As the fantasy TV series ‘Carnival Row’ marches toward its second and final season, Amazon Studios and Legendary Pictures dropped a teaser trailer for the show.
“Prime Video debuted the official trailer and key art from the second and final season of the fantasy-drama Carnival Row, starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne. The highly anticipated series, from Amazon Studios and Legendary Television, will return February 17 exclusively on Prime Video,” Amazon said in a press release.
You can watch the teaser trailer below:
The final season will have ten episodes, bringing the whole show to a total of eighteen.
Amazon Studios describes the synopsis as follows,
“In a fantasy world where humans and creatures clash, Season Two of Carnival Row picks up with former inspector Rycroft Philostrate aka Philo (Orlando Bloom) investigating a series of gruesome murders stoking social tension. Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne) and the Black Raven plot payback for the unjust oppression inflicted by The Burgue’s human leaders, Jonah Breakspear (Arty Froushan) and Sophie Longerbane (Caroline Ford). Tourmaline Larou (Karla Crome) inherits supernatural powers that threaten her fate and the future of The Row. And, after escaping The Burgue and her vengeful brother Ezra (Andrew Gower), Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant) and her partner Agreus Astrayon (David Gyasi) encounter a radical new society which upends their plans. With humans and fae folk divided and freedom on the line, each hero will face impossible dilemmas and soul-defining tests in the epic conclusion of Carnival Row.”
As Clownfish previously reported, “The first season premiered in August 2019 and had a run of eight episodes before it went into hiatus for three years. The show was based on a spec script titled ‘A Killing on Carnival Row’ by Travis Beacham, who serves as showrunner along with René Echevarria (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Terra Nova).”
Ahead of his film debut in the Ant-Man sequel, Kang the Conqueror will face the Avengers in the latest Marvel Pull List. Spider-Man and the X-Men continue the “Dark Web” and a few Star Wars titles will be sprinkled in as well.
“Thor! Iron Man! Captain America! Giant-Man and the Wasp! The classic Avengers against the Hulk on the streets of New York! AVENGERS: WAR ACROSS TIME (2023) #1 shows the beginning of a showdown with Kang the Conqueror that will span the centuries. Eisner Hall of Famer Paul Levitz makes his Marvel debut (unless you count a letter in AMAZING ADVENTURES #5), teamed with acclaimed artist Alan Davis,” Marvel said on their website.
They added, “Behold Kang’s centuries-long crusade against the Avengers starting in AVENGERS: WAR ACROSS TIME (2023) #1…”
Marvel revealed the pull list as follows:
New Comics
AVENGERS: WAR ACROSS TIME (2023) #1
BLACK PANTHER (2021) #13
CAPTAIN AMERICA: SYMBOL OF TRUTH (2022) #9
CARNAGE (2022) #9
DAREDEVIL (2022) #7
DARK WEB: MS. MARVEL (2022) #2
GHOST RIDER (2022) #10
INCREDIBLE HULK 1 FACSIMILE EDITION NEW PRINTING #1
LEGION OF X (2022) #9
MARY JANE & BLACK CAT (2022) #2
MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN (2022) #2
MONICA RAMBEAU: PHOTON (2022) #2
MOON GIRL (2022) #2
MOON KNIGHT (2021) #19
PREDATOR (2022) #6
SAVAGE AVENGERS (2022) #9
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER (2020) #30
STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC (2022) #4
STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN (2022) #7
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2022) #17
TIGER DIVISION (2022) #3
WOLVERINE (2020) #29
X-MEN (2021) #18
New Collections
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BY NICK SPENCER OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC OTTLEY KINDRED COVER
HOUSE OF M OMNIBUS HC COIPEL COVER
MECH STRIKE: MONSTER HUNTERS TPB
MIGHTY MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2 – THE ETERNITY WAR GN-TPB ROMERO COVER
SECRET WARS OMNIBUS
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER BY GREG PAK VOL. 5 – THE SHADOW’S SHADOW TPB
TRIALS OF X VOL. 4 TPB
Marvel Unlimited
A.X.E.: STARFOX #1 [AXE]
A.X.E.: X-MEN #1 [AXE]
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 FACSIMILE EDITION
ANT-MAN #4
CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINEL OF LIBERTY #5
EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #5
HULK #9
JANE FOSTER & THE MIGHTY THOR #5
MARAUDERS #7
MIRACLEMAN #0
NEW FANTASTIC FOUR #5
SPIDER-MAN #1
STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN #4
TOMB OF DRACULA #1 FACSIMILE EDITION
X-MEN RED #7 [AXE]
These titles will be available in print and digital on January 11, 2023.
