That winner is Paddy “Drunken Gamer” Fellows of the Drunken Gamer podcast! He’s been contacted and congratulated and a DVD or Blu-Ray version of X-Men: First Class, Thor or Captain America: The First Avenger will be shipped off to him as soon as he makes up his mind about which one it is he wants!

More information about our February competition coming soon!

Addendum: He’s getting X-Men: First Class on Blu-Ray! Good choice!

The protest movement, which started on Reddit, now encompasses Wikipedia, all the sites in the Cheezburger family, and many, many more. A Motion Picture Association of America executive has dubbed the blackout plan an example of the “gimmicks and distortion” that inflame passions while failing to solve the problem of copyright infringement.

The way I see it; we’re not trying to solve the problem of copyright infringement. That’s a whole other battle. We’re opposing SOPA and PIPA, two draconian acts that have the potential to change the face of Internet, killing user-generated content and sites like this one in one fell swoop.

We passed the first major milestone – 1000 entries – yesterday, and if we can just get a couple of thousand more pageviews, we’re looking at a December that’s going to be our most visited month since the site was launched.

As founder and Editor-in-Chief of the CSICON Network, I’m both humbled and amazed to see how far we’ve come since I created the site a year ago. From having written all the articles on my own, I’ve now got an amazing group of people to work with and feel incredibly grateful to all of them for bringing their unique vision and talent to the fold.

For the Christmas and New Years greeting from me to all of you, click here or subscribe to the Editor-in-Chief podcast.

The Green Lantern

R2-D2

This week, Team Arkenor‘s champion is that cocky and green-colored DC Comics superhero with a ring, none other than the Green Lantern.

He goes up against Team Petter‘s champion, the stocky little robot we all love from Star Wars, R2-D2.

Who will win? Only you can decide! Vote now! Tell your friends to vote! Spread the links far and wide, only one champion may move on from here!

The Smoke Monster!

This week, fighting for Team Arkenor, is the Smoke Monster from Lost. The entity referred to most frequently as the Man in Black is the main antagonist of the series. He appeared primarily as a cloud of black smoke (hence “The Smoke Monster”) until the final episode of season five, where he appeared as a middle-aged man dressed in black. In season six, he primarily appeared in the physical form of John Locke (Terry O’Quinn). He exhibited the ability to “scan” the minds and memories of others, allowing him to confront characters such as Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Ben (Michael Emerson), with “judgment”, and to assume the forms and memories of the deceased, starting with the original Man in Black himself (Titus Welliver), being Jacob’s (Mark Pellegrino) brother. According to Jacob, who explains this to Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), it is the incarnation of evil, and its primary goal, to escape from the island, would be the end of everything good.

Aaaargh, a Smoke Monster!

He goes up against Team Petter’s champion, Captain Kirk! First played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series, Shatner would continue to voice Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appear in the first seven Star Trek movies. Chris Pine portrayed a younger version of the character in the 2009 Star Trekfilm, with Jimmy Bennett playing Kirk as a child. Other actors have played the character in fan-created media, and the character has been the subject of multiple spoofs and satires. Kirk also appears in numerous books, comics, and video games. The character has been praised for his leadership traits, and also criticized for his relationships with women.

Throw your votes into the sidebar!

Now, before I offend anybody, remember that this is the list of things that I’m thankful for in my position as editor-in-chief for CSICON. I’m not mentioning my wonderful family, my amazing girlfriend, our crazy pets or the fact that I’ve been blessed with a (mostly) clean bill of health, mainly because these things simply aren’t relevant to the majority of our readers. Instead, let me double down on the nerd culture and let you all know what I’m thankful for right now:

Wonder Woman votes for ice cream.

5. The DC Comics Reboot

I’d never been a huge fan of DC Comics and had more or less stopped reading Marvel. I was still enjoying all the comic book-based movies and so on, but the actual reading of comics was something that I’d put behind me long ago. The DC Universe reboot changed all of that. I bought almost every single #1, a bunch of the #2 and then a couple of #3. I’m winnowed it down to the state where I’m now following fifteen different DC comics, looking forward to every Wednesday as new issues emerge.

My favorite of the bunch was surprising to me, as I developed a sudden and unexpected mancrush on Aquaman, a character that I’d never been very enthusiastic about in the past. His own comic is great and his appearance in the end of Justice League #3 made me squeal like a fangirl.

