MAY 8th, 2008 THURSDAY 1:30PM

Wow! Sooooo much news I don't know where to begin...

Okay, first things first... Why does Iron Man spring to mind? (Oh yes, it's an AA phrase.)

Sebastian and I were lucky enough to attend a sneak screening on May 1st at the Aero Theatre in Snata Monica introduced by director Jon Favreau and the Man of Iron himself, Robert Downey Jr.!!!
(thanks to Robert SILVEY for the hookup!)

Here is Sebastian's review of Iron Man... the action figure!

IRON MAN: ACTION FIGURE REVIEW by Sebastian O'Brien If you're anything like me, ie a total nerd, you saw IRON MAN this weekend -- twice -- and then ran out to buy the toy. After witnessing Robert Downey Jr.'s superb performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the superlative Jon Favreau film, I decided I simply must have one of the movie action figures. Flying blind, I hoped that... READ MORE.

Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. introduce Iron Man at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA, May 1st, 2008.

Next, I am pleased to report that Sebastian has been wining and dining the press so to speak and got us a nice shoutout on CinemaDiabolica.com, a popular horror podcast. Thanks to F13 and DZ!

INDY 4 FEVER HITS HOLLYWOOD Indy IV billboard @ Sunset & Vine	Got your Indy IV tix yet? I got mine.. and I got the fever real bad! But it's okay... in just over 2 weeks I will be sitting in the FRONT ROW of the balcony in the legendary CINERAMADOME for the 7am showing opening day!! I can see the billboard above from my apartment, in case I forget!
On May 1st I celebrated my 36th birthday a little early. I was at Target by 8:30am and Toys R Us at opening time, before they even had their Indy display set up. As soon as the cases were cracked, me and a couple other grown men politely sorted through to make sure we all got what we came for, which for me was one of everything!	Check back for a full review!

With all these new toys... will there be a Probot Indy movie? Um... Yes! And it's already done. Wish I could show you more, but for now, here is a screengrab:

Should be online soon! Check back for full details!

APRIL 29, 2008 TUESDAY 10:30PM

STAR WARS COLLECTOR NEWS:
ALL-NEW MILLENIUM FALCON TOY
COMING THIS SUMMER

click to see the photos at GalacticHunter.com

The rumors are true! Behold. The all-new Millenium Falcon (for 3 3/4" scale figures) from Hasbro. To be released in late July. Thanks to GalacticHunter.com for this news. For me this is MUCH MORE significant of an event than a new SW film in theatres this summer. Why? I simply spend more time enjoying the toys than the films. As much as i am looking forward to the Clone Wars movie to be probably my favorite of the summer... A DREAM SUMMER of movies for toy collectors i might add (IronMan, Hulk, BATMAN, INDY, AND STAR WARS...) but i'm getting off track here. While it has been a few long years since a Star Wars movie was in theatres, it's been 30 YEARS since there has been any major overhaul of the Millenium Falcon toy. Hasbro has re-released several recasts of the SAME MOLD from the original 1970's Kenner toy with a few new features added while others were removed. Problem is that none of the new improved, bigger Chewbacca figures even fit in the old cockpit! And forget about recreating any cockpit banter scenes from the films because there were only 2 seats! Other design flaws also carried over, such as the faulty landing gear. For 30 years that's all we've had to represent the single coolest spaceship in cinema history. At last the amazing Hasbro designers who have been vastly improving the figure designs and responding to fan criticism have gotten a chance to redo the toy from scratch! With a larger body, OVER 2 1/2 FEET long, the ship is much closer to proper proportion for the 3 3/4" figures. Looks like they've kept the best features from the original toy, the secret compartments, the rotating gunner station, the Dejarik table (now lights up) and they even restored the Jedi training ball (which had been removed from the '90s recast for choking hazard reasons i think) while adding several more. The computers and detail work are sculpted, not paper. There is much more accuracy to the films and ability to recreate specific scenes if that's what you like to do. Four seats in the cockpit and large enough to accomodate Wookie pilots! Even an extra mini-fighter that I don't recall from the films, but will no doubt be added to the next round of special editions. One setback is that all the lights and sounds might add a lot to the retail price. But my guess is that, assuming you can lift it, this toy is bound to be tons of fun and worth the cost... and the 30 year wait. I CAN'T WAIT to get my hand on this thing! 3 months and counting... Check back for a full review to see if the toy actually lives up to my very high hopes.

APRIL 25th, 2008 FRIDAY 10:30AM

PROBOT REACHES 1/2 MILLION VIEWS
ON YOUTUBE

I am pleased to report that our primary YouTube Channel is doing quite well and has reached the milestone of 500,000 video views since we posted our first video, which was... Holy Crap!... exactly 2 years ago today! Wow what a strange coincidence! Didn't even realize it was the anniversary as well!

