I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Croc. I remember playing a demo in a Virgin Megastore in Canterbury and falling in love with the little green crocodile, the daft characters, and the bright worlds, but then I played the full game, and it tested my patience. You’d line up a jump, the camera would disappear, you'd misjudge the distance, and you'd end up back at the start of the level. Charming? Yes. Infuriating? Also yes.

Croc 2: Kingdom of the Gobbos arrived in 1999 as an ambitious sequel for the time, with larger levels, hub worlds to explore, more secrets, and fuller controls. It was also a time when 3D platformers were still figuring out how to work in three dimensions. Super Mario 64 had set the standard for camera-relative movement, while Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon found their own ways to make 3D spaces feel natural. Croc, like Gex and Bubsy 3D, stuck closer to tank-style controls, which could feel stiff and unresponsive.

Twenty-seven years on, that background and context matter because Croc 2 remains a curious bit of gaming history, but Argonaut has done something sensible and simple with this remaster: it’s made Croc less annoying.

Croc learns some new tricks

The big change is the controls, and the difference is immediate. Croc now moves with the freedom you’d expect from a modern 3D platformer. Running, turning and jumping feel natural, transitions are smoother, and the new triple jump gives you the height to reach platforms that once demanded a fiddly mix of positioning and luck.

The improved camera helps too, especially when you’re judging a leap and trying to work out where a platform sits; those spiked pits, rope swings, and elevator platforms no longer have me tearing my hair out, thankfully, because nearly 30 years on, I have less of it to tug out in frustration. None of this sounds revolutionary, but it’s exactly what the game needed to be playable in 2026.

If you grew up with the original and prefer the old tank controls and all the pain that comes with them, you can switch back. You can even mix things up, using the shoulder buttons to sidestep and line Croc up for a jump, while still using modern controls. The original experience remains: longer levels, tricky jumps, weird little characters, and collectables; you just don’t have to put up with its flaws.

The graphics get the same light touch. The old worlds are brighter and more colourful, with updated textures that freshen things up without losing the charm of those chunky, low-poly characters. Croc still looks like Croc, with boggle eyes and a little squat run, but it's sharper, cleaner, and brighter. You can flip back to the original visuals, complete with CRT scanlines, at any point from the Pause menu, and the old textures have their own scruffy charm that will take you right back to playing on the first PlayStation.

A bigger adventure, with some very odd characters

The adventure spans more than 40 levels across four villages: Sailor, Cossack, Caveman and Inca. It offers more variety than the first game, with different environments, missions, and vehicles. Croc can ride minecarts, race cars and speedboats, glide through the air and even fly a wooden aeroplane. But some of these mini-game-like additions are fairly basic; for example, calling them ‘speedboat’ races wouldn’t pass the Trade Description Act, maybe ‘trundle-boat racing’. Essentially, don’t expect Mario Kart.

Putting aside the remaster’s updates, Croc 2 remains a fairly straightforward platformer, and some levels feel like a string of small rooms with obstacles rather than carefully built playgrounds. You can collect crystals, rescue Gobbos and hunt for secrets, but don’t expect the intricate design of a modern indie platformer or even the sandbox of Toy Story 3 Complete Edition.

Even with the better controls, the levels often lack depth. Some are short and sweet, others drag, and the challenge can still come down to nailing a jump rather than solving an interesting bit of level design.

Argonaut has made some useful behind-the-scenes changes. Footprint Gongs have been refined so respawns put you closer to where you fell, meaning less ground to cover. Anyone who remembers the original will appreciate that. You can still lose all your lives and get booted out of a level for a hard restart. There are no rewinds or quick saves to bail you out. I don’t mind, though there are moments when you wish the game were a little kinder, such as when you get close to the end of a level with one Heart remaining and a series of platforms you know will slide the little fella into a lava pool, because the game still has some historic design choices like slightly drifting momentum.

But for those of us who liked the character but struggled with the originals, this Croc 2 remaster is a much more enjoyable way back into a semi-classic game.

The Croc2pedia is a little treasure

I could happily have played the remaster just to see how much better it feels, but the Croc2pedia is what makes this release interesting.

This in-game museum is packed with original development material: design documents, marketing assets, 3D models, animation tests, and cut content. Poking around these old files and seeing how the game came together is a real treat. I especially liked the design files that detail how the game was pitched and what the developers wanted to achieve at the time – 360-degree movement, yay! – and the character and level models, which show the thinking behind the finished game and the ideas that were dropped along the way. Stuff like this usually vanishes into a studio archive or ends up scattered across fan sites.

The 90-minute Croc2mentary is another highlight. It pulls together interviews with members of the original and remaster teams, split into five- and ten-minute chunks, so you can dip in, watch a few and get back to the game without committing to a full documentary.

And for a series with a complex history, Croc began life as a 3D Yoshi platformer before becoming its own thing; it’s a reminder of how projects change direction and how characters and mechanics evolve as a team wrestles with creative and technical problems.

I ended up spending more time in the Croc2pedia than I did playing the game itself. Even if you’re not a Croc 2 fan, it’s well worth a look if you’re into game art, character design or world-building. As I said in my recent Joe & Mac Retro Collection review, the more remasters that offer historical extras, the better, and Croc 2 does it better than most.

Croc 2: Kingdom of the Gobbos is a fun time capsule

Is Croc 2: Kingdom of the Gobbos a great game? Not really, and it never was (don’t hate me, Croc fans). It’s cute, colourful and fun in short bursts, but the level design is simple, and it still carries the limitations of its era. It does play better than I remember, though. The new controls, triple jump, and improved camera remove much of the original's frustration.

And if you really hate yourself, you can set everything back to the original settings and remind yourself just how awkward ‘90s platformers could be. The option to switch back to tank controls and old-school visuals means you lose nothing. You can play Croc 2 as it was, or give the little mascot the freedom it probably should have had all along.

For me, the Croc2pedia is what makes this worth buying. The interviews, design documents, artwork, curated insights and cut content give an otherwise solid remaster a reason to exist beyond nostalgia. As a platformer, Croc 2 is an enjoyable little curio, but as a window into how games were made, it has teeth.

Over on X users bombarded the teaser video with reactions, from the somewhat restrained, “You guys are gulping the whole AI stuff without its users in mind” to the angry, “I’m going to have a good laugh when they use AI to reverse-engineer all your programs, and you go bankrupt. If you’ve got the nerve to screw us artists over, I hope you get a taste of your own medicine,” and the blunt, “A slop generator, cool”.

Some looked beyond outrage and perhaps gave Maxon some leeway to see where this can help: “If you want to use AI in a 3D program, the most useful feature would be for making UVs. I hate UV'ing; it's like making the model again,” says a user.

Of all the comments, I find this one from ‘Augenhorn’ sums up the situation generally with AI in creative apps, with just the right balance of cynicism, scepticism and grudging concession: “This is not how people will use it. They will feed in AI slop to get out a slop Model and then fiddle around with it tiredly, only to go all the way over to get scammed by Higgsfield. Anyway, nice feature though; it’s all not your fault… love and pay C4D for 14 years now.”

Maxon embraces generative AI

This isn’t Maxon’s first time with AI, and it follows Autodesk's lead in using the tech to make 3D modelling and animation more accessible. In March, Maxon announced a partnership with Tencent Cloud to bring its HY 3D generative AI engine into Cinema 4D, letting artists generate base 3D models and UVs from text prompts or image references. The plan is to let artists take those AI-generated starting points into Cinema 4D's existing tools to sculpt, refine, animate and render them. This could tease a fuller reveal of that integration.

Cinema 4D remains one of the best 3D modelling software packages, and also now supports AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude, which can use the software's tools to handle jobs like organising scenes, creating material variations, and setting up renders. The idea is to take some of the more repetitive work off an artist's hands while keeping them in control of the scene.

But there's a difference between an assistant that helps you get through a tedious afternoon of production work and a tool that generates 3D assets from a prompt, and artists have different opinions on where that line should sit, even as brands like Maxon, Autodesk, and Adobe begin to blur it. Maxon's AI plans have already attracted criticism, including its response to Digital Twin, its tool for placing existing 3D product models into AI-generated marketing environments.

