I missed out on the Bella Thorne Onlyfans mess. Then again it was until yesterday that I found out what the heck Onlyfans was. So for other old farts who have no idea what is onlyfans: it's kind of like a pay-per-view social media where stuff that would get you banned from other sites can be posted... translation it's like a porn version of Instagram but you have to pay for it.
So Miss Thorne opened up an Onlyfans account and basically ripped off a bunch of people who we're expecting to see her Shake It Up and take it off...
She didn't. She also was asking $200 for a lingerie pic.
People got mad and were demanding refunds.
Onlyfans had to tweak older policies and put some price caps on everything...
This has little effect on former Disney Channel star Bella Thorne, because, a: she has other sources of revenue. b: She's doing the Onlyfans thing as "research" for a role.
So, basically Bella Thorne just screwed over various sex workers with her stunt.
And here's where this gets even funnier. The Director that Thorne claimed she was working with for "research" just denied any involvement with Thorne or ber research.
In 48 hours Bella Thorne got the entire world to hate her...
Wow... Guess that her chances of Becoming Mary Jane have become less than Zero...
Action figures, Movies, Games, TV shows, things I like, Things I hate, weird news old or recent... they're fair game for my rants. DISCLAIMER: OPINIONS POSTED ARE EXAGGERATED FOR COMEDIC EFFECT!! Got it?
Aug 31, 2020
Something strange is going on in Tsushima...
But, sonce this period was during Japan's hyper isolationism, Spengler, Stantz, Venkman and Zeddemore can't do anything anout Tsushima's ghost problem.
as you might have guessed I've been playing ghost of tsushima for the past few days. I haven't beaten the game yet. I believe I'm roughly 40% complete on the story.
Sucker Punch did an excellent job on this game. it has a Kurosawa inspired feel to it. it doesn't fully capture it but you can feel that they tried to get very close to it. It feels more like a Samurai themed series, than "a movie". The videogame aspects, make it lose some of the "movie" effect, but this is NOT a Hideo Kojima game, so you have to do most of the work without long cutscenes.
OK, so you play as Jin Sakai, a Samurai brought back from the brink of death in order to repel the Mongolian invasion. And basically you have to liberate the island of tsushima from the Mongols grip in order to get them off the island. The thing is that while Jin is a feudal Lord and Samurai, the game allows you to turn him into a Proto Ninja. And it's kind of cool because you can go all Samurai and the challenge all your foes to combat, or you can go ninja about it and assassinate them from the roofs and other sneaky tricks. I'd say the game kind of feels like a bastard child off The Witcher 3 Tenchu and Assassin's Creed all wrapped up in a nice Kurosawa love letter.
Just checked IMDB... mostly Asian voice cast... WTF is Sean Schemmel doing in there. The voice cast worked really hard to simulate the Engrish so it sounded like English with a Japanese accent. The Witch Part is that the game was recorded originally in English that Sounds like a dub. And the Japanese dub sounds more authentic which is kind of weird.
In non combat scenes the animation for the character's looks a bit stiff and clunky. This is more noticeable with the NPCs. but if I want to be honest I really don't mind those minor issues because I'm pretty much in love with the setting. I'm mostly open world feudal Japan game is not something you see everyday... I'd be up for a full free world ninja game. As always once I beat the game I'll going balls deep in the review.
as you might have guessed I've been playing ghost of tsushima for the past few days. I haven't beaten the game yet. I believe I'm roughly 40% complete on the story.
Sucker Punch did an excellent job on this game. it has a Kurosawa inspired feel to it. it doesn't fully capture it but you can feel that they tried to get very close to it. It feels more like a Samurai themed series, than "a movie". The videogame aspects, make it lose some of the "movie" effect, but this is NOT a Hideo Kojima game, so you have to do most of the work without long cutscenes.
OK, so you play as Jin Sakai, a Samurai brought back from the brink of death in order to repel the Mongolian invasion. And basically you have to liberate the island of tsushima from the Mongols grip in order to get them off the island. The thing is that while Jin is a feudal Lord and Samurai, the game allows you to turn him into a Proto Ninja. And it's kind of cool because you can go all Samurai and the challenge all your foes to combat, or you can go ninja about it and assassinate them from the roofs and other sneaky tricks. I'd say the game kind of feels like a bastard child off The Witcher 3 Tenchu and Assassin's Creed all wrapped up in a nice Kurosawa love letter.
Just checked IMDB... mostly Asian voice cast... WTF is Sean Schemmel doing in there. The voice cast worked really hard to simulate the Engrish so it sounded like English with a Japanese accent. The Witch Part is that the game was recorded originally in English that Sounds like a dub. And the Japanese dub sounds more authentic which is kind of weird.
In non combat scenes the animation for the character's looks a bit stiff and clunky. This is more noticeable with the NPCs. but if I want to be honest I really don't mind those minor issues because I'm pretty much in love with the setting. I'm mostly open world feudal Japan game is not something you see everyday... I'd be up for a full free world ninja game. As always once I beat the game I'll going balls deep in the review.
Aug 30, 2020
NECA has Rocksteady and Bebop in pre-order
Dammit, why did they do this AFTER I got mine from a reseller!? Had I known, I would've waited for this instead.
Oh well! I believe it's anothwr of those 1 week only preorders. It apparwntly went live on Friday afternoon.
There is also a Slash and Leatherhead available and I kind of want Leatherhead but I don't want Slash. This is one of those instances where toy version is superior to cartoon version.
It's a good thing that NECA is throwing these hard to find exclusives pre orders on their store and making them available to more customers. Hopefully, the Splinter Set and the Krang Android Body set will get preorders.
Oh well! I believe it's anothwr of those 1 week only preorders. It apparwntly went live on Friday afternoon.
There is also a Slash and Leatherhead available and I kind of want Leatherhead but I don't want Slash. This is one of those instances where toy version is superior to cartoon version.
It's a good thing that NECA is throwing these hard to find exclusives pre orders on their store and making them available to more customers. Hopefully, the Splinter Set and the Krang Android Body set will get preorders.
Aug 28, 2020
Black Panther 2 will be recast thanks to Mr. Osment's Necrosight.
I just found out that Chadwick Boseman has been seen by Haley Joel Osment. That means Yuna is pulling off a Wakandan dance. Now that the costumary he's dead, Jim references has been done, let's go into the topic at hand.
Chadwick Boseman passed away due to complications in his 4 year fight against colon cancer.
As usual, my condolences to the family and friends, and the rest of the Avengers cast. Now the awful part of all this will be Disney scrambling to find a replacement actor for the role of T'Challa. It sounds a bit insensitive, but that's how the business goes. Disney won't cancel sequels to Black Panther, because it made them money and it appealed to people of color, and Disney loves some of that money.
But dammit, 2020, why couldn't you take a different avenger? Thinking one that rhymes with Criminal Dairy Products...
All jokes aside, it royally sucks losing an actor such as Mr. Boseman at 43... shit, he was 5 years older than me! That's too young! This is why I hate cancer..
Chadwick Boseman passed away due to complications in his 4 year fight against colon cancer.
