Last month the animated movie “Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return” became one of the biggest computer graphic box office flops of all time, and was yanked from most theaters almost immediately.

Last weekend, it made just $36,408.

But according to an investigation by TheWrap, the movie's producers and fundraisers fared far better than the film's investors, who may have collectively lost up to $100 million, while the producers and fundraisers earned tens of millions of dollars, according to SEC filings.

Alpine Productions, which produced the film, told investors that the film could have massive returns, according to one of those investors, court documents and investment documents obtained by TheWrap. Instead, it grossed $8.8 million worldwide on what the producers told investors was a $70 million production budget.

“Legends of Oz” is based on a book by Roger S. Baum, a descendant of original “Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum, and features a cast of voice actors led by A-list names like Lea Michele, Patrick Stewart, Kelsey Grammer and Hugh Dancy. Directed by animation veterans Dan St. Pierre and Will Finn, and produced by DreamWorks Animation vet Bonne Radford, the movie seems like a conventional Hollywood effort.

Yet an investigation of how the movie was made reveals a far more compelling back story focused on two brothers who have often run into legal troubles. No fewer than six states issued “cease and desist” letters to companies connected to Ryan and Roland Carroll in an attempt to shut down its fundraising for the film in each state.

California fined the Carrolls and Alpine Pictures $100,000 in 2011 and required the company to refund investors $589,000, according to state documents.

“Their business model is based on raising money and taking a percentage. They never show anything to anybody,” an insider who worked on the production said, speaking of Ryan and Roland Carroll, now operating respectively as the president and CEO of Summertime Entertainment. “Money just shifts around and they write things up. They line their pockets, they think they're businessmen.”

But in an interview with TheWrap Ryan Carroll said: “I'm not responsible for bringing investors aboard, and I never was. It's an independently made movie that was privately financed with a great deal of effort and a project that I'm very proud of.”

When the Carrolls began raising money for the film in 2006, they were running a company called Alpine Productions, which had previously made several low budget films. The brothers already had a history of questionable fundraising activities dating back to at least 1993, when the state of Oregon sent them a cease and desist letter that accused the Carrolls of selling unregistered securities while operating a company called Carroll Media, Inc. Their next decade was littered with cease and desist orders and fines, in states such as California, Wisconsin, Utah, Michigan, andIllinois.

One of their earlier films, “Lord Protector,” was investigated by the SEC in 1997 for allegedly misrepresenting the budget in order to pay actors the SAG minimum.

The brothers initially sought $20 million to produce an animated sequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” Ryan Carroll told TheWrap. Operating under the name Dorothy of Oz, LLC. with a man named Neil Kaufman serving as the managing partner, they sold stock for $1 a share, requiring a minimum $20,000 investment.

Originally, the film was intended to be a straight-to-DVD movie, but Ryan Carroll told TheWrap that the company decided that their best chance to compete with other animated films was to release it in theaters across the country.

Ryan Carroll said fundraising is “not really what I do. I option the books and I oversaw the production. It wasn't my responsibility to put the funding together, that's a separate entity. We're a production company. There's an LLC [Limited Liability Company] which is Emerald City of Oz, and that was their responsibility to put the funding together, but that wasn't what I worked on.”

Also read: The Most and Least Liked Summer Movie Actresses – Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis, Shailene Woodley

However, multiple investment documents and state cease and desist orders link the Carrolls to companies fund-raising for the film.

Neil Kaufman, the managing member of Dorothy of Oz LLC, is listed as an executive producer at Summertime Entertainment, Carroll's company, on his own LinkedIn page. In court documentsfrom California, Kaufman was listed as a salesperson for Alpine in addition to his role at Dorothy of Oz LLC. In addition, Dorothy of Oz LLC headquarters were at the same address of the former headquarters of Summertime (then Alpine) in Burbank. Emerald City of Oz LLC succeeded Dorothy as the main fundraising vehicle, according to the production insider.

Though they claimed to only sell stock to accredited investors, some shares in the Dorothy of Oz LLC were sold to investors who did not satisfy these requirements through cold call solicitation, according to government records from multiple states issuing cease and desist orders. Under exceptions to the typical regulations applicable to fundraising, individuals with liquid assets above a defined threshold and with experience in investing in expensive and risky ventures may be solicited as investors in what are known as private placements.

Also read: The Most and Least Liked Summer Movie Actors – Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel, Morgan Freeman, Channing Tatum

In 2010 the fundraisers began pitching under the name Emerald City of Oz LLC, which was registered in Delaware.

Florida businessman Greg Centineo, who had owned a coffee shop and previously worked in real estate, became heavily involved in fundraising for “Legends of Oz” in 2007. According to the insider involved with the production and a source with knowledge of the fundraising, Centineo began throwing fundraising parties to solicit investors. According to multiple sources, many of these investors were unaccredited.

In an interview with TheWrap, Centineo denied that his investors were unaccredited.

At the parties and other presentations, a PowerPoint was shown to potential investors, which TheWrap has obtained.

In the presentation, they projected anywhere from $720 million to $2.04 billion gross revenue on film content alone (theatrical, home video and cable), and for the franchise, which included merchandising and sequels, to have a return on investment from 324 percent on the low end to a high of 1,180 percent.

Only in a small margin at the bottom of the final page of the presentation's projection section was there any acknowledgment of the riskiness of the venture, and the individuals close to the project told TheWrap that many investors had little grasp of the risk that they were taking, statements backed by court documents.

See photos: 27 Summer Movie Actors Ranked by Popularity (Photos)

According to the cease and desist from Washington State, “at least one Washington investor received profit projections forecasting a minimum return on investment of 162 percent,” and “also received materials featuring the covers of DVDs of highly successful animated films such as ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Finding Nemo,’ and ‘The Incredibles.'”

This story is repeated in many other court orders and legal filings, including in the states ofTexas, Alabama, and California, where Alpine was found to be violating a 2009 cease and desist in 2011. The state filings note that the securities were unregistered, as were the salespeople.

Centineo, however, says that he was very clear with the people he was pitching that they could lose their entire investments, and that projections were based on a formula that he declined to specify.

