Giant Freakin Robot

Sure everything we’ve seen from it has looked really cool, but beyond being certain that it’ll be visually interesting, I haven’t been entirely certain that Tron: Legacy would be good. After all the original movie, much as I love it, was kind of weak on story at times and let’s face it, the guy they’ve hired to direct this new Tron has never directed a movie before. So a wait and see approach seemed prudent, at least until now. Now I’m certain: This may be one of the best movies of the year.

I’m certain because EW reports that Pixar was involved in writing the script. Specifically Brad Bird (writer of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille) and Michael Arndt (writer of Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3) were hired to beef up the existing Legacy script. Brad Bird’s involvement should be especially exciting to anyone familiar with his work. He has a long history of making everything he touches better.

If you’re reading this site, that means we’re probably of like mind, and so like me you’ve seen the 1982 movie Tron at least a dozen times. But as it turns out, that’s not actually where Tron got its start.

The idea was invented by director Steven Lisberger as a promo for for Lisberger Studio Inc. The first ever incarnation of Tron was actually a logo full of animated figures made of light. In particular there’s a light-outlined warrior who Lisberger called “Tron”, short for “electronic”.

The promo animation has shown up online and if you’re a fan of Tron it’s a must watch. Here it is, the original Tron:

For any geek, this is a dream come true. Now you can have all the excitement of Tron, not only in your daily life, but in your driveway. The guys of Parker Brothers Choppers are building street legal lightcycles modeled after the new bikes you’ve probably already seen in the Tron: Legacy trailer and that you’ll see tons more of in the movie. Of course there’s a catch.

They’re only building 5. To get one you’ll need a whopping $35,000 and an Ebay account, since that’s where they’re selling them.

They don’t have a picture of one actually built yet, since they’re custom built to order. But they’ve done this sort of thing before, having made life size, street legal Batpods modeled after the wickedly cool vehicle in The Dark Knight. When finished the Lightcycles should look something like this:

Tron Legacy hits theaters this December, but as a hardcore Tron fan, no matter how good it is, the movie will never be enough. I need Tron in my daily life. Or if not in my daily life, how about my gaming life?

The following images from Pocket Lint are of Tron-themed game controllers being made available for Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3. They’ll retail for around $50 and should be in stores this fall, before the premiere of Tron: Legacy. Take a look: