New Spider-Man Cartoon Will astonish As Much As ’90s Batman

There’s been a lot of expectation surrounding Marvel TV’s upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, with comics and animation vets Paul Dini and Man of Action running the show. According to Dini, that excitement will pay off with the show itself.

As an aside during an interview with Newsarama, Dini said, Having a great time on Ultimate Spider-Man and I’m working with a few old friends from the Batman days on that. Coming up with a look for the Spider-Man show, I think it’s really going to take people by shock. It’s going to take people by surprise as much as the Batman show in the early ‘90s took comic fans by astonish. And yet at the same time it feels very right and it looks very right.

With a tease like that, I’m even more inquisitive about the series now. The visuals of the ’90s Batman revolutionized superhero cartoons and had a huge effect on television animation in general, and I can’t even picture what kind of thing would have as big an impact today, especially in a world filled with such visually-impressive, stylistically-led shows as Symbiotic Titan, Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends or even Batman: The Brave and The Bold. What could this show end up looking like…?

'Toy Story 3' highest grosser of 2010

London, Dec 30 (IANS) Filmmaker Lee Unkrich's animated film 'Toy Story 3' has been named the highest coarse film of 2010, after making $1.1 billion at the international box office.

Director Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' came second in this year's list by raking in $1 billion worldwide, in spite of being panned by critics.

Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' starring Leonardo DiCaprio came third after earning $825.4 million followed by 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One' at $824.1 million.

'Shrek Forever After' wrapped up the top five with an earnings of $739.8 million.

2010's highest grossing films at the international box office:

1. 'Toy Story 3', $1.1 billion
2. 'Alice in Wonderland', $1 billion
3. 'Inception', $825.4
4. 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', Part 1. $824.1
5. 'Shrek Forever After': $739.8 million
6. 'Twilight Saga: Eclipse', $693.5 million
7. 'Iron Man 2', $582.2 million
8. 'Despicable Me', $539.9 million
9. 'How to Train Your Dragon', $494.9 worldwide
10. 'Clash of the Titans', $493.2 million worldwide

Top 5 cartoons animation of the year 2010

Before Brad Bird became one of the brain trust deities at Pixar, he made a little movie called The Iron Giant that served as his request for Most Crazy Talented Storywriter in the animated realm.

Hogarth befriends an alien robot during a time when Sputnik sounded the first rounds of the Cold War, and Iron Giant tells their story with that political scenery in mind, padding it with tropes from 1950s Sci-Fi fare.

 Woody and Buzz returned four years after the original Toy Story and actually managed to top that work of art with their continued adventures. Here the gang has some time to themselves when their owner Andy heads off to summer camp, but they must soon contend with the final fanboy, a man-child voiced by Wayne Knight who wants Woody for his collection of rare toys.

One of Pixar's very finest labors to date is The Incredibles. By 2004, superhero movies had become big business, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars at a time.

Unlike most, The Incredibles wasn't based on a preexisting comic book series. Even so, it captured everything that made those classic Silver Age superhero stories great. Like the unbelievable Four, the Incredibles are less a superhero team and more a slightly dysfunctional family of super-powered do-gooders.

At the heart of most Pixar films is the theme of isolation. WALL-E, the animation studio's crowning achievement, is a breathtaking meditation on loneliness and the re-enforcement that every sentient being contains an unbeatable desire to connect with someone else.

Watch the video below to see the number one cartoon

Wacky viral video maker forced to charge for services

Animation website Xtranormal whose cartoon-making tools have spawned viral videos of cuddly puppies debating such topics as quantitative reduction and the iPhone in stilted monotones is no longer offering free, unlimited use of its tools.

The change reflects the higher costs of running Xtranormal as the site's commonly grew.

More than 2 million people now use its easy moviemaking tools, up from about 500,000 in June. According to Xtranormal, those users have in print about 9.3 million videos so far. Some of the videos have received thousands or even millions of views, further boosting Xtranormal's fame and usage.

Then, as now, the videos don't comprise ads beyond an "Xtranormal" logo in the bottom left corner, and any characters and sets you buy are yours to use in other movies.

Users who signed up for the site before Thursday and already paid for characters or sets will be able to publish videos using those items for free until Feb. 1.


Bruno Langlais, Xtranormal's vice president of marketing, said the company had to inflict the new charges so it can become profitable quickly. Xtranormal expects to turn a profit for the first time in the first half of 2011.

The latest change could backfire, though, if current users those who boosted the site's fame through their videos become incensed by the change and stop using it.