Just wanted to say THANKS to all the people who have tuned in and made our channel such a success!

FYI, I had to set up a second channel after ALIEN 5² was removed from the first one.

APRIL 16th, 2008 WEDNESDAY 10:30PM

PROBOT KILLS @ C.A.L.F.

MARCH 8th, 2008 SATURDAY 12:01AM

PROBOT PRODUCTIONS CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF TOY CINEMA!

It was 10 years ago... on this very night...

MARCH 8th, 1998 - An experiment was hatched. Could an entertaining "movie" be made with just action figures and a cam-corder?

In six months we had the answer: ALIEN 5

©1998 IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU PLAY WITH TOYS... [running time : 20 min]

10 long years, dozens of videos, and millions of video-views later, Probot is taking ToyCinema to the next level. Our feature film, The Gibbon is currently in production in High Definition, featuring an all original, custom-sculpted cast of action-figure characters! More Gibbon info coming soon, I promise.

Next month we will be celebrating Probot's Ten Year Anniversary in Belfast, Maine at the 1st Comic Arts Laugh Festival (April 9-13th).
Carla Remy Norton and I (Damon Wellner) will be hosting a retrospective of Probot ToyCinema shorts (including THE CELLBLOCK LIFE, ALIEN 5², and more) on a BIG MOVIE SCREEN at the Colonial Theatre on Friday Evening, April 11th, with a Q&A session to follow. Then on Saturday April 12th, I will be presenting a workshop on "micro-filmmaking" at the Belfast Art Center. A full 5 day schedule of the fest is under construction. Check back for more details.

ALIEN 5² WINS RADCON
FAN-FILM FESTIVAL!!!!!!

After surviving many adventures during our 2552 mile roadtrip to RADCON 5 in Pasco, WA, we return victorious! ALIEN 5² won BEST FANFILM (over 10 minutes)!!! ... beating 60 other entries! Read Damon's RADCON 5 Report

Vexor & Carla

FEBRUARY 12th, 2008 TUESDAY 8:00AM

COUNTDOWN TO RADCON...

This is a historic week for Probot. Carla, Sebastian and I will be heading North to Pasco, WA for the first ever US screening of ALIEN 5² at RADCON 5!!!!

We are very excited about the trip for many reasons. This is our first entry into any sort of competition, so it will be fun meeting other fan-filmmakers and convention attendees. Looks like RADCON attracts quite a variety of... how shall I put this... "theatrical types," so it should be a lot of fun, as long as I avoid being impaled by an overzealous Predator-wannabe.

We will be hosting a panel on Saturday called "Micro-Movies on a Micro-Budget" during which we will discuss our techniques for shooting and mimicing Hollywood style effects. We will also be signing autographs, another first for Probot. That will be weird... but I'm not complaining!

So if you are coming to RADCON then I'll see you there, and if you aren't going to RADCON... well then I'm very disappointed in you. I thought we were friends.

Check our MYSPACE BLOG for RADCON updates through the weekend!

Thanks to Nat Saenz and all the Radcon organizers for this opportunity!

MORE PROBOT SCREENING NEWS...

If Pasco, WA is a little bit out of the way for you, don't fret. We just got invited to beautiful BELFAST, ME for the Comic Arts Laugh Fest coming up in April! We are celebrating Probot Productions' 10th Anniversary this year and will be presenting a 60 minute retrospective of Probot shorts!!! Belfast is one of my favorite places on Earth, and I'm really looking forward to the Festival! Thanks to Mike Hurley for the invitiation!

We are so excited to finally have our movies seen on a big screen, it's something I've been waiting for all my life.

JANUARY 11th, 2008 FRIDAY 10:05AM
The octopus who loves his Mr Potato Head

Check out this funny news story of an Octopus and his favorite new toy...

JANUARY 10th, 2008 THURSDAY 4:05PM

PROBOT TOY REVIEWS: BEST & WORST (MOSTLY) STAR WARS TOYS OF 2007 First of what will be a regular feature of ProbotNews, Damon Wellner reviews a long list of Best and Worst Toys of 2007. It was a great year to be a SW collector. The 30th anniversary of the greatest toy commercial ever offered fans a lot of the best Star Wars toys ever offered. Hasro released well over 60 of the 3 &3/4" figures this year and years of collector feedback is finally starting to show in the line... But still sometimes you wonder... just what they were thinking when they designed this? READ MORE...

JANUARY 4th, 2008 TUESDAY 7:15PM

FROM THE PROBOT ARCHIVES...