Nov 29, 2019

Commercial made the E.T. sequel we didn't know we needed.

Remember Spielberg's classic E.T. the extraterrestrial?

This commercial is pretty much the sequel we needed.
ET returns and discovers a grown-up Elliott and hos family.

I didn't cry... it was the damned onion chopping ninjas and their allergy inducing  kunoichi...
YOU'RE CRYIN' TOO!!

I'm pleasantly surprised by the LOVE AND RESPECT SHOWN towards the original movie. I've seen it twice, and I have no idea what the ad is for, but screw that, it's E.T.2!

Nov 25, 2019

Laughable controversies surrounding The MANdalorian...

Guess who are the dumbasses complaining about a Star WARS series called The MANdalorian.
I'll give you a hint: They are dumbasses.
 No, really, they are complaining about a lack of women and that the show is "too violent"...

Can they be any stupider?


Not helping, Goldblum...

Yes, people are complaining about the lack of women in the Mandalorian.
 I find the complaints stupid. We know a female Bounty hunter is coming. Not revealing everything in the first 2-3 episodes is a sensible move. These dumbasses expect everything should cater for their tastes. Where were these dumbasses when Dark Fate, or Charlie's Angels bombed?

Female characters in Star Wars tend to be fewer than male characters... true, but most of the female characters become Memorable:
Leia Organa, Mara Jade, Padme Amidala,Ackmena, Ahsoka Tano, Hera, Sabine, Jyn Erso, Rose Tico, Rey, Jaina Solo, just to name a few. They stand out when they appear, because they are "rare".

 Also, with the kind of people that a Bounty hunter would run into, are y'all sure about wanting more women? Bounty hunters ride the ugly, festering underbelly of each place they go to. The places where a dishonest man can go to spend his ill gotten gains... do you catch my drift or do I have to mention prostitutes, strippers, drug mules, etc.? Think about it: would you rather have stand out females, or would you rather have background characters that may seem "unfavorable" examples to women?
Quit it, because y'all are making feminists look bad...

Also, the ones complaining about violence in a Star WARS series are even bigger dumbasses. Especially a series following a Bounty hunter of a race of RITUALISTIC WARRIORS... but dumbasses gotta dumbass...

REEEEEEEE! Larson can't pay for Disney +...

After making a buttload of money with Cap'n Meh Vel and Infinity war, the artist known as Cheese Theft, Thank you VEEEERY MUCH! Whined on Ellen about not getting FREE Disney +...

Bitch please, it's $7 a month or 70 for a whole year... I'd understand if you were making $7.25 an hour, but you make thousands of dollars per movie... Sure, you'll try to pass this as a "joke", but you sound like a mega-entitled brat demanding a service that you can EASILY AFFORD for free.

And no, just because you "worked for them" doesn't mean that you have to get this for free. They ALREADY PAID YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. Now it's your turn to pay for theirs.

Nov 24, 2019

On Shenmue's defense...

There has been a campaign to attack Shenmue 3, from trolls giving ridiculously low scores and certain websites making ridiculous assumptions. Not going to mention any names, but one of those sites is an integral part of the word IGNorant...

People were expecting a Triple A game from a mostly crowdfunded game with an Indie game budget. While, yes, 20 years ago Shenmue was a cutting edge game, it was a Triple A game developed by SEGA. Now that is NOT the case. Nowadays, Shenmue is barely a Double A game, MAINLY due to budget restrictions... other issues are based on DELIBERATE choices to keep the game feeling like a part of the series.

Which brings my next point: SHENMUE has always been an acquired taste and not for everyone. Some of these reviews complain about Shenmue 3 being too Shenmue-like...

Exactly... A sequel trying to keep the familiar feeling of its predecessors is a bad thing now?
The "bad voice dub" IS INTENTIONAL, YOU FRIGGING MORONS!
The stiff animatioms are partially due to budget AND KEEPING IT SIMILAR TO THE ORIGINALS...


So, what I'm trying to say is:
The game is not perfect. It's flawed, but a game of this caliber CANNOT BE fairly compared with games that have 50 times the budget of this game, or even its AAA predecessors. Also, this game was practically made BY the fans, FOR the fans, and not necessarily anyone else.
Shenmue is Shenmue... it's not trying to be RDR,COD, GTA, or Fork Knife.

On the other side of the coin, fans giving the game EXTREMELY HIGH ratings, y'all are making us look bad. Just BE TRUTHFUL in your reviews. I know you love Shenmue as much as I do, perhaps even more but; a white lie is still a lie. 

Streaming services: the rant

As you may have noticed by my Mandalorian rant, I have Disney +. And based on the Noelle Stevenson's pop cultural appropriations of She-Ra rants, I also have Netflix. But then there's Hulu, Amazon Prime (which I had and cancelled), The DC universe one that I forgot the name of, HBOnow, and a couple more are coming... it's like these streaming services haven't figured out WHY THEY EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE...



They were meant to free us from the ludicrous prices of cable... now THEY HAVE BECOME CABLE!!

Disney +: $7
Hulu: $6 ($12 without ads)
Amazon prime: $9
CBS Access: $6
Netflix $13 (2 devices)
HBO Max $15 (supposedly it'll combine Crunchyroll, Cartoon network, and DC apps)
That's  $62 dollars right there.
That's reaching cable prices AND they require internet data... which is an additional cost, especiallif your ISP has DATA CAPS.

Then we add the weird hiccups that happen with updates... like Disney + having choppy video and audio problems in certain devices, ISPs, and browsers.

 Don't get me wrong I lost my Netflix and Disney + services, but it feels like we're stepping back but worse! I used to pay $80-ish monthly for cable... the idea for streaming services was for me to save money! But at least I can pick and choose...