Langlais doesn't believe this will happen: He said Xtranormal polled users before making the change and found them helpful.

He also pointed out that Xtranormal has revamped its online video-making tool to showcase more of the options users have when creating cartoons and, perhaps, entice them to buy more characters and sets.

(Mr) Bean counters

The excruciating attention to detail needed to create even the broadest slapstick comedy has been revealed in a court case involving Mr Bean.

Legal wranglings between the animators who worked on the cartoon version of the character and production company Tiger Aspect disclose that more than 16,000 emails were exchanged over what might appear to be relatively minor changes in the shows.

It had been claimed that the requests from Tiger Aspect, which was set up by Mr Bean’s creator Rowan Atkinson, caused the budget for the 52 episodes to overrun by £4million.

According to today’s Sunday Times, areas for debate included whether:

    * Mr Bean’s chair at the hairdresser should be lower than the mirror
    * His ‘shushing’ one of the Queen’s corgis should be more forceful
    * A stray leaf fell on the right part of his nose
    * His spaceship’s legs should fold up or retract.
    * Enough light was coming from an open fridge door
    * The angle of a chair leg created the right comic effect.

Andras Erkel, the head of animation studio Varga, said: ‘I still regard Rowan as a comic genius. but animation is better suited to simplification than complexity.

Peter Bennett-Jones, chairman of Tiger Aspect, and Atkinson’s agent, said: ‘have known Rowan Atkinson for 25 years. He is a stickler like all people who are really brilliant at their job.’ But he insisted: ‘I have never met anyone more reasonable in understanding processes.’

Atkinson – who no longer owns a stake in Tiger Aspect – once said of comedy: ‘You know instinctively that a certain length of pause is funny, whereas a longer or shorter pause isn’t. You can’t script, “He looks puzzled for seven seconds”, so there was a lot of work.’

Disney's Tron Animated Series

BoxOfficeMagazine has recently spoken with Adam Horowitz a writer and producer of the TV show Lost. He has also scripted Tron Legacy and is one of the developer’s of the new Tron Uprising cartoon that will show up on Disney XD. The voice cast includes Elijah Wood, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens, Nate Corddry and Lance Henriksen, with Bruce Boxleitner reprising his Tron character. Also Variety's previous report that Wood's character would be called "Beck" and will lead a revolution inside the Grid's computer world. It will be a 10 episode's and that the show will not then be released till the summer of 2012.

Horowitz Furher said:

"that the events of the show will take place in between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy.”This animated show will take place from when Flynn is in a safe house. It's from when Clu takes over the grid to before when Sam comes in. So if you were wondering what was the grid like before that, and then watch the show."

Contempo Technologies PVT Ltd - Cartoon Day Celebration

Contempo Technologies PVT LTD a leading SEO company with fullest of professional as well as amusing aspects has started its celebration to end off the year 2010 and to welcome 2011 with great cheers.

Contempo Technologies PVT LTD celebrates every occasion in a distinctive manner.  As the celebration for Chris Mom-Chris Child game is going to end and the celebration for New Year are on process they have begun the Cartoon Day Celebration for the year 2011.


Though it is a celebration they always take everything as competition, they’ve been split into ten teams. The employees have been given liberty to use the resources to make their best of everything. So they are preparing for their cartoons and cartoon sketching.

The celebration is going to be held on January 9th Sunday in Contempo Technologies PVT LTD from 5pm to 9pm. They have also planned for many cultural performances. The local TV channels are forecasting the Cartoon Day celebration in Contempo Technologies PVT LTD. Three Chief guests have been invited. Best three cartoons are going to be established in top magazines.

The employees of Contempo Technologies PVT LTD are fervently waiting for the cartoon day celebration.

Animation Auteur to Speak in Birmingham

Birmingham welcomes designer of Bob the Builder and creator of popular children’s cartoon Frankenstein's Cat, Curtis Jobling this coming January to share tips on how animators and designers can stay alive in the daunting world of freelancing.

Curtis Jobling: Breaking into Animation, Armed with a Crayon! Is free to attend, includes drinks and takes place at 7pm, 13th January 2011 at The Studio, Birmingham.

The talk is organised by animator networking group Animation Forum West Midlands and BSeen, an entrepreneurship programme for Birmingham-based, final year students and alumnae.

The Animation Designer will also be on hand to give insights into some of the best-loved animated children's characters.

“The event is open to animators and designers of all levels, along with anyone else who’s interested,” says Animation Forum WM project manager David Allen. “We’ll provide free drinks and refreshments, a Q&A with the Warrington-based, Animation Designer and a chance to meet and chat with fellow animators.”

