schloss in the Sky Robot Makes Cameo in Avengers: Age of Ultron 

Castle in the Sky Robot Makes Cameo in Avengers: Age of Ultron

Film-goers who watched the latest Marvel superhero spectacle,

Avengers: Age of Ultron, may have noticed a line in the credits expressing gratitude to

. It wasn\'t immediately clear how this robot was used, but in advance of the film\'s Japanese release, director Joss Whedon has clarified that it was used on the edge of the screen in this scene in Tony Stark\'s house. (Look on the right side at 0:57 to see its arm.)

, and wished to incorporate an homage to the studio in this film. Permission to use the robot was secured after Whedon used

, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios and a friend of Miyazaki, as a go-between. Lasseter himself inserted a more obvious homage to Miyazaki in

Toy Story 3 — a Totoro doll, who appears as one of Bonnie\'s toys. The climax of Avengers: Age of Ultron also bears some close similarities to

and Miyazaki have many admirers in the film and animation community, and references to their works can sometimes be spotted. Among the more overt nods were an extended dream sequence in The Simpsons and a reference to

\'s tree-growing scene with a Thanksgiving twist in Bob\'s Burgers.

[Via Eiga Natalie; Image from Twipple]

this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history

The Mike Toole Show - A Low-Down Dirty Pair

Mike\'s memory of the classic sci-fi fan favorite Dirty Pair is triggered by a couple of outstanding cosplayers, and so a look back at the sexy action franchise is in order! ― Once again, I\'m spending the weekend surrounded by the riotous color and noise of an anime convention. This one\'s Anime Next, taking place in central New Jersey, not far from the weird, unsettled beauty of the Pine Barrens. It\'s...

These seven magic users have decidedly un-phenomenal, less-than-cosmic supernatural abilities. ― In a creative medium where more shows than average are full of magic users, it\'s hard to come up with unique abilities that haven\'t been done before. The classic elements and standard psychic abilities like telekinesis are done to death. The alternatives become super-specialized magic that has little to ...

Fraternal twins swap places and find love in this new shoujo title that\'s both goofy and sweet. ― Go Ikeyamada has been writing shoujo manga since 2002, but So Cute it Hurts marks her English-language debut. The story, her latest, follows semi-identical twins (technically they\'d be classified as fraternal twins, but they look alike) Megumu and Mitsuru who switch places with each other when Mitsuru fa...

Zac and Hope draw guns at high noon over the smash hit late 90s sci-fi western Trigun! Is it a masterpiece or a mess? The answer will blow your Vash coat off! ― ANNCast Episode 228: The Sixty Billion Double Dollar ANNCast Get the Flash Player to see this player. Zac and Hope draw guns at high noon over the smash hit late 90s sci-fi western Trigun! Is it a masterpiece or a mess? The answer will blow ...

Gen Urobuchi\'s dark dystopian action hit is overflowing with references and themes pulled from some of the greatest books ever written. Gabriella Ekens deciphers them for us. ― Like many fans, my favorite part of Psycho-Pass was Shogo Makishima, the villainous mastermind whose love of literature left me intimidated. When he wasn\'t out serial killing (or killing cereal), he was reading, chatting about...

A fan wonders if Kickstarter can help webcomics get made into anime pilot films. Plus, why anime is often about aiming for the top, and how theme songs get picked. ― I\'ve decided I\'m bad at these introduction thingies. Most of what I\'m really doing is working, most of what I\'m working on I can\'t talk about, and most of my private life is either not interesting or is, ahem, private. I guess I could t...

Theron tries to understand this bizarre comic oddity about a secret organization with its sights on world domination. ― Anime is often accused (and not without some validity) of being heavily derivative and cliché-laden, but every so often it produces something truly and uniquely bizarre, something which does not easily fit into any normal anime classification system. In 2014 that title was World Con...

Shut-in siblings are summoned to a game-based world in order to fight for humanity in the first volume of this different take on the trapped-in-a-game story. ― The plotline pioneered by Vivian Vande Velde in the early 1990s – of people being pulled into a real-life videogame either virtually or in the flesh – has definitely taken Japan by storm, and Yuu Kamiya\'s original novel for No Game No Life is ...

House of 1000 Manga - Five Amazing Untranslated Manga

Shaenon uncovers five incredible manga that, for whatever silly reason, haven\'t been made legally available in English yet, including one by the author of Fullmetal Alchemist. ― Five Amazing Untranslated Manga When I tell people I work as a manga editor, one of the first and most reasonable questions I get is, “Oh, you read Japanese?” Sadly, no. All I bring to the job are my Seven Sisters-honed writ...