Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2078

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 Concept Art Reveals a More Insect-like Mantis

Earlier this month, Mantis proved to be one of the breakout characters from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and she certainly played a key part in some of the film’s funniest moments. For the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mantis was given a new origin and her human heritage was changed to keep Star-Lord as the only person from Earth on the team. While Pom Klementieff‘s Mantis still had some human-like features, a newly released piece of concept art has revealed that an earlier version of Mantis was even more insect-like than the final version on screen.

On twitter, Marvel Studios Visual Development Supervisor and former comic book artist Andy Park, showed off an image from The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hardcover, which showed his first take on Mantis in the film.

One of the 1st concept designs I painted up of Mantis for #GuardiansoftheGalaxyVol2 when we were going for a more “insecty” look. #mantis pic.twitter.com/W5Xl7JSil8

— Andy Park (@andyparkart) May 13, 2017

In the movie, Mantis notes that she was raised from a larva by Ego, which confirms her non-human status. But it doesn’t address whether Mantis is still the Celestial Madonna in this timeline. In the Marvel Universe, Mantis was prophesied to be the mother of the most important person in the universe, and she eventually fulfilled her destiny on a cosmic scale. While Mantis describes herself as “a flea with a purpose” in the film, it’s not out of the question that she was chosen by Ego specifically because she is the Celestial Madonna. Considering that he is a Celestial, it would make sense if he saw that potential in her.

Although director James Gunn has repeatedly said Mantis’ relationship with Drax is platonic and not romantic, it does remind me of the angle between Swordsman and Mantis in the Avengers stories that dealt with Mantis’ destiny. Something similar could still play out on the big screen, especially if Mantis takes an interest in Vision during Avengers: Infinity War.

You can see more of Park’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 concept art on his Twitter account, including his cover for the newest art book. You can alsos see some of his early designs for the first Guardians film here.

Here’s the cover I painted for the Art of #GuardiansoftheGalaxyVol2 book! Get it today! #starlord #gamora  #drax #babygroot #rocketraccoon pic.twitter.com/hnDfb5JZDD

— Andy Park (@andyparkart) May 7, 2017

What do you think about Mantis’ original design for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Studios

This Tutorial Can Turn You Into the World’s Scariest Clown Scarecrow

Man, the late 2010s has got to be tough If you’re a professional clown. Once upon a time, the clown symbolized something pure and wholesome and childlike. For Baby Boomers, clowns like Bozo and Emmett Kelly and even Ronald McDonald were what people thought of when they thought of clowns, or even just neighborhood clowns for children’s birthday parties. Nothing symbolized pure Americana like a clown. But times have certainly changed.

Thanks to movies like Poltergeist and Stephen King’s It, subsequent generations have become terrified of clowns, and the media presence of characters like the Joker, or even worse, real life serial killers like John Wayne Gacy, have cemented the clown figure into something terrifying. The fact that last year there was a nation wide “creepy clown epidemic” kind of says it all. For most of us, clowns are pretty damn scary. Which is why clowns have become the #1 horror “monster” make up of the modern age.

Thanks to the folks over at The Laughing Squid, we’ve learned of a YouTube tutorial that allows you to create your very own terrifying clown make-up, which crosses a clown with a scarecrow. This makeup is legit terrifying, so don’t wander around town or any local parks looking like this, or you’re going to start the whole creepy clown panic all over again. This tutorial comes from Ellimacs SFX, who also have a creepy tutorial on how to easily make your very own custom set of fitted monster teeth to go with the make-up. You can check out the video down below:

Has this already inspired your Halloween costume this year? Let us know down below in the comments.

Image: Warner Brothers / Ellimax FX

Here’s even more inspiration.

A CHRISTMAS STORY Musical Is Coming to Fox as a Live Show

It’s become an annual tradition for A Christmas Story to be endlessly rerun on TV every December. But this year, Fox is giving A Christmas Story fans a new reason to celebrate: a live-action adaptation of the stage musical!

