Mental Cover: Date with an Ogress.

As a favor, Mental accompanies his friend Miya to her high school formal. Of course since one dosn't go around telling everyone at a party somthing like this, her ex-boyfriends mistake this fr an actual date, and seeing how they are actually mythological creatures, things are not likley to end in a polite manner.

This would be Miya, the second Big Eater character that I have which is female. Funny story really, how it all came about. While Heidi was created for Hyper-Force as my characters CGI girlfriend and another excuse for jokes, Miya came around when I was playing the Sims 2 and was using it to make a comic on the website entitled Professor When. I will admit to you right now that it wasn't very good, but apparently I did it well enough for at least a few people enjoyed it, particulerly my friend Ray who even started writing some fan fiction about it, which instantly made her one of the coolest people I have ever met...not met...been aware of? (How ironic it is that what I read of it was intensley better than anything I've ever written in my life.) Anyway, since Sims 2 couldn't make your sims actually fat, and I was planning ahead for the far future of the comic (I tend to do that) and decided that a future companion of the Professor, who would be included when the series made the jump to Sims 3 (I was ambitious) would take full advantage of the fact that they could be fat. Thus Miya was born.
Her character would mostly be a complete departure of the usual companion type, also being somewhat of a danger herself (Ogres are considered monsters after all) and gradually develope into a downright intelligent state. Of course this never came about because the comic only lasted about 7 or so issues. Good Times.

I liked the character so I decided to bring her back as a character in a strip that starred me and Ray (badly drawn hilarity was to ensue). The character was completley refined, mainly because the original was going to start out more animalistic and I decided I wasn't going to draw 'that' frame in a grass dress on a regular basis (not that people who wear grass dresses are animals, sorry) and she was also a much likable character. I eventually decided she's make the transition from there to the Mental universe.

That's when things got a bit strange. Originally Mia was an actual Ogress, though the comic would have an alien type explanation, but when I put her into the Mental universe which features neither magic nor aliens I made her a mutant, which makes this cover completley false. I've also made her into a teenager and have taken down her grossness by about 89%.

But never mind any of that, I bet you didn't realise that Troll looking creature is based on that thing that appears towards the beginning of Hellboy 2! And on that note, I bet you didn't realise that in the 'prologue' Hellboy was played by a girl! Beya didn't know that!

Crowning Moment of Awesom: The Insano War.

I can't really explain this. You have to see it yourself. It's at the end of the video, but the rest of the vid is pretty damn awesome too.
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/22685-at4w-spoony-experiment-warrior-2-3

Also, in case your wondering why I didn't put Kickassia as a Crowning Moment of Awesome, it jus seemed obvious really.

Wait, What?

This is weird. A while ago Marvel released some comics which showcased some stories which readers could vote on and recieve a full one-shot of. There was two, but I only saw one, and that included stories involving Luke Cage vs. Politics, some girl who fights monsters and a story about the Daughter of Galactus. Being the most absurd of the three, Galacta: Daughter of Galactus, won.

Basically she s like the complete opposite of her father. While she does hunger to devour our planet, she instead decides to help protect us from the things that would destroy us regardless of what the superheroes did, and consume evil alien energies and lifeforms. She ends up with a 'cosmic tapeworm' and must ask her father for help so that she does not give into her hunger and destroy us. The book is repetetive, constantly having her repeat how much unlike her father she is in her narration, as well as how insanley hungry she is, and you will get a little tired of all the text, nevertheless it's funny enough to call a good read. And even when the Cosmic G (The Big G being Godzilla you see) he has a dominating presence regardless of the humour cast upon him throughout the rest of the story. Plus we get to see snippets of Galacta's Facebook, so that's funny. You can even visit her Twitter page.

But here's the strange bit. At one point she gets the ingenius idea to take Wolverine's healing factory and augment it into a whole planet (sort of like Ego, the Living Planet) so that she and her father can consume it for millenia and millenia without harming any one. However, this dosn't work out due to cosmic genetics or some other technobabble. The weird bit? The planet looks like Wolverine and even has the same hair and sideburns. She proceeds to christen it Sideburn, the Regenerating Planet (I think). Okay, the shorter version of my moniker is simply Sideburns or Sideburn, which is weird, and I have two female characters who are big eaters, and here we have a colossal woman who want to eat a planet named Sideburn. That is like the biggest coincedence I have ever seen! I mean, damn! I've considered myself prone to coincedence, but that's a bit of a stretch, don't you think? There is no way this is not coming up in my future work. It wouldn't really be that big of a deal if one of those big eaters wasn't Captain Mental's girlfriend.

Next, we just need a character to be named Ned, and have him dress in hoodies and have trouble finishing what he starts. Or have a guy named Robert whose incredibly sarcastic, cynical, and is physically incapable of continuing his novel. Okay, those wouldn't be as funny, but you get the idea.

Also, it's kinda funny to hear how delicious she thinks characters like Thor would be. And apparently Galactus is a pretty good guy, as when Richards was threatening the Cosmic G with the Ultimate Nullifier, the safety was on.

Savage Dragon 160

Wow. Just...wow.