New ‘Smurfs’ Poster Debuts

Where the smurf are we? Right here on Oh, The Scandal! feasting your eyes on the just-released poster for the 3D CGI/live-action hybrid The Smurfs.

Directed by Raja Gosnell, the flick features the dulcet tones of Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, Hank Azaria, Anton Yelchin, Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry and Alan Cumming.

The Smurfs is scheduled to hit theatres on August 21, 2011.
Also check out the teaser trailer below.

'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'

"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol," the first animated yuletide special, premiered on NBC in 1962 and introduced a lot of youngsters to Charles Dickens' beloved "A Christmas Carol." Featuring a musical score by Broadway composers Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, and a masterful turn as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge by the nearsighted cartoon character Quincy Magoo, the hourlong special quickly became a perennial on NBC during the 1960s and has lived on in syndication and DVD.

But the special encountered a few challenges that could have turned this "Christmas Carol" into a humbug instead of a delicious serving of "razzleberry dressing" and "Woofle jelly cake."

"Lee wanted Robert Goulet to sing all of Jim Backus' parts," Van Citters says. "Somehow Jim must have persuaded him he could pull it off. I don't think it would have worked with Goulet. There would be a real audience disconnect."

Mr. Magoo was created by UPA animation studio and made his debut in "Ragtime Bear" in 1949. Two of the shorts starring the little, wealthy retiree who refused to admit he needed glasses won Academy Awards: 1955's "When Magoo Flew" and 1956's "Magoo's Puddle Jumper." He even starred in a feature-length film, 1959's "1001 Arabian Nights."

But in 1960, UPA changed hands. Because the theatrical market for animated shorts had run dry, they began making cartoons for television.

It was Orgel's idea to put Magoo and UPA's other famous character, Gerald McBoing-Boing — as Tiny Tim — into a musical version of the Dickens classic, Van Citters explains. "It seemed like an odd thing, but he probably saw Lionel Bart's "Oliver!' on stage, and that was the first time they put music and lyrics together to Dickens."

Van Citters says that it is the score that really makes the special soar. And so do the performers, including such Broadway vets as Jack Cassidy and Jane Kean. Among the gems are the lively "The Lord's Bright Blessing," the poignant "Alone in the World" and the haunting tune of lost love, "Winter Was Warm."

‘Yogi Bear’: Unbearable | 1 star

Parents wearied by malls and crowds and hopeless of the adult fare at the multiplex will take their children to see “Yogi Bear.”

“I loved Yogi when I was a kid,” they’ll think. And when it’s over, having left their popcorn bags and a few IQ points in the theater, they’ll marvel at how quickly a beloved childhood memory can be shattered.

Which brings up the question: For what audience was this pessimistic, crushingly witless film made, exactly?

Not for parents who grew up with “Yogi” on TV, because as “Scooby-Doo” showed us, turning a cartoon into a live-action film is intrinsically wrong. You can’t make cartoons work in the real world. They have their own rules and environments. A movie like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” knew this and played with the self-importance. “Yogi Bear” is far, far too stupid to care.

There’s a plot, but so what? Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake voice Yogi and his young sidekick, Boo Boo. Anna Faris is the romantic interest, proving that it’s time for her to shoot her agent once again. Seeing her wasted is yet another reason to hate this steaming heap.

Want a great gift idea for the kids? Here’s a surefire hit: Don’t take them to “Yogi Bear.”

Sintel DVDs have shipped with film, commentaries, and Blender tutorials

Well, even though it’s much longer than initially planned, the film is still very short just under 15 minutes. I don’t want to give away spoilers, though you may have heard them by now. But the film is moving to a far greater degree than the artsy and solid Elephants Dream or the cartoon humor of Big Buck Bunny. Not yet “high art”, perhaps, but entertaining and connecting. The characters are much more attractive than in the previous films. It seems to me that the Blender Institute is successfully learning how to produce better films.

I really enjoyed it, and I had to right away watch it several times to be grateful for the detail. Of course, the technical know-how of the modeling and animation is the real value of the show, and there is some amazing stuff here. Perhaps most on display is the particle-based hair modeling, which looks really good. I understand that it’s still not fairly where the developers want it to be, but as a viewer, I found it fairly impressive even as it is.

If I noticed anything that was unsatisfactory, it was probably the water effects. At a couple of points in the film, there is water in a urn, and the shape is wrong, as if the thickness and the optical properties of the water were wrong. But it’s a very minor subject, considering the number of things they got right.

