Two reads in one week? Sure, why not? I was looking through some books I haven't read yet and was planning out what to read first. Among these books was this one. It was substantially shorter than the rest of the bunch, so I decided to just read it now as opposed to putting it off for another week. BACKGROUND:
This was one of a few books my mother bought for me one Christmas a few years ago. They were all motivational books of some sort. Out of all of them, this was really the only one that actually captured my interest (thanks in no small part to its rather inspirational title). My mom has this presumptuous notion that my idea of success is being rich as shit and being at the top of my field, and while I understand better than anyone that she means well, the other books she bought reflected this notion, so I wasn't compelled to read those other ones as much. SUMMARY: This book was written by Paul Arden, a wizard in the advertising world. He used his in experiences in the industry to provide advice in all sorts of subjects, presented in the book with not only in words, but with all sorts of visuals (different layouts, colors, bold text, pictures, etc.). It's an easy-to-digest read; you're never bombarded with an avalanche of text, and it helps to have things other than the text to look at that help convey Arden's advice. Arden goes over a number of different topics. He does so in a concise fashion: the title aptly communicates his main idea, and the following texts adds insight to this main idea. The topics he covers vary greatly (the usual "mind over matter" stuff for achieving goals, dealing with clients, how to go about ideas and creative thinking, etc.), and while not all of his advice is applicable to me, or something I necessarily agreed with, a lot of what he says had me pondering about different aspects of my life. I'm not in the advertising field, but Arden's insight on clients (something I dealt with working in web development), creative thinking (a mindset I try to abide by, especially in Lego builds), the subject of being wrong or right (something I still struggle with), and even stuff like presentations (I hate giving speeches) all resonated with me in some way. I don't want to give too much away in the off chance someone is interested in reading this, but I found a good number of nuggets of wisdom and plenty of quote-worthy lines all over. VERDICT: It didn't solve all of my life's problems, but this book provided me with a new angle with which to look at some of those problems. It's an effective blend of (mostly) insightful advice and good visual presentation, all in one short, but sweet book. Give it a read; maybe something in it will resonate with you, too. - end -
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This build-focused blog entry is going to be a little different, as it focuses less on how a build idea I've come up with on has evolved over the years, and more on why I don't favor a certain build type. The main idea of the post will revolve around an irony that defines me as a builder: I own a lot of Bionicle sets, but I don't build a lot of "Bionicle-like" creations. Before I proceed, it's imperative I explain what the fuck a "Bionicle" even is. Bionicle is a Lego theme that the company first put out in 2001. Unlike your typical Lego bricks. Bionicle uses Technic bricks for its sets. Technic is the Lego toy line aimed more at older kids/adults, as it uses more complex elements like pins, axles, gears, and more (I feel the need to point out that these are still compatible with vanilla Lego bricks). If you've taken a robotics class that uses Lego Mindstorms, a lot of those pieces are Technic pieces. What sets Bionicle apart from Technic is that in addition to typical Technic pieces, Bionicle sets have parts that have balls/sockets, which allow you to create limbs. Essentially, you're building action figures when you pick up a Bionicle set. It's like the G.I. Joe of Lego. Most Bionicle sets are your typical humanoid figures. There are a ton of sets deviating from this norm (spiders, beasts, even vehicles), but most people usually remember the humanoid ones (largely because they're the protagonists of the story). For the purposes of this blog entry, I'll be referring exclusively to these humanoids for my comparisons and descriptions. If you look at Bionicle-focused builders in places like Instagram, Flickr, or BZPower (a Bionicle fan forum I frequent), you'll see that many people (definitely not all) have a tendency to go the humanoid route for custom creations. It's usually a genuine surprise to see anything other than that when browsing through fan builds. When I first got into custom builds, I went this route, too. I was very much obsessed with Bionicle's rich story for most of my childhood, and, like many other fans, I wanted to build original characters to fight it out with my other figures. It's like typical make-believe with dolls or action figures, except I gotta build the characters first. Above are some examples of my early work. These are part of a folder of builds from around 2009–2011 that have never seen the light of day because they're all fucking terrible (if that piques your interest, let me know). Sure, you might say they're creative in some sense, but they're the furthest from original, at least in terms of construction. The humanoid Bionicle sets (the ones of this size and price range, anyway), while unique in terms of aesthetic, all share the same basic construction blueprint: build the torso, build the arms, build the legs, slap on the head. The particular pieces used to create these body parts vary as you go through Bionicle's set catalog, but boiled down to their fundamentals, it's all the same. All I did in these early builds is follow the same formula, except I mixed and matched pieces from different sets. Of course, there's nothing wrong with doing that, it's just not that interesting when you think about it. In 2006, Lego used some new pieces for the torso and limbs. At the time, I thought, hey, new pieces, cool. It was cool until you realize that most humanoid Bionicle sets from this year until late 2009 (barring several exceptions) pretty much used the same base pieces, with the only things changing being weapons and armor. Throughout this period, building sets felt largely uninteresting because there was rarely anything unique from a construction standpoint. This persists even to this day, where a lot of Lego's buildable figures use a new brick system (based on this era of Bionicle) called CCBS, which leans less on Technic and more on the ball-socket joint system Bionicle pioneered. Believe me when I say that once you've built one CCBS set, you've pretty much built them all. This is not meant to be derisive, of course— it's just how it is. The reason I bring up this "same-y" vibe to building Bionicle sets is because, early on, I felt this dissatisfaction with my earliest builds. I was essentially churning out facsimiles of the same base figure. It got old real quick. It also helped that, when I shared one of my builds of this nature online, I caught a lot of shit for essentially swapping a few pieces out and calling it brand new. This happened when I was pretty young (and completely new to the idea of people being assholes on the Internet), so I felt like shit, but hey, they weren't wrong. I quickly found myself having to justify building humanoid creations by having a completely custom design incorporated into it (e.g. a custom mask, or a cool arm cannon, like the above builds). Eventually, that justification turned into an outright aversion to humanoid builds. That change ended up being for the better, because that got me to think about using pieces that used to be just the torso piece in new and exciting ways. Stuff like orienting Kanohi masks (the masks most Bionicle characters wear) in different angles to achieve a unique look were lessons I learned during this phase of my building "career", and are design techniques I still use today. I don't remember a lot of builds from this earlier era (I constantly shock myself whenever I look through that folder of old build photos), but the ones I do remember are the ones that strayed completely away from the standard Bionicle person build. They're memorable because I found a cool new use of a Bionicle piece that had seemingly only one function. A lot of Bionicle pieces feel like this; finding a new or creative way to use a piece in a build will almost always result in praise amongst fellow builders. In the cases of the above, the spider uses what's normally a Bionicle torso piece as a cephalothorax, and the stingray's basic shape is formed by silver pieces that are usually bladed weapons wielded by Bionicle people. Eventually, that challenge of finding new ways to use Bionicle pieces presented itself in later builds as the years went by (many of which I've already talked about; go to the Derryck Builds blog category to see more specific instances). Those builds are always fun, but I occasionally found myself wanting to build humanoid figures for a change, like the old days. This desire is often spurred on when I look through the builds of other creators online; the best humanoid builds often have completely custom limb and torso designs, and I regularly thought of those builds as a challenge to make something in that same vein. Inspiration would strike here and there for humanoid builds, and I made it a point that, at the very least, the torso would be a completely custom design (I found, and still find, custom limbs to be particularly challenging to come up with). The most Herculean humanoid build effort I ever came up with (as of today) was something I dubbed the Silver Knight. Almost nothing about it was derived from the Bionicle template of humanoid builds; everything from head to toe was something I went out of my way to design. I think of this build fondly not only from a design perspective, but also in terms of scale— larger Bionicle sets (aptly named "Titans") are often of this size. Coming up with custom humanoid designs is rewarding, but I often had to take two things into account: mobility and stability. To use the above Silver Knight as an example: those limbs don't have a full range of motion (I distinctly remember the legs being annoying to move around), and, as a consequence, it's challenging to find a pose where the figure stands perfectly stable. The template may be boring, but if there's one thing it gets right, it's that it isn't unwieldy to play with. At the end of the day, these are toys; they gotta be easy to play with. The reason I brought up this topic today was because a recent build (which is in the "Bionicle-like humanoid" category) got me to think, wow, I really don't build stuff like this often, do I? This is as much a journey of self-reflection (pretentious as that may sound) as it is me giving you, glorious reader, a guided tour of my thought process. It was also a good excuse to look through that damned folder of old builds again. I'm gonna try and come up with more humanoid builds in the future, but regardless of whatever the future may hold in terms of my builds, my Instagram page is the place to see that future. Refer to the sidebar for the link. Before I go, here's a few more photos from the old build folder. Builds from that era take me back to early high school, so humor me as I reminisce (and laugh at my poor design choices + my utter incompetence at photography): And, as a bonus, here's a humanoid build I came up with in late 2012 for my yearbook creative shot (modified after the fact). I was going for an Inception-style situation, which I think I pulled off adequately. I might revisit this idea someday and make a more refined version. - end -
Today's read may surprise you, because the book I'm going to talk about... has no pictures. What, did you think I didn't read normal books? I love comics, but please, that's not all I read. BACKGROUND:
Before I begin: I don't need to talk at length about me being an atheist. There's a blog entry for that. That said, I'm gonna repeat a point I made on there: reserve judgment before you have me stoned, St. Stephen style. And if you don't know who St. Stephen is, I strongly suggest that you delete that comment you're writing on how I don't know shit about Christianity. Why do I bring up atheism? If the title or the author hasn't clued you in yet, The God Delusion is a book revolving around refuting the idea of a god. It's written by Richard Dawkins, an acclaimed evolutionary biologist and professor, and probably one of the most well-known atheists in the world. Now, before you break into my house to burn my copy of the book, hear me out. When I was a fledgling atheist, many online circles I frequented would recommend this book as a good starting point for questioning faith. At this point, however, I didn't need a starting point; I had already read Christopher Hitchens's God is Not Great, which provided me with more than enough to put me on the path to irreligion. With that said, I was still interested in The God Delusion; God is Not Great tackles the "does god exist" question, yes, but its primary focus is on the central idea brought forth by the book's subtitle: How Religion Poisons Everything. From what I'd been told, Dawkins focuses more on the "does god exist" question, and that he did so nearly exhaustively. I didn't need further convincing by the time I picked up this book — I had already come to the "god doesn't exist" conclusion through my own research — rather, I bought this book because I was interested with what Dawkins presents as evidence, and how he communicates his logic. SUMMARY: My copy, being the paperback edition, comes with a bonus preface written specifically for this edition. In it, Dawkins addresses some popular responses to the original edition of the book, and picks apart a number of rebuttals that have been thrown at him. You get a taste of Dawkins wielding logic like a precision instrument, and a taste of his sharp, if abrasive wit. The original preface touches on the topics Dawkins will be covering throughout the book. He poses some of the FAQs of religion vs. irreligion, and promptly mentions the chapter in which he will discuss each question at length. It got me excited to reach later chapters to see how he addresses question x. There are ten chapters, and while they tackle more or less distinct topics, these chapters flowed naturally into each other. For example, the first four chapters focus on the idea of a god (presenting what Dawkins calls the "God Hypothesis", tackling the arguments "in favor" of god, and looking through those arguments and why they don't hold up), which then flows into the idea of religion itself (its origins, the question of morality and whether religion/god is necessary for its existence, tackling sacred Scripture), and culminating with questions like "why go after religion?" (which then goes into the atrocities of religion, childhood indoctrination in particular) and "if there's no god, what's the point?" (where Dawkins asserts that a scientific view of the world isn't all that bad). Going through the book end to end felt like a seamless progression from the original "does god exist" question to the implications of concluding "no". Dawkins splits each chapter further into sections, which makes this hefty read much more digestible. Like the chapters, these smaller sections flow into each other seamlessly. By the time I got to the end of the chapter, I felt that the main topic was adequately addressed, and I didn't get lost anywhere in between. With a "controversial" "claim" such as "god doesn't exist", it pays well to be prepared, and damn does Dawkins come prepared. He tackles the big questions ("evidence" against evolution, the origins of morality, how religion is a human need, etc.) in an almost frighteningly meticulous way. His arguments don't pull any punches, and he's got the ammo to more than back it up: he quotes everything from the Bible to The Origin of Species, ties in literature and poetry, creates effective analogies to explain complex concepts, regularly references previous points/chapters, points the reader to pertinent websites, and even goes as far as to clear up the language he's using as to not be taken out of context. Dawkins's unrelenting approach is complemented by his elegant language and his discourteous, almost scathing brand of humor (sometimes to a fault). As a whole, it made the book a completely engaging read. He has so many quote-worthy lines, I had to stop myself from picking up my phone and tweeting while in the middle of a chapter. I should also mention that while Dawkins uses Christianity as his example (largely because it's the religion he's most familiar with), he does scrutinize other religions, too. Don't get weepy on me over that "War on Christianity" shit. Every book Dawkins references, even offhand, can be found in a neat bibliography of books he cited or recommends. In addition, he even has a list of addresses for people who need support in leaving/after leaving religion. Dawkins goes the extra mile not only on his main talking points, but also on ancillary stuff like this and his many footnotes. Thanks to Dawkins, I now have a wealth of new shit to find and read. VERDICT: Whether you're an irreligious blasphemer like I am, a staunch believer since birth, or a die-hard agnostic, The God Delusion is a must-read. Dawkins presents his case in an uncompromising, borderline merciless fashion, and for that he merits one's attention. He admittedly comes across as a dick in a few instances, but most of the time, that's just his almost intimidating passion for the subject shining through. I'm not forcing anybody to read this, and I'm certainly not in the business of "brainwashing" people by telling them to believe everything in this book (or anything at all, for that matter). Rather, I ask, that, if you choose, you read this book (and I mean really read it, not just skim through it dismissively), you hear out what Dawkins has to say, and arrive to your own conclusion. Don't go to your minister and ask him what he thinks of the book; think for your goddamn self. The god question isn't for someone else to answer or decide for you. For those open-minded enough to explore books written by atheists, I would personally recommend God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens as a starting point as opposed to The God Delusion. In my opinion, the negative influence brought about by religion is a more pertinent subject matter than the existence of a deity. That isn't to say The God Delusion is a terrible starting point by any means— I just feel that while the belief in a god is an important question to ask oneself, it only affects you and no one else. Religion has a massive influence on politics and society, and it affects everybody (even people like me who don't practice it). I deem it more pressing to scrutinize religion itself as opposed to picking apart the dogmas on which they stand. Anyway, that's all for this week's read. I'm anticipating a barrage of angry messages telling me to burn in hell. - end - We're on the lucky 13th movie of the MCU Rewatch, and it just so happens to be the beginning of Phase 3. This week, I'm reliving the hype that was Captain America: Civil War. BACKGROUND:
After the triumph that was Winter Soldier, I found myself in a position I never thought I'd find myself in: I was actually hyped for a sequel. Like many other fans, I thought that an adaptation of Civil War would be an amazing storyline for a Captain America film to tackle. When the third Captain America movie was revealed to be Civil War, I naturally flipped my shit. A Civil War adaptation is exciting enough on its own, but what pushed the hype over the edge was the thought of a certain friendly neighborhood hero potentially showing up. If I recall correctly, it was in early 2015 when it was announced that Sony will share the rights to Spider-Man with Marvel Studios. This was met with unprecedented uproar (the good kind), especially considering the combination of fan desire to see the webslinger in the MCU and the fatigue caused by the last few Sony-made Spidey movies. Of course, the speculation that Spidey would make his anticipated debut in Civil War (he plays a big role in that comic) followed shortly after the momentous announcement. He was not in the first trailer (although that did feature the debut of Black Panther, which I was equally excited for), but in the second trailer, he swings in right at the end. I vividly remember the night that second trailer dropped. I couldn't sleep, because I found myself internally screaming that my boy, our boy, Spider-Man is where he belongs. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE AIRPORT BATTLE: I'm separating this, because I don't want the above segment to be inundated with moments from this scene. I'm gonna treat this like a pro wrestling match and call out my favorite spots below.