Nov 22, 2019

The Mandalorian: the rant

A Star Wars something that is ACTUALLY GOOD and without controversy *from fans* unlike the last 2 movies.  (Or 3 if we count SOLO)

I've only seen 3 episodes and I'm pleasantly surprised by the show. I'm getting a Space Western vibe to the series with a hint of Lone Wolf and cub. I'm loving it! The show feels VERY STAR WARS-Y and there is lots of love and reverence shown to the source material.

It makes me sad, that Disney didn't go to Favreau in the first place.
Also, I want a stuffed toy of The Child!!

Is it hard to make a Decent Star Wars movie?

Reccently, Kathleen Kennedy mention that it was really hard to make a Star Wars movie because they didn't have any Comics books or anything to use as Source material... Of course the memes mentioning all of the works in the expanded universe covering comic books novels and video games come to mind. Incredibly enough in her stupid statement there is some truth about it. It is hard to make decent Star Wars movie; just ask George Lucas. Even he, has failed Star Wars.

But why have Episodes VII and VIII failed?
The answer is actually quite simple: Rey and everything she stands for  (behind the scenes).
Rey was meant to be a push for empowering female characters... and there's nothing wrong with that *IN PAPER* Now the problem lies in HOW she was "made empowered". (Insert the whole Rey is a Mary Sue speech here.) Unlike say, Jyn Erso, Rey's flawlessness made her an unappealing character.
While both Anakin and Luke had godly force powers, they both struggled and failed. From those failures they rose stronger and grew as characters. Rey doesn't. She virtually succees at EVERYRHING with little effort. The closest thing to "a loss" was not magically turning Kylo Ren to the Light side and that's because we have Episode IX left.

So, by having a badly written unappealing protagonist, you can't bring forth a good story.

We also have the issue that they didn't have a concrete plan. By that I mean that JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson basically made it up as they went along. When Johnson did TLJ, he oretty much discarded Abrams' work. Now Abrams will discard what Johnson did to do his ROSW. So there's a clash of visions among the trilogy. I'm aware that Lucas didn't have a fully set plan, but he KINDA HAD A PLAN, which is something that the new Disney team has lacked.

Then we have the disrespect towards the Classic characters. Han, Luke, Chewbacca, and Leia were all downplayed in order to make Rey shine.
I understand that the original actors are much older now and that Carrie Fisher passed away, but they didn't have to be nerfed to make Rey look good.

Now to touch the story part: Kathleen Kennedy claimed that there was no source material, yet this trilogy seems to have some similarities to the Expanded Universe.

Making a good Star Wars trilogy is not impossible, you just need to have some respect and reverence to what came before and have a passion for it. Perhaps once the saga of the Skywalkers is over, they could pull it off.

Nov 20, 2019

Is the impossible whopper any good

Without going into the whole best fast food burger issue, because I'm well aware that the Whopper is not the winner here. For the sake of fairness, I will compare it to the thing it wants to be.

I ordered a real whopper as a control vs the impossible.
No, I did not eat both. I shared them with my assistant, codenamed Spike to have a second opinion.

We ate half and half. So here's the veredict:

"Spike":
Hmm, it's  good. Better than other vegetarian burgers. It doesn't taste 100% like a whopper, but it's pretty close. At least it looks the part.

Personally,  it felt a little bit sandier texture than a normal Burger. The taste it was kind of close. But it's a whopper, so it's not the best sample of a burger. But compared with other vegetarian options, it is in the uncanny valley for a BK burger.

Personally,  I'm not going to be buying this burger too much.
A normal whopper is $3.99 in my neck of the woods. The impossible whopper is $5.49 so, I save money by eating meat!

From a taste point of view, the impossible burger does an acceptable whopper imitation, but I'll stick to the real deal for economic reasons. IF the impossible whopper was cheaper than the normal whopper; I'd be all up for it.

Action figure worthy 1:12 vehicles: the rant

I suppose everyone has noticed the lack of normal vehicles for action figures in this scale. Advanced why we usually get is like saying a Batmobile or a Turtles Party Wagon, but we never get normal vehicles.



Mattel made this curious thing that COULD BECOME  an Advent Calendar item, if I find one...

That car got me thinking:
What if, Mattel made a toyline based around the concept of 1:12 vehicles that could be used with action figures.

For example a wreckable Police car that came with a Pair of generic policemen. And some sticker sheets so you can decorate your police car based on your favorite city... (NY, LA, Gotham, Metropolis)

Another vehicle could be an armored truck from a bank.

Maybe a Limousine for a rich playboy, or a Jeep-like vehicle for those who prefer more rugged terrains.

Before anyone can twist this into the line is glorifying accidents, stop. It's not about accidents,  but cross pollinating lines.

Picture an ad with a boy and a girl playing with the cars.
The boy is using the armored Truck.
Boy: "I'm  a security guard transporting money to the bank. Hopefully nothing bad will happen to me today."
Girl takes out the JW T-Rex!
Girl: "RAWR! I'M A T-REX!  GIMME YOUR MONEY!"
Boy: "Oh no! It's a T-Rex!" Help!"
Boy takes a Barbie Princess Power doll and attacks the T-Rex. The T-rex hits the cop car flipping it over Barbie.
The girl pulls out a MOTU ORIGINS SKELETOR!
Boy: "Stacy! You know daddy hates it when we play with his He-Man's!"
Dad: "Did someone say He-Man? By the Power of Grayskull! I have the Power!! NOT SO FAST SKELETOR!!"
Girl: "He-Man! Oh no! My plans are ruined!"
Dad lifts the car out of Barbie.
Dad: "What do you say, Barbie, shall we team up to stop Skeletor?"
Girl: "Not so fast, He-Man! My T-rex is going to eat that limo with John Cena in it!"
John Cena pops out of nowhere
Cena: "He-Man, Barbie, Heeeeellllllllllppppp!"

Something something legalese:
MOTU, WWE, Barbie, Jurassic world figures sold separately, copyright info, blah blah blah, FROM MATTEL!!