See photos: 23 Summer Movie Actresses Ranked by Popularity (Photos)

Potential investors were encouraged to send money via personal check, wire transfer, or even investing through their 401K and retirement plans, according to the Washington legal documents.

Others, including those that Centineo signed up, came through referrals.

Despite the Carroll's denial of “Oz” fundraising, the brothers are also operators of the First National Information Network, an investor lead and phone solicitation company that maintained an office at 3500 West Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank, the same place where Dorothy of Oz LLC was once located.

Also read: Hollywood Dumps Diversity (Again): White Men Directed 90 Percent of This Year's Summer Movies

That number was cited as the one calling potential investors.

Based on SEC filings, the fundraisers ultimately raised $103 million from solicitations and road show presentations for the proposed franchise by two companies, Dorothy of Oz, LLC and Emerald City of Oz LLC.

See video: Pink Sings ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ in ‘Wizard of Oz’ Tribute

SEC filings show that a “management fee” of $5.28 million (22 percent on $33 million raised) was taken by the managers of Dorothy of Oz, LLC; another SEC filing shows Emerald City of Oz, LLC nearly at its goal of $77 million, with $17 million (22 percent) already being taken for the company in those management fees. Of that 22 percent taken from both Dorothy and Emerald City, 15 percent went to commissions for people who found and sold to investors; one percent went to the managing partner; and the rest was taken for LLC expenses.

In addition, another 20 percent in production fees was claimed from each LLC by company executives on top of the 22 percent, which Ryan Carroll said was used “to keep the lights on.”

The movie opened May 9, playing in 2,658 theaters. Its distributor, Clarius Entertainment, projected that it would make somewhere in the low teen millions that opening weekend; instead, it earned roundly negative reviews — it sits at 16 percent on Rotten Tomatoes right now — and set the all-time record for worst opening weekend for a wide-release animated movie, making just $3.7 million.

In the weeks since, the film has taken in just $8.8 million worldwide, and played in only 52 American theaters last weekend.

Going forward, Carroll says that they will continue to pursue the virtual world and various phone apps — releasing one every two months starting in September, he promised — and plan to try to turn the “Legends of Oz” franchise into a television series.

Despite the dismal box office, Carroll continued to sell the virtues of his project.

“It may be a longer, more difficult road, and we still have a lot of challenges in front of us,” he said, “but nothing is lost.”

Michael Rich and Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO: Inside The Weird, Sad Family Feud Over Walt Disney's $400 Million Fortune

Join the conversation about this story »

Each state has its iconic tourist attractions, but there are also many interesting locations that fly under the radar.

Everyone has heard of the Empire State Building in New York, but do you know about Upstate New York's Letchworth State Park, unofficially dubbed the Grand Canyon of the East? How about the Lost Sea in Tennessee, which is the country's largest underground lake?

We've put together a list of the lesser-known tourist attraction in every state. While some of these places have a significant amount of visitors each year, they are hidden gems to many out-of-state travelers.

ALABAMA: Mobile Bay bills itself as "secretly awesome," and its many tourist attractions prove this to be true. Attend the world's oldest Mardi Gras celebration, eat some fresh seafood, go kayaking and fishing, and take in the beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico.

Learn more about Mobile Bay >

ALASKA: The ocean, ice, and mountains all meet at Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward, Alaska. Enjoy the park by foot or take a boat cruise along the coast in the summer.

Learn more about Kenai Fjords National Park >

ARIZONA: It's very easy to take a great photograph of The Wave, but not so easy to get there. In order to visit this landmark, you must apply for a daily permit. Even if you receive the permit, you'll have a rigorous hike to this hidden gem. However, we think the view is worth the journey.

Learn more about The Wave >

Google announced a new 'Android L' design for its mobile operating system today, and it's got a new layered, shadowed look.

Android L seeks to unify the Android experience on phones, tablets, and smartwatches by using a new "Material Design" aesthetic.

"Material surfaces slide around with the physics of card stock," said Google's Vice President of Design, Matias Duarte. "But they respond to touch with splashes of virtual ink that are like ripples in a pond."

Android L is only available as a developer preview at the moment, but Google has mentioned that it will arrive this fall.

Here's a comparison of how the old Android Mail app looks like compared to the Material Design version.

Here's how Android L will look like at the home screen.

The user interface is cleaner, and it does have a slightly flat look like iOS 7, but the emphasis on shadows and physics effects gives the UI a unique spin.

America's 100 biggest advertisers spent a record $109 billion on marketing in 2013, finally eclipsing the amount of money they shelled out prior to the economic crash in 2007.

Ad Age reports in its recently updated marketing database that the top 100 brands increased their advertising budgets by 4.4% this past year, a number bolstered by a 26% spending increase from the technology industry. 

The two biggest gainers of the group were Expedia and Microsoft, up 30% and 61%, respectively.

Like last year, Procter & Gamble was the top spender, clocking in at just under $5 billion in 2013.

JPMorgan Chase spent $1.88 billion on ads

This was a 10% increase from 2012.

TV: $225 million

Magazines: $47 million

Newspapers: $18 million

Internet: $59 million

Other: $1.48 billion

Source: AdAge 100 Leading National Advertisers Index 

Walt Disney Co. spent $1.96 billion on ads

This was a 4.5% increase from 2012.

TV: $524 million

Magazines: $113 million

Newspapers: $23 million

Internet: $140 million

Other: $1.1 billion

Source: AdAge 100 Leading National Advertisers Index

Fiat Chrysler spent $1.97 billion on ads

This was a 1.4% increase from 2012.

TV: $900 million

Magazines: $71 million

Newspapers: $10 million

Internet: $110 million

Other: $808 million

Source: AdAge 100 Leading National Advertisers Index

In the last few years, Brooklyn has become Manhattan's cooler, younger brother.

New shops and restaurants are popping up every day, celebrities are moving there, and some of the best bars in all of New York City appear in Brooklyn's numerous and diverse neighborhoods.

Tonight, Esquire Network will be premiering its new show, "Best Bars in America." The TV show will look at the best bars around the U.S., including a number of hip hangouts here in Brooklyn.

