July 11, 2012

Comic-Con: ‘I, Robot’ Blu-ray uses its head for special edition

Just 250 “I, Robot” special Blu-ray editions will arrive in October but pre-sales start at Comic-Con International. (Photo credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

I got a robot head in the mail the other day. These are the kind of things that happen in the days leading up to Comic-Con International in San Diego. The same day the shiny cranium arrived, I got an “Expendables 2″ cigar and a My Little Pony (it’s a silver-blue Pegasus with blond hair) that will be sold only at the San Diego expo, and a “deluxe flight strike Batman,” a toy that dresses Bruce Wayne like he was one of Jack Kirby’s alien overlords from the early 1970s.

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It’s a little unsettling to look inside your mail and see it looking back at you. I wouldn’t compare it to “Seven”; it was way less scary, maybe more like “Three.” But it is … odd. After a few minutes, though, I feel like talking to him. He’s got soulful eyes. “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him before he was redesigned by Apple…” I actually took Rob (that’s what I call him) around to meet people in the newsroom. I introduced him as the new intern. Oh, I also got a new cape in the mail and I was wearing that around the office. I might have also been humming “Mr. Roboto.” My co-workers say I’m just like a grown-up but different.

I can’t keep the robot head (sadly, a courier is taking him back) but maybe you can. At the Fox Home Video booth at Comic-Con, they’ll be taking pre-orders for the limited-edition “I, Robot” Blu-ray 3-D edition ($99.99) that arrives in October with this machine-man melon as the container. It says in the email that there will be just 250 of these heads made. Wow. Well, if you get one that looks like Rob please tell him that I miss him already. Domo arigato.

– Geoff Boucher

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