Tested

Our First Detailed Look at Sideshow Collectibles’ Life-Sized Baby Yoda Will Melt Your Heart

The year 2020 will go down in infamy, and centuries from now historians will undoubtedly look back and wonder why, amid all the social turmoil and a bona fide pandemic, humanity was so obsessed with a tiny green puppet. If they stumble across Tested’s first look at Sideshow Collectibles’ life-size the Child, they just might…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Jul 20

Adam Savage Found the Perfect Reason To Spend Tens of Thousands of Dollars on a Robotic Dog

With a price tag of tens of thousands of dollars, Boston Dynamics’ Spot robodog was a tough sell when it officially went on sale last September. A real dog was much cheaper, and arguably more useful, but as an alternative to an electric car, Adam Savage might have found the perfect way to justify buying…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Feb 13

Adam Savage Made a Pair of Lightsaber Controllers to Make the Beatsaber VR Experience Feel More Realistic

Mix one part Guitar Hero with a dash of any Star Wars game that lets you wield a lightsaber and you’ve got Beatsaber: a VR experience that has players fending off an onslaught of colored blocks like Anakin at the Jedi Academy. The game has been one of the most compelling reasons to buy an…

Games Andrew Liszewski Nov 14

How the Smithsonian Prevents Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit From Slowly Destroying Itself With Harmful Gases

Short of entombing it in a giant resin block like a prehistoric mosquito trapped in amber, the Smithsonian’s conservators can’t stop Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from slowly breaking down over time. But, as Adam Savage discovered, they have come up with a clever way to slow down the degradation. It’s not obvious to museum visitors, but…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jul 31

How Adam Savage Made an Amazingly Lifelike But Equally Creepy Replica of 2001’s Starchild Baby

The final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, featuring a baby floating in space, still leave many people scratching their heads. But even if Adam Savage didn’t fully understand what Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke meant with the reveal, he knew he had to recreate the character for his personal prop collection. The results…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Sep 27

Watch Adam Savage Upgrade a Nerf Blaster So It Can Fire 1,000 Shots Without Reloading

Some of Adam Savage’s most popular Tested videos in recent years have been his one-day builds in which he mods, hacks, and paints Nerf blasters to improve their capabilities, or just make them look like beautiful scifi props. His latest build includes all of the above, as Adam modifies and upgrades a Nerf Rival Nemesis…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Jun 7

This Peek at The Expanse’s VFX Proves Adam Savage Didn’t Actually Die in Space

After getting to go behind the scenes on season two of The Expanse for his Tested series, Adam Savage was lucky enough to get a cameo on the show. But as Montreal studio Oblique FX reveals in this VFX breakdown reel, the former Mythbusters host didn’t actually die in the hostile environment of an alien…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Dec 6

Watch How Hollywood Fakes the Ocean Using Nothing But a Ton of Water and Some Construction Equipment

Despite the film’s less-than-stellar box office performance, Adam Savage and the Tested crew spent a bit of time behind-the-scenes of Blade Runner 2049 while the movie was in production, and seeing how the special effects team fakes the ocean by splashing around in a monstrous water tank is especially fascinating. Built in just eight weeks…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Nov 15

Watching Adam Savage Build a Replica of Excalibur Will Help Slake Your Thirst For Battle, Just a Little

Adam Savage’s One Day Builds series for Tested has taken him everywhere from making faux Apollo-era spacesuit parts to a ping pong machine gun, but this time he went a little more medieval. In this week’s installment, Savage decided to remake the legendary sword from 1981 fantasy film Excalibur using some of the same techniques…

Sploid Tom McKay Aug 5

The Secret to How Hollywood Makes an Actor Vomit Massive Amounts of Blood

Adam Savage and the Tested crew recently had the opportunity to visit the sets of Alien: Covenant, and in their latest video they not only get some hands-on time with many of the weapons used in the upcoming prequel, they also learned the secrets of how alien-infected actors are able to vomit so much blood.…

io9 Andrew Liszewski May 3

Watch Adam Savage Geek Out on the Set of Alien: Covenant

In the pantheon of cool movie sets, a Ridley Scott Alien set is right near the top. Here is the man who directed one of the most iconic genre films ever, returning to that world in modern times, and it’s a place on Earth that exists. Sure, most people don’t get to experience it but…

io9 Germain Lussier Apr 26

You’ve Only Got Six Months to Build This Wearable K-2SO Puppet For Halloween

If you’re planning to build your own lightsaber, droid, or time-traveling DeLorean replica, the first place you need to visit is the Replica Prop Forum. It’s the online hangout for builders to share tips and photos of their creations. It’s also where you’ll find Darren Moser detailing his build of a life-size K-2SO puppet from…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Apr 19

Adam Savage Geeks Out Over Ghost in the Shell’s Robot Geishas

A visually-rich film like Ghost in the Shell that’s filled with futuristic sets and cyborg characters could have easily relied on green screens and digital effects to bring its entire world to life. But as Adam Savage discovered at a recent visit to Weta Workshop, the film version of the iconic manga still turned to…

Movies Andrew Liszewski Feb 27

Watch Adam Savage Give a Nerf Blaster an Impressive Scifi Movie Prop Makeover

Despite being made of plastic, Nerf’s dart blasters look incredibly realistic and detailed—as long as you can ignore their garishly bright colors. Adam Savage apparently could not, however, so he spent an entire day giving the Nerf Longstrike CS-6 a fantastic facelift to make it look like a prop from of a scifi blockbuster. Nerf…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Feb 2