My favorites – the ones I’m following – are Action Comics, Animal Man, Aquaman, Batgirl, Batman, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batwoman, Catwoman, Detective Comics, The Flash, Justice League, Justice League International, Supergirl, Superman and Wonder Woman. While there are a large amount of legitimate things we can criticize about the reboot – especially how few female writers/artists they have and how they treat their female characters – it has, overall, been a very interesting experience and one that has already seen me buying far more comics this year than the year before – despite hardly reading any during the first nine months of the year! I’m thankful for DC Comics to be there to take all my money.

iPhone

4. Social Media

I’ve been a blogger since before the term existed and had accounts on primitive social networks as early as the year 2000. These past couple of years, however, have given us an absolute explosion in the availability of social networks and their increased prevalence in our every-day lives.

Google+, Twitter and Facebook are still the three major networks for people to find me, and there are pages and accounts for CSICON on all three. The interaction via +1 and Like-buttons, resharing of interesting content and the social interaction that this brings is a terrific boon when it comes to creating content online.

However, it’s another aspect of social media that interests me right now, and that’s the ability for us all to stay in touch with each other and for us to interact with people whom we find interesting. My favorite actors, musicians and friends all have their own existences on the Internet, and I can interact with them in the way that I like. I’m thankful for the ways in which social media are making the world a smaller place, bringing us all together in a fantastic jumble of words, pictures and thoughts, available for all to see.

Chris Evans as Captain America

3. Superhero Movies

This year brought us Thor, Captain America and X-Men: First Class (yes, I’m conveniently forgetting Green Lantern here), and next year will have The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers coming our way.

I’m thankful for the clever people behind these movies, the amazing actors they’re getting and the enormous fan base that are out there writing blog posts, speculating, spreading pictures from the sets. Most of the early movies based on comics were really awful, and I’m so glad that people stuck with it and continued to create them. I still find it dreadful and will continue to oppose the fact that so many different rights-holders lay claim to the various characters and teams within the Marvel and DC universes – making it absolutely impossible for, for example, Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine to help out in The Avengers, despite both being Marvel properties and existing in the same universe.

If only ... Super Mario Sunshine

2. Video Games

I live in Sweden, and this time of year can be extremely dark. If we’re lucky, we get three or four hours of sunshine a day. While it hasn’t started snowing yet, and the temperature is around 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), the darkness can be overbearing. Vitamin D and sleep do their part to sort the health-related issues that darkness can cause, but there’s just one thing that saves you when you can’t fly off to the warmth.

Escapism into fantastic fantasy worlds.

I’ve just recently started playing Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and haven’t gotten much further than getting the second sword and the shield. I’m just about to head down to the Surface, but I’m just enjoying my time up above the clouds so much that I can’t bring myself to do so. The sun, the warmth, the fantastic atmospheres – I can’t bring myself to thank them enough for taking me out of the darkness of Stockholm, Sweden.

You!

1. You!

I kid you not, every time I look at the visitor statistics or see somebody referencing us somewhere else, I’m filled with a sudden sense of wonder. How could this page, which Petter and I just brainstormed in a couple of minutes, grow to be so big?

While it would be easy to pat myself on the shoulder and say that it’s all because of my amazing articles, my fantastic content, the incredible people whom I’ve convinced to write for CSICON and all the rest, it all boils down to one simple ting.

You.

All of you, whether you come in via a search engine or followed a link here, whether you’re a first-time visitor or a long-time fan of the site; all of you help us grow and develop. Whether you click on our ads or not, whether you comment on our articles or not, whether you follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ – or none of them; you’re all helping us out.

You all help us get motivation to write new articles, learn new things, expose ourselves to new movies, games, television series and concepts – all to bring you the best possible information that we can give you.

It’s thanks to all of you that this site even exists, as I’m sure that I would have given up on it a long time ago had I not been seeing all of you coming here day after day.

Thank you all! From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for reading CSICON! We’ve got lots of exciting things to bring you next year, so stay tuned for more!

A Very Buffy Thanksgiving

Indiana Jones

This week, I expect another walk-over. Fighting for Team Arkenor is the hero named after a dog. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr., Ph.D is the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise, which George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created as an homage to the action heroes of the 1930s. He first appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark, followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984 and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. We try to forget this and pretend that it isn’t true, but he also appeared in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008.

Indiana Jones remains one of cinema’s most revered movie characters. In 2003, he was ranked as the second greatest movie hero of all time by the American Film Institute, followed only by Gregory Peck‘s Atticus Finch. He was also named the sixth greatest movie character ever by Empire magazine. In 2010, he ranked #2 on Time Magazine’s list of the greatest fictional characters of all time, surpassed only by Sherlock Holmes.