The wider creative AI dilemma

With all this in mind, and knowing AI is affecting creative jobs, it's unsurprising that when another AI tease appears, some artists don't exactly reach for the champagne. The bigger concern is how quickly creative software companies are embracing generative AI, and whether the promise of faster workflows is worth the potential cost to the craft and the people who make a living from it.

It's not yet clear whether this latest teaser ties into the planned Tencent integration, Cinema 4D's existing AI assistant tools, or something entirely different. Until Maxon provides more detail, it's hard to judge what the tool will actually do, let alone whether artists should welcome it or worry about it.

Still, Maxon is finding that selling AI features to a creative audience isn't as easy as some software companies might have hoped. Artists want to see what these tools can do, but they also want to know why they're being made, how they'll fit into a real working day and what the company thinks the future of 3D art should look like.

Since the launch of the MacBook Neo, we've seen Apple opt for a quirkier marketing style, and I, for one, am here for it. From the introduction of the Lil' Finder Guy mascot to the release of some of its best adverts to date, Apple finally feels like a brand with personality.

In a new Instagram post, Apple flexed its classic #shotoniPhone campaign with a twist, showcasing the work of young creatives. From a Photo Booth inspired mirror to a larger-than-life hand-crafted iPod Nano, Gen Z are looking to the past with a contemporary twist.

"Reminds me of the 90’s PlayStation ads more of THIS please," one fan responded. "Seven photographers, one phone, and every frame feels like a different mood. It's a nice reminder that the best camera is mostly about who is holding it," another added.

Over on X, the attention was on one particular image – a high-fashion jacket comprised of tangled wired EarPods. "Apple this is stuff of nightmares," a fan on X joked.

The selected images strike a perfect balance of nostalgia and modern design. As Gen Z transforms the familiar into tactile contemporary art, there's an element of disorder and playfulness that signals Apple is finally letting go of its slick, space grey stuffiness.

For more design inspiration, check out Apple Music's new logo or take a look at how this modded iPod became our design editor's favourite piece of tech,

But the Italian studio's crowdfunded Food Devils, due for release on 3 November on PC via Steam, is the Fire Emblem-style tactics RPG he's always wanted to make.

Beyond the grid-based battles, it's a different take on the genre, not just because it's also a roguelite. You play as the last chef in a post-apocalyptic world, hunting monsters and turning them into tasty dishes for your restaurant. You won't be alone, though, because you can also sign contracts with the Food Devils, each representing a different aspect of food throughout humanity's history.

"When approaching such a vast theme, we wanted a mix of concepts commonly associated with food, without being too cliché," Kamon tells me. These include the Hunter Devil inspired by prehistoric cavemen and dinosaur themes, the Fisher Devil that takes the form of a refined Japanese-style swordsman (with the irony that all fish have disappeared in this world), and even a Vegan Devil, which is a twist on the typical nature theme, since it wouldn't be vegan to eat a vegetable monster.

"For each character, we went through various design phases, from initial brainstorming to a pool of three possible designs," Kamon explains. "We then put those three designs up for a vote among our VIP Kickstarter backers and collected a lot of useful feedback, which we used to create the final designs."

Given the Fire Emblem inspirations, the character design is notably influenced by anime, including the suggestive fanservice the aesthetic is also associated with. It's fair to say that a factor in the popularity of many modern JRPGs includes how visually appealing the characters are, and whether you can romance them, something Food Devils consciously leans into.

"We adore making anime games, but we also wanted the appeal of the art style to be immediately recognisable on social media, so we followed the 'meta' of the anime games community and made very appealing characters and scenes. I must say, it worked," Kamon laughs, just as aware it's not going to convert anyone who already assumes anime is for perverts. "We can’t make a game that literally everyone will love, and we want to focus on our target instead."

There's nonetheless a lot of substance to the game's loop itself, which you can also check out for yourself in a pretty meaty prologue demo that contains around 3-4 hours' worth of content, which should put to bed assumptions that it's just 'thirst trap' or 'waifu bait'. "Unfortunately, there's a tendency nowadays to associate suggestive content with low-effort bait, due to the huge number of AI-generated hentai games or the increasingly revealing characters in gacha games," Kamon admits. But even as a small remote studio that relies on outsourcing, including 2D animation and localisation, the team has kept core aspects in-house, including concept art, while layered art is prepared before being sent to freelance animators.

While the Food Devils are the obvious highlights, you can also recruit countless procedurally generated human adventurers. Creating all the possible variations arguably required far more effort and assets, even though they were intentionally designed to be less memorable.

"In a roguelike, you often lose units, and that's part of the stakes of the game (and part of the fun)," Kamon explains. "So we designed the Devils to be the main story characters, while the adventurers serve as the units that accompany you on your adventure. They're more akin to the custom heroes in Etrian Odyssey or Darkest Dungeon."

While he admits it would have been easier to generate these units as 3D characters, the 2D character presentation, whether on the grid or side-by-side in battle, was intentionally meant to evoke the 2D Fire Emblem games. "We opted for a 'seinen' art style with thick, black lines and darker tones in character portraits, especially for the Devils," Kamon adds. "One of our main inspirations was Berserk. There's a stark contrast between how Guts and the demons are drawn and how the 'kinder' characters are. So we wanted to replicate that contrast in our aesthetic too, with the Devils and monsters versus the human adventurers and colourful food."

When it comes to designing the food, Kamon actually drew on his own experience as a home cook. "To me, food is what connects people," he concludes. "It's also one of the main reasons why I made a game about food: everyone has to eat, no matter their background. When designing the recipes, I keep this concept in mind and try to make something that I could imagine a lot of people enjoying in real life too, then swap the ingredients for monstrous ones!"

Food Devils launches on 3 November for PC, and you can download the free prologue demo on Steam.

Well, until a couple of years ago, anyhow.

For the last two Christmases, unfortunately, the soft drinks giant has ruined it all for me by sticking AI-generated effects into its commercials. Not just that, but actively boasting about it. (If you were lucky enough to miss last year's monstrosity, our article Coca-Cola's AI ad just ruined Christmas... again allows you to relive it in all its gruesome glory.)

I mean, I can understand the shop down the road – the one that never seems to have any customers and is clearly operating on a shoestring – reaching for gen AI to save a few pennies. But a company valued at $400 billion? Do me a favour.

So it's a real pleasure to see Prada heading in the right direction here. Drawing Prada, its holiday campaign for 2026, brings its celeb ambassadors (Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Chen Haoyu, Kelvin Harrison Jr and Luther Ford) into cartoon worlds drawn entirely by hand.

A sardonic fox trails Maya through the snow; a goofy lynx peers out from behind a tree at Kelvin; and a trio of mice make off with Sadie's spotty loafers. It all feels very "classic Disney", and that's no coincidence.

The animation was directed by John Pomeroy, who started out at Disney in the 1970s, co-founded the studio behind The Secret of NIMH with Don Bluth, and later returned to the House of Mouse for Pocahontas.

Alongside him on the Prada campaign is lead animator Tom Bancroft, whose credits include Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Mulan.

"What's great is that John called the band back together," Tom explains in Prada's behind-the-scenes reel. "He called a bunch of us that had been working at other studios for many years doing traditional hand drawn animation. It's great to be back and doing this for Prada."

That experience and that enthusiasm show. Prada itself never mentions AI slop, but then it doesn't need to. This is the antidote, staring you in the face, and it's utterly delightful.

A campaign that puts experienced animators back to work, and celebrates what they do, is certainly something I'd like to see a lot more of. If a fashion house can see the value in that, then surely the world's biggest soft drinks brand can too. Over to you, Coca-Cola.

After getting a few days listening to these new earphones, what's important to me is that the MiracleOne, on sale today for $199.99, prioritises comfort and design just as much as sound quality. It's enough for me to consider it for our list of the best IEMs under $500.

What am I talking about? Well, the MiracleOne uses just one driver, so it’s tiny (6mm across, where most single-driver sets use 8-10mm). That means smaller shells, lessening the strain on your ears over long sessions. And the design is a really cool transparent resin that allows you to see what's going on inside. A design choice I can definitely get behind.