As usual, my condolences to the family and friends, and the rest of the Avengers cast. Now the awful part of all this will be Disney scrambling to find a replacement actor for the role of T'Challa. It sounds a bit insensitive, but that's how the business goes. Disney won't cancel sequels to Black Panther, because it made them money and it appealed to people of color, and Disney loves some of that money.
But dammit, 2020, why couldn't you take a different avenger? Thinking one that rhymes with Criminal Dairy Products...
All jokes aside, it royally sucks losing an actor such as Mr. Boseman at 43... shit, he was 5 years older than me! That's too young! This is why I hate cancer..
Aug 27, 2020
Apparently there is a movement to Cancel Noelle Stevenson
Yup, you read that right. Super diversity champeen, Noelle Stevenson has to be cancelled because she's racist.
I know, right? Here's a summary of the whole issue:
Apparently, on a livestream related to the bastardization of She-Ra that she made, Noelle made a remark that was considered racist. Something about an internal joke.
So, this is a "joke" about Bow's brothers... Sow is the one that triggered people. To be fair, while it's a bit messed up, due to the implications of a "yes massa happy slave", it's rather tame in the scale of "racist things" that have been said. My issue is more with how "cancel culture" is bending over on itself because they don't know what to do.
Some want to go all the way and cancel her. Others are making excuses to NOT cancel her after her apology. Incredibly enough, despite my dislike of her, I don't believe that she should be "cancelled" for a racist joke.
No, I'm not defending racism. Is the joke tasteless, yes. But humor tends to be tasteless at times. Was it stupid to reference the joke in a livestream, yes. Everyone has made a remark that could be considered racist... does that make someone racist? It depends. Of it's a one-off thing, no. Now if it's repeated behavior, then one should be wary. If the behavior goes beyond words, then the person is totally a racist.
But back to Noelle. Making the joke is one thing, the drawing to explain it... yeah, it doesn't look good. Personally, I'm gonna chalk this up to white privilege and stupidity. Bit if she gets cancelled, it is what it is.
It bugs me that people had to scour for tweets from many years ago to cancel the dude playing Elongated Man on CW Flash, but with Noelle, they're looking for excuses to not cancel her. I'm not exactly a fan of cancel culture, but for those of you ehp do, then: do not discriminate with who you cancel. Everyone should be gauged the same way. No special treatment to some. Cancel all or Cancel none. Anything else is hypocrisy.
I know, right? Here's a summary of the whole issue:
Apparently, on a livestream related to the bastardization of She-Ra that she made, Noelle made a remark that was considered racist. Something about an internal joke.
Some want to go all the way and cancel her. Others are making excuses to NOT cancel her after her apology. Incredibly enough, despite my dislike of her, I don't believe that she should be "cancelled" for a racist joke.
No, I'm not defending racism. Is the joke tasteless, yes. But humor tends to be tasteless at times. Was it stupid to reference the joke in a livestream, yes. Everyone has made a remark that could be considered racist... does that make someone racist? It depends. Of it's a one-off thing, no. Now if it's repeated behavior, then one should be wary. If the behavior goes beyond words, then the person is totally a racist.
But back to Noelle. Making the joke is one thing, the drawing to explain it... yeah, it doesn't look good. Personally, I'm gonna chalk this up to white privilege and stupidity. Bit if she gets cancelled, it is what it is.
It bugs me that people had to scour for tweets from many years ago to cancel the dude playing Elongated Man on CW Flash, but with Noelle, they're looking for excuses to not cancel her. I'm not exactly a fan of cancel culture, but for those of you ehp do, then: do not discriminate with who you cancel. Everyone should be gauged the same way. No special treatment to some. Cancel all or Cancel none. Anything else is hypocrisy.
Remember Pokemon Go? Well, CDPR has it's own Pokemon Go...
With more Banana Tiger and Lelele...
Yes, a Witcher themed Augmented Reality game, where you travel the world as a Modern Era Witcher and hunt down monsters... outside!! (Not a great idea durong a pandemic, but I suppose Plague Masks could make a comeback)
I honestly don't know how to feel about this... on one hand and having a Witcher game is a cool idea. on the other hand I don't want to be hunting for nekkers at Kmart... or Noonwraiths at the Catholic School near my favorite Chinese food joint... or hunting Leshens in the woods behind the workplace.
At least it's not Gwent... to be honest I'm not going to play the game because my phone is too much of a dumbass to handle it. also I don't like the idea of walking around at strange hours hunting for mysterious and getting creepy Monsters and getting creepy looks from people. I already went through that crap with Pokemon go.
But any excuse to use Geralt phrases like:
Wind's howling.
Looks like rain.
Damn you're ugly!
Yes, a Witcher themed Augmented Reality game, where you travel the world as a Modern Era Witcher and hunt down monsters... outside!! (Not a great idea durong a pandemic, but I suppose Plague Masks could make a comeback)
I honestly don't know how to feel about this... on one hand and having a Witcher game is a cool idea. on the other hand I don't want to be hunting for nekkers at Kmart... or Noonwraiths at the Catholic School near my favorite Chinese food joint... or hunting Leshens in the woods behind the workplace.
At least it's not Gwent... to be honest I'm not going to play the game because my phone is too much of a dumbass to handle it. also I don't like the idea of walking around at strange hours hunting for mysterious and getting creepy Monsters and getting creepy looks from people. I already went through that crap with Pokemon go.
But any excuse to use Geralt phrases like:
Wind's howling.
Looks like rain.
Damn you're ugly!
Aug 26, 2020
CW PPG... WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS!?
It supposedly will be a series following the lives of the now twenty-something Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup whose childhoods were wrecked by their pre-school heroics.
This sounds incredibly stupid. No, seriously, this is incredibly stupid. The PPG ARE FREAKS!!
Are they going to be Freaks on the CW show, or are we going to go for normal looking girls? Also, what about the Amoeba Boys, Fuzzy Lumpkins, Mojo Jojo... and
HIM!!!
Also, we're going to get sanitized for TV Powerpuff sex.
This sounds incredibly stupid. No, seriously, this is incredibly stupid. The PPG ARE FREAKS!!
Are they going to be Freaks on the CW show, or are we going to go for normal looking girls? Also, what about the Amoeba Boys, Fuzzy Lumpkins, Mojo Jojo... and
HIM!!!
Also, we're going to get sanitized for TV Powerpuff sex.
Aug 25, 2020
Rise of the TMNT is trying to destroy the TMNT
I have mentioned my dislike of RotTMNT that made everyone Asshole versions of Michelangelo. I also mentioned that it had too many nonsensical changes.
Time to meet the latest stupid change:
Armold Casey Jones (or Casey Bernid Jones, depending on which point of Mirage continuity you're reading) is a MAN! (Or teenage boy if you're following the 2012 nick series) Now Casey is a FORMER MEMBER OF THE FOOT CLAN AND IS A WOMAN...
This is literally Jennika, not Casey Jones!!
With every bit that I get to see of this cartoon, it kind of feels like the whole purpose of it is:
To take the biggest shit possible on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand.
"But it's a new take..."
The issue is not that it's a new take. The issue is that they are straying far too much from the source material.