While the toys themselves, figures sporting basic articulation  (similar to the basic WWE toys) and vehicles would be aimed mainly for kids, they should be good enough to also pass off as background pieces for adult collectors. (After maybe a bit of paintwork done on the vehicles to make details pop.)

Nov 19, 2019

Shenmue 3 first thoughts:

Finally, Ryo stepped out of the cave... it feels odd yet, familiar. Corey Marshall still has it as Ryo-san.
The game starts where the last one left off and 18 years in the cave have depowered Ryo.
While it's obvious that it is not a Triple A game, it does capture like 87% of the Shenmue charm.

Sadly, some of the charm is lost due to aesthetic changes:
Now a circle icon appears over things you can interact with. And the level of interaction is look at it/take it. You no longer can hold the item in your hand and spin it around to look at it. There is an eating mechanic that I find extremely annoying. Your HP decrease naturally as time passes on and in order to refill it you have to eat. Problem is that getting from point A to point B decreases your HP.
Of course later on we'll find a way that the food system becomes less annoying by probably raising the endurance stat.

I did manage to get into a couple of fights endgame so I got to try the fighting system... it feels a bit more Tekken-ish than Shenmue-ish. It'll take some more time to get used to this.

 The differences between this game and previous Shenmue games is more noticeable than save the difference between the original Shenmue and Shenmue 2.  despite the differences the hour and couple of odd minutes that I have played feel very Shenmue. So far it has met all my expectations. Sure there are a couple of things that I'm not exactly fun. But they are the minority.

 Since this is a Shenmue game; it's not a game for everyone. It's very likely that players who play board games like Call of Duty, fork knife and those type of high-octane action games will not like the slow pace of Shenmue 3.

Once I beat the game I will be able to do a full Shenmue review and that includes ratings. I'm going to be honest and unbiased as I could possibly be.  This is very important since I am a bit biased in favor of this game series. Also I was one of the backers in order to get this game made... I donated enough to get my name in the end credits.  so I point this out in order to avoid any criticisms of possible biases that I may have.

Elizabeth Banks blames comic book movies for the Soulless Charlie's Angels reboot.

Elizabeth Banks who became a Household name thanks to Spider-Man movies, blames Spider-Man movies for the failure of her Charlie's Angels reboot.
My reaction to this was bad... Not her whining, but the reboot. I saw the trailer and was completely uninterested by it.
I'm not exactly a fan of K-Stew... So having her in a leading role does nothing for me. Naomi Scott, while being the least offensive thing of the soulless Aladdin remake, is not big enough of a draw to make me want to see the movie. And third Angel, What's her name, is an unknown, so, no interest in watching the movie.

Wasting the talents of Djmon Hounsou and Patrick Stewart here...

16 years ago, the last Charlie's Angels reboot sequel was received with mixed results. And this was when:
-Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz where at the peak of their popularity.
-Lucy Liu was rising to the top Super fast...

This reboot has a K-Stew who has been going on the way down for some time and had to hide in indie films to somewhat keep a name. Naomi Scott hasn't fully made a name for herself... Aladdin and the Power Rangers reboot  weren't exactly well received. And an unknown.

I'd place the blame on Banks' inexperience as a director...
Doing a couple of shorts does not count... neither does Pitch Perfect 2. Charlie's Angels is an action packed spy thriller. Instead of focusing on that, she CHOSE to go with the anti-male third wave feminism message.
If you make a movie for women and men are not meant to be the main audience, you can't complain about men NOT WATCHING a movie that wasn't made for them!

Strong Powerful female leads have been around for ages
Ripley, The Bride, Nikita, Lara Croft, Alice from the crappy Resident Evil-in name only, Katniss, Wonder Woman, Cap'n Meh Vel, Alita, Sarah Connor, etc. I'm not going to be a dick and mention the previous Charlie's Angels.

Banks made the movie she wanted to make, it's just that the public didn't want what she was selling.
If a movie is good, people won't mind the agendas... When you try to shame people into watching a movie, chances are the opposite effect will be the end result.

Nov 18, 2019

I am in Shenmue 3!!

I have achieved immortality! I will forever live on as a part of Shenmue 3!

Unfortunately, my mail person showed up as I was taking a shower and dropped the dreaded "no secure location to drop packages" notification. I NORMALLY don't mind when this happens, because I'm usually NOT HOME when it does... but damn it, now I have to wait until Street Date to play the game!!

 But the most important thing is that it's finally happening... Shenmue 3 is real!!! After all these years, it's finally here... Words cannot describe my hype right now!!

I'm a bit afraid of playing the game... it's bringing closure to a saga... not the Shenmue saga, but the saga of getting Shenmue 3.

DC's Harley Quinn animated series trailer reaction.

Tryhard sums it up in one word.

Here's the trailer... enjoy!

As I was saying the show is trying way too hard to be edgy.
Cussing, throwing sexual references, is being super violent...  you name it, they're trying it! Wouldn't be surprised if we get to see some tits in it.

 The premise isn't bad. Harley deciding to Branch off from being Joker's sidekick and becoming her own character is a cool idea. The only issue I have is that they're just going all the other end of the Spectrum by acting all edgy and faux hardcore kinda like a Zack Snyder movie of the DC Universe.

I'm getting some familiar vibes out of this...


Unlike Titans I would probably buy this on DVD if it's released... let me check the voice cast, cause that Batman sounded familiar...
Holy Ass crackers, Batman! It's Diedrich Bader! Batman The Brave and The Bold is back!
Alan Tudyk is Joker? Weaord having an Olvier Queen playing Joker...
Disappointed on Harley's voice... It's Kaley Cuoco from Brandy and Mr. Whiskers!! Don't mention the nerd minstrel show...


Nov 17, 2019

Can other game franchises replicate the Super Mario Maker success?