The Killer Klowns From Outer Space are having one hell of a resurgence. Over the past few years, the murderous circus-themed aliens have gotten a re-imagined score from our friend John Massari, multiple Halloween Horror Nights appearances, and a new survival horror game is on the way. Of course, there are also lots of new Killer Klowns action figures.
This week Trick Or Treat Studios announced three new Killer Klowns figures based on the most iconic characters from the film: Slim, Shorty, and Fatso. These bozos are listed as being on an 8″ scale, but it’s clear that each one is a different height. Most likely, Slim will be 8″ tall, Fatso’s probably 6″, and shorty, of course, will be around 5″. The action figures have limited articulation, with what looks like only their arms, wrists, and heads being moveable. The fit may have some articulation, but it’s hard to say, and TOTS doesn’t specify. Fatso and Slim both come with cotton candy guns.
The action figures can be pre-ordered directly from Trick Or Treat Studios or the Big Bad Toy Store. Each figure is $34.99, regardless of where you decide to place an order from. TOTS expects to ship the trio out before Halloween! The company is aiming for August 7th, 2023. Every Klown comes on a blister card.
These three are said to be from Scream Greats Series 1. So, expect the rest of the Klown troupe to show up sometime next year.
Photo Credit: Trick Or Treat Studios
“Trick or Treat Studios is proud to present the all new official Killer Klowns From Outer Space action figures as part of our Scream Greats Series 1 Collection! Scream Greats features iconic characters from some of our favorite cinematic masterpieces! Each highly detailed figure is in 8 inch scale and will be perfect for display in any collection.”
Now I’ll leave you with my favorite Killer Klowns From Outer Space scene:
Premium Collectibles Studiohas announced its newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle statue, and it’s another large-scale affair, this time with Donatello! The 1:3 scale recreation of the smartest of the four brothers will set you back $1,200, but the size of this guy makes it all the more worth that price tag.
Unlike the Krang statue we covered last year, this latest TMNT collectible is not based on the 1980s cartoon show. Instead, the design is more in line with the later comic books and the 2003 reboot TV series. For example, Donnie’s eyes are whited out, and even though a swappable head is included, the only difference is that one has a pair of goggles. Speaking of optional parts, his right hand also comes with a spare that holds a couple of ninja stars.
For $1,200, this isn’t all too bad of a statue. The mangled mousers on the base are a nice touch, as are all the gizmos and tools on Donatello’s belt. Given that Donnie measures 24″ tall and 14″ wide, you can expect a lot of detail on the various accessories strapped to his shell. Unfortunately, all the props are on his back, leaving the front of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle somewhat bland.
Expect Don to ship sometime around August and October of this year.
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
Photo Credit: PCS
“Donatello is fully sculpted with detailed textures to capture a blend of realism and classic comic book style. He has a smirk on his face and a ton of tech strapped to his shell, and his protective gear shows signs of weathering from training. The turtle’s signature look is finished with a purple bandana and white eyes.”
What do you think of these massive TMNT statues? Let us know below.
‘Akiba Maid War’ is dark “girls with guns” comedy anime that was released in October 2022 for a run of twelve episodes. It was produced by Cygames and P.A. Works with Sōichi Masui working as the director. Sentai Filmworks acquired the license for a North American release, streaming to the HiDive app. They have now announced that they release an English dub version of the series on January 14, 2023.
HiDive revealed the cast on their website:
Nagomi Wahira – Alyssa Marek
Ranko Mannen – Chaney Moore
Yumechi – Cat Thomas
Shiipon – Christina Kelly
Manager – Teresa Zimmerman
Joey Goubeaud will work on the project as the ADR director with Marta Bechtol handling the ADR scripts.