"But the 1987 cartoon strays from the original"...
Yes, it does, partially due to era censorship laws that wouldn't allow a faithful adaptation of Mirage TMNT.
Despite certain changes it had to go through in order to become an 80s Child friendly adaptation, the show remained rather faithful to the essence of TMNT. 2003 was the pinnacle of TMNT adaptations. It toucjed a lot of Mirage TMNT stories, while it did its own thing. This series was more in-tune with the essence of TMNT than 1987... until fast forward and back to the sewers. that's when the show lost its way. The 2012 series, was a sort of bridge between 1987 and 2003 series. It MUTATED the essence of TMNT to create a Hybrid of the Prime Turtles AND the Childish bastardization. But even then, it stayed true to its essence.
Rise, on the other hand, feels like some LGBTQ writer wanted to make her own original series, but realized she was supposed to make a TMNT series, so she took her D&D characters and repurposed them as TMNT. Right now I'm not sure if I'm insulting it fake She-Ra or fake ninja turtles.
The problem with Not Casey is that she is NOT a Gender swapped Casey. She's literally a completely different character carrying the Casey Jones name. The character could've easily been Karai, or Jennika... Heck! Even a brand new character could've worked better. Making her Casey, made no sense.
But the good news is that this bastardization seems to have ended and will not get more episodes... I'd say they are 2 seasons too late.
Time to meet the latest stupid change:
This is literally Jennika, not Casey Jones!!
With every bit that I get to see of this cartoon, it kind of feels like the whole purpose of it is:
To take the biggest shit possible on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand.
"But it's a new take..."
The issue is not that it's a new take. The issue is that they are straying far too much from the source material.
"But the 1987 cartoon strays from the original"...
Yes, it does, partially due to era censorship laws that wouldn't allow a faithful adaptation of Mirage TMNT.
Despite certain changes it had to go through in order to become an 80s Child friendly adaptation, the show remained rather faithful to the essence of TMNT. 2003 was the pinnacle of TMNT adaptations. It toucjed a lot of Mirage TMNT stories, while it did its own thing. This series was more in-tune with the essence of TMNT than 1987... until fast forward and back to the sewers. that's when the show lost its way. The 2012 series, was a sort of bridge between 1987 and 2003 series. It MUTATED the essence of TMNT to create a Hybrid of the Prime Turtles AND the Childish bastardization. But even then, it stayed true to its essence.
Rise, on the other hand, feels like some LGBTQ writer wanted to make her own original series, but realized she was supposed to make a TMNT series, so she took her D&D characters and repurposed them as TMNT. Right now I'm not sure if I'm insulting it fake She-Ra or fake ninja turtles.
The problem with Not Casey is that she is NOT a Gender swapped Casey. She's literally a completely different character carrying the Casey Jones name. The character could've easily been Karai, or Jennika... Heck! Even a brand new character could've worked better. Making her Casey, made no sense.
But the good news is that this bastardization seems to have ended and will not get more episodes... I'd say they are 2 seasons too late.
Aug 24, 2020
It came from the Toy Chest: Oranges He-Man
I got an Oranges He-Man... it finally got here after a few days. The weird part was that he cane with very little delay.
This is He-Man and if you're a regular reader of the House of rants you should know who He-Man is. He's basically one of the main topics here. Not to mention my very first toyline, my very first hero. And my very first cartoon Crush was with his sister's best friend. So after Classics Classic ended and I killed Mattycollector, MOTUC went to Super7. Then Mattel started acting like a little bitch and pulled the plug on MOTUC for us to get these:
It's been no secret that I've had a negative opinion from the get-go towards these figures. the red and blue card does some things to my nostalgia. But at the same time they make me feel dirty. This is not vintage He-Man, this is a pretender and a really bad one at it.
I honestly don't care about the mini comic so I'm not even going to count it on the review.
Articulation:
For the sake of fairness I will try to remain as impartial as possible but articulation is one of the things that this figure does pretty good. I may hate the idea, I may hate the way some things are executed, but this figure has a decent range of articulation. I cannot deny that. It has less articulation then I Classics figure but more than a 200X.
Think 200X with elbow, knee, ankle, and wrist hinge articulation.
3.5
Paint and sculpt
Paint applications are minimal to simulate the fake vintage style. This is supposed to help reduce sloppy job but my Shield paint is very sloppy. The code was applied on evenly and you can see the dark gray pulling through the orange. The sculpt is decent... from the neck down. Oh my God the head is horrible! It looks like they took the Vintage head. Classics version head the original new and the original new adventures toy head I have used one of those internet blenders to combine elements of all three heads into one. To say that it looks like shit is an understatement. to make matters worse his hair looks like they tossed a bunch of spaghetti noodles on his head and we're molded in American cheese yellow plastic.
4.0
Accessories:
Ax
Shield
Half sword
Half sword in 2020!? Good grief!
But in a way it's good that we didn't get that Full Source because figures that have a full sword like the Prince Adam and skysled have a problem with the handle being too thick for their hands... This gross level of incompetence reeks of Ruben Martinez.
3.5
Overall
Oranges He-Man gets a 3.67 as his final score. It could have been better... Ruben Martinez is not exactly a competent designer. He tends to be a bit too sloppy on things that require precision. But we're not here to talk about Mediocre Ruben. We're here to talk about Oranges He-Man. I get what they're going for but after getting some amazing figures in the classics line; going back to a pseudo 80s style feels like a devolution. I'd expect hipster crap like this from super7 not Mattel. I'm going to get Skeletor for the sake of symmetry, but I don't see myself paying $18 but lost 11.5% taxes per figure to collect these.
I MIGHT get a couple of childhood favorite characters, but I can't see myself actively collecting these. Hopefully the 7 inch line based on Revelation won't suck as much as this.
This is He-Man and if you're a regular reader of the House of rants you should know who He-Man is. He's basically one of the main topics here. Not to mention my very first toyline, my very first hero. And my very first cartoon Crush was with his sister's best friend. So after Classics Classic ended and I killed Mattycollector, MOTUC went to Super7. Then Mattel started acting like a little bitch and pulled the plug on MOTUC for us to get these:
 |
| Nefty:He-Man meet He-Man! I love it! Hmm! I love bringing people together! He-Man: Did you just make a Zack Snyder reference? Nefty: No, I made a reference to a shitty Zack Snyder movie. He-Man: But, aren't all his movies shitty? Nefty: You hate Zack Snyder movies? I hate Zack Snyder movies! He-Man: Are we best friends now? |
 |
| Nefty: A half-sword, ugh! He-Man: Why is my hair American Cheese yellow? Orange: I can Haz Garyskull Powaa nao? He-Man: (poor creature, I need to take it out of its misery) Don't worry, son, you will... you will... |
I honestly don't care about the mini comic so I'm not even going to count it on the review.
 |
| He-Man:(sobbing) Nefty!! I need you to take out The trash!! Nefty:(retching) Poor inbred He-Man! Wun-Dar: (off-screen) You called? Nefty: I said INBRED, not WONDER BREAD! |
Articulation:
For the sake of fairness I will try to remain as impartial as possible but articulation is one of the things that this figure does pretty good. I may hate the idea, I may hate the way some things are executed, but this figure has a decent range of articulation. I cannot deny that. It has less articulation then I Classics figure but more than a 200X.