Or the success of this is only due to Mario?
Now, before I begin this rant, this is only applied to games that WORK IN 2D. So, no Crash Bandicoot, Lara Croft, Sam Fisher, etc.
I'm going to look at old 2D franchises and ponder if the Mario Maker formula can work on them.

I know some classic game franchises have had third party mods for old console ROMs. And there have been some fantastic ROM hacks for some classic games.  Others are the stuff of nightmares.

Sonic the Hedgehog:
Let's start with Mario's classic rival: Sonic the Hedgehog. Platforming 2D game Sonic lends himself pretty well for getting a level creator. Wow some of the more elaborate bosses wouldn't be usable we still can get the classic Robotnik on his personal vehicle type of battles. We could also have Mecha Sonic battles.  The possibilities are nearly endless. The only thing I would dread would be water levels.

Castlevania:
The Pre-Symphony of the Night games can lend themselves  to the Mario Maker treatment.  Since these older Castlevania games provided the castle in smaller stages that you just walked around with monsters killed the boss and grabbed their ball, you CAN recreate that feeling in a level editor.
And it says there's a couple of Belmonts available as playable characters  you can have some variety.
 the Metroid inspired let games cannot be remade in the Mario Maker format.

Contra:
Contrast run-and-gun merciless fun could be exported to Mario Maker type game...  but with some limitations. The overhead levels from Contra 3 might be out. The behind the player stages from the original might be out as well.

Ninja Gaiden:
Classic unforgiving platformer. Based on what I've seen in some Super Mario maker stages; yes Ninja Gaiden could be doable.

Mega Man:
Here is where the difficulty ramps up! Theoretically speaking on Megaman stage Creator is doable.
The power ups and Robot Masters is what complicates things. Some obstacles would require power ups to beat them... unless you've sold your soul to Satan.
So do we recycle old Robot Masters or do we bring forth new ones?

2D beat-em-ups (Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, etc.)
I'm mentioning the entire genre. Just to avoid filling up  the list with  all the games of the genre.
I believe this is doable it might be slightly more complicated than Super Mario Maker but it could be done.
Of course there might be some limitations that would vary between game to game but the basic premise of making a stage where your character walks around beats up enemies grabs power ups that have weapons to defeat tougher bosses is doable.  Holy grammatical mess, Batman!

The Legend of Zelda:
Link's awakening Remake showed us that NINTENDO needs to polish up their ideas for a Zelda Maker. And even if Nintendo were able to pull off a Zelda maker the end results would be closer to the original Legend of Zelda than a Link to the Past.  by that I mean that it would be more gameplay focused than story focused. Then there is a show about power up requirements to beat certain dungeons that could complicate things.
This one would reqjire A LOT OF WORK!

Kirby:
If there's a Nintendo property that truly deserves a maker game it's Kirby! The 2D platforming action from the Greenland games land themselves do the Mario Maker treatment.

I think I covered the most popular games that would come to mind that could benefit from a Mario Maker type game.
I didn't add Metroid since I already mentioned that huge exploring games would have a lot of trouble and getting made in a Mario Maker type game. Zelda is the odd man out and it's because I'm just looking at the game s a dungeon maker and Nintendo giving a basic Overworld for people to use for the downloaded dungeons.

Nov 16, 2019

Thinking on MOTU Revelation...

Kevin Smith already has a voice cast for the series and thinks it's super awesome...
Who have they cast? No idea... I suppose it's probably a combo of Veteran VAs and newcomers.
Now if I were to do this series... This is who would I cast: (as of November 16, 2019)

-He-Man/Prince Adam: Johnny Yong Bosch
Before anyone mentions that JYB played "Adam" in Power Rangers... That has nothing to do with it. Actually it was his work on Eureka Seven what drew me towards him... He can do young boy voices as well as adult voices, which is perfect for Adam.

-Skeletor: Crispin Freeman
This one was the toughest one to choose. Because part of me wanted a Filmation Skeletor impression, which could be obtained via Brian Dobson, or even Neil Ross (His Green Goblin can be tweaked into a nice Skeletor) but another part of me wanted a crap your pants evil voice from Skeletor, which can be obtained from the likes of Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, or Kevin Michael Richardson. Then there's the insane part of me who'd LOVE to get Al Pacino, or Nic Cage to do Skeletor... So, the only choice I had is the man I KNOW that could give me the Insanity of a Pacino or Cage Performance, the creepy Factor of a Curry or Hamill performance, and the Cartoony villain flair from an Oppenheimer impression. That man was Crispin Freeman...

-Man-at-Arms: Jimmy Flinders
This is a nod to Garry Chalk who went from He-Man to Man-at-Arms. Picking Jimmy Flinders, James Flanders, or Cam Clarke to do the voice of MAA seemed appropriate.

-Beastman: Ron Perlman
Everybody wants Ron Perlman to voice beastly characters... Is it because of Vincent (from the Beauty and the Beast series from the 80s with Linda Hamilton), or is it Hellboy? He has the VA chops and back in the day people thought he could play a live action Beastman.

-Teela: Wendee Lee
I Just Realized that I have 3 Members of the SOS Brigade here and IT WASN'T ON PURPOSE... At least on Kyon and Koizumi... (Freeman and Bosch) Wendee Lee was kinda due to Haruhi, but mostly because her voice sounds young and somewhat bitchy when needed... Like Teela.

-Sorceress:Tabitha St. Germain
I know it's a curveball, but Her Luna voice works as a character like Sorceress. Plus her other voices could be used on one-off or minor characters.

-Evil Lyn: Venus Terzo
Oh Look! A New Adventures Veteran... But I picked her due to her role as Blackarachnia in Beast Wars. She can also pull off Additional Voices for minor or one-off characters.

-Stratos: Darrell Hammond
I guess pretty much all of you KNOW why I made this choice... I'll take Potent Potables for 400.

