Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1891

THE FLASH’s Grant Gustin on His Most Fearsome Foe Yet

The CW‘s Arrowverse has become a TV phenomenon, and The Flash is at the heart of that. The humorous and often lighthearted superhero show has set the tone for many of the network’s later additions. Though last season the Barry Allen-centered series took a darker tone, the team is back with the lightness and laughter that fans know and love. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t facing some serious big bads! In fact, when we sat down to talk to The Flash himself, Grant Gustin, on set in the show’s Vancouver home, the star was excited about the huge role that The Thinker would be playing in the newest season.

After four seasons, Barry has gotten a sense for which foes are going to cause him trouble. Gustin told us from the start that Barry knows Clifford DeVoe isn’t someone to underestimate. “Barry starts to get an inkling early on that this is going to be somebody serious and we’re going to want to nip it in the bud right away,” Gustin revealed. “When we heard about this guy–thinking back to who we heard about him from–Cadabra mentioned DeVoe to Barry and then Savitar. Evil Barry actually mentioned him to Barry and Iris. So Barry’s taking it pretty seriously right away.”

Though he might be right about their newest adversary, not everyone is as sure as Barry, which seems like it’s going to lead to a little tension for Team Flash before they all come together for the greater good. “He starts to become a little obsessed with finding this guy and with getting everyone to be on the same page as him,” Gustin explained. “He’s more all knowing than any big bad we’ve had before. Every time we think we’re ahead of him, we realize he’s still three steps ahead.”

This season has seen the addition of what the cast of the show sweetly call “the bus metas,” a group of humans who were changed into metas by The Thinker. These newcomers include Team Flash’s newest member, Ralph Dibney, a.k.a. Elongated Man, and they all seem to be a part of The Thinker’s nefarious scheme. “We have the bus metas. DeVoe created all of them, and they all have to do with his plan. None of this was an accident. We don’t realize that at first, but we start to see everything’s connected and we don’t know why he needs all these people and why he did this to them,” Gustin teased.

How will Elongated Man change the direction of the team? Gustin sees Dibney’s arrival as a way to take Barry back to his roots. “That’s kind of the selling point with Ralph, why he wants to get him to work with Team Flash. He’s like, ‘I want to teach you how to be a good detective again.’ There’s been a lot more of that for Barry. We don’t see him too much as a CSI. He’s been trying to solve more problems on his own, a lot more detective work, and Ralph and Barry have been doing that together a lot, which has been cool,” Gustin smiled.

Are you looking forward to seeing Barry get his CSI on? Got any great fan theories about The Thinker? Excited for the big crossover? Let us know in the comments!

Images: The CW

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DISNEY INFINITY Designs Live On As Disney Toybox Figures

Fans of the action-adventure video game Disney Infinity were saddened when the game was discontinued last year. The unique game pieces were cherished figures that fans loved and collected. Now the designs live on, as Disney has released a new line of action figures called Toybox, based on those beloved Disney Infinity designs.

The Toybox action figures are five inches high and designed for real world play with 14 points of articulation. The first release of the series includes characters from Disney’s main brands, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Pixar fans will be pleased to see their favorite Toy Story toys represented with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie figures. The Marvel Toybox collection contains three of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk–who comes with a bent pipe for swinging and smashing.

The Star Wars collection includes characters from The Force Awakens: Rey, Kylo Ren, and a First Order stormtrooper—a figure which never got a release under Disney Infinity—but thanks to Toybox we get to see what could have been.

The name Toybox most likely originated from the Toy Box mode gameplay on Disney Infinity, which allowed players to mix and match characters in their own worlds, creating their own unique game. Here the idea is the same, as each figure comes with a signature accessory and an integrated universal hand grip; that means those accessories can be swapped between characters. So if you’ve always wanted Buzz Lightyear to carry a lightsaber, you’re in luck! The world is yours to create.

With these designs getting a second life, it’s hopeful that Disney will be introducing brand new figures that never got a chance to be developed for Infinity. This is just the first wave of characters for Toybox, and with new figures planned for release each month, you can be sure that toys from upcoming Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars films should be making their debuts soon.

Get a closer look at the figures in the gallery below. The Toybox figures are now available exclusively at Disney stores and shopdisney.com

Which Toybox figure is a must have for your toy shelf? Let us know in the comments and tag @nerdist and @justjenn on Twitter to show us the figures you’ve collected!

Images: Disney

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Batman Comes to Hyrule in LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD Mod

One of the reasons Batman is the king of comic book crossovers is that he’s highly adaptable to almost any time and place, even when it’s not his world at all. For example, a fan-created mod for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild features the Dark Knight trading the urban decay of Gotham City for the wide open countryside of Hyrule. And as you can see in the video below, Batman quickly makes himself at home in Link‘s territory.