Equire shared its picks for the best bars in Brooklyn, curated by Esquire's cocktails expert and author David Wondrich, who is featured in the new show.

Maison Premiere

298 Bedford Ave.

Paying homage to the good old days of romantic Paris, Maison Premiere features oyster and absinthe pairings, and is home to "the world's most accurate working replica" of the absinthe fountain from the famous Olde Absinthe House in New Orleans. Maison Premiere is a great place to enjoy a well-crafted cocktail with friends, but if you find yourself arriving solo at this Williamsburg establishment, you can always drink with the green fairy.

Tooker Alley

793 Washington Ave.

Tooker Alley was inspired by Chicago's historic "Dil Pickle Club," a semi-secret cultural melting pot hangout that went way beyond your typical speakeasy of the '20s. With its classic cocktails that nod to the founding members of the Dil Pickle Club, Crown Heights' Tooker Alley reproduces the community and brotherly love originally found in Chicago's DPC.

Radegast Hall & Biergarten

113 North Third St.

In traditional, German biergarten fashion, Radegast serves food and drink Hofbrauhaus-style, in large pint glasses along communal wooden tables. The smell of charred bratwursts and hot, soft pretzels with mustard, wafting out onto the streets of Williamsburg, is so tantalizing that it's nearly impossible not to order some noshes.

Buying a home overseas may seem like an unaffordable investment, but some places offer luxury at a bargain.

With the help of Point2Homes, we've put together a list of some pretty overseas properties that are available for less than $50,000, which is the median household income in the U.S.

These homes range from a cozy home in Ireland to a seaside apartment in Thailand.

Pick up a condo in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for $49,900.

This two-bedroom condo is located in Puerto Vallarta, a resort city on Mexico's Pacific Coast. The 713-square-foot home is located on the fourth floor of its building and has nice touches including a breakfast bar and a laundry room. It is close to shopping, restaurants, and more.View more details about the condo here >

Source: Point2 Homes

This apartment on the Gulf of Thailand is $47,746.

Not only is this home located in the exciting city of Pattaya, but it has incredible views of the Gulf of Thailand as well. The 398-square-foot condo comes partially furnished and has a balcony, as well as access to the building's communal gym, barbecue area, and jacuzzi.

View more details about the condo here >

Source: Point2 Homes

A home in a quaint Irish village for $47,687.

This quaint three-bedroom home is located in Shinrone, an Irish village, and though it's in need of some repair, it certainly has charm. The home has a garden, central heating, and a large brick fireplace.Learn more about the home here >

Source: Point2 Homes

New York City-based real estate firm Prodigy Network is converting a Financial District highrise into an extended-stay hotel for business travelers. 

In order to give future guests the best possible experience, the firm turned to crowdsourcing, hosting a design competition and then having the public vote on the best submissions. More than 10,000 votes were cast on 70 submissions, which were eventually narrowed down to a list of 10 finalists. A panel of expert judges then selected an overall winner in three different categories: Private Space Design, Public Space Design, and Digital Experience.

The winning designs will be combined in what the firm has named the Cotel, a trendy extended-stay hotel and coworking space at 17 John Street in New York City's Financial District. 

"The winners of the 17 John competition were intuitive to the needs of travelers, creative in the interactive spaces and understood the function of extended stay residences," Prodigy Network founder and CEO Rodrigo Nino said in a press release. "This will be one of many design competitions presented to the crowd and we look forward to empowering those with the greatest ideas."

The hotel won't be completed for some time, but we've got an inside look at what it will look like, based on the winning renderings. It's an interesting look at how the needs of business travelers are changing as more technology becomes available.

The Cotel will be located at 17 John Street, next to the upcoming Fulton Center transportation hub and a block away from the World Trade Center.

The project will be an interesting combination of traditional and contemporary architecture. An 8-story glass structure by famed architect Winka Dubbeldam is being added to the top of the building.

Winning designs were chosen in three different categories. In the "Private Space" category, French designer Vianney Lacotte's flexible working and living space was the most popular choice.

Google held its annual I/O developers conference Wednesday, and the company made a ton of announcements regarding the company's presence on your wrist, in the car, and on your smartphone or computer.

In addition to all of the product announcements, the Google presenters showed off some new numbers and charts that really help visualize where Google is at these days. We threw together some of the most interesting charts from the conference to give you a look into the numbers behind Google.

The number of active Android users is doubling every year. There are now 1 billion people using Android.

Android smartphone shipments are steadily rising.

As are Android tablets.

The 2003 NBA draft was one of the most important nights in NBA history.

The league got a massive infusion of talent that finally helped fill the void left by Michael Jordan's departure.

LeBron, D-Wade, and Carmelo were all picked that night. But there were All-Stars picked at No. 18 and No. 29 as well, and round one was stacked from top-to-bottom.

It's remarkable to see what all 29 first-round picks who changed the league that night are doing today.

LeBron James was picked No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He's already one of the best players of all time after winning two titles with the Heat.

Darko Milicic was picked No. 2 overall by the Detroit Pistons.

While Google's annual I/O developers conference was underway inside San Francisco's Moscone Center Wednesday morning, a group of protesters gathered outside to voice some big concerns about the company.

Google is a controversial company, especially in the Bay Area. Many in the region are upset that wealthy tech workers are driving up rents in the city, forcing poorer residents to move out.

Strangely enough, the protest was Sar Wars themed. Check out the gallery below to see what happened. 

When we arrived at the Moscone Center, all we saw were massive lines.

There were tons of attendees outside.

Google was handing out donuts to attendees waiting in line. This girl took one.

The first devices running Google's new operating system for smartwatches, Android Wear, launch this summer.

Samsung gave us quick look at its first Android Wear Device, the Gear Live. The Gear Live is very similar is design as the company's other smartwatch, the Gear 2, which runs a different operating system called Tizen. But unlike that watch, the Gear Live will work with any Android phone, not just Samsung phones.

The Gear Live is available very soon directly from Google. It costs $200. You can see what it looks like in the gallery below.

The Android Wear software is the same on all smartwatches. Here's Android Wear running on the Samsung Gear Live. It can show you incoming notifications like text messages and phone calls.