-Man-E-Faces:Scott McNeil
 Another New Adventures Veteran. I know he was a couple of voices in 200X as well, but The reason I chose him is for his versatility in voices for Man-E-Faces. (and Additional voices)

-Merman: Rob Paulsen
If you're thinking 80s Raphael with gurgling effects and a hint of Pinky, then GET OUT OF MY MIND!!!


-Buzz-Off: Yuri Lowenthal
What? Sasuke Uchiha is too good for Buzz-Off?

-Orko: Jaleel White
He is an amazing Voice Actor, but all people can see when his name is mentioned is Urkel... And yes, he must do the Urkel voice for Orko.

-Trap Jaw: Jaleel White
Again, amazing Voice Actor... Much more than Urkel. And the role of Trap Jaw can give White some freedom in doing a villain, which is something he rarely does... I think defective Urkel-bot in a Scooby Doo episode was his only villainous role.

-Randor: Kevin Michael Richardson
He's a great voice actor and He could easily pull off the Randor father/king voice needed.

-Marlena: Cree Summer
Amazing VA and in order to give some 80s cred, I'm using a VA who has done popular roles SINCE the 80s...

-Mekaneck: Nolan North
Nathan Drake as Mekaneck... It's the only way to help such a dorky character, by giving him some charm that mixes well with the dorkiness of the character.

-Zodac: Maurice Lamarche
The guy is a VA Veteran, also he does a Killer Orson Welles impression, which is the perfect voice for a Cosmic Enforcer. Since Welles is no longer with us, well... Mr. Lamarche can grace us with his amazing voice. Not to mention that down the road we could get other characters out of him. I'm just sticking to SOME Core characters for this theoretical list.

Now to wait for the Official Voice Cast Reveal...

Nov 15, 2019

Mail time, mail time, MAIL TIME!! (Toys and games related)

Here's the mail, it never fails! It makes me wanna wag ny tail! When it comes I wanna wail:
MAAAAAAAAAIIIIIILLLL!

Sorry for the Blue's Clues reference...  random bit of fact people will look at you strangely when you start singing in public the mail song from Blue's Clues.
 I've been getting mail. Snail mail, e-mails, you name it.

My last two figures from the Wendigo wave arrived and they will be part of the Advent calendar. I received an email from Amazon that my Alpha flight box set is coming and also I got the shenmue 3 email that it's being shipped.

I was waiting for the final Wendigo figures to arrive in order to begin taking the pictures for the Advent calendar. What took me by surprise was the alpha flight box it says I was expecting that for December. Somewhat stoked about the whole Alpha flight set. Normally Alpha flight isn't in my radar when thinking top 50 X-Men characters but,  at the same time getting the most popular members of that theme in one Fell Swoop was too much of a temptation. I mean I already have Sasquatch and Guardian waspart of the Wendigo wave, who I already own... basically a whole team with 8 purchases. (six figures from a Deadpool wave to form Sasquatch. Guardian. Alpha flight box set.)

Both being brutally honest here the one thing I'm most excited about is shenmue 3. That's part of the reason why I went to get some of the pics for the Advent calendar soon so yeah I just have to write the Rants and make the reviews. The only thing I'm debating is if I'll just do a 12 days calendar or a 24 days. Obviously my first thought some shenmue 3 will call in a few hours after playing the game and eventually I'll do the actual full review discussing everything I have done before like: The Legend of Zelda: breath of the wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, Etc.
Death stranding will have to wait until 2020.


Nov 13, 2019

Friendship is Magic is over... New MLP G4 show coming...

And it's looking more like a Teen Titans Go! Take on Friendship is Magic than an actual MLP show...
Well, that's what the toy ad is making it look like.
According to EW... (most appropriate name for a website when discissing this.) The show will be entirely slice of life... and there's nothing wrong with that. Especially, since the original voice cast is returning. My only nitpick is with the art style and animation shown...

 Spider Sense tingling!!! It's not a good thing! This reminds me of Teen Titans go... no no no no no, something far more disturbing than that... Thundercats Roar!!


Toys look ugly... artwork looks very much like all the negative stereotypes of CalArts-like style combined.

Nov 12, 2019

Sonic is looking better!

The New Sonic the hedgehog trailer has dropped:

Holy crap!! Sonic is looking better than the previous abomination... Hell, even the movie seems more appealing based on this trailer. Now all I need is a date for Valentine's day... something something PINGAS something.
The Jim Carrey looking Robotnik is the only issue I may currently have with the movie.

Hideo is getting a BIT TOO MUCH OF AN EGO nowadays

Death Stranding has received mixed reviews and Hideo Kojima isn't taking it too well. He's acting like he's the Scorsese of videogames. Well, he blames the FPS like Halo and COD to have been the reason why not everyone is loving Death Stranding. Not going to mention the weird Ass Kissing to Famitsu... Reeks of Freaking Dorito Pope in here... wait He's IN THE GAME TOO!? But back on topic. People NOT Liking Death Stranding does not mean they love FPS games. Aside DOOM and maybe Goldeneye (hasn't aged well) and Metroid Prime, I'm not exactly an FPS fan. So, if I play Death Stranding and don't like it, what's Hideo's excuse?

I UNDERSTAND that Death Stranding is meant to be a "different experience" but IF THE GAME ISN'T FUN, then it missed out on the main reason for being a game. *cough* gone home *cough* and many critiques have been Cool story, gameplay not so much. If the game is slow paced, that's not an issue for me (aside time constraints because adulting) but if it isn't fun, it's not fun... Thinking of the WWE games since 2k games took over. Then there's also that Kojima subtlety that competes with Hack Snydurr's "depth".