Think 200X with elbow, knee, ankle, and wrist hinge articulation.
3.5
 |
| Orange: Whee! I'M HOLE AGAIN! Nefty: what... the actual... Orange: OOH NAUGHTY WORD ALERT!! Nefty: Hey, Orange, come over here for a minute. We'll play WWE! Orange: I BE CENA!! Nefty: Huh? Where did you go? |
Paint and sculpt
Paint applications are minimal to simulate the fake vintage style. This is supposed to help reduce sloppy job but my Shield paint is very sloppy. The code was applied on evenly and you can see the dark gray pulling through the orange. The sculpt is decent... from the neck down. Oh my God the head is horrible! It looks like they took the Vintage head. Classics version head the original new and the original new adventures toy head I have used one of those internet blenders to combine elements of all three heads into one. To say that it looks like shit is an understatement. to make matters worse his hair looks like they tossed a bunch of spaghetti noodles on his head and we're molded in American cheese yellow plastic.
4.0
 |
| Nefty: (Why do I feel like I'm evil?) Get ready for a Boston Crab! Orange: Yay! Right next to a cliff! I'm in danger!! Nefty: Good night, sweet Prince... Orange: How did you know I'm Prince Edam? |
Accessories:
Ax
Shield
Half sword
 |
| His harness can fit MOTUC He-Man, but it's a pain in the ass to put on. I wouldn't recommend constant swapping. |
 |
| But if you want to do a one time swap, Oranges can use the spare MOTUC harness that You'll have, once MOTUC He-Man has the Oranges harness. |
Half sword in 2020!? Good grief!
But in a way it's good that we didn't get that Full Source because figures that have a full sword like the Prince Adam and skysled have a problem with the handle being too thick for their hands... This gross level of incompetence reeks of Ruben Martinez.
3.5
 |
| Head swapping is possible, but you may have to dremel And ruin the head for MOTUC. |
Overall
Oranges He-Man gets a 3.67 as his final score. It could have been better... Ruben Martinez is not exactly a competent designer. He tends to be a bit too sloppy on things that require precision. But we're not here to talk about Mediocre Ruben. We're here to talk about Oranges He-Man. I get what they're going for but after getting some amazing figures in the classics line; going back to a pseudo 80s style feels like a devolution. I'd expect hipster crap like this from super7 not Mattel. I'm going to get Skeletor for the sake of symmetry, but I don't see myself paying $18 but lost 11.5% taxes per figure to collect these.
I MIGHT get a couple of childhood favorite characters, but I can't see myself actively collecting these. Hopefully the 7 inch line based on Revelation won't suck as much as this.
 |
| Orange: Not so fast, the bitch is back! Nefty: (offscreen) Did you just referenced Casper? |
Aug 22, 2020
Robert Pattinson has made me hard for Justice... Hack Snydurr, not so much.
The trailer The Batman has dropped and now I know how Bella felt when looking at Edward.
Batpattz looks more badass than I expected. Presonally, my only issues are called Colin Farrell is too damn tall for Penguin and will se see what they'll do to Riddler. That bag over his face was a bit too dorky.
I'm VERY excited for this project.
Can't say the same thing for the Zack Snyder cut of Just Us League. The teaser released was completely laughable.
This was the background music used for the trailer.
Pretentious much?
The trailer was pretty much standard Zack Snyder. Bunch of nicely choreographed scenes while telling an abridged version of the story very incoherently and the saddest part is that the Trailer will surpass the actual movie. Darkseid looks like crap.
Batpattz looks more badass than I expected. Presonally, my only issues are called Colin Farrell is too damn tall for Penguin and will se see what they'll do to Riddler. That bag over his face was a bit too dorky.
I'm VERY excited for this project.
Can't say the same thing for the Zack Snyder cut of Just Us League. The teaser released was completely laughable.
This was the background music used for the trailer.
Pretentious much?
The trailer was pretty much standard Zack Snyder. Bunch of nicely choreographed scenes while telling an abridged version of the story very incoherently and the saddest part is that the Trailer will surpass the actual movie. Darkseid looks like crap.
Before I begin with TMNT Ultimates: a rant
The Ultimates are finally here and they have been pretty fun I must say. They successfully transported me back to 1989 till 1993. But I DO have some "issues"...
More like nitpicks or what ifs:
Don't get me wrong, I love what they did with the ultimates TMNT line, but this list is mostly for fun and in no way a filler rant because I haven't finished my photoshoots.
There's a part of me that wishes they had stuck to Masters of the Universe Classics bodies. Picture of a Super Buff foot Soldier... or even better a MOTUC buff Splinter. I can almost taste the JoJo references.
Part of me wishes that they were more MOTUC-Like...
-Uh, Nefty, you just said that...
No, I didn't. My previous point was about the bodies. This one is about Aesthetics. Let's use Buzz-Off as an example. He is mostly vintage inspired, but has a few new elements from 200X added to make him pop. How would this work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figure? Let's use Splinter as an example: HE is purely based on the vintage toy. Spicing him up? Second head based on his 2003 look in vintage colors, and maybe the grappling hook from the 2007 movie toyline. Same idea could be applied to other characters like say the Shredder: toss in a cloth tunic based on the toon or Archie comics. A Helmet based on the 2003 line...
Part of me.wish that they weren't so slavish to the vintage line. We don't need to have the Vintage paint errors (like Shredde's helmet brows). No one asked for Flesh colored bracers on He-Man? Do we need turquoise weapons for Casey?
Part of me wishes ALL HAD ALTERNATE heads.
So far only the turtles are benefiting from this. Baxter could have used an extra head with a different expression, foot soldier could have used a battle damaged head, Splinter could have used a more modern head that could have looked like the cartoon version or any of the other modern iterations. Bebop could have used a 2012 inspired head. Shredder could have used and Oroku Saki head, just to name a few.
Part of me wishes we could get cheaper foot soldiers.
We need to army build those fools... a decent foot ninja army is 16. 3 for each turtle and the remaining 4 to flank Shredderor to hold the kidnapped April.
Part of me wishes we could have Weapon packs.
Especially ninja weapons for the Foot Soldiers. I won't deny that it's more influence from the Konami games than anything else.
With that said, I'm enjoying the Ultimate TMNT toys a bit too much.
More like nitpicks or what ifs:
Don't get me wrong, I love what they did with the ultimates TMNT line, but this list is mostly for fun and in no way a filler rant because I haven't finished my photoshoots.
There's a part of me that wishes they had stuck to Masters of the Universe Classics bodies. Picture of a Super Buff foot Soldier... or even better a MOTUC buff Splinter. I can almost taste the JoJo references.
Part of me wishes that they were more MOTUC-Like...
-Uh, Nefty, you just said that...