“The innocent Nagomi Wahira has always admired the cute girls serving at maid cafes. Hoping to fulfill her dream of becoming one, she moves to Akihabara to work at the maid cafe Ton Tokoton.
Nagomi’s first day seems completely normal—until she has to run an “errand” at a rival maid cafe along with her fellow recruit, the mature Ranko Mannen. There, things quickly go south, and Nagomi soon gets her first taste of Akihabara’s violent maid wars. As she watches Ranko calmly battle her way through a horde of gun- and knife-wielding maids, Nagomi realizes that maid cafes are drastically unlike what she had envisioned.
While struggling to reconcile her expectations with the harsh reality she finds herself in, Nagomi searches for the enjoyment she once saw in the lives of maids.”
The show’s music was handled by Yoshihiro Ike and Yoshihiro Hiki worked on the anime as the writer.
Crunchyroll has the rights to the show in Europe.
A stage play version of the anime has been announced. It will run in Tokyo until September 2023.
‘Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth’ is a fantasy action anime produced by the Japanese animation studio White Fox, directed by Kenichi Kawamura, and written by Itsuki Yokoyama. Released in 2022, it ran for a single season of twenty-eight episodes. Crunchyroll has announced that they have acquired the rights to produce an English dub version of the animated series.
They revealed the cast on their website:
Anju voiced by Hillary Haag
Atuy voiced by Christina Kelly
Bokoinante voiced by Luis Galindo
Cocopo voiced by Monica Rial
Dekopompo voiced by James Belcher
Haku voiced by Kregg Dailey
Jachdwalt voiced by Houston Hayes
Kiwru voiced by Shannon Emerick
Kurarin voiced by Morgan Laure
Lord voiced by Jeff Plunk
Nekone voiced by Emily Neeves
Nosuri voiced by Chelsea McCurdy
Oshtor voiced by David Wald
Ougi voiced by Gabriel Regojo
Raiko voiced by Bryan Kaplun
Rulutieh voiced by Monica Rial
Saraana voiced by Katelyn Barr
Shinonon voiced by Luci Christian
Uruuru voiced by Katelyn Barr
Jeremy Inman is working on the project as the ADR director with Dallas Reid working as the Assistant ADR Director.
“After the events of Mask of Deception, the Yamato Empire is now ruled with an iron fist by a ruthless usurper who seeks to subjugate all before him. It’s up to a couple of familiar faces to band together against the might of the Imperial army, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance as nations and generals must pick a side to fight with in this perilous civil war. Secrets will be revealed, friendships will be tested, and battles will be fought. Will peace and order be restored or will victory at any cost be the beginning of the end?”
The anime is based on the Playstation visual novel video game Utawarerumono developed by Leaf and produced by Naoya Shimokawa.
Would you like to be the proud owner of your very own anime guy or girl? Well, now you too can be an anime Giga Chad or Stacy with only the quick click of a button. The hottest trend in anime-related social media right now is the use of a Chinese AI picture app owned by Tencent called Different Dimension Me (h. 异次元的我) or DDM, is a mobile app based on Stable Diffusion AI, where in users can take any picture -profile or not -and make it generate similar anime imagery. It’s that one-step-take-my-profile-pic-and-make-it-look-anime app that people have been craving for since as long as Weebos have been around.
So in this guide I will show you how to use the app safely and give tips & tricks in getting hard to nail down features with the app, like beards, and colored hair.
How to locate & use Different Dimension Me:
Using DDM is a quick breeze, all it requires is a secure mobile browser – I highly recommend using Brave and also consider a VPN- and some patience to iterate pictures til you get what you want.
1: Click this link & Tap the Orange window near the bottom of the page.
2: Tap the button again once the picture of the attractive lady shows up
4: Choose your picture
5: A loading screen featuring a penguin outline will play for around 30 seconds, then a video will appear.
6: Ignore the video, tap the purple window on the bottom left until it shows you your old picture on top of your new picture. Then tap Save Picture or Download Image depending on your phone.