THE EASTER EGGS:
TEAM CAP: Cap once again demonstrates his moral resolve and loyalty to Bucky. He also shows us that his judgment isn't always at 100%, when he withheld the truth behind the deaths of Tony's parents. People feared that having a ton of characters may be to the detriment of Cap, but it's a relief to see that he's still very much the star of the show. As for the others: Bucky expresses regret for his actions as the Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch comes to grips with the dangerous nature of her powers, and Hawkeye's bond with Wanda is reinforced when he comes to her rescue. Everyone gets a little bit to work with, except maybe Falcon (who's starting to feel like Cap's yes man) and Ant-Man (who was clearly a one-off appearance). TEAM IRON MAN: Tony expresses his tremendous guilt for the events in Sokovia, and his indefatigable need to make things right is well-meaning, but seems to impair his judgment. You also can't help but feel for him when he's overcome with emotion at the revelation that Bucky killed his parents. From the outside looking in, it feels like he's framed as the villain, but that's very much not the case. Rhodey gets to be his "straight military man" persona (we also see him coming to terms with his later injury), Black Panther's vengeance arc was a neat parallel to Tony and Zemo, Vision brings his calculating approach to the Accords (and shows his deep concern for Wanda), Widow gets to be a good friend (and be a little duplicitous, though in a less sinister fashion), and we get a taste of the Spider-Man we know and love. Again, everyone gets a little bit to grow as characters. TEAM ZEMO: Zemo's motivation was sensible: he's pissed that the Avengers never answered for the death of his family, and is now consumed by revenge. He shows his brilliance by going the "tear them apart from the inside" route instead of just starting a fight. After a steady stream of average villains, Zemo was a breath of fresh air. I'm so glad he wasn't killed off; I'd love to see more of him, maybe to form his own Masters of Evil. I'm also glad he actually somewhat succeeds in his mission, which is a nice change of pace. People love to point out that Zemo's plan to tear apart the Avengers was convoluted, perhaps impossible. From a knowledge standpoint, that's not true. Zemo himself says he patiently read through the SHIELD/HYDRA data dump that came about courtesy of Black Widow in the previous movie. It's not farfetched to me that he'd eventually stumble upon the Winter Soldier program, and that he'd be smart enough to suss out details like where Bucky's being held prisoner. The rest of the plan felt sound, too, in my opinion. Staging an attack, framing Bucky to draw him out of hiding, finding a way to physically get to him, then using his brainwashing to acquire a videotape, and then count on a red herring to lure Tony Stark to see that tape... well, all right, that's a lot of effort and logistics for a tape, but it worked, didn't it? I will also concede that, while I don't doubt that Zemo can construct and transport an EMP, he'd have to be on an absurdly tight schedule to make that shit work. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: There are two stingers, both with the shared purpose of setting up future movies. The first one shows Bucky going back into stasis. T'Challa and Cap buddy up, too. Then (complete with epic music) they reveal that they're in Wakanda with a shot of a panther statue. Goddamn, I couldn't understate my excitement when I first saw this. Black Panther and Wakanda is MCU canon, and I couldn't be happier. The second has Peter Parker back at home, resting up after the airport battle. He plays around with his Stark-issued suit, and activates a signal light with the iconic Spidey face. Again, can't understate my excitement over this. Spider-Man's finally home, and we're gonna see more of him. Fuck yes. VERDICT: With an interesting, thought-provoking central debate, amazing debuts in Black Panther and Spider-Man, exhilarating action, and a fair share of emotional character moments, Civil War is essentially the Avengers sequel everyone wanted. It says a lot about the brilliance of Marvel Studios when people were more excited to see why the heroes are fighting as opposed to simply excited to see the fighting. In addition, this movie helped confirm that the upcoming Infinity War (which we knew was being directed by the Russos at this point) was in good, no, great hands. See you again next Friday for some Doctor Strange. - end - A surprise in the Switch eShop greeted me yesterday, and it was an open beta for Ubisoft's upcoming game, Trials Rising. Having never played a Trials game (I've only ever seen Let's Plays of previous games courtesy of Achievement Hunter), I decided to try it out. WHAT'S IN THE BETA:
The open beta looks like a build of the full game with most of the shit locked off. What you see here might well be the final product. If you're not familiar with the Trials series, it's essentially a 2D, side-scrolling racing game where you control a biker on a motorcycle across treacherous terrain. Think Excitebike, but with more varied level design, or Happy Wheels, but less gory and more refined. There's nothing complex at all about the core gameplay, but the plethora of advanced techniques and the aforementioned terrain make it a difficult, yet satisfying game to master. It's a borderline Sisyphean, yet still somehow fun gameplay loop of "go through level, crash, reset". You mostly get a taste of the single player aspect of the game, where you pick out missions strewn about a world map. These missions range from the typical "beat the level", while others require beating an AI racer, clearing the level under a certain time, obtaining a good rank, or have other special objectives. You also gain access to a bunch of tutorial levels that adequately explain how to succeed at the game. It's only a couple of missions, but there was more than enough fun to be had with what was available. Trials Rising brings brand new, stunning graphics to the franchise, along with exciting camera angles that make the traditionally 2D levels feel more massive. The levels come with all sorts of backdrops, feature some zany track designs, and have finish lines that exemplify the wackiness of the game. What little I saw here had me itching to see what later levels look like. In addition to the main game, you also get a taste of a few ancillary elements, such as character customization, the ability to use in-game currency to purchase stuff, and the wonderful train wreck that is loot boxes (which, thankfully, only contain cosmetic accoutrements). VERDICT: I've always thought the Trials games looked fun, and now, I got to finally experience it for myself. I didn't play it for too long, but what I did play was enough to sell me on Trials Rising (though maybe not to the point of buying it on release). It's gameplay that's simple, yet deceptively hard, and is a ton of fun. You can't really go wrong with that. You can also play the Trials Rising Open Beta on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1004390/Trials_Rising__Open_Beta/ If you need no further convincing, here's the pre-purchase page on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/641080/Trials_Rising/ - end - It's once again time for my weekly read, but this time, things are different. For the foreseeable future, I'll be pulling from my digital comic backlog for this blog series. Since I have literally hundreds of those to go through, I thought it would make sense to read multiple comics every