Watch Adam Savage Geek Out Over an Original HAL 9000 in Peter Jackson’s Amazing Prop Collection

Before he started busting myths, Adam Savage worked in the special effects industry building props and models for films. His love of iconic film artifacts is reflected in some of the recent builds he’s shared online, but it’s also fun to just watch him geek out over Peter Jackson’s amazing film prop collection. Earlier in…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Nov 16

Adam Savage Built a Perfect Replica of The Fifth Element’s Zorg ZF-1 Blaster

The Fifth Element is one of those movies you can’t help but watch all the way through whenever it’s on TV. There are just too many wonderful moments to miss, but clearly Adam Savage’s favorite was the reveal of the Zorg ZF-1 blaster. Why else would he spend over 10 years building a replica of…

Movies Andrew Liszewski Oct 26

This Incredibly Detailed Lightsaber Is the Best Reason to Own a 3D Printer

3D printers can make lots of cool things, but lightsabers might be the coolest. If you need proof, I submit Tested’s video as evidence. This lightsaber uses old camera parts as the basis of the build, which is exactly what the prop designers used for the original Star Wars lightsaber in 1977. In order to…

Tech News Darren Orf Aug 17

All Hail This Brilliant Animatronic Hypnotoad

Remember that live-action Futurama fan film someone was making? In addition to binging Bender, Fry, Leela, Zoidberg, and the professor into our world, the Fan-o-rama filmmakers are working on realizing other characters too, including the all-knowing, benevolent, hypnotoad—ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD (replica). The folks at Tested got a demo of the creepy Hypnotoad prop made…

io9 Andrew Liszewski Aug 11

How to Make Your Own Creepy Human Lego Minifig Mask

Yesterday, Frank Ippolito’s human-like Lego Minifigure costume freaked out everyone on the internet who didn’t see it in person at San Diego Comic-Con. But today the team at Tested is back with a follow-up video revealing how Frank created his freakish cosplay. You’ll need decent sculpting skills and a well-equipped workshop to make one of…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Jul 28

A Human Lego Minifigure Is All Your Nightmares Come True

There’s finally a good reason to not feel bad about missing San Diego Comic-Con last week. The team at Tested, working with Frank Ippolito, a special effects makeup artist, wondered what a Lego Minifig would look like if it were human. The results, as it turns out, will have you terrified of even looking at…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Jul 27

Tested

Our First Detailed Look at Sideshow Collectibles’ Life-Sized Baby Yoda Will Melt Your Heart

Adam Savage Found the Perfect Reason To Spend Tens of Thousands of Dollars on a Robotic Dog

Adam Savage Made a Pair of Lightsaber Controllers to Make the Beatsaber VR Experience Feel More Realistic

How the Smithsonian Prevents Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit From Slowly Destroying Itself With Harmful Gases

How Adam Savage Made an Amazingly Lifelike But Equally Creepy Replica of 2001’s Starchild Baby

Watch Adam Savage Upgrade a Nerf Blaster So It Can Fire 1,000 Shots Without Reloading

This Peek at The Expanse’s VFX Proves Adam Savage Didn’t Actually Die in Space

Watch How Hollywood Fakes the Ocean Using Nothing But a Ton of Water and Some Construction Equipment

Watching Adam Savage Build a Replica of Excalibur Will Help Slake Your Thirst For Battle, Just a Little

The Secret to How Hollywood Makes an Actor Vomit Massive Amounts of Blood

Watch Adam Savage Geek Out on the Set of Alien: Covenant

You’ve Only Got Six Months to Build This Wearable K-2SO Puppet For Halloween

Adam Savage Geeks Out Over Ghost in the Shell’s Robot Geishas

Watch Adam Savage Give a Nerf Blaster an Impressive Scifi Movie Prop Makeover

Watch Adam Savage Geek Out Over an Original HAL 9000 in Peter Jackson’s Amazing Prop Collection

Adam Savage Built a Perfect Replica of The Fifth Element’s Zorg ZF-1 Blaster

This Incredibly Detailed Lightsaber Is the Best Reason to Own a 3D Printer

All Hail This Brilliant Animatronic Hypnotoad

How to Make Your Own Creepy Human Lego Minifig Mask

A Human Lego Minifigure Is All Your Nightmares Come True

Amazon Fire TV Soundbar With Dolby Audio Finds a Prime Day–Level Price Point Outside the Sale Window

Bitdefender Total Security Now Costs Less than Your Coffee Order — Covers Up to 5 Devices With One Subscription

10 Cursed Islands to Visit Ahead of ‘Widow’s Bay’

NASA Sets the Record Straight on That ‘Missing Chunk’ of Artemis 2’s Heat Shield

Beats Solo 4 Falls Back to All-Time Low, Now Emerging as a Cheaper Alternative to AirPods Max in Apple’s Headphone Lineup

‘The Meta Brand Is Not Something People Want to Put Anywhere Near Their Face,’ Says Snapchat CEO

DNA From 1,500-Year-Old Korean Mass Grave Exposes a Brutal Ancient Ritual

Intel May Have an Answer to AMD’s Most Powerful Gaming CPUs

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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