Darius Wadia

This June, President Trump is celebrating the start of Pride month by trying to make a profit—and selling a new line of “LGBTQ for Trump” T-shirts on his website, which retail for $24 each.

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There are certain images that are seared onto my subconscious from way back in my childhood. In the movie Inside Out these were called “Core Memories.” One of these that I have never forgotten is the sight of a giant robot made up of different colored lion robots. How could someone forget that?! It’s only the weirdest and coolest thing on Earth. It was later that I’d learn that robot was called Voltron and he was the defender of the universe. The prospect of bringing Voltron back for a new audience seemed a dubious one, but it was handled by the creative team behind The Legend of Korra, among many other amazing shows. Now Voltron Legendary Defender is here, and it more than lives up to that memory of amazing adventures.

The series, coming to Netflix on Friday, June 10, consists of an hour-long origin movie (really three 22-minute episodes put together) followed up by 10 more episodes. I was lucky enough to get to see the origin movie at a screening, so this will be a review of that, but know this—as far as origins go, it ticks all the boxes. It introduces the pertinent characters, sets up the plight they face, becomes a quest to unlock the eventual power of Voltron, and sets the scene for the episodes to follow. And it does a damn good job of all of it.

In the way-too-distant future, an expedition to an alien planet by Earth forces gets intercepted by the evil invading forces led by Emperor Zarkon. One of the Earthlings is captured by the aliens and interrogated. The action shifts to a cadet training base where prospective pilot Lance (Jeremy Shada), engineer Huck (Tyler Labine), and tech specialist Pidge (Bex Taylor-Klaus) are not doing the best, and about to wash out—they just don’t work well as a team. One night, they spy something strange happening in the desert surrounding the base and investigate, where they find Shiro (Josh Keaton)—the pilot kidnapped by the aliens—has been returned somehow. Through a few circumstances, Lance, Huck, and Pidge all try to rescue Shiro, but so does Lance’s rival Keith (Steven Yuen). They all have to try to find a way to warn Earth of the incoming invasion.

Then begins a journey to find five giant lion robots that join together to create Voltron, which Zarkon’s forces want to retrieve themselves. Each lion chooses one of the five Earth pilots, with the Blue Lion choosing Lance, and the rest of the team flying with him to the long dormant planet that birthed Voltron. Princess Allura (Kimberly Brooks) and her adviser Coran (Rhys Darby) awaken from hibernation to find they are the only two souls remaining. They need to help the others find their respective lions, which will be easier said than done.

The first major takeaway for me when I watched the pilot was just how well defined each of the major characters were. Everyone has a personality and an ethos all their own, and each one could be the main character of their own show. And it helps anchor the series: very strong characterization across the board makes them working together more than just a bunch of side characters revolving around a central hero. It seems like Lance is going to be our main character, but with each subsequent introduction, we rethink that—and not in a bad or confusing way at all.

The next big thing is just how long we spend with the search for the lions, and in fact how much time is spent to differentiate each lion’s specialty. The Blue Lion is fast, the Yellow Lion is incredibly strong, the Black Lion is the most powerful, etc. It isn’t just a show where you’re waiting around twiddling your thumbs until Voltron shows up, though that is a highlight of the episode for sure. It feels much more to me like a space anime of the past, like Space Battleship Yamato or Macross, than it does something like Power Rangers where it follows the same path every time, always culminating in the Megazord fighting a giant monster. This will be a serial with a story arc clearly defined.

And I think my favorite thing about it is is that it’s just fun! It’s a good time seeing these characters you very quickly grow to like having adventures in space. It’s funny, it’s exciting, the action is superb, and it’s a show any age can watch and enjoy for different reasons. It sparked that little nostalgia center in my brain that loved the original show and other ’80s titles like ThunderCats and Transformers. I couldn’t recommend it enough, and I can’t wait to see the other episodes.

4 out of 5 very legendary burritos.

The first season of Voltron Legendary Defender hits Netflix in its entirety Friday June 10. Check out my interview with the show’s creators here!

Images: DreamWorks Animation/Netflix

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find more of his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

Tori Spelling is suing the Benihana corporation after falling on one of the hibachi grills at the restaurant and suffering third degree burns.

