Author Archives: Paul Strauss

Galaga Enamel Pins Bring the 8-Bit Goodness

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I’ve played a whole lot of arcade games in my lifetime, but one that I always go back to is Namco’s classic Galaga. It’s every bit as playable and challenging today as it was the day it came out in 1981, and now I don’t even have to spend quarters to play it. If you love Galaga as much as I do, check out these enamel pins inspired by the game.

Etsy seller Wardingers creates these awesome pixel art pins based on enemies like the Bee, Butterfly, Scorpion, Galaxian, and Bosconian. I never knew the names of these characters before now – it was easier to kill nameless, soulless aliens. Now every time I go to shoot at them, I’m going to think about that Bosconian’s wife and kids. Thanks, Wardingers, thanks.

The Galaga enamel pins sell for $9.25 each, or you can buy them in sets, with the full 7-piece collection selling for $52.75. Of course, I’d need to buy two fighters because I always joined mine together for maximum firepower.

Alien Cookbook Has Edible Xenomorph Eggs, Facehuggers, Chestbursters, and Queens

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Thanks in large part to the genius designs of the late H.R. Giger, the Alien universe is filled with some of the creepiest creatures and environments in the history of science fiction. You wouldn’t want to encounter a xenomorph at any of its life stages, let alone have one staring you in the face on your dinner plate. But here we are, it’s 2021, and we have an Alien Cookbook.

Chris-Rachael Oseland (aka the Kitchen Overlord), who also wrote an unofficial Doctor Who cookbook and an unofficial Hobbit cookbook, has gone 100% legit with this officially licensed Alien Cookbook. The book is filled with 50 Alien-inspired recipes, each based on a phase of the creature’s lifecycle. Inside its pages, you’ll find ideas for tasty but gory egg dishes, like avocado and bacon stuffed deviled Alien tea eggs, disturbing party snacks like a Facehugger cheeseball with a pull-apart body, and a red pepper quiche with a sausage Chestburster. Finish your evening with Alien Queens made from eggplant, blackened chicken wings, or chocolate-coated bananas for dessert.

The Official Alien Cookbook is available from Amazon (affiliate link) for about $29. If you were looking for ideas for your Halloween dinner party, look no further.

[via DudeIWantThat]

This Bed Lets Kids Sleep Under an Imperial Walker

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Can you imagine waking up every morning and looking up to see an Imperial Walker towering over your head? Well, if you’ve got $8500 lying around, your kid could experience that thanks to the guys at Tiny Town Studios. These guys create all kinds of amazing custom builds, from pirate ships to giant alligators you can walk through.

This awesome handmade bed lets kids sleep between the legs of an AT-AT while imagining they’re flying along the snowy surface of Hoth in a T-47 Rebel Airspeeder. Of course, you wouldn’t your kid to be lying beneath this thing when it came crashing down, so it’s best not to try wrapping its legs with a tow cable.

The bed appears to be twin-size, but I’m sure with deep enough pockets, you could convince Tiny Town to build you a version with a bigger bed underneath. I want a California King with enough room for me to roll around on it my AT-AT pilot costume. Or better yet, can I get a version with a ladder, and the bed is inside the AT-AT? And rig it up so the legs move and I can stomp around my neighborhood this winter when there’s snow on the ground.

Display Your LEGO Minifigs in a Giant Minifig

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Do you or your kids like to collect LEGO minifigures? You could leave them scattered around the room where you could step on one, or the dog could try to eat them, or you could store and display them in a more appropriate place. This oversize wood minifig display is perfect for organizing and showing off your favorite LEGO figures.

The $36 wall display is made by Alabama Etsy shop JEMWorXCo using premium 1/2″ baltic birch wood and holds up to 19 figures. Each of its little cutouts is just the right size to hold a minifig along with accessories like their tiny hats, though I’m guessing the sombrero on my Mariachi Maraca Man Minifigure won’t fit.

The only thing better would be if they made a huge version that held the 200+ minifigs I have littering my basement, but I guess I could just buy a dozen of these, and that would look pretty awesome too.

LEGO Expert Turns NES Kit into a Game Boy Transformer

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As a fan of classic video games and LEGO bricks, I was pretty stoked when they released the official LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System in 2020. The 2600+ piece set lets you build a detailed model of an NES along with a TV set, a game cartridge, and a gamepad. Now, one inventive LEGO builder has figured out how to reconfigure the kit into a completely different Nintendo system – a Game Boy. But this isn’t just any Game Boy – this is the Game Boy ROBO.

The Moko Brick Laboratory specializes in making transforming robots out of LEGO parts. Their latest build used some of the numerous parts from the LEGO NES to create this awesome Game Boy that can turn into a robot. Sure, the Transformers had cars and cassette tape players that could turn into robots, but they never had a Game Boy. Now, all we need is for Nintendo to develop a way to make one of these that is actually playable, and they’d sell millions. Can you imagine playing Super Mario Bros. or Tetris on this thing?

Check out the full build video for the Game Boy ROBO below:

I love how this guy wears white gloves while working on his LEGO builds. Parents, I suggest that you make your kids do the same so they don’t get chocolate and Cheetos dust all over the bricks like they usually do.

