"Panda Poets. Fond of spelling bees, apparently."

Naturally, I had to pick it up.

Developed by Spry Fox, Panda Poet is an adorable, and utterly addictive, little word game in which players shoot for the high score by spelling out words using the letters provided; the longer the word, the higher the point total, naturally.

So where do the pandas fit in?

Pandas add to the point total each turn, and larger pandas are worth more.

Players begin with a single tiny panda in the center of the screen.

As letters are used, they become little pandas themselves.  Little pandas join up to form slightly larger pandas, which in turn, come together to form still larger pandas.  And on and on.

Here’s a screenshot:

"Pandas - perfect for the black and white Kindle."

After each turn, more and more letters are revealed.

There’s one wrinkle, however.  The numbers (shown in subscript) next to the letters count down with every turn until they reach zero, at which point the letter turns into a skull and is no longer playable, limiting the room for your pandas to spread out.

Panda Poet is a fun little diversion; well worth the $2.99 it costs to download the game.

Alliterative appeal aside, the title’s a bit misleading, really.  The game has little to do with poetry (they both involve words, I suppose?), and the pandas could just as well have been penguins, or piggies or, well, anything at all really.

(Although, truth be told, if it weren’t for the ridiculously cute giant pandas, I most likely would never have bought the game.)

Kindle owners, check out the game’s official site at pandapoet.com.

"Cute Panda Alt Mode For Megatron"

Stumbled onto this nifty “Pandatron” sketch featuring Megatron’s lesser known panda transformation by artist E. J. Su, best known for his work on IDW’s Transformers comics.

You can check out more of his work at his official blog here.

(Now THAT is one hell of an angry panda.)

In the newspaper, on T-Shirts, plastered all over flyers, etc.

Pissed off pandas, grumpy pandas, surly pandas, …

Apparently, the guy who does these panda pieces goes by the name Angry Woebot. 

He also sometimes goes out in public dressed in an Ewok costume, but that’s besides the point.

His real name’s Aaron Martin, and he’s going to be making an appearance at Split Obsession in Koko Marina Shopping Center tomorrow at 5 p.m.  You can get your hands on a limited edition T-Shirt and/or print featuring the furious panda in the first pic.

The guy’s originally from Hawaii, which is cool.  And apparently he has a thing for pandas.  Also cool.

The pandas are nifty looking, but whenever I see one, it always makes me wonder:

Why so angry, panda? 

You’re a panda!