There's Jessie on my Good Luck Charlie...

Disney Channel's latest Crossover: Good Luck Jessie... was well...

How can I put this in a way that won't make me sound biased.
My Choices are:
Unimpressed McKayla
or Jay Sherman.








Sadly, I cannot put ALL the blame on the Jessie side of the Equation... Even if most of the suck comes from Jessie's side. And no, it's not my Anti-Jessie Bias showing. It's just that even in the Good Luck Charlie half, the Good Charlie half was overshadowed by the Jessie part. Then the Jessie part took over and it was a Disnified Christmasy version of The Hangover with Debby Ryan singing at the end.

You know what I realized after watching this special? Debby Ryan NEEDS TO MOVE ON!
She seems to lack that je ne sais quoi that Raven, Hillary Duff and even

have (or had in Twerkey Cyrus' case). Teh whole singing part of the Jessie episode felt like a desperate plea from Debby's agent to make her seem relevant or showcase her multiple talents: She acts, she sings, she also does julienne fries! That's not mentioning that the kids are growing up.
While the kids are on the 14-15 range (The kids that play Ravi and Luke are 15 while the kid that plays Emma is 15) they are starting to look a bit TOO OLD compared to the "show age" Which I think it's something like 12-13 for Emma, 11-12 for Luke, 10-11 for Ravi... I may be a bit off but Jessie is like 17-19... then again, I could say that some look slightly older than their Real Age... What does this have to do with the show? Well, the kids are growing up. Some are losing their "child cuteness", then there's the whole: Jessie is 5-6 years older than Emma. The age difference will become less important as the kids grow older and that Debby looks a bit younger than her age. (which explains why they overcake her with Makeup but she looks like a red-haired version of The Joker) My best advice could be summed with this:

But at least it was Somewhat Watchable... unlike a certain show from their Slime loving competition (or used to love it in the 80s and 90s)...

I'm talking about Sam&Cat... The most unwatchable show on nickelodeon... It makes Disney's Jessie AND Dog with a Blog look like Masterpieces. Alas, that's a rant I will not make (since it would need that I watch MORE of that show)

Oh, how I hope that Girl Meets World will be good enough to last more than 3 seasons

It's official, Castle Grayskull did NOT WOW Me...

The first MOTUC Grayskull review is out... (Yes, Pixel Dan got his castle early... and he posted a review. I'm posting the link, just don't forget about me and my unprofessional reviews!)
I've already ranted about how Mattel's Apparent "Bait and Switch" tactics made the New Grayskull be a bit disappointing.

The Difference is impressive in the Sculpt Department.

Here's a screencap of the 200X Castle next to the MOTUC Castle.
While, yes, the Classics Castle is larger and better looking than the 200X Castle, the size difference isn't THAT Huge. The 200X Castle is Decent enough to work.

Now, don't get me wrong. The Classics Castle IS a Better Castle IN THEORY. It's just that there were some Kinks that weren't ironed out.

 These pics were supposed to go with my Earlier disappointment rant.

I took those measurements and compared them to the "crappy" 200X Castle... Here's what I got:
The Measurements from the Classics Castle came straight from Scott Neitlich's Castle Comparison video posted above.
Classics: To the highest Tower 22.5"h
200X: to the highest tower a bit shy of 20.5"h
Classics: Jawbridge Closed 8"h
200X: Jawbridge Closed about 7.5"h
Classics: Inside Front wall 15"w
200X: Inside front wall: 15"w
Classics: To the Lowest Tower 18.5"h
200X: To the Lowest Tower 19"h
classics: Jawbridge Open 7"h
200X: Jawbridge Open 7.25"h

Notice how the MOTUC Sy-Klone is on a higher ledge than his
200X Counterpart.

 So the difference isn't THAT Huge, but I feel it SHOULD have been bigger. Mattel DID tweak the castle a little bit so those measurements above are a bit obsolete. (Better clearance on the Jawbridge and better on each level.)

I'm glad that Mattel actually had the Audacity of making a MOTUC Grayskull... I just feel that the whole thing SHOULD have been planned a bit better. The whole process of concept to actual product has been an insane ride. Not to mention the whole Digital River screwing up the orders catastrophe. Sculptwise is a thing of beauty. I'll be honest... The sculpt is amazing but, it's the little things that screwed the castle for me... (aside from the size)

In all fairness the 200X castle WAS made for the 200X figures

Of course some would say that my "nitpicks" come from "sour grapes" but I disagree. The Size would be the only "nitpick" that could be called "unreasonable", even if it's not. Those 2 inches in height would have benefited the Castle.
Look at the Secret Doors (the one with the Scareglow Key and the one next to the Throne.) They could have benefited from the extra height Clearance.  (Width is another story) the Extra Height would have helped the hyper cramped Dungeon... Or in this case Time-Out corner or Castle Latrine. Which doesn't work for Classics Figures. It works with Vintage and 200X Figures, but not the MOTUC Figures this castle is intended to.
The extra inch of height in Level 1 from the missing 2 inches would have made the door taller and work correctly unlike it does in the actual castle as you can see on the Screencap below.

Eternian Press also hate this dungeon since it censors the face
of whoever is inside of it... Unless it's Cringer, Orko, Kowl
and soon madame razz and Broom

See, why the "2 inches" are VERY Important?
3 Nitpicks would have been eliminated by the extra height. The other main nitpick is The Throne. So, the Keeper of Castle Grayskull cannot sit on the throne because of the way She and the Throne were engineered... Design Team For the Fail!
OK so, you may argue that This isn't Filmation or MYP! The Sorceress doesn't NEED to sit on the Throne! That throne is reserved for the future King of Castle Grayskull!

As Pixel Dan shows on his review. King He-Man can't sit there.
Hell! Even King Grayskull can't sit on it... Unless you use the Santa variant WITHOUT The cape. See where I'm going with this?
So, the Throne still has the vintage feature where you twist and shout... OK, the one sitting twists and the one falling down the trap shouts! That is kinda cool... If you know, the character ACTUALLY FELL IN THE DUNGEON!! I kow I'm going back to the Dungeon since it's the biggest failure in the entire castle. I'm sorry fourhorsemen, but I speak the truth. If the Dungeon wasn't working as well as it should, then it should have been cut out... or at least make the walls of it removable.

Now the next "nitpick" is the Wind Raider Stand Hole. OK, so Mattel and the Horsemen made it for the sky sled. It still makes no freaking sense! Mattel Should have totally added a plug-in to cover that hole... It's a good thing that the Fan Community did come to the rescue here.

So to recap:
-Castle Size
-Dungeon issues (size and not working like it should)
-Wind Raider Stand Hole issues
-Throne and the characters who NEED to sit on it that cannot.
These are the things I see as the castle's shortcomings. It seems like a cool toy but for $300+ it needed to blow my mind something that it did not.

The size, I CAN Understand. I mean if that was the ONLY flaw, then I could say that it's a fudgetastic super awesome and sweet castle!

The dungeon is one of those inexcusable things. This has nothing to do with the elimination of the 3D Grate item, just to make it clear. that dungeon is perfect for a vintage figure. Take a look at this pic on the left and compare it to the Dungeon Screencap above.

The Wind Raider/Sky sled Hole is totally unneeded. Instead of wasting time on that Pie slice with a useless hole (since parking vehicles inside Grayskull is a stupid idea... It's NOT THE BATCAVE!!) why couldn't Mattel have the horsemen spend more time fixing the Dungeon issues.

The Throne is the Second Inexcusable issue with the playset. Design Half-assed their way to "fix" the issue with the throne and the Sorceress' wings. Seriously, Design Fixed the issue for the tail, but didn't Look into the wings while there was time to fix it.

Again, I'm not saying the Castle is bad. Just that I do NOT Regret not getting one... much! (A Grayskull sculpted by the fourhorsemen is an awesome thing. Not having one hurts a little.) The good stuff on it outweighs the bad stuff on it. It's just that two of the biggest faults, I find INEXCUSABLE!
I know some will be more forgiving than I am. Others may be more ruthless and scathing in their complaints.

In any case, those who ARE getting the castle, I only have two words for you:
Enjoy it!

Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it... for those of you that don't, eh... Happy Thursday?

Since I DO celebrate Thanksgiving, the House of Rants will be closed for today...
I know what they say: A Rant a Day keeps the Doctor away, but after enjoying Doctor Who for a while, I'm not so sure that I want to keep the Doctor away... and what do you mean nobody says that?

In any case, this rant will be short because I have to prepare a Thanksgiving meal... The Uncle Phil Special... What's that? ask Uncle Phil!