Savage Dragon has recently been in a storyline concernining his origins. What happened, you see is, Dragon's brain was eaten by an alien called Virus. The creature mutated into another Savage Dragon and vice versa, but his personaliy was in tact, so it was sort of like a big joke. So, for a few issues they dealt with some other story lines, such as Dragon's kids getting kidnapped, and the aftermath of that. Then in issue 150, they celebrated by having Dragon's nemesis, Overlord, returning (someone new in the suit). The issue ended with Overlord incinerate Dragon, except for his legs, arms, and a crapload of blood. He had it taken back to the local super freak crime gang, The Vicious Circle, and created a chemical that would mutate them into Dragon-clones.
Dragon's son Malcolm went on a quest to revive Dragon's Virus body with a blood transfusion. It worked, but he came back as the evil Emperor Kurr, the man who Dragon was before the first issue.
This was okay because Dragon had a reputation for dying then coming back. However, Larsen had said, that by the final issue of the Dragon War storyline, if Dragon was dead, he would remain dead, and would then become a Legacy Character. I was a bit annoyed, but figured that whatever Larsen did would be best.

Wow.

The issue consisted mostly of a fight between Dragon, J. Jonah Jameson parody R.R. Richards (in a giant robot), the Vicious Dragon Circle, his kids Malcolm and Angel, and supporting character Flash Mercury, The Spectacular Dragon. Dragon slaughtered Richards and the Circle, and gave a pummelling to everyone else. Eventually after attacking Malcolm, Dragon was beaten to a pulp by an enraged Angel. I figured, "Oh well, I guess that's it then." But then I turned the page and, he was still alive, and punched her away, stating that since she and her brother nursed him back to health, he would spare them, then jumped off into the distance.

Seriously, wow.

I mean, I was never expecting the story to have a fully happy ending, I knew Dragon's tenure as hero was over, but, that story was just depressing. Perhaps its because I only recently entered the fandom, but I feel that this is probably one of the most depressing comics I've read. The odd thing is though, that it wasn't so much the issue itself though, but rather, what it implies.
Savage Dragon has survived exploding planets. He has saved hundreds. He has fought enemies twice his size and won, he is the only Image character aside from Spawn to still have his own residence in his original publication. Heck, he's written a book and raised two kids. And how does he meet his end? Not with a bang, but a whimper. In an alleyway. In a conversation riffing on Spider-Man. A scene anyone else would've just used as preparation for a later climatic battle. Dragon did not recieve such an honor, but instead got a single punch, then died...I have read only four issues starring the Dragon that the fans know. This only became truly depressing ten issues later.

He obviously knew how depressing it was, because he included a comedic backup story by another artist about Dragon meeting one of his rogues gallery while on a blind date. This did little to remedy this.

I'm not going to get all sappy and tell you that my world view has changed because of a comic book about a hulkish man with a fin on his head. But I am going to tell you that it reminded me that I need to enjoy what I have while I have it. I'm not going be a changed man because of it, I already believed in this, even if I do still feel that my life could be better. I am not going to say my life is bad. By all accounts, I have a very good life. Savage Dragon has just been a reminder of this fact.

Do I feel like mouthing off to Erik Larsen about ruining the book? No. Instead, I congratulate him on getting the reaction he was no doubt intending. I salute you Larsen, I have said that you are brilliant at what you do, and you have proven that.

This is ThatKidWithTheSideburns, asking you to have a nice day.

Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Hi. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the most well known musicals in history. Until recently I had only heard about it and heard the Time Warp a few times. So, I decided to finally see it, and heck maybe give it a review. But after having thought about it...How can I review it? Calling this film a Big Lipped Alligator Movie is pretty damn accurate. Plot? What plot? I don't understand this word.

Okay, the film is too confusing and strange for me to give a detailed explanation. So, here's my summary of the plot: Brad and Janet want to get married. Cross Dressing Mad Scientist Alien Tim Curry wants to have sex with them. The Igor hates Cross Dressing Mad Scientist Alien Tim Curry. Rocky is a dumb blonde Frankenstein who dosn't progress the plot all that much despite being the title's namesake, but sings a few times. Meat Loaf is a dead biker.

Really, the plot itself is just an excuse to get these characters togethor. To be honest the film's pretty good, it's just it's too weird and random for me to explain. I guess I could, but this film has no basis in reality, so I'm not going to even attempt it. The only thing I can comment on is that I felt bad about Cross Dressing Mad Scientist Alien Tim Curry (or Frank N Furter) dying. Not so much because I liked the character so much (he was kinda awesome though) but because the guy just shot him. I know he killed a few people, tortured others and abused his killer, but couldn't he...I don't actually know. I was going to say die with more dignity, but he is Cross Dressing Mad Scientist Alien Tim Curry so that ship has probably sailed.

Anywho, the film is good, full of Ear Worms and features Cross Dressing Mad Scientist Alien Tim Curry.

Villain Spotlight: Other Mother

When young Coraline is painfully bored with her life, she discovers a door, but unfortunatley this door is bricked up. But later, she is led there by a mouse. The door leads to a wonderous world that is much like Coraline's, but much more exciting. There she meets her Other Parents, who seem to exist to do nothing but please her. However, soon they present her with the choice to stay in this world with them forever. Coraline likes this idea until she learns what she must do to do so: Sew buttons over her eyes. And from this, we learn that the Other Mother, is actually a crazy spider-bitch.

