Entertaining miscellany that mix nicely with others. Ud 27/05/13

This has driven me to the point of distraction because I found it extremely difficult on deciding where to slot these in.

I never intended all of these to form part of a previous feature as I always wanted the following to squabble among themselves.

When I created my first variety, I obviously had no idea on how it would be received which is why it had links, brief imagery and whatever else I could think of.

The rest as they say, is history.

For the benefit of those who still don't know, I'm kicking off with what I've already shared. 

The X-Men, but before Wolverine and co, there was...

The hardcore and more obscure Doom Patrol.

Disney's The Lion King criminally ripped off...

60's Japanese cartoon Kimba The White Lion.

I needn't say anything more.

So that's the old ground and possibly new grass mowed and to those who thought I retreated to the past because I'm getting desperate for material couldn't be more wrong than the weather forecast.

Will the following blow more than stick of dynamite?  Who knows but I'll at least try to ignite matters.

This is a stone face that was seen in the art of Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 vision of  Dracula starring Gary Oldman as lead blood sucker and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker.  IMHO, I thought it was terrible.  I don't know what was more embarrassing, Oldman's costume design or Reeves' appalling British accent?  Whatever, have a look at this. 

This is the cover art to the 1984 isometric computer game Knight Lore (video game was not the term back then).  It was actually part of the Sabreman series including Underwurlde and Sabre Wulf.  So anyway, you know now why it's here...

The DVD art for Brian de Palma's marmite tasting crime thriller as agent Eliot Ness (Costner) makes it his ambition to bring down gang boss Al Capone (De Niro) during Prohibition hit America in the 1920's and 30's.  Look at his stance and even jacket... 

It's not incredibly difficult to realise that the art is literally identical to the famous gun barrel sequence shown in every Bond film (Connery era or modern).  This is Daniel Craig posing for the camera...  The connection between Ian Fleming's fictional super spy and the real life Ness is? 

This is Simon Pegg and good pal David Schwimmer having a decent blast in Jean-Baptiste Andrea's 2006 crime comedy.  Look at those arrows describing the personality of 'nutter', 'jinxed' and 'schemer'.

Artwork for Guy Ritchie's massively disappointing Snatch, but this thought of the arrow pointing first...

Danny Boyle's brilliant Trainspotting displayed names by numbers but it's not really the same principle as Snatch.

Well now let me see, what could this possibly remind Joe Public of?  There are no prizes for the broadest of guesses... 

I'll sum up the cover art to Pink Floyd's masterpiece, The Dark Side of the Moon with one word - iconic.  The former does not qualify as a parody and/or spoof because there is no comic angle.

Wow, this looks nothing like.... the Indiana Jones writing, oui?
This was part of Capcom's Three Wonders released in 1991.  The other two 'wonders' of the world were Chariot and the curiously named Don't Pull.

The variations continue...

While Thalamus's 1992 sequel to ultimate C64 platform and wickedly gruesome torture screen classic isn't as good as the seminal original, it's still well worth pressing play for...

 

System 3's C64 arcade adventure featured some very clever things like using a knife to interact with a cactus so you could quench some much needed thirst... 

Before moving on, Thalamus successfully chained a double hit combo as Terminator 2 didn't escape either...  The music even took a swipe at Brad Fiedel's theme (all in parody of course).

As seen in the hugely successful Midway arcade game.

Now we take a look at some ugly beasts.

Big bastard El Gigante from Capcom's 2005 action fest Resident Evil 4 or 4 Resident Evil (check the stupid cover art for the proof)...

The above are stills of a cave troll from the first of Peter Jackson's epic adaptations of The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.  Draw your own conclusions?

Nintendo's Gamecube logo.

I guess they watched Paul Verhoeven's 1987 satirical sci-fi Robocop.

The Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, which is a lazy hybrid of Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. 

Here's the Chatterer, a cenobite who appears in Hellraiser.

Finally, this is a monster from the film Necromentia which is of course looks nothing like the above beast.  In its defence, it was inspired by the work of Clive Barker but did they really have to create a virtually identical and inferior monster?  Sigh!

Cool World vs Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a classic battle.  Fact - both films mixed live action with animation.  A further fact, Roger Rabbit came out first...  The prosecution rests.

Marvel (Daredevil) vs DC (The Flash), the unlikely crossover.  However, there is hope because of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe...

Wesley in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride scaling a cliff face in pursuit of his true love.

This is just for fun because Cary Elwes is supposed to be a parody of the dashing Zorro.  Using the 1998 Banderas movie art would be boring.

WALL-E (2008)

Short Circuit (1986)

Johnny 5 was alive way before Disney and Pixar's environmental droid.  I care not that the premise is totally different, the design of the former cannot be defended.

This was a rather smart looking 3D Amiga helicopter shmup released in 1994 by Binary Asylum.  The former could have chosen any logo... 

 The second album from the above band was released in 2007.

A decade earlier, it was also a film

Same principle but reversed...  This film made its mark in 2009.

Count back 28 years and this classic album came out.

Here are some identical album titles by totally different bands.

Trust me, this painted album art was brought to you by the Levellers in 1995.

You've all heard of and seen Ted right?  Well if not, you are really missing out.  Here's the very cute and even naughtier bear.

A few years earlier in 2010, this is the titular char of video game Naughty Bear.

Just mere coincidence?

Just look at how similar these are.  It's almost as if the situation is virtually in reverse.  Incidentally, the DVD sleeve art for Killer Joe is very different to the poster which further magnifies the rip off even more.

It's not only album titles that can be identical as these video game subtitles prove...

                                 

                       

Here are some more Revelations, this time from Audioslave and Gene.

This pappy film is only worth mentioning because of its sub.

Finally, Clive Barker brings something to the fold.

So that's this, but this isn't that.  Next time I'll be primarily focusing on video games with other slants too.