I'm dropping this here because, The Newest My Little Pony episode (that was accidentally leaked) reminded me a lot about Castlevania... Twilight is spending the night on a Haunted Castle... (It's the same Castle from Season 1 and the Season 4 Premiere... Celestia's old Castle...) The reason it reminded me of Castlevania is the Episode's name: Castle Mane-ia... So, happy hunting! Or just wait until Saturday!


Cause it's Thanksgiving and all that... Shuffling on Spidey's butt!
In any case, Have a nice day, unlike Brian Griffin who won't be enjoying any Thanksgivings... Or all the fools who will be raiding stores today. Please, don't support the stores that are screwing over families by making their employees work today.

The Importance of the Filmation Deal...

Warning!! The following rant is PURE SPECULATION. Various UNEDUCATED guesses and assumptions will be made.

This whole pursuit of the Filmation rights for 2012 has me thinking... Sure, we ARE getting good stuff out of it like Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Octavia, Sea Hawk for MOTU Classics. I know Shadow Weaver is on the NU52 MOTU Comics. The Question burning on the back of my head is:

Why would Mattel go out of their way to gain access to these characters?

Think about it. It's not simply to please the hardcore MOTU Fanbase. There MUST BE some other reason. I'm not sure of the details on this deal or on the one made 10 years ago (approximately), but there must be something going on. The one from the last decade gave us a new look for Count Marzo, Shadow Beasts and Evil Seed. 2 out of 3 got figures in MOTUC. I mean there HAD to be a Deal, otherwise, Marzo, Evil Seed, etc. would have been OFF-Limits to Mattel. the same way we didn't have Shadow Weaver and the generic Male wraiths had to be used. This is why I believe there had to be some sort of deal 10 years ago.On the other hand this New Deal gave us a lot more:
Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Fang Man, Madame Razz, Plundor, Nepthu, Icer, Shokoti, Octavia, Batros, Strong Arm, Sea Hawk, Huntara and possibly others.

What are they Planning?

They HAVE TO BE planning something. The only reason I can think of is: The Movie. I don't know what they are planning, but securing rights to use certain characters (Shadow Weaver, I'm looking at you) could help the Movieverse. I can see some better storytelling if certain characters are available. (Of course, I'm talking about the She-Ra side of the equation, since MOTU has not gotten any worthwhile characters to expand the story)

Is this like past deals that allow Mattel to make these characters into toys in future iterations of MOTU, because they made action figures of them? (As seen with Blade, Saurod and Gwildor)

 This is an interesting question. Mattel's main goal is obviously to sell toys. The whole Media Division thing would benefit from these extra characters to weave their stories and sell more products of whatever MOTU ends up in the future. I have no answer for that, but if so, then that would explain the whole Limited slots available... (and why Nepthu is a wasted slot... You knew I would never skip a chance to crap on Nepthu...)

I wonder if the Voltron deal was what opened the doors for this. In any case it's a good thing that we're getting characters like Weaver, Octavia, Sea Hawk, etc. in Classics/

 

It Came From the Toy Chest: I have no funny Pirate Jokes...

He's finally here... My Bow committed an act of Shelf-dive suicide when He arrived... I kid you not.

I've ranted about him already... and this review was churned out in a flash!! (Or I had some of it already made in advance and was just waiting for the figure.)

Variants that I'd like to see in MOTUC

Before I start this rant, I need to do a couple of warnings:
I'm not saying that THEY MUST MAKE ALL THE VARIANTS I'm Mentioning. I understand why people can be a bit turned off by them... Smash Blade He-Man Flashbacks and all that. With the Line wrapping up, I know variants have taken a back seat and I understand that. It's that some of them were pretty cool and it would be a shame to miss out on them.

Feel free to list your favorites (not necessarily the ones on my list) on the comments section Below.

Snake Armor King Grayskull:
Yes, you read correctly. I'm choosing the Snake Armor variant to be a King Grayskull variant. Mostly because he's a 200X Character and that's a 200X Variant. Besides popping in a He-Man head gets you the Snake Armor He-Man.

Savage Catra: (a Toy Based Normal Catra.)
I chose the Savage name since Catra's Variants have names that would make no sense in Classics (due to the Non-Action features aspect of the line.) Seriously, Scratching Sound or Shower Power would make no sense if they cannot wet people or make scratching sounds.
Canonically speaking this Catra could be the one that stays on Etheria after Hordak was killed and the Twins of Power "left to the stars".

Starburst She-Ra: You should have known this was coming. Especially since I mentioned a Toy based Catra. The main Reason for a Starburst She-Ra is to get one with the Vintage Toy chestplate.


The Laser Variants: (Laser Light Skeletor and Laser Power He-Man)
They show up on the mini-comic that comes with The Un-Named One. They almost have all the pieces for LL Skeletor with the NA Figure... Just a Translucent Red Horde Prime Right Hand, The Classic Havoc Staff in Translucent Red and a new Skele-face on a hood (I vote for Mattel using the Dittzhood or the Preternia He-Man Hood.
For He-Man well, a new Head, I want my Dolph Lundgren Mullet for He-Man dammit!! Also, these two scream SDCC Two-Pack.

200X Sorceress:
(Make her ascended Teela or something.) I like the 200X Sorceress, especially in vintage colors, and while yes, I will make Princess Sunbutt jokes with her, it's not THE reason I want her. I think her design is cool...

Despara:
It's the only GOOD thing to come from the NU52 MOTU... (Yes, I've said that the comic is getting better SLOWLY) but if we can only have 1 SINGLE ITEM FROM NU52 in MOTUC, I choose Despara... (Force Captain Adora looking more like a member of the Horde)

Battle Armor Marlena: 
While this is a 200X Variant of Marlena, I could accept the Filmation head on her for consistency's sake. Astronaut Marlena looks a bit silly and I need a Marlena to put with the BA Randor since My Marlena is with Filmation Randor.

Snake Mekaneck:
For the same reasons that I wanted Snake Man-At-Arms... To make a 200X Mekaneck.

200X Adam and Teela:
I know that the Teen Bucks are a big no-no to Mattel right now. On the other hand, Teela is highly desired and the Mint-on-Card Collectors need a Single Carded Adam. I know that an "Adult Body" Adam defeats the whole Teen Adam thing, but we pretty much have all the pieces needed to make him.
We only need a new Jacket and maybe a head.
Teela on the other hand gives us a shot at a Teela on the 2.0 body. (The head with the Longer Ponytail is a sweet bonus!)

There are some variants that I may be missing like Movie versions of the characters which are unavailable, or some like Pre-Anchors Aloft Sea Hawk, that while cool would be a bit unnecessary. Other variants, I simply don't give a damn about like Smash Blade He-Man.

Post Day of the Pony and the Doctor Thoughts.

Yesterday was the Day of the Doctor and the Premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's 4th Season.

I'll start with My Little Pony (for Chronological reasons)
It was OK... Not that great. I'm going to blame the horrible thing on my left... Not Twilight Sparkle, cause I love Twilight... or loved her back when she wasn't a Princess.

I'll be honest: Alicorns ruin everything! Half of the Episodes were about Twilight's inability to adapt as an Alicorn Princess. The basic premise of the episodes were that Princesses Celestia and Luna were MIA for the Summer Sun Celebration (The same Celebration from Episodes 1 and 2)
So, the whole episode was Twilight: Princess or Main Character. The struggle bled on to the rest of the Mane 6 which was expected, but this whole "Twilicorn Princess" thing is bugging me out. Seriously, it felt like they cut out important stuff just to have more Twilicorn crap.

The Good: Flashbacks, Flashbacks, Flashbacks!!
We got to see the Celestia/Luna Battle of 1000 years ago!

This Cord was here! The Chaotic one was in top form in this episode (two-parter) and it's freaking Discord! (Any excuse to have more John DeLancie on MLP IS a good thing!)

Loose ends that may be revealed across the entire season...

The Bad: Twilicorn.
Episode felt like Filler

No "Dear Princess Celestia" moral of the day...

The meh: 
No songs.

Overall, it wasn't Bad... Better than the Crystal Empire, but it did not blew me away.



Now for the Big One...

(What? I like the Original version of the theme better)
THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR!!

Well, it's a Doctor Who Special with 2 Doctors... 11 and 12. We would have gotten 3 Doctors if it wasn't for Mr. Eccleston's strong refusal to reprise his role as The Doctor. Instead we have this "War Doctor" played by John Hurt... Like a doctor 8.5, cause they never thought of getting Paul McGann to do anything with Doctor Who after that 90s movie.