week. I decided to go for the modest five comics, and, to make things more fun, the five comics I'll be reading will have a theme to them (as opposed to me just randomly picking whatever). I've opened up a new blog category for this type of thing, so hopefully you, honorable reader, will enjoy it. As I may have said before, I'll go back to the usual format whenever I buy more TPBs. I'll also make an effort to cover regular, non-comic books, too. If I don't have anything else to read, though, I'll default to the Five Comics format. THE THEME: "A New Beginning" doesn't just refer to the beginning of this new blog series. To fit in with the theme of newness, my reads for this week are the first issues of comics that are completely new to me. It's going to be an exciting start, both in terms of what I'm reading, and with this brand new blog series. THE COMICS: ![]() THE 7 DEADLY SINS #1 Publisher: TKO Studios Writer: Tze Chun Artists: Artyom Trakhanov, Giulia Brusco - A western set in post-Civil War America. Plot is unclear at the start, but it looks like it's building towards a ragtag team of prisoners working for a priest. Art has a rough look with bright colors. Interested in reading more. - Currently FREE on Comixology (could change without warning) ![]() GIDEON FALLS #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Jeff Lemire Artist: Andrea Sorrentino - What does a man obsessed with the "patterns" he sees in trash have to do with a priest who is transferred to the quiet town of Gideon Falls? This issue sets up a supernatural conspiracy that will cause their paths to cross. I like a good mystery, so consider me interested. The art has this gritty feel to it and uses muted colors. - Comixology link ![]() JUPITER'S CIRCLE #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Mark Millar Artist: Wilfredo Torres - A superhero story set in the '50s. Follows a superhero team living seemingly great lives, but have their own personal dramas brewing. This issue focuses on one of the members dealing with having to hide his homosexuality. Clean-looking art. - FREE on Comixology ![]() SARA #1 Publisher: TKO Studios Writer: Garth Ennis Artists: Steve Epting, Elizabeth Breitweiser - Follows the titular Sara and her fellow Russian snipers as they fight off the Nazis in their Motherland. Immediately sold on Sara's stone cold disposition. Art looks amazing, too. - FREE on Comixology (for now) ![]() STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Kieron Gillen Artists: Salvador Larroca, Kev Walker - Apparently this is a spinoff from the Darth Vader comic. Doctor Aphra is this archaeologist Vader recruited, then she faked her death, and now she's off to new adventures with her droid companions and this Wookiee dude. Charming character, plus this shows the Star Wars universe in a new light (as opposed to the usual "pew pew, war, pew pew, Sith and Jedi). I'd love to read more. - Comixology link I always enjoy discovering new comics to read, and I got to do just that with this week's comics. I hope your interest is as piqued as mine. Before I go, I'm gonna start doing a thing at the end called Panel of the Week, where I take a personal favorite panel from one of the five comics I read. Other than that, I have nothing else to add, so see you in the next blog entry! PANEL OF THE WEEK: - end -
Well, this is about a month overdue considering it's been out on Netflix since January, but I finally got around to watching DC Universe's new live-action show Titans. Really wish I could've watched this back in October when it premiered, but apparently the geniuses over at Warner Bros. still think region locking a streaming service is a good idea. The first season revolves mostly on Raven, who's being hunted down by people who know the nature of her powers. She finds allies in Dick Grayson, Starfire, Beast Boy, and more, who help protect Raven from all these assholes. It's no Iliad, but the mystery surrounding Raven and my interest to see more of the other characters was more than enough to keep me engaged. Overall, the pace isn't too fast. The story moves forward at a reasonable rate (at least, I think so), though it slows down at times when you come across the episodes that focus more on a certain character as opposed to the overarching plot. The only thing that really bothered me was the finale, which was this bizarre what-if/dream sequence episode that turned out to be the most drawn-out way to signal a character change. It was an interesting episode in a vacuum, but its cliffhanger nature meant it didn't fit at all as a finale. Raven and Robin get the most screen time and character work, but the other characters have their moments, too. My only gripe was with Starfire; she starts off as this weird amnesiac, then you spend most of the season trying to figure out what the fuck her deal is, which made it a little hard for me to connect with her. That aside, I like a lot of the characters here, even the ones who don't show up for long. You don't just get the main Titans on this show. You also get appearances from the Doom Patrol (who are getting their own DC Universe series soon), Hawk and Dove (who don't really factor into S1 much, but are clearly being built up for S2), and a few surprise reveals (my favorite one shows up in E8). These other characters made this version of the DC Universe feel more populated than even the Arrowverse. I was a big fan of the Doom Patrol episode in particular; after seeing a bit of them here, I'm more sold on their show than ever. It's also just nice to see the obscure group show up in live-action. This ain't your kid's Teen Titans Go, because the action is fucking brutal. Many of the characters beat the absolute living shit out of the bad guys (even Hawk and Dove, who I never really pictured as overly violent), and the metahumans/non-humans get to show off their powers in a way the cartoons never did. Although characters like Raven and Beast Boy don't show off the full extent of their powers, you see the more horrific side of their abilities (e.g. how Raven acts like a woman possessed, or how kind of terrifying Beast Boy's transformations would actually look like). In what is a breath of fresh air after experiencing the aversion of many Marvel/DC shows to refer to stuff from the comics, Titans doesn't shy away from its roots. You'll get mentions of the Justice League, name-drops of familiar characters, and even visual references to classic Batman villains. It makes Titans feel more DC than other DC shows; instead of the occasional "wink wink, nudge nudge", cutesy name-drop that means nothing in the end, you actually get meaningful dialogue regarding, say, Dick's time with Batman. Those references end up feeling like proper world-building rather than just some throwaway lines to get a reaction from a bunch of geeks. When people saw the first trailer for this show and tore into it for trying too hard to be edgy, I shared their concerns, but remained optimistic. Titans has its heartfelt and/or funny moments on top of its often gritty tone. It does have its dark and brooding moments, but it wasn't to the point where it bothered me. That, or I'm desensitized to all this shit. Make fun of "fuck Batman" all you want, but Titans isn't as bad as that line is cringeworthy. It's got its own host of issues and growing pains, but this show still has solid characters, decent action, and it respects the source material. With a second season on the horizon, there's room for improvement, and I can only imagine what they can do with the good stuff they have now that all the setup shit is out of the way.