The Other Mother is an odd villain. She plays the Hansel and Gretel card and lures her victims in with promises of fun and food. A lot of food. I'm surprised Coraline didn't leave that adventure resembling a blimp, but then again she clearly dosn't enjoy her father's cooking. Where was I?
The Other Mother uses the Hansel and Gretel card, but just because you know she's going to feed off you, dosn't give you much of an advantage. She can warp her world in unusual ways, and apparently do some pretty nasty stuff in the outside world too, seeing how she kidnapped two full grown adults. She copies the appearances of your loved ones and pastes them onto her caricatures, so just hope you get one of the ones with a conscience, but even then you have to deal with the fact that she'll probably kill them for helping you.
In fact, the best chance you have against her is to challenge her to a game. She loves games. She won't play fair, but if her actions, and Keith David's voice, is anything to go by, she won't refuse. Oddly, you'll need to cheat to be the victor in these games, as even if you win, she won't care all that much.

I guess it's actually pretty hard to determine how powerful the Other Mother is. She can warp her reality, but then could easily just trap you in a corridor, yet dosn't. But perhaps among the stranger things is that if you cut off her hand, it'll keep moving, almost as if it was her.

The Other Mother was voiced by Teri Hatcher. Sweet dreams, fanboys.

Kickassia: That Guy With The Glasses Two Year Anniversary.

First off, I'd like to apologise for not having a picture of this years video, but instead I'll share with you the one from last year. Second of all, Robert, if you want to enjoy this event for all it's worth, do not read this, third of all...

OH MY GOD! THIS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! There's this guy, called the Nostalgiama Critic, and he goes to this small town, except it's actuall a nation! And he goes up to the President and he's like, 'I'm going to invade you,' and he's like, 'I don't say anything here.' I conquered a small country once, I had pudding that day.
So then the Critic calls all his friends and tells them It's Time! But they don't know what he means, so they tell him the time! Except Angry Joe who has a different World Domination plan altogethor.

And then they all come togethor and this one guy goes to Spoony, 'Aren't you that Doctor guy?' And then he's like, 'NOOOOOO!' and then he's like, 'Yeah,' and he's like, 'NOOOOO!' and he's like 'Yeah,' and he's like, 'NOOOOOokay maybe.' Then the Nostalgima Critic comes out and tells them that he wants to rule the world...hurray! But Linkara isn't convinced, so the Nostalgima Critic accuses him of Nazism, 'Burn the Nazis!' And then he convinces them to join his cause by giving a rousing speech about someone else who had crazy dreams, The Nazis...wait, what? Okay, that part was weird.

So then they walk on down to the President's house and charge at him, and they're like, 'Chaaaaaaaaaaaaa,' and he's like, 'I'm being stoic' and they're like, 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,' and he's like, 'I'm being stoic' and they're like, 'Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrr,' and he's like, 'I'm being stoic' and they're like, 'Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggge!,' and he's like, 'I have a gun,' and they're like, 'Aaaaaaaaargh!' and run away.

So then, they go back to the hotel and and insult the Nostalgiama Critic for being dumb. But then Benzai has an idea, use Beary (his stuffed bear) as a kamikaze, but that's too obvious, But then Lee has an idea, Jump on his back and ride it to Victory, but that's too overused, But then Dr. Spiderma-Smith has an idea, Attack with a Legion of Spiders, Eeeeek! SPIDERS! But the Nostalgiama Critic tells him to go away, Hurray, no spiders!

But then Phelous has an idea, use weapons, but Critic dosn't like that idea. Then the Nostalgiama Critic has an idea, use weapons, he is a master of strategy! Then they suit up, Nostalgia Chick puts some goggles on, Linkara prepares his Magic Gun, Angry Joe poses with his guns, 8-Bit Mickey has pecks painted onto him, Handsome Tom shrugs, and Adam holds aloft his magic sword and screams, 'I I HAVE THE POWER!'...Wait, no, that's someone else...Red vs. Blue? Hurray!

And then The Critic poses in front of his window all awesomley and the video ends. Wait, that's not an ending! You need to end things for an ending, you have ended nothing! Except the video, but I want to know what happened to Epic Fail Guy. Will they ever find his phone number? Will ThatChickWithTheGoggles finish college? Will Janet and Brad ever hook up?'
This is ThatKidWithTheSideburns saying, CHANGE!? YOU GOT CHANGE?! COME ON! HELP A GUY OUT, WILL YA? I promise to donate to the proud Republic of Kickassia.

And no, I will not be doing that for all six videos.

Death is Cheap.

This video is made of pure win.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/218160#

Crowning Moment of Awesome: Adelaide Comic Centre.

I heard about this a while ago, but only found out the details recently.

I regularly attend the Adelaide Comic Centre. It's a great place, it's pretty easy to find what you want, the staff are friendly, and it's just set up really well.

As part of an Open Day promotion, the staff were dressed in superhero suits. One of the owners, Michael Baulderstone was dressed as Spider-Man. You can tell they're enthusiastic about the whole thing, since he was jumping around the store making the sound of web shooting. I salute you, my geeky superior. But here's the weird bit. He happened to see someone trying to sneak off with an expensive X-Men collection, and, without even removing his mask, he walked over and asked him to return it.