Tips to Improve Your Picture to Get What You Want:
Different Dimension Me is excellent for getting a quick anime pic without learning Stability Diffusion, but it has some drawbacks. The photos tend to focus on more feminine features, on black or neon colored hair; but it does not play nice with red heads, beards, or multiple faces coming in at differnt at angles. However, with some patience and know-how, you can get DDM to produce the pics you want.
If you find an output you like, you can run it through the program again to get better results. Higher quality pics sometimes helps, but is optional. If you don’t like the result, I recommend you go through many different tries with the same picture, as each output will be unique.
As for nailing down harder features, like certain facial features like a beard, there is a fix for that. Think of DDM as looking for overly sized and prominent features, two big circles and a smaller circle beneath looks like a face to DDM even when it might someone’s leg or knee. For backgrounds it’s more the assortment of colors than shapes. And for bodies, a boldly defined body shape will do great. The trick is to exxagerate features so they appear on the generated picture.
Beards:
To get a beard to appear,
Take the photo you want to transform, and use facetache.com
Take the beard feature, and add a much too big beard, onto the face lined up with the face. See picture below.
Now feed the new photo into DDM until you get the desired results. Sometimes the beard will appear as a neck tie or be too long, but keep working at it and you should get a positive result. You can re-edit as necessary.
Red & Other Colored Hair:
To get Red Hair or other hard to tackle hair shades,
Choose a hair color changer app, I use Haircolor Changer Real, but almost any hair color app will do.
Choose your picture, and pick a very bright and deep shade of whatever color you are hoping for. In this case I choose brick farmhouse hair
Color over the picture’s hair, it’s okay if it’s messy, and download the new photo.
Feed the photo to DDM until you get the results you want. Go back and edit as need be.
Alternatively, if you have a DDM output you like but with the wrong colored hair you can recolor it and feed it back in, or keep it that way.
Summary:
And that’s it, pretty simple overall.
If you wish to get more advanced and only like some features of one output while different features of another, you can combine the parts you like with photo editing software and feed it back into DDM; but this step is mainly unnecessary for most folks who want a quick anime profile pic.
Don’t stop at just a profile pic, many users are finding that just about any picture to some degree can be Anime-fied, so spend an afternoon and play around to see what you can create.
Now go out there and show your true inner Otaku for all the world.
The Final Result,
Bonus Thank You to Lofti Pixels for helping provide Art Assets for this guide
Google’s Pixel 7 smartphone owners report that the glass covering the camera is cracking for unknown reasons. The issue appears to be that the glass break is random and not caused by a drop or some form of impact. However, these stories need to be taken with a grain of salt.
What we can judge by the pictures in an Ars Technica article is that the breakage is happening right at the lens instead of some random area. Perhaps a temperature change within the pocket between the lens and glass is the cause? On the other hand, could the lens be impacting the glass due to an engineering flaw? It’s hard to tell, but Google is not directly accepting blame for the problem.
According to Pixel 7 owner Alex Hatzenbuhler, Google is aware of the issue. How many phones are affected has yet to be determined. However, unless Google jumps in front of this quickly, it will undoubtedly lead to a class action lawsuit. Given that Google isn’t always forthcoming with information, we may never know how many cameras were affected and if the issue was rectified during the manufacturing process. Google’s response to the broken camera was as follows:
“[Google Support Team] can confirm that this is a known issue and … after the engineers deliberated about this issue, they decided NOT to include this as a part of the warranty.”
That’s right; a warranty does not cover the randomly cracking glass covering the Pixel 7’s camera.
Here is direct evidence, from "The highest tier" of @madebygoogle pixel support, that they are aware of the issue. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it isn't an issue. Please consider the truth of your tweets careful before posting. #pixel7brokencamerapic.twitter.com/6EgWiY6SE8
In a related Reddit post, other users discovered their Pixel phones to have the same problem, not knowing where the damage stemmed from. Google is repairing the damage for around $199, but people with “device protection” only have to shell out $99.
