We're about six months out until the MCU's first saga culminates in Avengers 4, and to build up the hype, I've decided to rewatch every MCU movie every Friday night... again. I did this last year, back when Infinity War was the focus of the hype, and live-tweeted each movie. Because I don't want to subject the five people still following me with more of this bullshit, I'll instead talk about each movie here at the blog. I hope you aren't sick of me babbling about comic book shit all the goddamn time, because there are a bunch of these blog posts coming. If you want to come aboard the rewatch train with me, here is the movie schedule I'll be following. You don't have to do it on Friday nights like I will; find a few hours of free time on the weekend and watch it then. And if you want to discuss the movie afterwards, you can reach out to me, or chime in on the weekly discussion threads over at r/marvelstudios. As for the structure of these blog posts, I'll try to have more fun with it as opposed to writing a review-style post (not that I'm good with reviews to begin with). I'm sure nobody's interested in a review of a decade-old movie anyway. With all that inane preamble out of the way, let's kick things off with the movie that started it all: Iron Man! BACKGROUND:
During the time period this movie came out, the most popular Marvel heroes non-readers can easily name are Spider-Man and several X-Men. Apart from Captain America and The Hulk, most of the Avengers weren't very well known at this point. This is all just conjecture on my part, though; considering many of my friends are comic fans like me, and I grew up with a dad who was a fan, I couldn't really discern what was "well known" or not in terms of comics. I did discern that other kids will bully the shit out of you for liking comics, but that's neither here nor there. I didn't really follow movies during this time; after all, I was just a kid who only got to watch movies with my parents. When I found out we were going to see an Iron Man movie, I was quite surprised. My tiny child mind could only comprehend a handful of characters being in movies, so the idea of a not-that-iconic hero getting a movie (one that I happened to like, no less) was very exciting. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HERO: Seeing Tony's journey from rich douchebag to someone who recognizes his mistakes, goes out of his way to fix them, but is still kind of a dick will never get old. It also helps that RDJ practically radiates charisma out of his body and makes Tony Stark just as fun to watch out of the suit as he is in it. While it seems like now, Tony shits out amazing new armors with the greatest of ease, it's nice to take a step back and see him slowly work his way to the latest version of the armor. He even demonstrates his genius in combat, by using the icing problem against Iron Monger in the final battle. THE VILLAIN: Obadiah Stane wasn't much more than "evil businessman #65" in the comics, so it doesn't really upset me that he's more of the same here. Thankfully, we got a great performance out of Jeff Bridges, so it can't be that bad. I don't know why he felt the need to suit up to kill Pepper, though, but I guess we gotta get that third act fight somehow. Other than that, and the obvious "hero vs. villain with same power set" thing (which, to be fair, serves a purpose and isn't all that bad), I have no real gripes with Iron Monger. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: Ah yes, this scene. This scene had Nick Fury, and the big tease of the Avengers. Not a lot of people even knew about the stinger, let alone understood the implications. The Avengers are so iconic now that it's almost hard to fathom that a lot of comic fans once thought this post-credits scene was just a hollow promise, that the Avengers was a pipe dream that will never see the light of the big screen. Bet they were glad to be wrong. VERDICT: Iron Man 1 still holds up as one of the best standalone MCU movies, thanks in no small part to Tony Stark himself and his compelling journey as a character. It didn't hurt to have badass suits that still look amazing in 2018, either. It still blows my mind that the past decade of mind-blowing superhero bullshit all started with this one movie. 11-year-old me would have lost it if he saw all the movies that came after. See you next week for The Incredible Hulk! - end - [In memory of Fred Bucao. Happy birthday, old friend.]
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As of this week, I'm halfway through my physical comics backlog, and it feels great to sit down and read these comics from cover to cover as opposed to skimming through them (or not reading them at all). For this week, I take a look at the comics based on the hit show Orphan Black. WHY I BOUGHT IT:
Orphan Black is probably one of the most enjoyable sci-fi shows I've ever watched, thanks in no small part to Tatiana Maslany's incredible acting range. I didn't know they made comics based on the show until I spotted a copy on a random trip to the bookstore. I promptly went back during the next sale and bought it. THE WRITING: Each individual issue focuses on one of the Project LEDA clones (Sarah, Helena, Alison, Cosima, and Rachel), each in their own, standalone scenario. If you've watched S1 of the show, most of the events you see each clone in will look very familiar. What makes this comic more than just a word-for-word retelling of the season is that you get to see a bit more of what each character was thinking during those events. In addition, you'll see character-specific flashbacks that were never in the show, adding more layers to the already meaty lore. Of course, it goes without saying that you would need to have seen the show to really understand what this comic is about. With that said, I think this comic would make for a wonderful supplement if you intend to watch (or rewatch) the first season of the show. And if you're worried if this is canon or not, don't sweat it; the co-creators of the show wrote these comics! THE ART: It's pretty awesome to see Tatiana Maslany's many faces in comic form. Although the art doesn't deviate too far from a more realistic look, that doesn't take away from the fact that it looks pretty damn good. I think the one that has my favorite art is Cosima's issue, and I'm not just saying that because she's my favorite, I swear. The real highlight in terms of the art, in my opinion, is the cover art. Cat Staggs did the cover art for every issue, and holy shit do those covers look fucking incredible. I'm not exaggerating when I say that those covers belong in a museum, because they honestly look like paintings. I think I just found my new favorite comic artist. VERDICT: Even if it doesn't tell an entirely new story set in the Orphan Black universe, this comic still enriches the show's lore by viewing events fans have already seen in a different lens. If you're a fan of the show and its characters like I am, this is worth picking up, especially because there's stuff here that we don't see on the show. If you haven't watched the show yet, go give it a shot. Maybe you'll like it. Go read Orphan Black Vol. 1 on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Orphan-Black-Vol-1/digital-comic/297724?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - The Switch has a solid selection of free-to-play games such as Fortnite and Paladins, and this week, Warframe joins that list. I've put in a couple of hours in the game, and I thought I'd talk about it.