That.

Is.

AWESOME!

I heard about this and thought, 'That Guy's seen Kick-Ass too many times,' cos I thought it was actually a guy in a Spider-Man suit maybe going to a party and seeing someone with a stolen thing, but then I went to the website and realised it was actually him. I gotta say, that's pretty damn hilarious. Annoying since all technically I could have been there when it happened, that would've been funny.

I'm gonna bet you anything people came into the store for the following weak just to mention that. Youtube hooooooooo!

Check out the video at their Website (if you live in the area, check out the website in general) here: http://www.dynamicduocomics.net/
Don't worry, his voice is much more understandable in real life.

Youtube Watch: Batman Theme Song.

This guy's good. You might also notice a commentor who finds the similarities between Batman and Dragonfly from Superhero Movie's dead parent story story absoutley astounding (wtf?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?more_url=%2Fmy_favorites&video_ids=wUPBgYeanZ0%2ClhTSfOZUNLo%2C2sXpInWFVVo%2CCDl9ZMfj6aE%2Cmz8n2hzQ0t0%2CbFzLRP8e4vE%2CFOHJUrcVdJk%2CLAkn0ORDxUc%2CbV5NerQIRk4%2CjBQlffw-3Ck%2C8m_yHx22YP4%2CqXzHv-9WGsc%2CGgPq5WF-uvw%2CEK2tWVj6lXw%2CqSLVgP79iaA%2C8Ienpt5M4sg%2CK-kYiDbG39s%2CYNu6_dxWbNo%2C4ac3Cr965jM%2C6ji_lMIixFw&type=7&no_autoplay=1

Top Ten Iconic Naughties Film Characters.

I once read that the 2000's only supplied us with one iconic film character. You know the kind of people I'm talking about. King Kong, Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, Godzilla, Freddy Krueger, Ellen Ripley, Snow White, Robocop, etc. I agreed with this instantly upon reading, as I often do. But then I realised, that's a load of shit. In fact, I can think of a bunch of memorable characters. That's why today I'm countin' down the Top Ten Iconic Naughties Film Chatacters.

10. Edward Cullen.

Debuting in the hit film Twilight, EdwardHEY WAIT! NO! Bad! Bad! Noooooo! We are not discussing him here.

9. Jake Sulley from Avatar.

Avatar was promised to be the next Star Wars in terms of epicness. And was it? Well, it sure didn't suck. Many people complained that it was too unoriginal and was too busy hammering the Humans are Bastards aesop. I don't agree, we saw that there were at least a few non bastards, even if most of them died. One good thing apart from the effects was the character of Jake Sully, which is fortunate seeing how he's the main character. He was portrayed by Sam Worthington.

In the future, the world is in a massive financial crisis, and we need Unobtainium, a valuable substance with a name ripped off from the film The Core, but don't worry, it was stupid there, and it's stupid here. Unobtainium is only found on the planet Pandora, which is full of beautiful, but dangerous wild life. Jake's twin brother is to be part of the Avatar Program, a special program that will allow him to mentally 'drive' the artificially grown body of one of the planet's natives, the Na'avi, effectivley making into super soldiers, so that they can survive the planet. Unfortunatley, his brother is killed, but since Jake is his twin, his 'Avatar' is perfectlty melded to his genetic structure, meaning he can take over the job. Others don't think it's such a good idea because Jake may be a marine, but he's inexperienced with the program and is paraplegic. However, he eventually gets into the whole thing, falls in love with the Na'avi and their culture, and helps toppled the humans who have been destroying the environment.

Jake is basically just going along with things at first, but early on we see him become a Na'avi for the first time, and he is pretty damn happy to be able to walk again. This attracts him to enjoy the use of the Avatar, and path his way to the Na'avi's side. He gets lost and is rescued by the beautiful Na'avi princess, Neytiri, who thinks he is an idiot. Well, after Terminator Salvation and Clash of the Titans...
Jake begins training to be a proper Na'avi, learning the language and the customs, so that the humans may peacefully remove the Unobtainium from their home. It goes bad, opting to make him hateful towards them and eventually become their champion, leading an assault with bows and arrows against gunships, and winning.

I didn't think Avatar was as good as it set out to be, but I definatlet think we'll remember it, especially for Jake, and his Na'avi form which I don't think we'll forget any time soon. His character is genuinley interesting and his interactions are pretty damn fun to watch, especially with the Na'avi.

I have also had it noted to me that the internet seems to hate Avatar because of the Humans are Bastards theme, but loves District 9. Avatar may have said that we were bastards, but at least Jake didn't kill goddamn babies.

8. Shrek


The film Shrek was a hilarious send up of fairy tales, that managed to give us the perfectly acceptable message that it's okay to be ugly. Shrek may be an ugly ogre, but if people didn't scream at the sight of him, they'd know he is a genuinley good person.

