ASOIAF Figures and Miniatures

I personally love ogling figurines/action figures/miniatures related to stuff that I’m a fan of, and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is no exception. I often wondered if there were any ASOIAF-related collectibles apart from the trading card game, and I found a few sets.

Valyrian Resin Figures: Ned, Sandor, and Dany

These look brilliant…in the pictures, I mean. I don’t know how they look in real life. All three figures have alternate versions too. My only problem with these figures is that the alternate Ned is holding a necklace with a silver hand; that’s wrong canon-wise, given that the hand’s necklace is supposed to be gold with links shaped like hands clasped together.

The Valyrian Resin shop can be accessed here, in case anyone wants to place an order.

ASOIAF Miniatures by Dark Sword Miniatures

Dark Sword Miniatures Inc. has a pretty nice collection of ASOIAF miniatures which includes Jon, Dany (her pose is based on Botticelli’s Birth of Venus no less!), Melisandre, Cersei, Jaime, Loras, and Mance. I find it amusing that they also created miniatures for wildlings, Gold Cloaks, men of the Night Watch…and even a Lannister lady-in-waiting.

ASOIAF Miniatures by Testors

Now I have no idea what happened to this. It seems that Testors announced a line of ASOIAF miniatures back in 2005, but an administrator at the Westeros forums announced that the project s dead. It’s such a waste; their prototype miniatures are actually better-looking than Dark Sword’s, plus they had a Theon Greyjoy (my favorite character in the series) prototype too. Tsk.

Anyway, you can find all the pictures of the prototypes/concept art that Testors sent to Westeros.org here.

Disney sequels destroy my childhood.

While we’re on the Disney end of the spectrum, let’s talk about Disney sequels, specifically the sequels to Disney classics.

I’m one of those Disney fans who hates the sequels/prequels/midquels that the company has been shelling out. Apart from having subpar animation compared to the originals, most of them completely rob the originals of their magic/romance, thus destroying my childhood (I will forever be traumatized by John Smith suddenly turning into a complete asshole in Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World). The only sequel and midquel I really enjoyed were The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride and The Lion King 1½.

It’s like the sequels are just there to rake in more cash from the fans. For shame.

Don’t lump me with the Disney sequel haters who haven’t actually seen any of them; I gave a number of sequels a shot before I started complaining. Here are the few that I’ve seen (i.e. sequels that watched at least halfway through) so far:

• The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves - saw these a long time ago. I remember kind of liking them, but I don’t know if I’d enjoy them if I saw them again anytime soon.
• Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas - now this one had potential, probably because it was a midquel and not a sequel. Too bad about that plot hole named Forte. I mean, everyone got turned into household objects that could talk and move; he got turned into a pipe organ that can talk, move (well, fine, he was chained to the wall) and use evil magic. Complete with the glowing green imps and musical notes/scales. Ugh.
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World – There goes my childhood. I know they made a mistake in the first movie (the real Pocahontas was only a pre-teen when John Smith and company came along), but they didn’t have to force a correction like this. Turning one of the coolest leading Disney male to date into an utterly selfish asshole was a very bad move.
• The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride – This wasn’t too bad, though there’s still a big plot hole in that it left me wondering where Zira and her cubs had been the whole time while Scar was ruling the Pride Lands.
• The Lion King 1½ – This wasn’t too bad either; I rather enjoyed learning more about Timon and Pumbaa, and their humor is always welcome.
• The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea: Look Ma, a backwards sequel! In the first film, Ariel wanted to be a human, now her daughter wants to be a mermaid. And she looks like she had a wig made in the shape of her mother’s hair with her father’s hair color. And Ursula turns out to have a sister who looks like an anorexic version of her. Riiiiight.
• Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure – Lookie, another backwards sequel. Tramp wanted to be a domestic dog, now his son wants to be a junkyard dog. Seems like they’re running out of ideas.
• Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time – I only watched parts of these, but I’d say it was enough. The films’ premises were bland, the animation was half-assed, and all those close-ups of Lady Tremaine made her seem more cheesy than scary. I liked the Prince much better in the original too, because he didn’t talk.
• Return to Neverland – this was another sequel that I found to be somewhat enjoyable. I liked how they showed how war can affect a child’s mindset.

Ariel's clone-- er...I mean, Ariel's mother, Queen Athena.

The latest sequel – well, prequel actually – that I’ve heard of is The Little Mermaid III: Ariel’s Beginning. I haven’t seen it, but after seeing a screenshot of Ariel’s mother (that’s her on the right), I just threw up my hands in defeat.

My classmates and I burst into laughter when we saw this image. I mean, look at her. It’s like Ariel had her hair dyed, tied it back, put on some bling (including her father’s crown), and painted her bikini a different color.

I’m starting to wonder just how many wives King Triton had, given that Ariel has six other sisters who don’t look like their mother as much as she does.

...call me sick, but this looks kind of wrong if you had no idea that that mermaid's supposed to be Ariel's mother.

Disney Dream Portraits by Annie Leibovitz

I came across these a year or so ago, but they still blow me away. These are images that are part of an advertising campaign Disney had for 2007-2008.

Click on the thumbnails below to see the larger images.  There are a total of eleven images, and I think these are all the Dream Portraits that have been released. [EDIT: Except the new one with Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens in it; I can't find one that doesn't have some other website's watermark slapped across it.] They aren’t arranged in any particular order.

Photos © Annie Leibovitz and Disney.

Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella

Rachel Weisz as Snow White

ABS-CBN denies Twilight remake

Obviously a fake poster, but then again, the entire project was a lie too. Found at the anti-Takipsilim petition page.

Okay, so I found out about this a little late…but apparently, ABS-CBN has stated that the news about the network coming up with a local adaptation of Twilight (which was supposedly entitled Takipsilim) is a hoax. ABS-CBN stated that “The duty editor who uploaded the story failed to check with ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. whether the story was correct and accurate.”

While part of me still doubts ABS-CBN’s denial (for all we know they just got threatened by this online anti-Takipsilim petition and decided to back out the project), I’m quite happy to hear that it was all a hoax. Filipinos already have a bad reputation of being unoriginal and just being happy with copying what’s already out in the foreign market, so a crappy remake of a crappy book was really the last thing we needed.

Oh, and I’m impressed by the sheer number of people who signed that aforementioned petition…not counting the people who just posted to bash the people who got duped by that news post at the ABS-CBN website, of course. I’m glad to see that even local Twilight fans knew that it was a horrible idea.

Favorite voice actors

I find that I’m one of those dorks who like identifying voice actors whose voices manage to capture my attention, and I find it amusing when I find out who else the they lent their voices to. And no, I’m not going to talk about seiyuu; I’m talking about voice actors who lend their voices to games/anime/cartoons that are in the English language. Of course I have my favorite seiyuu too, but since I’ve been playing English-dubbed games and watching English-dubbed anime and cartoons lately, I decided to go with the English voice actors first. I’m not an expert on the American voice acting community, given that I’m only keen on finding out more about a voice actor if his voice really manages to catch my attention. Here are the few that actually did just that.

Dante Basco

My dad and I are both fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender (though he watches it more than I do), and I just love Prince Zuko’s voice because, honestly. I thought it was kind of sexy. Imagine my surprise when I heard the very same voice coming out of my TV’s speakers while Jake Long from American Dragon was on the screen. That kind of put me off a bit, since I really hate American Dragon (I just left the TV on while I was tidying up my room a bit, and there it was). And then I took a peek at his Wikipedia article and found out that he also starred as Rufio in the Steven Spielberg’s Hook. That really floored me, since I’ve always loved that movie and liked Rufio.

Oh, and Basco’s Filipino-American too. Cool.

Yuri Lowenthal

If you’ve played the .hack//G.U. series, Persona 3 and 4, Dragoneer’s Aria, Dynasty Warriors 5/6, Warriors Orochi, Odin Sphere, and Wild Arms 4 and 5, you’ll be familiar with this guy’s voice. The same is true if you’ve seen the English-dubbed versions of Naruto, Code Geass, Rave Master, Kyo Kara Maoh, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Note: This is the only anime in this list that I actually liked). And that’s just a few of the stuff he lent his voice to. Lowenthal has a large number of voice roles in his portfolio, that’s for sure, and I can see why he does. His voice is very distinct and clear, and he has that shouting voice that reminds me of seiyuu Hiyama Nobuyuki. I find that to be impressive, because I don’t think I’ve ever come across any other male non-Japanese voice actor who can even come close to Hiyama’s vocalizations.

Michael Bell

If your voice can make a wraith-like former vampire with barely any flesh left on his body and no lower jaw look attractive, and you did it when you were around 60+ years old, then you’re one of the best in my book. Michael Bell’s voice is one of the main reasons why I even played the games in the Legacy of Kain series, though the well-written script itself really helped bring that gorgeous voice and accent out.

Apart from providing the voice for other characters in more recent cartoons like W.I.T.C.H., Bell also provided the voices for some old-school cartoon characters, like the Duke from G.I. Joe, Bruce Banner from The Incredible Hulk, Lance and Sven from Voltron, plus several characters from Transformers and The Smurfs.

Asa Seigel

You’re probably asking “Asa-who?” right now, but if you’ve played Neverwinter Nights 2, then you’re probably familiar with him. He provides the voice for Bishop in Neverwinter Nights 2, and I’ve spent many-a gaming minute just listening to his voice. He really brought Bishop’s cynicism and sexy-yet-psychotic demeanor to life with a lot of little details, like how he would suck in a hissing breath whenever he’s about to say something nasty and/or when he’s losing his patience, or that particularly notable tone his voice takes when he’s being sarcastic.

If you know more about Asa Seigel, do let me know. I found some information that states that he’s an actor/voice coach for the Shut Up & Talk audio production studio, but that’s about all I’ve got.

Crispin Freeman

Man. Sometimes this guy’s voice is enough to make me weak at the knees…but that depends on which voice he’s doing. If you listen to his voice demos on his homepage, you’ll find that he can do every kind of voice you can possibly throw at a voice actor. I admit that I haven’t come across any voice demos for the other voice actors I listed, but Freeman’s demo makes me think that he’s one heck of a versatile voice actor. He’s portrayed quiet characters like Hagi from Blood+ and Amon from Witch Hunter Robin, as well as strong, bad-ass characters like Guan Yu from Dynasty Warriors 5 and Siegfried Schtauffen from Soul Calibur III.

On that note, I admit to being really surprised when I saw Freeman’s picture for the first time. I mean, I know it’s wrong to judge people by their appearances (or, in this case, their voice) alone, but I was expecting a…erm…tougher-looking guy. I’m sorry, I really couldn’t help it; the first time I ever heard his voice was when I was playing SCIII and DW5: Empires.