BACKGROUND: Before the announcement of the Switch port, I had no idea this game existed. The fact that it was free-to-play was incentive enough for me to give the game a chance, but seeing the excitement that ensued from Warframe coming to Switch got me more interested. In particular, a friend of mine is a big fan of this game, and was quite excited for me to try it for myself. PLOT: You play as a Tenno, an ancient race of alien warriors who have awakened from cryogenic sleep into the solar system of the future. The Tenno find themselves caught amidst the chaos and war going on in the system, and must use their Warframes (the suits that grant them special abilities) to fight back and restore order. The opening quest (which also serves as the tutorial) sets this premise up, but once you clear it, you'll be dropped into the solar system, carrying out missions with not much plot setup. You'll encounter quests with more plot as you go along, but you'll have to complete a bunch of tasks in missions to unlock them. If you want your games with a bit more story to them, you've been warned. PRESENTATION: In the same vein as the Doom reboot, this is one of those games built for PCs and other consoles, but it somehow still runs fine and looks fantastic on the Switch. Even in handheld mode, the game looks amazing. If the premise hasn't already clued you in, the game looks very futuristic, and is very heavy on the sci-fi aesthetic in mostly everything. Robots, aliens, spaceships... you name it, it's in here. I haven't been to the other planets yet, but the levels are decently varied at the start. You'll find yourself in locations like forests, snowy cliffs, and vast grasslands, and I imagine I'll see more interesting locales as I progress through the game. The music's pretty sci-fi, too, with tracks that remind me a lot of games like Metroid or Axiom Verge. GAMEPLAY: Warframe is a third-person shooter, but what makes it different from other shooter games is the access to melee weapons. In addition to a primary (usually a rifle) and secondary (usually a pistol) ranged weapon, you have the option of taking out enemies with a melee weapon (usually a sword). This adds a layer of excitement to combat, because who doesn't want to tear through a crowd of enemies with a goddamn katana? In addition to your arsenal of weapons, each Warframe has a set of abilities that help turn the tide of combat. For example, the Volt (the Warframe I chose) has access to electricity-based attacks and shields, which keep me from being overwhelmed by enemies. You choose between three Warframes at the start of the game, with more becoming available through various means. Movement in this game is fluid and makes you feel like a badass ninja. You get slides, double jumps, combat rolls, wall runs, and more, which makes the simple act of traversing the levels (while not Skyrim levels of open, are decently sized) just as exciting as the combat. This movement even translates to combat to an extent; you can shoot in mid-air (complete with slow-mo) and perform various melee attacks while you're zipping around the level. The missions come in many types, each with their own objective. Accepting a mission throws you into a level with a unique, procedurally-generated layout, which makes individual missions feel a little different, even if the mission types get a little repetitive. Although you can run and gun through most missions, there are mission types that encourage stealth, and thankfully, Warframe is one of those games where playing stealthily actually feels good and not frustrating. You can also go through missions in co-op. You can either join friends or random players, forming a team of up to four to take on missions that may be harder when done alone. Unfortunately, there is no cross-platform play, because this is the sort of game I'd love to play with friends. As I mentioned before, you gain access to story quests, but they require you to perform certain tasks or complete certain missions before you can do the quests. Some of the tasks are a bit grindy, but for the most part, if you play through majority of the missions, you'll be OK. The ability to visit other planets functions similarly, requiring you to beat certain missions and accomplish certain objectives in order to open the path to new planets. Taking on and completing missions nets you XP (for you and your weapons), credits (which you spend in the market and other places), resources (used for crafting new weapons), and Mods (stuff that you can attach to your weapons and Warframe to increase stats or grant buffs). You can get the best gear, but, like most free-to-play games, it'll take a lot of grinding (unless you're cool with microtransactions). Fortunately, this game is fun to the point that replaying a mission to grind for resources doesn't feel like grinding. Though the starting quest does an adequate job of teaching you the basics (gameplay, crafting, etc.), one may find the sheer variety of the crafting items and currency types overwhelming. I spent the first few hours utterly confused by the pickups I got at the end of every mission, but since this game's been out on other consoles for several years now, there's probably a wiki I can consult. VERDICT: Free-to-play games can be hit or miss in terms of quality, but Warframe is easily one of the better games in this category. It might be as grindy as most free-to-play games, but Warframe more than makes up for it with exhilarating action. I haven't unlocked the next quest at all, or have nearly enough shit to buy weapons or skins that I want, but I don't care. I found that replaying a mission for the hell of it is just as fun as trying to make some progress. I don't think I'd feel that way if the gameplay weren't so engaging. This game is FREE. It's fucking free. I don't need to sell you on this; you can go try the game yourself right now. It's on everything. You have no excuse. In fact, here's the game on Steam. Play it. Do it now. - end - I haven't written a blog post on builds in quite a while, so I decided to write about the newest build concept I came up with this year: something I nicknamed "Project Chroma". This is my designation to builds that incorporate a green screen element to them. If you aren't already familiar with the concept, green screen (properly known as chroma key) is a visual effects process where you take a picture of/film something against a green backdrop, and replace that background with something else. If you've seen a weather forecaster point at things on a map before, you're familiar with the idea. Although Project Chroma itself was something I started earlier this year, the roots of the idea go all the way back to mid 2016. I was bored out of my mind during work (I was an OJT intern at the time), and