If you ever rage quit during an Elden Ring boss battle, keep in mind that someone was able to beat multiple bosses simultaneously while using a controller and dance pad. That’s what one Twitch streamer did not once but three times with some of the game’s most notorious bosses.
Malenia is a demanding boss. With each strike she lands, she regains a chunk of health. Even after you defeat her, Malenia morphs into her second form, and the fight renews. To say she’s a pain in the backside is an understatement. Imagine taking on this boss fight twice simultaneously while using two controllers, one of them being a DDR-style dance pad. That’s what Twitch streamer Miss Mikka did as part of her Ultimate Challenge Run.
In a tweet from the streamer, Miss Mikkaa states that it took 199 tries to pass this odd challenge finally. Considering that Elden Ring asks more of a player than to hack and slash at an enemy mindlessly, it is an impressive feat to topple two bosses at once. It’s even more stunning that she used a dance pad rather than something like the XBOX’s Adaptive Controller. She initially pulled off the same stunt against Margit and Godrick in mid-December and again versus the Godskin Quartet on December 28th.
In case the Tweet does not load, Miss Mikkaa said the following when posting about defeating Malenia: “2x MALENIA HAS BEEN DEFEATED! After 3 days and 199 tries Malenia is dead in the Ultimate Challenge Run where I play Elden Ring twice simultaneously (with a dance pad & controller). In the beginning I was not even sure if this run was possible. Radagon/Elden Beast is next!”
2x MALENIA HAS BEEN DEFEATED! After 3 days and 199 tries Malenia is dead in the Ultimate Challenge Run where I play Elden Ring twice simultaneously (with a dance pad & controller). In the beginning I was not even sure if this run was possible. Radagon/Elden Beast is next! pic.twitter.com/cS9VQLvrlE
I BEAT MARGIT AND GODRICK (!!) today on my Ultimate Challenge run where I play Elden Ring two times simultaneously (dance pad & controller). It was really hard but we got it in the end! Very satisfying Margit kill where I walk off the battlefield into gravity in the end. pic.twitter.com/X7ApjnfMEn
EYO! Another W for the Ultimate Challenge Run today! We got Mohg, Loretta AND Godskin Duo! Godskin Quartet was the hardest boss so far and it took a while to figure out a good strat that worked well in this seriously difficult challenge where I play 2x Elden Ring simultaneously. pic.twitter.com/pmbp0iuAzt
I put Elden Ring on hold for a while because of the Malenia battle. No other boss fight in the game was as aggravating to me as that one was. Maybe I need to use a dance pad?
Once Elon Musk took control of Twitter in 2022, a slew of tweets from celebrities, journalists, and a variety of blue checkmarks appeared, announcing users were quitting the popular social media site for a “safer” alternative. This promised land was known as Mastodon. But, unfortunately, like the “we’re all moving to Canada” pledge people made when Donald Trump won the 2016 election, the grandstanding appears to be all talk and no walk.
PC Mag discovered that Mastodon, a decentralized social media platform, is not growing despite the alleged exodus. In fact, the number of active users has dropped by 30% following a surge around the holidays. 2.5M active users were on the platform in December, but as of the beginning of January, that number has dropped to around 1.8M.
Meg Coffey, a social media strategist, blames Mastodon’s dropping numbers on the site’s less-than-intuitive signup process. Where Twitter is relatively straightforward regarding making an account and tweeting, the alternative is allegedly more painful. Based on some videos I found online, it doesn’t appear to be that much of a task, but Mastodon asks you to join individual servers rather than being in one massive pot with everyone else.
Another reason people may be fleeing the promised land is that Mastodon has a pedo problem. Cybersecurity website Secjuice led an investigation into Mastodon and found that this alleged social media haven is not just a place for those who disagreed with Musk but also a safe place for pedophiles and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Due to Mastodon being a decentralized social network, it is less likely to be moderated effectively, if at all.
Mastodon started in 2016, and according to Secjuice, the site saw a significant surge in users during the Spring of 2017, which they called “the great paedophile invasion.” The community of around 160k blew up to about 300k during this time, and along with it came a flood of CSAM, mainly from Japan. Oddly, the number of active users didn’t start a decrease until 2022.