- end - It's Friday again, and this week, we're revisiting the end of Phase 2: Ant-Man. Time sure flies fast, doesn't it? It only feels like it was just recently when I watched the first Avengers movie. BACKGROUND:
Ant-Man was one of those movies that was on the rumor mill for a while. I remember a few years back when that test footage from SDCC 2012 ended up leaking and everyone lost their minds. After the mainstream success of Guardians of the Galaxy, I was confident that Marvel Studios can make an inherently weird hero like Ant-Man a huge hit. But then, production drama started dominating the airwaves. Edgar Wright left the director's chair, was promptly replaced, and everyone lost their minds (again). The doomsayers started popping out, prophesizing the MCU's first failure, and the pretentious hacks started ragging on Marvel Studios for not giving directors more creative freedom (which, during this point, was a dumbass hot take). It kind of soured the hype for some people, but I like Ant-Man in the comics, and I was blown away by the test footage, so I didn't give a shit. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HERO: Scott is a former crook who now wants to be better in order to be with his daughter Cassie, whom he loves very much. The combo of being a person trying to be a family man and striving to be better than they were is more than enough to get me to root for the guy. It helps that Paul Rudd gives us an endearing and funny performance. It also helps that Cassie was a charming kid, and that her interactions with her dad were nice and wholesome, which got me to care more about Scott's motivations. Scott also serves as a sort of a counterpart to Hank Pym, our resident grumpy old man who hasn't won a lot of "dad of the year" awards. I was already excited to see Pym in the MCU and to see more of his past, and the added dynamic of his tumultuous relationship with Hope (and how that contrasts with Scott's relationship with Cassie) made me glad that his role is a little deeper than "disgruntled mentor". THE VILLAIN: Darren Cross is generic businessman #102 who turns out to be evil and completely off his rocker. He also suffers from "same powers as the hero" syndrome. Such a shame. While I can't really say much about the first point (other than the actor portrays "slowly going psycho" quite well), I will defend the second point to the death, because it at least gave us creative action sequences. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: There are two stingers. The first one comes at the middle of the credits, and it's Hank revealing the new Wasp suit to Hope. I was kinda miffed that Hope didn't get to do a lot overall (even if the in-universe reasoning was sound), but seeing this renewed my hopes of seeing more Wasp in the MCU. The post-credits scene would turn out to be a scene from Civil War. Cap and Falcon have Bucky captive, and they're discussing some serious stuff. Falcon talks about how he "knows a guy", tying into the last moments of the movie. It was exciting just for the Civil War implications, but what made it more exciting was the prospect of Ant-Man interacting with the rest of the Avengers. VERDICT: People thought Ant-Man would be the downfall of the MCU, and that it would be a disaster. Instead of a horrific dumpster fire, though, we got a really fun movie with a heist film vibe (though at the cost of more traditional superhero fisticuffs, which honestly isn't much of a loss here), yet another charming MCU hero, creative set pieces with all the shrinking, and the legend known as Luis. Though the stakes were rather low (especially considering the movie that preceded it), I still enjoyed it, especially with the surprising amount of tie-ins to the greater MCU. If this is what a flop looks like, I would like some more flops, please. The rewatch continues next Friday. Come back then for some Captain America: Civil War. That's gonna be exciting. - end - What, did you think I was done for today? Fuck you, I got one more blog entry before this day ends. You're not stopping me! Now let's play some fuckin' Tetris! BACKGROUND:
This game was revealed literally hours ago (as of this writing). No pomp and circumstance, just a surprise reveal/shadow drop double whammy on today's Nintendo Direct. I fucking love Tetris, so of course I downloaded it immediately. PLOT: Are you serious? PRESENTATION: Uhhh... it looks like Tetris. I don't know what to tell you, man. Also, I hope you like Tetris - Type A, because that's the one track you're getting. The music does pick up in tempo the further along you are into the game. It's also a goddamn iconic track, so I can't really complain. GAMEPLAY: It's fucking Tetris, dude. If you own a device that enables you to read this blog, you know what Tetris is. I don't need to tell you how it plays. What makes Tetris 99 special, you ask? The key is in the "99". What that means is that this Tetris is played with 99 people at the same time; in other words, it's you against 98 other people. Yep. It's essentially a Tetris battle royale game. PUBG? Old news. Fortnite? Overrated. CoD Blackout what? Apex Legends who? This is where the battle royale action's at, folks. Gaming has peaked. If you remember Tetris Battle, it's essentially the same deal, except it's against more than one person. Clearing lines sends opponents garbage lines and mitigates any oncoming onslaught coming your way. How does that work when there's more than one target to choose from? Tetris 99 has a targeting system that you can toggle throughout the match. You can either send garbage to random opponents, go after people attacking you, or assault players with a lot of KOs. You can also target people individually via a cursor, but considering you want to focus on the Tetris board, this might not be the most optimal solution. Whichever way you go about targeting is entirely dependent on your strategy. Speaking of strategy, Tetris 99 sort of forces you to be more judicious than usual when dropping blocks. Do you play to survive by building conservatively and clearing only a couple of lines at a time? Do you have zero fear and set up for multiple Tetrises to decimate your target? Do you play defensively and hold onto that long piece so you can cancel an enemy attack when it comes? Or do you ignore the battle royale aspect completely and just play the game? It's something to think about before you get into a match. If you're looking for anything extra in this game, you're out of luck. The battle royale is all you get. No solo mode, no versus with friends, nothing. I'd love some extra stuff (especially something that allows me to play this offline), but the main game is fun enough that it doesn't bother me. VERDICT: What do you want me to say? I love Tetris, I think battle royales are fun, and putting the two together is a seemingly nonsensical combination that somehow works. Again, extra shit would be nice, but I ain't complaining. There's finally a battle royale game I can consistently perform well in, and it happens to be Tetris. That's a big win in my book. This game is free if you're a subscriber to Nintendo Switch Online. I'm not sure if this is enticing enough for you to fork over $20 for this and NES Online, but if you're looking to get a Tetris fix on Switch, Tetris 99 might be worth the trouble. Also, here's a version of Tetris you can play on your web browser, in case all this talk has you itching to play. Have fun. - end - Yoshi wasn't the only one who got a free demo on today's Nintendo Direct. Nintendo's new IP, Daemon X Machina, has mostly flown under the radar since its announcement during last year's E3, but now, there's a demo out that'll give those interested a taste of the full game. I played through this, too, because that's how exciting Valentine's Day is for me. WHAT'S IN THE DEMO:
