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Witness Funko’s Adorably Gritty MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Figures

A couple years back, Mad Max: Fury Road rocked all of our worlds with the world’s best “thirty years later” sequel of all time (sorry The Force Awakens. We still love ya though).

The coolest part of director George Miller’s new Mad Max, however, was undoudtedly Charlize Theron as Furiosa, who turned out to be one of the most badass ladies in cinema history. And that guys who played a fire-spitting guitar on a giant war/speaker/drum machine? Yeah, he were pretty cool too.

Now our good friends at Funko have announced a huge new line of Mad Max: Fury Road products coming this winter from their Rock Candy, Mystery Minis, and Pop! vinyl lines, and we are pretty sure that like us, you are going to want to get all of them.

Furiosa leads the pack as the latest iconic heroine to join Funko’s Rock Candy figure line, ready to lead the rebellion. This one belong on everyone’s desk:

Also coming are a new group of Fury Road Mystery Minis, including different versions of Max, Furiosa, Nux, Coma, Capable, Immortan Joe, Rictus Erectus and the Valkyrie.

And the Pop! line will be adding War Boy Nux, The Valkyrie, Coma-Doof the blind guitarist, Lord of the Citadel Immortan Joe, his wife Capable, and Furiosa — complete with steering wheel to drive the war rig. Oh, and let’s not forget, Mad Max himself (he’s in this movie too, you know).

As usual, there will be chase variants, this time of Immortan Joe and Furiosa (each a rarity of 1-in-6). The variants will be available at Target, Hot Topic, Wal Mart, and as Funko Shop exclusives. You can check the all out down below in our gallery.

Which one of these adorable Fury Road figures do you want most? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below.

Images: Funko

So Shiny, So Chrome…

The subtle triumph of Furiosa’s prosthetic limb.
Fury Road without VFX still totally works.
Fan art celebrating the masterful action film.

FRIEND REQUEST Trailer Mines Horror from Our (Already Horrifying) Facebook Feeds

Want a little dose of pre-October horror? Check out Friend Request when ithits theaters September 22nd–a film that attempts to make you afraid of your own Facebook feed. Co-writer/director Simon Verhoeven’s film, which hit Germany last year, is yet another entry in the incipient subgenre of social media scares that cropped up after 2010. Unfriended is probably the reigning champ (and the short film Noah perfected the A.D.D. single screen blitz), but while it covered the contained supernatural slasher angle in a Skype chat, Friend Request looks for room to breathe in the real world.

It stars Alycia Debnam-Carey (from The 100 and Fear the Walking Dead) as a popular college student named Laura with fun roommates and a boyfriend played by a post-Narnia William Moseley. That’s the good news. The bad news is that she becomes the sole Facebook friend to a gothy loner named Marina (Liesl Ahlers), and after that crashes and burns, Marina records her suicide and auto-uploads it to Laura’s profile. The worse news is that Marina appears to be haunting Laura and her pals.

Real talk: witches in your computer is a new twist.

Friend Request appears to hit all the highlights of social media horror. The cyber bullying suicide, the plugged-in crew waiting to get cut down, the Baby Boomer-beloved characterization of scrolling through Facebook as the doom of all society. The question will be if it offers anything new beyond the cultural statement inherent in finding fear inside our nervousness and need to connect online.

And, you know, whether it’s actually scary or not.

What do you think of the trailer? Let us know!

Image: Entertainment Studios

Checking Out the New STAR WARS Swag Before Force Friday II

You can’t force good conversation, but since the galaxy far, far away flooded us with a ton of new collectibles before tomorrow’s second Force Friday, there was plenty to discuss on today’s Nerdist News Talks Back. But we also found time to talk about what the next Wonder Woman might look like, and whether it should use ideas from George Romero’s lost Justice League movie.

Host Jessica Chobot set out today with an All-Star crew made up of managing editor Alicia Lutes, Mothership writer Amy Vorpahl, and Jessica’s Bizarre States co-host/little buddy Andrew Bowser, as they went over some of the Star Wars items that will be available tomorrow during Force Friday II. Hear their thoughts on Sphero’s new First Order ball droid BB-9E (forever “BB-Hate” in our hearts), whether we just got the worst looking Adam Driver figure ever, what we can learn from all of the new LEGO sets, and whether we should try putting together that massive new Millennium Falcon set. (LET’S DO IT!)

They also got to unbox some of Hasbro‘s new figures in their Star Wars Black Series, which include new Last Jedi figures for Rey, Luke Skywalker, and Kylo Ren, as well as Centerpiece figures of vintage Luke and Darth Vader. If watching people take collectibles out of their boxes upsets you, you can get an up-close look at them in our gallery below.