Looks and specs

The shells are made from transparent resin, so you can see the gold 2-pin sockets, the acoustic tubing and a small black circuit board, finished off with a polished metal nozzle. In short, if you like seeing the gubbins in your gear – the sort of approach popularised by the Nothing range – you’ll love it. If you don't, you won't.

The driver is made from a soft, springy silicone material, and sits inside two small sound chambers designed to tune the sound. One of these is designed to take the harsh edge off high notes. The other keeps the bass tight.

Handily, the cable detaches from the earpieces, so you can replace it if it breaks. You also get a carrying case and ear tips in three styles, each of which tweaks the sound slightly (fuller, clearer or more spacious). Note that you’ll need to pick your plug when you order. The standard 3.5mm suits most people, while the 4.4mm might be better for dedicated music players and headphone amps.

Here's the killer question, though: how does it compare with similarly priced IEMs? Well, listening to the MiracleOne, I immediately thought of the classic New Meta Kiwi Ears KE4 – one of our choices among the best IEMs under $500?

The KE4 is a hybrid with two dynamic drivers and two balanced armatures, while the MiracleOne relies on just one driver. Both have a warm, easy-going sound, but the KE4’s big strength is its midrange – vocals and instruments come through rich and detailed, backed by a wad of bass that can sometimes get a bit boomy.

I'd say that both the KE4 and the MiracleOne share a similar deep, rumbling bass, but MiracleOne has better separation between that bass and the midrange. They're both smooth in the upper mids, but I feel that vocals are a little more forward with MO than the KE4.

Ultimately, I think this is a strong single-dynamic IEM that trades punches with an established classic, so it's well worth checking out. The fact that it looks better than 90% of IEMs isn't going to hurt its chances of success either.

The pair that first opened my eyes was the Sennheiser HD 550, and it blew me away because its neutral/bright sound profile encouraged me to focus on higher frequency detail that I otherwise wouldn’t have noticed. The HD 550 also offers an excellent midrange with natural timbre, but it was the exciting treble that I fixated on.

The $400 Sennheiser HD 480 Pro isn’t here to excite you. Made for studio pros, specifically for tracking and mixing, the 480 Pro isn’t made for audiophiles, so instead of throwing fireworks at you, it delivers a neutral, balanced, accurate sound signature.

The result is the best closed-back pair of headphones that I’ve heard yet, and my new go-to recommendation if you’re looking for a set of the best-sounding headphones on sale today.

Sound profile

Overall, bass and treble are gloriously well-balanced without overshadowing the midrange. That’s a feat for any type of headphone – including the more forgiving open or Bluetooth sets – let alone a closed-back pair. The overall sound is correct-sounding with a touch of warmth. Nothing is out of place, and listening to music I’ve been familiar with for several decades, it all just sounds as it should.

The only negative aspects to the 480 Pro are preference-based, as opposed to glaring tuning errors. For example, you might prefer a different approach to treble than the 480 Pro – yet the 480 Pro’s treble is the best version of its approach that I’ve heard. Altogether, this is an exceptional-sounding headphone, and the best closed-back I’ve ever used.

Bass: This bass is full with plenty of detail and slam, putting a focus on sub-bass yet still offering plenty of mid-bass punch. I find this presentation detailed, with some nice ‘grip’ to it. If I’m nit-picking, I can totally see it being too much bass for audiophiles searching for Perfect Neutral, yet what’s on offer here doesn’t step on the toes of the midrange. It does, however, lend a warmth to things that some might not like (it’s definitely my jam).

You can get bigger bass in the far less expensive $160 FiiO FT1. However, you don’t hear bass in a vacuum, and where the FT1’s midrange’s clarity is hit by the wads of (wonderfully executed) low range, the 480 Pro’s overall balance remains faultless.

Playing Parliament’s Give Up The Funk, I love the fullness of Bootsy Collins' guitar bass in the intro. It has body and slam, backed up with a substantial sub-bass that grounds the whole thing. On lesser sets that simply ramp up the bass, lower frequency details get lost easily, and listening to familiar music becomes frustrating – you can't hear the detail you know is there. That’s not the case with the 480 Pro. I get quality and quantity, and let there be no doubt, there’s plenty of quantity here!

Midrange: There’s more focus on the mid and upper mids, and less on the lower mids here. That makes the bass and lower mids seem more distinct, which is a presentation some people will love, and some will feel lacks cohesion. For me, the 480 Pro has the best of both worlds here, with the mid-bass being distinct enough from the mids so it hits hard, but not so much that the lower mids sound lean.

The ear gain region – the bane of many a headphone tuner – is exceptionally well done. I hear a little dip just before an elevation around 2.45kHz then again at 2.9-3.5 kHz, followed by a noticeable dip around 4kHz. The former elevations are never too much, and serve as extra seasoning on male and female vocals.

4kHz is actually an area which usually gives me issues, so I tend toward headphones that plateau around 2-4kHz instead of putting a spotlight on that area. The HD 480 Pro isn’t shy in this region, but it still doesn’t come across as shouty or grating. Instead, everything in the midrange comes across as timbrally correct. That’s basically the hardest thing to do with audio – any chump can make headphones sound ‘exciting’. The HD 480 Pro makes instruments and vocals sound correct, all balanced with each other. And when you put on a beautifully-produced track, the results are ‘right’.

Treble: To my ears, there’s a generally relaxed approach to the lower treble that I initially read as dark. However, the more I listened to the 480 Pro, the more I found Sennheiser’s approach to the treble was purposeful and in accordance with the balanced approach of the bass and mids.

I get a little spice around 6.6-7kHz, a dip around 8kHz, and then a little bit more around 9kHz. But as with the ear gain region, these slight peaks give added dimension to the sound, rather than sounding piercing or sibilant. In fact, this is the smoothest detailed treble I’ve heard, whether open- or closed-back. Michael Jackson’s remarkably bright Billie Jean has all its stabbing peaks rounded off, and Lucinda Williams’ jarringly sibilant Sweet Old World blends in rather than stands out. That never happens!

Of course, as I've said, a subtle, smooth, balanced treble isn’t everyone’s idea of audiophile-grade audio (Grado still sells headphones, after all). I happen to love the HiFiMan HE1000, with its comparably elevated treble profile. I love that it, along with its incredibly open ear cups, gives me a sense of crisp detail – it’s what I think of when I think ‘audiophile’. And yet, the HE1000 isn’t a practical set for everyday use. It’s a specialised headphone for specific moments. With its balanced sound, the Sennheiser is both an everyday set for YouTube doom scrolling and a specialised set for critical listening. It’s a rare bird in that it excels in every area, so that it may appear unexceptional. That's far from the case.

Price, value, alternatives

At $399/£339, the Sennheiser HD 480 Pro is in a competitive price bracket. It's also in a tricky spot for budget-conscious creatives who may look to the cheaper workhorse classic, the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro ($200).

The value proposition here, however, is undeniable and convincing. Where the DT 770 Pro offers bucket-loads of perceived detail with its incredibly elevated, sibilant treble, the 480 Pro offers unparalleled neutrality that can be enjoyed for hours on end without fatigue.

Closed-back headphones notoriously struggle with boomy bass, due to internal acoustic reflections and resonant standing waves trapped inside the sealed ear cup. But Sennheiser tames low-end clutter without muddying the mix. This is really very rare. Factor in the featherlight 272g build and washable components, and it’s a brilliant, durable investment. For me, at $400, this represents excellent value. After all, it's one of the best headphones I've heard, and it will last many, many years.

HD 480 Pro vs Focal Azurys

The HD 480 Pro slams just as much as the renowned Focal Azurys in the bass, but it's cleaner and clearer, without reverting to the overly-bright approach of the Focal set.

The Azurys is a very comfortable, cool-looking pair of headphones, but it offers more of a V-shape sound profile than the perfectly-balanced HD 480.

The upside of that is that the Azurys is a more exciting, dynamic pair of headphones. More bass and more treble mean more contrast. The midrange is really good with the Azurys as well. Yet it's not the star, as it's slightly overshadowed by all the excitement. You get none of these compromises with the HD 480 Pro.