The 42-year-old television personality was hospitalized after the incident back in April at the franchise’s Encino, Calif. location. She slipped and fell and received “deep second and third degree burn injuries,” according to TMZ.

Tori claims that she incurred medical expenses, wage loss, and general damage as a result of the injuries.

Tori‘s husband Dean McDermott revealed back in April that she had to get skin grafts following the accident.

Image via Mark Luethi

Four years deep into a record-busting drought, California may have a hero coming in the form of a strong-looking El Niño system that seems like it could dump a ton of rain on the region this winter. But there's also a drought-loving villain lurking along the West Coast that could stop the El Niño's moistening dead in its tracks. This is The Blob and it's the henchman of the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, a high pressure zone over the North Pacific that is helping to cause the drought in the first place. KPCC has made an adorable video explaining the battle for California raininess that will play out this winter.

An El Niño forms near the equator in the Pacific Ocean when trade winds die down and the water heats up a couple degrees Celsius above the average, which can alter the jet stream that brings storms from the Pacific to the US, bending it away from the Pacific Northwest and toward California. The one forming now first appeared late last year and could be even stronger than the one in the late nineties that doubled the average rainfall in some parts of California. A NASA JPL climate research tells KPCC "The intensity of this El Niño is larger than anything at this point than I have seen in my career." (But it's not too late for it to die down.)

NOAA image of El Niño

The Blob is another patch of unusually warm ocean water, but right along the coast, running 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Alaska to Mexico. It was first noticed in 2014 and is probably being caused by the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, a high pressure area that has for the most part refused to move out of the North Pacific for a couple years now, blocking storms from hitting the west coast and winds from cooling the ocean water.

NOAA image of The Blob

What will happen when El Niño meets The Blob? It could be good, it could be very good, or it could be bad. (There's "no precedent" for the interaction, according to researchers!) El Niño could just barrel through, breaking apart the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge and The Blob in the process, or the Ridge and Blob could hold the El Niño storms at bay, allowing a wet winter in SoCal but not enough rain in NorCal, which needs it more. Or El Niño could recruit The Blob to work for good: The Blob could send extra moisture into the air, making El Niño's storms even more intense. The battle begins this winter.

El Niño versus the blob from KPCC on Vimeo.

Meet Kenzie Kilpatrick. The openly gay 26-year-old man just welcomed his tenth child in 13 months.

Say what?!

Kilpatrick is a serial sperm donor. Last June, he launched a private Facebook group called Drama Free UK Sperm Donors, which he uses to connect with women looking for sperm donors but who didn’t want to go through the trouble or expense of dealing with a sperm bank.

Related: Daughter’s Birth Certificate Will Include Gay Donor And Lesbian Mothers

“To know I’ve helped people who have suffered for so long, desperately wanting to have a baby, has been my biggest motivator,” he tells the Sunday Mercury. “I also feel incredible knowing that I will have ten babies out there continuing my genes.”

It’s a pretty laid-back operation. Basically, after being contacted by women, Kilpatrick arranges to meet with them either at their homes or in a hotel room. He produces the sperm sample and then the women artificially inseminate themselves using a syringe.

So far he’s worked with nine different couples, fathering a total of ten children in a little over a year. The only compensation he asks for is travel and accommodation expenses.

“It seems that I am incredibly fertile,” he boasts. “And as a man that does give me a sense of pride.”

Related: Sexy Magazine Drives Sperm Donor To Masturbate To Death

But that’s not to say there haven’t been a few hiccups along the way.

“There was one woman who conceived but then suddenly changed her mind and said she wanted an abortion,” he explains. “I was devastated. I even offered to look after the baby myself if she felt that strongly; however, in the end she suffered a miscarriage.”

After helping nine couples conceive children, Kilpatrick says his days as a free sperm donor are winding down. He’s no longer donating to new couples, though he has promised to provide more to women he’s already worked with so their children can share the same DNA.

“I have helped people to make a family, something they have truly longed for,” he says. “You can’t beat the feeling that gives you.”

