I’m just going to let Jude Buffum, the artist behind these works explain them:

In doing some research I discovered that many of the more feminine and cutesy characters [from the eighties] were originally created by greeting card companies and only later became toys and/or cartoons. For example, Rainbow Brite was created by Hallmark and Strawberry Shortcake was created by American Greetings. I found this amusing that they were essentially greeting card corporate adversaries, so it was only natural to pit them against one another for my piece, “Rainbow Bloodbath”. I also did a second piece, “Care Bear Carnage”, pitting one of the Care Bears (also created by American Greetings) against the popular 80s talking bear toy Teddy Ruxpin.

Both are available for purchase at Jude’s website, along with a lot of other great works. He also has two clever shirts available here!

I don’t know what it is about the female face, but finding a good sculpt in either the toy or statue world is nigh impossible. Take this Cheetara statue for instance. Selling for $199.99, this soulless, empty-eyed, inflatable doll expression is the best Hard Hero Enterprises could come up with. Simply bewildering that this sculpt reached some High Muckity Muck’s desk and his response was, “Oh, that is great! Good work! Put that out on the market!” Compared to the excellent sculpt and dynamic pose of their recently released Lion-O statue, this one is nearly insulting. *SIGH*

We all know that a good superhero story involves a good soap opera (if you haven’t admitted this to yourself before, now’s a good a time as any) and J Salvador has done a heart wrenchingly good job of boiling down 12 comic heroes and villian’s adorable angst in his Super ‘Emo’ Friends series. Due to their viral explosion, reprints might be a ways away due to licensing concerns (the double edged sword of success), but keep your eyes open for more from this geeky artist!

I hope series 2 includes a Iron Man bemoaning “Why does everyone hate me?” or “I didn’t mean to get Captain American killed”. Come to think of it, Iron Man has enough angst to fill Series 2 all by himself!

thanks monkeyhole!

*click image to enbiggen*

If you’re not reading Hijinks Ensue, start now. Right now. Go on, get!

And if I know Hijinks Ensue creator Joel Watson at all (and I don’t really), he’ll do what he can to get away with selling this shirt ASAP (Edward James Olmos doesn’t seem like the suing type….)! In the meantime, check out his other great shirts here!

I hesitated to post this, because I don’t think it’s particularly nerdy. But then, as I cracked up for page after page, I realized that my love for this site (and their counterpart LOLcats) was super nerdy, because I am totally obsessed with this. Average Cats is obvious and genius - go check it out (NSFW - too funny!).

This one goes out to my Deadlands playin’ peeps. I’ve never seen the Lady of the Lake reimagined and thought this was just completely inspired! I’m thoroughly enjoying trying to decide if this is the beginning or end of the story :)

This is only one of several gorgeous pieces by Winona Nelson. Another favorite is her giraffe-centaur - go check it out!

[EDIT - I couldn't not post it here, but do go check out her other work!]

Love love love these plushies from Charlotte BabyLondonStar! She’s got a wide variety of adorableness - from Pokemon to Final Fantasy to Inuyasha! These are just fabulous renditions, so full of personality (even mopey Samus) and the clothes are amazing!

It’s going to be very tempting to order some fav characters when she starts taking submissions again!

via spritestitch

What is the perfect accessory to accompany the upcoming release of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth? A (not creepy at all, I swear) Stylus of your favorite Ace Attorney’s objection finger! Available for pointy consumption are Phoenix Wright’s Blue Arm, Miles Edgeworth’s Purple Arm, Franziska von Karma’s White Arm (whip not included), Mia Fey’s Black Arm and Godot’s Teal Arm - all adorned with an “Objection!” placard.

I really need to figure out how to store rad styluses. I always think they are clever and interesting, but if it can’t slide into your DS, how do you keep track of it?

Storm Troopers doing anything with character is hilarious (exhibit A).
Storm Troopers as Vader’s back up dancers for an amazing rendition of “You Can’t Touch This”? Pure awesome.
Storm Troopers and Darth Vader doing Thriller? Well, you’ll have to see below.

*Alternate title: “Vader don’t hurt ‘em”

“Two Girls, One Cup” from HALOLZ and available as a shirt from Shark Robot.

via ddrej

I’m sure it’s obvious that I’ve been hiding under a rock. But, honestly, I didn’t know how long until I *just now* caught wind of the DSi XL! Available in Japan in eleven days as the DSi LL, this latest generation will sport 4.2″ screens and a fatty-bo-battie stylus. Arriving in Europe in Q1 of 2010, it will probably follow in North America shortly thereafter.

Pros: Bigger screens
Cons: Heavier, bulkier, unnecessary features (camera + internet are handled by my phone) and $220

I’m still a pass, but neat!