Hasta La Gadget!

Remember when planking went viral and your social networks just exploded with pictures of people lying flat on their faces in all sorts of weird locations? Planking isn’t so hot anymore nowadays, although there’s a new photo meme that’s taking its place. It’s called Vadering, and it’s just as crazy but tons more ghastly in a geeky sort of way.

I think you can tell what it’s inspired from based on the name alone. “Vadering” is basically a meme where people do Darth Vader’s infamous force choke on others. Because no human has the powers that Darth Vader possesses, we must all resort to Photoshop to actually perform this powerful Force chokehold.

Here’s a video clip featuring more people Vadering around:

[via Mashable & Nerdcore via Laughing Squid]

Sega has been making their Homestar planetariums for a number of years, and has finally created one that might just be worthy of a place in my geek sanctuary, with the release of their new Darth Vader Homestar projector.

Shaped like Vader’s iconic helmet, a flap on top conceals a small planetarium projector that splashes about 10,000 tiny stars and planetary bodies on your walls and ceiling. You’ll also see Vader’s TIE fighter floating among the stars. Though I’m surprised there’s no Death Star out there in the heavens.  For that, you actually need to go with the R2-D2 Homestar.

You can the Darth Vader Homestar projector over on Amazon Japan for ¥4,200 (~$45 USD) now, but if you absolutely must have one outside of Japan, you can find it over at the Japan Trend Shop for about double that price.

[via Japan Star Wars]

There have been numerous collectible Star Wars watches over the years, and the latest batch has just found its way across the universe from a galaxy far, far, away. Or at least from the UK.

These new analog watches are made by Zeon and officially-licensed by LucasFilm. The collection include five cool designs whether you’re rooting for the Light or Dark Side of the Force. The line includes a Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Boba Fett, Stormtrooper, and of course, Darth Vader. As usual, R2-D2 is all alone, and C-3PO is nowhere to be found in the collection. Each watch has a leather band, is water-resistant to 5ATM and comes individually numbered with a velvet-lined box and numbered collector’s certificate.

Naturally, the Darth Vader one is the coolest, with its black case, red face crystal and red accents. It’s also neat that the Skywalker one has a compass built in. Though I’m not sure that would actually to navigate through the Death Star’s trenches.

You can currently find Zeon’s Star Wars watches over at UK shop Great Gear Store for £125 (~$187 USD) each, and they should be making their way to more retailers soon.

As evil as Darth Vader was, he’s still one of the greatest characters ever on screen, and certainly worthy of a place in every geek’s home. If you like your coffee like your Dark Lords – black – have I got something for you.

The awesome Darth Vector Mug features a vectorized 3D line art version of Daddy Skywalker, printed onto the side of a bone china coffee cup. Actually, there’s nothing stopping you from drinking tea in it either – except maybe some force lightning. Only 100 of these limited-edition mugs are being made by artist London artist Kane Call, and each one even has a unique number emblazoned in the bottom of the cup.

They’re available over on Etsy for £12.50 ea (~$20 USD), but you’ll pay about the same to have them shipped unless you’re lucky enough to live in the U.K.

Darth Vader is still one of the greatest villains in the history of entertainment. But did you know that his helmet was inspired by the helmets of Japanese Samurai warriors? Well you do now. In tribute to the Dark Lord’s Japanese roots, toy maker Avatar666 created this awesome little guy.

This custom Munny toy perfectly mashes up Vader with his Samurai inspiration, with a shiny little helmet, adorned with warrior details and dual-wielding blue lightsabers. Thought I really want them to be lightkatanas. And red.

This particular toy has already been sold, but you can email avatar666 if you’d like to custom order one for yourself.

You can check out more pics of Vader and avatar666′s other builds over on Flickr, where you can also find a custom Samurai Stormtrooper.

[via ToysREvil]