The character is frequently hunted by angry villagers, but often manages to intimidate them into leaving him alone. After making 'friends' with a talking Donkey, Shrek is forced to have a companion. When his swamp is infested with fairy tale characters, he goes to the kingdom of the villain Lord Farquad, who wants to marry a beautiful princess to become a proper king. He sends Shrek to do so, but the princess turns out to be cursed to become an ogress after sunset (pictured above). Before learning this, Shrek has fallen for Fiona, and they eventually wed, after Donkey's new girlfriend (a Dragon...yes, you read that right) kills Farquad. Shrek is now officially a nice person, even if most people still don't think he looks pleasant. Fiona's cursed form now becomes her permenant form, and he's fine with that.

Shrek was performed by Mike Myers, who did it with a scottish accent, a very nice touch. Part of his appeal is his memorable appearance, as well as his interactions with Donkey, who pretty much deserves to be in this list as well. Heck, half the cast belongs here. But Shrek's the big man, so he gets to sit at his place at number 8.

Shrek's adventures have continued in three sequels, one yet to be released. The first sequel dealt with Shrek meeting Fiona's parents and dealing with the real Prince Charming, who was SUPPOSED to rescue and marry her. It was pretty good. Shrek the Third was fun, but by far inferior, dealing with Shrek becoming a father and finding a new king for the kingdom of Far Far Away. The villainous plot in it was a bit weird. While in theory, Prince Charming rallying the villains into taking over the kingdom could work, that's more suiting for a TV special or a Two Parter in a TV series. I think the fourth film has promise, going about the series as Shrek visits an alternate history of how things may have transpired. For example, his wife Fiona is now a warrior Princess. The promotion for this film actually seems to want the fandom to hate it. The character Puss in Boots would occasionally say 'Fear me, if you Dare.' Here, he's become morbidly obese, which is funny. They show pictures of him with the subtitle, 'Feed me, if you dare.' You fail.

7. Harry Potter

Technically, Harry debuted in the first Harry Potter novel, but Daniel Radcliff's portrayal was enough tp convince us he was a god of an actor, and helped make the Harry Potter franchise the most successful film franchise of all time. I personally believe this position rightfully belongs to Star Wars, but Harry would be a close second.

Harry is an orphan who lives with his horrible Aunt and Uncle, who treat him like crap, but I wouldn't go as far as to say are abusive. Well, they are a bit rough with him, but they bothered to buy him glasses, so I guess there is something close to humanity in them. After an unusual event at a zoo, Harry starts getting letters from a school called Hogwarts, but his Uncle keeps disposing of them. Eventually, after a massive flood of letters, they move, but are tracked down by a man named Hagrid, who tells Harry he is actually a wizard, and if he chooses, may attend Hogwarts, a school for wizards. So, Jerkass Relatives, or Magic and Adventure? Jerkass Relatives, or Magic and Adventure? Jerkass Relatives, or Magic and Adventure? Jerkass Relatives, or Magic and Adventure? Well, it's close, but family is family, so...no wait, he chooses Magic and Adventure.

First of all, he's easy to draw. The only thing really odd about his appearance is a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead.
His popularity is in no small part due to the films he stars in, but another is his personality. While he is nice to people, stands up to bad guys, gets decent grades and is a generally good person, he can't help but constantly break rules. Namley, sneaking around the school to fight evil. It usually works out for the best in the end though.

But here's the thing that really cemented the series for me. The original film didn't set up that many rules of the universe. What we usually did see was hugley whimsical and left hundreds of possibilities. It opened a world of make believe for children like me that we had never imagined. And that was awesome. What helped greatly was the DVD, which was a tour of Hogwarts with an actual goal, making you feel like a student. You even got to go to the bank, buy your wand, and all the while being given new information from the universe, which still left us with hundreds of possibilities, such as telling us that the longest recorded Quidditch Match lasted about three months.

I'd put Harry further down the list, but I can't say I've enjoyed the latest films as much. Don't get me wrong, I think they're perfectly good films, I just don't get the same vibe that I recieved from the first two.

6. Coraline Jones

When I originally saw the posters for Cora;ine, I'll admit it looked silly. By what I could tell, it was about a little girl who made a wish and now had two families. Yeah, weird. Then the trailer came on. I still thought it was kinda dumb. I went and saw the film anyway. It. Was. Great.

Coraline is a charming family film that REALLY shouldn't be a family film. The book it was adapted from was written by Neil Nightmare Fuel Gaiman. And the places I've researched it, the book is classified as a Horror/Fantasy. Notice something? It's not Childrens Horror/Fantasy, just a Horror/Fantasy. That'll tell you all you need to know really.
Coraline Jones has been moved into a house with a number of highly eccentric people by her parents. These range from the dorky and annoying Wyborne 'Wybie' Lovat to the jumping mouse training circus perfroming Mr. Bobinski. Apparently it is physically impossible to get her name right. She is hugley bored, and while her parents are by no means abusive, they are much too preoccupied with their work to pay her too much attention. One day, she discovers a magical mirror world within the house, with much more interesting and fun versions of her parents and neighbours. Though she is tempted to stay there forever, the moment she realises that she'll have to sew buttons over her eyes, she realises somethings up. After fleeing the Other Mother, who is a villain worthy of Villain Spotlight, kidnaps her parents, forcing young Coraline to gather her courage and save them, as well as the ghosts of the Other Mother's previous victims.

Coraline herself probably wouldn't be so memorable if it weren't for her interactions with the characters around her, particulerly the Other World, and that cat, voiced by Keith David. Best Movie Cat Ever. But her appearance is also pretty memorable. The blue hair, yellow raincoat (not pictured) and general character shape will help bore the character into your memory.

But here's a weird thing. I actually liked the film so much (even going so far as deciding it was one of my favorites) that I decided to read the book. The book is good, but I've gotta say the film is actually much better in my opinion. The book had the Other World be different. Not 'better' but different, which sort of made the Other Mother seem less effective in her role. Don't get me wrong, she was still freaky, and the vagueness of some of the descriptions was freaky in many ways, but the film just held the whole thing much better. In fact, the only complaint I can genuinley give is that some of the dialogue isn't very good, such as Coraline's second piece of dialogue, to the cat, "You nearly scared me to death, you mangy thing!" It just came off as forced, unlike the rest of the characters voice acting, which was pretty believable.
Oh, and the Other Father's Coraline song was a bit grating, but then I decided it wasn't that bad. Now it is an Ear Worm.

5. Gollum

Alright, now you're pissed, aren't you? Gollum was a famous character BEFORE the Lord of the Rings movies, so he dosn't count, right? Well, I've gotta disagree. Though he was arguable famous amongst the fandom, the world finally got exposed to the creature when he was brought to life using motion capture, and voiced by Andy Serkis.

It's likely that you already know Gollum's story, but I know a lot of people downright HATE the Lord of the Rings, if only because it 'is' Lord of the Rings, but hey, I can't say I'm a huge fan myself, so I won't put too much effort into defending it. Anyway, just in case you didn't know, I'll explain it a little. It's been a while since I watched the movies, so I might not get all the facts right. Smeagol was a Hobbit who came across The One Ring, which forced him to become obsessed with it. The Ring gave him an extended lifespan, and slowly drove him insane. The Ring desired a new owner and left him. This upset him very much, and he spent a long time looking for his 'precious' before meeting up with Frodo Baggins and Samwise, who were currently in possession of The One Ring.

It's doubtful that you've gone your life without hearing someone hiss the words, 'My precious...' or, 'Come to Smeagol...' and that's with good reason. The character sticks into your mind probably more than any of the others. He's a pathetic little creature who wants nothing more than to be in possesion of his precious ring, and it is this obsession that splits his mind in half, Smeagle and Gollum. One wants to merely be friendly towards Sam and Frodo, who are showing him a fair bit of decency. The other half wants to kill them and take The Ring. This leads to the well known argument between the two personalities which had no little part us remembering him.

There was also wen Serkis did an in-character message for I think MTV, where he chewed out the audience for making them go through all the hard work it took to ake the movie and how nothing could ever make up for it.

4. Juno MacGuff

One thing all the characters here seem to have in common is at at least one stage they've been in a fight, or are generally built for adventure. Here's someone different, someone whose film had virtually no physical violence whatsoever. Juno MacGuff, portrayed by Ellen Page, is a sassy and kinda weird teenage girl who suddenly finds herself pregnant with the child of Paulie Bleeker, her 'Best Guy Friend,' a memorable character himself played by Michael Cera (apparently not doing any acting at all, according to my sources).

The first thing we notice about Juno is the way she looks. Part of what makes her so memorable is her pregnancy. This film was released about three years ago, and even now I am still going to DVD stores and seeing her cardboard cutout advertising the movie. If you saw it, you cannot tell me you forgot about those orange stripes wrapped around that swollen abdomen. If I see any pregnant woman in an orange striped shirt, I'm instantly going to think, 'She's dressed like Juno.' She did where several other shirts, but like with Coraline, you remember this one the most. Hey, I'm sure James Bond owns more than just a bunch of tuxedos.

Next is her actions. Her initial thought is to get an abortion, but she quickly gets a change of heart and decides that adoption would be the best option. She finds a family she deems sane and grows attached to them, but things don't go that well, but I won't spoil it for you. Her interactions are also really good, especially for the sheer amount of Hey it's that Guy! What I really like it that her dad is J. Jonah Jameson, and she's Kitty Pryde, making her not only suitable for the list, but with her owning of the Juggernaut, an unofficial Pregnant Badass.
My only problem with the story is that we didn't see enoughg of her time at school with her pregnancie, I know that isn't what the film is about, but there was probably some pretty good joke oppertunities. Also, some people complain that Bleeker wasn't involved enough, making him into a jerk, but my guess is that Juno wouldn't approve of him swooning other her and stuff. She dosn't seem to be the type.

Also, I know I'm gonna have to bring this up, but...the way she talks. Juno speaks a strange language comprised of...weird. Granted, I don't have a problem with it, and can usually understand her pretty well. It's just that everyone else seems to be grated by her sayings of 'Honest to Blog,' it needs a mention. It's part of her charater.

But here's a thing I feel personally. Juno is a pretty damn awesome character, and even if it;s anything BUT an action film, I've gotta say I'd classify her as a badass. In fact, I can imagine her on a lineup of Street Fighter characters. I'd genuinley like to play as her in a fighting game. Unfortunatley to get the whole 'character' into the game she'd need to be pregnant, and anything that gives you the option to hurt a pregnant woman probably shouldn't exist. Though I guess she could get an instant win for just being there.

Also, I want to buy an copy of Most Fruitful Yuki. We need MORE pregnant badasses!