because I had finished my tasks that day, I decided to surf StackExchange for fun. Somewhere down that rabbit hole of boredom, I discovered that typing "Conway's Game of Life" (just look it up, it's harder to explain in text) on Google runs an instance of the game on the browser. The patterns the automaton generated got me thinking, what if I could implement this in a build? What in the goddamn fuck kind of build could I possibly integrate a rather complex scientific concept into, you ask? Well, the first idea that came to my mind was Rorschach's (a character from the Watchmen comic) mask. Rorschach wore a mask which had ever-changing ink blot patterns on it, and the nature of Conway's Game of Life being ever-changing patterns felt like an excellent marriage of two ideas. Unfortunately, I had no fucking clue how to make that into a wearable mask. The furthest I could go was create a template in mosaic form (like the above image), but I had no idea how to integrate it into a mask assembly, let alone animate it. The key to the Rorschach build came to me much later, in early 2017. I was looking through my bin of pieces, and a 16x16 light green baseplate caught my eye. Some cogs started turning in my head, and the resulting thought was, can I use this shade of light green as a green screen? This reminded me of the Rorschach mask idea, and I jury-rigged the green baseplate to fit on my mask framework (more on the framework in my post on wearable masks). And yes, it looks dumb on its own. Setting up the green screen was the easy part; the real challenge was putting together the shit I wanted to display on it. I took the pattern template I built from before, and painstakingly built, took a picture, dismantled, and rebuilt the succeeding patterns, for a total of 14 times. I then combined these 14 images into a short stop-motion animation. After a quick tutorial on how to use the chroma key feature in iMovie, I was able to superimpose that animation onto a still image of me wearing the green screen mask. And thus, the Rorschach mask idea finally came to fruition. You can see it in action in my Instagram post here. The biggest hurdle in this build wasn't the assembly itself. Sure, it was tedious to create the frames for a stop-motion animation, but what really took the most time was the editing aspect. Most of the builds I put out are one and done; I build, I take a picture/film a short clip, I upload. Having to import the assets into my desktop, edit them individually (if necessary), and put together a final product is a lot of work for a single upload, but thankfully, I enjoy video editing (despite my lack of skill at it), so the extra effort didn't bother me as much. The fact that I pulled off this build opened the floodgates of build ideas in my head. Now that I've proven to myself that can integrate chroma keying into my builds, I started thinking of what else I could do. Unfortunately, the fact that I didn't have a lot of light green to work with severely limited my options, so for the time being, I shelved the idea of making more green screen builds. Fast forward to September of this year, when I felt a little starved for build ideas and wasn't uploading much. For whatever reason, this creative rut led me to think about how my YouTube channel has no content in it at all. After thinking about what kind of stuff I wanted to (and could) upload, I revisited the green screen idea. Thus, Project Chroma was born. The first build of Project Chroma was this Lego smartphone with a green screen, erm... screen. My plan of action here was similar to the Rorschach build; build the frames for a stop-motion animation, put the animation together, and display the animation on the green screen. What made this different was the green screen itself; instead of a still image, the green screen would be in a video. I filmed myself pretending to use the "phone" (i.e. swiping and tapping on the make-believe screen) and edited in the animation onto the screen. It was in this project that I truly realized the limitations of iMovie as a video editing application. I had serious issues trying to align the stop-motion animation onto a constantly moving green screen, and this led to a bit of frustration. My best friend (a film school graduate and god-tier editor) was able to bring my concept to life in a more refined fashion. Compare his take to mine and laugh at my incompetence. Despite the post-production troubles I encountered, I was encouraged by the success of the concept. I wrote down some ideas for more Project Chroma videos, but (apart from this one and this other one) the issue of the lack of light green pieces to work with plagued me again. The size of the plates simply wasn't enough for some of my ideas. To solve this problem, I saved up some money, went to the Lego store, and bought a 32x32 light green baseplate, which provided me a substantial amount of room to work with. This is the first Project Chroma build using the baseplate: Though the problem of light green pieces was (mostly) solved, I found that some of the ideas I had for Project Chroma were simply too complex for me to put together with the very limited toolkit of iMovie. I spent the better part of a month thinking of new ideas (or ways to implement existing ideas), but many of them required editing tricks that iMovie simply cannot pull off. I'm sitting on a bunch of ideas right now, but I'll probably hold off on them until I get my hands on editing software with more capabilities. Despite the fact that my video ideas are still stuck in limbo, I decided to keep Project Chroma alive by tackling another angle: still images. Chroma keying isn't limited to video, so I went to the lab and taught myself how to do it on GIMP (my go-to image manipulation application). After a bit of practice, I got a good handle of the process, and that brings us to my latest build: pixel art of the Eeveelutions against the light green baseplate, complete with backgrounds I edited in. Chroma keying in GIMP is fun as hell (and actually pretty easy), so keep your eyes peeled, because I have a bunch of ideas for still image Project Chroma builds (and even a few animated GIF ideas!). That brings us to the end of the history of Project Chroma. It's still in its early stages, and despite the many hurdles, my lack of editing prowess, and the effort required to pull it off, I found it to be one of the most rewarding build concepts to work on. Expect more of these in the future.
Before I go, let's get some self-promotional horseshit (and more) in here:
- end - Holy shit. I did it. I finally beat Valkyria Chronicles. It kicked my ass, but I got it done. I really wanted to talk about this sooner, but I wanted to clear the main campaign before I did so. And now that I have, I'm getting right into it.