The default band has a rubbery feel. You can swap it out with any standard watch band.

It tracks your steps with a built in pedometer.

At the end of Google I/O, Google's annual developers conference on Wednesday, Android boss Sundar Pichai announced that audience members would be getting some swag. 

Among the takeaways: A piece of cardboard. 

Sure enough, when we left the auditorium, Google employees handed out pieces of cardboard. 

At first it looked like nothing much. But after putting it together, we soon learned that with just some cardboard, a magnet, a rubber band, some magnifying glasses, and the Cardboard App, you, too, can fly around a virtual space, just like you can with the Occulus Rift VR glasses. 

You can find detailed instructions on how to use it — and even make one for yourself  — on Google's site.

Google Cardboard looks like what you think it looks like: a piece of cardboard.

But once you open it up ...

... you see what's hidden inside.

A humanitarian crisis is building as thousands of children pour across the U.S.-Mexico border, often without their parents. 

Thousands of unaccompanied children have fled the violence sweeping Central America, according to ABC News, and the numbers keep growing.

"Up to 350 children are picked up along the U.S.-Mexico border every day, three-quarters of them from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

As more children flood the country, immigration officials are finding it difficult to deal with the numbers. Basic living items such as mattresses, showers and portable toilets have had to be shipped to a warehouse holding the children, according to AP.

The journey for many of these children includes months spent in life-threatening conditions aboard trains that snake across Mexico. Sonia Nazario's Pulitzer prize-winning reporting for the Los Angeles Times chronicles the journey these children take, and the dangers of rape, amputation and death that confront the youngsters.

Here's a look at their lives now:

Scores of immigrants ride atop the trains of Oaxaca, Mexico in hopes of making it to the U.S.

If they do make the journey and get picked up, Border Patrol Agents work to process the scores of children they find.

Some sleep in holding cells, like this one in Texas.

While others are kept in massive warehouses, like this one for immigrants in Nogales, Arizona.

Children in this Texas holding cell sleep without mattresses or pillows.

Some have phones, and a few boys here try to make calls next to adults who are also detained.

In a holding cell in Texas, these girls try to be normal — playing as others sleep.

And in Arizona, two other girls watch the World Cup from their holding cell.

SEE ALSO: Here's Obama's Plan To Solve The Humanitarian Crisis At The Border

Join the conversation about this story »

It's the cheapest, most low-tech life hack you'll find.

Power posing: the act of taking a posture of confidence, even when you don't feel so confident, to make yourself more dominant.

Go to the poses »

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy struck a chord in the business world at TEDGlobal 2012 when she gave a talk about the scientific evidence behind power posing. Her research showed that standing or sitting a certain way triggers immediate changes in your body chemistry.

It can affect the way you do your job and interact with other people. It might even have an effect on your chances of success.

Here's how it works: High-power posing is about opening up, Cuddy says. You stretch and expand your body to take up as much space as possible. It's similar to how primates behave in the wild. They puff out their chests and extend their limbs to make themselves appear — and feel — big.

After assuming a high-power pose for just two minutes, your testosterone levels (the "dominance" hormone) can rocket 20% while your cortisol levels (the "stress" hormone) fall sharply. This allows you to better handle stressful situations.

We decided to test out some of the poses. Some of them have names created by Cuddy; others we came up with. We'll break down which to use in eight common situations that affect your work success. 

FOR SLEEPING: Lie in an open position with your arms and legs outstretched.

Becoming more powerful starts the night before. It's time to nix the fetal position.

Sleeping on your side with your arms and legs pulled toward your torso is considered a low-power position, Cuddy says. You may wake up feeling sensitive and vulnerable without understanding why, which is not a good way to face a chaotic, competitive workplace.

The power position, which we'll call "The Marissa Mayer," makes you feel bigger and, therefore, more powerful. You can also put your hands behind your head (á la Mayer in her Vogue photo spread), which is a power pose that Cuddy often mentions in her talks.

FOR SPEAKING IN A MEETING: Tightly cross your arms across your chest and roll your shoulders back.

Doing "The Mr. Clean" can help drive home an argument in the boardroom.

Your shoulder posture in this position is pivotal in shaping how observers interpret the folded arms, according to Noah Zandan, president of communications-analytics company Quantified Impressions.

If the shoulders are rolled forward, others will interpret the arms as a sign of weakness, sending the message that you're scared. But if you roll those shoulders back and hold your head high, the crossed arms become a signal of confidence.

While you're at it, Cuddy says it's important when you raise your hand to extend your arm fully, taking up space, as opposed to resting the elbow on the table. Women tend to bend at the arm more than men.

FOR CLOSING A DEAL: Plant your hands on the table and lean forward.

As you're rounding the last bend of your presentation and preparing to deliver the bottom-line offer, command the room with a position Cuddy calls "The Loomer."Leaning forward while standing shows you're engaged and in a position of dominance.

Cuddy named this pose in tribute to Lyndon B. Johnson. "Johnson was six-four," and he used his stature very thoughtfully, to intimidate and seduce,"she says.

There were nearly 2 million new high net worth individuals (HNWI) in 2013. But the changing global landscape makes it more complicated for both affluent and mass affluent investors. 

US Trust put out a report titled 101 Things Every Investor Should Know About The Global Economy earlier this year. Inspired by the report, we drew on some key global themes in terms of investment, trade, output, competitiveness and asset performance to pull together 27 key themes for investors.

We look at the importance of foreign direct investment, growing sovereign wealth funds, disruptive technologies, and total returns that investors should keep an eye on.

These themes can help guide investors in seeking out opportunities, both geographically and in terms of asset class.

Note: The charts are not taken from US Trust.

Developing nations are a bigger source of global demand than developed countries. This means emerging market consumer trends are becoming more prominent and this is bullish for U.S. multinationals.

Income inequality has increased after the global economic crisis. But faster economic growth in emerging countries can help lower inequality.

Stocks have outperformed every other asset in the long-run. In shorter, specific periods however this can vary. Meanwhile, cash is in fact not king as it struggles to keep pace with inflation.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has blitzed across Iraq over the past couple of weeks. The Sunni extremist group threatens the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite and a close ally of Iran. 