3. Edward Cullen.


First appearing in, HEY NO!

3. B.O.B.

If you weren't remotley interested in Monsters vs. Aliens, you have abandoned your childhood. In case this was you, the film followed Susan Murphy, who is unfortunate enough to be crushed by a meteor on her wedding day. But she's okay, just a little radioactive...and giant. She is taken to Area...sorry, if I finish that word I get tranquilised. She is taken to a...research facility, where she meets fellow 'monsters' Dr. Cockroach Phd, The Missing Link, Insectosaurus, and B.O.B.

He. Is. Awesome.

Truth be told, he himself dosn't effect the plot so much as he and the actual monsters do on a whole, and while almost every character is pretty memorable themselves, B.O.B. is just the best of them. He has no brain, meaning his actions are likley to make little sense. At one stage he forgets how to breathe, despite the fact he has no lungs. He also plays with a ball and accidentally knocks his eye out, and eats ham by having it thrown at the side of his head. Even when he is accidentally sent flying into space by Susan, he remains a happy little camper, wheras we know anyone else would have been pretty pissed off about it. It's funnier than it sounds, trust me.

This also brings up a fact about his voice actor, Seth Rogen, and why I have so much respect for actors like him, Jack Black and Ben Stiller. You see them in films like Tropic Thunder, or in Rogen's case, Pineapple Express and Zach and Miri make a Porno, and then you have them in a film intended for families and they not only do it well, but are possibly the best damn thing in the movie! That takes skill my friends. That is proof that they are great actors.

My biggest regret regarding the film is seeing it in 2-D. After seeing Clash of the Titans in it's sactastic fest of non-3-D, I especially feel irritated.

2. The Joker
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You saw this coming. The end of the awesome Batman Begins was just a throwaway gag at first, but when the film was a massive success, they decided that little card merited the appearance of one of the greatest villains of all time. Personally, when I saw the image of Heath Ledger in that makeup, I wasn't really that interested. This changed of course after hearing all the things about his performance, I was swayed. But truly, a film with that much hype couldn't even come close to living up to it. My friends...

IT WENT BEYOND!

Admit it, no matter how evil he was, no matter what he did, Joker stole your attention. I mean, Batman is the Goddamn Batman, but he already stole the spotlight in his own film, no it's Jokers turn, and boy howdy does he steal that spotlight. And after stealing it, he beats it up, stabs it, and then set in on fire.

The Joker arrives in Gotham City to balance out Batman's heroics with a good dose of anarchy. And that's his story truth be told. Not much else to it. Okay, he is also responsible for Two-Face and destroying much of Gotham City. In fact it could be argued that he had a bigger impact on the city than Bats did. Except that Bats is the reason he's there, so...yeah.

Now your probably really pissed off, cos let's face it, I could've put Hulk, Spider-Man, Tony Stark and even Bats himself on this list if I included this guy. Well, not really. You see, Ledger's Joker indeed follows the tradition of The Bat's arch enemy, but there's so much new to him that he's a character in his own right, yet at the same time, the Joker we know and love and fear.

The average Joker was forced into his mental state by a bathe in chemicals, making him somewhat innocent in all this. This Joker wears makeup, suggesting he simply chooses to be this person, granted he is definatley nuts. He does claim to have had a bad life, but I'm not trusting anything this guy says.

This Joker also has the characteristic of not caring. Often the old Joker would haul ass when faced with his own death, but this Joker uses it to his advantage. He is completley fine with getting shot in the head if it will make Harvey Dent into a killer. And who could forget the interogation scene, a moment I'm sure will end up on par with Kong falling off the Empire State Building, and 'No Luke, I AM your father.' Batman is beating him with as much fury as you can fathom, but Joker not only dosn't care, he finds it hilarious. Hilarious how Batman expects this to work when Joker knows that he won't, and that's not something he'll soon forget.

This Joker is on par with Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter and the many other great villains of cinema. Yet, despite all his differences, they chose all the right things to keep in. Unlike some Jokers, who want Batman out of the way, Ledger's Joker stays true to the core character who learns to define himself by Batman. He dosn't want him dead, in fact, he might even call them best friends. It is these things that make Heath Ledger's Joker the second most iconic film character of the 2000's.

I think it would also be bad to not mention that Ledger died shortly before the film was released. It's a shame that I could only discover his talent with this film, he was magnificent and worthy of his award.

And the Number One Iconic character is...

1. Jack Sparrow.

Johnny Depp is Jack Sparrow. He may not be the toughest pirate in the Caribbean, but by god, he's the trickiest.

Captain Jack Sparrow was the captain of the Black Pearl, the fastest ship on the water. The story isn't too clear, but one day disaster struck the Pearl. He had to make a deal with the Devil (or Devil Fish, in this case) to get it back and remain Captain for ten years. Unfortunatley, before long, his first mate led a mutiny against him and marooned him on an island. Sparrow survived on the island for three days, drinking Rum from a cellar, making it bearable. Even if he was doing well, he went mad with hate, and possibly sunstroke. The one bullet left in his pistol was now meant for his mutinous first mate, Hector Barbossa.
Then, it is said that Sparrow came across a group of sea turtle, and roped them into a raft, using hair from his own back, to escape. However, given his sunstroke and a tendency to exaggerate and downright lie, this is debatable.