Via CNN, Fox has announced that A Christmas Story: The Musical will be a three-hour special on the network this December. The original production of A Christmas Story: The Musical was scored by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who recently won an Oscar for their work on La La Land; Pasek and Paul are also slated to write several new songs for the Fox production. The original movie was based upon Jean Shepherd’s books In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, and it’s previously been adapted as a non-musical stage play.

The movie chronicled Ralphie Parker’s Christmas time quest for a BB gun, and it has proven to be an endearing classic for almost 35 years. The expanded musical could potentially draw upon more material from the original story. The first stage production reincorporated a hilarious subplot about Ralphie mailing ads for the BB gun to his parents. Ralphie even had a love interest in that version, which was entirely left out of the movie. However, the new original songs are what we’re most excited about. There’s a lot of material to draw upon for those!

Are you excited to see A Christmas Story: The Musical on TV? Don’t put your eye out in the comment section below!

Image: MGM

Maybe this Christmas Story should be next?

Your First Look at Paul McCartney’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Character

We’ve known since March of last year that Paul McCartney was going to be involved with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in some capacity. Today, we’ve finally gotten an official look at the former Beatle in costume, via a new character poster from Disney that McCartney dropped on Twitter.

So what can we glean from this image? His hair and bandana recall Johnny Depp‘s Captain Jack Sparrow, while the hat is much more of a Geoffrey Rush Barbossa touch. And maybe it’s just the lighting, but his left hand has the grayish pallor of the ghost pirates. Given that the Sparrow clan do seem to be rock stars genetically–Keith Richards, of course, played Jack’s father Teague–there seems a better than average chance that McCartney’s character is part of the Sparrow bloodline somehow…and perhaps a missing genetic link between Jack and his perpetual frenemy Barbossa.

One thing we absolutely guarantee is that he won’t be depicted eating meat onscreen, since McCartney won’t do that. But whether or not he can eat an appple…well, that might be a spoiler if we knew, mightn’t it?

He can’t be Will Turner’s dad, since we already know who that is, and he probably isn’t Brenton Thwaites’ dad, because nobody cares about that. But it’s doubtful he’s just going to be some random extra like Glenn Close in Hook–clearly, this is a cameo that’s meant to be noticed.

Who do you think Paul will play? Will he reveal himself as a walrus, or perhaps be named Old Fred and have a submersible ship painted yellow? Yo-ho, you-hoo should speculate in comments!

Images: Disney

Coolest Dad in the World Is Back Imitating OVERWATCH Emotes

Even though tomorrow is the day when we all collectively thank our moms for bringing us into the world and being there for us, a certain YouTuber is back to further prove his dad is one of the coolest.



YouTube’s Nick Luciano and his dad are back with a brand new video where Papa Luciano reenacts character emotes from Blizzard Entertainment’s insanely popular game, Overwatch. The video–brought to our attention via a recent post on Polygon–places the in-game animations and Mr. Luciano side by side while he does his best to imitate their actions using various household items and Nerf guns.

While the duo go through quite a few characters, a certain few stand out for how much Mr. Luciano sells them. We can’t get enough of the joy he emotes spinning around watching an imaginary Ganymede as the robot Bastion, the intensity of his Winston end-pose, and the multiple attempts to get Junkrat’s grenade juggling just right. However, our favorite part has got to be the emote that opens the video with Mr. Luciano energetically imitating Reinhardt, holding his weed wacker rocket hammer only to be caught a bit off guard by an (undoubtedly) confused neighbor.

Beyond how humorous these videos are on their surface, it’s just plain nice to see a dad get so involved with his son’s gaming habits and truly bond with him over it. The Lucianos have been doing this sort of thing for a few years now and you can’t deny the sincerity of the laughs had between them in all their videos. And while Overwatch is fun and all, our favorite remains one of their first videos imitating Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U.