The Islamic Republic isn't taking its chances, and has already sent two units of the Revolutionary Guards into Iraq. These soldiers come from one of the largest and most capable militaries in the region. 

Iran's military has 545,000 active personnel and some of the most advanced technology of anyone in their neighborhood. The United States gave them a lot of it.

Granted, it wasn't the Islamic Republic of Iran that we supplied with some of the hottest tech available at the time. Rather, it was a pre-revolutionary monarchy that was a key ally of the United States in the Middle East — and was overthrown in Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. 

Since then, Iran has managed to develop its own military-industrial complex and upgrade its existing arsenal.

And they've gotten pretty good at it.

With Iran's military jumping into the unfurling chaos in Iraq, we looked at some of the military toys that the Iranians are playing with. 

 Walt Hickey contributed to this report.

The AH-1J SeaCobra

The United States sold 202 of these helicopters to Iran from 1975-1978. As of right now, only around fifty remain in service.

Iran used the helicopters with disputed success in the Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988. 

The AH-1W, a similar aircraft, remains a cornerstone of the U.S. Marine Corps' attack helicopter fleet. 

The attack helicopter carries a crew of two, reaches a maximum speed of 219 mph, and has a service ceiling of 10,500 feet. It's 53 feet long.

Iran has also built an upgrade the Panha 2091, from AH-1J aircraft. Their efficacy is unknown. 

The RIM-66 Surface to Air Missile

The RIM-66 is a naval missile system designed by the United States and exported to multiple nations.

They entered into service in 1967 and were made by Raytheon. This guided missile system can travel at three-and-a-half times the speed of sound and has an operational range of up to 90 nautical miles. 

The Iran Navy has these installed on a number of missile boats and frigates.

The S-300 missile system

This one is unconfirmed, but Iran claims that they have them.

And if they do have the S-300, that's a pretty big deal. Iran has also developed the Bavar 373 system, which it claims has the same capabilities as the S-300. 

NATO called the S-300 the S-10 Gladiator. The Soviets developed in the 1970s, and it's been continually upgraded until production ceased in 2011.

It's one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems in the field today.

There are even variations that have been designed to intercept ballistic missiles. The radar system can track 100 targets at once, and can simultaneously engage 12 of them. 

The 23-foot missiles weigh two tons and have a range of between 56 and 93 miles. They travel at six times the speed of sound. The missile system has never been used in combat as yet, but NATO has trained for that eventuality.

I think most comics readers are well aware of that piece of trivia about how the X-Men were about to get the axe before Giant Size X-Men #1 breathed new life into the franchise and set them on the path of becoming what was probably the single most popular and influential franchise of the ’80s and ’90s, and that’s not really how things usually work. In comics, you tend to either come out of the gate to massive, enduring popularity (like Batman or Spider-Man), come out strong and then fade away for whatever reason (like, sadly, Shazam!), or just sort of flounder in the midcard. It’s rare that something sticks around on the edge of being canceled for a solid decade before it finds its footing, and nobody bounced back harder than Marvel’s Merry Mutants.

But really, what you’re asking here is two separate questions: Why didn’t the X-Men take off in 1963, and why did they in 1975? So let’s look at the history and see if we can’t figure it out.

In a lot of ways, X-Men was clearly the odd man out in that original Marvel lineup. I’ve been through this a lot before, but it’s impossible to understate how much of a revolution those books were. Fantastic Four and Spider-Man were basically instant hits, and while Iron Man and Thor weren’t really A+ players, they were a solid foundation for the universe that led to Avengers and the return of Captain America, which was a huge deal. Hulk might’ve been canceled after six issues, but that’s such a great concept that it never really left, he just kicked around the midcard in Tales of Suspense with the Sub-Mariner for a while until the audience was there — and even that happened pretty quickly, all things considered.

X-Men, meanwhile, was just sort of there.

In retrospect, that seems weird, not just because of their later success, but because it’s such an easy concept, both for readers and creators. The emergence of a race of mutants provides the writers with an easy way to skip over complicated origin stories and get right to the action, which seems like the perfect medium for people like Jack Kirby, who had a million ideas a minute that could be dropped right onto the page with that simple explanation. Making them teenagers who are ostracized by the outside world and dropping it into that school setting gives the teenage readers something that they can relate to while at the same time giving them that escapist fantasy that comics have been built on for as long as they’ve existed. It even seems like it was perfectly timed, coming out right when the teenager was truly emerging as a social construct and an economic powerhouse.

On paper, that’s one of the best ideas those guys ever had, and that’s saying something. But in practice, it just falls flat right out of the gate. That’s not to say that there aren’t great ideas there. If you read that first issue, you can see the foundation of almost everything that would come later right there, from Magneto to the X-Men getting involved in a military situation, the cold war nuclear paranoia that was so prevalent in that age to the point where mutants themselves are said to be the result of atomic fallout, human WMDs left in the wake of World War II. It’s just that the execution doesn’t live up to it.

I’ve said before that X-Men just doesn’t feel like Lee and Kirby have their hearts in it, but I don’t think that’s quite right. I think the problem is that it was really their first attempt at building on what they’d already done. It’s a refinement rather than an innovation, pieced together from bits and pieces that worked in their other hits. The problem is that those other hits were themselves still being refined as an ongoing process, and they were way more interesting, which made X-Men redundant.

It had the hook of ostracized and isolated teens, but that was done way better in Spider-Man, the book that laid the foundation of the modern superhero. The team bickered while showing off their super-powers and had Angel and Cyclops competing for Marvel Girl’s affections, but that was nowhere near as good as the strained family relationship in Fantastic Four. They were outsiders in a world that didn’t understand if they were heroes or villains, but, you know, that’s the Hulk’s entire deal. X-Men was the first comic that tried to mash all that up — it’s the first real product of the Marvel Age — but it didn’t do anything better.

