Venture Compound

Yes, yes, yes... Just in time for the holidays, we have fun gift give-a-ways. For the next few weeks, we will be offering up special one of a kind and limited creations for the Venture fans. This week features a perfume we like to call "Hawt Love" based on the fragrance "Lovely" by Sarah J. Parker. Hawt Love celebrates the tryst between Dr. Girlfriend and Phantom Limb and all their hawt, smexy, steamy physical love. Not available in stores or for sale, Hawt Love is only available through this website and at limited give-a-ways at upcoming conventions like Stellar Con and Dragon*Con, to name a few. But by now you are wondering what you have to do to get it... it's easy, post a comment here. A winner will be randomly selected from the comment made and a winner will be picked.

But wait! What was those promises you made about special deals for registered AstroCadets? Yes, that is right. For those of you who missed it, at Dragon*Con, we signed up people to be official AstroCadets. Those who gave us their name and e-mail received their AstroCadet ID card, a sticker and a tag flag to decorate their Dragon*Con badge. And they were promised special AstroCadet promotions. So here it is... when you post to enter the contest, include your official AstroCadet number on the ID card give to you. If you do, and you are chosen as a winner, you will get another extra prize along with the Hawt Love perfume. Simple!



More Give-A-Ways

But wait again! That is not all. Venture Home News run by Tim Burgess on Facebook is also holding drawings and give-a-ways throughout the year. All you have to do is like them on Facebook and follow the news. This month they are giving away a Dr. Girlfriend action figure.

https://www.facebook.com/TheVentureHomeNews

http://theventurehomenews.blogspot.com/2011/12/big-christmas-figure-give-away-on.html

The Venture Home News is now giving away a free Venture Bros mousepad. You just have to post a comment to enter to win. It's that easy. Good luck!

http://www.facebook.com/TheVentureHomeNews

Check it out to see how you could win a Dr. Girlfriend action figure. ;)

http://www.facebook.com/TheVentureHomeNews

Check this out on the Mantis-Eye Experiment front page. They have an article on the dangling fate of these action figures.

http://www.mantiseye.com/

Sometimes, this is the way it has to be. It's tough for a lot of companies to speculate on the popularity of a product market, especially for a niche market for an cable show. So do what you can. Christmas is coming soon. Ask your friends and family to order now. Or you can skip that Big Mac and instead put the money towards an action figure. Or buy more than you need to give to your Venture friends for Christmas. Get your shopping done early. Don't worry about their goal. Worry about your goal. Make your goal to find some way to order 3 or more figures. At $9.99 it's a steal. Or order a set featuring 5 characters for a discounted price.

Series 1 Revision 1 Venture Bros Figures - 3.75"

The thing about Dragon*Con is that there is always so much to see and do. And most of it is happening at the same time something else cool and fun is happening too. It can take a year to prepare for it and within a few days it is all done. So I want to wrap up the con with a less than coherent report, giving shout-outs and thank yous while mentioning all the other cool stuff that happened too.

First, a special "Thank You" to a core of super sweet people who brought you the swag this year. They are the ones who made it happen for the rest of the fans. So in no special order:

Aaron Poole, Alma Balderas, Squarerootofpi, The Mantis-Eye Experiment, Michelle Buckner, Lee Carr, DalekEmpress/Cadette V, Cody Clontz, Kuiosikle, Fiawol, Adrienne Orpheus (VentureCosplay.com), DoomsDayDevice, Debora Kerr, Nala Serenity (check out her Etsy Firefly store), Hal Mayo, Majikthise, Ken Plume (asitecalledFRED.com) and... did I miss anyone?

A lot of other people donated at the table and I don't have their names before me to thank them all, but THANK YOU!

Others who deserve a mention include John McDonald for his most magnificent H.E.L.P.eR. Constructed with a variety of products and materials, the finished bot not only lights up but "talks" while his jaw moves. He brought this wonderful creation to the convention for everyone to enjoy and set the little (not so little) fella up at the Adult Swim Central/Venture Bros. Blog fan table. Later, John escorted H.E.L.P.eR around to a number of panels including the Venture panel on Sunday. Functional H.E.L.P.eR.

