Technabob » statue

20 Years of Service at Nintendo Gets You a Mario Statue

Conner Flynn — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:00:38 +0000

After so many years of service, most companies will give you a watch. Heck, these days they may just fire you instead as thanks for your service or give you nothing. Nintendo however, does something special for it’s employees after 20 years. The company gives them a cool Mario statue as a way of saying thanks.

The statue shown above belongs to Jerry Danson, Senior Manager of Systems and Engineering, who joined Nintendo in 1991. Now he has a cool toy for his desk. I’d love to see what one of these would fetch on eBay.

Makes me wonder if you get a Wario statue for being let go. The image was removed from imgur soon after it showed up. I guess Nintendo doesn’t like others looking at their toys.

[Reddit via Game Set Watch via Kotaku]

13-Year-Old Sculpts Life-Size LEGO Batman

Technabob — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:21:24 +0000

It’s not enough that this 6-foot-tall LEGO Batman looks totally awesome, but the fact that it was built by a 13-year-old makes it even more impressive to me. Maybe it’s just that when I was a kid, my LEGO building abilities were pretty much limited to whatever the picture on the box showed. And when I was a teenager, there’s no way I had the attention span to do anything so complex.

LEGO fanatic Evan Bacon built this life-size Batman using somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 bricks (I guess you start to lose count at those sort of numbers), and took him about 3 months to build it.

While it does look foreboding, LEGO Batman actually weighs only 60 pounds, since his insides are hollow. Something about a full-scale Batman that’s light enough to carry around with you that makes it even more special. Heck, as you can see from the photo below, even Adam West himself was impressed.

Evan’s Batman creation actually won three awards at the Austin, Texas Brick Fiesta this Summer – clearly well deserved in my opinion. Check out more pictures over on Evan’s website BaconBricks and on yfrog.

[via MOCpages]

Giant Gundam in Pieces, World Comes to an End

Technabob — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 21:44:47 +0000

Japan’s Giant Gundam sculpture was one of my favorite man-made since I started writing this here site. So when I stumbled onto these images and video footage of the recently-dismantled Gundam statue, I wept. Okay, so I had just been cutting onions, but it still made me sad.

Photographer darwinfish105 shot these images of the chopped-up Gundam, currently on display in Japan. The crime scene tape around the perimeter of his dismemberment is a nice touch.

Here’s an up-close shot of his stomach and chest.

I’m hoping that Gundam’s disassembly is only temporary, and that he’s en route to other locations around the world for all to enjoy. But I have a bad feeling that Gundam is down for the count, and this may be your last chance to get a gander at the massive mech.

A tragedy of such grand proportion deserves not one, but two tribute videos, so sit back and pay your final respects to the big lug now:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Farewell, Giant Gundam. We hardly knew you.

[via darwinfish105]

1:1 Scale R2-D2 Coming to Your Home Soon

Technabob — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:35:50 +0000

If you’re a big Star Wars fan like me, you might want to start clearing out a corner of your living room (or entry way) for this cool new R2-D2 collectible. Measuring in at just 3 feet-tall, this R2-D2 monument is exactly a 100% scale match with the version of R2 found in The Clone Wars (although he looks a little shorter than the Kenny Baker version from the movies).

The guys at Gentle Giant used digital models from The Clone Wars animated series to create this life-sized droid, sculpting, then painting it for you to enjoy in your home.

R2 isn’t going to be shipping until February 2012, but you can pre-order him over at Entertainment Earth now for the low, low price of $1079.99 (USD). Hopefully for that price he won’t have a bad motivator unit.

[via R2D2Central]

Thai Sculptor Transforms Scrap Cars Into Massive Transformer Sculptures

Range — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:24:54 +0000

What is it about Transformers that gets people so juiced up? I don’t know, but maybe it’s all of those hours watching the animated series back when we were all kids. Check out these massive Transformers sculptures that measure between 8 and 19 feet-tall.

These gigantic Autobot art pieces were created from recycled automobile and truck parts by Thailand-based Anchalee Saengtai and her team for Ripley’s Believe it or Not. They’ve already unveiled a Bumblebee statue in San Antonio, while the Optimus Primus statue is currently in San Francisco. Throughout this summer, more sculptures will be added to the New York City, London, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Jeju Island locations.

You’ll be able to see these sculptures at various Ripley’s attractions around the world this summer to coincide with the release of Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.

[via Wired]

The Stealth Iron Man Bust: Tony Stark Never Looked so… Blue

Range — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:07:35 +0000

If you love Iron Man, then you might want to check out this limited edition Stealth Iron Man Half Scale Bust. It looks pretty intimidating, and it’s of a 1:2 scale, so you get him in all of his glory. The stealth armor is based upon art from Iron Man #152, which makes it quite distinctive.