So, basically the story deals with the Fall of Gallifrey in the Time War against the Daleks. The War Doctor is ready to use the Moment... Which is what kills the Time Lords and Daleks. The Moment has a consciousness that takes the form of Rose... (blegh! I never liked the Rose obsession)
The "Rose" takes The War Doctor on a Timey Wimey adventure with 10 and 11. Then they do their Doctor thing and we have a little fan-service while we prepare our bodies for Capaldi.



The Good:
War Doctor was pretty awesome and I wish we could have gotten more of him.

It was good to see Ten again and I loved the interactions between Ten and Eleven

UNIT... One of the few things I remember from the few encounters I had with CLASSIC Doctor Who (specifically the Third Doctor)

The Cameos and archive footage used for the  finale.

The Bad:
Rose Tyler... I guess that fans of her would have this on good.

The Meh:
For a few minutes the special felt a little like a Highlander Episode.

Zygons... Well at least the main villains this time were NOT Daleks...

Overall it was really great! This special was a sort of love letter to the fans. Well worth the wait.

The Day of the Doctor (and Ponies is here)

And that means that I shall talk about Doctor Who or Ponies... Well, I'll go with something kinda Doctor Who-ish but not exactly. I mean, Google did something cool to their UK version. A Doctor Who game. You control the Doctor as he tries to collect the Google Logo Letters across Space and Time. It's a nifty game, a time waster, but it's cute... *(This is coming from the guy who loved pac-google and playing snake on Youtube)

I'm also talking about the BBC Movie an Adventure in Space and Time which is based on the behind the scenes drama while making the Original Doctor Who.

That guy playing William Hartnell/The Doctor seems familiar, doesn't he?
Yes, you've seen it in the OTHER big British export... 

So before I start, This is not a Doctor Who movie... We got that in the 90s with the 8th Doctor... The movie was pretty good, but required some past knowledge on Whovian Lore.
An Adventure In Space And Time is more a Behind the Scenes Re-enactment... Some knowledge of the original series is required, which BTW I enjoyed, well the 4-6 episodes I was able to see were pretty good. I'd dare say that I liked them more than some of the modern incarnations of the good Doctor (and I mean Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith)

We get to see the story of how Doctor Who made it against all odds... Not sure on the veracity of what the movie shows us, since all adaptations require to bend reality a little bit just to make the movie a bit more dramatic. I have to say that I only disliked 1 scene on the entire movie: The ending. I GET what they were trying to do, but it feels a bit forced especially when they also had the scene with Hartnell crying and the whole "I don't want to go" thing that I'm not sure if it was a nod to this.

Feels more like they're giving fans a few modern Doctor Who references than making the scenes more poignant. That ending scene pissed me off so much. It felt tacky.

Now for the Pony half of the Equation: A Fan-Made MLP Game that is pretty Awesome!!
MEGAPONY... what is Megapony? A fan game made by Khao Mortadios that combines My Little Pony with

Yes, it's a MLP Megaman game... Like old school Megaman games it's slightly hard until you figure out the Pattern. the story is basically this:

Discord has taken control of the Mane 6. Celestia summons a Fighting Robopony to save the day...

If you're a Mega Man fan, you can appreciate the effort gone to make a Pretty darn faithful Game to the Mega Man Series, but with Ponies.
 Look at the Loading Screen. Isn't it reminiscent of the awful art on the NES Cartridges?

I actually LAUGHED when I saw this screen. I mean Look at it. We have a weird Pony with a carrot on his helmet while holding a gun with his mouth standing on top of a toilet lid while Discord looks menacingly. I'm not even going to comment on the weird things in the back that I suppose they are buildings that look like other things that are definitely NOT Buildings.
The thing is that it captures the bizarreness of the NES Art PERFECTLY!

And once it game loads, the intro is reminiscent of Mega Man 2's intro and title screen but ponified.

I have to admit that I did say awwww! when I saw the Mega Pony without his helmet. Kinda looks like Shining Armor. Now that would have been a decent Plot Twist!

The game feels like a Mega Man Game, but with Ponies, some Mega Man foes and some MLP Foes. Diamond Dogs, Owlowiscious, Timber Wolves, there's even a nod to the Friendship is Witchcraft team.And like all Mega Man games

You can beat them by defeating the Robot Masters or in this case: the Elements of Harmony. You go through the stages and fight the end boss. get your power up and use it to easily beat another boss.

The weaknesses of each boss are a bit hard to figure out since the show doesn't show which Element of Harmony is stronger than the other. There's a few hints based on the show. Rarity doesn't like getting Dirty, so Tossing some apples at her can hurt her. Rainbow Dash doesn't Dress in Style in Friendship is Magic... You could Bedazzle the heck out of her...

Like in later Mega Man games, you get a nifty animation of Mega Man gaining a Power-Up.
You do here and you look more like the Pony that you defeated. As you can see on this pic, Mega Pony defeated Twily.

It's a cool fan game...

Sequeljuice Sequeljuice Sequeljuice!

I should have used that title for the previous Sequeljuice rant... well, let me put some BG Music before the rant.

Guess who's coming in for Sequeljuice? I'll give you a hint:
It's Winona Ryder... and it's no reboot. It's a 25+ years sequel... I'm still not too excited about it, but who knows... Hopefully the following 2 people will not be attached to the movie:
Johhny Depp and Helena Boham Carter. But Tim Burton might find a way to throw them in, cause he hates me...

Interesting... Another study that finds that videogames aren't the Violence inducing murder simulators that some former First Lady and a whacko Ambulance Chaser would want yo to believe... I could add that they aren't a Patriarchy Enforced Misogyny Indoctrination tools, but I'll save that for the next video that the "Pop culture Critic" decides to do.

Then again, parents should just do their job as parents and do some parenting. TV, Videogames, The internet are NOT Babysitters...

So, "The daughter of Ra's al Ghul" that they mention in Arrow is Nyssa and not Talia... I wonder if they're going to make Arrow an added part of the Nolanverse for the eventual Justice League Movie... Interesting... Speaking of Arrow, oh DAMMIT!! Barry Allen, not flash will be showing up on Arrow, cause they're making a Stand Alone Pilot for The Flash!!

♫Spider-Ock, Spider-Ock... Let's see what else can Marvel... uh ruin?
Spider-Ock + Venom = Inferior Venom... Seriously, all they are doing is making the 90s Clone Saga seem like a wonderful thing...

Russell Crowe goes Biblical

I know this is old news... Cause Noah's in the Old Testament and all that... (Dammit! I needed a Methuselah movie to make this joke work... Then again you can't spell Methuselah without Meth... Nah, still grasping at straws and reaching too far just to make a Breaking Bad reference...)
OK so here's the deal: Russell Crowe is Noah... as in the Biblical Noah.

He's got Hermionie, Hannibal Lecter, and the girl from Labrynth (who worked with Crowe on a Beautiful Mind) as his supporting cast... From the Director of The Fountain and that movie where Meg Griffin  has sex with Amidala... But it's still Russell Crowe and I have a problem with him... I fall asleep on his movies. I mean I LOVE Gladiator, but I always seem to fall asleep watching it. Same thing with Robin Hood. Now I'm not sure if it's Crowe + Scott = Nap time, but I have a slight fear of falling asleep with Crowe on the Screen. (which means wait till Noah is on DVD to watch.)

At first I thought it was the Gladiator Soundtrack...

Seriously, I use this as a lullaby. Then I saw Robin Hood and I was sawing logs. I tried Virtuosity and I stayed awake through the whole thing. So I saw Proof Of Life on VHS (feeling like a hipster right now) and I was awake through the whole thing.

I made it through A Beautiful Mind (not on the same day, mind you... Too much Russell Crowe can be a bad thing) Though I felt myself nearly dozing off.

I'm a bit afraid of Noah... I'm not a fan of Aronofsky's movies aside The Wrestler. Russell Crowe can be hit or miss to me. I also fear movies based on Religious Material because of all the controversy they can bring. The movie looks good and at least it's a movie without Jesus or Moses (since those are the 2 figures who get more movies). That reminds me I need to get The Man of Steel... It calls for a Super Review.

Finally, she is OFF the Damsels... Now it's Ms. Male Character...

So my favorite loathsome "gamer" who sees Sexism from THE PATRIARCHY even in lint has finally done another video trying to defend women from the "Evil Misogynistic Gamers"...
Sadly, it's not the Fighting @#$%^Toy... Dammit! I wanted to hear her ramble about Dead or Alive.