What are your favorite Papa Luciano taunts? What games do you think they should do next? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Nick Luciano

Will Ferrell Belts “I Will Always Love You” at USC’s Graduation Ceremony

I have to imagine that giving practical advice to a talented, inexperienced bunch of young people entering the workforce in 2017 has to feel like a wholly unfeasible task. There are only so many times you can repeat “this is water” to yourself when the foundational rules of society no longer seem to apply. So perhaps the best lessons right now are found in humor, which I have to imagine is the reason that USC enlisted alum Will Ferrell to deliver some words of wisdom and a shot of absurdity as the commencement speaker for USC’s graduating class of 2017.

Ferrell has some pretty thoughtful words on the process of growing into your talent and the kinds of challenges that presents, but if you want to get straight to the singing (we don’t blame you), you can go ahead and forward to the 23:20 mark when things take a more typically Ferrell-esque turn.

“If you do have a moment where you feel a little down…imagine me. Literally picture my face,” he advises the sea of graduates, “singing this song gently into your ear.” He then delivers a really ridiculous, shaky rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” straining very hard to hit the notes that Whitney Houston knocked out without a problem. It’s a really refreshingly dumb note to end on, especially in a genre of speeches that tends toward speciously inspirational. And really, it is a good lesson: a dumb joke is sometimes worlds more useful than vaguely helpful advice.

What’s your favorite inspirational dumb joke? Share your best with us in comments.

Image: USC

The World’s Smallest Rubik’s Cube is So, So, So Very Teeny-Tiny

Generally speaking, it’s fair to say that anything that fits in your pants pocket could be considered pretty small; we’re talking your phone, your keys, coins, lint, and so on. Indulge us for a minute, though, and pull out a debit or credit card from your wallet/purse/other monetary transportation vessel of choice. Now, take a look at how tall the raised numbers on the front are. That’s about a millimeter smaller than the height of what may be the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube, which stands at 5.6mm tall.

We say that this may be the world’s smallest puzzle cube of its kind because its creator, Tony Fisher, says it may not technically be a Rubik’s Cube due to the modifications he had to make to get it down to that size, explaining on his website:

“In June 2016 I took one of Callum’s 3D printed unstickered 6mm Subatomic Rubik’s Cubes and filed it down to a size of 5.4mm. Although I had made it smaller, the proportional aspect (cubies with square sides) of it was lost. So whether it’s still a Rubik’s Cube seems uncertain. When stickered it has an edge of 5.6mm.”

Technicalities aside, this sure is one tiny, adorable little Rubik’s Cube. The best part is that it’s totally functional, although you probably won’t be breaking any speed world records with this one, since it looks like you need tweezers to actually rotate the sides, as shown in the video above.

Would you consider this a real Rubik’s Cube, or do you agree with Fisher’s skepticism that it just might not make the cut? You’re impressed either way though, right? Give us a shout in the comments and let us know what you think.

Featured Image: Tony Fisher/YouTube

A Cosplayer Made Batman’s Grappling Gun IRL and It Is Nuts

Have you ever wondered why there aren’t superheroes in the real world? And we’re not talking about the people who run around in homemade costumes as they try to impose a superhero comic book mentality on the world. The biggest reason is that superpowers aren’t real, and another key reason is that most superhero gadgets are just past the limits of science fiction. Even Batman‘s grappling gun has been a “wonderful toy” that didn’t exist until now.

In a new episode of Make It Real, James Hobson a.k.a. the Hacksmith, has debuted the final test for his custom made grappling hook gun. Last December, we took a look at an earlier version of this project. But the latest build is powered by dual engines with a combined 8 horsepower, which makes it significantly more powerful than the previous version.

As you can see in the video, the final build is significantly bigger than Batman’s grappling gun from the comics, but this one really works. However, the inherent problem is that it can be quite dangerous to use this device, even if you happen to have a Batman physique. Unlike comic book characters, normal humans are easily breakable. Because the Hacksmith had already injured himself testing a separate build, he had to get his partner, Ian Hillier, to don the Batman mask and test out the gun.

Additionally, the Hacksmith also posted another video about the creation of the grappling gun, which offers a brief glimpse at the time and effort involved.