I WILL play Death Stranding, but I'll wait until the game is at a lower price, because from what I WAS SHOWN in the trailers, my interest has waned a lot since 2015. I can't bring myself to pay $60+ Taxes for a game that looks like I'm playing MGSV without D-Horse, Pequod or any vehicles and I have to walk from Spugmay Keep all the way to OKB Zero and return to Spugmay Keep. Yes, I've been replaying Phantom pain on PS4 until Shenmue 3.

And after publishing this rant, a friend sent me a year old video

Nov 11, 2019

8 days for Shenmue 3 and I'm nervous...

Mostly because I have not received any notifications regarding my game being shipped. The other part is that SHENMUE 3 IS FINALLY COMING OUT!!!  19/20 year old me would be freaking out right now. It seems that in 8 days at a minimum I'll be able to begin to see the next step on Hazuki-san's Journey.  4 years 4 months ago... approximately, I backed the Shenmue 3 kickstarter.  it almost feels like an eternity ago. But it's coming in roughly a week from today...  it's a bit scary come to think of it.

To say that I'm Not Afraid would be a terrible lie. I hope the game at least meet my expectations on the next chapter of The shenmue Saga and that it does well enough so we can get the 4th game in the series. I'm not going to retail my attachment to the game and how would basically covered the end of my high school life to the beginning of college life and now my life as an adult living on my own. Having night adult responsibilities which reduce my gaming time compared to late high school/college life.

But pushing my fears aside: it's finally happening. WE are getting a part 3 in roughly a week and this time it's for real. There will be no longer jokes about shenmue never getting a part 3 because it's happening for real!! People have played a demo and 8 days... that's what we need to wait... 8 days... can't wait to hear Cory Marshall's uninterested "yeah" or "I see"  but most importantly continuing the journey. Also I kind of want to see my name in the end credits when we see the backers section... I'm allowed to have a bit of an ego moment!

Nov 10, 2019

Snake Mountain test shot from B-Flynn

And There is a screw up... Hint: Wolf head is upside down.
 it's looking pretty good. I'm not going to lie it's big!!! (That's what she said) THE gap on the waterfall next to the hinge worries me a little. I suppose customization will come to the rescue... that will also help onthe tiny complaint about the gate breaking the snake. (A custom backdrop can fix that.

 Other than that I'm glad that it's coming along. I won't deny that I'm a bit scared about this I mean it $750 endeavor... which I already paid for. I'm guessing that by Midsummer 2020 will be the date when we will receive our Snake Mountains. I got to say that this Snake Mountain playset looks a lot better in Black than the Vintage toy purple from the Prototype.  IF I had more time,  money, and space I would probably make custom additions to both Snake Mountain and Grayskull.

Nov 8, 2019

Odds and ends November 8th 2019 Topo Gigio is an orphan now.

My Italian friends are probably weeping now... and many in Latin America too... Topo Gigio's Creator, Maria Perego has passed away. My condolences to her family. The only reason I'm posting this is because Mom was a huge fan of Topo Gigio.

Not the Anime, but the Live action puppet...

And dammit! I'M NOT CRYING!!

China's Government is going a bit too crazy to curb "Gaming Addiction". I think it's a load of crap!
I don't believe that GOVERNMENT should intervene is something that IS THE PARENTS' RESPONSIBILITY. Your kid getting possibly arrested because the cutscenes in a Hideo Kojima game were too long or a game install took a bit too long and he went over the allotted 1-2 hours on a weekday and passed 3 minutes after 10:00 PM (22:00 for the 24-hour clock folks) curfew?
I understand that people with addictive behavior can get hooked on games, but the responsibility should fall on the parents, NOT on Government.
I guess I'm now banned in China... Wait, do I have Chinese readers?
Crikey! A lost pup in Australia... Which you should have guessed by the Crikey! remark before I started commenting about the news article; turned out to be a PUREBRED dingo... Like the dingoest of dingos... Little mate was found in a backyard. (News article doesn't specify if there were shrimp on the barbie, and no there were no Fosters... I learned, Aussies! I don't like Vegemite, so stop making me want to eat it!) and it seems the little fella had been kidnapped by a raptor... The bird not the Dinosaur. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there were Dinosaurs in Australia.

Steve Irwin clip because yay Australia

NECA and Loot Crate want my money...

I haven't reviewed the Shredder NECA TMNT movie set due to a lack of free time and accidentally deleting the photos for the review. But that's not what I'm here today for. Today I'm going to ramble about the Loot Crate Exclusive Spirit of Splinter + Campfire set. It will set you back $50... because it's coming from Loot Crate, so IN THEORY, there should be some extra stuff in there. The Preorder Window is closing down and there's barely 10 days left as of November 8.

That picture alone is worth the Figure... My only issue is Loot Crate. They've had a few issues with delivering items. I think I may be skipping this one. It's a neat addition and an obvious recast/repaint by NECA. Shame that is tied to Loot Crate.

Nov 7, 2019

Making a GOOD Terminator movie is IMPOSSIBLE!!

Think about it... There is simply NO WAY to up the ante after T2: Judgement Day. Hell, even Judgement Day was a fluke if you think about it. Terminator wasn't MEANT TO BE a multimedia franchise. It is now, but for some reason EVERYTHING FALLS SHORT TO THE FIRST TWO MOVIES.

There is a simole explanation for that: The first two movies made the formula stale.
You can do so much with a story about a time traveler going back to the past to stop a killer machine from eliminating a specific person.
T2 gave us the twist of the original killer machine bwing the protector.
Even the movies have a similar formula:
These are the ingredients for a Terminator movie:
Dystopian future scenes, Terminator gets clothed, Encounter with the subject, Vehicle chase, an encounter with Law Enforcement, final showdown at an industrial setting. While not necessarily in that order, but you get tge idea.

 Rise of the Machines and DARK Fate  copied the exact same formula. The only Terminator movie that actually tried something different was Salvation... but since it was given to a mediocre director the future War got screwed.
By sticking to the formula and the only "original" concept being "Whamen!" Dark Fate sealed its own uh, dark... fate? Of sucking like every Terminator movie after 2...