This Guy Makes Helmets for His Cat

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Rémy Vicarini and his cat Cathode have made a name for themselves on the Internet. Not because his kitty does tricks or anything, but because Rémy likes to dress Cathode up in tiny, custom-made helmets. I’m not sure if they actually offer any protection, but it’s not like human cosplay armor does either.

Rémy designs a computer model of each helmet them outputs them on a 3D printer. They’re custom-sized to ensure a snug fit to Cathode’s little head. Of course, he makes holes in them for Cathode’s ears to poke out to keep them from getting bent – plus kitty just looks cooler that way.

Among his creations are a motorized Iron Man’s helmet, a bike helmet, an astronaut’s helmet, a motorcycle helmet, and a LEGO knight helmet. You can check out some more of Rémy and Cathode’s stylish headgear in the videos below:

[via Nerdist]

An Inflatable Kool-Aid Man Costume: Oh Yeah!

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Halloween is less than eight weeks away, so it’s never too early to get your costume figured out. If you’re ready to bust through some walls and scare your neighbors this year, I highly recommend this inflatable Kool-Aid Man costume. Put it on, and you’ll instantly become a 50-gallon pitcher full of high-energy, artificially colored, cherry-flavored drink!

The officially licensed costume inflates with the push of a button, and since it fills up with air instead of actual Kool-Aid, you’re unlikely to drown inside of this thing. It’s big enough for adults and has a place for you to look out of its nose, so you don’t bump into any walls except for the ones that you really meant to. Now I don’t recommend crashing into any brick walls because you’re likely to break something, but if you want to have some fun, styrofoam blocks or sheets of Foamcore are always an option.

The Kool-Aid Man Inflatable costume is available from Vat19 for $129.99 (USD). Buy two and have a Kool-Aid Man sumo wrestling match with your friend!

The Navy Invented a Device That Stops People from Speaking

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When I was a kid, the best way to get my brothers to stop talking was to repeat what they said right after they said it. Now, the U.S. Navy has taken that simple concept and expanded upon it to disrupt people from speaking at a distance. Their invention, known as the handheld acoustic hailing and disruption (AHAD) system, captures speech using a long-range microphone, then plays it back after a brief delay. Not only is the result annoying to its target, but there is also scientific evidence that playing back one’s speech immediately after speaking can quickly disrupt our ability to speak coherently.

The AHAD system was invented by Christopher A Brown of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, and the Patent abstract below explains how it works:

“The present invention relates to a communication disruption system. In a first audio path, a microphone receives input sound, an amplifier system amplifies the sound, and a sound system transmits a first output sound. In a second audio path, the microphone receives input sound, a delay circuit delays the sound, the amplifier system amplifies the sound, and the sound system transmits a second output sound. A target speaker will hear the first and second output sounds, with the first output sound being a reproduction of their speech heard nearly simultaneously with the original speech, and the second output sound being a reproduction of their speech heard slightly after the original speech. Due to the delayed auditory feedback effect, the target speaker’s concentration will be disrupted, making it difficult for them to continue speaking.”

While the Navy could use such a device to prevent terrorists from communicating or disrupting military activity, I could also see this tech being used for nefarious purposes, like preventing free speech at protests. On the other hand, I’d love a personal version of this that I could use during boring PowerPoint presentations.

[via Popular Mechanics]

The Sprinklesaurus is a Water-breathing Dinosaur for Your Yard

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Summer is almost over, but I’m sure your kids would love to run around under a sprinkler until the snow hits the ground. I can think of no better way to keep kids saturated with a constant stream of water but with a 7-foot-tall inflatable dinosaur lawn sprinkler.

Unlike the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Sprinklesaurus won’t devour or stomp on your kids. Instead, he’ll just douse them with a torrential rain shower through the 360º sprinkler in his nose. Now, wait a second. I don’t remember dinosaurs having blowholes like whales. Maybe a qualified paleontologist out there can set me straight. Or maybe there was a T. Rex-whale hybrid that I missed out on while sleeping through class when I was a kid. Whatever the case, the Sprinklesaurus is real, and your kids want one now that they’re looking over your shoulder looking at your screen.

The Sprinklesaurus is available from Hammacher Schlemmer for $89.95. Just be sure to put him away in the wintertime, so it doesn’t freeze to death in another Ice Age.

LEGO Ideas Motorized Johnny 5 Is Alive!

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Short Circuit is one of those classic movies that every self-respecting geek should see at some point in their lives. After all, the star of the show is Number 5, aka Johnny 5, a charming and inquisitive robot who craves input and understanding from the human world. It’s kind of like the pre-cursor to CHAPPiE, with its main character being a killer military robot who ends up finding its human side. If you love Johnny 5 too, you’ll want to vote for this fan-submitted LEGO design based on the movie robot.

This LEGO Johnny 5 model was designed by RJ BrickBuilds and features a motorized drivetrain using LEGO Powered Up motors. In addition, Johnny’s body, arms, head, and laser module can all be controlled using the Powered Up app. You can also pose his eyebrows, though you’ll need to do that manually. Just don’t ever try to disassemble him!

The model consists of 2,711 pieces, measures an impressive 23.2″ tall, and tips the scales at 6.24 pounds. You can show your support for the LEGO Johnny 5 kit by voting on the LEGO Ideas website. Hopefully, he’ll get enough votes to be considered for production by the LEGO powers-that-be.