Dreaded Deaths, part 1

Not suitable by children, even though a children drew these pictures below.


Look at that great typography! To think I went on in the field of graphic design.

In response to Geek Orthodox's Art by a 10-year-old geek I submit my Danny's Dreaded Deaths. I believe these were inspired by a bad dream originated from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, thank you very much Lucas and Spielberg for corrupting my life. I drew these in fifth grade after lunch, during quite reading time. Apparently if I had read, I might have learned how to spell some of the words in DDD. I also like to point out, if these were drawn in today's times, I would be locked up right now. So lets take a look at the first episode, Death Chain...


Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...


Wah-Bam! Very disturbing! I remember really wanting to capture the dark stealness of the ball, so I worked hard at graphite scribbling. Also an important note not to give a fifth grader a red pen.

The favorite of the comic was 'The Step, Ouch, and Die!"


It involves a spiked floor, and moving spiked wall to force the prisoner to walk forward.


What amazes me to this day, is that the prisoner's head spawns little legs to continue walking!

Then there are more technical death schemes, like the Volcano Dip


The logistics of this torture must have a high price tag, left only for the really bad captive.

I give you this moment of rest, so that you can readjust from these terrible images.

Old Toy Museum Photos

I found some fun old pictures of my ISU residence hall room today. I am thinking this is fall of 1998, amazing how antiquated photos are of that time. It looks like the 70's, just wait until the last photo. I really wish digital cameras were cheaper and easily integrated with computers back then. Oh, the lost shelf toy displays lost to time. So the first shot is from the door looking in at the bed. I had a scaled back collection in those days. Some toys not bought yet obviously, many toys in storage at the parents, and some toys in drawers and bins in the closet. I had to keep a study atmosphere in mind.

Of course the Bandai SpaceWarp roller coaster above the bed doesn't help.


SpaceWarps are so cool. I wish mine wasn't missing a critical elevator gear component, or I would rebuild it somewhere. I recommend watching them go on Youtube, they are amazing fun. I had it poked into the ceiling tiles, which I am sure asbestos leaked out onto my bed, as the building had to remove asbestos after we were kicked out. Also it was perfect for hanging action figures on. I remember one night Beast from the X-man jumped off and landed on me square in the chest. It surprised the hell out of me, kind of hurt too, and is a lesson for toy ceiling hanging.


The desk area is showcasing hanging Beast Wars Transmetals, A fish tank I bought for five bucks, and a Playmates Star Trek scene. I was big on classic Trek that year, as the Sci-Fi network was replaying old episodes with extra stuff and interviews. Playmates also had a few figures in the stores to pick up at that time. The Transporter pad figures were a hit too.


So then there is this shot. Trying to remember what the hell is going on here. At first I wanted to say party, but then there are some serious situations going down; Kirk vs Gorn, Sulu vs Mugatu, Spock vs Mirror Spock, Traleen about to take a swing at Kirk, all witnessed by time travelers Sisko and Dax.

Civilization Revolution Nintendo DS

Yes I am a Civilization addict. If there was a chart that had my time spent on a game franchises, the Civ games would be on top, maybe followed by the Sim City games. Civ 2 and 3 alone probably have more study hours than did my real study time at Universities (with winks to Monster Truck Madness and C&C Red Alert). After the Civ 3 time investment/lost, I somehow avoided Civ 4. Oh I wanted to play it really badly, but I wanted to accomplish something this decade (which I'm not sure what that is yet). I am a bit behind on the console wars and can't decide on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or Wii, so I am left with my trusty Nintendo DS which I can play for a few minutes (hours) before bed.

So you could imagine my excitement last fall when I picked up CIvilization Revolutions for my DS. I guess its a perfect game match for me because I can't stop playing it. I have played at least 50 full games now, and still want to play again and again. I usually stick with the medium level which gives a slight advantage to equal playing field. I like all nationalities, and favor the Magna Carta for Wonders of the World (it makes courthouses produce culture). I love building tank armies, and then unleashing them on poor neighboring civilizations. Basically this game is a shorter condensed version of Civ, with a full game taking about 3 to 4 hours in length. The game length is perfect for playing over an over and trying different strategies (my favorite being winning the game with only one city on medium easy). The only thing I dislike is there is no world map view to toggle to. Its sometimes hard to see where everything is and your location to everything.