Before we move on, it’s worth noting that there’s another Marvel title that’s the same way, that also took a long time to ramp up and find its footing: Daredevil, which was really just Spider-Man Has A Grown-Up Job Now. It’s not a “bad” comic by any means, but when it’s in a crowd alongside “This Man, This Monster” or “The Final Chapter” or even that story where Hawkeye decides he’s going to wear a purple miniskirt from now on, it doesn’t measure up. It’s just Good Enough To Not Get Canceled, which is probably why they didn’t mind handing it off to an artist who had never written a monthly title before, which is how Frank Miller ended up doing the other most influential superhero comic of the ’80s.

Also, can we talk about that cover for a second? It’s dynamic as hell, but what is happening there. You’ve got a dude with wings trying to throw a metal pipe at a guy dressed up like the Devil, a snowman straight up throwing snowballs, and a girl doing the twist, all taking place in a blank white void while they stand on a fuchsia triangle. I love Kirby, but that is weird, and aside from Cyclops blasting laser beams out of his face, it’s not a particularly enticing image. Also, “what is Beast swinging from” is up there with “who the hell brought the ropes to tie up Mr. Fantastic” on the list of Questions Jack Kirby Covers Raise That They Never Answer.

There’s one other major factor about those early X-Men issues that makes them feel so bland, and that’s that the single most important aspect of that comic, the thing that in retrospect came to define it and keep it as a viable, thriving storytelling tool, is also completely absent from those early issues: The civil rights metaphor. It’s there in bits and pieces — the Sentinels, the prime example of the government repressing and hunting mutants, show up pretty early on in 1965 — but it’s certainly not the focus. Despite Marvel’s (pretty well-earned) reputation for being counterculture that was rooted in real-world struggles, they were still mainstream superhero comics, and those were a few years away from tackling bigotry with anything that had more layers than Superman and Batman showing up in a PSA to tell you racism was bad. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love that PSA, but it ain’t exactly God Loves, Man Kills, you know?

To be fair, I’m basing all of this on the earliest Lee/Kirby issues. I’ve never read the stuff that came after. Then again, neither did anyone else; that was sort of the problem. By the early ’70s, X-Men existed only as a bimonthly reprint title, presumably because “X-Men” is such a great title that Marvel didn’t want to take the chance of letting the copyright lapse. Then, in the part of the story that everyone knows by heart, Len Wein, Dave Cockrum relaunched it with Giant Size X-Men #1 and handed it off to Claremont and eventually John Byrne, and it became the most popular thing that has ever been held together with two staples and a cover.

I don’t think it’s exaggerating at all to say this is the most successful reboot of all time. The only thing I can think of that even arguably tops it is Flash in 1954, which kicked off the Silver Age and paved the way for so much of what still sits at the core of the DC Universe, but when you look at what came from that single issue of X-Men, it’s a tough call. Launching Wolverine alone changed comics as we know them, influencing the direction of countless characters and a sprawling media empire and that’s a small piece of the influence. The New Teen Titans, Crisis, the way team books changed forever, everything we think of as “The ’90s,” all of that has its roots one way or another in that comic. I don’t even think we’d have the Batman that we have today if we hadn’t gone through Wolverine to get there.

So why was it this book? It’s tough to say — no comic, even one that’s this influential, exists in a vacuum, and it’s hard to piece together a the complex web of influences, even if you’re pretty sure you’re starting from solid ground. But the most obvious reason is that it’s really good.

The “All-New X-Men” era is one of those rare lightning-in-a-bottle moments in comics when everyone involved just clicked right into place. Cockrum was an incredible designer who took some Legion of Super-Heroes ideas he’d been working on and dropped them right into a team that was in dire need of a new roster with international flair, Claremont’s operatic storytelling was perfect for juggling a complicated web of relationships and longing, and Byrne? Forget it, man. That dude was putting out G.O.A.T. stuff for a solid decade.

That’s before you throw Orzechowski into the mix, too. It’s A-game all around.

One interesting thing about how X-Men was relaunched is that, as a run, Claremont, Cockrum and Byrne’s stories feel very modern, but in a lot of ways, Wein and Cockrum’s Giant Size reads like a throwback. It’s very old school, to the point where you’ve got a nod back to the pre-Fantstic Four days with KRAKOA, THE ISLAND THAT WALKS LIKE A MAN! Even the story that it leads into features the X-Men duking it out with Count Nefaria, a villain from the early days of the Avengers with a name that sounds like someone the Shadow and Doc Savage would’ve fought. In retrospect, it makes a strange bridge between these two distinct eras of Marvel comics.

The first and most important thing it does in that respect is that it rebuilds the team almost from the ground up. Cyclops, much to my dismay, sticks around to connect the team to its past, but everyone else is either gone or radically changed. Iceman and Angel head off to California to join the Champions (which, for those of you who haven’t read it, is to Defenders what Defenders is to the rest of the Marvel Universe), Beast went to the Avengers, and Marvel Girl became the Phoenix — a pretty huge change for a character whose powers were defined in 1963 as “can lift and read a book.”

The rest of the team was, of course, filled out with an international roster, and that’s one of the most brilliant things that the relaunch did. Since they were situated out in Westchester rather than being in New York City proper, the X-Men had always been slightly apart from the Marvel Universe. It’s only about 30 miles, sure, but Spider-Man wasn’t exactly going to be swinging by on his way to the Bugle like he could in the background of Daredevil. By throwing in characters from Africa, Europe and even Canada, Wein and Cockrum gave the team a global scale that set them apart from neighborhood heroes. It was something they’d already had, but now there was a personal investment in it.

It also brought that civil rights metaphor right to the forefront, on a very basic visual level. These were people who looked different from each other — the gigantic wide-eyed Russian, the African goddess, the weird blue elf with the accent — but they all had something in common. They were united as members of a race despite their differences in appearance, and that also meant that they had a common enemy in the forces that were out to oppress and destroy them because of their differences from “normal people.” Compare that to the five white kids in suits from the original lineup. One of them has large feet. That’s about as much visual variety as you get, and it doesn’t exactly underscore what you’re dealing with.

Right away, you’re dealing with something that has a much stronger hook, with creators who are far more invested and devoted to what they’re doing. But more than that, everything that works against X-Men in 1963 ends up working for it in 1975.