The stealth armor is blue – instead of the usual red and gold, so that’s a winner in my book. The eyes and uni-beam light up. The overall bust has got a lot of details, so it will feel at home on the desk of any geek or geekette. The bust measures 10 inches in height and is hand-painted. You’ll have to act quick though. There are only 1,500 of these babies available.

They are available from the Marvel store for $199.50 (USD)

[via Geek Alerts]

Life-Sized Jedi Master Yoda Forces His Way into Your Home

Range — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:24:39 +0000

Do you think you’d learn more about how to harness the powers of the Force by having this life-sized Yoda statue in your living room? The statue stands 30 inches tall and weighs about 22 pounds, so I can only assume that Yoda really only weighs 22 pounds when they say “life-sized”.

This is an official licensed collective and was created by Rubie’s Costume Company just for serious Star Wars fanatics. This Yoda statue is limited to 10,000 pieces.

You can buy yours from Amazon for about $645 (USD). Unfortunately, customers report that the statue often arrives damaged, and is highly fragile – so the force may not be strong with this one after all.

[via LeetLady]

Watch Part Motorcycles Don’t Ride or Tell Time, But Still Look Cool

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:27:58 +0000

The thing that always gets my attention the most when I write about a new watch is all the little gears and components inside that work together to make the watch work and tell time accurately. I guess Dmitriy Khristenko (aka dkart71) feels the same way. While I like the way the parts work together inside the watch, he likes to rip the watch apart and use those little gears and parts for designing other things.

This guy takes all sorts of parts from various watches and uses them to make mini motorcycle statues. The little statues are amazingly complex and every part is made from something on the inside or on the outside of a watch. If you look at the image, you can see that he does fine work.

I see prolific use of watchbands for tires, a watch face for a gas can, a pocket watch back for a rear wheel and lots more details. I really like the engine being made from the insides of the watch, and the watch face crystal that doubles as a windscreen.

Check Dmitriy’s complete watch motorcycle gallery over on Deviantart.

Statue of Angel with Mobile Phone: Canst Thou Heareth Me Now?

Lambert Varias — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:28:46 +0000

St. John’s Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The church is famous for its gothic architecture and its numerous statues. When it was restored for the third time, 25 new angel statues were added to the church, including this hip, mobile phone-toting heavenly servant:

Note that the angel is also wearing jeans. Ton Mooy, the sculptor who created the statue, said that the angel’s phone only has one button – a “direct dial to God.” I sure would like to borrow that phone.

But it gets more interesting, although I don’t know if this is actually true, it being stated on Wikipedia, but here goes: “The mobile-using angel had to be first approved by the cathedral’s fathers, who rejected earlier designs with the jet engines on the angel’s back.” Awwww.

[via Wikipedia & Radio Netherlands Worldwide via Metafilter]

Luigi4Dead: Zombie Luigi Statue

Lambert Varias — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:59:22 +0000

As expected, Kodykoala follows up his Mecha Luigi statue with a zombified version of the other Mario brother. Not even Koopa would want to mess with this bad dude.

Damn that’s nasty. Kodykoala used a 6″ vinyl figure to make Zombie Luigi, making him 4″ smaller than Mecha Luigi. Check out the back view in the gallery to get a peek at Luigi’s brain.

You can bid for Zombie Luigi at eBay. As of this writing, the starting bid is a mere $0.99 (USD), but I’m sure the price will still go up before the bidding is over, especially when the person who bought Zombie Yoshi finds out about it.

[via Kodykoala]

Luigi Mech: Who’s the Big Brother Now Mario?

Lambert Varias — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:08:01 +0000

KodyKoala‘s been on a roll lately. It seems like he’s churning out a custom figure every week, from anatomy statues to robot dinosaurs to zombie dinosaurs. Now he’s finally come around to making an action figure worthy of the other super Mario brother:

As with his Yoshi and Mario Mechs, KodyKoala used a 10″ vinyl Luigi figure as his base. He said that he also used some LEGO bricks, although I can’t see where those bricks are. Perhaps they’re the monitors inside the mech.

The hinge is a nice touch. You can bid for the Luigi Mech on eBay; as of this writing the minimum bid required is $10.49 (USD), but surely the price will go up for all this work. KodyKoala says this might be the last of his custom action figures, unless Nintendo releases vinyl figures of their other characters, so better bid for this now if you’re interested.

Yoshi Becomes Zombie, Mario Left 4 Dead

Lambert Varias — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:50:55 +0000

After mechanizing Mario’s dinosaur companion, Flickr user Kodykoala drains the life out of Yoshi.