Image: Hasbro

But even with all of the new Star Wars swag (Swag Wars? Star Swags?) to go over, they touched upon what they’d like to see from the next Wonder Woman movie, and whether any of the reported ideas from George Miller’s lost, writer’s-strike Justice League movie should be under consideration by Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. (Uh, yeah, probably.)

If you didn’t get a chance to chime in on today’s show, remember you can watch Nerdist News Talks Back live every weekday at 1:00p.m. PST on Nerdist’s YouTube and Alpha channels.

It’s your only hope if you ever want to stop us from opening our collectibles again.

What Star Wars swag are you hoping to get your hands on tomorrow? Hit the hyperdrive on your keyboard and tell us in the comments below.

Want more Force Friday news?

Build your own droid.
Largest Millennium Falcon LEGO Set Ever.
Even more LEGO Star Wars stuff.
All of Funko’s Star Wars toys.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

STREET FIGHTER II is Getting a 30th Anniversary SNES Cartridge

Thirty years ago this week, Capcom’s first Street Fighter game hit the arcade scene to begin a franchise that is still wildly popular. Perhaps the most famous game in the series is Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, which introduced an unforgettable cast of characters and gameplay that was unmatched for its time. Now, Capcom and iam8bit are teaming to mark the 30th anniversary of the franchise with a special Street Fighter II limited edition cartridge for the Super Nintendo!

It’s not just for decoration. It is a real cartridge that can be used in any SNES, or potentially the third party SNES replica systems that are readily available. Although…it may be a bad idea to actually play it this way. Iam8bit’s product page is warning that the new release could be a fire hazard, causing the older systems to overheat. It might shoryuken your system, in other words.

At $100, it’s significantly more expensive than the original Street Fighter II SNES release, which went a long way towards re-establishing Nintendo’s console dominance during the 16-bit era. But this edition comes with a few extras, including retro packaging, the original instruction booklet, a new archival cover print, and other extras yet to be revealed.

4,500 of the cartridges will be released in “Opaque Ryu Red, and the remaining 1,000 cartridges will be “Translucent Glow-in-the-Dark Blanka Green.”

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to pick your colors, as each version will be randomly sorted without specifying which one is in the box. Pre-orders have begun at iam8bit and the Capcom store, and the cartridges are expected to begin shipping in November. Iam8bit also indicated that this is the first release of the “Legacy Cartridge Collection,” which suggests that more classic titles are on the way.

Are you excited about the new Street Fighter II SNES 30th anniversary release? Insert coins to share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Images: Capcom/iam8bit

MORE IN VIDEO GAMES

Xbox and PlayStation cross-play may be on the way!
Is a Game of Thrones video game being developed?
This band’s music video is a playable Night Trap-style FMV game

DESTINY 2’s Live-Action Trailer Will Get You So Hyped for the Game

Following the release of Kong: Skull Island earlier this year, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts seemed poised to take on an adaptation of Metal Gear Solid for the big screen. But before Vogt-Roberts undertakes the massive challenge of making a good movie out of one of the all-time great video games, he’s getting warmed up with an awesome live-action trailer for Destiny 2. And more importantly, this trailer has all of the Nathan Fillion that you can handle, as he reprises his role as Cayde-6.

In the video, Cayde-6 humorously describes the stakes of their battle to a trio of enthusiastic new recruits. In fact, it makes a pretty good case for Vogt-Roberts to take on a Destiny movie as well. The action scenes are exciting and Cayde-6 clearly has breakout potential, if Fillion gets to keep the role he originated.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Vogt-Roberts shared how his experience with this trailer will inform his take on Metal Gear Solid. “I think for me there is always going to be a little bit of exploration of playing with that translation of active experience to passive experience and I think that builds into what I’m trying to achieve with Metal Gear and takes the first steps into that world of how these things can translate,” said Vogt-Roberts. “Metal Gear is an infinitely tricky project and there’s a billion ways to go wrong with that. Every little experiment is ultimately going in that reservoir of knowledge of how to protect an equally important property to people.”

Destiny 2 will be released on September 6 for Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Unfortunately, PC users are going to have to wait until October 24th to get their hands on the game.

What did you think about the live-action Destiny 2 trailer? Take aim in the comment section below!