In the early days, Spider-Man had been the book about an outcast, but by the ’70s, that wasn’t really the case anymore. Peter Parker had stopped being Steve Ditko’s spindly, picked-on nerd once John Romita Sr. showed up to shove him through puberty and turn him into the strapping young man who was dating a pair of gorgeous go-go dancers with a lot of bad luck around bridges. He still had his problems at bargain rates, but they were covering different ground than what you saw with the X-Men. Peter Parker was a guy with a lousy job who had to worry about paying the bills and providing for the woman who raised him and who was perpetually two seconds away from keeling over, but he didn’t have to worry about fighting for equality or being rounded up and sent to a labor camp. The X-Men, on the other hand, were hitting that exact note, filling a metaphorical role in the way that nobody else was — and once Kitty Pryde showed up to allow a shift in focus from the grown-up, graduated X-Men (and the just-out-of-college Spider-Man), they had that teenage POV market cornered too.

The Fantastic Four had the market cornered on bickering teammates in ’63, but ten years later, the book (which, sadly, suffered the worst for Kirby’s departure from Marvel in 1971 and wouldn’t really recover until John Byrne took the reigns in the ’80s) didn’t have anything like the love triangle that was going on between Cyclops, Phoenix and Wolverine, let alone the interpersonal web of relationships between the rest of the ever-expanding cast. It’s almost not fair, in a way — X-Men starts with twice as many characters as Fantastic Four had, with a cast that’s meeting each other and developing their relationships right there on the page, rather than starting fully formed.

Hulk was a hero in a monster’s body, but Claremont, Cockrum and Byrne made Magneto a villain you could actually root for. In fact, it’s hard not to see his point, even when he’s driven to extremes, because you’ve seen the X-Men being assaulted by the Government and have to deal with exactly the sort of problems that are keeping Magneto up at night. The flipside is that they get lumped in with him, so that it’s not their actions that are getting them labeled as monsters, but the actions of a member of their race. It all comes back to that central metaphor, supporting it, leading to interesting and complicated storytelling. Which is exactly what the book did. 

All of that gave this second iteration of the X-Men something that the first version didn’t have: direction. It had a clear mission, its parameters were defined and could be expanded and contracted as the story needed, whether it was to accommodate a cosmic adventure out into space to deal with the Phoenix, or whether it was something as small as Kitty Pryde having to choose between schools. People knew what the X-Men were about, and because of that, what they were about could change and evolve over time, returning to that base as needed. The first version was just more superheroes, but the second told you why you should care, and that made all the difference.

SEE ALSO: Here’s The Fundamental Problem With DC Comics

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As a lifelong resident of Manhattan, photographer and former urban planner David Allee has often spied the hulking outline of the iconic Domino Sugar Factory in the Brooklyn skyline. When he heard several years ago the complex was to be demolished and developed, he used his contacts from his urban planning career to get access to the site before it was gone.

Opened in 1882, the Domino Sugar Refinery became the largest sugar refinery in the world at the time. At one point, the building produced more than half of the sugar consumed in all of the United States. After running for nearly 150 years, the refinery closed in 2004 and laid abandoned until Two Trees Management bought it in 2012.

Allee has spent the last two years photographing the inside and outside of the factory, making sure to document “every nook and cranny” of the building, which he contends has “a very complicated history.”

Allee shared a number of the photos with us here, and you can check out the rest on his Facebook page. 

The Domino Sugar Factory occupies an 11-acre complex of buildings that includes places for refining, processing, storage, and packaging.  When the factory was built in 1882, it replaced a sugar-house that had been destroyed by a fire. The building was originally the home of Havemeyers & Elders Sugar Company. Havemeyers later merged with 17 other sugar refineries to form American Sugar Refining, whose sugar was branded as Domino Sugar in 1902. At its peak, the factory employed more than 5,000 workers and could produce more than 3 million pounds of sugar per day.Working conditions at the factory were notoriously bad. In 2000, the refinery experienced the one of the longest labor strikes in New York City history, when 250 workers protested wages and working conditions for 20 months. This is the interior of the cavernous raw sugar storage warehouse, added to the complex in 1927.Everything in the factory is "literally sugar-coated," Allee told The New Yorker. The buildings smell of "crème brûlée mixed with mold and rot,” Allee says.The majority of the buildings, according to Allee, are too far gone to be repurposed. While the exterior structures are still solid, the interiors are completely falling apart. The refinery building is the only part of the complex that will remain intact after demolition. It is to be gutted and turned into office space for tech companies. Shown below are the massive steel tanks used for refining sugar.There are approximately 108 steel refining tanks, each weighing hundreds of tons. Because the tanks are so massive, they were assembled on the site before the refinery building was even built. According to Allee, each tank will have to be dismantled and carried out piece-by-piece, a huge undertaking.Domino site was purchased in 2010 by Community Preservation Corporation, which, ironically, had plans to demolish the factory and build numerous high-rise luxury apartment buildings. The plan drew the ire of many in the community. CPC defaulted on the project in 2012, at which point, Two Trees Management bought it for $180 million.Two Trees' plan is similar to CPC's, except it provides for more open spaces, community areas, and preservation of the refinery building, as well as a new public school. Allee worked with Two Trees on other projects when he was an urban planner, and he approves of the plan."You have to be realistic because most of the site can’t be repurposed," Allee says of Two Trees' plan. "You have to balance what you can do to preserve the site with the need for the development to make money."Two Trees' $1.5 billion plan was held up temporarily by New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, who called for more affordable housing units. Two Trees agreed to increase the number of units from 660 to 700, clearing the way for approval in March. Here's a mockup of what it will look like. 

SEE ALSO: This Abandoned New York City Island Shows What Would Happen 50 Years After Humans

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I may be biased as a Minnesota native, but I believe that the Minnesota State Fair is the best state fair in the U.S.

The "Great Minnesota Get-Together" has the largest average per-day attendance of any state fair in the country, and attracts nearly 1.8 million visitors annually. And that’s probably because of all the ridiculously delicious Sate Fair food.

Every August, people from all over the state flock to the St. Paul area for the rides, concerts, and games — and of course, calorific snacks like freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies or humongous bacon-wrapped turkey legs.