That’s one nasty zombie. Kodykoala also answered my only complaint about Mecha Yoshi and added the dinosaur’s trademark tongue, making him a prehistoric version of the Smoker from Left4Dead.

Check out Kodykoala’s Flickr page for more ghastly pictures. What will Yoshi turn into next? And when will Luigi get his own custom Kodykoala figure?

[via Rampaged Reality]

Yoshi Robot Deserves Its Own Video Game

Lambert Varias — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:58:51 +0000

After years of being someone else’s steed, Yoshi finally gets his own ride, thanks to custom action figure maker/Flickr user/Nintendo super fan Donald aka Kodykoala. I love the details on his custom Yoshi mech, from the bolt-like markings to the scratches and faded paint.

Donald didn’t go into the details of his creation process, only saying that he “used a Playmobile police station thing for the back computer, and some Lego laptops for the front display and keyboards.”

My only complaint with the statue is that it doesn’t have Yoshi’s trademark tongue. Donald says he’s thinking of making a Luigi robot next. Finally, someone showing Mario’s companions some love. Check out Donald’s Flickr page for more pics.

[Kodykoala via TechEBlog]

Boba Fett is Coming to Town… in May

Lambert Varias — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:50:08 +0000

Jabba’s been a good Hutt in Boba Fett’s book:

What’s not to love about this highly detailed 8-inch fabric mache statue? Its release date, that’s what. You can pre-order it from Entertainment Earth for $50 (USD), but if you’re going to get this as a gift, make sure you tell the recipient that it won’t arrive until sometime in… May 2011. Seriously. But hey. it’s that thought that counts right?

[via Neatorama]

Shanzhai Gundam

Lambert Varias — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:50:49 +0000

If you can make it, China can copy it:

While other Japanese have been busy building another classic robot statue, and South Koreans are building a gigantic robot statue of their own, this orange Gundam copycat is being built in a theme park in Sichuan, China. It might just be the angle of the photograph, but Chinese Gundam looks like he needs to work on his upper body.

[via Livedoor Blog & Sankaku Complex]

Fffuuuu- Statue: Meme Monument

Lambert Varias — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:43:59 +0000

A bust made of pure rage:

Made by CG Hub member SLiD3, it really does look like Rageguy – except he’s way better looking.

[via Geekosystem]

Custom Carbonite Statuette: Cloud City Souvenir

Lambert Varias — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:38:43 +0000

Preserve your likeness with Paul Pape’s Custom Carbonites. Just send a picture and it will be turned into a 4.25″ high statuette. The statuette isn’t actually made of carbonite though, but a mixture of plastic and Super Sculpey. Think of it as Earth carbonite.

If you’re feeling naughty, send in a picture of someone you despise, then whenever you’re feeling down you can take out your frustration on the statuette. You can order a Custom Carbonite at Paul Pape Designs for $50(USD).

[via Neatorama]

Robot From Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky Comes to Life

Range — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:35:04 +0000

If you love Miyazaki’s animes, then you’ll love the fact that the gigantic robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky can be seen in Tokyo, at the Ghibli Museum (FR).

Apparently, this robot is life-sized, meaning that it’s quite huge. You can take your photo right next to it. This makes me want to hop on a plane and head to Japan right now.

The movie was released in 1986 and is the first movie that Studio Ghibli released. I’ve been a fan for years. My favorite Ghibli feature by Miyazaki is Spirited Away. If you haven’t seen it, add it to your Netflix queue now.

[via Le Blog De Bango (FR)]

Matchstick Minas Tirith: Lord of the Sticks

Range — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:13:16 +0000

If you have trouble remembering Minas Tirith, let me refresh your memory. It’s a key location in the Lord of the Rings and someone has clearly turned it into an obsession.

This matchstick Minas Tirith was made by Patrick Acton, using about 420,000 individual matchsticks. Patrick’s previous rendition of Hogwart’s from Harry Potter was no less impressive. Incredibly, Patrick isn’t a full time artist. He’s a career counselor but spends a few hours each night on his matchstick constructions.

All in all, it’s an impressive result, but it took Patrick almost 3 years to complete it.

[via Presurfer]

Optimus Prime Gets Real

Technabob — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:55:53 +0000

I guess the guys in China felt they had to try and keep up with Japan and their gigantic robot creations, and built themselves an enormous Optimus Prime of their own.

Standing 32-feet tall, and residing just North of the Bird’s Nest at Beijing’s Olympic Park, the giant Transformer might not be as tall as giant Gundam, but you have to hand it to the Chinese for their ingenuity. You see, Optimus Prime was entirely recycled. He was built from 10,108 junk parts.

[People Daily via Topless Robot]