Why did I put "Gamer" in quotation marks? Well, there are a few things floating around the web that put her "gamer" status in question. One of them is showing how she used Let's Plays or Longplay videos from a few Youtubers. This makes sense since there is a LOT of stuff she gets wrong, like claiming Peach does not appear in ANY cutscene on Super Princess Peach, when she does; or how she completely erases Saber's role in Dinosaur Planet... Then again, she may know it but were left out since she was "contextualizing it in a way to show that her point is valid" (even if it means twisting and bending the truth more than a piece of taffy going through a taffy puller.

Sure, one may argue that she's using the readily available footage because it's readily available... *cough* $160,000 for equipment, research materials, etc,*cough*
But having her saying that she is not a fan of videogames on a lecture kinda clashes with her "lifelong gamer" speech. One of those statements is a lie.

Before I start I must make a few warnings:

We must remember that it is both possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy her videos while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects. We have to remember that these videos do not exist in a vacuum, they are an increasingly influential part of our larger social and cultural ecosystem.

I know I'm almost quoting her, but if she can criticize videogames while making up crap; I can criticize her videos in a half-joking manner because I can't take her seriously (not because of her gender, but because of her promoting opinions as facts propaganda type of thing.) In theory, I should agree with her idea. The execution is where I don't agree... Then again, you can't scream for Equality while praising Segregation by Gender in Public Transportation.

Now, she pulled a switcheroo and skipped the Fighting @#$%^ Toy. Now we're doing Ms. Male Character. Judging by the title, we're going to hear a lot about how evil THE PATRIARCHY is by making Ms. Pac Man look like Pac Man with a bow... I'm not going to mention graphical limitations, or how Pac People look like Smiley faces that eat everything up. If Ms. Pacman ran around naked, I would not be able to know that she is Ms. Pac Man or Pac Man himself, because PAC PEOPLE LOOK LIKE FRIGGING SMILEY FACES!! It's not the Patriarchy or some sexism from the game developers.

Great! She's attacking a quote from Pac Man's creator... by completely ignoring the cultural differences between Japan and America... She proceeds to Ms. Pac Man... Ms. Pac Man was used to appeal to women since the Early 80s... What was that about the PATRIARCHY trying to keep women away from games again? So, videogames trying to appeal to women since the 80s is good, right?

It's bad because it's a "Female version of a Male character". So, in her eyes She-Ra BAAAD!
She uses Minnie Mouse on a clip as an example. If they added human-like boobs to her design, it's bad cause it's sexist. If they don't add boobs it's STILL BAD because she looks like Mickey in drag. So... Let's recap: Ms. Pac Man is bad Mmmkay! Because she is EXACTLY LIKE PAC MAN, but with a Bow. So, if they are too feminine it's bad. Too sexy (sexualized for her) it's bad. If she is equal to the male it's bad too! MAKE UP YOUR FREAKING MIND!! Most of these example come from earlier eras where graphical limitations didn't allow for a diversity of characters. So, for non-human characters, Bows, the colors Pink, purple and other pastel tones are bad because they indicate that a non-human character is female?

And Amy Rose wasn't meant to be a female Sonic... She's a Hedgehog of the female kind who happens to be a Sonic Fangirl... or the Ultimate Sonic Fangirl. With that Logic a Belieber is a Female Bieber...

 Boobs are bad!! Bows are bad, excessive make-up like blush and eyeshadow are bad... (Ignore the fact that she wears a lot of those and Ginormous Hoop Earrings)
Now she uses the Bathroom displays... Cause it's bad. The same woman who is OK with Gender segregation on Public Transport is complaining about society segregating the genders on public bathrooms... because the Female Stickperson is wearing a skirt.

She takes a jab out of Heike Kagero from Super Punch Out!! Get it, taking a jab? What she sees as Effeminate and homophobic jab is actually a Kabuki boxer (Punch out is weird, OK?) Think of him as a Performance Art Boxer... and a Bishounen (Beautiful male youth) which may look very effeminate to Western Audiences... She seems to have some problems in understanding foreign cultural nuances.

She then complains about Men not being subjected to wearing markers like hats or ties to show them as males in worlds dominated by women... You know what this post needs?

More Ponies. Before you complain I want you to
notice how most males are the ones wearing some article of clothing.
Applejack is going against the norm with her hat.

She keeps on rambling about the same theme and goes to Angry Birds. She IGNORES that the White Bird is Female, which everyone who has played the game and knows how birds operate could say: White Bird = Female in order to ramble about how sexist Angry Birds is. She later acknowledges the White Bird's Femininity.

She then starts acting like a hipster by praising some indie games.

Seriously, I'm freaking Clueless right now. I'm trying to wrap my brain around this and I feel like I'm dumber right now.

Even with minimal narrative or limited graphics it is entirely possible to make games that feature dynamic women who exist on their own terms.

So, are you suggesting retconning past games to include Females with no "traditional markers of femininity"?

The Universe may work like that for Time Lords, but to normal Human Beings Time only works in a linear fashion. It's impossible to retcon past videogames out of this "sexism" thing.

Let me make this clear: My dislike of her is not because she's female or feminist. My dislike of HER WORK stems from the piss poor analysis of her topics (especially after getting paid $160,000 for it), passing crap as fact, hypocrisy and media manipulation to play the "victim card". I HAVE NO ANIMOSITY TOWARDS HER PERSON. If her videos had better research, didn't rely on cheap jabs at other cultures, did not took things out of context and were "contextualized" as something completely different to prove a point and her process was more transparent; I'd be OK with her opinions (I may or may not have agreed with them) but as they stand right now, I can't agree with her opinions and cannot take her seriously, BECAUSE of the flaws in her analysis and lack of understanding in the matter.

I just wish that the "gaming Journalists" would actually DO THEIR WORK and fact-check her videos. Seriously, the gaming media went against Jack Thompson, but this lass gets a free pass because she's a woman dealing with "First World Problems Feminism".
Seriously, domestic violence, genital mutilation seem to be problems that need more attention than Ms. Pac Man is wearing a Bow... Now that's where the real issues are, not on Princess Peach.

In any case, I'll keep rambling about them cause it's fun and I do it for free... If you want to pay me to ramble, I'm game...

The He-Man Mobile game is a nice start...

But we need more. I've already ranted about a MOTU Game before... back when this blog was in diapers and I was more naive...
I still stand by my belief that we need a freaking MOTU Game. We have the app, but it's just not enough. Sure, a console game right now might be a bit more difficult in this console transition period, but, perhaps we should look towards social media app games.

I've played Marvel's Avengers Alliance for a while and a MOTU Game SIMILAR to that could work.
The menagerie of crazy characters... (MOTU, POP, NA, etc.) is similar to the Marvel Universe, even if it's a bit smaller. the "playable character" In Marvel's AA is a Generic S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, which could be a Palace Guard in MOTU. S.H.I.E.L.D. can be replaced by The Kingdom of Eternos and the Sorceress. Skeletor, King Hssss, Hordak, Flogg can be the various leaders of evil factions. Not to mention that this theoretical game could help expand the MOTUC Narrative.

Why an Avengers Alliance "clone"? Well, it's one of the few types of games that can allow you to showcase the diverse powers of the MOTU Characters.

I guess Mattel is counting on the Movie for the big console tie-in-game, which let's face it is very likely to suck... (Based on most movie tie-in-games sucking major ass!) MOTU is a Tiny tiny line, or so I've heard. Promoting it could theoretically bring more customers to the brand. While Classics is ending, we still have the Mini Masters to promote the heck out of or *shudders* the NU52 MOTU...

Can't do a cartoon, can't do a movie, then do a freaking videogame. Nostalgia alone cannot support MOTU... New blood is needed. Then again, all these issues with MOTU stem from Mattel doing a little MOTU then putting it away for years. (I know, repeating myself and all that, but you know it makes sense.) We need He-Man out there. The Comic and the App aren't enough. The ball is on Mattel's court. They want MOTU to make a comeback, well, they need to make people aware of MOTU...

Holy Fan Film

Batman! The folks from Bat in the Sun productions have been making a TON of Bat-Fan Films and they kick ass! (I know this is old, but I just saw it)

These guys get Batman way better than the people at Warner Brothers. Hell, this Bat film is better than the Batdog Rises with Christian Bale as Batdog. Seriously that Bane with the Facehugger jockstrap was lame as Hell. Seriously, watch this 30 minute fan-film. Remember that this is a Fan-Film and doesn't have the Multi-Million budget that a true Feature film would have. But taking in consideration that this IS a fan film, you can see that it's a great Batman short and like I said before, truer to Batman than the Nolanverse. I don't know why WB and DC haven't gotten these guys on board to make a Bat-Movie.