BACKGROUND: I actually own this game for the PS3. It was one of the games that came along when I was gifted the console. For some reason, though, I never got around to playing it. And my PS3's been out of commission for years now, so I thought I'd never get a chance to play it at all. That is, until I discovered one morning that this game was released out of nowhere on the Switch eShop. There was no pomp and circumstance, or any press from Nintendo; I only found out it was ported to the console simply because I felt like checking the eShop that day. Nevertheless, I bought it as soon as I could. PLOT: The game is set in a fictional continent called Europa, which is currently under the Second Europan War between two superpowers: the Empire in the east, and the Federation in the west. The parallels to WWII seem too on-the-nose at first glance, but the setting is where the similarities end. The Second Europan War was sparked over the scarcity of Ragnite, a fictional mineral with properties ranging from power, weapons, and medicine. Gallia, a nation that has staunchly remained neutral in this entire conflict, has rich deposits of the stuff, and unfortunately, that makes them a target. Sure enough, the Empire invades the shit out of Gallia to take all the Ragnite in hopes of defeating the Federation. This game follows the story of Welkin Gunther, a university student who enlisted in the Gallian militia after his hometown of Bruhl was occupied by the Empire. As part of the militia, he leads Squad 7, in hopes of taking back his country. I think the best way to describe Valkyria Chronicles's story is that it's a war movie in RPG form. Naturally, you have the epic battles, but you also get to see the effects of the war in an almost granular level. You'll see the struggles of people who want normal lives having to enlist to defend their homes, political subterfuge, military officers compromising morals for the sake of winning the war, and even enemy soldiers being human beings and not just the guys you have to shoot at. The game covers a lot of heavy and serious themes for the most part, but rest assured there are moments of levity interspersed between all the grimness. Despite the mostly grounded setting, the game does feature a prominent fantasy/sci-fi element in the Valkyrur. The Valkyrur are an ancient race of people who possess unimaginable power. Long thought to be extinct, a Valkyria is found to be within the ranks of the Empire. In addition to being an interesting part of the game's lore, the Valkyria makes the already imposing Empire feel like an insurmountable threat, and makes battles that much more intense. Though some characters get more screen time than others, many of the characters involved in the main plot are fleshed out, having distinct personalities and sensible motivations. You understand why they fight, and you see how events in the war change their perceptions on certain things. There are a few one-note characters, but they kind of serve their purpose, so I can't really complain. PRESENTATION: Valkyria Chronicles runs on something called the CANVAS engine, which gives the game a very distinct visual identity. The game is still a 3D game, but it sort of has this "rough sketch" filter over it that makes it looks like everything was drawn in pencil. The palette makes the game look like a vibrant watercolor painting, which somehow complements the serious war that's going on. The music sounds like something from the score of a war movie, and while not many tracks really stuck with me, listening to the soundtrack made battles more intense than they already were, and made victories all the more satisfying. In particular, the main theme sounds like an anthem that plays when soldiers are in formation. Although the story clearly draws from WWII for inspiration, the design choices seem to lean more towards WWI. Stuff like the uniforms, trench warfare, and a conspicuous lack of aerial warfare strike me more as elements from wars that preceded WWII, but I'm no war historian, so I can't really say on good authority what is and isn't from WWII. GAMEPLAY: Valkyria Chronicles's gameplay is equal parts tactical RPG and third person shooter. When the battle begins, you start out on a map that shows you where your units are. Once you select one, you enter the third person shooter mode where you have free movement and can shoot. Unlike a typical shooter, though, you can only move a set distance and shoot a set number of times. In order to get shit done, you need Command Points. It costs one CP to move a soldier, and two to move a tank. You can also spend CP to call in reinforcements, or issue Orders, which grant buffs to your units. You have a default amount of CP per turn, but you can choose not to spend some of your CP so that you stock them up. Once your next turn comes around, you get the default amount of CP, plus the CP you didn't use in the previous turn. Managing your CP is the difference between life and death, and believe me, I got several game overs for fucking up. There are five classes of infantry: the Scout (high movement, basic rifle), the Shocktrooper (good damage, lesser movement), the Lancer (armed with an anti-tank "lance"), the Engineer (can repair tanks, disarm mines, supply ammo), and the Sniper (self-explanatory). Knowing what unit types to deploy requires completely understanding what the objective is, so deploying a balanced team won't always work out. I found myself changing what units to deploy a lot to suit certain mission types. Honestly, there's so much depth in this game that covering all of it would take me forever. There's shit like terrain elements (land mines, watchtowers, grass you can hide in), lines of sight, interception fire, and team attacks, and that's just barely scratching the surface. The sheer amount of variables you have to think about in every mission may seem overwhelming at first, but the game does a decent job of teaching you the important stuff, so you need not worry. Once you've got the handle of things, you'll feel like goddamn Sun Tzu when you clear the objective in one turn. If you think combat's a lot to think about, there's even more shit to think about between missions. Stuff like upgrading equipment, swapping weapons, leveling up units, and more become available early on, and you'll want to do all of these things before starting a mission. You do not want to be under-leveled or ill-equipped in some of the more frustrating missions of the game. There are 18 chapters (19 if you count the prologue), and each feature one or two missions. These missions can take a long time depending on how your strategies pan out, and you might be even have to restart if you get stomped. Thankfully, you can save mid-battle, so you don't have to worry about starting over from the beginning if you slip up. Missions come in a wide variety of objectives (e.g. capture the enemy base, defeat the enemy commander, etc.), so things don't really get stale. On top of the 700 things you have to think about when playing this game, the missions do not fuck around. If you make even a tiny mistake, it could easily cost you an important unit, or worse, cause you to fail the mission outright. Even something as minute as not turning your tank 15 degrees to the left can end with the enemy obliterating it with a critical hit. With that said, once you clear the mission (whether by meticulous planning, trial and error, or dumb luck), it'll feel absolutely cathartic to see the words "Operation Complete" on the screen. You can't replay story missions, but you do get access to skirmishes, which are challenge missions you can play over and over. If you need to grind for XP, this is the place to go. These maps also have adjustable difficulty, so you don't have to worry about pissing yourself off just so you can get enough cash to max out your upgrades. This is a cutscene-heavy game, but if need be, you can skip them with a press of a button. I am, however, a little annoyed at the amount of unskippable dialogue that happens during missions. This is especially frustrating when I'm grinding or replaying missions because I failed an objective. You can mash A throughout it, but that gets tedious when you're already going through the same mission for the 17th time. Once you beat the main story, you gain access to New Game +, which allows you to play through the campaign again with all of the shit you have from your original playthrough. You also gain access to Hard and Expert skirmish maps if you need an extra challenge. The Switch version has the DLC missions included, so there's plenty more for you to do on top of everything else. VERDICT: I'd like to think that Valkyria Chronicles is the total package. It's got a distinct and beautiful visual style, an impressive and profound story, and satisfying strategic gameplay whose difficulty rivals its complexity. It doesn't pull any punches, but the ass-kicking you'll receive from this game is well worth the trouble. Even if it got frustrating at times, I'm really glad I finally got to play this game. This game might be up there as one of my all-time favorite RPGs. You can play the original on PS3, the Remastered version on PS4, or the port on the Switch. There's also a port of the game available on Steam, which comes with the DLC: https://store.steampowered.com/app/294860/Valkyria_Chronicles/ - end - Another week, another read, and it's another Marvel comic. I know that a good bulk of my reading posts so far have been on Marvel books, but that's mostly because I ordered my weekly reads in alphabetical order. It just so happens that the first half of my backlog was Marvel stuff. Fret not, though, for the latter half of my backlog will be comics from other publishers. Anyway, enough excuses. Let's get to this week's read. WHY I BOUGHT IT:
The new Ms. Marvel was one of the frontrunners of the Marvel roster shakeup that occurred during the course of the mid-2010s, which featured the likes of Jane Foster as Thor, X-23 becoming Wolverine, and Sam Wilson becoming Captain America. She, along with many of these names, is part of a massive stride in Marvel's effort to deliver a more diverse cast of heroes, and not doing so in a cheap, doing-for-the-sake-of-doing manner. I was excited for this completely new character to enter the fold, and owning this comic became a must for me. THE WRITING: Kamala Khan is the daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Jersey City. At the start, she's pretty much the typical teenager struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants, while also dealing with her very much traditional family's lofty expectations. Her life changes forever when she gets caught in the Terrigen mist and gains shapeshifting powers, and now she must juggle with being Inhuman in addition to her already complicated life. I think Kamala may be this generation's Peter Parker, i.e. a good-natured character with relatable, day-to-day problems who still has a sense of humor about her. While I am a bit older than she is in the comic, I've been where she's been before, and I'm sure many others can relate to her situation (or parts of it, at least). Kamala's heritage adds a unique layer to her character, and seeing how that heritage dictates her life in contrast to the lives other people around her get to have ought to be eye-opening for readers. It's a good look into a culture most people might not be too familiar with, or may have misconceptions about, without coming across as leaning too much into condoning or condemning. No Normal is more focused on Kamala trying to figure out what to do after she acquires her powers, so you won't see a lot of action in these first few issues. While many people are probably sick of the "figuring out powers" section of every origin story, Kamala's power set lends itself well to a funny take on that aspect of her journey. The comic also builds to a larger threat that Ms. Marvel will have to face down the line, but you won't get any supervillain confrontations just yet. THE ART: What made me even more excited for Ms. Marvel at the time was when I learned that Adrian Alphona would be the artist. Alphona was the artist (and co-creator) for Runaways, also known as my all-time favorite comic series. He opts for a sort of rougher look than what I've become accustomed to in Runaways, but I love the art nonetheless. I also really love Kamala Khan's costume design, despite being rather simple. It's got the large lightning bolt that harkens back to the classic Ms. Marvel look Carol Danvers used to rock, but it has its own visual identity thanks to the color palette and certain design elements like the scarf and the bracelet. I hope to own a shirt in its likeness one day. VERDICT: Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal shows us that Kamala Khan is a completely fleshed out and interesting character, as opposed to a diversity-for-the-sake-of-looking-progressive blank slate who was merely given a name people already recognized. In the same way Carol Danvers made the Captain Marvel name her own, Kamala Khan does the same for Ms. Marvel. Even if her journey to becoming a hero isn't quite in full swing yet, No Normal is the definitive starting point for people looking to get into the character. Read Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal digitally on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Ms-Marvel-Vol-1-No-Normal/digital-comic/150745?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - It's Survivor Series weekend, which means we've got another NXT Takeover to enjoy before then. Today, I'll discuss the matches that take place in the second ever NXT Takeover: WarGames. Did this Takeover live up to the classic "death, taxes, Takeover delivers" adage? Read on for my (spoiler-ific) thoughts:
This blog is still around! I'm surprised I haven't given up on it like I have most other things in my life. In fact, I'm glad I kept it going, considering this is one of the few things that still give me a sense of normalcy and control these days. Moving away from that downer of an opening paragraph, let's look at the story so far. Counting this blog entry, I've put out 64 posts. I still can't write for shit, but that's a lot more than I thought I'd put out when I started. What's more, I've actually managed to keep my promise of "at least one post per week" that I established on my first post. Hopefully I can keep that streak going. In terms of content, it seems that a good chunk of my posts have been focused on the games I've been playing. I found that it was just as fun to write about games as it is to play them. Trying to highlight the best parts of the game, while doing my best to remain critical, is a fulfilling exercise, one that I hope I can apply in other things. If you came here for my game "reviews", I really hope I succeeded in getting you to play at least one of the games I covered here, because my goal with game-centric posts has always been to get other people to check out something that I enjoyed playing. In the case of indie games, I want to give those games what little exposure I can provide, because they often slip under the radar in a world where big game publishers get all the spotlight. Games aren't all that I had to talk about, though. I've actually covered a good amount of shows and movies here, which I found more challenging to write about than games. I'm not that much of an expert in the nuances of television or cinema, so most of what I had to say in that department mostly boils down to shit that I liked or found interesting. If you were looking for a more in-depth analysis of Iron Fist S2, I'm sorry, but I'm not the guy for the job. I initially thought about writing posts focusing on individual episodes of whatever weekly shows I was watching, but I decided against it in the end, considering I ended up having not much to say once the episode was over. In the unlikely event you're actually interested in that, I do write short takeaways for individual episodes over at TVTime. You can follow me on that platform if you wish. Here's my TVTime profile. I also had qualms about writing about movies on this blog because I felt that having a Letterboxd account (here's my profile on there) made the act redundant, but I found that that platform didn't really lend itself well to longer reviews (on mobile, anyway). I'll still write stuff on Letterboxd, but those reviews will be more succinct than what I put out here. In addition to shows and movies, I also covered stuff like trailers, Nintendo Directs, and pro wrestling events. I made posts around trailers early on, but I stopped doing so because a Twitter thread would often suffice when it comes to trailers. Nintendo Directs are fun to cover, because those posts immortalize the hype I had when I was watching, albeit in a more reserved manner than my live-tweets. Pro wrestling events make for an interesting writing exercise, because I don't really sit and think about the matches I'm watching; I'm too busy reacting to the match itself. The blog posts I've enjoyed writing the most, however, have been the ones discussing my Lego builds. It's so much fun digging through my hard drive for old build photos and seeing how that stupid build from 2013 paved the way for a full-fledged build idea that I thought was impossible at the time. Building has been the few constants of my tumultuous existence, and it's rather liberating to actually talk about it at length. I'm also really enjoying writing about the stuff that I've been reading. In the same vein as games, I want to get other people to check out comics, so I decided to combine that goal with me finally clearing out my comics backlog. I can only hope people read at least one of the comics I talk about here, because as mainstream the characters have become, comics themselves are still an underrated medium, and deserve just as much credit as normal books. Overall, maintaining this blog over the past six months has been quite enjoyable. While I'm no Ernest Hemingway in terms of writing prowess, sitting down and taking the time to talk about the stuff I've been watching/playing/whatever feels like a worthwhile use of my free time. I'm gonna keep this train going for the foreseeable future, so expect more long-winded ramblings about games, comics, and other bullshit I like. As I said on the first blog entry, however, I won't talk about much else, so don't get your hopes up for any major deviations in content.