There is no way to make Terminator interesting enough.
Not even by having Skynet, I mean Legion send Terminators back in time to protect Key people that would create Legion from Present Dani and a possible Human Time traveler taking the role of the Terminator. (And even that idea is a retread of Sarah in T2)

Had James Cameron NOT WASTED his time with Titanic or Avaturd, we could've gotten the Future War we deserved... even if it's pointless, since we know the end: Skynet sends a Terminator to kill Sarah Connor, John sends Kyle Reese, his father, in order to ensure Sarah's survival (and his own conception). Sending the T-1000 and secons T-800 still stumps me.

Nov 6, 2019

Thoughts on "season 4" of "She-Ra"...

Hoo booy!  This season was a roller coaster. It did some good things it did some bad things but as much as it pains me to say it, it  was mostly good.  the stakes remained High, there was a lot of tension, there was some good character development, and there was a MASSIVE DUMP taken on the She-Ra lore.
This time, my nitpicking is reduced to 5 things:
-Hordak being emasculated by Catra: I get it, Catra is badass, but making a wuss out of Hordak to empower her is a dick move.
-Glimmer became a villain in this season: No, she didn't join the Horde, but her "Civil War" with Adora made her the new Tony Stark.
-Light Hope being the big bad manipulator behind the scenes: It was a surprising move, but this cliche of taking a hero and making them a secret villain is played out.
-Double Trouble: It's rather obvious that Jacob Tobia is NOT an Actor. Their "performance" as Double Trouble was the equivalent of Ronda Rousey acting... if Ronda Rousey was a collection of gay stereotypes written by a homophobe... With that said, while the performance was subpar, the CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PLOT BY THE CHARACTER were awesome. (Especially all the parts where DT was playing someone else.) Again, nothing personal against Jacob Tobia or their activism. It's just that their performance wasn't up to snuff. It felt that they simply sat on the booth and read the lines.
(The shitty thing is that because THEY are a non-binary activist, any criticism against JT will be labeled as a form of "homophobia".) Again, Nothing against Jacob Tobia, the person. I simply didn't like their performance as DoubleTrouble.
-Cringy humor being Cringy: I mentioned that on my PBP of Ep. 1 but there were plenty of instances were bad attempts at humor were made.

But the whole Glimmer becoming a villain (from a certain point of view) pissed me off the most. Also, Perfuma is a white supremacist...
Alt-Right Perfuma...
But all jokes aside, this season was rather enjoyable and 2018 me is looking at me as if I had offended all of my ancestors.

What if Thundercats Roar is actually good?

Nov 5, 2019

Season "4" of "She-Ra" is out. EPISODE 1 play by play time! Spoilers! Language!

All the good stuff that Season 3 left us with seems to be going in a good direction! A more somber Glimmer has changed her look as Castaspella summons her to the war room to make a choice...
For MOTHERFUCKING ICE CREAM CAKE! Way to go! A cringy beginning for a season!! It's like Noelle Stevenson is ACTIVELY TRYING TO MAKE ME HATE SHE-RA!!

Aside from Bow being an idiot,  the scene where Glimmer is discissing with her friends the weirdness of all this. (As someone who has lost a Mother, I understand Glimmer's situation far too well... NO! I'M NOT CRYING! I'M JUST SUFFERING FROM A LEAKING PROBLEM WITH MY TEAR DUCTS!)

Adora being as socially inept as this version is, plans on making this day the perfect day... Seems lile she doesn't understand that this whole Coronation thing is a Perpetual reminder for Glimmer that her mother is gone! Oh God! They ARE GOING at it with stupid attenpts at humor...

Wait, is that a JOJO Reference?
Did they just replace Frosta's VA with Kristen Schaal? Cause she sounded a lot lile Mabel Pines when she screamed BOUNCER!!

Wait, what's that? An ACTUAL FUNNY JOKE? Perfuma being snubbed at flower arranging actually made me laugh... (also, The dad of Perfuma's VA is a Viagra Spokesman.)
Ugh! Quick Fart is in this! Just show me the Hprde already!
Ooh!! My wish was granted!
And Hordak finally got his testicles and is acting like the Evil Leader of the Evil Horde he should be! And Catra is the new Starscream.
Ugh! Back to Bright Moon...

Shadow Weaver is still around!
Ugh! Noelle Stevenson's hellbent on making me hate She-Ra... The Perfuma joke was alright,  but combining it with Frosta Pines is ruining the joke...
They MUST really hate Swift Wind in order to make him this annoying  (I seem ro recall rumors that he was imposed by Mattel because Noelle didn't want to use him)

Back to the Horde... Oh no, it's Scorpia time...  please be short. Back to Bright Moon and it's quest time! Wait, what? The quest was literally LESS THAN A MINUTE! FUCK THIS SHIT! OH LOOK! A MONSTER!! FINALLY SOME ACTION!

And no action, just Glimmer facing reality... I'm not crying again! Also, Adora spent a loong looooong time without blinking. It's creepy!

Over 17 minutes... it took over 17 minites to get She-Ra in an episode of She-Ra...
I'm not crying! Goddammit! I couldn't say goodbye... I'd give anything just for one more day... Mom...
Dammit! It's not fair! This episode was supoosed to suck massive ass! But it HAD to deal with Glimmer's grieving and remind me of MY OWN GRIEVING... Giving her the closure I WILL NEVER HAVE!!

Back to the Fright Zone... and Hordak just handed his testicles back to Catra...

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this episode.
It's supposed to be a bad episode in theory. Rebels did nothing. Horde did nothing. But like I said before, Glimmer's grieving was what pulled this episode from the Crap Pile to the OK Pile... stupid cringy moments prevent it from being GOOD GOOD!

Let's hope the rest of the season leans towards good.