Images: Bungie

See How Arya Actually Face-Swapped in New GAME OF THRONES VFX Reel

Game of Thrones‘ seventh season started out with a bang — one achieved thanks to Arya Stark’s Faceless Men training in Braavos. After mastering the creepy art of face-stealing, the littlest Stark (still alive) made her way back to Westeros to take down House Frey as retribution for the Red Wedding, and the rest is history.

Now, thanks to Zoic Studios’ VFX reel, showing off some of their most recent work on the series, we can see how they got Walder Frey’s creepy face to look so dang creepy and real during Arya’s badass reveal at the end of the episode.

The company also did extensive work when it came to populating the worlds of the Citadel, Winterfell, and Dragonstone. We were especially wowed by the work they did the increase the size and scope of the dragonglass caves.

It’s subtle work, but ultimately the most important part of Game of Thrones is making all of these effects and magic (and dragons! and big-ass direwolves!) look and feel organic to the world. Without it, Game of Thrones would be just another mediocre fantasy adaptation that doesn’t live up to its true potential.

What do you think of the video? Let us know in the comments below.

Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor, creator/co-host of Fangirling, and resident Khaleesi of House Nerdist. Find her on Twitter!

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON IN GAME OF THRONES?

Conleth Hill insists that Varys is not a merman.
Could Cersei become a Night Queen?
RIP Littlefinger, a real player in the Game of Thrones.

Images: HBO

The Obvious Detail You Missed in Snoke’s Force Friday Toy

It may not yet be time for the Jedi to end, but Force Friday II is just around the corner! In a few short hours, the big Star Wars event is going to begin and you’ll be able to compete with other fans for the first toys from The Last Jedi. While director Rian Johnson has assured fans that the recently revealed action figures won’t spoil the film, that doesn’t mean we can’t gain some additional insight from them! Today’s Nerdist News is all about the one detail you may have missed on Supreme Leader Snoke’s toy and what it may mean for the film.

There are potential spoilers ahead for The Last Jedi. Proceed at your own risk!

Join host and the galaxy’s deadliest Porg hunter, Jessica Chobot, as she points out that someone has put a ring on Snoke’s left hand. Is the First Order’s big bad getting hitched? Or is it something more familiar like a kyber crystal? We’ve never seen a black kyber crystal in the Star Wars universe, but we have seen the Darksaber in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. We’ve yet to see any evidence that Snoke even has a lightsaber of his own, but there is a precedent for his kyber crystal bling. As seen in Rogue One, kyber crystals have been known to be used as jewelry by non-Force sensitive people.

The Star Wars Aftermath novels may have even set the stage for Snoke’s rings. Those books introduced the Acolytes of the Beyond, a group of fanatical dark siders who scoured the galaxy looking for Sith artifacts. We believe that Snoke could have received the crystal from the Acolytes or even procured it himself. Either way, it’s clearly important to him, whether he uses it as an offensive weapon or not.

What do you think about the potential Sith connections of Snoke’s ring? Use the Force and share your thoughts below!

Images: Lucasfilm

Star Wars Force Friday Frenzy!

Build your own droid kit!
The Last Jedi LEGO Sets!
Force Friday Funkos!

Gamers are Putting on a Charity Stream to Raise Hurricane Harvey Relief Funds

It’s been an unimaginably tough week for those affected by the weather in the Gulf Coast. Unprecedented flooding has affected countless people who are only experiencing the very beginning of the hardship they’ll face over the next few months or even years. Though, with every tragedy of this scale, there’s thankfully a silver lining in the lengths that strangers will go to in order to help those in need. One such organization, Games Done Quick, has announced Harvey Relief Done Quick in order to raise money during a live stream starting on Friday, September 1st and running through the weekend.

Harvey Relief Done Quick is official! Fri. 8PM – Sun. 8PM EDT. Game Submissions will be live (via Google Forms) within the hour. #HRDQ2017

— Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) August 30, 2017

The group plans to stream speed runs for charity and are still taking submissions via a google doc posted to their Twitter account.

Harvey Relief Done Quick run submissions are now available! Please read the directions on the first page! https://t.co/gKA6opZoj1 #HRDQ2017

— Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) August 30, 2017

It can feel a bit paralyzing when a tragedy like this strikes even when you’re not directly involved so it’s nice to see groups getting out there and trying to at least make a dent in the recovery. If donating to charity live streams isn’t your thing, there are certainly other ways everyone can help.

If you’re near the affected area, you can donate blood through The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center. The Houston Food Bank is looking for donations and you can help our furry friends through The Houston Humane Society.