Via ComicBook.com, the Batman Breath of the Wild mod was created by WilianZilv, and it’s a strikingly effective take on Bruce Wayne’s alter ego. The mod results in some unintentionally amusing moments, like Batman missing a few key frames of Link’s animation when eating a honeyed apple, but when it comes to saving the citizens of Hyrule, Batman fits right in as a defender of justice. In this mod, the Lizal Boomerang becomes the de facto Batarang, and the Batglider replaces the in-game glider used by Link.

WilianZilv has posted his Batman mod on Gamebanana. It’s not the first time that he’s tinkered with Nintendo’s masterpiece. Some of his previous Zelda mods have introduced God of War‘s Kratos, Shrek, One-Punch Man, and Dragon Ball‘s Goku into the game. WilianZilv is even working on mod that turns Zelda herself into a playable character. But we particularly enjoyed this mod, which features Toy Story‘s Woody and Buzz as they bring new meaning to “falling with style.”

What did you think about the Batman Breath of the Wild mod? Unleash your thoughts in the comment section below!

Image: WilianZilv

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Experience THE FORCE AWAKENS in 30 Seconds with LEGO

We are finally within porg screaming distance of The Last Jedi arriving in theaters, which means Star Wars fans everywhere are getting ready for the film by re-watching The Force Awakens. For the 100th time. But what if you just don’t have the time to squeeze in one more viewing before the galaxy far, far away returns next month? The holiday season is a busy time of year for many, between gift buying and having to finish all of those work projects before we bid adieu to 2017. Well don’t worry if you’re swamped with other responsibilities the next few weeks, because you can still get a refresher on what happened in the last movie thanks to this fantastic 30-second version of the film from LEGO.

In less time than it takes to pour yourself a glass of blue milk, LEGO has condensed the entire film down to the most vital parts. But just because this is very short that does not mean it is lacking in details. In fact, hopefully you at least have a few minutes to indulge in a “re-watch,” because you’ll want to replay this a bunch of times to catch everything that was included.

When it comes right down to it, The Force Awakens really was just one big chase scene to see who could reach the old hermit first. What else do you need to remember to before seeing The Last Jedi? And now we have at least two hours of our life freed up the next few weeks.

Maybe we’ll use them to re-watch Rogue One.

Is there any part of the movie they left out that should have made it in?  Share what you would have liked to have seen included in our comments below.

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Images: LEGO

BlizzCon Cosplay Music Video Highlights Impressive OVERWATCH and WARCRAFT Builds

For over a decade, gamers have descended upon Anaheim, California for the annual BlizzCon event, which brings together the overlapping communities of Warcraft, StarCraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and other Blizzard franchises. Think of it as a Comic Con-like event that is very laser-focused on its fandom. Naturally, the cosplayers come out in force. The amount of intricate builds at the convention is astounding, as you can see in an extended video recap by Mineralblu Photography.

Among the cosplay highlights were a Heroes of the Storm D.Va variant, Doomfist, and an official cosplayer who captured Moira’s look from Overwatch with stunning precision. There were far too many great costumes to call out all of them, but it’s a testament to the artistry of the fans that many cosplay enthusiasts could easily be mistaken for some of the professionals within their ranks. We can’t even begin to imagine the amount of EVA foam that went into all the armor.

In addition to capturing closer looks at each cosplayer, Mineralblu also explored other areas of BlizzCon, including the massive Warcraft diorama that claimed a Guinness World Record. From there, the video depicted some of the memorable moments from the Overwatch World Cup, which had an enthusiastic crowd on hand to watch the best players compete.

For more of Minerablu’s work, check out his YouTube channel and his Facebook page.

What did you think about Minerablu’s video recap of BlizzCon? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Mineralblu

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Hilarious New Zealand Police Recruitment Video Brings the Parkour and a Police Cat

It’s not always easy to recruit the best candidates to become police officers, no matter where you live in the world. But the New Zealand Police recruitment team has a unique way to drive people to the force. They seemingly channel a little Taika Waititi for their latest recruitment video. It plays like it could have been a big screen comedy. Keep in mind, the performers showcased here are all real cops, and some of them even have comedic chops to go with their parkour skills.

We first spotted “Freeze!” at Laughing Squid, but it’s currently lighting up YouTube as one of the most viewed videos of the day. The whole thing is a welcome bit of levity. Constable Zion Leaupepe gets the first speaking role in the video, and she’s joined by more than 70 of her colleagues, with police commissioner Mike Bush making a quick appearance as himself. There’s even a police cat briefly glimpsed in the climatic chase for a surprising four-legged crook. And in an especially cheeky touch, the end credits refuse to name the members of the AOS (Armed Offenders Squad) who took part in the shoot.

