This being my first year in Los Angeles, I am able to go to a lot of events for the first time. Even though I sadly missed New York Comic Con since it started, I have been able to attend things like WonderCon, VidCon and will be attending my first Stan Lee’s Comikaze. I always love my first time at a new con and this one looks like it is going to be an awesome one. I have a bunch of friends hosting and appearing on panels, there look to be some awesome exclusives on the floor and I will be attending a con for the first time officially as a panelist.

First off, I’ll take care of my shameless plug. I am going to be on the panel for That Cosplay Show. With my job, I have been lucky enough to get in touch with so many people in the cosplay world that they invited me to be on their panel. (No, I will not be in cosplay for it.) The panel will take place Sunday, November 3rd at 11 AM in room 308AB. The description reads: ” World premiere of a new series called “That Cosplay Show,” A totally unreal look at the lives and challenges faced by those who strive to emulate their favorite super heroes starring Khary Payton, Grant Imahara, Stephanie Lemellin, and Chloe Dykstra.”

The madness has begun. On Sunday, Skylanders Giants was released in game and toy stores around the country. Parents waited outside on the brisk fall morning to be the first in line to get their hands on the new Skylanders Giants game as well as the horde of new figures released. After the shortages of various figures with Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure it is no surprise that parents and collector’s alike flocked to stores so not to miss out on the latest line of Skylanders Giants.

Aside from the game itself which was launched with either just the Tree Rex Giant figure for owners of the original game or the Portal of Power, Tree Rex Giant, the new Jet Vac and the series 2 Cynder for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Nintendo 3DS, there was a horde of figures released with waves 1 and 2. Not counting Tree Rex, four of the eight new Giants figures have been released. There have also been the releases of series 2 Skylanders (remakes of the original Skylanders), Lightcore Skylanders (classic Skylanders remodeled with pieces that light up when put on the Portal of Power) and of course the new Skylanders made for Skylanders Giants as well. They have also released the first Battle pack three pack which includes Chop Chop 2, Shroom Boom and the Dragonfire Cannon which unlocks a new Combat Arena.

One of the awesome things about playing a comic book-based video game is the inherent unlockables and easter eggs that are hidden inside of the game for the fans of the source material. More typical is that there are unlockable costumes that you can play as that represent alternate characters or timelines of your favorite hero.

It’s a trick that’s been used for years. Games like Spider-Man, where you can play as Green Goblin, or any of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games, where you can don as a slew of unlockable costumes for your favorite characters. It’s a simple yet awesome piece of added value to many of the consumers rushing out to buy the game.

While Batman: Arkham City missed the boat on this, they’re definitely making up for it with their newest release, Arkham City. In this game, we’re told that you can unlock a whole cornacopia of alternate Bat-suits for the Dark Knight.

Those costumes range from Dark Knight Returns Batman, to Batman Beyond, 70’s Batman, Batman: The Animated Series Batman, Earth One Batman, and your standard Batman suit.

Here’s the catch: each of these costumes are only unlockable if you pre-order the game from a specific store. Kind of big catch, for those who want every costume, but don’t feel like buying the game 5 times.

Check out the full list of how to get each costume after the jump, along with the full-res image of each suit. Batman: Arkham City hits shelves October 18th.

USA’s Burn Notice has been sizzling the small screen all summer long, so The Flickcast braved the waves of fans at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk with its covert operatives.  We were right alongside geek god Bruce Campbell and the sprightly Tim Matheson to discuss living in the scorching heat of Miami. Although one plays the angel and the other the devil on Michael Weston’s shoulder, they have one thing in common: they both enjoy a cool Mojito at the end of a long shoot day.

With their plethora of credits both on and off screen, they are the quintessential “Jack of All Trades.” Campbell, of course, has been acting, directing, producing, and hamming it up in many a geeky film like Evil Dead. Matheson is no stranger to being behind the camera and directing an episode or two of many a USA show including White Collar, Psych, Covert Affairs, and of course his own killer schemes in Burn Notice. I guess being dead frees up your spare time. But, sorrow no more as it’s confirmed Larry Sizemore was (gasp) not really dead and will be returning next season.

Following the jump hear what these two spies have to say about surviving and thriving in the world of Jason Bourne meets Miami Vice and maybe even learn a thing or two.

With his film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil playing the crowds at Austin, director Eli Craig is looking to become the American Edgar Wright. We recently had a chance to sit down with him to chat about his new movie, classic horror in general, and plans for the future.

The Flickcast: What are some of your classic horror influences?  I see some Texas Chainsaw in there.

Eli Craig: I really tried to put a lot of different films into this one; I like a lot of the older horror films going back to Sam Raimi and The Evil Dead and a lot of Peter Jackson’s older films—the old zombie slasher films. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a bit of Friday the 13^th, Cabin Fever, and even threw in a little bit of Fargo.

And definitely Wrong Turn. This is basically the opposite of Wrong Turn. And then sprinkled on top is just a little bit of I Love You, Man.

TFC: Is there something about the splatter genre that attracts you?

EC: In regards to I Love You, Man?