Pads & Panels

Title: Super Mario Kart Album

Band: The One Ups

Price: $9.99

Review by: Bill Jones

The art of video game music reinterpretations isn’t one often recognized by mainstream audiences. But if one band has gained some serious notoriety in that genre, it’s The OneUps. Since the band formed in 2000, The OneUps have reportedly sold more than 10,000 albums and made numerous appearances at the annual Penny Arcade Expo. The band generally mixes things up with each album, pulling songs from a variety of titles and gaming genres, but with their latest, The OneUps are focused specifically on one game, Super Mario Kart. (more…)

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Product: Superhero Magnetic Pixels

Company: Kikkerland

MSRP: $24.95

Review by: Jason King

In the spirit of the dots toys from Japan, here comes a new fridge gadget to give your Magnetic Poetry a rest. The Superhero Magnetic Pixels set allows artistic people who spend too much time in front of the fridge to do something instead of opening the door and wasting electricity. It’s odd that this was marketed as a superhero fridge magnet set considering the art design definitely looks more like old Nintendo graphics to this gamer’s eye. A tray comes with the set to organize the magnets by color (they’re all the same size) when not in use.  Ample magnets were included to provide variety.

For more info, www.kikkerland.com

Pads & Panels received two Superhero Magnetic Pixels sets, as we as various other product samples, from Kikkerland for review purposes.

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Product: The ThinkGeek 8-Bit Tie

Company: ThinkGeek

MSRP: $19.99

Review by: Jason King

Need to geek out your wardrobe? ThinkGeek has just the tie for the occasion. If Link needed to go to a formal event in Hyrule, this is likely the tie he’d wear (and, owing to its blue color, he might even discover he took half-damage). The tie is a clip-on – it would be difficult to imagine this would work any other way, really – and comes in blue or red. It is made of silky microfiber polyester, it’s 20 inches long and handmade.  Be warned, though, to those that didn’t spend their youth playing 8-bit Nintendo, the boxy tie will look a little … odd.

For more info, www.thinkgeek.com

Pads & Panels received an 8-Bit Tie courtesy of ThinkGeek for review purposes.

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Product: “Big Baby” 1:4 Scaled Replica (Hellboy)

Company: Sideshow Collectibles

MSRP: $64.99

Review and Photos by: Eric Stuckart

When buying collectibles and novelty items from one’s favorite television, movie, comic or video game series, a number of criteria comes into play – the “cool” factor, craftsmanship and cost, among other things. While Sideshow Collectibles’ Hellboy “Big Baby” 1:4 Scaled Replica scores big points on the coolness scale, it loses on some other, more important factors. (more…)

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Title: The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade      (The 11½ Anniversary Edition)

Publisher: Del Rey, Ballantine Books

Commentary by: Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, Chris Baker, Kristin Lindsay, Robert Khoo, Kiko Villaseñor

Review by: Bill Jones

For the video game fanatic, Penny Arcade’s Tycho and Gabe (or Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik) have been the go-to commentators for more than a decade. The duo started posting webcomics (or as they somewhat coldly refer to them as, jpegs) in 1998, at the same time satirizing and displaying their undying love for the gaming medium in often brilliant three-panel work that has become a standard for webcomic publishing. They’ve never shied away from any topic (or person), and while busy capturing the attention of gamers with their sense of humor, they’ve also managed to start a children’s charity and two gaming fan expos.

The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade sees them working with the publisher of their webcomic collections, Del Rey, to produce a retrospective of the last 11½ years, or as anyone who slips off the dustcover will find it referred to, “nearly 12 years of bullshit.” (more…)

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Product: Red Shirt Cologne

Company: ThinkGeek, Genki

Price: $29.99

Review by: Bill Jones

Who would have thought that something with a Star Trek logo could possibly help a guy get laid (or at least smell a hell of a lot better, thus endearing oneself to the opposite sex), even outside of a convention setting? I mean, pointing out to a female that what you’ve got on is, in fact, a Star Trek-branded cologne might not do you any favors, but the smell of Genki Wear’s Red Shirt Cologne isn’t half bad.

The box, while also giving consumers a pep talk, explains that Red Shirt is created with a base of leather and grey musk, with “notes” of green mandarin, bergamot and a hint of lavender. Perfume experts can take that as they will, but in my girlfriend’s opinion that basically breaks down to the fact that it smells “pretty good.” I find it to be, “okay,” nothing too offense, nothing to spectacular. But it’s what she thinks that counts. (more…)

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Product: Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom

Company: ThinkGeek

Price: $8.99

Review by: Bill Jones

Grow(ing) Your Own 1up Mushroom sounds like a cool activity – maybe one of those children’s toys that expands when water is poured on it – but really it’s a vinyl collectible with which no growing actually takes place. For the $8.99 price, fans get a vinyl warp pipe, in signature green, with a prong in the middle holding up a green 1up Mushroom from the world of Super Mario Bros. The instructions on back tell gamers to remove the mushroom, add soil for effect, and then place the mushroom back on the prong to give the impression that it’s actually a potted object, emerging from the soil. As fun as that sounds, there are better Mario collectibles to be had for the price. The Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom hinges on being a funny gag to show friends, but it’s a stretch of a gag in the first place, with little lasting appeal.

For more info, www.thinkgeek.com

Pads & Panels received the product courtesy of the company for review purposes.

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Title: BioShock EVE Hypo Syringe

Company: NECA, ThinkGeek

MSRP: $15.99

Review by: Kevin Haverty

NECA continues to create detailed replicas and finally allows gamers to get their hands on EVE Hypo Syringes outside of a visit to Rapture. In BioShock, the EVE Hypo Syringe allows the player to shoot up glowing blue EVE that powers the plasmid abilities. The replica syringe is about a foot long, and a button on top activates a led light to give it a blue glow.

NECA nailed the art deco/steam punk style of the syringe. The artwork is complete with scratches and tarnishing as if it was picked up off the floor of Point Prometheus. It makes a great gift for fans of BioShock. Sorry diabetics and heroin addicts, but the needle is solid plastic, so it won’t be able to replace a real syringe.

For more info, www.thinkgeek.com

Pads & Panels received the product courtesy of ThinkGeek for review purposes.

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Product: PAC-MAN Shot Glasses

Website: www.clubnamco.com

MSRP: $29.99

Review by: Bill Jones

This was clearly designed for fans of the original PAC-MAN arcade…who drink a lot. The set includes six shot glasses, on which are printed the four ghosts, cherries and PAC-MAN himself, in all their pixelated glory. Keeping them in the box makes for a decent display, but that takes away the fun of drinking out of them. A little more variety would have been nice, but it’s still a fun set for the hardcore, drunken fans of the dot-swallowing yellow circle. Use WAKAWAKA in the clubNamco store for 10 percent off.

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