Apparently using comedy isn’t a new trick for the New Zealand Police Recruitment crew. Last year, they released a video of Hip Hop Cops that also went viral. If someone ever decides to relaunch Cop Rock, then we’d suggest setting the show in New Zealand and giving the real officers more chances to entertain everyone.

What did you think about about these videos? Share your quirkiest thoughts in the comment section below!

Images: New Zealand Police Recruitment

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And the WALKING DEAD/FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Crossover Character Is…

Trust us, Chris Hardwick knows how to keep a secret. After the original comic and series creator Robert Kirkman revealed that a character from either The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead would cross over on the other show, we’ve been waiting with baited breath to find out who it would be and why. And like when Worf joined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back in the day, it’s a character from the original Walking Dead show, looking to bring new fans to the prequel story.

It was heavily expected that the character would be Abraham Ford, but in fact, no. It’s Morgan, played by Lennie James. Which makes some sense, given that there are huge gaps in his story.

“I am surprised!” said James, who made the announcement from Austin, Texas. He’ll begin shooting tomorrow morning, so this announcement helps AMC get ahead of anyone spotting him on set.

Scott Gimple took pains to point out that this does not necessarily mean Morgan is getting killed off on The Walking Dead — he has plenty of story still left. And now we’ll also get to find out who he was before he even met Rick in the aftermath of the apocalypse, before he was able to speak softly and carry a big stick.

You’ll be able to watch a livestream of James’ first day on set on the Fear the Walking Dead Facebook page tomorrow at 4 p.m. Are you excited to see his earlier days? Let us know in comments below!

Images: AMC

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Women Take Center Stage in the New WALKING DEAD

Spoilers are ahead for the season eight of The Walking Dead. Keep reading at your own risk.

This week, the women of The Walking Dead finally get the spotlight.

Season eight is about a lot of things: Rick’s revenge, Daryl’s anger, Ezekiel’s losses, Jesus’ morality, Morgan’s insanity, Gabriel’s faith, and of course, Negan himself. It’s also a season that’s thus far focused mainly on the goals and actions of men, with many of the women either staying behind in the home–Maggie, Michonne, and Rosita–or existing mostly as sounding boards for the men’s plans– Carol and Tara.

We have of course seen Carol and Tara fight alongside Ezekiel and Jesus, and we’ve had brief interactions with Maggie at the Hilltop. But when it comes to interiority, to knowing what the characters are feeling and thinking, and screen time, the focus has mostly been on the men. This week’s episode, “The King, the Widow, and Rick,” gave us a chance to finally interact more with all the women who’ve been holding down the fort while the men took center stage.

The character who gets the most focus and agency this episode is Maggie, who’s now become the leader of the Hilltop. Jesus has commanded more screen time this season, but he turns to Maggie for advice and final say. She sits in Gregory’s chair, and in the wake of Gregory’s betrayal, even orders him to be caged in alongside the Savior prisoners. “I grew up on a farm. I know all about sheep and wolves,” she tells him. In the wake of her husband Glenn’s death, Maggie has grown into a formidable threat in Negan’s eyes–his oft repeated phrase is that they need to take down “the king, the widow, and Rick.”

This is also the first episode where we really get to interact with Michonne and Rosita. Both women stayed behind to guard Alexandria because of wounds they suffered last season, Rosita was shot and Michonne nearly beaten to death in the Savior attack on Alexandria. From a narrative standpoint it makes sense that they’d stay behind to continue to heal. (On the other hand, if two main characters had to be put out of commission to up the tension in season eight, did it have to be two of only five women leads?)

Michonne and Rosita find each other in Alexandria, and it’s clear they both feel antsy about not being a part of the fight. “The second they rolled out from sanctuary and I wasn’t with them, it’s like a siren’s been going off in my head,” Michonne says. “It’s been a day and a half and I’ve felt every second.” The two agree to go see Rick’s work at the Savior compound, so they can be assured things are going well and to perhaps feel vindicated that Negan is getting what he deserves. The two get waylaid on their way back though when they investigate the sound of music at a warehouse, meant to draw the walker horde away from the Saviors.

It’s enjoyable to see Michonne and Rosita begrudgingly bond as they both decide–against their better interests and likely against the wishes of Rick–to enter the battlefield. Here are two headstrong warriors who aren’t used to letting others fight their battles. It’s refreshing to get to an episode that passes the Bechdel test as both women converse and then work in tandem to enter the warehouse. What ensues though is an ungraceful fight where it’s clear neither of them were ready. It’s messy and it’s human, and it’s the kind of development I’ve been looking for.