BTW the Bat in the Sun people are the same folks behind Super Power Beatdown! which kicks ass (except when they have the bat family win almost every match... They COULD be a little biased.)

I guess I'm campaigning for Lodar

Well, my Geldor has shipped. So far I'm not excited about him coming. I mean, he looks OK and I could make a funny pic or two of him, but I just don't get the appeal on him. I mean Lodar looks more Badass than Geldor. You can check his mini-comic appearance on He-Man.org's Archive.

So, why I find Lodar more exciting than Geldor?

First: HE ACTUALLY DOES STUFF!!
Sure, he has his arena of death and the slaves, but he actually attacks He-Man with his Magic. Forces him to fight Garn and when all that fails he goes Toe to Toe with He-Man. Geldor didn't do anything like that.

-Lodar looks Badass. OK to be fair Geldor looks OK-ish. (If you think Mr.T with a Biker Moustache and a little leather fetish is cool, whatever.) Lodar on the other hand looks like the Love-child of Snake Eyes and Shredder... but with magic powers from the sun and the moon.

He looks purplish to me, but the 4Horsemen could use better colors.
The higher contrast is to show which parts would work on him better. 

-He's Ridiculously Easy to make for Mattel. The guy is a new head, harness and Loincloth. (Worst Case Scenario, reuse Kobra Khan's, Bow's, or Mosquitor's)
Reusing the Normal Buck with Demo-Man's forearms and thighs, Vikor's right Bicep, Marzo's left hand and Keldor Boots make the main parts of his body. For accessories, well we have the Sir-Laser-Lot Mace from WP#4... so that takes that out of the equation and give me enough theoretical resources for a better accessory. What we have left is a Grayskull Stand in Dark Gray with Chains that can be plugged to it (Reuse the Scareglow reliquary cuffs for the handcuffs.)

-He did not DIE after his first appearance, so him coming back is more plausible than getting better after being devoured, or becoming a confused Nicolas Cage look-alike after King Hssss Superglued the depowered Amulet.

I know that Lodar looks like a gimp(as in BDSM) wearing the Road Warriors' shoulderpads. Besides he wouldn't be the first Purple gimp to grace MOTUC and MOTU has had some ridiculous designs before:
Snout Spout, Energy zoids come to mind.

Monster High M-O-V-I-E is happening... He-Man is stuck in Despondos.

Nothing against Monster High getting a movie, but it royally sucks that Mattel is pushing this project instead of their main boy's toys franchise... If you say Max Steel, I should kick you in the shins.

Seriously, while MOTU is in development Hell, Monster High already has a team of writers/Producers... (Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage) for Universal... Which kinda makes sense Universal Monsters, Monster High... I see what they did there. But that's not the only thing.
Max Steel is also getting a movie set for release next year... Then there's Hot Wheels...

Hot Wheels movie? What? Fast and Furious on Orange streets? I mean, I understand Max Steel and Monster High getting a movie. Hell, even a BARBIE Movie makes more sense than HOT WHEELS! How in the blue hell do you make a HOT WHEELS MOVIE!?

Then again, this may be a godsend since it means no NU52 Teela on the big screen.

Really, Toys R Us? Really?

The following commercial for Toys R Us has been called Controversial.


And I totally agree. I'm sorry but making Education seem extra boring in order to promote a store is despicable... OK, the kid in me (and the adult toy collector) would agree that going to Toys R Us and getting free stuff is AWESOME!! The issue I have with this commercial is the first part where they are using an Educational Field Trip as something that is boring. (this was probably achieved by driving around for a long time to make the Field Trip seem more boring when filming.) That bugs me because the Message being delivered (un)intentionally is School Stuff is BORING!! Toys R Us is cool!

I understand that some people may think that I'm overanalyzing it and that it's more innocent that what I'm seeing, but we must remember that it is both possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy this commercial while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects. We have to remember that these commercials do not exist in a vacuum, they are an increasingly important and influential part of our larger social and cultural ecosystem. Now give me tons of money to over-analyze it some more!!

All jokes aside, we must remember all the problems that are currently happening in the US regarding Education. (bureaucracy, meddling from politicians and other special interest groups, the lowered standards, budget cuts and all the other crap that is stifling our Children's education.)
Painting Education in a bad light goes against the whole Stay in School thing that has been promoted since I was in diapers and possibly before I was born.

This is a condensed version of what I'm seeing.

They could have worked it in a different way... Perhaps this commercial could have been made with the reveal that the Field Trip was to Toys R Us FROM THE BEGINNING. I'm pretty sure that there's a message there about Lying being a good thing that shouldn't be there in that commercial we got.
I understand the idea to hype toys R Us as an exciting place for kids to get toys, but disagree with what they show in the commercial...
 They made the TRU look way better than the real thing. I saw no "creepy" scalpers hogging the Hot Wheels sections. No adult collectors checking the action figures and having Security checking in on them (implying said customers may be thieves or child molesters). No Babies R Us section overwhelming the actual store, while making the Toys R Us Section seem smaller. No Vandalized products where figures are stolen and replaced with crap, no empty shelves. Also, that's the first Toys R Us I see that kids can grab whatever they want, open it and play with it in the store.

I miss the more Vintage Toys R Us ads...

More people would go to Toys R Us if the toys weren't so overpriced. Seriously, $16* (That's the cost on PR about $12.99 in Continental US) for the RETRO TMNT... the same figures that were reproduced a few years back and use a bit LESS PLASTIC than the current TMNT TOYS... (and back in my day were under $5!! Now get off my Wi-Fi! cause kids these days don't get on my lawn!) The Same Party Wagons that were peg-warming until early this year at $30-ish are now $50-ish... While I won't STOP going to Toys R Us... (Damn their TRU Exclusives) my visits will drastically be reduced  due to this ad campaign. I'm sorry, but I cannot defend an ad that makes a mockery about learning in order to sell toys. I'm pretty sure that people HAVE been arrested before for impersonating Park Rangers or any other authority figures.

Couldn't they like, do something along these lines:

TRU Guy: Are you ready for this Field Trip?
Get the kids reaction. about the Field Trip
TRU Guy: Well, I have a Surprise for you! After the Field Trip we're Stopping at TOYS R US!!
Get the Kids cheering, then we cut to the Kids in TRU section of the ad.

That way TRU could deliver their message that TRU is awesome and make it look like they care about the kids rather than their parents' wallets. Even though they only give a damn about the parents' wallets. Also, I think that we could eliminate the whole Impersonating an Officer of the Law thing.
Before anyone comments on Actors doing that for movies. These kids are supposedly real kids from a real school that they took on the Field Trip and not child actors. So, even if the TRU employee is an actor, the message given is that it's OK to impersonate an officer of the law in order to give toys to kids. More ammo for the Child Molesters to use.

They could have done this better without the cheap shots... (Leave those to bloggers, Youtubers and Media Critics!!)

Why Weapon Packs are important?

A little more than 3 years ago, I ranted about accessories in action figures. We got the Keldor swords and corrected an issue with him. We can say the same thing about Randor, Draego-Man, Strobo and Faker too!
Color choices can be a bit iffy on Weapon packs:
Pink Fuchsia Zodac stuff, Green Clawful Mace, Green He-Man stuff come to mind. But other than that, they are a way to "fix" some issues with some characters. Sometimes they allow to give an Oomph! to a bland character. That Silver Shield for SLL looks a lot better than the crappy blue shield.
The WP#1 Gun and sword allowed my SMAA to be "complete" and different enough from Normal MAA.

I understand Mattel's decision on halting the production of Weapon Packs (at least until 2015 ends) in order to focus on the figures that we are missing. It's a shame that we're missing on Weapon Packs since there's a whole world of weapons that could use an alternate color scheme.
Seriously, there is a LOT of stuff we could have gotten:

-Techno Sword in Orange for Faker.
-Power Sword in one Tone Silver for BA He-Man or Adam if the Filmation PS isn't your thing.
-Flogg's Secret Accessory in one tone Silver for Adam or He-Man
-Galactic Protector He-Man weapons in Vintage He-Man Colors (grey and silver)
-True Vintage Styled He-Weapons (One tone gray on ax and Sword and the shield with orange inserts)
-He-Man colors Vykron Barbarian Harness (One could use it to make a kitbashed Ice Armor He-Man)
-Glittery Blue Filmation Sword... for He-Ro.