As always, Deborah Kerr just goes above and beyond and her father was just the most fun. Her support on so many different levels was very appreciated. And taking over the Astrobase Cadet job assignments made table set up much easier. :D

Dean's Girl (Ryan) just did so much to pitch in. Year after year she offers so much help and really did me a solid this year running the fan table when I had to leave early on Monday. And she always has such fun costumes.

Stewart Haire, it's always a pleasure to see you. I'm sorry I didn't get to see more of your family this year. But your support and help has always been appreciated.

Mark Ingram was a new friend this year and I was so happy to meet him. Very nice, very sweet and wonderfully costumed (but I never saw your 4th Venture outfit). Thank you Mark for dropping by. I hope you come by next year too. I had a wonderful time talking to you.

The Two Girls from the People's Republic of China. :) Yes, that is right. Their English was spotty. My Chinese was worse. But they were Venture Bros fans and they just got the biggest kick out of the PRoV being the People's Republic of Venture. They were sweet and charming. I hope they return next year.

Paul and Michelle were the wonderful people who not only helped me set up but kept me company a good bit too. And I look forward to working with both of them in the upcoming year. I also plan to be visiting Michelle's Drop By Dragon LJ. It's a great group focused on those who are looking for support as they seek to improve their lifestyle and eating habits in time for Dragon*Con.

Claire, Katy, Tim Burgess and a host of others, old and new. No offense if I don't mention you all, there were just so many wonderful, wonderful people I met. I just don't remember all the names.

Gonzo Quiz Show - Did you see this? If not, put it on your calendar for next year because it is hilarious. It's a "quiz show" with various celebrities competing to out bullshit each other. And we all know how Doc Hammer is. He can talk the paint off a post. But it was Sylvester McCoy who upstaged him this year by doing the whole panel "drunk". He took off his jacket, put on his jacket, dressed his microphone, gave his microphone a drink, fell asleep on Doc... on and on. He was so delightful, I just laughed until I cried. Next year, check it out if you can.

Finally - Many of you are on Facebook. You can friend me there if you like, but I don't recommend it. Most of what I use FB for is keeping in touch with family and blathering on about kayaking and bikes and other such nonsense. However, there is a People's Republic of Venture group on FB at PRoV. Any contests, any craft projects, any cool news and just handy-dandy information will be not only posted here but there as well. It's a good way to keep up with what is going on. I recommend you join it as a simple way to keep track of what is happening on this LiveJournal.

Oh my, Sunday at Dragon*Con. What can be said? Well for starters, it was a very heavy activity day for Venture fans. It started with a panel at 2:30 that Doc had on Goth The New Goth, where he represented one type of goth (there are so many types). Located at the Westin, rumor has it that it was a good panel to attend to see Doc in action and get an autograph. I, however, was manning the fan table once again and missed it. So if you were one of the lucky ones who did see it and would like to share a report, let me know (I'll help you write it).

I think, however, that most fans were already queuing up for the Hammer & Urbaniak panel at 4pm. I got super lucky. Some kind people at the Artix Entertainment table were willing to cover for me. But some marvelous Venture fans who saw the massive line of those already waiting for the panel decided instead to give me a break so I could attend it myself. So a super scientastic "thank you" to Jake Baumgart and his friends and another young man who's name I didn't catch!

It is extremely difficult to report on any panel Doc and James are on. It's like Tangent City and the audience is on a city bus with no brakes. Some of what is said is the truth. Most is fun-spirited BS. All of it is entertaining. But hang onto your boots, cause Doc said they have been signed up for another two season. And that was no BS.

