Alex Deligiannis is a friend of the site, having designed our awesome Sasquatch, the logo for our Bubble Pipe Podcast Network, and generally being a cool dude. Recently Alex started posting one sketch a day on Instagram, and I knew right away I had to post another Instagram Roundup to show off some of his art.

He got my attention with some TMNT sketches, including badass new versions of Bebop and Rocksteady. I asked if he’d ever drawn Leatherhead, and he came through in one of his sketches soon after. I love checking Instagram and finding a new sketch every day, and you should follow @AlexDeligiannis or check out the hashtag #DeliDoodle to follow his progress.

He’s had series of Mario, TMNT, Street Fighter, and Avengers sketches, and they’re all awesome. He’s still pretty early in the project, and there’s months of great art to look forward to. You can follow Alex on Instagram, Twitter, or on his blog.

I’m jealous of kids today. I mean, I’m a kid at heart and I have no qualms spending my time watching cartoons, buying toys, and blogging about said cartoons and toys, but to be a kid right now in the age of iPads and Angry Birds and actual Avengers movies would be pretty awesome. I got bored with storybooks pretty quickly when I was little, and I’m sure flipping through the app equivalent of a storybook on an iPad would have kept my attention at least a little bit longer.

Like the Spider-man origin story app Rob reviewed a few months ago, Disney and Marvel have released two Avengers storybooks on iOS devices to coincide with the movie, and they were kind enough to send me some download codes so I could take a look. Avengers Origins: Assemble! and Avengers Origins: Hulk are both available for the iPhone and iPad.

Avengers Origins: Assemble

The awkwardly named Avengers Origins: Assemble! gives kids one version of how the Avengers all got together. It focuses on Captain America getting frozen in the ice and the Avengers finding him a few decades later. The line-up used in this story contains Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, and Wasp, and the threat is non other than Namor himself. I’ve never understood Namor very much (read: casual comics fan), and this app actually taught me something.

Stan Lee narrates both of these stories and it’s great hearing him read. His voice is as iconic as his face, moustache, and sunglasses, and hearing him read about his heroes is a blast. I’m not sure if kids appreciate an old man narrating their stories as much as older geeks, but I’d like to think they don’t mind.

The artwork in these storybooks is really great. They feature some limited animation, but nothing overly distracted from the art itself. The style is more painterly than kids will be use to seeing from cartoons and comic books, and fits perfectly in the storybook medium. There is a lot of interactivity to keeps kids interested, such as fending off angry Atlanteans.

Throughout the story kids can collect easter eggs that will unlock new features. I have to give props to Disney for adding a good deal of new content recently with an update to the app. They added in a few minigames, each with levels and achievement badges and upped the value of this app a great deal.

Like I said, I don’t have kids of my own yet, but if I had some that were too young to take to see The Avengers I would taunt them about how awesome it is definitely give them this app as an introduction to the team.

Avengers Origins: Hulk

Disney is probably very glad it released Avengers Origins: Hulk because of how insanely positive the reception to the character has been from The Avengers. I’m sure kids too young to go see the movie can feel Hulk fever right now, and this interactive storybook can certainly hold their interest for a while if that’s the case.

I will say that this app isn’t as fun as the Avengers story, and seems shorter. It also hasn’t been updated yet to include minigames, but, if you own both apps you can use Avengers Origins: Hulk to unlock the Hulk as a playable character in the other app. That being said, the art in this story is also great, and it’s narrated by Stan Lee.

Hulk offers the same opportunities for kids to collect easter eggs and unlock bonus content, and I assume Disney will be adding minigames to the app soon. The storybook is short and covers Banner’s exposure to the Gamma radiation that creates the Hulk, but the lack of villains sets this app back from the Avengers. Kids can tap away to break through a wall and throw a car, but I’m not sure either of those experiences would be very fun to replay.

If your kid is Hulk-crazy, this isn’t a bad way to spend four dollars. I enjoyed it for the art and narration, and I hope they continue to refine these apps and release more, because kids love superheroes from such an early age and these apps fill in nicely for more mature comic books.

You can buy Avengers Origins: Assemble! and Avengers Origins: Hulk from iTunes.

Are you a geek Mom or Dad? If so, let us know in the comments what your kids think of these kind of apps!

I can’t get enough of ‘The Other Guy’ from this summer’s blockbuster movie The Avengers, and now I’m glad I don’t yet own all the Avengers LEGO sets. Starting tomorrow, May 16th, if you spend $50 at LEGO Shop@Home this exclusive Hulk minifigure will be added to your cart for free. He won’t look as huge next to your other Avenger minifigs but he still looks pretty awesome. Now we just need a Ruffalo Bruce Banner minifig.

The promo lasts until May 31st or until LEGO runs out. Now might be a good time to pick up that LEGO Avengers Quinjet set.

The Top Hat Sasquatch team reads a lot of blog posts every day, and some slip through the crack or just don’t warrant their own post. That’s where Missing Links comes in. Every few days we collect the best links we’ve come across and pass them on to you.

LEGO Super Heroes Marvel Comics Review: 6869 Quinjet Aerial Battle
An insanely thorough review of an Avengers LEGO set I can't wait to pick up on From Bricks To Bothans. The Quinjet looks like a beast, but what's up with Black Widow's minifig?

“Looney Tunes: Mouse Chronicles” | Cartoon Brew
More classic animation on Blu-ray. That makes me happy. Jerry Beck also teases "Consider this a hint that some of the most sought after animation the company owns is headed to DVD and blu-ray within the next year".

Micro Transformer | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
Micro scale LEGO creations are starting to grow on me. They seem like the purest form of LEGO building, and this tiny Transformer is a perfect example. Crazy.