There’s also just a lot in this film. Due to the use of mosaics with lots of different 3D environments, this short film has an awful lot of distinct settings, which must have required a lot of modeling.
The first two disks contain the movie and special features in NTSC and PAL formats, in that order; the third disk is a DVD-ROM with “Extras,” especially tutorials; and the fourth contains the actual Blender file data used to create the film

Scorching animation more than just kid's play

Highlighting the creativity and possible of original Web programming, Miss Puff's Goldfish Bowl is an animated work that breaks new ground with its adult-themed content.

It has created a buzz on the Internet and generated 4.5 million views since it was on the loose three months ago.

Like Old Boys, the show is part of the 11 Degrees New Media Project series co-produced by Youku.com and China Film Group Corp (CFGC).

Centering on a love affair between the eponymous heroines, Miss Puff, a Beijing girl with a sleek figure, the show is "gelivable (awesome) because of its sexy scenes", says Pi San, the director of Miss Puff, and a lead the way of online cartoons.

"I don't think animation is a child-specific product," Pi says. "The cartoon art form can swathe many subjects, it doesn't always have to deal with innocent relationships between kids.

"Like Miss Puff, animations can also depict grown-up lifestyles, love and fantasy."

"As long as my works hold no unlawful content, I can dig up more adult subjects - and the Web is a perfect platform to do this," he says.

Jin Lu, distribution manager for the 11 Degrees New Media Project series, says the reason why Youku invested money in such an animated work is to enrich the genre and broaden the plea of Web-original shows.

'Firebreather'

Few things disrupt a homecoming dance like the influx of two ill-tempered, 120-foot fire-breathing dragons.

On the other hand, it's kind of fun to watch the responses of the attendees, as long as you're not on the hook for a couple of hundred bucks on that rental tux or shiny gown.

"Firebreather," a new animated movie, tells the tale of Duncan, who would be a normal high school student, your basic new hot guy on campus, if it weren't for the fact his mother once saved the world from an attack of these dragons - Kaiju - and his father is one of them.

Don't ask how that happened. Please, don't ask.

Duncan just wants to be a normal kid and he looks normal enough so he could pull it off, except for a few genetic markers he inherited from his father. At lunch, for example, instead of pizza and an energy drink, he eats a plate of coal.

That's to feed his inner firebreather. It still tends to draw gazes in the cafeteria.

Duncan soon runs into bigger evils, though, like an epic showdown between humans and Kaiju, who it turns out have been living in caves under the Earth's crust for millions of years and see humans as intruders who are ruining the planet's quality of life.

Humans, naturally, feel the same way about Kaiju, what with the firebreathing and the aptitude to crush several humans at a time just by stepping on them.

Duncan, with a foot in both worlds, unavoidably gets drawn into this dispute, and at the most inconvenient moment.

In the bigger picture, "Firebreather" seems to be aimed at approximately the same age group, though not all the same individuals, who enjoyed the somewhat less violent "High School Musical" series.

There's no explicit performance or language, and while the Kaiju create a high sense of danger, there's nothing graphic in the results.

The dialogue includes a few puberty-level jokes and a few pure budding-romance exchanges, seemingly inserted just to make things interesting for someone other than 10-year-old boys.

In general, it succeeds. Unless you're stuck with a badly singed corsage.

Stop, Diego, Stop: Cartoon doll gets man carpool path ticket

To be clear, State Patrol troopers say, kids do count for the carpool lane tally. Just not fake one.
On Thursday, the State Patrol detailed a stop in which a man late for work put his daughter's doll in the front passenger seat and tried to glide by in the carpool lane.

The doll was Diego, cousin of Dora the Explorer.

Diego got his own show, a spinoff of the Nickelodeon pre-school-age series, in 2005: "Go Diego, Go."

Luckily for him, fake kids don't get tickets from troopers.

The incident happened Nov. 29 on the northbound state Route 167 ramp to northbound Interstate 405. The driver was one of 21 people stopped for carpool lane violations that dawn.

"As cars moved past in the HOV lane the trooper observed a vehicle whose passenger had enormous unblinking eyes," Trooper Julie Startup said in a statement. "Realizing it was a doll in the front seat the vehicle was stopped."

But at least the driver was careful with his daughter's doll. Diego was wearing his seatbelt.