For me, the smoothness of treble in the HD 480 allows everything to pull focus, whereas the comparatively sharper Azurys can sound almost hollow in comparison. And I think this is largely down to treble, as both cans sound very similar in the midrange (and certainly graph so).

The Focal Azurys retail for $599, though you can currently (and frequently) get them for more like $449 over at Amazon, and though I'd recommend them to certain people, I'd recommend the HD 480 Pro to everyone.

HD 480 Pro vs FiiO FT1

I have a soft spot for the FiiO FT1 – and not just because they are one of the best value pair of closed-back headphones in existence, at $165 over at Amazon. They sound fantastic, with their vaguely absurd levels of bass, which is plenty detailed and only messes with the lower mids a bit (coping much?!)

But A/B testing the FT1 with the HD 480 Pro, I still think it holds up... kind of. Sure it offers a more dynamic V-shape sound profile to the Sennheiser cans, but just like the Azurys, it does exciting well. The bass is definitely the boss here, but the midrange isn't just bullied around as is the case with so many bass cannons.

However, when comparing the treble responses, it's like comparing a scalpel to a sledgehammer. The HD 480 Pro walks a fine line between detail and sibilance.

Switching between the two on K-Lone’s glitchy treble showcase 'slk', the FT1 ramps up the highs, almost shouting the detail at you. While the 480 Pro conveys all the same top-end information with more body. I know that might sound weird, to refer to treble having body, but that's what I get from the 480 Pro – a far fuller picture.

DAC/Amp requirements

The Sennheiser HD 480 Pro is relatively easy to drive despite its 130 Ω impedance, because its sensitivity is reasonably high at 107 dB SPL (1 Vrms) or 98 dB SPL (1 mW).

What that means in practice is an M-chipped MacBook or modern PC will drive the HD 480 Pro effortlessly with ample headroom.

For music listening, a $9 Apple dongle will give you all the clean power you actually need. The only real limitation would be maximum volume if you're working with quiet, uncompressed studio recordings – which I don't!

Bottom line: for the majority of music fans thinking about buying the HD 480 Pro, as long as you have a $9 Apple dongle, you're golden.

Build & comfort

Build and comfort are big wins for the Sennheiser HD 480 Pro. Although it may look like a lot of other headphones, this set really is amongst the most comfortable out there.

It's the combination of light plastic, stainless spring steel, and soft velour ear cups that make this a durable, lightweight headphone that doesn't register even after hours of use. And with that steel, you know this headphone is going to retain its shape, no matter how it's treated.

This level of comfort is rare on a single headband headphone (ie, not headphones with dedicated comfort straps to distribute the weight on your head). I've previously had to add an additional Capra strap to make most single-band headphones bearable – such as the FiiO FT1, or the HEDD D1. And all these super light materials are replaceable – the detachable headband padding is even washable!

The width and depth of the ear cups are such that my average-sized ears never touch the driver housing, and the depth and soft materials of the cups mean that the passive isolation is excellent.. This is actually one of the highlights for me, as I work in a home office with my beautiful (noisy!) wife and an equally beautiful, noisy gaming PC. With the 480 Pro, I get to immerse myself in great sound, and not be distracted by either.

This is a well-designed headphone that's not built for show, but is built to last a very long time. For $400, this should be the standard – if I'm going to spend $400 on headphones, I want to be listening to them in 20 years' time. And there's no reason that won't be the case with the HD 480 Pro.

Should you buy it?

I've given this pair of headphones a full five stars, so the answer is obviously, 'yes, yes, yes – of course you should buy it'. But that doesn't mean they're for everyone.

So, who is this headphone not for? I think any audiophile who wants a detail monster set that offers high-treble sizzle excitement and accompanying hearing loss should give the 480 Pro a miss. Instead, pick up a HiFiMan– my current favourite is the HiFiMan HE1000 Stealth.

The Sennheiser 480 Pro doesn't get in the way of the music. It presents it honestly and clearly. It lacks the fireworks of the more exciting sets out there, but this is a pair of headphones that you can use all day, every day with absolutely no issues – in sound or comfort.

If you want timbral accuracy, supreme comfort, and the passive isolation benefits of a closed-back, there is currently no better option than the Sennheiser 480 Pro.

I always preferred Bonk!'s oddball platforming and Toki's tighter, almost shooter-like design to the Joe & Mac series, but in the early ’90s, if you owned a console, you needed Data East's caveman ninja. The cavemen were daft, the dinosaurs were enormous, and the colours leapt from my old CRT. I was happy to revisit these games on Switch 2 (I'm playing the Switch edition), but I wasn’t expecting the two sequels to leave the biggest impression.

The Joe & Mac Retro Collection brings together three Data East SNES games: Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja, Congo’s Caper, and Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics (known as Joe & Mac 3 in Japan). They’re all variations on the same prehistoric platforming idea, but each takes it in a slightly different direction. The original is an arcade conversion, Congo’s Caper is a proper console platformer of the era, and the third game adds a small map, some exploration and the option to build a camp and woo cave girls. Well, you didn’t get that in Toki.

Three caveman games, three different takes

The original Joe & Mac is the simplest of the bunch. You run, jump and fling weapons at dinosaurs and other prehistoric nasties, moving through colourful stages until you reach the next boss. It’s straightforward arcade stuff, and the loose animation makes it easy to forgive the old-school frustrations like sudden deaths, enemies respawning just off-screen, and forced weapon pick-ups that make life harder (does anyone really like the stone wheel throwables?).

The dinosaur designs are still adorable. Their eyes bulge when they’re hit, and their little bodies wobble, and even getting battered by one is funny to watch. The bosses, though, rarely offer much of a challenge, and the action doesn’t have the staying power of the games that follow.

Congo’s Caper is where things get more interesting. Its core design has more in common with Sonic the Hedgehog and Kid Chameleon than the arcade original, with greater emphasis on platforming, exploration, and finding things tucked away off the main route. Hidden rooms and collectables give you a reason to poke around, and the climbable vines that grow up the screen are a lovely bit of old-school design. Take the easy route, or hang around while the vines grow and see how far up you can get?

Then there’s Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics (erm, 3?), which returns to the original's action-platform template but takes it a step further. There’s a map, you choose which levels to tackle, and between bouts of dinosaur-bashing you can build a camp and woo cave girls by spending collected stone coins on flowers. It’s a much bigger game than the original, with a bolder art direction and more to do than just reach the end of a stage.

I can’t escape the feeling that this one owes something to Toki. The bigger pixel designs and seed-spitting combat remind me of that game’s mix of shooting and traversal. The ground shifts beneath your ape’s weight, ice makes him slide, and the levels offer more than just platforms and enemies to clear. It borrows from a good source, and the extra ideas work.

Having all three together lets you watch the series work through those ideas. The first game nails the basic formula; Congo’s Caper makes platforming the main thing in a very 90s console-specific way – more complex levels, secrets, power upgrades, collectables – and Lost in the Tropics brings the two together with some exploration and more ways to dispatch dinosaurs. Most people will remember the original, but the sequels have more legs, more ideas and, in 2026, more playability.

Bosses, bonkers animation and rewind

The art is what keeps me coming back, and honestly, it's what I loved about these games back in the '90s. These games are bright, chunky, and full of character, with exaggerated 16-bit animation that makes everything feel slightly over-the-top and vibrant. The bosses show it off best in their exaggerated, head-heavy designs and attack methods: a T-Rex spits its caveman lunch, and a diplodocus spurts water jets.

The new Boss Rush mode lets you take on the bosses from all three games in succession. The later games offer more variety, and it’s a good excuse to enjoy the designs without replaying entire levels. I particularly like how Lost in the Tropics teases its bosses before you fight them. The triceratops that smashes through an ice wall piece by piece is wonderfully dramatic. The effect is simple, but the build-up makes the reveal land.

Red Art Games has included the modern conveniences you’d hope for. Rewind rescues you when an old platformer catches you out, and save states mean you don’t have to replay the same sections to get back to where you were. It also offers an optional CRT filter and a selection of custom frames, which smooth out the old pixels like the TVs would.

