For that special commie in your life: MaoPost.com takes your photo and then hand paints it into your choice of 1,500 socialist propaganda posters; they’re real oil paintings on canvas.

Although he sadly passed this year, John Berkey’s futuristic paintings are photorealistic from a distance but painterly up-close; his works will no doubt inspire future artists.

Kitbashes, repaints, mods–whatever you call ’em, these custom action figures have us drooling. From Transformers and Star Wars to Manga Spawn(!), there’s something for everyone.

Kawasaki’s 2009 ZX-14 one-ups Aprilia’s RSV4 with four headlights; bugeyes aside, it stays at 193bhp with a 1352cc DOHC engine but will get bronze, green and black paint jobs.

Mythbusters has a preoccupation with cannons, not that we’re complaining. Their Creamer Cannon uses non-dairy creamer to create an explosion that is both terrifying and awesome to watch.

Simon Dominic Brewer’s art is a gorgeous mix of sci-fi and fantasy with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor throw in. He’s created an impressive portfolio given his four years of experience.

We were never big fans of Tron, but indie-developed Tank Universal gives those neon polygons a nice coat of glow paint with particle effects and 20 levels of tank-on-tank combat.

The Spyker C8 LM85 is sportier variant of their C8, with a two-toned orange and silver paint job and black interior. Limited to 24, its 4.2L V8 gets 400 HP and goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.

Coming October 16th, we can’t wait to get our hands on this 15th edition 7″ KidReaper by Andrew Bell. He’s perfect for Halloween, with a fabric cloak, scythe and glow in the dark paint.

Now available for preorder: Iron Man Mark II is the unpainted, pure metallic version of Tony Stark’s vigilante alter ego and boy does it look hot. And yes, it comes with the repulsor hand.

We’ve been having a bit too much fun with light painting lately, but we can’t help it: this trippy stop-motion 4th of July video by Jon Thomas is perfectly set to MGMT’s “Kids”.

The Residents is a set of vinyls by Steven Cerio, named after an avant-garde band of the same name. There are only 100 available, ranging from painted to glow in the dark.

Hot Toys’ Iron Man Mark III reads like an ultimate action figure wishlist: 36 articulation points, sleek metallic paint, and 3 swappable hands. Sweet: the eyes, heart and repulsor hand light up.

Rolled out recently at Pebble Beach, Volkswagen’s CC Gold Coast Edition gets a special “tri-coat” of paint with gold, brown and silver tones, 19″ propeller rims and a ground effects package.

Urban War Fair’s Mini Skully comes in at 4″ and is ideal for cubicle jockeys; the little vinyl skulls ward off evil spirits, annoying coworkers and nosy bosses. Buy pre-painted or DIY.

Photographer Troy Paiva’s book, Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, is a must read. Using a technique called light painting, he mixes flashlight with moonlight to produce otherworldly photos.

The Awesomer is a daily blog filled with awesome stuff for awesome people. Initially conceptualized as a gadget shopping blog, it’s now more or less a massive repository for whatever we find interesting. We’re like that closet that you throw everything into, albeit a bit more organized, and minus the ratty tee you’ve worn since freshman year.

In short, The Awesomer samples a bit of everything – from gadgets to cars, from clothing to video games. The more interesting/funky/goofy, the better.

How We Do It

The Awesomer’s content is sourced the old fashioned way: each day, we peruse thousands of stories and visit hundreds of blogs, online stores and social media sites in an effort to find the very best “stuff.” We also receive numerous submissions from our own readers via our Suggest Link form.

A Few Stats

Curating every post by hand is time consuming, but it’s paid off: since launching in August 2008, The Awesomer has had nearly 50 million unique visitors, with an exceptionally high repeat visitation and time on site for our industry. 89% of our visitors are male, 47% are between the ages of 18-34, and 70% are college or grad school educated. (Stats as of June 2018).

We’ve posted over 50,000 stories. We’ve been linked from such respected sites as Gizmodo, Boing Boing, PC Magazine, Geekologie, Laughing Squid, Neatorama, NotCot, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, Geeky Gadgets, The PreSurfer and more.

On Clarity, Transparency and Community

The Awesomer is about clarity: every post is short and sweet, with clearly marked outgoing links. If it’s a product, we provide a price and/or a link to the relevant website; if we find a story elsewhere, we always credit the source.

Any items we receive for review are only included if they meet our strict editorial guidelines, and any sponsorships always clearly indicated. We figure the more transparent we are, the easier it’ll be for you, our valued reader, to find exactly what you want. Click here to read our full disclosure statement.

We know we’re not perfect, which is why we allow you to “Like” a post. This allows us to iteratively refine our selections and find only the most awesome things. We also encourage you to contact us with any suggestions, comments or corrections.

Lastly, we invite you to join and interact with us on Facebook or Twitter. We’re always up for meeting new faces and love to hear from our readers!

A Special Thank You

The Awesomer’s concept was inspired by excellent sites like NotCot and Uncrate, and it is before them we prostrate ourselves. Without you, we’d all be leafing through K-Mart mailers and painting on the ceilings of stone caves.

We also wish to thank our dear readers, for whom we’ve created this site and to whom we owe its existence. From messages of support and bug fixes to suggested links, you help to shape this site and inspire us to deliver ever-more relevant and awesome content. Kudos to all of you!