For more Hacksmith creations, you can visit his YouTube channel here.

What do you think about the Batman style grappling gun in these videos? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Image: The Hacksmith

Speaking of superheroes — have you met the SUPERFriends?

Harley Quinn, Ariel, and More Cosplay Photography by MomentoTempus

Ronn Vinluan, better known as MomentoTempus, is a photographer based in New York; he specializes in capturing portraits, weddings, and fashion on a regular basis, but his real passion is capturing photos of cosplay. This is a sentiment I hear from cosplayer photographers again and again. They love attending conventions, seeing what cosplayers come up with, and helping them capture terrific shots of their hard work.

MomentoTempus recently attended Anime Boston and sent me a sampling of some of the costumes he put in front of his lens at the event—like this Harley Quinn:

Harley Quinn (DC Comics) | Cosplayed by aemiliaaaaaa

And this Princess Mononoke Forest Spirit:

Forest Spirit (Princess Mononoke) | Cosplayed by Hannah

Take a leap on down to the gallery to find more of MomentoTempus’ work. You’ll see Ariel from The Little Mermaid, a Marvel group picture with Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, and Mary Jane, and more. To keep with all MomentoTempus’ photos in the future, follow him on Instagram and pop over to his website on the regular.

Do you cosplay or take photographs of cosplayers? Then I want to see your work so we can talk about highlighting your creations in a future Cosplay Friday gallery. If you’re a photographer, maybe we could focus on your images from a single convention. If you’re interested, please get in touch with me at alratcliffe@yahoo.com and send photos you’d like me to feature–the more high-res the photos, the better. Be sure to provide credits for the cosplayers or photographers for each image because giving credit is good manners–bonus points if you include links to relevant Facebook pages or websites. Though I wish I knew all the nerdy franchises, I don’t, so please let me know who or what is being cosplayed.

Images: MomentoTempus

Holographic AI Assistant Brings HALO’s Cortana to Life

Although it seems that, for now, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Google Home are dominating the market for in-home AI assistants, player three, a.k.a. Microsoft, has yet to enter the game. Although if it wanted to, the tech giant could make a late entrance in style, taking inspiration from software and web developer Jarem Archer’s real-life version of Cortana from Halo. And yes, you could probably get her to call you Master Chief.

Jarem, who’s not only a programmer, but also “an artist with the ability to defuse a microwave with 1-second to go,” turned his tech talents toward building a “concept Cortana appliance” for his latest build on his YouTube channel, untitled network. There’s only one other build up there as of this writing, but it’s great too, and involves some very sensual lighting.

For those unaware, Microsoft did indeed name its AI assistant after Cortana from the Halo game franchise, although the former generally spends much less time helping you defeat The Covenant than the latter. With Archer’s build however, the next time you ask your intelligent personal assistant for the best local spot for Pokémon burgers, you’ll feel like you’ve been dropped into the Outer Colonies ready to do combat.

Cortana from the Halo game series. Image: Flickr / Bungie via Ben Darlow

In the video, Archer notes that the build utilizes “a Windows 10 device with 4GB of RAM, and a built-in Arduino used for the platform lights.” Archer 3D printed the base, and also gave his real-life Cortana a little pyramid made of three panes of mirrored glass. The holographic Cortana also utilizes real-time face tracking via a front-facing camera, which Archer says “moves the rendered camera perspective relative to a single viewer’s head position.” As for who dared to step into the virtual shoes of Cortana, that was Archer’s wife, who had to undergo “many takes of motion capture” to develop the basis for the hologram’s movements.

It should also be noted that Microsoft may already have created its first version of its competitor for this market with the “Harman Kardon + Cortana” appliance they teased back in December of last year:

Archer provides a far more in-depth explanation of the build on his blog, and he also says that in the future, he may add home automation and music tasks. No word yet on whether or not his Cortana will play a critical role in the Human-Covenant War.

What do you think about this real-life Cortana? Say Halo in the comments below!

Images: YouTube / untitled network