Here is a shot of me playing the Americans vs the Germans.


So to sum up, I give this game five out of five My Little Ponies.

Ah, so that's how Destro...

IDW GI Joe issue 6, reveals why the modern Destro wears his iron mask. Interesting, but not sure how he is going to get intimate with the Baroness if that is anyones business. I should have bought cover B, as it has a big Destro face on it, but there is something about this drawing of Duke holding an upside down Scarlet. Unfortunately the A cover has nothing do do with the comic inside. In fact, I think Duke didn't even appear in the issue. These cover choices can be very difficult to go with.

Heavy Duty 4th of July Recap 3

Heavy Duty is back again this year to review the family fireworks. A pretty good assortment this year, probably a little more money spent than should. When Heavy looked back at last years collection, he remembered that their were some better unique choices than this years. Still fun was had, and lots of stuff blown up, here are HD's Favorites...

#1. Heavy Warhead. Not that special in show, but it looks like a real warhead so thats cool. I wish I kept the burnout peice now, but I guess it would stink up the house.


#2. Heavy Unicorn. If HD stands next to this, you know its going to be tough. It actually was one of the better ones. It was heavy so it had lots of powder inside, lasted about a minute and a half! HD wonders if it had My Little Ponies ground up in it.


#3. Heavy Grizzly. Not so great actually, and thats why HD is ready to punch it.


#4. Heavy Burnout. A pretty good show, it produced baby ground flowers and made a funny wooshing sound. It also smoked for at least 20 minutes after it was over.


#5. Heavy Vest. HD loves lighting ground flowers and throwing them.


#6. Heavy Joy. Well this one says it all. It was the finale piece, lasted a couple minutes, and did what all the other fountains did but longer.


Thats it for HD's report. Maybe next year HD will go to Caldwell and buy the kind that shoot into the air and take out Cobra Sky fortresses. Heavy Tanks for reading.

Transformers RotF Bumblebee

I picked up Bumblebee today, with full intent to open him but I had to tell this story first. As I was exiting the toy aisle this guy I will call '80's Dude' passed by me. He was with his son or something, and was rummaging through the GI Joe stuff. As he passed me he noticed I had a Bumblebee in my hands and asked if I saw the movie with an overly excited attitude (this question is about as dumb as people asking if I knew a new Transformers movie is coming out while I have toys all over my desk, and wearing Optimus Prime socks, with a Mega sized happymeal). Anyhow, I said yes, but wanted to see his reaction, so I included I didn't think it was very good. 80's Dude's jaw dropped and eyes bugged with a what the hell are you talking about I am going to kill you. I wasn't too concerned, I am pretty sure I am in the top ten Transformers fan club in the Treasure Valley (Number of Transformers owned + Number of hours of Transformers watched + fan of Beast Wars + I have a toy blog + dress once as Optimus Prime for halloween= top ten Treasure Valley transformer fan). I told 80's Dude that there I was a huge Transformers fan but there were too many inconsistencies, plot holes, and incoherent scenes for me to really get into the movie and enjoy it. 80's Dude, stood shocked but then waved me off and stormed away with his son or something. So I guess lots of people like this movie. I'm still a bit mad at the whole disregard for the Autobots in this movie. It's about them right? Well at least the toys are, so thats way I still buy them.

Watch Collection; Episode 20: Road Runner

With 4th of July around the corner or at the end of this week, the broken Road Runner dynamite watch is worthy to show off.


Like the science teacher on LOST will tell you, be very careful with dynamite. I wasn't careful, and when the watch blew, the bottom chunk went with it. Or it was a plastic defect.


So after working perfectly a hidden blasted Cyote is seen inside.