Katzenberg Planning 6 ‘Kung Fu Panda’ Movies

This past summer, DreamWorks Animation closed the book on Shrek, putting the once lovable green ogre out of his unhappiness with Shrek Forever After, the fourth fairy tale adventure in the studio’s highest-grossing franchise. The widely popular series, which grossed $1.27 billion theatrically in the U.S. alone, seeded two holiday DVDs, a Broadway musical, and an upcoming Puss in Boots spin-off, but the big, bad Shrek only lasted for four features.

Which is why it’s a shock that Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, believes Kung Fu Panda, easily the next big thing at the cartoon production house, will make bigger into six individual chapters?

Speaking with Empire about Madagascar 3, Katzenberg said, “Kung Fu Panda actually has 6 chapters to it, and we’ve charted that out over the years. How To Train Your Dragon is at least three: maybe more, but we know there are a least three chapters to that story. There are in fact 8 books.”
I love KFP and I’m all for planning ahead (make a list before you go to the store!), but plotting out six sequels before a second is even in theaters is absurd and underscores the “dollar first” model of DreamWorks Animation versus the “story first” mentality of its closest competitor, Pixar though they have curved some to the pressure of sequels recently.

DreamWorks Animation defenders will cry out, “But it’s a business! It has to turn a profit and answer to shareholders!” Of course it does, and sequels are a proven way to take advantage of on a brand audiences have responded to before. But that argument/cop out doesn’t hold water when DWA’s “How to Train Your Kung Fu Shrek” is compared to the regular output of original, successful content at Pixar, or Disney Animation in its heyday.

The studio isn’t putting all its eggs in Po’s proverbial bowl of noodles, although. Maybe in response to raised eyebrows over Katzenberg’s master plan, DWA formally proclaimed it will bring Me and My Shadow to the screen in 2013. According to the press release (via ComingSoon), the original concept will unite hand-drawn and CGI animation into a 3D feature about “Shadow Stan, an extremely frustrated shadow who yearns for a dynamic life but happens to be stuck with Stanley Grubb, the world’s most boring human.” Until Shadow Stan breaks the one rule (”they lead, we follow”) and takes control of Stanley.

It sounds talented. Maybe even seven sequels promising. But is it original? Aside from the obvious Peter Pan reference, “Me and My Shadow” is a song written in 1927 by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer (then later famously performed by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.) about a man and his shadow. I wish them the best on this non-sequel.

BFI receives ‘largest ever’ British animation donation

More than 2,800 cans of animation plus film prints, stills, scripts, papers, and thousands of original cells from the Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Company – which includes classic titles such as Animal Farm & The Owl and the Pussycat – have been donated to the BFI National Archive.

The Collection has been donated by Vivien Halas, daughter of husband and wife team, John Halas and Joy Batchelor who set up their studio in 1940 and is the largest single donation of British animation in the BFI’s history.

Hailed as “a British counterpart to Disney”, Halas & Batchelor’s work included not just children’s films and series, but also theatrical shorts, wartime information, commercials and industrial training films.

Explaining her reason for donating the collection, Vivien Halas said: “A portrait bust of my father has been in the board room of the BFI for many years and the BFI National Archive has already preserved most of Halas & Batchelor’s early war films in the COI collection. So it seems very apt that this great institution should become a permanent home for the fruits of my parents’ labours.

“I gave up my career as a graphic designer in Paris to care for the collection after my father’s death in 1995 but now need the security of a large organisation who can offer the specialist knowledge to preserve the materials for future generations and to make them accessible”

BFI Director Amanda Nevill said the organisation was “very grateful” to have been entrusted without he collection which she said: “demands to be seen and we have the curatorial skills and resources to present it in new and exciting ways, whether online as an educational resource, in our expanding chain of BFI mediatheques, on DVD or in cinemas.”

NBC's 'Community' characters get animated

The cast of NBC's sitcom "Community" will be more animated than ever in Thursday's episode because, well, they all were turned into marionettes.

That's right, the entire cast was re-created as changeable creatures for a stop-motion Christmas episode that recalls the Rankin/ Bass specials of yesteryear.

"My compass tells me it's a great little piece of television," says show creator Dan Harmon.
NBC honcho Jeff Gaspin first suggested to Harmon that "Community" should try an animated episode over the summer.

However, traditional animation takes a long time to produce. So consultant, writer and recurring character Dino Stamatopoulos suggested stop-motion, which he uses on the Cartoon Network.
"We started asking is it possible to squeeze something out before Christmas if you start right now?" Harmon says.

There was enough time, he found out, but they needed to start immediately. Soon, craftsmen in the art of stop-motion began the process of creating models of the cast. Harmon and his team began sketching out a Christmas story.