No, I didn't. My previous point was about the bodies. This one is about Aesthetics. Let's use Buzz-Off as an example. He is mostly vintage inspired, but has a few new elements from 200X added to make him pop. How would this work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figure? Let's use Splinter as an example: HE is purely based on the vintage toy. Spicing him up? Second head based on his 2003 look in vintage colors, and maybe the grappling hook from the 2007 movie toyline. Same idea could be applied to other characters like say the Shredder: toss in a cloth tunic based on the toon or Archie comics. A Helmet based on the 2003 line...
Part of me.wish that they weren't so slavish to the vintage line. We don't need to have the Vintage paint errors (like Shredde's helmet brows). No one asked for Flesh colored bracers on He-Man? Do we need turquoise weapons for Casey?
Part of me wishes ALL HAD ALTERNATE heads.
So far only the turtles are benefiting from this. Baxter could have used an extra head with a different expression, foot soldier could have used a battle damaged head, Splinter could have used a more modern head that could have looked like the cartoon version or any of the other modern iterations. Bebop could have used a 2012 inspired head. Shredder could have used and Oroku Saki head, just to name a few.
Part of me wishes we could get cheaper foot soldiers.
We need to army build those fools... a decent foot ninja army is 16. 3 for each turtle and the remaining 4 to flank Shredderor to hold the kidnapped April.
Part of me wishes we could have Weapon packs.
Especially ninja weapons for the Foot Soldiers. I won't deny that it's more influence from the Konami games than anything else.
With that said, I'm enjoying the Ultimate TMNT toys a bit too much.
Aug 21, 2020
Nostalgic unattainable Foods
As you know, I'm feeling a bit down and a bit tired due to life getting in the way. Couldn't take pics yesterday due to a mini "Odin Sleep". It was supposed to be a power nap. Ended up sleeping 4 hours. But it's made me crave stuff...
Stuff from my childhood that's either impossible or near impossible to get. So here's a small list of top nostalgic foods/snacks.
Golden Skillet fried chicken:
We had those in Puerto Rico way back in the 80s. Their chicken was better than KFCs and Church's... we still have Church's. But back to Golden Skillet. Due to her job, Mom had to work some Saturdays on a booth at a Mall promoting health insurance. She returned tired from that and there was no way in hell she would cook. Depending on the Mall, we got either KFC or Golden Skillet. We preferred Golden Skillet. Alas, unless I head to Virginia, I can no longer have some Golden Skillet fried chicken.
Sbarro Pizza:
Mall Pizza... mmmm! I can almost hear the pizza snobs saying that Sbarro Pizza is crap. It's not about being good or bad it's about nostalgia. It's about 8 year old me trying to eat a huge slice of cheese pizza, going to the arcade, or a movie with Dad before I had to return to Mom so I could be ready for school Monday morning...
Hell, there was a Sbarro in campus and I practically ate my first year there to the point I got sick of Sbarro.
Crystal Pepsi:
I know it was an unpopular drink, but I liked the taste of it. It felt like a lighter Pepsi. It didn't feel super sweet like normal Pepsi. It's no Royal Crown, but its unique taste/color was great on a hot summer afternoon. An icy glass of Crystal Pepsi slightly watered down by the ice makes the clear drink taste virtually the same as Normal Pepsi... but crystal clear.
Royal Crown cola:
I mentioned it earlier, it's the best soda ever. Sadly, it's a pain in the ass to find. It brings me back to summers at my grandparents when I could get a can and a bag of Amazin' Fruit gummy bears for under a dollar... (I feel old) but, it's been nearly 20 years since I've had an icy can of RC Cola. I know I can theoretically buy online, but I ain't paying $60 for a 12 pack. Especially in Quarantine.
Dunkaroos:
Coolies, cream frosting dip? Delicious sugar rush! Chocolate frosting Graham cookies was the best of them all (IMO). These were great on the go, even if a little messy...
Magic Middles:
Think Dunkaroos but flipped inside out. Cookie outer cover with a delicious fudgy center. These eere insanely delicious when dunked in milk.
Frutsi:
My friends in the US probably have never heard of this one, but I'm sure Latinos have... IIRC it's still available in Mexico. This fruit flavored drink takes me back to my early childhood back in the 80s.
Amazin Fruit gummy bears:
Haribo makes great gummy bears, but Amazin Fruit were juicier. Again, summer, grandparents house, RC Cola less than a dollar...
Orange was the flavor I remember the most.
Well, that's pretty much it. I can't add Gerber's Banana Baby Food, because that's still available. Before anyone asks, no I don't eat it as part of the baby food diet fad. I eat it because I like the flavor of it...
Stuff from my childhood that's either impossible or near impossible to get. So here's a small list of top nostalgic foods/snacks.
Golden Skillet fried chicken:
We had those in Puerto Rico way back in the 80s. Their chicken was better than KFCs and Church's... we still have Church's. But back to Golden Skillet. Due to her job, Mom had to work some Saturdays on a booth at a Mall promoting health insurance. She returned tired from that and there was no way in hell she would cook. Depending on the Mall, we got either KFC or Golden Skillet. We preferred Golden Skillet. Alas, unless I head to Virginia, I can no longer have some Golden Skillet fried chicken.
Sbarro Pizza:
Mall Pizza... mmmm! I can almost hear the pizza snobs saying that Sbarro Pizza is crap. It's not about being good or bad it's about nostalgia. It's about 8 year old me trying to eat a huge slice of cheese pizza, going to the arcade, or a movie with Dad before I had to return to Mom so I could be ready for school Monday morning...
Hell, there was a Sbarro in campus and I practically ate my first year there to the point I got sick of Sbarro.
Crystal Pepsi:
I know it was an unpopular drink, but I liked the taste of it. It felt like a lighter Pepsi. It didn't feel super sweet like normal Pepsi. It's no Royal Crown, but its unique taste/color was great on a hot summer afternoon. An icy glass of Crystal Pepsi slightly watered down by the ice makes the clear drink taste virtually the same as Normal Pepsi... but crystal clear.
Royal Crown cola:
I mentioned it earlier, it's the best soda ever. Sadly, it's a pain in the ass to find. It brings me back to summers at my grandparents when I could get a can and a bag of Amazin' Fruit gummy bears for under a dollar... (I feel old) but, it's been nearly 20 years since I've had an icy can of RC Cola. I know I can theoretically buy online, but I ain't paying $60 for a 12 pack. Especially in Quarantine.
Dunkaroos:
Coolies, cream frosting dip? Delicious sugar rush! Chocolate frosting Graham cookies was the best of them all (IMO). These were great on the go, even if a little messy...
Magic Middles:
Think Dunkaroos but flipped inside out. Cookie outer cover with a delicious fudgy center. These eere insanely delicious when dunked in milk.
Frutsi:
My friends in the US probably have never heard of this one, but I'm sure Latinos have... IIRC it's still available in Mexico. This fruit flavored drink takes me back to my early childhood back in the 80s.
Amazin Fruit gummy bears:
Haribo makes great gummy bears, but Amazin Fruit were juicier. Again, summer, grandparents house, RC Cola less than a dollar...
Orange was the flavor I remember the most.
Well, that's pretty much it. I can't add Gerber's Banana Baby Food, because that's still available. Before anyone asks, no I don't eat it as part of the baby food diet fad. I eat it because I like the flavor of it...
Aug 20, 2020
Considering taking a small break.