If you're one of the people who actually read my bullshit (do people who read my blog exist?), thanks for spending some of your valuable time on here. I appreciate it. Whether you have TV show recommendations, blog post ideas, questions, or you just wanna yell at me for having the "wrong" opinion, the comment box is right below. You can also reach out on Twitter and yell at me there, if that's more your style. Anyway, enough of this directionless rambling. I gotta prepare next week's comic read. - end - It's a new month, and that means Nintendo's NES Online library gets a bunch of new games. As usual, I'll talk a little about the games that arrived in this update. You can check out my thoughts on the base library here, and the games of the October update here. THE NEW GAMES: METROID - The game that started one of my favorite Nintendo franchises. Worth playing once, but is considerably difficult and first-timers will likely require a walkthrough. If you really want to get into Metroid, Super Metroid on SNES is a better starting point. MIGHTY BOMB JACK - Weird platformer where you collect shit while avoiding enemies. It's hard to understand what power-ups do, jumping is really floaty, and you get punished for collecting too much shit. This one's not for me. TWINBEE - Solid vertical shmup. Good entry point into the genre for people who find Gradius too daunting to play. GRADIUS: SP - The same as Gradius, except you start at Level 5 with all the power-ups. Perfect for people who have a hard time getting past the early levels. Disclaimer: it's still hard as shit. I'd say that (apart from Mighty Bomb Jack) this month's update brought us some neat additions to the NES Online library. It seems a pattern's being established for these monthly updates, with three games announced ahead of time, plus a fourth SP remix of an existing NES game thrown in as a surprise. This has me excited for what other SP remixes might be coming to us in the future.
- end - This blog series has been primarily a comics-focused one, but for this week, I decided to shake up the formula and read a manga! So today, I'll be talking about the Zelda: Oracle of Seasons manga. WHY I BOUGHT IT:
This was yet another one of my lucky finds at a bargain bin. If only that luck translated into more important aspects of my life... I was pretty amazed when I saw this book at the store. I knew of other video game franchises getting manga adaptations, but until I saw this, I didn't know they made manga based on the Zelda games. While I'm not as big a fan of manga or anime as some of my friends, I do like the Zelda series a lot. I felt that it was the perfect opportunity to dip my toes in the medium, so I went ahead and bought it. SUMMARY: The story is split into ten short chapters, and follows Link's journey from simple farm boy to becoming a knight of Hyrule. After a series of mishaps, he's spirited away to Holodrum, thanks in no small part to the Triforce mark on his left hand. There, he meets Din, a dancer with mysterious origins. When her true nature is revealed, Din is kidnapped by evil forces, and Link must step up to save her and prevent the impending disaster her disappearance will cause. I haven't played Oracle of Seasons (the Game Boy Color game this manga is based on), so I don't know if this is a verbatim retelling of the game's plot, though I'm sufficiently familiar with the Zelda franchise at large to know that this story is pretty par for the course. Link's journey from some dude to the undeniable wielder of the Triforce of Courage isn't anything revolutionary, but this story makes up for it by actually having Link speak and have motivations and shit. It's usually hard to get into Link as a character because he's a silent protagonist in the games, so him having shit to say is a welcome departure from the source material. As Link goes on his journey, he comes across a bunch of characters who eventually tag along with him as allies. I thought they were amusing characters, and would like to see more of them. The villain, on the other hand, is a typical "fuck the world for some nebulous reason, I'm gonna wreck your shit" wacko, so that's a downer. Then again, it's not like Ganon's any more compelling in the games, so I suppose this is par for the course as well. I only ever see Link in the games, so it was nice to see the guy in a completely different art style. Apart from a few exceptions like Wind Waker, I don't typically see Link emote a lot, so it was neat to see him make all sorts of facial expressions and actually have some sort of personality. VERDICT: Oracle of Seasons doesn't deviate too far from the Zelda formula, but seeing Link in a different art style and have a personality made this an enjoyable read. I now want to check out the other Zelda manga, plus I really need to play the Oracle of Seasons game. - end - We're about a month away from the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and boy, does that one month feel like fucking agony. To pass the time, I picked up a couple of games for me to beat until December 7th. One of these games was Nihilumbra.