But it was eager fans who lined up to ask the fun questions (Doc and James both agree that D*C attendees ask better questions than those asked at the Comic Cons) and most of those fans got the fun prizes, things like Shallow Gravy t-shirts and CDs. And so many wonderful tidbits of information came out during this question and answer session. For instance, a favorite character for James to voice was the melted puddle guy from Tag Sale, You're It!. It turns out it was his impersonation of Paul Lynde, a fun simple silly voice. It was suggested from an audience member that James could always recycle that voice and use it for Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's mother. That idea was quickly vetoed. As for Doc. he said he liked to do Shore Leave because that voice is fun, easy and a just a more exuberant version of his own voice. But for an easy voice, Doc also said that he just drops in to the Henchman 21 voice when he argues with someone. ("Ah c'mon dude, really?") Steve Rattazzi it turns out has his Orpheus voice based on Derek Jacobi's Hamlet. That elongation and stretching of certain sounds is the result. And if you've not seen Jacobi's Hamlet, you should check it out. He's a brilliant actor who's even been knighted for his service to entertainment arts with shows and programs like I, Claudius and Cadfael.

Fun Fact: Doc has a lot of fun electronic toys, like the Wii and X Box. He rarely plays with them.

Another question from a fan addressed the issue of aging. Basically, we see Dean again as is evidenced by his badly grown mustache. Will we see such aging in other characters? Woooosh! There went Doc, off on a tangent regarding beards and facial hair in the next season. He claims there will be a lot of facial and all sorts of other body hair on everybody in the next season in that "oh so Doc" way he has of sharing information. An on the conversation ran to prostate issues and checking for cancers. The reality, however, is that teen characters do show more obvious signs of aging than already mature characters. Doc went on to point out that given the unique variety that pops up with regular characters in the show, how complex and utterly insane it would be to try and show such slow transitional issues as aging from episode to episode with the adults.

Fun Fact: The oddest thing that either James or Doc said they have been asked to sign was a prosthetic leg at another convention. Apparently the avid fan took his leg off and got them to each sign it. But since the plastic material that the leg was composed of would not hold the ink well and would quickly wear off, this fan took pictures of the signatures to memorialize them. And Doc said he sniffed it too.

The next question was aimed at the triumvirate of The Tick, Venture Bros and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Show. The connection being Ben Edlund. But none of the shows, Doc swears, occupies the same universe. They all are on their own and the scripts, he feels, shows a precious simple beauty, lacking in vulgarity. There is a lot of innocence in those shows. Or so he assumes. He's not been watching Dr. Horrible. The reminiscing on the working partnership with Edlund and Jackson led Doc to announce "I miss Jackson." After a brief discussion on how pissed Jackson would be if they called him right now, Ken Plume punched in the number and called. Publick said "Hi" and told Doc that he was busy writing. We all shouted back our love to Jackson.

Fun Fact: Doc said Ken's finger smells like fun and shampoo.

Another question that was asked was about the dubbing into other languages. That seems to fascinate Doc, seeing and hearing those other voices tweaked into the show. Doc said he saw a YouTube clip of the show in Spanish just before the clip was yanked. But he hadn't seen the one in Swedish yet. But he'd like to.

Fun Fact: Everybody Comes To Hanks was written in two days cause Doc said he was pissed when someone said he wrote too slow.

Finally, there were the beautiful sculptures on the panel table. One of Brock and one of Molotov. They are gorgeous and they are made by Sideshow Collectibles. Doc said if we fans wanted to see more, we had better break out out wallets and buy them up because strong sales only encourage more statues.

The panel was then immediately followed by a gathering of Venture fans in the Pulse bar for a costume contest hosted by the Venture Bros Blog. I meanwhile, was heading back to my fan table to give my dedicated helpers a break so they could see all the pretty costumes too. It was a great panel and a great time and I think all the fans had a lot of fun.

Fun Fact: They asked us to not do flash photography during the panel, hence the low quality of my photos.

I'm afraid you won't hear much from me on the Venture panels for Friday night or Saturday because I wasn't able to attend. A downside to manning a fan table. But quite frankly, that is OK because I did get to meet so many super wonderful fans. But if you were one of the lucky people who did attend and would like to share your experienced, feel free to write up a report and send it to me or contact me and I'll help you get that written up.