Hey... y'know, yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the House of Rants. I wasn't able to publish anything because of writer's block. Yesterday evening had a small surprise with Ultimates. I'm gonna get those reviews done ASAP so I can take a small break from the blog. You might not notice the break, since I'll be able to slowly publish the reviews and make it seem like the almost 1 post a day thing is working. But if I run out of stuff to post, you might notice it.
The reason for the break is mostly due to COVID-19 basically taking a massive dump on global logistics.
No movies to watch and review... though I could catch on some older ones... No new games to play... I'm probably going to get Ghost of Tsushima IF I EVER FIND IT!!
Also, personal life is consuming a bit too much of my time right now. I got called back to my second job and on my first job, a crew member quit, so the remaining members are shouldering exrra responsibilities, which means slightly longer shifts, which make me extra tired and I'm spending most of my free time sleeping to recover. Once I adapt to the new routine, Posts should be going back to normal. Also, with September getting closer, my mood will most likely take a turn for the worse.
So, since I bored you with personal stuff, here's a fan-made Thundercats intro in CGI next to the original
The reason for the break is mostly due to COVID-19 basically taking a massive dump on global logistics.
No movies to watch and review... though I could catch on some older ones... No new games to play... I'm probably going to get Ghost of Tsushima IF I EVER FIND IT!!
Also, personal life is consuming a bit too much of my time right now. I got called back to my second job and on my first job, a crew member quit, so the remaining members are shouldering exrra responsibilities, which means slightly longer shifts, which make me extra tired and I'm spending most of my free time sleeping to recover. Once I adapt to the new routine, Posts should be going back to normal. Also, with September getting closer, my mood will most likely take a turn for the worse.
So, since I bored you with personal stuff, here's a fan-made Thundercats intro in CGI next to the original
Aug 18, 2020
Legend of Korra is not clicking with me the same way Avatar: The Last Airbender did.
And to my haters it's not the Queer protagonist who was in the closet during book 1. I'm nipping this idea right in the bud because, I know they'll try to use my distaste for Noelle Stevenson's bastardization of She-Ra to paint me as multiple -ist and -phobe terms.
Korra is NOT a bad series... so far I'm still on Book One. I started yesterday!! Its writing is OK, but I feel A:TLAB was a bit tighter in the writing. The characters are likable for the most part. I can't stand Amon who, to me feels like a Dollar Store Orochimaru... voiced by the same VA as Orochimaru, which might be why I'm unconsciously linking both characters. Also, he reminds me of Graydon Creed from X-Men. Also the writing feels more CW drama than a show in the A:TLAB universe. I'm hoping for a redemption arc for Korra, because she's a bit of a douche in the few episodes I've seen so far.
The issue that is turning me off from the show is the setting. I know that an Asian-inspired Steampunk pseudo noir world is great for JRPGs and I LOVE THOSE, especially in that kind of setting, but for some reason, to me, the Avatar universe doesn't click with that setting... the show is supposedly 70 years after TLAB but it feels like 300+ years have passed between them.
I hope the show gets better as it goes on, because what I've seen so far feels a bit rough and unpolished when compated to A:TLAB.
Korra is NOT a bad series... so far I'm still on Book One. I started yesterday!! Its writing is OK, but I feel A:TLAB was a bit tighter in the writing. The characters are likable for the most part. I can't stand Amon who, to me feels like a Dollar Store Orochimaru... voiced by the same VA as Orochimaru, which might be why I'm unconsciously linking both characters. Also, he reminds me of Graydon Creed from X-Men. Also the writing feels more CW drama than a show in the A:TLAB universe. I'm hoping for a redemption arc for Korra, because she's a bit of a douche in the few episodes I've seen so far.
The issue that is turning me off from the show is the setting. I know that an Asian-inspired Steampunk pseudo noir world is great for JRPGs and I LOVE THOSE, especially in that kind of setting, but for some reason, to me, the Avatar universe doesn't click with that setting... the show is supposedly 70 years after TLAB but it feels like 300+ years have passed between them.
I hope the show gets better as it goes on, because what I've seen so far feels a bit rough and unpolished when compated to A:TLAB.
Aug 17, 2020
New Marvel Legends wave... Meh incarnate... like a turd in the wind
Another Venom themed Wave... The BAF is stupid as Hell... No, it's not a "Monster Venom" sized Riot... it's
Deadpool in Monster Venom size... yes we get yet another Deadpool. Why? Sure technically it's a Venompool but still it's still a Deadpool... Waste of BAF.
We get a Symbiote Miles.
Can you say Meh? I mean what's that a venomized Spider-Gwen? Oh yes Father it's a Venomized Spider-Gwen.
Maximum Snoozefest here... Can we get something good!?
Oh god what the hell did they do to Morbius!? Please tell me this is not based on alleged pedophile: Jared Leto. I only hope the Classic Morbius head fits on that body to make a Modern Morbius that still looks like Morbius. Or it could work as a custom fodder body for a 90s Kaine. Can I get a bigger from this way that I can keep as-is?
Finally!! Also, those lower legs and forearms could work on a 90s Kaine... nudge nudge wink wink and all that... but we have Phage... all we need is Riot and Agony to finish the team!!
REALLY, another Carnage? With no alternate symbiote weapon hands really Hasbro really? At least the paint job is slightly better... okay that build a figure is split on five figures. Who's the overstocked character that will warm the pegs?
Figures... I find the lack of Tom Hardy head disappointing.
Aside Phage, this entire wave is basically a lot of Meh.
We get a Symbiote Miles.
Aside Phage, this entire wave is basically a lot of Meh.
The internet has ruined the Hunt.
Many, many years and pounds ago, the Hunt was a glorious sport. Back then, I could sport the Hunter's regalia without being too self conscious. I could infiltrate any toy store, make a dash towards the boys section, pick what I wanted, pay for it (usually in coins), and leave.
Of course I was a kid back then and a teen After the Dark Ages. For those who aren't aware, the dark ages are the time period when I was not a collector.
Scalpers existed, but weren't as common as nowadays. The dawn of the Adult Collectors attempting to recapture their childhood by obtaining totems of that era was the beginning of the end. Now, other kids weren't the enemy. Other adults like myself became the enemy. With the improvements in sculpt and articulation, more former kids began to look at toys as something cool and not necessarily childish. "Museum-like displays" of Mint on card toys became a rage. Having the figures stand bext to each other in vanilla poses was popular.
Having dioramas with the figires displayed dramatically and doing aounds while creating said diaplay was frowned upon... guess which style is mine.
Awful case ratios, other adult collectors, scalpers, KB Toys closing didn't help things either...
I know what you're thinking: "Nefty, where does the internet fit in all of this?"
It domesticated us. With a few clicks, items travel all the way to your home with ease. No more waking up at the crack of dawn to stalk a store. No more going at the graveyard shift hours to 24-hour stores to get those freshly placed figures. No need to dash faster than the Hot Wheels resellers. The internet fattened us, dulled our senses...
"But what about the tools, such as brickseek, or blind box guides?"
Yeah those are useful but the scalpers use them as well... not to mention the other collectors.