BACKGROUND: I first learned about this game via the Steam store recommendations. I saw that it got a pretty significant markdown whenever there's a sale, so I put it on my wishlist in case I ever had cash to spare. The thing is, I never got around to buying it. A few months ago, I spotted Nihilumbra on the Switch eShop. I promptly removed the game from my Steam wishlist and put it up on my eShop wishlist. This time, though, I actually bought the game. PLOT: You control a being born from the Void, and the game revolves around its journey to experience the world beyond the nothingness it came from and resided in. The Void, however, doesn't take kindly to this, and chases you across the world, and destroys everything in its wake. Having played a ton of Hollow Knight, I'm no stranger to the "protagonist born from nothing" concept, so this story didn't really blow my mind. A disembodied voice speaks as you play through the game, explaining the lore or leaving some tidbits of philosophical musings. I get what they were going for here, but the narration could easily come off as pretentious for some people. I thought there were a few quote-worthy lines here and there, but overall, I don't have any strong feelings over the narration. PRESENTATION: The levels look beautiful with the painterly art style they decided to go with. They went with a more toned down palette overall, but there are splashes of bright color in many instances throughout the game. In contrast, your character and many of the enemies are pitch-black (with tinges of purple) and have a slightly more cartoony look to them. These elements together give Nihilumbra a distinct visual identity over other games. There's also a good amount of polish in terms of visual effects. Stuff like weather conditions, fire, and electricity look great and really stand out against the more reserved colors of the levels. Even the main character, despite its nature, has a bit of expressiveness to it, emoting or reacting to the environment on occasion (e.g. in the volcano level, you'll see the guy sweating). In the same vein as the visuals, the music is also more on the reserved side, going for more atmospheric tracks as opposed to grandiose pieces, though there are a couple of exceptions that you'll hear whenever shit gets intense. This game features a hefty amount of voice acting from the narrator, though you can turn it off if the talking distracts too much from the gameplay. Unfortunately, though, there's no way to truly get rid of the narration, as the game still displays it in text form as you progress. I really wish there were an option to turn it off, and I imagine other people who might find the narration pretentious will find this insufferable. GAMEPLAY: Nihilumbra is a simple puzzle platformer: run and jump to traverse and avoid danger, solve a puzzle to progress, rinse and repeat. What makes a puzzle platformer stand out from the crowd is its core mechanic, and Nihilumbra's involves color. As you explore the world, you'll come across flowers that will grant you a color ability. You can paint terrain with these colors, and each affects you or the environment in different ways. For example, painting the ground blue makes it slippery, allowing you to gain speed, move heavy blocks, or send enemies careening into a pit. These colors are essentially how you solve all the puzzles in the game, and understanding what these colors can do is the key to success. Despite having a primary function within the game, the colors have a remarkable amount of utility outside of that function. Take the previously mentioned blue, for example. I initially assumed it was exclusively for gaining speed to clear gaps, but the game surprised me with how much more you could do with it. I'm quite impressed with how creative they got with the mechanics, though I wish we got a couple more colors to play with other than the five you get in the game. Most of the puzzles aren't too difficult, and the game does a pretty good job of teaching you the mechanics of the colors or enemies when you first come across them. However, the narrator kind of ruins all of that, because oftentimes, he'll pretty much spell out what to do even though the level design is already pretty intuitive. It's not that big of a deal to me, but it does take away from the satisfaction of figuring a puzzle out, and will likely come across as overly hand-holdy for other players. Once you beat the main game, you unlock Void Mode. This allows you to go through the levels again in any order you choose, except the levels have been remixed with new puzzle elements and mechanics. They really push the envelope in this mode and give you levels that are much harder than what you encounter on your first playthrough. It's an extreme spike in difficulty compared to the main story, and unless you're looking for a challenge, I'll understand you not going out of your way to beat this mode. VERDICT: Though the story and narration could be much better, it doesn't take away from the fact that Nihilumbra is still a solid puzzle platforming experience. The main story is rather short, but the interesting mechanics and the presence of the more challenging Void Mode make it worth the trouble. This game's already pretty cheap, but it goes on sale a lot. If you're looking for some quick puzzle platformer goodness, Nihilumbra might be for you. I highly recommend playing it on something with a touch screen, though, as the painting mechanic feels a lot better with touch controls. In addition to the Switch, Nihilumbra is also on Wii U and PS Vita. You can also pick it up on the following platforms: - end - The latest season of Lucha Underground is over, and as is tradition, it ends with Ultima Lucha, an event analogous to WrestleMania in the context of the show. Admittedly, S4 has been perhaps the weakest season of the show for a number of reasons, but I still found stuff to enjoy throughout its duration, both in terms of matches and storylines.
