Comic-Con San Diego is here again and geek culture has never been so political. The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas travelled all the way out west to protest the event with “God Hates Nerds” signs. Seriously, haven’t the nerds been picked on enough?

Upon arrival, however, the Church group was met by a collection of counter protestors. “All glory to the Hypnotoad!” “God hate sentries!” Even Bender showed up with a sign expressing his love for Flight of the Conchords:

For those wishing to sidestep the political fracas (or for those made hungry by shouting too loud), Chef Vader was on hand with some tasty treats. It looks like he’s dishing up some Steak de JarJar:

We already had one look at robotic pet dogs, but filmmaker Patrick Boivin has upped the ante. He turned a toy Imperial Walker into a jedi’s best friend. He’s even polite enough to properly dispose of the jabba. Watch the video below. It’s a wonderful At-At Day Afternoon!

We <3-fully believe that technocuddly pets are the best. And there are plenty of strays still available. If this guy was adopted, perhaps he would not be so gloomy.

Is this your World Cup ball of choice…

The World Cup is under way in South Africa! And we’re having a ball! The official match ball is the Adidas Jabulani, and it’s revolutionary design is already causing quite a stir. Some say it wobbles too much. Some say it benefits strikers. Some say it penalizes goalkeepers. Some say its patented GripNGroove technology helps them out. So many questions, with a single answer: Who will lift the cup at the end?

What we do know is this: the new ball reduces the number of panels from 14 (in the last World Cup) to a measly 8. And the 14-panel design was already a major reduction from the 32 panels of the traditional black-and-white soccer ball. The familiar pentagon-hexagon design is actually a truncated icosahedron (or bucky ball). Its sharp black and white contrast was specifically designed to appear more visible on live B&W television broadcasts (which BTW is the same design philosophy that inspired the Panda Seal Mamegona and the Yakuza Brush).

A complete visual guide to the evolution of the World Cup ball can be found here.) And with such a contentious design history, we are excited to see that designers are rising out of the stands to muck it up with soccer hooligans. ATYPYK offers their take on the official match ball below. It’s a traditional design in shape, but the color palette says it it all. A stark reminder and a social commentary for the 2010 tournament hosts, which now call themselves a “Rainbow Nation.”

… or this?

Step aside Rosie the Riveter! There’s a new techno-chic on the bloc. Barbie has a new life as a computer engineer. Women and technology are often at odds in the cultural imagination, so we’re glad to see everybody’s favorite glamor girl geeking out. But will it get more young girls interested in tech careers? The new doll has glasses, a Bluetooth equipped cellphone, and a geektastic t-shirt covered in binary code. We like the concept but the shirt design has a bit of a retro 80s feel. We’ve always thought that Binary Love needs a more classic style: 1’s and <3's forever! Get a shirt for yourself, and a bib for the baby!

Perhaps in part to address allegations of sexism, Marvel is coming out with Girl Comics, a series written, drawn, lettered, colored, edited and all production work (proofreading, design, etc.) by women. This is a gimmick, but it’s not a ghetto. There are Eisner award winners; people who’ve in the industry for years and helped shaped it. Most of the women already work for Marvel or DC in the regular line ups. We just wish the comics industry was progressive enough to recognize that women work in all aspects of it every day anyway.

We’re still going to check it out, aside from the ironic title. I hope? It’s hard to get irony right. And sometimes it’s like snark in comments: you think you see it but it’s not there. Anyway, what are they going to call it Gomics? It’s not always going to be easy like Obamics.