Roy Batty is the main antagonist of the 1982 American science-fiction film Blade Runner. The film is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Batty, portrayed by Rutger Hauer, is the leader of the renegade Nexus-6 replicants. He is intelligent, fast and skilled at combat, but still learning how to deal with developing emotions.
P.S. “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” – Roy Batty
The evil robot seductress from Metropolis, a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction film by Fritz Lang. Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia, and follows the attempts of activists Freder and Maria (Brigitte Helm) to overcome the class divide separating the wealthy intellectuals and working class. In this bizarre labor-relations parable, Rotwang the scientist creates a robotic double of Maria to generate chaos and discredit her.
Note: Maria is basically the great-grandmother of C-3PO.
C-3PO is a protocol droid and major character in all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion R2-D2, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi throughout the saga. He first appeared in the original Star Wars in 1977 and is one of only four characters to appear in all six Star Wars films.
R2-D2 is an astromech droid and major character in all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion C-3PO, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi throughout the saga. He first appeared in the original Star Wars in 1977 and is one of only four characters to appear in all six Star Wars films.
Darth Vader (born Anakin Skywalker) is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists of the original trilogy and as the main protagonist of the prequel trilogy. This dark cyborg character was created by George Lucas and first appeared in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977.
After successfully completing a full year’s worth of other 8-bit characters on Mascot Mashup, I have lifted my self-imposed ban on Star Wars characters. Many iconic Star Wars personalities are inevitably coming soon, because, as we all know, the Internet is in desperate need of more Star Wars remixes and fan art.
An artificial intelligence in Arthur C. Clarke’s science fiction Space Odyssey saga and the primary antagonist in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is visually represented as a red television-camera eye located on equipment panels throughout the Discovery One spaceship.
A friend received a small Japanese plush toy as a gift. We later discovered that this red refrigerator-dog character is named Wanzouko. It is one of 24 hypercute zoomorphic inanimate objects (mostly furniture and housewares) in San-X’s Wanroom line. Sewn inside this refrigerator-puppy is a shelf and a chicken leg. Velcro holds its door closed.
Seeing Wanzouko next to a red camera from the OptiTrack motion capture line (especially the old FLEX:C120 model) reveals amusing similarities in color, shape and size. All the camera needs are some floppy brown ears. Or, perhaps what the mocap industry needs are adorable Wanroom carrying cases for their OptiTrack cameras. I think the current Wanzouko toy might actually work as a soft camera case, if not for the sewn-in refrigerator shelf and chicken leg. Pity.
A children’s toy talking bear. The animatronic teddy bear would move his mouth and eyes while “reading” stories played on a cassette tape deck built into his back. At the peak of his popularity, Teddy Ruxpin was the bestselling toy of 1985 and 1986. An animated TV series based on the characters in Teddy’s world debuted in 1987.
One of the most chilling moments of my 1980s childhood involved my sister’s Teddy Ruxpin. Due to touchy buttons, her Teddy would sometimes spontaneously start audio playback. Eventually, because the batteries were dying or due to some mechanical malfunction, Teddy was only capable of speaking extremely slowly. By then his motorized jaw had also been partially broken and hung agape. One night, I remember her slack-jawed Teddy Ruxpin turning himself on and trying to tell us a story of the Mudblups. His deep, drawn-out voice sounded fully demonic. We tried to turn him off but he continued spouting distorted, incomprehensible sounds. Eventually we removed the batteries. Evil Teddy Ruxpin.
An English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes. Hawking has a progressive motor neuron disease that has left him almost completely paralyzed. He was born on this day in 1942.
The fortune teller from Zoltar Speaks, the magical fortune-telling machine in Big. For the 1988 romantic comedy film, the one-of-a-kind machine was placed at Rye Playland, an amusement park located in Rye, New York. Tom Hanks stars as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish to be “big” and is then aged to adulthood overnight.
Today is Election Day in the U.S. Want to make a wish?
The main character of The Amazing Screw-On Head, a comic book written and drawn by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics in 2002. In the 1860s, Screw-On Head is an agent for President Abraham Lincoln. A brilliant animated pilot, based on the plot of the comic, was made by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2006.
A humanoid robot created by Honda. The robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk or run on two feet. ASIMO made many public appearances during the 2000s, including several amusingly awkward incidents on stairs (as you can see in this short video compilation). On October 31, ASIMO will celebrate its 11th anniversary.
A fictional British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. The character, portrayed by Matt Frewer, was featured in a music video TV show, a British cyberpunk film, a television drama series and commercials. In 1986, he was the spokesman for the New Coke advertising campaign (after the return of Coke Classic).
A fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Iron Man is otherwise known as Tony Stark, a billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer. Stark suffers a severe chest injury during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape.
I loved this floating, sharpshooting robot from the 1979 Disney film The Black Hole when I was a kid. In the year 2130, V.I.N.CENT. is aboard an exploratory spaceship, the USS Palomino, when the crew discovers a black hole with a lost ship just outside its event horizon.
This is my third and last day at WebVisions 2011 in Portland, Oregon.
Al Gore – No. 386
The 45th Vice President of the United States (1993-2001), under President Bill Clinton, and the Democratic candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Gore is also an environmental activist who wrote An Inconvenient Truth. He has founded several nonprofits including the Alliance for Climate Protection, and received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in climate change activism. A well-known animatronic human, Gore was “born” tomorrow in 1948.
I’m pretty tired of creating 8-bit versions of famous white dudes in suits, so this character is based on a Futurama version of Al Gore (plus his South Park superhero cape). In the 31st century, Gore is First Emperor of the Moon. You guys, I’m serial. I’m super-serial. Lockbox.