That's just the tip of the Iceberg. I'm keeping it on the repainted stuff.
-Silver Bubble sword of protection
-200X Colors Havoc staff
-Magenta Skeletor Armor for Faker
-Vikor Sword and Ax in Palace Guard colors (Gray and gold accents)
-Extendar Lance in Clear Red for SLL
-Castle GrayskullMan Sword in He-Man and Skeletor Colors for King Grayskull
-Dekker's mace in SMAA Colors
-Golden Guns to enhance the Granamyr display also, Golden guns are cool...
-Castle Grayskullman swords in Standor Colors... The man needs weapons and the swords are awesome
-Snakemen Army weapons repainted for arming the Snakemen
-Castaspella's blast in any other translucent color for Shadow Weaver, Glimmer, or BG Evil Lyn
-Orko's book in other colors for Batros
-Blade's swords in opposite colors. Flat gray for the movie sword, red and blue accents for the toy sword.
-Optikk weapons in Randor Colors. (Gun may look weird, but the shield is PERFECT for Randor)
-Repainted Draego unflamed Sword... could work for Nepthu...
The possibilities with the repaints are a lot if they choose sensible colors and not EVERYTHING IN NEON GREEN!! Weapon packs help you enhance displays of battlefields and give you items for the characters and or you can have stuff for custom figures

If I went with new Items I'd choose the stuff from the Eternia Playset, Spector's whip, Adam's 200X Accessories, Zodak's 200X gun, the fully opened Techno sword from snake armor he-man toy (without the ridiculous gigantic size from the 200X toy), a fishing rod for Ram Man, Diamond Ray of Disappearance... Here the possibilities are almost endless.

Escape from Hell is not Man vs Wild

I expected a rebranded Man vs Wild since it was Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. Then again my expectations of a New Bear Grylls show were shot down with that "game" show.
My expectations were filled with the infamous Pee jokes.

Reality, well, while it had ONE Pee reference, it was NOT Man vs. Wild... It was closer to I shouldn't be alive, but with Bear Grylls doing reenactments and show you what to do to survive. the first episode had 3 stories that were told at the same time while Bear showed stuff they did right and wrong while showing you the correct way to do things. Whether you want to believe Mr. Let's Parkour on the desert

pole vaulting down a mountain

or not cause some of his advice has been called questionable is not the case.
I don't know... I am not that fond of I shouldn't be Alive in the first place. Since Bear is forced to stick to what the people telling the stories did, there are less "Bear-isms" like drinking his own pee, drinking Elephant Poop Juice or Pole vaulting down a mountain.

OK, don't get me wrong, I love Survivorman, which can be boring as hell compared to Man vs Wild.
I can watch Dual Survival, because of Hippie Cody and his non-hippy partner... (they switched the non-Hippie one...) I could watch Man, Woman, Wild because of her "Fish out of Water" status as a survival-amateur in a survival situation. But this? I probably will, but if I happen to miss out an episode, I'm not freaking out. BTW there is a new one in a little while.

Come with me if you want a soft-Reboot/Sequel!!

So, tuhminator something is likely to happen. Apparently it's kinda like Sarah Connor Chronicles but with no Summer Glau or Lena Headey... Game of Thrones References are coming. Well, Apparently casting for Sarah Connor was made in Westeros... They are considering The Mother of Dragons as Sarah Connor... On the other hand, John Connor likes to sniff Facehugger shaped Jockstraps...


I don't know... Do we NEED a new Tuhminator movie?
-Ahnuld is not getting any younger. The Last Terminator movie had to CGI an Arnold for the cameo...
-The movie is meant to have Ahnuld protecting a young Sarah Connor. Now think about that. It contradicts the first movie. If she has met with Ahnuld before, wouldn't this scene be different?

-It simply doesn't make sense to send the same model Over and Over again. As much as I dislike John Cena, he could work as a Terminator... Do we need a 67 Ahnuld saying "I'll be back" or "Come with me if you want to live?"

Hell, I'd say no, we did not need a new Terminator movie after T2: Judgment Day. No T3, no Sarah Connor Chronicles, no T4...

What's next: Commando II: Revenge of John Matrix? OK, jokes aside, Arnold can still do other action movies. I recently saw The Last Stand (forgot I had it) and I have to say that it still works as an action movie with Arnold in a

kind of way. But he should step back from the Terminator movies.

The He-Man Movie seems to be getting better and better... (Being sarcastic BTW)

Before I start this rant, let's make clear one thing: While the NU52 MOTU HAS Gotten better, it's far too removed from what Normal MOTU is. I mean earlier issues were atrocious, now they're OK-ish and what does this have to do with the movie?

PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING!

I have ranted on multiple times about the NU52 MOTU
Here, here, here, here and here. Well, My worst fears have been officially made true.
You can read the whole thing here. Meanwhile, I'll point out the scary part and link the Worst Possible Thing MLP video...

Under Voss’ leadership, Playground is coming up with three-year storytelling plans for Mattel’s brands that involve every division of the company, from toy designers to consumer products, marketing and social-media teams in order to launch what Mattel calls tentpole events — another sign that the toymaker is borrowing heavily from Hollywood. For an eventual live-action feature film tied to He-Man, for instance, a team is working with DC Comics on a line of books whose stories will weave their way into the movie.

So, let's see what we can Expect on a MOTU Movie...
-Kill Frenzy Teela
-the I AM THE POWER thing...
-Evil Orko
-The not so great NU52Designs like Extremis Armor He-Man... That seem to have originated from MATTEL...

I was going to make a Ben10 Reference, but I chose He-Man
keep it within Mattel

This is what worries me. While the writing for the movie COULD be Theoretically better than the NU52, we will get a combo of the Neitlichverse and NU52... This is why many people (including myself) have COMPLAINED about the MOTUC Canon and how it would influence future media. In the Sir-Laser-Lot issue we saw the whole "Fear of Spector" that Skeletor had. I've already ranted on how I fear Mattel's "creative input" will meddle and interfere more than help get the movie out... Then again, Mattel themselves have no idea on how to work this brand.

You know that I've talked about the horrendous DC designs originating from Mattel, right? Well, that is proof that Mattel has no real idea how to deal with MOTU.  The only exception is Despara, but that's a rant for another time. While He-Man's design stems from Barbarian Origins, the Characters surrounding him are the ones that give off the Fantastic and Alien looks that suit the world of Eternia.

Then again, Mattel tweaked Max Steel from something original, albeit slightly dated now(Secret Agent/Extreme Sportsman) to a generic Superhero show. I mean if you look at NU-Max fully armored he looks like a certain Female Bounty Hunter...



and yes, I'm talking about Samus Aran from Nintendo's Metroid. The Fully armored bodysuit makes sense for Max (Hell, it could have worked as well on the old Max as an N-Tek high tech sneaking suit.)  On the Other hand it makes no sense to have He-Man: the Most Powerful Man in the Universe armored up from head to toe... The Semi-Nude figure of He-Man running around in a Loincloth and a chest harness (to hold his sword) Oozes POWER having him standing next to the armored forms of Man-at-Arms, Mekaneck, and King Randor. Take the NU52 He-Man, remove the fur on his shoulders and the H... Not very He-Man-esque, right? Could work on Max Steel, right? THAT is where I wanted to arrive.

Combine that with a storyline that seems to MOCK the property... and the Worst Character of them all NU52 Teela. Which means: This could end up in a Baysaster... Making money while being absolutely crappy. It's a shame that my favorite Childhood property...  Toy Property cannot get the decent treatment it deserves in alternate media. With each bit of news I read, I lose faith on this project... It's still better than when the hack known as Justin Marks was the writer.

I understand that Fantasy Movies are hard to write and Direct in this day and Age. Things like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Game of Thrones are a Rarity. The direction that Mattel and DC seem to be taking is streamlining everything a bit too much. They ditched The Secret... the biggest no-no for a comic book series. Seriously, if a comic company cannot handle the whole Secret Identity thing with He-Man, then something's wrong!

Since Mattel seems to be distancing from Traditional MOTU (as seen with the new designs and the mandates imposed on DC) not to mention that the MAX STEEL Reboot shows that they are willing to CHANGE the property completely for the sake of money...  Generic Superheroes are a dime a dozen... A Barbarian-Superhero, now that's not something that happens every day. Hopefully this whole DC influence is the Mattel person talking out of his ass and they stick to a more Traditional MOTU.