The result, airing Thursday at 8 p.m. on NBC, revolves around Abed (Danny Pudi), who wakes up seeing the world in a stopmotion scene.

He takes this as a sign that everyone needs to learn the meaning of Christmas. His fellow Greendale Community College students begin to think he's wacky. But soon they're all undergoing hypnosis to explore Abed's winter scene.

"I think we should commit to the format, starting with a song," Abed encourages, before breaking into a melody.

"These people practice a sadly dying craft - because of [computer-generated animation], but it's a completely different kind of art form," Harmon says. "You can't practice it without answering to a higher calling. You have to have a true love of human behavior. You really have to respect the people doing it in the Rankin/Bass days."

Rankin/Bass, of course, were the producers behind the stop-motion classics "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus."

Those specials, like the "Community" effort, were created by artists who carefully move each model, shoot a frame, move the models, shoot a frame. Or, as Abed says in the show, "We're silicone dolls, with foam bodies over ball-and-socket armatures."

Harmon says it took about a month and a half to shoot the episode, which came in at about the cost of an episode and a half of "Community."

Harmon says calling him a fan of classic stop-motion specials doesn't fully cover his feelings.
"Back when we were kids, there were three networks, and that stuff was going to be dispensed like communion wafers," he says, citing "Rudolph" as a favorite. "Rudolph walking through the snow, with his red nose and that sound effect that came with it.

"A lot of kids were comforted by these myths of misfits," says Harmon, "finding out all these things that make them stand out are going to be the things that make them great."

Independent’s Dave Brown wins Political Cartoon of Year

A cartoon by The Independent's Dave Brown has been named Political Cartoon of the Year 2010.

Published in this newspaper the day after the Coalition government was formed in May, the cartoon shows David Cameron and Nick Clegg in a coal mine with the Liberal Democrat leader as the canary. Speaking at an awards ceremony organised by The Political Cartoon Society in London on Monday night, Dave Brown said the work reflected his belief "that Clegg was there as nothing more than personal protection for Cameron, an early warning of poisonous air ahead, and, of course, ultimately expendable."

Dave Brown previously won Cartoon of the Year awards in 2003 and 2006.

Animation Domination Contest Narrows

The Oscars for the world of animation, the Annies, announced the nominees for this year’s top prize on Monday, and there were no surprises to be had. “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Tangled,” “The Illusionist,” and “Despicable Me” received nods for best animated characteristic.

The list of finalists, from the International Animated Film Society, is sure to have some partly cover with the little gold man race, especially this year, when the Academy can nominate only three films (out of 15 submitted for eligibility). “Toy Story 3″ is a lock, of course, but may also wind up in the best picture category, as “Up” did last year. “Tangled” performed well at the box office against stiff competition, which could help its chances.

“How to Train Your Dragon” might be a good bet for the final spot, but don’t double-down yet. Last year, Annie voters gave their top prize to the little-seen Irish film “The Secret of Kells,” and it went on to secure an Oscar slot. Can the same happen for the “Despicable Me” or “The Illusionist” this year? The Bagger will pay close attention to the cartoon winnings to find out.

Also, the Annie list for short animation has several titles in common with the Academy’s short list. Oscar pool fanatics, keep an eye on this to game your chances against your friends and colleagues.

New HARVEY COMICS maquettes!

Electric Tiki is offering cool new model cartoon maquettes based on Harvey Comics/Famous Studios cartoon characters.

The latest releases are CASPER and WENDY. Both were designed by Tracy Mark Lee and sculpted by Bruce Lau. Casper is appox. 5" tall, made of cold cast resin and severely limited to 750 pieces. Casper will also boast 2 variants, the first being a Diamond Comics elite clear edition of 250. Electric Tiki will also have a phasing account that will be half clear/half painted. The phasing Casper will limited to only 100 pieces.

Baby Huey is their first "Not So Teeny Weeny" small maquette standing app. 7" tall. Designed to be in scale with the preceding figures, Huey is almost twice the size of his Harvey buddies.

Designed by Tracy Mark Lee and sculpted by James Lopez, Baby Huey is sternly limited to 500 pieces. And it comes individually numbered, in a decorated box with certificate of Authenticity.
Meanwhile, Terrytoons' Mighty Mouse Teeny Weeny mini maquette (below) is based on typical 1940's Connie Rasinski model sheet images.

Mighty Mouse comes fully painted, ready to show and stands on a specially designed logo base. Designed by Tracy Mark Lee and sculpted by famous animation sculptor Ruben Procopio.