While this blog entry is focused primarily on Part 2 of Ultima Lucha Cuatro, I've written a short summary of my thoughts on Part 1 as well. Without further ado, let's hop right in (spoilers, obviously): At the risk of putting it off again, I decided to do this week's read on a Monday. Today, I cross out another book in my comic backlog with a Heroes for Hire TPB. WHY I BOUGHT IT:
Lo and behold, it's another one of my lucky bargain bin finds. It's amazing what kind of gems I stumble upon at a bookstore. Most Marvel fans know of and love the Heroes for Hire, and I'm no different. I'm sure more and more people are learning about it thanks to the Luke Cage and Iron Fist Netflix shows (RIP). Being mostly familiar with the iconic Luke Cage/Iron Fist team, this particular TPB caught my eye at the store for featuring neither of them. THE WRITING: This new incarnation of the Heroes for Hire features Misty Knight as the leader of the bunch. She deploys a specific hero depending on the situation in the comfort of her control center. Her mission here involves taking down street-level crime connected with the proliferation of an Atlantean drug. Not everything is as it seems however, because from the looks of it, someone else is pulling the strings... While I'm accustomed to Misty Knight being in the thick of the action, I really enjoyed the whole "guy in the chair" take on her. Having her send out specific heroes in solo missions that service a greater goal is a unique take on a superhero team as opposed to the team being a cohesive unit. You may not see most of the Heroes for Hire roster group up much here, but the fact that they're deployed based on their strengths (e.g. Falcon on reconnaissance, Ghost Rider on supernatural threats) makes it feel like an organized attack on the criminal underworld. I almost get a Suicide Squad vibe around this, with Misty being Amanda Waller, and her operatives not quite privy to the big picture. The twist in the latter half was interesting, though I didn't find it as compelling as the premise. It does tease bigger things for the next book, and provides some character moments (for Misty, in particular), but on its own, I think it's just OK. There's a bonus section at the end of the book that provides a short summary of the Heroes for Hire's history. Even if you've never heard of the team before, you'll be brought up to speed with how it started, and how its roster has changed over the years. In addition, there's a "dossier" on the current Heroes for Hire roster, which might come in handy for people who aren't too familiar with the characters that show up in this comic. THE ART: This comic goes for more toned down, darker colors, which sort of complements the gritty, street-level action that takes place. When the fights go down, however, there's a healthy amount of bright colors to make things flashy. Other than that, there's not much to say about the art other than I like it. The detail on the characters is superb; I always appreciate when artists go the extra mile and draw in details as minute as the creases on a character's costume, or meticulously adding a ton of detail to Ghost Rider's flames. VERDICT: I thought this was a badass new take on the storied Heroes for Hire formula; while it still retains the core idea of for-profit heroism, there's a cool covert ops spin to it in this comic. Given how the story plays out here, however, this concept is probably a short-lived one, and that's kind of a shame. Heroes for Hire: Control is on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Heroes-For-Hire-Control/digital-comic/310982?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - Batman Ninja came to Netflix last week, and I finally got to watch it today. I remember seeing the trailer for this last year and being amazed by its visuals. For today's blog entry, I'll be talking about the movie, free of any spoilers. Important note: I watched the Japanese version. Apparently, the version with English voice acting has a different script. I'll have to see what that's about at some point. First and foremost, I want to talk about the visuals. Not only is the art style gorgeous and visually striking, the animation is incredible and gives us some awesome-looking fights. The Feudal Japan versions of Batman, Joker, and more look like insane fan mashups, and I mean that in the best way possible. Seeing characters I've known for most of my life in a completely different medium (anime, in this case) is always exciting, and the fact that they look goddamn amazing is the cherry on top. The trailers gave me the impression that the movie would simply be an alternate universe Batman with a standalone story, but apparently that is not the case. The story begins with modern day Batman attempting to thwart Gorilla Grodd's experiments in Arkham Asylum. In the chaos, Gorilla Grodd's device goes off, and sends Batman and a bunch of other characters back in time to Feudal Japan. Batman must then figure out a way to get back home while also keeping the villains from terrorizing Japan. If that sounds like a batshit (no pun intended) story to you, that's because it is. Once Batman arrives in Japan, the story gets increasingly ridiculous, eventually reaching Super Sentai/Power Rangers levels of "all right, that makes zero sense". By the third act, I had a look of incredulity on my face as a result of how far off the rails the action had escalated. That isn't to say that I hated the movie, however. Quite the opposite, in fact. Sure, the plot escalates in absurdity to the point that it's practically all over the place, but I didn't mind. The amazing visuals actually complemented the utter shenanigans happening on the screen; it didn't matter that I didn't understand what the fuck was happening, because the action looks fucking ridiculous (in a good way). While the story was not at all what I had in mind with the "Batman in Feudal Japan" premise, Batman Ninja more than makes up for it with an hour and a half of sheer visual spectacle. It's more of a turn-your-brain-off popcorn movie than a cerebral Batman tale deeply rooted in the comic lore, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have preferred the latter, but hey, I had a blast watching what we got, so I'm not upset about it.
- end - This blog entry comes a tad later in the week than I would have preferred, but nevertheless, here's my latest read. With WWE Evolution still fresh on my mind (more on that here), it felt appropriate to keep the focus on female-driven content going, but this time, in the world of comics. WHY I BOUGHT IT:
This was another one of my bargain bin purchases, and perhaps one of the most memorable finds I've had the pleasure of stumbling upon. I was perusing a shelf of graphic novels and TPBs at a bookstore I frequent, and Girl Comics catches my eye because a) the spine was blue, and b) it had a peculiar title. A quick read of the back cover blurb was enough to convince me to buy the book. SUMMARY: Despite the name, Girl Comics isn't a book featuring Marvel's various female characters (they do show up a bunch, however). Girl Comics is actually a compilation of short comics created entirely by Marvel's illustrious roster of female writers, artists, and even letterers, colorists, and editors. Given it's a collaboration of a large number of different people, it didn't make sense for me to divide this blog entry into "The Writing" and "The Art" like I usually do. This series is a fantastic showcase of the female talent working within Marvel's House of Ideas. You'll read short stories ranging from delightfully cheery to borderline dark, featuring some of the characters Marvel fans know and love. And to complement the diversity of the writing, you'll also see some wildly different art styles for each comic, and goddamn, there's some amazing art in here. There's even random art of characters that are so good, they should be variant covers or posters. On the subject of female talent, the women themselves are just as much the focus of this book as much as the comics they made. Interspersed between comics are short Spotlights, discussing influential female figures in Marvel's history. There are also a section at the end containing succinct biographies for every contributor to this series, so if you want to find more women in comics, go give those a read and support their other work! My personal recommendation: Colleen Coover. She's one of my favorite comic artists ever thanks in no small part to her work on Bandette. She's a major contributor to this volume, and I'm really happy to see her art here. VERDICT: Women are succeeding in traditionally male-dominated industries more than ever before, and Girl Comics is a testament to that, at least in the context of comic books. If you yearn for more comics created by women, this book is an essential read, and hopefully it'll encourage you to check out more female creators in the industry. If you're going to check out just one comic based on my blog entries, let it be this one. Girl Comics is also available digitally on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Girl-Comics/digital-comic/702916?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - |
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