Mandatory Google+ for youtube is annoying

A few days ago, many Youtubers woke up to find a terrible surprise.
Mandatory Google+ Usage if they wanted to comment on videos.
I'll be honest: If google Plus was a person I'd say:


It feels like the bastard child of Facebook and Tumblr... I don't mind much the FB interface, but I
DETEST the one from Tumblr... Guess which one is closer to Google+'s look? It feels more like Tumblr.

It's not that I hate G+ (which I do) but the way that they SHOVED IT DOWN MY THROAT the past few months. I tried it the first time and did not like it, so I returned my Youtube account the way it was. The next day it changed it back to G+ and I changed it back to normal Youtube. A week later It "asks" me to change it by forcing me to choose yes and then having to undo the change manually. I think I have like 5 or 7 G+ Accounts due to Google's forcing this crap down our throats... Which brings a lot of resistance. Then came the mandatory change where we're forced to use this abortion to comment on Youtube. It wanted to link my full name on it for me to comment...

NEWSFLASH!! Not everyone wants their entire life linked on one thing... Hence the separate Usernames to post as on different areas. My YT Username is not the same one as my Blogger account, etc.  While this blog is mostly for fun or for me to vent, I do not want my rants from here associated with my rants on Youtube comments. Much less popping up on other people's newsfeed or Circles.

It's trying to be Facebook, but it's NOT Facebook... and "it doesn't want to be Facebook". (except when it does) At least Facebook has the time-wasters... (The Games) which make Facebook more fun than Google+... Then again, most of the people I've heard praise Google+ are Google fanboys.

Now if there is ONE GOOD thing about the mandatory Google+ BS is that the 500 character limit for youtube comments is now gone!! (In some rants I've needed like 3-5 comments in a row) I'm stuck with it due to it being shoved down our throats. I do NOT like it and I think it sucks... It's functional, but it reminds me of that socially awkward Teacher's Pet that thinks he's awesome because he's hall monitor. (but in reality is a huge dweeb that no one really likes since he's always in your business.)

Some people may like it, but it's mostly not for me... Also the idea that 2 or 3 of my older relatives (my mom among them) use G+ and if I add her to my circles they could read my Youtube tirades doesn't make me feel comfortable. I blame the phones being with it pre-installed and the whole forcing it on everyone for everything. Not everyone likes bundles, you know!

Beetlejuice2. Beetlejuice2? BEETLEJUICE2!!

Apparently, Michael Keaton is coming back!! Good, cause Robin Thicke is a very crappy Substitute...

 And yes, in a more bizarre note, a Beetlejuice Sequel is happening. 25-26 years later... Um, do we NEED a Beetlejuice sequel after 25 years?


Speaking of Past things making a comeback, here's a nice interview with Ben Savage... But here's a better interview where he claims he's a lot like Cory... Hey! I need to get excited about non-MOTU stuff every now and then.

It's Official: Blockbuster is DEAAAAAAAAAD!!! (Like Batman's parents) It kinda sucks... Then again, the expensive rentals was what killed them. Not to mention the online competitors.

The History Channel is remaking Roots... I have to agree with Kunta Kinte (or Geordi, or Kwame if that's your thing) WHY!?
Obvious answer is MONEY, but still, WHY!?



Seriously, TV Studios, STOP it with the remakes... but that Remington Steele Sequel seems interesting.

It Came from the Toy Chest: She should have been on Equestria Girls...

But she was not...

Here's my Zecora Review.

Patrice Wilson has taken Creepy to a new Level

With his new video ABCDEFG... Yeah, that's the name of the song... Hey! It's the same guy that gave us Friday, Thanksgiving and Chinese Food... Speaking of Chinese Food, the video stars the Chinese Food Girl. (Alison Gold) and just watch it...


Creepy Patrice starts the video as a disturbing Twisted version of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood... With Creepy Patrice as a creepier "Mister Rogers" type of character that loves spying through windows of 12 year old girls (or in this case Alison) Wait... His house is familiar... Holy ****! That's where Panda Patrice and Alison were in Chinese Food after the "implied one night stand"... So, Pedogod Patrice is looking at Alison being Rejected by this boy and decides to intervene... By "commanding her" to get into a mysterious VW Van, using an Asian Cupid to bring the boy in and taking her to a shady bar... (almost looks like a Red Light District joint)
It's a Bar full of kids!! WHAT IN THE HELL!?  The kids are acting like zombies there... Pedogod Spikes her punch and Everything turns into puppets (Hallucinations from a date-rape drug?) Then he enters the mini world. Due to the Drug, he ends up looking like a Phallic Puppet. Asian Cupid hits the boy with his arrow and Puppetpatrice spikes the punch once more.  the boy is now Chinese food... Since we know how much Alison loves Chinese food, she devours the boy's Spring Roll... The End

Tell me how that is not messed up! I'm starting to think that he does it on purpose... I bet he picks the creepiest things he can get away with in order to troll for views... All we need is Chris Hansen showing up on the next video...

2014 MOTUC sub thoughts and speculation.

Well, last week's Comikaze reveals were something. Of course we got the Vintage Purists attacking the reveals. Feels like I'm repeating myself, but I guess it's important to repeat it:

The "All-Star" denomination for the next 2 yearS (2014 and 2015) is just a "Catchy Marketing Codename" for: We're filling in as many rosters as possible in case the line ends, you can have a reasonable line-up on each faction. It's Not Trully ALL STAR for the vintage purists since Mattel blew their A-Lister vintage in the first two years. Mattel's own Scott Neitlich said that we would see more POP on 2014 AND 2015 in order to have BOTH Vintage MOTU and POP Complete by the end of 2015, of course we would have a sprinkling of Filmation, NA, and 200X... SIX YEARS INTO THE LINE and we still get people bitching and moaning about POP and NA!?


With that said, let's look at 2014:

Jan: Two-Bad
He completes the Core Evil Warriors that had appearances in cartoons. He will NOT have any Day of Sale stock.

February: Glimmer
My Most wanted PoP Character. The TRUE Leader of the Great Rebellion... She's a core Member of Princess of Power... the whole TRUE LEADER of the Great Rebellion and all that.

Q1: Extra Item: Modulok
He completes MOTUV Wave 4 and the CORE CORE CORE Boys Evil Horde. His Horde Status makes him desirable for both MOTUV and POP fans. Surprisingly, his vintage action feature was made possible in Classics.

March: Hydron
He's THE SCUBA GUY from New Adventures, but he is a core character of this era and the Galactic Protectors. It's great that we're getting him.

Subscription Exclusive: The Un-Named One
I cannot say much about this character due to Mattel's Secrecy regarding him. In my not so humble opinion, This COULD be the only dud in the year.

April: Blade
Another Vintage Figure, the first of the "Motion Picture 3". He looks pretty cool now that he looks more like the Movie Version instead of the weird 80s toy... (There is hope for Gwildor)

May: Scorpia
Another Addition to the Filmation PoP Ranks and the Evil Horde. She completes the CORE Evil Horde for PoP fans. (I know Entrapta is MIA, but Scorpia had more appearances in the toon)

Q2 Extra Item: Battle Lion
She-Ra has a Steed, so does He-Man. Skeletor has a steed, so does Beastman. Is it wrong that King Grayskull gets his own steed, whose armor can be worn by Battle Cat to make the 200X Version?
Some people consider this beast to be the dud... but then again, they call Hydron, Glimmer and Scorpia duds too! Would I have chosen another beast? Sure! but more people would have complained about my choice... I'll give you a hint: It starts with Claw and ends with Deen...
BL seems to be the Low new piece character. He's just a  new head and new Saddle. With all those figures that have tons of new tooling, it was about time that an easy kitbash would show up.

June: Extendar
Tons of new tooling on this Knight. He's another vintage character so the VPs should shut it for a while... First 6 Months and they have 4 out of 8 items without counting the Unnamed One...

July: Flogg (w/Filmation Power Sword)
Ah, Floggy... The last remaining Leader. He's mostly kitbashed, so he's a surprisingly low new tool figure... yet he looks mostly new. The Horde Trooper Reuse was Genius!!

August: Flutterina
Not who I expected, but she LOOKS like a Fairy, so she has the Fantasy elements to fit in the line's Medieval and barbaric roots. But she's a Princess of Power Character and liking those is bad or something according to the VPs...

Q3: Intergalactic Skeletor (w/Battle Damaged Faker head)
This completes the CORE CORE CORE Mutants of New Adventures. The Faker head is gravy!