And, of course, one of the easiest ways to help in situations like this is through the American Red Cross which let’s you donate by going to redcross.org , calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Image: Nintendo

TITANS Live-Action TV Series Casts Dick Grayson

The Titans live-action television series has just picked up their lead character. Actor Brenton Thwaites, most recently seen in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, has been cast as none other than Dick Grayson, according to a report at Deadline. Interestingly, the report does not specify which iteration of hero Grayson will be. The original article shows a picture of Robin alongside Thwaites’ photo, but earlier reports suggest the Titans series will cover Grayson’s transition from Robin to the adult hero Nightwing.

DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns released the following statement on Thwaites’ casting:

“Dick Grayson is one of the most important and iconic heroes in the DC universe, and it wasn’t easy to find him but we have. Brenton has the emotional depth, heart, danger and physical presence of Batman’s former protege and the Titans’ future leader. We’re extremely lucky he’s chosen to bring his talents to this project and this character.”

Among Thwaites’ other roles are The Giver, Gods of Egypt, and Maleficent. 

Thwaites joins the recently cast Starfire (Anna Diop) and Raven (Teagan Croft), and the actor playing Beast Boy should be announced soon. Other classic characters from the pages of DC Comics’ Teen Titans are also going to be showing up on the series, although it is up in the air if Cyborg will be one of them, due to his status as a Justice League character. But if we can have a movie Flash and TV Flash, why not Cyborg?

Dick Grayson is one of the most iconic superheroes in all of pop culture. He debuted as the original Robin the Boy Wonder in the pages of Detective Comics in 1940, and spent the next 44 years as the most well known kid partner in history. The Batman ’66 TV series made him a household name. Then, in 1984, Grayson finally became a man in the pages of The New Teen Titans as Nightwing, and became even more popular, thanks to Marv Wolfman and George Perez’ reinvention of the character.

We will soon be seeing two versions of the popular hero, as there is a live-action Nightwing movie set in the DCEU that is being planned by The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay. It’s highly doubtful that version of the character will mention his Titans comrades.

The Titans series is coming from DC TV guru Greg Berlanti, Akiva Goldsman, DC CCO (and former Teen Titans writer) Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros TV, which is set to premiere in 2018 as part of the inaugural slate of a new DC-branded direct-to-consumer digital service. Alongside the Titans show will be a third season of the Young Justice animated series. That show will also have a Dick Grayson in it, which means fans of Nightwing will have three versions to choose from soon. It seems after all these years, Dick Grayson’s time in the spotlight has finally arrived.

What do you feel about the actor chosen for this very iconic DC hero? Are you excited, or did you have another actor in mind for the part? Be sure to let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Warner Brothers / Disney

More about DC Comics

Latest Gotham preview has an almost-Batman
Batman takes on Jack the Ripper
A Batman Beyond movie needs Michael Keaton

GAME OF THRONES’ Isaac Hempstead Wright Debunks the Bran/Night King Theory

Of all the fan theories to come out of Game of Thrones seventh season, none have been talked about more than the one that says Bran Stark is the Night King. If true, the ramifications would reshape the entire story. But no matter how popular it is, at least one person isn’t buying it, and his “vision” might be worth listening to, since he plays Bran on the show.

In an interview with Vulture, actor Isaac Hempstead Wright talked about his character’s transformation this season from the frustrated student we last saw into the dead-eyed, barely human Three-eyed Raven he is now. But what about the monster notion that he really has two alter egos, the Three-eyed Raven and the leader of the White Walkers?

“I think it’s less that they’re the same person and more that they’re two of the ancient beings of Westeros,” said Wright, “Perhaps we can think of it as these are two characters with a huge amount of power, but one is a Frankenstein’s monster who is driven by nothing but hatred and violence. Then there’s Bran, who uses his powers for good. I want to find out why the Night King is so obsessed with destroying mankind.”

If Bran is the Night King, the show’s creators haven’t told him yet. But this doesn’t disprove the theory, since as Wright said in the interview until he has next season’s scripts he’s speculating like any other fan. So maybe it will turn out he’s really playing more of a Jekyll and Hyde and the theory is right.

Whether the theory turns out to be accurate or not (I’m a hard “not”), at the very least it’s something to talk about until the show’s final season. It’s not like we have thousands of visions of the past to kill time. Or a dead dragon to ride.

Or both.

What do you think? Does this make you less of a believer in the theory? Tell us in the comments below.

WANT MORE GAME OF THRONES?

Why are there no female White Walkers?
What role might Bran play in Game of Thrones‘ endgame
How Dany’s House of the Undying vision prepares us for Thrones‘ future

Images: HBO