Nov 3, 2019

The Street Fighter race is on Storm Collectibles vs SH Figuarts

And it seems Figuarts is winning! Here's the thing:
I love BOTH Storm and Figuarts, but I'm getting to a point that I HAVE TO PICK AND CHOOSE. I like the Storm Collectibles toys more due to their heft and accessories, but Figuarts has an ace in the hole... or two.
Compatibility with Marvel Legends and Figma, which means Marvel vs Capcom displays... and that nearly all the characters made are in a SUPER Street Fighter II Turbo inspired look. Ryu, Cammy, Chun Li, and Vega are in the SFV style, but with Classic Looks. Blanka, Akuma, and Ken are based on SFIV, but sporting their classic SSFIIT Looks.
The upcoming M.Bison and Sagat have II inspired looks.

Meanwhile Storm Collectibles is making SFV AND USFII figures. While I can Cheat and use thw SFV Ryu, Chun Li, and Zangief, they are NOT SFII versions... so I have to double dip again, but at a higher price!

Which puts Storm back to start with 4 figures (Ryu, Kwn, Guile, and Sagat) vs Figuarts that has: Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Cammy, Chun Li, Vega, Blanka, and the Upcoming Sagat, and Bison. That's 9 oht of 17.
Or if we wanna cheat in Storm's favor and Add Arcade Akuma, Chun Li, and Zangief, which makes them 7 out of 17.

No matter how I slice it, Figuarts is winning.

Nov 2, 2019

Salió del baúl de los juguetes: Matador, Ninja, Narcissist...

Obviously, I'm speaking about Street Fighter's Claw dude.
I DON'T mention his name due to the discrepancies in identity... Balrog in Japan and Vega in the US.
He was the second Boss in Street Fighter 2 and some may dare say the Hardest of the 4. Like it says on the title, he's known for his Mix of Bullfighting and Ninjutsu.

So let's put on our Masks, Claws and Yoooooooooo! our way into the Review!
My perfume is acting as
counterweight

Articulation:

Vega sports standard Figuarts articulation... and more! His sash and braided hair are articulated. Not to mention his differently angled Butterfly-esque joints on his torso to allow for his Fence Climbing.
5.0
Vega: Soy sexy y lo sé.

paint and sculpt:
He is almost flawless in this area, but I do have a small issue with him. His hands are Huge! I mean,  his hands are almost as big as his face... sadly, that is a SfIV and beyond thing. Other than that he's pretty great! The essence of the Spanish Matador Shinobi is strong with this one.
5.0
My face! My beautiful face is ruined!
 YOU BITCH,I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER!!

Accessories:
Like the other SF Figures, he has a cardboard background.
I never got to use it properly, since they never seem to stand properly.
He has an extra unmasked head. Sadly, he doesn't have an extra expression.
*Insert Trump wall
joke here*

His default head has a removable mask. His face has no features beneath. (Looks like an in-game model of Cloud)
He has 5 extra hands. His claw is removable and he has 2 Clawless blade bracer.
Last but not least he has 2 pieces of Modular fence wall. Here's my biggest issie with this figure. The fence wall is too small for him. I kinda wish he had 2 more fence pieces.
5.0 (due to amount)
*Insert Trump wall
joke here*

Overall
Vega gets a 5.0 as his final score. Since my score is rated in half pounts and my nitpicks are tiny, I HAD TO ROUND UP!! The only thing that TRULY, TRULY, TRULY Bothers me is the amount of fence wall included. It's too little and it's useless!
Vosotras no estáis tan emocionadas
como yo por el remake de Fantasía Final 7!

Holy crap! It seems like there WILL BE an AGE OF APOCALYPSE Wave!

And it has so far:
Logan, Cable, Jean, Beast, and Morph in it. But they have also shown Wildchild and Sunfire.
I never expected an entire wave be themed after an alternate Earth!

I also have heard rumors of an AoA Cyclops being made. Don't know if he's part of the wave, Walgreens exclusive, or a random "retro" figure.

How crazy it would be if Sugar Man was the BAF. 

Wonder if 2099 or MC2 would get a chance like that...

Terminator's Dark Fate... a Terminator Dark Fate Rant *Spoilers*

In a Franchise with 2 Great movies, 1 crappy movie, 2 WTF movies, now we add Dark Fate. I could mention the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but I won't.

Incredibly enough, David S. Goyer managed a semi-competent script...
There will be spoilers after the jump.

Before I start the review: I'm not a fan of the whole taking established franchises and making it about women because Vagina. This movie had a LOT of that, but at the end it was a mostly enjoyable flick.
Still WAY Inferior to the ONLY TERMINATOR MOVIES IN EXISTENCE!! But for a pretender, it's the best of them all... (But then again, the bar is VERY Low!)

Nov 1, 2019

Man, the original rangers were a bunch of douchebags!

I'm not talking about the Actors... I've only met David Yost and he was an angel! I mean the characters. I have been watching the original series. (It hasn't aged well.) I also noticed the difference between the American reshoots vs the spliced Japanese footage.
Like this rare instance with the Mighty Morphin' Gray Ranger!
Which is obviously from the Japanese footage that suffered some color degradation. The quality tends to dip when reusing the Super Sentai Zyuranger footage.

But THAT is not the point of this rant. The point is that the Rangers were a bunch of bullies. Theor favorite targets?
Bulk and Skull. Sure, these two are a pair of asshats in the first season and Theoretically deserve their comeuppance, but these "Teenagers with Attitude" simply LOVED to punch down Bulk and Skull. It wasn't enough for the rangers that Bulk and Skull end up getting their comeuppance multiple times, but they verbally abuse the already humiliated bullies by BULLYING them.

Bulk and Skull get "Tarred and Feathered" or similar punishments where they end up covered in weird substances, their clothes destroyed, or other type of situations that if done in the real world, kids would snap and illegally borrow a gun to deal with their classmates.