More than a ROM collection

There’s some real preservation work here. You get the Western releases alongside the Japanese editions, including the uncensored Japanese version of Caveman Ninja, which will interest anyone curious about how these games were presented in different markets.

The virtual unboxing lets you look over the original SNES boxes, cartridges and manuals, and an art gallery gathers concept designs and character sketches. You don’t get the feel of a real manual, as the physical editions will, due for release in 2027, but you can flick through the originals.

I’d have liked more on the people who made these games, perhaps interviews or oral histories. Digital Eclipse has shown how much richer a retro collection can be when it pairs development stories with the artwork and packaging, as I found in the recent Toy Toy Story: Retro Roundup! + Toy Story 3 Complete Edition. Here, I wanted to know more about the artists behind those bulging dinosaur eyes and how the games changed from one entry to the next, but I only had the sketches to look at.

Should you buy Joe & Mac Retro Collection on Switch 2?

This collection is better than I expected. Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is still a charming slice of early-’90s arcade platforming, though it shows its age. Congo’s Caper is more inventive and rewards exploration but feels like a very of its time platformer, while Lost in the Tropics takes the series somewhere bigger and more involved.

The lack of developer interviews is a missed opportunity, and these are still old platformers with all the quirks that entails. But rewind, save states, and Boss Rush give them new life, and the virtual packaging and art gallery show that someone cares about preserving them properly.

If you remember playing Joe & Mac in the ’90s, you'll find plenty here. If you don’t, the two sequels might surprise you, and that's why I’d recommend it.

Not to be a grandma, but I remember when the Instagram logo was a skeuomorphic vintage camera, so I feel I've earned the right to whinge. The app has evolved a lot since its debut, but the move to long-form video means yet another social media app is gunning for our precious attention, and I'm really feeling the fatigue.

On Monday, Instagram began testing the 90-minute clips with a handful of US-based creators. The 'Features' project has already been tested in Brazil and is aimed predominantly at podcasters and comedians. Whether other long-form creators will migrate from the safety of rival platforms like YouTube remains to be seen, but I already find the concept of extended video content on IG rather tiresome.

I'm a woman of structure. I like that TikTok is for brainrot and YouTube is for slightly more nuanced, long-form brainrot. But it's no secret that podcast content is ruling the social feed – it's cheap to produce, and so long as you can wrangle some semi-interesting yappers to host, you've got a steady flow of hour-long content each week.

I've already seen video content infiltrate my other precious apps like Spotify. Do I watch podcast videos on the platform? Absolutely not, but the fact that it's even there suggests I may be in the minority. Social media brands are competing to become the next 'every app', and with little distinction between them, it all feels a little like a desperate plea for my watch time.

I see a not-so-distant future where an evening can be swallowed by circling the drain of social media. 15 minutes on TikTok as an appetiser, catching up with your favourite zillenial podcasters on IG for main, and a nice YouTube video essay for dessert. Simply put, it's becoming too tempting to switch off.

For more social media news, check out Instagram's new brand identity that's more than just a wordmark, or take a look at the best social media platforms for artists and designers.

While many ad campaigns are focusing on the digital side of design, it's a refreshing change to see Coca-Cola embracing analogue art. A campaign with heart and intention, Local Royalty demonstrates how stripping back to the tactile can create some of the best adverts.

The four portrait subjects were chosen to represent everyday people from hospitality and retail, including workers from a pub, corner shop, café, and fish and chip shop. Painted by artists who have previously captured royals such as Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III, the Prince and Princess of Wales and Princess Anne, the stately portraits are a wonderfully unexpected homage to life's everyday heroes.

“Independent business owners create the places where local life happens, yet their contribution often goes unrecognised," says Rhona Stephen, senior director, communications for Coca-Cola Great Britain. "With Local Royalty, we wanted to celebrate them in a way that felt deliberately unexpected and enduring. By borrowing the visual language of official portraiture and placing these owners at its centre, the campaign gives their everyday impact the status it deserves.”

The portraits will be displayed as part of a free public exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London from 28th October to 1st November. For more creative news, check out Coca-Cola's new look or take a look at our guide on how to stand out as a portrait artist.

I liked the original XPPen Magic Drawing Pad because it showed that an Android tablet could be built around artists' needs. Its drawing surface felt closer to a desktop tablet than the glossy, slippery screens on most consumer devices, like an iPad or Samsung's Galaxy Tab series (read our guide to the best tablets with a stylus pen for drawing). I used it as a loose sketching tool, but accuracy issues kept me from replacing my desktop tablet, and I soon went back to my iPad Pro.

Three years on, and XPPen's new Magic Pro 13 fixes the biggest issues I had with the older first-time model. It has a processor that handles demanding art apps, a new stylus (importantly with 5,080 LPI resolution), a 3K 120Hz screen, and a USB-C connection that turns it into a PC drawing display. It’s also a good everyday Android tablet for video, email and Google Docs.

Wacom’s MovinkPad Pro 14 currently leads this category, and Huion’s Kamvas Pad 12 undercuts both, though its performance comes at the cost of a less impressive processor. The Magic Pro 13 sits closer to Wacom and Apple than the brand's old ‘budget tablet’ reputation, and it makes a strong case to be the one you pick, based on price, specs, and performance.

XPPen has come a long way from a disruptor to a genuinely impressive drawing tablet manufacturer; for example, its recent Artist Ultra 14 OLED tablet is an advanced desktop drawing tablet. The pitch with the Magic Pro 13 is that the same tech, minus OLED, can fit into an Android tablet.

Inside the box and Magic Pro 13's premium design

Opening the box, I'm struck that XPPen hasn't overloaded the package with extras for the first time; you get the tablet, spare nibs, a drawing glove, and a high-quality USB-C cable for charging and PC connectivity. A case or stand would have been welcome, but that would have bumped the cost; besides, XPPen sells a stand, case, and magnetic keyboard separately, just like Apple.

A close look at the new tablet reveals a premium-feeling product. The white frame, curved edges, flat matte display, and discreet buttons make the Magic Pro 13's design choices closer to Wacom and Apple than the budget end of the market. At 655g and 6.65mm, it’s easy to hold for long stretches, which matters when you’re not propping it on a desk. I took it outside to sketch a local lane and also used it on the sofa, and it suits both.

The 12.95-inch screen gives you room to paint comfortably. For long, detailed desk sessions, some artists prefer a larger display; for example, you don't get the space to rest your wrist as you do with a desktop design, but as a tablet for all occasions, it's a nice size.

The Magic Pro 13 has two USB-C ports, but only one supports the high-bandwidth video connection needed for PC mode, so make sure you plug into the right one. Storage is expandable by microSD, which helps if you collect reference images and large art files. There are some quirks to the design; for example, XPPen has chosen to keep the rear camera that comes on standard tablets, a small lens in the top corner of the rear panel, which I thought could make drawing on the screen when laid flat a little awkward, expecting a slump or wobble, but it never happened.

XPPen Magic Pro 13 screen and pen: 3K, 120Hz and 16K pressure

The nano-etched glass has a matte, paper-like finish with a little resistance under the nib. The 3K panel covers 100% sRGB and 96% DCI-P3, with a peak brightness of 650 nits. At 120Hz, marks keep up with the pen, so it feels natural. The tablet display can toggle between 120Hz, 90Hz, and 60Hz, so you can balance battery life to how you use it; 60Hz, for example, is fine for browsing, and 120Hz is ideal for digital painting.

The X4 Smart Chip Stylus offers 16,384 pressure levels, a 2g initial activation force and 60 degrees of tilt. The 5,080 LPI figure is worth noting: it measures how finely the tablet resolves pen movement, separate from the number of pressure steps, and this is double the resolution of the original Magic Drawing Pad and on par with most high-end desktop drawing tablets.

The pen has enough weight to feel sturdy without tiring my hand; I draw for around two hours at a time and never get the kind of cramp that can creep in with slim styluses or cheaper, lighter pens.

To test tracking, I drew small circles, tapped dots, scribbled brush strokes, and repeatedly overdrew the same line. Lines stayed smooth, the cursor followed the nib, and I saw no jitter. That’s where the original Magic Drawing Pad fell short, and some recent budget tablets, like the Kamvas Pad 12, too. Side by side with Wacom’s Pro Pen 3, I couldn’t pick a difference.