The Minnesota State Fair has just released a spate of new foods that fair-goers can look forward to in 2014. From beer gelato to a ton of culinary delicacies on a stick, here’s what I wish I was home to sample.

Deep-Fried Lobster On-A-Stick: Who wouldn't want lobster from one of the most land-locked states in the U.S.? This treat is described as "Canadian lobster pieces poached in butter, dipped in a corn batter, deep-fried and served with a spiced dipping sauce."

Order it at the new LuLu’s Public House located next to Schilling Amphitheater at West End Market.Beer Gelato:“Made fresh daily on-site, this rich, smooth and creamy gelato is blended with local craft beer."

You can find it at Mancini’s Al Fresco located on Carnes Ave. near Nelson St.Breakfast Juicy LuLu: A take on the classic Jucy Lucy, this is "An English muffin with two American cheese-stuffed sausage patties."

It's served until 11 AM at the new LuLu’s Public House located next to Schilling Amphitheater at West End Market.Shrimp Dog: “Baby shrimp and cream cheese are combined, then batter-dipped, deep-fried, and served on-a-stick." You can feel your arteries closing just reading that description.

Find it at The Shrimp Shack located on Underwood St. at Carnes Ave.Chicken in the Waffle:"This southern classic is crispy chicken nestled in a crunchy waffle cone, then smothered with a creamy sausage gravy." Yum.

Order one at the new Blue Barn located west of the Skyride at West End Market.Chocolate Dessert Salami: It may look weird, but this is “Chocolate, butter, almonds, and walnuts all blended and rolled into a distinctive salami shape, dusted with powdered sugar, then sliced and served on specialty crackers for a unique Italian dessert."

Find it at Sausage Sisters located inside the Food Building.Deep-Fried Breakfast On-A-Stick:"American and Swiss cheeses, a sausage patty, one egg, and Canadian bacon all sandwiched between two pancakes, then dipped in a light, sweet batter and deep-fried on-a-stick." All the hallmarks of a State Fair classic.

Try one at The Sandwich Stop located on Clough St. on the east side of the Poultry Barn.SnoRibbons: What are SnoRibbons? According to this food stand, it's a cross between “cotton candy, flaky shaved ice, and creamy layered snow." The gluten-free snack will also have a bunch of flavors, including strawberry pretzel cream cheese, coffee and donuts, grasshopper pie, red hot velvet, green tea black sesame, horchata vanilla, salted caramel corn crunch, and more.

Find it at Blue Moon Dine-In Theater located on the corner of Chambers St. and Carnes Ave.PB&J French Toast:“The ever-popular peanut butter & jelly sandwich is fused with French toast, then sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with your choice of ham, bacon or sausage."

Find it at Robbinsdale OES Dining Hall located on Underwood St. next to FAN Central.You can see all the new 2014 Minnesota State Fair Foods here.

SEE ALSO: 29 Reasons That The Minnesota State Fair Is The Best State Fair

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The future scares a lot of people. Climate change, a growing population, and fewer natural resources will certainly pose new challenges for the human race in the next few decades.

But when you consider ongoing social and economic progress and all of the coming innovations in science and technology, there's plenty of room for optimism.

We've pulled out some of our favorite ideas about the future of our world.

Child mortality rates will be vastly lower.

During the 20th century, the sharpest declined in mortality involved deaths of children under 5 years old, according to the assessment on human health from the Copenhagen Consensus on Human Challenge. "However, the pace of decline has been rapid in low and middle-income countries, especially since 1950," that report said.

Between 1990 and 2012, the number of under-5 child deaths went from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births to 48 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to a 2013 report from UNICEF.

The Copenhagen report found these trends are likely to continue, with the rate dropping to 31 per 1,000 live births in 2050 and even more dramatic declines in regions like Africa.

The factors behind this decline include prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, immunization against diseases, insecticide-treated nets to control diseases like malaria, and micronutrients for children to prevent life-threatening deficiencies.

We'll have vaccines and cures for many diseases.

While we can't know what will threaten our bodies in the future, cures and vaccines for current diseases and illnesses will surely improve by 2050.

Researchers are confident that within 20 years they can design a vaccine to stop the spread of HIV, which currently kills anywhere from 1.5 million to 2 million people per year. That's according to Martin Wiselka, consultant in infectious diseases at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, as reported in The Daily Mirror.

To be sure, we've had troubles coming up with a traditional vaccine to prevent HIV in the past. However, scientists are making big strides in understanding how our immune system interacts with the virus.

While treatment already exists for malaria, which kills 1 million people a year, many organizations are working to eradicate the disease entirely. Some remain hopeful for a vaccine, while others go to the source by genetically engineering mosquitoes carrying the parasite to self-destruct.

A better understanding of the processes behind Alzheimer's bring us closer and closer to a cure.

A U.S. vaccine already exists for meningitis, which other countries will soon adopt.

As for cancer, we're making progress in treating some types. A rheumatoid arthritis drug recently cured a young child's leukemia. A modified measles vaccine put another woman's cancer into remission. Nanoparticles could even attack cancer stem cells, which cause tumors to form. Others are trying to teach the body to attack cancer directly, by training the immune system with "cancer vaccines."

Humans could be live forever as computerized brains.

In the coming decades, some scientists hope to upload the contents of human brains into computers, allowing people to live forever inside a robotic body or even as a hologram.

Neuroscientist Randal Koene and Russian financial-backer Dmitry Itskov are trying to transfer human consciousness and brain functions to an artificial body by 2045 by "mapping the brain, reducing its activity to computations, and reproducing those computations in code,"according to Popular Science.

Koene said his work isn't just about achieving immortality. It's about giving people the ability to go places and do things that are impossible in our own bodies, like traveling close to the sun.

Even if we don't meet that goal by 2050, people alive today may still have their brains uploaded in the future. That's because other scientists are working on preserving human brains and all their contents indefinitely through immersion in chemical solutions.

"If we could put the brain into a state in which it does not decay, then the second step could be done 100 years later, and everyone could experience mind uploading first hand," scientist Kenneth Hayworth, of the Brain Preservation Foundation, told Popular Science. Hayworth believes scientists may discover how to preserve a mouse brain by 2015.