Optimus Prime

Fighting for Team Petter is the leader of the Autobots. Optimus Prime is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise; the leader of the autobots, a faction of transforming robots from the planet Cybertron. The autobots are constantly waging war against a rival faction of transforming robots called Decepticons. He is depicted as a brave, powerful, wise and compassionate leader who puts his talent to use improving the universe around him. Optimus is portrayed as having a strong sense of justice and righteousness and has dedicated himself to the protection of all life, particularly the inhabitants of Earth.

Within his chest is a mystic talisman, known as the autobot matrix of leadershipor the “creation matrix”, carried by all autobot leaders. When Optimus transforms, his cab becomes an ion blaster and his trailer disconnects, forming a combat deck. The combat deck supports a mobile battle-station and command headquarters armed with assorted artillery and beam weapons that fire automatically. The combat deck can also serve as a radio antenna for battlefield communications between the autobots. The combat deck also included “Roller”, a mobile scout buggy meant to scout behind enemy lines.

Cast your votes in the sidebar and stay tuned for the results on Sunday!

Since then, one of the fields that we’ve been sorely lacking is the field of comic books. It’s such an important topic and lies at the base of so many of the movie news that we write about, but we’ve simply not had the right competence to write about it.

For this reason, I’m proud to announce that Mandi and the rest of the crew behind The 52 Review have agreed to join forces with us! They will continue to create all the amazing content that they’ve produced in the past and publish it here on CSICON. I want to thank them all for joining us and wish them the warmest possible welcome to CSICON!

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker

This week, fighting for Team Arkenor is none other than Luke Skywalker, the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. The character is first introduced to us as a moisture farmer in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Despite wanting to go to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters, he is suddenly orphaned and forced to leave home, finding himself apprenticed to the Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. He very soon becomes an important figure in the Rebel Alliance, leading the struggle against the Galactic Empire.

As the son of former Queen of Naboo and Republic Senator Padmé Amidala and her husband, Anakin Skywalker – a fallen Jedi also known as the Sith Lord Darth Vader – Luke is heir to a family deeply powerful in the Force. He is also the fraternal twin brother of Princess Leia Organa of the planet Alderaan, foster daughter of Senator Bail Organa and a leader of the Rebellion who recruited her brother into the cause.

Luke is without a doubt the archetypal hero, following the “zero to hero” routine that so many others have followed in speculative fiction both before and after.

Superman

Fighting for Team Petter this week, we’ve got the man of steel himself, Superman! He is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics and is widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 in June of 1938, subsequently appearing in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games.

With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the entire superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book. The character’s appearance is distinctive and iconic: a blue, red and yellow costume, complete with cape, with a stylized “S” shield on his chest. This shield is now typically used across media to symbolize the character.

The battle is bound to be an exciting one, as these two characters are iconic in their own ways! To do the battle justice, you can vote not just here on CSCION.org, but head over to our page on Facebook and vote there as well! Click here to go directly to the question on Facebook.

This week, the fighters come from two ‘classical’ franchises that have recently been made into movies.

Saruman

For Team Petter - represented this week by myself – the fighter is Saruman the White, arguably one of the major antagonists of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy series The Lord of the Rings. Saruman is the leader of the Istari, a group of wizards that were sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar in order to challenge Sauron. Saruman, however, later decides that his time is better spent gaining power for himself and advocates an alliance with the enemy.

Megatron

For Team Arkenor, this week’s fighter is the leader of the evil decepticons, namely Megatron!  Originally, Megatron was able to transform into a Walther P38, delivering more focused energy blasts. He can shrink and reduce his mass as he transforms, assuming sizes that comfortably allow either another Transformer or even a human being to wield him. His imposing robot form is dominated by his primary weapon – his arm-mounted fusion cannon, capable of leveling a city block in one blast. He can also sub-dimensionally link the weapon to a black hole, generating even more powerful antimatter blasts. However, this ability is almost never used, as it leaves him extremely weak and vulnerable. Having been defeated regularly by the Autobots, Megatron has often returned in other guises, including that of Galvatron.

Cast your votes in the top of the sidebar!

Dr. Manhattan

This week, the combatants are arranged differently. For Team Arkenor, we’ve got the naked blue man with the power to do absolutely anything he can imagine – which is quite a lot, to be honest.

Jonathan “Jon” Osterman – Dr. Manhattan – is the only person with real superpowers in the Watchmen universe, as he was transformed into a blue-skinned god-like being following a routine disintegration in an “Intrinsic Field Subtractor”. Within a few months, his disembodied consciousness managed to reconstruct a physical body for itself.

Harry Potter

His opponent, fighting for Team Petter, is the Boy who Lived.