Digital painting on the Magic Pro 13

My go-to Android drawing app is ArtRage (ArtRage 6 is on XPPen's free install list, but I use ArtRage Vitae); it's an older painting simulator with excellent traditional-media brushes and heavy paint tools that show quickly whether a tablet can keep up. I painted a quick sketch of a lane near my house, switching brushes and pushing paint around with the heavier tools. There was no visible lag, strokes landed where I aimed, and overall it's a really nice experience, close to using a desktop tablet.

The Dimensity 8300 processor, 8GB of RAM, and Android 16 handle painting and illustration well. Wacom’s MovinkPad Pro 14 offers 12GB, which gives it an edge with very large files. I tested the 3D sculpting app Nomad Sculpt on the tablet, and it was fine, with no issues; unlike the new budget Huion Kamvas Pad 12, the Magic Pro 13 didn’t get warm or have any issues, even in Performance mode. I’m not one for using massive amounts of layers; I rarely get past three and tend to collapse them regularly, but even when I did decide to add 10 layers and duplicate my painting to see what would happen, there was no slowdown or warming.

Using the Magic Pro 13 as a PC pen display

A key feature of the Magic Pro 13 is that it works as a standalone Android tablet and as a drawing display for a desktop or laptop. I plugged in the included USB-C cable, and it connected as a display, with the hardware handling the video link. I use an HP Omen Max 16 for gaming and art, and it worked seamlessly, with no need to download drivers or fiddle with the laptop or tablet settings.

Wacom’s MovinkPad Pro 14 offers a similar workflow, wired or over Wi-Fi, but it relies on a companion app on the PC to get it working. A wired connection also means turning on Developer mode and USB debugging on the tablet first. Those are one-off steps, and XPPen doesn’t offer a wireless option, but the XPPen route requires less setup and is literally a 'plug and go' solution.

I drew on the Magic Pro 13 away from my desk, then connected it to my computer to use my desktop art software, moving from ArtRage Vitae and into Rebelle. If you work at a desk all day, you’ll want a bigger screen, but for home work, travel, or hobbyists like myself who can’t justify both a tablet and a pen display, it covers both jobs really well.

Software, battery and cameras

The Magic Pro 13 ships with ibisPaint X and XPPen’s own Canvas app. I still prefer ArtRage for painting. Canvas adds Quick Draw, which wakes the tablet straight into sketching, and a doodle tool for annotating photos. It also keeps reference images from my shelf available alongside other work.

Split-screen and multi-app use work as you’d expect on Android 16, so I can check email or a web page mid-painting and return without losing my place. Performance mode suits artwork and demanding video, while Comfort mode cuts heat and suits browsing and Google Docs, though I didn't notice any heat during extended use.

The 13MP rear and 8MP front cameras cover video calls and reference snaps. I’ve been using the Magic Pro 13 on and off for three weeks, from general browsing to art creation; generally, the battery has lasted a couple of days before needing a charge.

XPPen Magic Pro 13 vs Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14

The Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 has a larger 14-inch OLED display with deeper blacks and 900 nits of peak brightness, plus a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip and 12GB of RAM. It can also connect to a PC wirelessly (but, as mentioned, you need a companion app, since it's not a hardware solution). If screen quality, desk space, or a wireless link matters most to you, buy the Wacom.

By contrast, the new XPPen Magic Pro 13 costs around $100 / £100 less, has cameras the Wacom lacks, and connects to a PC through a hardware-level USB-C video link rather than a companion app for an easy solution. The recently released Huion Kamvas Pad 12 is cheaper, but the Magic Pro 13 sits a tier above it in screen, pen, and processing power – it's altogether closer to the experience of using MovinkPad Pro 14 or even an iPad Air.

Should you buy an XPPen Magic Pro 13?

The bottom line is that the new Magic Pro 13 is an accomplished, premium Android tablet with artists' needs at the centre of its design and workflow. If you want one tablet for drawing on the move and at a desk, this does the job: the stylus and screen feel natural, the original's tracking problems are gone, and it connects to a PC quickly. The Magic Pro 13 is the best option yet for artists looking beyond an iPad for an Android tablet, if you can live without the Wacom's OLED.

He creates his art using Maya, ZBrush, Mari, Marvelous Designer and Blender (see our guides to the best 3D modelling software and the best laptops for 3D modelling). Below, he talks us through four examples of his work.

Smug Goblin

“This piece was the subject for a tutorial I made for the Think Tank Training Centre. I had to choose a concept and present my workflow from start to finish. This subject is a bit more stylised than the work I usually do, but I had a vision of how it would work with my detailed style.”

Albino Demon

“I created this piece after seeing an illustration by the artist Vetarmora. When I see a design which really inspires me I begin to visualise it in my own style. Through my work, I enjoy breathing a level of realism into the character.”

Adolescent Chimp

“Inspired by the work Weta did on The Planet of the Apes series, I wanted to see how far I could push my skills to create my own realistic chimpanzee.”

Dark Elf

“Based on a painting by Vetarmora. I just loved the use of light in this piece, the earring design being the focal point, paired with the deep dark shiny eyes.”

You can see more of Tom's work on his ArtStation profile

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.

Today's drawing tablet deals

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But recently I got myself a monitor light, and I feel my mood has genuinely improved. And now you can get the $60 Quntis monitor light that I got for just $33 over at Amazon.

I've found this monitor light to noticeably reduce the eye fatigue that accompanies late-night work/gaming sessions because of the harsh contrast of staring into a brightly lit screen with no ambient lighting. This exact model is my top budget pick of the best monitor light bars, so at $33, it's an absolute bargain.

• Shop monitor light bars on Amazon

Not the design you want for your setup? Check out more of the best monitor light bars below.

There's up to $250 off the H2D AMS Combo, an all-in-one creative hub that will serve you for plotting and cutting as well as 3D printing. And for beginners, there's the affordable compact A1 Mini is now just $199.

There's also up to 35% off filament when you buy in bulk, and up to 40% Off on Maker's Supply Model Kits.

Bambu lab is one of the most reliable brands in the business, as our reviewers attest to in our comparison to the best 3D printers. The sale runs until 1 December, making it the last opportunity of the year to get reduced prices.

• Browse the Bambu Lab Black Friday Sale

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US Deals

Below you'll find the best deals and lowest prices on Bambu Lab printers in your region and worldwide, using our clever deals widget that updates 24/7.

Placing itself shoulder to shoulder with the competition, Notion's confident ad proves that it stands out against its rivals. Dividing critics with its bold and minimalist billboard design, the ad proves that creative bravery is a priceless tool for standing out in a crowded market.

The billboard in question features a lineup of AI logos including Claude, Perplexity, Grok Bot, ChatGPT and, of course, Notion front and centre. It might seem a little barmy to place yourself among the competition in your own ad, but it's this very confidence that makes Notion's ad shine.

"As much as I hate to admit it, this is a really great ad," a user on X wrote. "No words, just app icons. There’s mystery over who paid for it. There's controversy over why certain apps should be there. It's bold and makes a statement," they added. "Super cool and smart, or super dumb?" another added.

I, for one, am in the "super cool" camp. Given that most AI logos look the same, Notion's simple letterblock logo instantly stands out against the competition. The neutral ground of the logo lineup only helps Notion to emerge among its competitors, suggesting a certain edge against the competition.

While some have criticised the billboard for being too vague, I think that's where its strength emerges. The best adverts often spark conversation, and Notion's bold billboard is not only a symbol of confidence, but a conversation prompt about where the brand belongs in the AI sphere.

So why is Etsy suddenly telling its sellers: "The photo of the product you're selling should actually be the photo of the product you're selling"?

Last week the marketplace for handmade goods made an important-sounding announcement: that every listing must now include at least one unedited photo of the actual item, shot against a real background.

It also specifically banned the use of AI image generators for patterns, recipes and instructions for customers. It's outlawed listings created by bots. And while it's still okay to see AI-generated art on Etsy, you need to be clear about that fact, so buyers know exactly what it is they're buying.

All of which sounds great. But I can't help feeling we never should have got to the place where any of this was necessary.