He continues, “I am desperate for a child of my own and I have found a lesbian couple who want to co-parent with me.”

Related: Gay Men Are Impregnating Australian Women In Record Numbers

h/t: Birmingham Mail

Serious work has been underway for a while now on the first pieces of the massive expansion at Universal Studios and Universal City, which include the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a re-creation of several of the fantastic haunts of the boy wizard and his witchy friends. Today we finally get to see what it'll look like (just in renderings, not photos). An official press release, via Inside Universal, says that the centerpiece of the World will be an flight-simulating attraction called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which, in a surprise twist, "will now be in 3D, with guests donning Quidditch-themed goggles."

According to the LA Times, in the Forbidden Journey, riders will sit on "magic benches" attached to "robotic arms" that will make the riders feel like they're flying. "The technology give guests the sensation that they are flying behind Harry Potter, avoiding dragons, giant spiders and an enchanted tree," which is probably extra fun with that 3D element.

The new Harry Potter World will also feature the first outdoor rollercoaster at Universal Studios—Flight of the Hippogriff will be an "enchanting family coaster." (Read: this isn't Six Flags, guys.) Because this is a whole world of themed fun, there will also be a Hogwarts castle; a place to buy butterbeer; shops from the movie, like Ollivanders wand emporium, where you'll be able to drop some money on wizard robes, wands, and those gnarly jellybeans that taste like earwax and old eggs.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter sits on the former site of the Gibson Amphitheater and the Curious George play area. The World's official opening date is the spring of 2016.

· Wizarding World Officially Announced [IU]
· See Harry Potter and Despicable Me Rising at Universal Studios [Curbed LA]
· NBCUniversal Evolution [Curbed LA]

We don’t care that we’ve already heard Chris Pratt tell this story to Jimmy Fallon, it’s that good.

On a recent Graham Norton Show appearance, Pratt elaborates on how his first professional head shot came to be. And for a second there, it almost sounds like there was actual head involved from the gay man who picked Pratt up at a West Hollywood post office. A girl can dream.

Related: Chris Pratt Loves To Get Naked, Doesn’t Understand How Taking Out His Junk Could Offend

Takeaway? Sometimes when someone is nice to you, they’re actually just being nice. Who would have thought?

Below, Pratt details his utterly naive thought process that may very well have resulted in the world-wide success he’s now enjoying:

When we last left off with Pietro Boselli, aka the “world’s hottest math teacher,” he got a new gig as the face (and body) of Charlie By MZ swimwear. And oh how the Gods were pleased.

Well now the 27-year-old beauty-and-the-brains has laded a cover of Attitude and a glorious photo spread to accompany it.

Head to Attitude to find out more, and enjoy this photo preview in the mean time:

In a day and age when some antigay leaders still need to be dragged out of the closet, it’s always great to see young people doing it right.

When it comes to coming out, Joey Graceffa knows the cover of People doesn’t quite cut it anymore. Today’s cultural climate calls for something far grabbier––say, a glossy four-and-a-half minute music video complete with enchanted forests, serious swordplay, magical amulets, evil ogres, and the occasional sorceress–all culminating in a fantastically gay fairy-tale kiss with a princely cohort.

Related Post: YouTuber Connor Franta Comes Out To His 3.8 Million Subscribers

That’s exactly what the Amazing Race alum and YouTube personality unleashed to a (relatively) unsuspecting public this week. The video’s release coincides with Graceffa’s 24th birthday and helps push his brand new memoir, In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World. The book candidly discusses his experiences being bullied as a child, dealing with an alcoholic mother, growing up with an autistic brother, and slowly coming to accept his own sexuality.

Never ones to be stingy when it comes to some well-deserved publicity, we thought we’d celebrate the occasion by compiling a handful of particularly enticing Graceffa snaps, highlighting his off-the-charts charisma and disarming handsomeness.

Beau in a bowtie.

No sleeves attached.

Four eyes, no shirt.

Just desserts.

Babe with the bathwater.

Rare candid shot.

Jail bait.

Doggy style.

Smoke and mirrors.

Telling a touseled tale.

Related Post: Millions Of People Follow This Homophobic Teen Dweeb On Vine