Did you know that there were Zelda cartoons and comics? Well if you didn’t you have missed out on some great Zelda action away from the amazing video games. Luckily here is a chance for you to sample some of the delights. Thanks to Gnome you can download a 196 page PDF of the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comic (download here).

If comics are not your thing then maybe this will get your more excited. I have hunted down a selection of Zelda episodes for you to watch and enjoy. I have included above part 1 of episode 5 so you can see how great the animation is and here are all 13 episodes for you to watch from the Legend of Zelda series:

Zelda Episode 1 - The Ringer [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 2 - Cold Spells [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 3 - The White Knight [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 4 - Kiss n’ Tell [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 5 - Sing for the Unicorn [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 6 - That Sinking Feeling [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 7 - Doppelganger [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 8 - Underworld Connections [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 9 - Stinging the Stinger [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 10 - A Hitch in the Works [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 11 - Fairies in the Spring [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 12 - The Missing Link [part 1] [part 2]
Zelda Episode 13 - Moblins are Revolting [part 1] [part 2]

Technorati Tags: Retro, Cartoon, Comic, Zelda

There are so many great great custom vinyl toys floating around these days. I would love to include them all but unfortunately I can not so instead here are 10 of my favourite custom vinyl toys created during September.

10 inch Alien Frog labbit by Bil Betsovic

London Sighting 8″ and 3″ Dunny by Doktor A

Gwin SAGA by Moodude

Cherry Clown Munny by Lou Pimentel

Fire Custom by TWEEQIM

Tin Man v2.0 by Wavedog

Recon-Bot Mad*L by rc44

DJ Shiro Botanical Pot Head by Shiro

Rebel Scout by Phuek

HAZCHEM dunny custom by Hazchem

If you have a custom in the works that you think should be featured in the next showcase let me know.

Technorati Tags: Custom, Vinyl Toys

Just thought I would have some fun will choosing the winner for the iloveyourtshirt competition. I tried to do something I have never done before and make it a bit different. What do you think? I know most people will be angry at my choice of music so sorry in advance. Remember you can enter part 2 of the competition.

Technorati Tags: T-shirt, Competition, Video

I am very excited to have Gelaskins available for sale at UrbanRetro. They are available for the iPod Nano, iPod Video and iPod Mini and they are all priced at only £9.95. They are designed by some great artists including Bob Dob, Brandt Peters, Aaron Kraten, Nate Williams and Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins. Check out some of the GelaSkins below and to see the full collection go to the Urban Retro store.

iPod Nano GelaSkins

iPod Video Gelaskins

iPod Mini Gelaskins

Technorati Tags: Urban Art, Design, iPod, Gelaskins

Everybody love free toys but these days the only free toys your going to get are paper toys. But that is not a bad thing especially when you have Shin Tanaka around. I came across this cool paper toy template on the French site Kilobus. Download it and get creative.

Technorati Tags: Paper Toy

This is one to keep the authorities happy. By cleaning the dirt of walls and floors a graffiti style piece is created. But what can you do stop this because nothing is being vandalised. Some big companies have used this as a form of advertisement. More info on this company at the symbollix website. What will be next in the world advertisement and of guerilla marketing? [link via neatorama]

Technorati Tags: Graffiti, Advertisement, Marketing

Castlevania is one of the most loved games by adventure games fans. But this fan is obviously madly in love with Castlevania and has gone and got himself a great big tattoo. I have seen a few gaming tattoos recently and it shows how much people really adore video games. [images via bits bytes pixels sprites]

Technorati Tags: Castlevania, Tattoo

I am definitely a bit late on this one but Banksy has been up to his usual genius self and I could not just let this slip and not feature anything. First up Banksy had his own show in LA called Barely Legal. Its just a huge shame that the show was not in the UK but luckily there was great coverage of the show over at Vinyl Pulse. There are nearly 100 photos for you to enjoy and the highlight of the show is the graffiti elephant, simply amazing.

