5) The hero reveals his identity to someone in the sequel

In the first film absolutely nobody knows who the super hero is, it will be the main topic in the film (e.g. who is Spiderman across all of the newspapers). In the sequel the hero will reveal their identity to someone, often a girl.

4) A bad version of the hero in the sequels

At some point in the films or comics you can guarantee to find an evil version of the hero, Spiderman, Superman, X-men are all guilty of this. It does add an interesting aspect to the film and often will give you a good fight scene to watch, especially as technology is improving.

3) The hero will lose their power for a short period

With the superhero being almost indestructible it can get pretty boring knowing they won’t die or get harmed in any way. At least if they lose their powers and become weak it will get the audience wiled up thinking what might happen. More commonly that not they will get thrown about a little and get them back just in time and kick the villains ass.

2) The heroes hideout gets invaded

You can bet money on the fact if the super hero has a secured secret hideout it will get invaded by the villain at some point (usually in the sequel). It’s quite common for the hero to get involved with a girl that ‘invades’ his hideout without him even knowing.

1) Redemption of the villain

One sure fire way to keep the audience hooked is to see a sudden change of heart by the villain, classic examples are the first Superman, X-Men 3 and practically every Spiderman at the moment. Another thing worth mentioning is that there is also the chance of their ‘redemption’ just being a plot to take advantage of the situation – take Lex Luther helping out Superman in Superman 2.

Posted: November 7th, 2008 under Cartoons.
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5) Madam Fatal

If you have ever seen this comic book then you will agree it’s just a case of villains getting punch around by this old lady. Like all superheroes, Madam Fatal has one major secret – it was a bloke! The story line was that he was a retired actor who dressed up as a woman to try and rescue his kidnapped daughter.

4) The Red Bee

I think the creators tried to copy the theme of Spiderman and Batman but missed one vital point, the red bee fought crime with the assistance of bees. Yes, those little things you hate in the summer! He even kept this favourite bee, Michael in a compartment in his belt for special occasions.

3) The Whizzer

This guy is disappointing for a Marvel hero, whizzer was born when Robert Frank was bitten by a Cobra and saved by a transfusion of mongoose blood. This led to him having super speed… obviously.

The cartoon chicken he used to wear on his head as a helmet did him no favours either.

2) The Black Condor

This hero’s background doesn’t make much sense, his home town was raided by bandits when he was a baby and killed everyone besides Richard (The Black Condor). This then led to him being raised by Condors who taught him everything he needed to know, the usual stuff like talk, walk and eat, oh and fly…

I guess his background was similar to Mowgli from The Jungle Book aside he didn’t fight as much crime.

1) The Elongated Man

This guy isn’t so much of a superhero, he just happened to stumble across a ‘secret formula’ or a soda drink that gave humans the ability to become stretchy. Not sure what advantages that will have to his street cred as it’s not the manliest super talent is it.

Posted: October 29th, 2008 under Cartoons, Funny.
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4) Wall climbing suction pads

Remember the old cartoons where you saw the characters such as Wile E Coyote scaling up walls, the company Gekkomat have actually designed and created these suction pads that will allow you climb walls! They are trying to replicate the Gecko with their natural climbing abilities – all you need is a computer, 4 suction pads and a tank of compressed air .

At the moment the tank only holds enough gas for around 30 minutes of climbing and the exact use is still unclear why you would actually want to climb walls.

3) Fuel powered rollerblades

Another classic in Wile E Coyote’s inventory of tools are the gas powered rollerblades, every kid’s dream.

Although these are illegal they do exist! The inventors could do with going back to the drawing board because they seemed to miss out one vital factor of the rollerblades- the brakes.

2) The helicopter helmet

If you are a fan of Inspector Gadget you will no doubt remember his hat that turned into a helicopter, imagine having one of those!

Members at the Technologia Aerospacial Mexicana have made it possible with their strap on helicopter. All that was needed are 2 hydrogen tanks and propellers. It was stated that they are safer than the average helicopter as most crashes are the result of the tail rotor failing, with this pack not having one that should eliminate the problem… right?

Something tells me it’s like removing the brakes off of cars saying that brakes are the cause of most crashes.

1) Cartoon style mouse traps

Watching cartoons such as Tom & Jerry was entertaining in the fact he devised hundreds of wacky contraptions to catch the mouse – all failing. The guys at Rentokill have introduced their latest trap that is state of the art, basically it’s a long tube that the mouse can see straight through – upon entering the trap it blocks of both of the entrances and releases carbon dioxide to kill the rodent.

Posted: October 17th, 2008 under Cartoons, Funny.
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If you are a fan of the Simpsons you will notice that the majority of episodes revolve around the same characters, here is a list of the 4 most underrated characters of Springfield.

4) Gil Gunderson

Gil is the guy that ‘just needs one more sale’ to save his life from going down the pan, he is on the verge of losing his job, wife and home unless his luck changes. The great thing about Gil is that he WILL make you feel better about yourself – no matter how depressing your life is at the moment you can bet that it’s not as bad as his right now.

3) Arnie Pye

Arnie is Springfield’s second rate news reporter (Kent being the first) who provides us with humour whilst he is trying his best to achieve Kent’s status. He has the typical closed-news news voice which was actually dropped in the episode where he took over Kent’s anchor desk for a short while.

One of the best things about Arnie is the fact you can see how much he hates being second and has much anger towards Kent – practically everyone envies someone at a time in their life.

2) Lou

With all of crime going off in Springfield it’s all kept under control by a three man police force, there is Chief Wiggum who is incompetent and well known for making on the spot puns, Eddie who hardly speaks about anything – perhaps he is there just to make the police force stronger than it is. Last of all there is Lou, the heart and soul of the crime solving trio, he keeps everything under control while Wiggum claims the credit.

1) Luigi Risotto

Luigi is one of those characters that we all should hate, due to him belittling everyone he meets and is evil – even outside of his restaurant. Because he sounds so happy and enthusiastic we seem to love him. He only comes around every once in a while and is portrayed as the classic Italian chef when he has so much more to offer.

Posted: October 7th, 2008 under Cartoons, TV.
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