s Microsoft conference, Square Enix revealed Pirates of the Caribbean is back. And this time, the live-action rendering looks much improved compared to Kingdom Hearts II‘s Port Royal setting. Watch the action in the trailer below:

The best part about a new Pirates-inspired world? Sora, Donald, and Goofy get themed costumes, which I am entirely in favor of.

As exciting as the confirmation of yet another location is, let’s focus on some of the other tidbits in the trailer. Xehanort’s multiple forms are coming together and plotting–his Heartless and his Nobody, a.k.a. Fake Ansem and Xemnas–and this is exceptionally bad news. Riku and Dark Riku are seemingly in the same place. And while in Arendelle, Organization XIII member Larxene hinteed to Sora and co. that she’s gathering seven new pure lights, seven new hearts. Gulp. So, presumably, she’s after Elsa to collect her hearts, in addition to more princesses. Plus, Axel/Lea and Kairi. What?!

Kingdom Hearts III will be available on January 29, 2019. Read about everything we know so far .

Images: Square Enix

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist. Follow her on Twitter and keep up with her Disney food adventures on Instagram.

More news from E3 2018!

New Shadow of the Tomb Raider jungle gameplay.
Bethesda unveils a sequel for Doom.
Kingdom Hearts 3 welcomes a Frozen inspired world.