And then we have Carol. Carol has been at Ezekiel’s side this whole season, but beyond her doubtful frowns we haven’t really interacted with her much. Here we see Carol back in the limelight and determined to pull Ezekiel out of his grief in the wake of his overwhelming loss; there’s literally no Kingdom men of age left to fight except for Jonah. Where Jonah dutifully listens to Ezekiel, Carol literally shows up to his door with a shotgun. With Carol acting as an addendum to Ezekiel’s story for most of this season, it’s nice to see badass Carol back, taking charge where others won’t. There’s even a scene where she agrees to train a stubborn young boy, a call back to all the times Carol has (begrudgingly) taken on a mentorship role.

Tara gets a few brief moments as she tells Daryl she’s still going to kill Dwight for murdering Denise. We even re-encounter garbage-dwelling Janis this episode, and she’s still as weird and terrible as ever, sculpting in the nude and refusing once again to help Rick. (Janis is one of the most unbelievable parts of this show, let’s just admit this.) Even Enid gets some screen time, and it appears she’s acting as assistant to Maggie as she leads the Hilltop. Where Maggie is firm in her decisions, it seems Enid is softer, showing compassion.

All in all, it’s a surprisingly packed episode full of numerous women. When Michonne, Rosita, and Tara sit in the car with Daryl at the end, it’s probably the most women we’ve seen in a single shot together this season. It’s an interesting episode that finally provides us with some perspective away from the battlefield, and I only wish it didn’t take six episodes in to get that.

This episode is both more than what I was hoping for and yet it also felt not quite enough. With all of the women sharing a single episode, it’s difficult to really focus on any one character’s development. I can only hope we’ll see all these women more often in the backend of season eight.

Images: AMC

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Rule the Galaxy with a New STAR WARS Cosmetics Collection

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is just weeks away from opening, and excitement is building for second movie in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Whether you’ll be seeing the movie once, twice, or four times like me, fans are already planning to celebrate by putting together outfits for their viewings.

Cargo Cosmetics is here to help complete your look with the release of their new Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi Collection. The makeup collection lets you choose your look to commemorate the next chapter in the Skywalker saga. Will you embrace the dark side or the light?

The Light Side Eye Shadow palette is filled with dazzling neutrals, expertly coordinated to help you achieve peace when you’re attuned to the Force. Pair it with Resistance Mascara, a the lengthening mascara that holds strong to resist against the calling of the dark side.

Speaking of the calling, The Dark Side Eye Shadow Palette is full of deep colors for a smoky eye that reflects unimaginable power. Along with First Order Mascara, the deadly combination creates a look that will leave you ready to rule the galaxy.

This beauty tribute also offers limited-edition collectible compact mirrors that feature the characters of General Leia Organa, Captain Phasma, Rey, and BB-8. The mirrors are perfect for checking your appearance before you head off to Canto Bight.

Check out more images from the collection in the gallery below.

The Cargo Cosmetics Star Wars: The Last Jedi Collection is available on cargocosmetics.com and Kohls.com, and will be rolling out to 1,100 Kohl’s brick and mortar stores just in time for the holidays.

Which style of makeup will you be choosing, the light or the dark? Choose wisely and let us know in the comments!

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Uber’s Fleet of Driverless SUVs Sounds Terrifying Yet Convenient

In its next big step towards the creation of Skynet, Uber has just ordered 24,000 Volvo SUVs, each priced around $46,900, to form the basis of a driverless car fleet, reports Bloomberg. The cars will be delivered to Uber sometime between 2019 and 2021 and presumably tested and tinkered with further before actually rolling out on to city streets. Hopefully.

Driverless cars, which are mostly tested in Arizona because of its controlled, dry climate, haven’t necessarily had the best results, and it was thought that Uber had suspended the idea following a crash attributable to another driver not seeing the driverless vehicle oncoming. At fault or not, a driverless car needs to be able to adapt to bad drivers coming at it. But Uber is clearly feeling the pressure to get up to, er, speed, as Google’s competing rideshare service, Waymo, is going all-in on driverless.

But here’s the big question: do you actually want a driverless Uber? On the plus side, you don’t have to worry that the driver might be a surprise criminal. On the other, you might lose the ability to adapt to secret routes the rider knows but the GPS doesn’t or have those bizarre out-of-left-field conversations that sometimes lead to networking at best, or polite fake smiles at worst. Always a story to tell afterwards, though.

Hollywood, as always, anticipated this objection years ago:

The real driverless cars may feel free to lay off the whistling.

Would you prefer an Uber that controls itself? Let us know in the comments!

Images: NBC, Disney

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