Who wants to shop for slop?

Admittedly, Etsy had to do something, because the complaints are mounting fast. Full-time creator Kara Lynne summed it up on X, writing: "I can't explain how infuriating it has been to purchase a crochet pattern, only to open the PDF and realise it's fully AI-generated, doesn't make sense, and definitely doesn't match what the finished product should be." Quite.

That's the world that AI is delivering to us. Someone spending their hard-earned money and an evening of their life on instructions that were never going to work. Multiply that by thousands of buyers and you can see how big the problem has become, both for shoppers and the majority of Etsy sellers, who are trying to do everything properly yet end up being tarred with the same brush.

So what Etsy has said does make sense, although it does make you wonder why they haven't acted sooner. Despite its folksy image, this is a company with a market cap of $7.81 billion, after all. You'd think they'd have enough cash to hire a few people to keep an eye on this stuff.

Still, at least Etsy now seems to be pulling in the same direction as much of the creative world. The company now follows Spotify pulling 50 million AI tracks, Snap keeping gen-AI content out of its recommendations and LinkedIn, well, at least adding a button to report it.

Etsy's new rules won't fix everything. But they do acknowledge what should have been obvious: that when people buy something "handmade", they want to know whether a human actually made it. Baby steps, of course, but at least they're steps in the right direction.

If you look at a lot of anything, you tend to get snow blindness after a while. And so it's been with me. Through my tired and cynical eyes, most agency sites look like they've been built by the same person.

Looping showreel? Check? Big, bold type? Check. Meaningless waffle about how the studio is “building brands that matter” (barf). Check. An imposing contact form you sense no one human will ever be bothered to fill out? Check. I could go on, but you get the point.

That's why an email from Denver’s Bound Agency made me smile this morning. Its subject line described their new website, built by Denver studio Wunder Werkz, as "Messy, meaningful and made by humans". And it did not disappoint.

Tumblr feels

The logo is a handwritten scrawl. The navigation icons are wobbly doodles: a slice of cake, an arrow, a signpost, a camera. There are acres of white space (well, soft lilac space to be precise). And scrolling down the tiles feels like I'm flicking through a fanzine.

A collage of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry pictures, all big blonde hair and glam-rock make-up, overlaid with the words: “Pack your wigs, divas. We’re being called home.” A Juno Calypso photo of a woman in a pink heart-shaped bath, pinned with a paperclip. A Spotify playlist titled The Dregs of Summer. A Victorian paper-doll bust. If you spent any time on Tumblr in the late 2000s, it all feels very familiar.

While it's not a carbon copy of the era, many of the hallmarks are there. Found imagery, ironic captions, mixtapes, and a sense that someone’s personal taste is the whole point. Personally, I’m here for it.

So why take this approach? Bound's founder Lauren “Lolo” Butts notes that in 13 years, their website has never won them a single client. “New business almost always comes from word of mouth,” she explains. “So this revamp wasn’t about lead-gen. It was about building a beautiful, fun place that feels like the person you were already told to talk to.”

I find this super-refreshing. It frees the site from having to do lots of boring jobs. There’s no “About us” page and no list of the services the agency offers. Instead, it’s a playground. You can pull a tarot card. You can rearrange a grid that keeps changing. You can build and share a cake. You can browse an estate sale guide called Let’s Go Hunting!

Handmade, for real

Almost a year ago I wrote about a tactile rebellion against slick, synthetic design, and turns out my article headline, "Messy, meaningful and made by humans", were the very words Bound used in their email to me. Flattery will get you everywhere, as they say; but I do genuinely feel this site lives up to that promise.

Every logo, doodle and arrow on the site is in Lauren's own handwriting. And even the eyeballs subtly signal an agency willing to look clients in the eye.

You can’t prompt your way to this kind of personality in Claude; it can only come from somewhere real. And for potential clients, this site is a handy vibe check. If it holds your attention, you’re probably the kind of client they want. If it doesn’t, you’ve both saved yourselves a meeting.

In short, it's a great example of a classic design maxim: why describe your message, your point of view, when you can just show it?

We caught up with him to learn more about his career and influences. If you need to upgrade your own setup for digital art, see our guides to the best drawing tablets and the best laptops for drawing.

You can see more of Iain's work on his ArtStation profile. .

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.

Creative Bloq is now easier to access than ever before with our on-the-go app, which brings you all the content you know and love from our website, but in a super-streamlined design.
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2026 has proven to be a huge year for Apple. With the unprecedented success of the iPhone Duo and MacBook Neo, plus the small matter of the company’s 50th birthday, the last few months have certainly been, er, fruitful for Apple. And just because it can, the company is embarking on a victory lap.

Now that the dust has settled on the new iPhones, all eyes are turning to the Mac and iPad line ups. Apple has announced that it has a bunch of new products to reveal this week, all under the umbrella of an event named Pro and Tell.

We’re on our way to Los Angeles to find out exactly what Apple has in the oven for us, but in the meantime, Apple has already made one minor announcement. The new iPad mini is here, complete with OLED display and a new, thinner design. Oh, and a price hike – it now starts at $699.

We’ll be keeping this page updated with every announcement as it happens, as well as details about all the rumours.

What has Apple announced?

• A new iPad mini, with a thinner and lighter design, OLED display and the A20 Pro chip.
• A new iMac featuring the M6 chip
• A new 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring the M6 chip
• A new 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and touch for the first time on Mac

Apple deals this week

The XPPen Magic Pro 13 is an Android 16 tablet going on sale today at an early-bird price of $899 / £899, with digital art-focused specs that compete with both Wacom and iPad.

The original XPPen Magic Drawing Pad opened my eyes and made me question whether an iPad really was the only sensible choice for mobile digital art. It had a drawing-focused screen and a stylus built for artists, without the glossy glass that makes an iPad feel like sketching on a glass table. I use an iPad Pro but a Rock Paper Pencil screen protector to get that toothy drawing-tablet feel.

Since XPPen's first Android tablet, Wacom has launched the high-spec OLED MovinkPad Pro 14, and Huion has gone for a budget spec with the Kamvas Pad 12. But the new XPPen Magic Pro 13 sits at the higher end, alongside Wacom and Apple. I've been using the Magic Pro 13 for about three weeks, and it's an impressive tablet for artists looking for a strong iPad alternative.

XPPen Magic Pro 13 Drawing Display Mode: use it as a pen display

The big idea is Drawing Display Mode: you can connect the Magic Pro 13 to a compatible PC with a single full-featured USB-C cable, and it becomes a pen display running at up to 3K at 120Hz. The stylus keeps its 16K pressure levels, tilt detection, hover preview and customisable barrel buttons, and XPPen promises ultra-low-latency input.

XPPen's pitch is that it makes this connectivity easier. In practice, that means you can sketch on the sofa or the train in your favourite Android apps, then plug in at your desk to keep going and use the tablet like a standard drawing tablet. It could save you buying a standalone tablet and a separate pen display.

XPPen’s Brian Huang, Marketing Director, says the Magic Pro 13 is “an industry-first 2-in-1 device” that works as a standalone drawing pad and a professional drawing display. “Artists need creative tools that can adapt to the way they work, wherever they create,” he adds.

Wacom's MovinkPad Pro 14 can do something similar, but it's not as simple as plug-and-play; you need to enable Developer Mode and USB Debugging in the Android settings (though it also offers WiFi connectivity).

Magic Pro 13 screen and X4 stylus: 3K, 120Hz and 16K pressure

The Magic Pro 13's sleek, tactile 3K display lets you choose 60Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz, and its nano-etched AG+AF glass feels papery and more natural than drawing on an iPad. The display offers a bright 650 nits peak brightness, higher than the iPad and iPad Air but below the OLEDs of the MovinkPad Pro 14 and iPad Pro, plus 100% sRGB and 96% DCI-P3 coverage, with system-level switching between sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3. There’s also TÜV SÜD Low Blue Light certification.