Sparrow then proceeded to steal the boat of one Anna Maria, and came to Port Royal, giving himself one of the best character introductions of all time. Needless to say, Awesomeness ensued.

Sparrow is always one step ahead, and if that fails, he'll work with it. When others are pulling out their swords, Jack is in the corner thinking of how to turn this to his advantage, and even when he's got seconds to live, he's got the reputation and the charisma to talk his way out of it, and even use it to his advantage.

That's not to say that he's without his own skills. Jack can fight, but that's not his strong point. He's a badass thinker, and is in many ways, a walking Crowning Moment of Awesome. He starts out every film with one, and is likley to bring up a few more before the credits roll. Let's face it, if you were to get hijacked by a pirate, you'd want it to be him. And just be glad that even if he is a Magnificent Bastard, a scoundrel, a downright criminal and many other things, just be glad that generally he's on our side.

Besides, he's also a pretty good dresser.

And that's my top ten iconic character of the Naughties. I hope it's given you some minor insight, and I hope it was worth the free days it took me to type it.












OH FINE!

10. Edward Cullen

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He's a vampire in love with a human lady from the Twilight saga. He sparkles in the day time and girls don't shut up about him. I wouldn't even have a dislike for the films and books if it wasn't for the fanbase insisting that it was a messiah of a book. Robert Patterson, his actor, is fine by me as he apparently dons't like the movies and admits they aren't what people make them out to be. Seriously, what is with the sparkling? Honestly.

Iron Man 2.

He is a Man, and IIIIIROOOOON MAAAAAAN!

Iron Man was a successful and very good film that adapted one of comics most popular characters, quite obviously, Iron Man, and pitted him against the terrorist organisation The Ten Rings, and later his work associate, Obidiah Stane...in a giant robot. The film was greatly overshadowed by The Dark Knight, which was another film about a multi-billionaire who wears armour and fights evil. Though let's be honest, Dark Knight kicked ass. Iron Man was still how I'd say you SHOULD make a superhero movie, the kind with flying and robots, that is.

So when they said, 'We're making Iron Man 2,' we were hyped as hell...Then I found out that Whiplash was the villain. Whiplash? You mean one of Iron Man's minor villains? And then I found out he looked like this...

Russian Cyborg He-Man...with electrical whips for hands...Um, no. You want to know why that so weird? Watch the Nostalgia Critic's review of Masters of the Universe.

So then I went to see the film after writing my rant a few days ago, and enjoyed the experience. Until about halfway through. Halfway through, they forgot that they were making an action movie. Nothing but talking. The original film had character development and was interesting. I'll tell you right now that these scenes would have been fine in a non-action movie, but they just kept going on. It got better towards the end, but even then...the final fight with Whiplash was so goddamn anti-climatic. That's really bad, cos the fight with Iron Monger in the first film has been regarded as one of the best superhero fights in cinema. Maybe this was the problem because the fight didn't happen in the air, which would've been cool. We had a chase in the air, but not an actual fight.

Here's a strange thing, in the original, it was mostly talk and some action, but that was fine, we had enough plot to keep us excited before that. Here we just had more talking. And let me tell you at this very moment that Tony and Pepper's talk on the plane in the TRAILER was more romantic and interesting than the entirety of their interaction in the film. Every time they talked, they would chatter on at the same time, trying to out talk the other. This wasn't a problem, but it kept going. It stopped being funny the minute you were trying to do it when important stuff happened!
But here's the weird thing, Iron Man was believed to not have enough action, so sequel was promised to be pretty much all action, and there was too much talking. Transformers recieved complaints that the robots didn't get enough character development, so the second one promised to flesh out the characters, and it was NOTHING BUT FIGHTING!

The film also has moments of what I call, Anti-Epic. So, how do we introduce the awesome that is War Machine? Tony succumbs to alcoholism and needs a replacement of course! Wait...no, that didn't happen. Instead, Tony gets drunk on his birthday, and on the suggestion of Black Widow, gets in the Iron Man suit. Though this proves to be a hit at the party, he starts blowing stuff up (to much applause) and Rhodey needs to stop him using the Mark II armour. So War Machine makes his cinematic debut trying to stop his friend making an ass of himself. Needless to say, despite the stupid set up, awesomness ensues.

And Nick Fury. When I think of Nick Fury, I think of a manipulative jerk, and a massive badass. Neither of those aspects showed up. In fact, for a character designed to BE Samuel L. Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson didn't do that good of a job portraying him. Again, with the Anti-Epic, we meet him and discover Black Widow's identity...At. A. Donut. Shop. Really Favreau? A Donut shop?

To make a long story short, the film just felt like padding to tie us over to the Avengers film, which it shouldn't have been. It was however, hilarious...a bit too hilarious. I think that mixing comedy and action is fine, but this film took it a bit too far. There were also multiple CMoA's, but not as many as the first one (referred to some as a CMoA in Iron Man's career). The hook for the next step in the Avengers saga was pretty awesome though, but I won't give it away.

Also I read that Joss Whedon is going to direct Thor of The Avengers.

Also again, Stan Lee's cameo was WAY too short. For shame.