Harry Potter, the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, learns that he’s a wizard at the tender age of eleven and then goes to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to practice magic under the guidance of the kindly headmaster Albus Dumbledore and other school professors. Harry also discovers that he is already famous throughout the novel’s magical community, and that his fate is tied with that of Lord Voldemort, the nationally feared Dark Wizard and murderer of his mother and father.

Who do you think will come out on top? Vote at the top of the sidebar if you haven’t already!

This week, our combatants are fighters associated with the color red and who both have brothers that are associated with the color green.

Thor!

Fighting for Team Arkenor, the muscular strongman of the Avengers, the God of Thunder himself, the hammer-wielder named Thor! Following his debut during the Silver Age of comics, the character is based on Thor, god of Thunder in Norse mythology. He has starred in several ongoing and limited series and has been a perennial member of the superhero team The Avengers, appearing in each of the four volumes.

The character has also appeared in associated Marvel merchandise including animated television series, clothing, toys, trading cards and video games.

In 2011 IGN ranked Thor 14th in the Top 100 comic-book heroes.

Mario

Fighting for Team Petter, the single most famous video game character in the history of forever, we’ve got Super Mario himself. Mario is depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian-American plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. He repeatedly stops the turtle-like villain Bowser’s numerous plans to kidnap Princess Peach and take over the kingdom.

Mario also has other enemies and rivals, including Donkey Kong and Wario. Since 1995, he has been voiced by Charles Martinet.

So there you have it! We’ve got a pretty big fight this week with two major characters facing off against each other! Cast your votes at the top of any page on CSICON.org and stay tuned!

Breki Tomasson at his best.

Fighting for Team Arkenor this week is none other than the man behind the scenes of all of the things you’re reading right here and right now, namely … me! For some reason, Arkenor’s fighter for the week is Breki Tomasson. A 31-year old Icelandic man living in Sweden, Breki is the man who has developed the ability to operate outside of time, creating and implementing change on a scale so vast that it defies all logic. He’s the juggler who finds a way to add a seventh, eighth and ninth ball to his constantly flourishing cascade without dropping too many of them. Quite frankly, he’s the master of all creation, the sum of existence and the sexiest man on this side of the North Pole. Arkenor did well to draw him as a contestant. I foresee great things in Arkenor’s future and a winning streak that simply continues.

Gandalf the White

His opponent, fighting for Team Petter, is some old guy that I don’t think anybody’s ever heard of. His name is Ganedolf or something. He walks around with a staff and enjoys spending time with midgets, smoking drugs and challenging other old men to battles of will which mainly involve flinging each other around with mind powers or something. I’m not sure what to make of this guy, to be honest. Doesn’t he ever shave?

… Now that I think about it, doesn’t he look a little like Magneto? Now that would have been a real struggle! As it is, Breki’s just going to be fighting some old geezer. Easy as pie.

Anyway, the votes are open and you will decide!

Iron Man

This week, fighting for Team Arkenor is none other than Iron Man himself. While his normal persona is Tony Stark, Iron Man – created by Stan Lee and designed by Don Heck and Jack Kirby – is a superhero in the Marvel universe. He’s been a member – and sometimes a leader – of the Avengers and is considered to be one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes. In IGN’s top 100 Comic Book Heroes list of 2011, he was placed 12th.

Luigi

His opponent this week, fighting for Team Petter, is the plumber’s brother; Luigi. The eternal “Player two” in the 80s video games that we grew up with, Luigi has only been given two starring roles in video games: first in the 1991 educational game Mario is Missing, later in Luigi’s Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001 and in Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the 3DS. While he started as a simple red to green palette swap from Mario; Luigi has developed a personality and style that sets him apart from his brother, and can even be argued to have more of a personality than his more famous brother does.

As always, vote above!

Link

Fighting for Team Petter (via the proxy of the fantastic, amazing and wonderful friend that he has in Breki Tomasson) is none other than Link!

He is the main protagonist in Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series of video games and has been featured in other video games from Nintendo, including its merchandising, comic books, and an animated television program. Link was awarded with a star on the Walk of Game in 2005, alongside Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.

David Duchovny as Fox Mulder

His opponent, from the fantastically successful television series The X-Files, is the main protagonist of that series. Fighting for Team Arkenor is Spooky himself; FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder!

With his FBI partner Dana Scully, he works in the X-Files office, which is concerned with cases with particularly mysterious or possibly paranormal circumstances that were left unsolved and shelved by the FBI. Portrayed by David Duchovny, Mulder was a main character for the first seven seasons but was limited to a recurring character for the last two seasons because Duchovny wanted to move on to the film industry.

Vote now!