The new X4 Smart Chip Stylus has a bullet-shaped nib, 16K pressure levels, 60-degree tilt and a claimed 2g activation force. In use, I've found the low threshold helps with light marks and delicate shading and is a huge step up from the original Magic Drawing Pad. Slow diagonals and gradual line-weight changes tell me more than the pressure count alone, especially against Wacom’s Pro Pen 3 and Huion’s PenTech 4.0, and the XPPen feels good – my Magic Pro 13 review is now live.

Magic Pro 13 design, battery and software

The Magic Pro 13 is 6.65mm thick and weighs 655g, with a 10,200mAh battery and 45W PD fast charging on both USB-C ports. It has an 8MP front camera and a 13MP rear camera for capturing references and textures on the go.

XPPen has added its own software, a must and a sign the brand is finally catching up with Wacom in software and driver support. The Shelf app lets you tag, annotate, and search reference images, and Canvas lets you make quick sketches. You also get Quick Draw with Screen Off, Freeform Windowing and Screenshot Doodle.

XPPen Magic Pro 13 price: is it worth $899?

That’s a lot for an Android drawing tablet, and Huion’s Kamvas Pad 12 is the cheaper option at $499, but it has a less powerful processor and a lower-spec display. With XPPen's new Magic Pro 13, you’re paying for the higher-end tech you expect from Wacom and Apple: a high-refresh 3K screen, 120Hz, the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 processor to handle 3D as well as standard apps, and an easy-to-use PC drawing mode. Whether the pen and the desktop connection justify the money is something I explore further in my full review.

You can find the Magic Pro 13 on XPPen’s website.

While the best adverts often spark conversation, TFL's controversial ad has ignited the wrong kind of public engagement. With its unintentionally ambiguous design, the ad demonstrates why the Corporate Memphis art style might not be the best choice for PSA ads.

The design in question is supposed to feature a man looking over his shoulder, but thanks to the featureless style of Corporate Memphis, some commuters saw otherwise. "Disgusting insinuation in this campaign. Absolutely appalling," one X user wrote. "Suspicion, paranoia and ethnically ambiguous abstract art - 1984 is here in full force," another added, while another joked, "This is a wonderful Rorschach test."

Since the ad was clearly misinterpreted by many, TFL was forced to respond, informing the OP that the poster was being investigated. It later claimed the poster had been "installed without TFL's permission."

"Our media partner, our teams and contractors have been instructed to inspect trains and remove any unauthorised posters that are found on our network. The incident has been reported to [British Transport Police] as flyposting is an illegal activity," TFL explained in a now deleted X post.

While the origin of the ad remains unclear, the controversy points to a wider issue with ad campaigns. Creating the right language and visual tone is key to a successful campaign, and this ad (whether fake or not) completely missed the mark. Paranoia-inducing copy and ambiguous design created a recipe for disaster, and now TFL have to deal with the fallout.

For more ad controversy, take a look at why 2026 is the year of the cancelled ad, or check out why Sydney Sweeney's racy ad sparked a Gen Z culture war.

On Friday, Laika’s Wildwood, the studio’s sixth feature, opened in cinemas worldwide. I've already written about how its focus on stop-motion is what we all need in the AI era. So it's fantastic news that the movie seems to be doing well at the box office so far.

Shortly after that, we got The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXXVII opener: a stop-motion homage to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Bart is Jack Skellington, Marge is Sally, Homer is the two-faced Mayor, Santa’s Little Helper is Zero, and Ned Flanders is a bug-stuffed Oogie Boogie. Together, they belt out a parody version of This Is Halloween, replaced by the words "Simpsons Halloween".

The Simpson's Halloween specials have impressed since 1990

Since 1990, the Halloween specials have sat deliciously outside the show’s continuity. Characters die gruesome deaths, Springfield gets destroyed, but the following week everything's back to normal. In the new opener, Lisa (dressed as a witch) even spells it out in song: "Halloween episodes are not canon". And brilliantly, that freedom extends to the animation style itself.

Thematically, this sequence and Laika's Wildwood have almost nothing in common. But what matters is that both were made the slow, handmade way: with puppets, physical sets, and people moving them frame by frame. That's truly a lovely thing to see.

Stoopid Buddy Stoodios' stop-motion animation approach

The Simpsons sequence came from Burbank’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, best known for Robot Chicken, which uses retro toys, action figures and dolls in stop-motion animation to deliver pop-culture parodies.

The studio could have used 3D printing. It chose not to. Co-founder John Harvatine IV told Animation World Network. “We kind of just did old school the whole way, from sculpting by hand." Similarly, sculptor Jim McKenzie told Entertainment Weekly: “I think in a time of AI, to be involved with something that’s truly handmade, it’s very special these days." Hear, hear.

It’s fitting that The Simpsons chose Nightmare Before Christmas as its Halloween tribute. When director Henry Selick’s chaotic classic arrived in 1993, it proved that a stop-motion feature could be a mainstream hit, and set him on the path to Coraline, the film that launched Laika.

Back then, stop-motion was seen as very old hat, a thing of the past. Three decades later, it feels like a refreshing antidote to AI and overly slick CG, and this Simpsons opener plays right into that idea.

These gruesome puppet caricatures might only be on screen for half a minute, but they’re part of a much bigger fightback for handmade animation and creativity in general. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

As part of Regal Movies' new popcorn bucket promo, you can now 3D-print your own Wicker husband (well, at least a part of him). Is it a bit cheeky getting moviegoers to print their own popcorn buckets? Yes. Is it a bit stingy that the deal only got you a small popcorn? Absolutely. Do I still want a 3D-printed version of Alexander Skarsgård's rippling Wicker bod? Definitely.

Straight from Regal's Prop Shop, the 3D-printed Wicker popcorn bucket was created using 3D scans of Skarsgård's costume (note the design is just the torso, so get your mind out of the gutter). Those brave enough to bring their freshly printed Wicker husband to the movie theatre received a free small popcorn for their efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the design is wonderfully detailed and, popcorn novelty aside, a playful prop for fans. The print files are entirely free, so your Wicker man is well within reach, provided you have your own setup (or a kind, unquestioning friend who will print it for you).

For more creative inspiration, check out these 3D printing essentials or take a look at our guide to the fastest way to get comfortable with 3D software

One of the more curious issues facing some iPhone Duo units is the screen cracking in one very specific location. This involves a thin crack down the centre hinge, and a line of stuck bright white pixels across the right side of the display. The result has aready led to some amusing wallpaper designs making light of the issue.

But why are multiple Duo models breaking in the same way? Well, now that teardowns of the device have begun, we might have an answer. iFixit has revealed an area of concentrated components around the hinge, with a different shape to the rest of the hinge, which could be causing excess stress on the screen.

"To see where the stresses build up from folding, we built a 3D hinge model from teardown footage, patents, and CT scans, then compared it with the reported damage locations," reports iFixit. "The breaks cluster near the transition from the gap for the crossing flex cable to the central hinge support. The damage we’re seeing in photos isn’t right where the display cable passes through the hinge, but slightly lower, at a point where several edges meet and change how the thin display is supported as it bends... The screen’s curved fold comes down onto it, creating a small stress hotspot near the reported break location."

While it's too early to tell the scale of the problem, it seems at least a few units from this early batch of iPhone Duos might feature a subtle design flaw. Right now, early adopters are likely stress testing the product more than the average user, and the fault could be limited to a handful of units, leading to an outsized impression of the issue. If anything, it shows just how much more intricate the design of these foldable needs to be – and that not even Apple is necessarily immune to the difficulties of creating a durable device that can happily fold in half.

Once I got the design requirements, I started planning the overall layout right away. I depicted the main dragon in a vivid dynamic stance, dashing forward from a distance in the frame, straight towards audiences with its mouth wide open in a fierce roar.

Floating clouds and sailing fleets spread across the sea in the lower part of the picture. The huge dragon and the tiny distant ships form a sharp contrast, building remarkable spatial depth. The whole scene is set against a glowing backlit sunset sky, and striking light rays enrich the visual layers.

For the back cover, I drew the other two dragons from the novel locked in an intense battle. I arranged the three dragons with clear visual hierarchy, and concentrated the finest details on the main dragon’s head on the front cover to highlight the core character.

If you want to follow a similar process, you'll need digital art software, and you might want one of the best drawing tablets to work on.

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This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.

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