Every Batman Poster. Ever. – Poster Collective
A nice roundup of every Batman poster ever, as according to Poster Collective. Batman Forever actually had some cool posters.

If your toy/decoration budget is a lot higher than mine, you might want to head over to Etsy and check out these awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Plush Toys by Handmade Stuffs. They’re totally adorable, but they’ll set you back $150 for the complete set. I’m not an expert on crafty things, but from the description they seem to be well-made:

Each doll is sewn using an original pattern in soft, high quality anti-pill fleece and acrylic felt. The dolls are stuffed firmly with all new stuffing made from 97% recycled plastic. Each stands approximately 18″ tall, the perfect size to hug and snuggle. The head and arms are jointed and the doll is able to sit. Each turtles comes with their signature weapon, which is attached by a small circle of hook and loop tape on the hand. The weapons are removable.

Normally I find patterns for cool things on Etsy and beg my crafty sister to make them for me, but these are the finished product. Anyone have an extra $150 I can borrow?

Via Super Punch

The other day I realized why I don’t really buy action figures anymore. Nobody seems to sell 6″ action figures anymore. What gives? I’m not a huge fan of the Star Wars scale (as I call it), or 3/4″ action figures. They’re too small and the detail looks horrible most of the time. I like old-fashioned 6″ action figures.

With a huge blockbuster event like the Avengers on the big screens, I almost couldn’t reist picking up some movie tie-in toys until I found out that most stores are just selling the little guys. Luckily, Wal-Mart is selling some exclusive 6″ Avengers action figures soon that don’t look that bad. If you get them all, they connect at the base to form a circle. The odd thing is, Black Widow isn’t represented, while Loki is. I felt like Black Widow was surprisingly well-written and badass in the Avengers, and she definitely deserves a toy in this line.

The Hawkeye/Jeremy Renner head scult is pretty dead on, and the Hulk looks awesome. Only Thor and Iron Man have sculpts carried over from previous toy lines. Even without Black Widow, I think I’ll try to track these down for my shelf. You can check out more photos over at Super Punch and Marvelous News.

If you’re in the Indianapolis area and you love games as much as the Horrible Night crew and I do, you should plan on attending a screening of Indie Game: The Movie at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on Wednesday, May 23rd at 7pm. I’ve been hearing nothing but awesome things about this documentary lately, and I can’t wait to see it.

The film started as a Kickstarter project and went on to win awards at Sundance and SXSW. It chronicles the making of three indie games; Super Meat Boy, Braid, and Fez. Here’s the official description:

With the 21st-century comes a new breed of artist: the indie game designer. Refusing to toil for major developers, these innovators independently conceive, design, and program their distinctly personal games with the hope of connection and success. Indie Game: The Movie (2012, dirs. Lisanne Pajot & James Swirsky, Canada, 96 mins.) portrays four developers, three games, and one ultimate goal: to make the video game a supreme form of expression.

The characters: after years of work, designer Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes work toward the release of their first major game for Xbox, Super Meat Boy. At a big video game expo, developer Phil Fish unveils his highly anticipated game, FEZ. And designer Jonathan Blow considers a new game after creating one of the highest-rated games of all time, Braid. Indie Game: The Movie won Best Editing Award at 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Special thanks to our sponsors at the Canadian Consulate. Consul General Roy Norton is scheduled to attend this exclusive screening! Learn more: http://www.connect2canada.com/

I’ve only played one of those three games but I love the whole indie game culture that’s popped up in the last few years, and this film seems to be a great portrayal of the passion that goes into creating games like these.

If you’d like to come, you can RSVP on Facebook, order tickets online, read Horrible Night’s announcement post, and check out the trailer after the jump.

If there’s one thing I can’t get enough of, it’s some awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle inspired artwork. I’ve posted a lot of examples over the years, and I never get tired of seeing the heroes and villains of the TMNT cartoon and toys in varying styles.

Krang getting some ice cream.

So far he’s completed the four turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady. He mentioned that these will all be available soon as prints, and I can’t wait to get them and frame them up next to the other TMNT art in my collection.

And of course I can’t post TMNT art without putting in some suggestions. I’d love to see Matt’s version of Metalhead, Slash, Fugitoid, and Ace Duck.

You can check out Matt’s blog, his store, and follow him on Twitter.

If you’re a late 80s, early 90s kid like me, you probably watched the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers show on TV. In my case, Power Rangers was decidedly uncool in my grade, so I had to hide my love for the show from my friends and pretend not to like it during school. I was into the first three seasons of the show and was very excited when the movie came out.

I’ve went back and watched some of the early episodes in the past few years out of curiosity, and they are surprisingly rewatchable as long as you’re in an ironic state of mind. The horrible English dubs from Rita Repulsa and all the other characters from the foreign clips are hilarious, and the monsters keep getting more far fetched. Basically, it’s evidence from my childhood as to why I’m so weird now.

It’s been available to stream on Netflix for a long time, but this August it’s coming to DVD (kind of) for the first time. Shout Factory is releasing ‘Season One, Volume One’ on August 21st. Normally, a company breaking up seasons into volumes is bad news, but I was shocked to find out there are 60 episodes in this season and 30 in this set.

Needless to say, I’ll be picking up this DVD so that someday I can force my kids to relive the Green Ranger/White Ranger saga with me again.

Pop culture mashups are nothing new in the t-shirt world, and often they’re more annoying than they are clever, but every once in a while someone creates one that really works and begs to be part of my shirt collection. That can be said about this great shirt up for voting on Threadless featuring Charlie Brown as Link from the Zelda games. It’s a mashup that almost seems obvious after you’ve seen it, but it was executed perfectly.

Kudos to winter_the_artist on Threadless and make sure to vote his design up so we can see it get made.