Next up is the Paris Hilton album tampering by Banksy. 500 albums were heavily tampered with and put back in stores. The finished product was very funny and its a shame I would never buy a Paris Hilton album because I might have picked up a copy of the mini master piece if I did. [Link via toys r evil]

Technorati Tags: Street Art, Banksy, Barely Legal, Paris Hilton, Album

Technorati Tags: Street Art, Banksy, Barely Legal, Paris Hilton, Album

Any regular readers will know I am a big art fan and a big retro video game fan. So when I came across the Eight Bit Art I knew he would be a perfect artist to showcase here. After enjoying his art I decided to get in touch with him and I asked him simple question, “Tell me a bit more about you and your art.”. This is what i got in response;

“8-Bit Artist is the name, pixel painting NES scenes is my game. I’ve been painting nes scenes for about 15 months or so now. I’ve always been interested in art and have painted stuff before and only a few pieces here and there. I wanted to combine my love for art and old school NES and pixel art is a easy yet an undoubtly cool artform. I started this as a hobby but it quickly turned into almost a part time job with the commissions I am asked to do. Never have I thought I would have sold 55 paintings in a years time. I want to bring people back to the time when NES ruled supreme!”

But that’s not all… I then asked for the 8-bit artist to tell me a bit more about some of his favourite art pieces. The resemblance to the actual video games is stunning. You can click on each image to view the cool paintings in greater detail

Contra Red Falcon. 36 inches by 36 inches with acrylic paint on stretched canvas. This piece I painted for myself, its my favorite part of this game. As you can see, Player 2 stole one of Player 1’s lives. That’s how it usually goes.

Dr Mario Viruses. 24 inches by 24 inches with acrylic paint on stretched canvas. This piece was actually a commission for someone’s Mom. Dr Mario was the only NES game for ever played but was awesome at it.

Little Nemo. 24 inches by 24 inches with acrylic paint on stretched canvas. A favorite among fans, I think this piece really captures what Little Nemo is all about. Such a great game and a great comic from long ago. A very peaceful image. Even if you dont know this was from a video game, you can still appreciate it.

Ninja Gaiden Skull Castle. 18 inches by 36 inches with acrylic paint on stretched canvas. One of my favorites images from any game. Ninja Gaiden had some incredible and memorable cut scenes. I think this one is near the top.

Ryu Hayabusa. 24 inches by 20 inches with acrylic paint on stretched canvas. Yet another NG cut scene with the focus on Hayabusa’s face. This was a commission piece for a real NG fanatic and he was absolutely pleased with it.

Crash Mega Man Vs Metal Man. 24 inches by 36 inches with acrylic paint on stretched canvas. This was a commission piece for someone who went to Virginia Tech. There school colors were maroon and orange, hence why I used the Crash Man suit for Mega Man. I know Crash Man’s weapon is useless against Metal Man but I don’t think it takes away from the action scene.

3-D Pixelated Underworld Goomba. 8 inches by 8 inches by 7 inches, 1,440 1/2 inch wooden cubes with acrylic paint. This piece I really love. Gluing each block one by one was really a labor of love. I knew the end result was going to be one to behold. You wouldn’t think it, but that little guy weighs about 10 pounds!

So there you have it. Great 8-bit art work by the 8-bit artist. You can view more of his work at the eight bit artist website. I am sure he will be game for doing some commissioned art pieces for all you retro video game and art fans.

I hope you enjoyed this artist showcase as I will be doing a lot more in the future. If there is any artist that you think deserves a place here send a message through a messenger monkey to me.

Technorati Tags: Art, Retro, Video Games, 8bit artist

I have recently become a big fan of plush toys so you can imagine my eyes lighting up when I saw these beautifully created hand made plush toys and ipod cases. There is a quite a large collection of plush toys to choose from and they are all very cool looking toys. The plush toy you see above is the latest creation called Teo and is 26cm high. Below is Cecilio who reminds me of the abdominal snowman and he stands at a mighty 28cm high. Finally right at the bottom is one of the many great i-pod cases. I chose this one to show you because my sister thought it was cute (aaaaaaaaaaaah). Visit the Eloole website to see the full collection of plush toys available and if your not a fan of plush do not worry I will soon convert you.

Technorati Tags: Designer, Plush Toys, Hand made, I-pod, Case