So basically we have:
4 Vintage
3 New Adventures
2 POP
1 Filmation
1 200X

It still is leaning more towards Vintage and we still hear Whining... They seem to ignore the often Mentioned Snakeman that will come this year and the second Movie Figure...

While Madame Razz was hinted with Broom, we still do not know when or how is she coming as:
She could be a Monthly Figure, a San Diego Comic Con Exclusive, the Q4 Item, the Holiday Item, an extra Spirit of Hordak type of character, or the headliner for an additional Mini sub...
Personally, I hope she's part of Club Eternia... I don't want to fight the WSOD for her and I don't know if I'll be able to get in with a mini-sub.

So, OK, let's see what we have left:

Sept-Dec + Q4 + Holiday Item + SDCC Exclusive(s)+ any other Surprises they might throw at us.

We know that 1 Movie Figure is coming. I wish it was Gwildor, but my gut tells me it's Saurod.
The Snakeman: Hoping for Tung Lashor (then again, the little new tooling that Tungy needs can make him more likely to happen.)
Q4 Item is a $38 item like Battle Lion. I know people would love to see a Stridor or an Night Stalker, but with all the heavy tooling on many items this year, I wouldn't be surprised if they throw us a curve ball with Clawdeen... Since we have the BL mold, All she'd need is a new saddle. Logistics, tiny tiny tiny line and all that.

Huntara is rumored to come in 2014 or 2015...
As a bonus here's a Checklist of the 3 main branches with normal figures. (Vehicles, Steeds, Giants and playsets are not on the list)
MOTU Wave 1:
-He-Man Classicized in 2008
-Skeletor Classicized in 2009
-Beastman Classicized in 2008
-Man-at-Arms Classicized in 2009
-Zodac Classicized in 2009
-Stratos Classicized in 2009
-Merman Classicized in 2009
-Teela Classicized in 2009

MOTU Wave 2:
-Evil Lyn Classicized in 2010
-Faker Classicized in 2009
-Man-e-Faces Classicized in 2011
-Trap Jaw Classicized in 2010
-Ram Man Classicized in 2013
-Tri-Klops Classicized in 2009

MOTU Wave 3:

-Battle Armor He-Man Classicized in 2010

-Battle Armor Skeletor Classicized in 2011

-Buzz-Off Classicized in 2010

-Clawful Classicized in 2011

-Fisto Classicized in 2012

-Jitsu Classicized in 2013

-Kobra Khan Classicized in 2012

-Mekaneck Classicized in 2012

-Orko Classicized in 2010

-Prince Adam Classicized in 2010

-Webstor classicized in 2009

-Whiplash Classicized in 2010

MOTU Wave 4:

-Dragon Blaster Skeletor Classicized in 2012

-Grizzlor Classicized in 2010

-Hordak Classicized in 2009

-Leech Classicized in 2011

-Mantenna Classicized in 2013

-Modulok Coming in 2014

-Mossman classicized in 2010

-Roboto Classicized in 2010

-Spikor Classicized in 2012

-Stinkor Classicized in 2012

-Sy-Klone Classicized in 2011

-Thunderpunch He-Man Classicized in 2012

-Two Bad Coming in 2014

MOTU Wave 5:

-Dragstor

-Extendar Coming in 2014

-Flying Fists He-Man

-Horde Trooper Classicized in 2013

-Hurricane Hordak Classicized in 2011

-King Hssss Classicized in 2011

-Multibot

-Rattlor Classicized in 2012

-Rio Blast

-Rokkon classicized in 2013

-Snout Spout Classicized in 2011

-Stonedar Classicized in 2013

-Terror Claws Skeletor

-TungLashor

MOTU Wave 6:

-Blade Coming in 2014

-Blast Attack

-Buzz Saw Hordak

-Clamp Champ Classicized in 2013

-Gwildor

-Mosquitor Classicized in 2012

-Rotar

-Saurod

-Scareglow Classicized in 2009

-Snakeface Classicized in 2013

-Sorceress Classicized in 2012

-Sssqueeezeee

-Twistoid

MOTU wave 7:

-Laser Power He-Man

-Laser Light Skeletor

OK so we have 15 Vintage figures remaining and 5 are variants. We know that we have at least 2 more vintage slots on 2014 so that's 13 counting the variants and 8 without any variants. Out of 68 figures We are missing 15 counting variants... Or 13 by the end of 2014 if we go by the hints dropped by Neitlich. 13 out of 68... (not counting beasts, Meteorbs or giants)

POP Wave 1:
-She-Ra Classicized in 2010
-Catra Classicized in 2011
-Angella
-Bow Classicized in 2010
-Castaspella Classicized in 2013
-Glimmer Coming in 2014
-Double Trouble
-Frosta Classicized in 2012
-Kowl Classicized in 2013

POP Wave 2:
-Entrapta
-Flutterina Coming in 2014
-Mermista
-Peekablue
-Perfuma
-Scratching Sound Catra
-Starburst She-Ra
-Sweet Bee

POP Wave 3:

-Bubble Power She-Ra Classicized in 2011

-Loo-Kee Coming in 2014

-Nettossa Classicized in 2013

-Shower Power Catra

-Spinnerella

So let's see:

22 Figures in total. 18 without variants and we are missing 11 WITH Variants and 8 without variants. We'll have about 11 PoP Figures that had toys in the 80s by August 2014. Compare that to the 53 Vintage MOTU Figures we'll have by July 2014.

New Adventures has it worse... I'm excluding Sagitar (who we need) from the list due to his Beast Status in the vintage (NA) line.

New Adventures of He-Man Wave 1:
-He-Man Classicized in 2013
-Skeletor Coming in 2014
-Flogg Coming in 2014
-Slushhead Classicized in 2012
-Hydron coming in 2014
-Flipshot Classicized in 2011

New Adventures of He-Man Wave 2:
-Battle Punch He-Man
-Discs of Doom Skeletor
-Hoove
-Karatti Classicized in 2013
-Kayo
-Lizzorr
-Nocturna
-Optikk Classicized in 2010
-Vizar

New Adventures of He-Man Wave 3:

-Artilla

-Butthead

-Quakke

-Spinwit

-Staghorn

-Tuskador

New Adventures of He-Man Wave 4: (Variant Wave)

-Battle Blade Skeletor

-Hook 'em Flogg

-Missile Armor Flipshot
-Spin Fist Hydron

-Thunderpunch He-Man

-Too Tall Hoove

Wave 4 will never happen. Just mentioning it because it existed. Mattel mentioned something about not doing NA Variants aside basic NA He-Man and NA Skeletor. We'll have 8 New Adventures figures out of 19 in August 2014... Remind me again how 8 or 11 Figures compared to 53 is too much.

OK so taking out the variants from POP and New Adventures, the combined pool of Missing figures in MOTUC is: 34. Which brings us to 17 Figures per year...Add the fact that NOT ALL New Adventures characters will be made by the end of 2015, which frees up some slots.

So let's see:
2014
4 Monthly figures left
$38 Q4 Item
$35 Holiday Item
SDCC Exclusive

2015
12 Monthly figures
4 Extra Slots (variants, beasts, Multi packs)
1Sub Exclusive
1 SDCC Item (1 Figure or a Multi-Pack)
1 Holiday Item (1 figure or a Large Scale Item)

How can we fit those "Missing 34" there? Well, Reality is that it's less than 34. I'd say that We're one Sagitar from completing What Mattel could call Core NA from the toys (The other core characters are Mara and Crita from the toon... I'd add Sebrian, but he's not as toyetic as the others.) So, Mara may be the only NA character for 2015. The Energy Zoids, If I was a gambling Man, I'd say they're a Two-Pack... Perhaps the $35 item is them, seeing as they are basically half-a-buck and their one use bodies and armor would bump up the price, like we saw with the comet warriors. That eliminates 2 characters. Who knows if by 2015 the "Variant slot" is a 2 pack of a He-Man vs Skeletor variant. which kills two characters with the same slot.

I hope we can reach the goal WITHOUT relying on mini-subs...

No Matter how many times Scott "Toyguru" Neitlich says that 2014 and 2015 was to complete MOUT, POP and Key NA Characters, some people still insist that he said only Vintage MOTU...

Nothing against preferring the original MOTU over the other branches, but dammit! Since 2008 we've been told that ALL BRANCHES OF MOTU would be in MOTUC... Your vintage characters ARE COMING in 14 and 15... You already got a buttload of characters.
Let the POP and NA Fans get at least their MAIN Characters!
This "surge of NA and POP" would not have happened if you had not whined about POP and NA getting 1 additional slot per year.