If you don't know what Daemon X Machina is about, it's essentially a game where you pilot a mech and beat the shit out of things. It's not at all revolutionary, but hey, it's giant robots. What more do you want? You get a tiny bit more context to the story via this demo, though not much overall. Turns out that evil AI called Immortals are terrorizing humans, and it's up to mercenaries like your avatar character to deal with the bastards. There's hints of factions, treachery, and a short introduction to a bunch of characters, but it's not really enough to piece together a clear image. The game starts you off by letting you customize the avatar character, and then it's off to the races. You're able to play four missions (including what's essentially the tutorial) that you can replay at your leisure. In between missions, you can fuck around with your character's skill tree and your mech's loadout. It's a lot more than just one level, and it's enough for you to get a sense of the game in terms of how it plays. The missions are basic for the most part. You have the tutorial, a "kill everything" mission, a "defend a point" mission, and what is easily the highlight of the experience, an exciting boss battle against a huge-ass mech. A couple of missions change objectives right in the middle of the action (adding a bit of lore), but it's nothing too jarring. Controlling the mech feels a bit cumbersome, especially in the air, but it didn't frustrate me or anything like that. Aiming wasn't to my liking, though that could just be me being so accustomed to Splatoon motion aiming. Maybe this game could benefit from that. Your mech can walk, jump, hover, boost, and, most importantly, destroy. You can equip weapons on both arms, the shoulders, as well as have auxiliary weapons like grenades and such. You can also pick up things in the environment and hurl them at enemies. There are also shields and melee weapons, but I stuck mostly to ranged weapons for my playthrough. Hopefully there's a wide variety of weapons to try out. You can replenish ammo by taking down enemies, but health can only be replenished by destroying these pod-looking things that then emit a shield that heals you if you stand in it. It made things a little dicey in the boss battle when I ran out of them, so I reckon health drops might do this game some good. I also hope they make it so the ammo is drawn towards you, because dropping my hover just to pick up ammo is kind of tedious. The UI could use some decluttering. I didn't know what the Femto meter was for, it took me a while to find the display for my weapon ammo (despite it being in the middle of the screen), and I couldn't really read the character dialogue because it was in a small corner of the screen. I got a handle of it after a while, but I still found it slightly disorienting overall. There's this cool mechanic where you can check the wreckage of enemies and allies and take some of their parts or weapons. You can either equip these parts/weapons right then and there, or send them back to base where you can take a better look at their stats. It had me paying attention where I downed enemies instead of killing and moving on. VERDICT: Some elements could use some polish, and I could use a little more story, but I still think Daemon X Machina is a promising 2019 title for Nintendo. If they play their cards right, we might have a sleeper hit on our hands. The devs said they'd be emailing certain users for feedback. In the event that I don't receive one, I hope this blog entry reaches them somehow. This demo's out right now on the Switch eShop, if you're interested. - end - A few things were dropped on the eShop during today's Nintendo Direct, and one of those things is a demo for the upcoming Yoshi's Crafted World. I played through it and wanted to give a few first impressions. WHAT'S IN THE DEMO:
The demo gives you access to one level. It seems to either be the first level in the full game, or at the very least one of the earlier levels. You won't see any outlandish gimmicks quite yet, but this level is perfect to get a sense of what the full game has to offer. It doesn't play too differently from other Yoshi games. You move, flutter jump, gobble enemies, and throw eggs to progress. There's collectibles and secrets everywhere. It ain't rocket science. What makes it special is the "Crafted World" aspect of the game. First of all, this game looks bright and happy. The vibrant colors and the arts and crafts aesthetic are quite pleasant to take in. You'll see level elements made with cardboard and held together with tape, you'll see recycled materials repurposed into other objects— hell, even Yoshi itself is made out of felt. I didn't think they could top Woolly World's fabric-based art style, but they did. The Crafted World is also fascinating from a gameplay standpoint. In what I think is a series first, there's a 3D aspect to the game. Yes, the game is still primarily a side scroller, but now you can move towards the foreground or the background in certain areas. It makes the game feel larger than you'd initially expect. You can also perform Yoshi's egg throw at unreachable objects in said foreground/background, which encouraged me to pay extra attention to the environment. Once you beat the level, you can play its "Flip Side" version, in which you traverse the level in the opposite direction. While this doesn't sound interesting on paper, it's much more impressive in practice. Going through the Flip Side allows you to see the level you were just on from a different perspective. You see shit that was obscured in the background and all sorts of new things to interact with. Again, it adds to the sense that the locales you're exploring are much larger than they seem. VERDICT: Yeah, I think I'm sold on this game now. I'm interested to see how far they take these new mechanics in later level designs. Also, it's just nice to have a colorful, stress-free game that puts a huge, dumbass grin on my face whenever I play it. You can play this demo yourself; download it at the Switch eShop. - end - It's a quarter to seven in the morning, and I'm running on little sleep and a lot of Nintendo hype. I'd say it's a good a time as any to go through my thoughts on today's Nintendo Direct. Watch it below if you haven't already: Let's go through each announcement one by one:
I wouldn't call it mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd say this was a pretty solid Direct. Sure, there wasn't a bombshell Smash-related announcement, or an Animal Crossing release date, but there are a still a good amount of interesting reveals throughout. As a fan, I'm hyped for what 2019 has to offer, but as someone with a limited budget, I'm slightly terrified.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna beat some motherfuckers at Tetris. Hell of a way to spend Valentine's Day, right? - end - Love is in the air with Valentine's Day on the horizon, but who gives a shit about that? There's new shit to play on NES Online. That's way more important. THE GAMES: ![]() SUPER MARIO BROS. 2: - Radically different from the first game and all the succeeding 2D Mario games, but I still like it a lot. Many staples of the franchise came from this game, like enemies (Birdo, Shy Guys, Bob-ombs), the ability to pick up and throw shit (something Mario's been able to do since this game), and even character traits (Luigi being taller and having a higher jump, Peach's float in Smash). Super fun, worth playing at least once. ![]() KIRBY'S ADVENTURE: - Believe it or not, this is actually the second game in the franchise (the first one was on the Game Boy). Kirby games are known for being easy yet incredibly fun, and this title is no different. This game introduced Kirby's iconic Copy ability, has some fun minigames, and is just a delightful time all around. I had a dumbass grin on my face the entire time I played through it. In addition, we get two new SP games: ![]() BLASTER MASTER SP: - A save state that puts you at the final level and decks you out with all the upgrades. Nothing special. ![]() METROID SP 2: - A second SP version of a game? This one puts you at the very end of the game where you go through Tourian to kill Mother Brain. If you beat it, you get to see the secret ending that reveals that Samus is a girl (spoilers from 1987). Still a save state, but it's great if you've never seen that ending in your life. We only get two new games again this month, but considering what we got are a pair of NES essentials that really should have been here sooner, I'd say they're worth it. Once again, the SP games aren't much, but I'm starting to get used to that.