But we did continued to hand out and assign Astrobase Cadet memberships and random jobs too. Doc Hammer even dropped by the table to say "hello" and got to check out the assignment process. He seemed pleased by the arbitrariness of it all and watched a new "guitar polisher" get their job assignment. (Fun Fact: Doc has only one bass guitar.) We continued like this until there were no more membership cards left except a few that seemed to be left over cause some new cadet accidentally filled out the wrong slots on the sign up form. So we drew an astrick on those and assigned them too. But people kept coming for more assignments to be Astrobase Cadets so we kept giving them tag flags and now assigned them really bizarre membership "numbers". Then we ran out of tag flags, and yet they still came, so we kept assigning numbers and letting them grab a fuzzy AstroBall to get their job assignments. A good time was had by all. And eventually I will post an edited version of the list. (Number, first name, job.) We are currently taking ideas for next year's random insanity. If you have any suggestions, speak up.

This year, we were lucky to have the support of some wonderful artists who's talents graced our swag. Cat Staggs for starters. She does that awesome Rolling Hive print that is a take on the Janet Jackson Rolling Stone cover. She also did a nice piece just before the con of a pin-up style Dr. Girlfriend riding a Monarch rocket. www.catstaggs.com

Chandra Free (Spooky Chan) also had some of her artwork featured on tag flags as well as some round tins (can you say "Boom Yummy!") Her booth at the convention also featured a lot of fan art as well as her own graphic novel The God Machine. So if you have a favorite character, check out her work. She's probably drawn them already. www.spookychan.com

A new artist to me was the talents of Dwayne Biddix and Ari W. I am, however, sorry to say that I did not get as much of their art in use as I would have liked. There were so many wonderful pieces. I did, however, get some henchman stickers made as well as some round tins featuring henchman 21 love. But whatever you do, do not miss their www.BlueCracker.com Venture Bros comic book. Yes, that is right. They are doing their own comic and it is not only beautiful but just flat out fun and enjoyable.

I also got to talk to some artists who have offered to create some tag flag designs for next year. I think it's obvious by now that we need a Brock. Who else? What other kinds of tag flags would you like to see?

So do you want to see pictures of some awesome costumes and some super cool fans that I met?

We got set up for Friday and what a fun time it was. There are so many fans who came up to help volunteer and be happy little orbital gofers for me during the day... (orbital gofers, whaaaa?)

One thing we decided to do this year as a bit of interactive fun was to created official Astrobase Cadets who were assigned membership numbers and given job assignments. Job assignments were decided by the fuzzy astroballs which each new cadet got to pick out in a magical ritual involving sticking your hand in a bucket. Jobs might have included Astrobase Security, Conjectural Concierge, Laundry Super Services, Orbital Gofer, Guitar Polishers and Butler, just to name a few.

Darn it! My battery is dying. So quickly, here are some pictures.

I arrived at Dragon*Con today and get settled into my hotel room. I have to say there is already a big difference over last year in that I did not have to wait in line at all to get my ticket. I also scoped out where the fan table will be (Hyatt, just outside the art show) That is one floor down from the Centennial ballrooms. They've done some great renovations and the whole area is much lighter and brighter. And while the con has not kicked off into full swing yet, there are still plenty of people getting their geek on.

The only down side so far is the scuttlebutt that James Urbaniak won't arrive until Sunday morning due to work. So it's not really a down side. Cool that we've got more of his work to look forward to watching.

And so even though it is early, I am exhausted and I have a long day before me tomorrow. So I'll leave you with a few photos of costumes I saw tonight.

At long last, fans eager for more Venture Bros now have Shallow Gravy to quench their thirst.

Every band has to start somewhere and you can join them on this journey to ultimate.... stardom? lol Who knows with Hank and Dermott where they'll end up. But they stand as good a chance as anyone. The episode airs at midnight, but leading up to it is 2.5 hours of past episodes. The listed schedule is as follows:

9:30     Buddy System
10:00  Tears of a Sea Cow
10:30   Everybody Comes to Hank's
11:00   Operation P.R.O.M.

then

12:00   Venture Bros: From Ladle to the Grave

But let's get honest. I love [as], you love [as] but... sometimes their schedualing leaves a bit to be desired. So I suggest to all you fans out there that if you are recording the episodes, set the timers to record a little extra just in case the timing is off.

Here is a link to the preview for those who have not checked it out yet. Shallow Gravy Preview