deviantART user Safir-Hime made a hat that resembles Chikorita -- a type of Pokémon. It's a very good approximation.

Link

We have a winner in our second caption contest! Check it out.

These contests will be a weekly feature at NeatoGeek. Unless technical difficulties interfere, we shall have a new one every Tuesday, with a winner declared on Friday.

(YouTube Link)

Fan and animator Paul “OtaKing” Johnson has been working on an anime version of Doctor Who. Thomas Landry of Nerd Bastards reports that he's trying to pitch the project to the BBC.

The above video shows a few selections from Johnson's work. What do you think? Would Doctor Who make good anime?

via Nerd Bastards | Artist's deviantART Page

Gamervision previously presented Super Mario Bros. as the Quentin Tarantino flick Inglourious Basterds. In the same vein, the crew made a trailer for the video game God of War as though it was a Wes Anderson movie.

http://www.gamervision.com/users/00_19/articles/god_of_war_movie_trailer via Geekologie

Ray Larabie is a video game typographer. Yes, that's an actual job. As Tyler Cowen likes to say, there's a market for everything, and Ray Larabie, formerly an art director for Rockstar Games, carefully tailors fonts to emphasize the moods and tones of particular games. Recently, Robert Quigley of Geekosystem sat down to interview him about his craft:

What makes video game type good? What makes it suck?

Thematic and visual inconsistency makes game type suck. I see lots of games with cool box art; you load up the game and it looks like it came from another company. Then some games have cool in-game nice stuff and lame-o box art. I think a lot of that comes from marketing and game development no cooperating enough. While, it does happen, it’s rare that a game art director knows fonts. It’s not just about having taken a typography course, but actually being up-to-date on what’s cool and what’s not. A good art director in marketing knows very well that Bank Gothic is inappropriate in a futuristic sci-fi context. It’s fine for a cowboy or steampunk game, not for space. A game art director might think it looks kind of spacey so in the game it goes. Nobody feels strongly enough about it to replace it and that’s not the marketing designers job anyway. So there it stays.

I had no idea so much thought and effort went into typography in games.

Link | Image: Rockstar Games

Brian Murphy and Chris Kalb made an enormous timeline of events in science fiction, starting with "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" and ending at 100 trillion A.D. It's quite comprehensive.

Link

In the current Superman comics written by J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows, Kalel is walking across the US, earning meals by performing chores and helping people. Perhaps, like homeless wanderers of old, he might leave Hobo Signs -- etched symbols that communicate information useful to fellow travelers. So humorist Chris Sims contemplated what signs Superman would leave for other metahuman hobos.

Link

Or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that China built a life-size version:

A 10-meter-high statue of Transformers character Optimus Prime made up of waste materials stands at the north of the Bird’s Nest at Beijing Olympic Park on July 11, 2010.

No doubt China is trying to compete with Japan in the giant, destructive robot market.

Link via technabob | Photo: People's Daily

"Ah. Not so wounded as we were led to believe. So much the better." Khan finds his old adversary, Waldo, in the Mutara Nebula.

via Great White Snark

New Grounds user JohnnyUtah made this short flash film that introduces the Transformers from the era of silent films. The quality is outstanding, and it's simply cute. The video is about a minute and a half long.

Link via reddit

James Mishler presents the origins and development of Dungeons & Dragons as a family tree. Pictured above is a small selection. Click on the link, and then the image at the link, to view a full-sized one. Do you agree with his organization of the game?

Link via reddit

Irondog Studios, a Warhammer miniature shop, turned a Mr. Potato Head into a weapon of mass destruction. The extensive process photos at the link are a hoot.

Link via Boing Boing | Photo: Irondog Studios | Previously: General Grievous in Warhammer 40K

Lucasfilm is giving away 400 Star Wars-themed cereal boxes in 16 different flavors, including Hutt and Vlix, at the upcoming Star Wars Celebration convention:

There are sixteen mini cereal boxes to collect (they are about four inches tall), one for each panel, and they are exclusive to Celebration V! Only 400 of each will be made available. Box illustrations are by artists Jeff Correll, Mattias Rendahl, Grant Gould, Bill Cable, Chris Reiff, Jeff Carlisle, Scott D.M. Simmons, and Chris Trevas.

Link via Great White Snark | Photo: Lucasfilm

Nerd Bastards has a copy of a large infographic filled with trivia about Star Wars. It's a promotional feature for OnlineSchools.org designed by Ellie Koning.

A Muppet version of Star Wars would be intriguing. The Ewoks are fairly obvious. But who would play Emperor Palpatine?

Link

CBS has created an app that makes an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch resemble a classic Star Trek communicator:

The design replicates the original series communicator seen used by Kirk and his crew and the app comes with sounds from the original Star Trek, and it even ‘opens up’ when you flick your wrist. It has a paging function that allows for interactive role playing and a full dialer page that allows access to your personal contacts.

At the link, you can view a video of the app in action.

Link via Fanboy