I'm hoping the upcoming Nintendo Direct will reveal something other than a NES emulator for online subscribers, because as much as I love this, I'm kinda itching for a GB emulator that has Tetris in it. In any case, I'll be playing through Kirby while I wait for the Direct. - end - I haven't played Warframe in quite a while, thanks in no small part to my life being utterly consumed by Smash Ultimate (among other things). I had heard that a big update for the Switch port dropped last week, and I had the time to check it out, so here we are. BACKGROUND:
I talked about Warframe at length in a previous blog entry. It's a lot of fun, but I put it in the backburner because a) Smash Ultimate came out, and b) I reached a point in the game where I really needed to grind to stand a chance at progressing. If it weren't for this big update coming out, it would've probably taken me longer to revisit the game. WHAT'S NEW: The update adds the Fortuna location to Venus. It's like Cetus on Earth: it's a hub world with all sorts of shops you can buy from. And like Cetus, you can access a massive open area via the location; in this case, you roam the mountainous Vallis. Fortuna is inhabited by a race known as the Solaris. These guys are, unfortunately, prisoners here— as it turns out, they're forced into labor to pay off debts, in fear of being "repossessed". This place is run by the Corpus, and the objective of the main quest in this area is to release (or, at least, loosen) the stranglehold they have on the lives of the Solaris. The main quest has an interesting, if dark, story, and it introduces you adequately to the new area, some new enemy types, and a cool new feature. Once you beat it, you're rewarded with a blueprint for a brand new Warframe, which is neat (you know, once you acquire all the components to build the damn thing). Like any big update for games like this, you gain access to new weapons, upgrades, companions, cosmetics, sidequests on the Vallis, and a whole bunch of other shit I didn't even look at. If you're a dedicated player, you'll be perfectly occupied with all the new shit to check out and grind for. The coolest thing to come out of the update, however, is the hoverboard. Yep. you can ride hoverboards on this game now. It's as fun as it sounds. Another awesome thing you get from this update was a neat song number that plays when you first enter Fortuna. Listen to it here. VERDICT: Fortuna is a solid expansion to the already massive Warframe. It's worth it for the hoverboard alone. If you're playing on PC or other consoles, this update's been out for a while, but regardless of platform, this update is worth logging back into the game for, even if it's just to beat the main quest. Remember: this game is free-to-play on everything. Check it out, won't you? Here's a link to the Steam page to get you started: https://store.steampowered.com/app/230410/Warframe/ - end - At this point, the only comics on my shelf I haven't read are a few of my TPBs of the Runaways series. As I may have mentioned before, I'm not going to cover them here until I've completed the collection, so for all intents and purposes, this week's read is the last of my physical comics backlog. BACKGROUND: This was another lucky find at the bargain bin, and an exciting one at that. Out of the video games-turned-manga adaptations out there, the Pokémon manga are the ones I've heard the most about. I had been meaning to check it out for a long time, so it was quite the stroke of luck to just find it at an affordable price at a random store. SUMMARY: Much like how the anime follows the same story structure as the games but has its own canon, Pokémon Adventures does the same. The bare essentials are here: Red is the protagonist, and he's out exploring Kanto to become the best Pokémon Trainer ever. Instead of being a mute child with not a lot of personality or backstory like in the games, Red is a determined, good-hearted kid who makes jokes and shows a good amount of resourcefulness. He's vaguely reminiscent of Ash in some respects, with a key difference being that Red actually understands how Pokémon battles work instead of just brute-forcing every fight with Pikachu. All the familiar characters you know and love are here, but with minor differences here and there. Characters like Blue or Misty feel largely familiar, but characters like Lt. Surge and Koga are a far cry from what they are in the games or the anime. Team Rocket's here, too, and the aforementioned differences help sell them as a bigger threat than usual. As somebody who's seen the Gen I saga played out almost to a sickening degree, these differences are appreciated. Red's adventures are a little more fast-paced than the games or the anime. He's pretty much at a different city/route at the beginning of each chapter, and while each chapter feels more episodic than a part of an overarching narrative, it doesn't feel like filler because Red actually makes it to a new location by the next chapter. I like the anime, but the fact that Ash spends 30 episodes fucking around instead of going to the next gym was mildly annoying. It's nice to not have that issue in the manga. If you've watched the anime or seen some trading cards, the manga's art style won't feel too different. The human characters look more chibi (for lack of a better term) than usual, but other than that, it shouldn't be too jarring for Pokémon fans who haven't read the manga yet. The Pokémon themselves are well-drawn, and have that Ken Sugimori vibe that fans know and love. VERDICT: If you're a big Pokémon fan (especially a longtime fan like me), Pokémon Adventures is worth checking out. It's not at all radically different from most other Pokémon stories, but there's enough to make the manga its own unique narrative. Between its faster pace and some changes to differentiate itself from the other media, it feels pretty fresh for what is essentially a Gen I rehash. Before I go, I want to talk a bit about the future of this blog series.
In the likely event that I buy more TPBs/graphic novels, I can 100% guarantee that I'll talk about them here. But until then, I'm switching over to my digital comics backlog, which consists mostly of single issues as opposed to collected editions (like majority of the books I covered here are). Just so you know, the format for that will be a little different. Also, I'm thinking of covering some "real" (I use this term facetiously) books on the blog, too. There's still a bunch in my house that I've yet to read, so look forward to that as well. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Let's not drag out this postscript any longer. - end - |
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