The hunt USED TO BE EXCITING but now, it's too much of a hassle. I have to admit that finding that Casey Jones Raphael 2 pack a while back was pretty cool. but at the same time heading to a Walmart not finding the Super Shredder, MOTU Origins, the MOTU WWE figures, and other Walmart exclusive really sucks ass. I understand that we currently have an issue with the pandemic, but even before that, the Hunt had begun to lose its appeal to me. (Maybe it has to do with my aversion to driving, or people in general) Probably is that I'm getting old and I'm becoming a curmudgeon.
Don't get me wrong. I still love going to the store to get out the toils and being surprised buy an awesome toy. It's the actor hunting part that I no longer get excited about. I'm tired of going to multiple Walgreens and only finding Magicks, Emma Frosts, and MoonStars. No Cuckoos, no Moonknight, not even stragglers from waves after Smart Hulk.
it's weird the internet made collecting somewhat easier but at the same time somewhat Less Fun... on the other hand the traditional toy Hunt is exciting when one gets to find a trophy. Problem is that most of the time when returns home empty-handed... or with a Mosquitor Funko POP despite Brickseek stating that my closest WalMart HAD MOTUO He-Man.
Of course I was a kid back then and a teen After the Dark Ages. For those who aren't aware, the dark ages are the time period when I was not a collector.
Scalpers existed, but weren't as common as nowadays. The dawn of the Adult Collectors attempting to recapture their childhood by obtaining totems of that era was the beginning of the end. Now, other kids weren't the enemy. Other adults like myself became the enemy. With the improvements in sculpt and articulation, more former kids began to look at toys as something cool and not necessarily childish. "Museum-like displays" of Mint on card toys became a rage. Having the figures stand bext to each other in vanilla poses was popular.
Having dioramas with the figires displayed dramatically and doing aounds while creating said diaplay was frowned upon... guess which style is mine.
Awful case ratios, other adult collectors, scalpers, KB Toys closing didn't help things either...
I know what you're thinking: "Nefty, where does the internet fit in all of this?"
It domesticated us. With a few clicks, items travel all the way to your home with ease. No more waking up at the crack of dawn to stalk a store. No more going at the graveyard shift hours to 24-hour stores to get those freshly placed figures. No need to dash faster than the Hot Wheels resellers. The internet fattened us, dulled our senses...
"But what about the tools, such as brickseek, or blind box guides?"
Yeah those are useful but the scalpers use them as well... not to mention the other collectors.
The hunt USED TO BE EXCITING but now, it's too much of a hassle. I have to admit that finding that Casey Jones Raphael 2 pack a while back was pretty cool. but at the same time heading to a Walmart not finding the Super Shredder, MOTU Origins, the MOTU WWE figures, and other Walmart exclusive really sucks ass. I understand that we currently have an issue with the pandemic, but even before that, the Hunt had begun to lose its appeal to me. (Maybe it has to do with my aversion to driving, or people in general) Probably is that I'm getting old and I'm becoming a curmudgeon.
Don't get me wrong. I still love going to the store to get out the toils and being surprised buy an awesome toy. It's the actor hunting part that I no longer get excited about. I'm tired of going to multiple Walgreens and only finding Magicks, Emma Frosts, and MoonStars. No Cuckoos, no Moonknight, not even stragglers from waves after Smart Hulk.
it's weird the internet made collecting somewhat easier but at the same time somewhat Less Fun... on the other hand the traditional toy Hunt is exciting when one gets to find a trophy. Problem is that most of the time when returns home empty-handed... or with a Mosquitor Funko POP despite Brickseek stating that my closest WalMart HAD MOTUO He-Man.
Aug 15, 2020
Toradora! I still have no idea Why I watched it...
It's weird. I honestly have no clue, what compelled me to watch Toradora! I liked the series, but it's not exactly one that I would've picked to watch. Last Anime I saw before Toradora was Cells at Work and I'm still trying to truly figure out what to make of it... I attempted to watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica. While the series is good, it just didn't click with me. So somehow I landed,on Toradora! Watching the intro reminded me the possibility of a why.
-tell me why?
Ain't nothing but a party!
-Tell me why?
Ain't nothing but a mistake...
-Tell me why?
Taiga was carrying a bokken. So I was half expecting to see some cool swordighting... I was mostly disappointed in that area. All I got is Takazu Ryuji, a sophomore student, who is terribly frightening. He somehow manages to anger Aizasa Taiga, a petite girl who is as fierce as a Tiger. After a small or large mishap... depends on the character, Ryuji and Taiga join forces in order to convince their respective best friends that the other is a perfect dateable person... and that's how Toradora caught me. You probably already guess what's going to happen in the end but despite being a bit predictable it was a fun ride.
-tell me why?
Ain't nothing but a party!
-Tell me why?
Ain't nothing but a mistake...
-Tell me why?
Taiga was carrying a bokken. So I was half expecting to see some cool swordighting... I was mostly disappointed in that area. All I got is Takazu Ryuji, a sophomore student, who is terribly frightening. He somehow manages to anger Aizasa Taiga, a petite girl who is as fierce as a Tiger. After a small or large mishap... depends on the character, Ryuji and Taiga join forces in order to convince their respective best friends that the other is a perfect dateable person... and that's how Toradora caught me. You probably already guess what's going to happen in the end but despite being a bit predictable it was a fun ride.
Imagine a GTA without Lazlow...
Looks like you won't have to... Lazlow Jones has quit Rockstar Games. Lazlow Jones has quit Rockstar Games. Yes, That Lazlow, who happened to be one of the multiple writers Rockstar games had their belt.
He was a DJ/talk show host in pretty much the entire PS2 era games. He was in both HD era ganes and took a minor antagonistic role in GTA V. Also, paired up with Dan Houser leaving Rockstar games, it's 2 big writers they are losing. This kinda worries me with the upcoming GTA 6 game. Without 2 of the best writers Rockstar games had under their belt, the rest of the team, including any newcomers will have to work extra hard.
He was a DJ/talk show host in pretty much the entire PS2 era games. He was in both HD era ganes and took a minor antagonistic role in GTA V. Also, paired up with Dan Houser leaving Rockstar games, it's 2 big writers they are losing. This kinda worries me with the upcoming GTA 6 game. Without 2 of the best writers Rockstar games had under their belt, the rest of the team, including any newcomers will have to work extra hard.
Aug 14, 2020
Lightning collection news and a rant
The Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd 2 pack might ne shipping sooner than expected. Gamestop charged me this morning for it. So after 10,000 years she'll be free... this means I'll need some teenagers with attitude!
Good thing is Hasbro has me covered.
Zeo Ranger V, In Space Yellow, Mighty Morphin' Black are coming... a wingless variant of Yellowdar.
While I don't have pictures of all their accessories and everything they come with alternate civilian head Tommy has his long hair loose and Zack is sporting his dreadlocks. I don't care for Power Rangers in space so I don't know why the yellow ranger has... honestly I feel it's bullshit that we have to get a whole new Goldar just to have the wing last version. with this wave the Billy I have pre-ordered from BigBadToyStore I would complete the original Mighty Morphin team. It sucks that I have to get Zeo Rangers in order to get Rocky, Adam, and Kat. The problem is that Aisha is MIA... unless Hast release planning of making an armored 1990s movie set...
Will we get Tenga Warriors? Don't know why they changed the Tengu name to Tenga... internet connoisseurs understand what I'm saying.
I guess Hasbro is now moving on to Zeo...
We have 3 out of 6 already:
Gold, Blue, and now Red.
I suppose Turbo will be skipped for Dino Thunder...
Good thing is Hasbro has me covered.
Zeo Ranger V, In Space Yellow, Mighty Morphin' Black are coming... a wingless variant of Yellowdar.
Will we get Tenga Warriors? Don't know why they changed the Tengu name to Tenga... internet connoisseurs understand what I'm saying.
I guess Hasbro is now moving on to Zeo...
We have 3 out of 6 already:
Gold, Blue, and now Red.
I suppose Turbo will be skipped for Dino Thunder...
Aug 13, 2020
Odds and ends Aug 13, 2020: NECA cares, Noah Centineo, and stuff...
After the Digital River-esque mess that was the Super Shredder sale. Well, seems like NECA heard the complaints and has sent a gift to those who got a Super Shredder:
It's a one time coupon for the next NECA Store purchase or preorder... funny, Metalhead and the Casey 2pack go live tomorrow for preorder. Also something about flat rate shipping. As much as I complain aabout their QC, I have to praise them when they do good. This is a moment when they did good.
Noah Centineo is bulking up... but I can't picture him as He-Man...
He COULD pull off Adam, but honestly, I can't see He-Man.
Say whatever you want about the 1987 movie, or Lundgren's acting, but Visually speaking, he captured the ESSENCE OF HE-MAN! Hell, he looks more like a bearded Scott Summers than he does He-Man.
Remember Ray Fisher? Now he's claiming that Geoff Johns threatened him after hos accusations of Joss Whedon being "Literally Satan" but with Zero evidence about it. Of course Fisher once again makes the accusation with zero evidence to back his words because Non-Disclosure Agreement as THE excuse... kinda sensing a pattern here. Look, it's no secret that I'm NOT a fan of Geoff Johns, but this smells like more BS from Ray Fisher.
With each vague and unprovable accusation, Fisher is eroding his own credibility.
Noah Centineo is bulking up... but I can't picture him as He-Man...
Say whatever you want about the 1987 movie, or Lundgren's acting, but Visually speaking, he captured the ESSENCE OF HE-MAN! Hell, he looks more like a bearded Scott Summers than he does He-Man.
Remember Ray Fisher? Now he's claiming that Geoff Johns threatened him after hos accusations of Joss Whedon being "Literally Satan" but with Zero evidence about it. Of course Fisher once again makes the accusation with zero evidence to back his words because Non-Disclosure Agreement as THE excuse... kinda sensing a pattern here. Look, it's no secret that I'm NOT a fan of Geoff Johns, but this smells like more BS from Ray Fisher.
With each vague and unprovable accusation, Fisher is eroding his own credibility.
King of Fighters... Am I a fan if I only care about...
Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting? I'm honestly not that into the Ikari Warriors, Psycho Soldiers, Team Kusanagi, Team Yagami, the Orochi stuff, the NESTs stuff, etc.
In my teens I played a lot of KOF 94, 95 and 96 at an arcade... until Marvel Superheroes and Street Fighter Alpha 2 were added. In college, I had a friend with a Neo Geo and he had Fatal Fury 2 and Art of Fighting 2... which I played when we hung out.
The Fatal Fury OVAs also helped on that. The SNES port of Fatal Fury 2, KOF 98 on Dreamcast, CVSNK2 on PS2... KOF14 on PS4... have kept me a bit aware on KOF, but I can't call me a hardcore fan... I'm more of a knowledgeable Casual. Now here comes the horrible truth:
I like the characters, the lore, but I HATE the games!
I should explain this better:
I hate the Single Player mode... for a single reason:
SNK Boss Syndrome.
The cheap way SNK stole 100+ yen from you each play through. In normal battles the AI behaved normally they gave you a winning chance. Once you reach the boss well get ready to waste a lot of yen... for some reason this logic still applies to games and go straight to home consoles and I no longer bound by the yen guzzling from arcade era.
And this is what mainly keeps me as a casual.
In my teens I played a lot of KOF 94, 95 and 96 at an arcade... until Marvel Superheroes and Street Fighter Alpha 2 were added. In college, I had a friend with a Neo Geo and he had Fatal Fury 2 and Art of Fighting 2... which I played when we hung out.
The Fatal Fury OVAs also helped on that. The SNES port of Fatal Fury 2, KOF 98 on Dreamcast, CVSNK2 on PS2... KOF14 on PS4... have kept me a bit aware on KOF, but I can't call me a hardcore fan... I'm more of a knowledgeable Casual. Now here comes the horrible truth:
I like the characters, the lore, but I HATE the games!
I should explain this better:
I hate the Single Player mode... for a single reason:
SNK Boss Syndrome.
The cheap way SNK stole 100+ yen from you each play through. In normal battles the AI behaved normally they gave you a winning chance. Once you reach the boss well get ready to waste a lot of yen... for some reason this logic still applies to games and go straight to home consoles and I no longer bound by the yen guzzling from arcade era.
And this is what mainly keeps me as a casual.
Aug 12, 2020
Snake Mountain is coming yet again...
Honestly, I just want this to be over. I am tired of the whole Snake Mountain drama. It's coming, delayed, now it's coming, nope another delay... so on and so forth. A while back I commented on how Mattel was pushing me out of MOTU... well Super7 kinda contributed tothat in a lesser scale with some of their blunders.
But to be fair on Super7, while their shenanigans contributed to my feelings of being out of touch with MOTU, the whole Snake Mountain is becoming a tangible thing means that once it arrives, I will have to accept the reality that Mom isn't here to share this event. If y'all have read past posts regarding Snake Mountain, you know the backstory. But for those of you who don't here's an abridged version:
My Mom had a hard time finding 80s Snake Mountain and Grayskull and ended up buying a display set from a store.
When she saw the MOTUC Snake Mountain she was adamant on me getting one. She had put some money aside for it before her death. I found the money and put it on a savings account. In an act of stubbornness, I started saving my own money for Snake Mountain... life issies came and went and life forced me to use my Snake Mountain funds and by the time Snake Mountain's preorder was live; I couldn't pay for it by myself.
Mom paid for it from beyond the grave... in a strange way, it feels like I paid an extremely high price for Snake Mountain... in the end she got me Snake Mountain, but I'd rather have Mom...
So yeah, Snake Mountain is a bittersweet victory for me. My reason for wanting the whole drama surrounding Snake Mountain to be over is because I have issues and Snake Mountain seems to trigger joy and sorrow. Every bit of news tears up my heart.
Aug 11, 2020
Looking back on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: How $4.99 changed my life!
Can't remeber the exact date. It was a weekend. I know this because I was with my dad... child of divorced parents. It was 1989, but not sure if this was before or after Batman... All I remember is that we were at a mall that had a Kay Bee Toy and Hobby... The cartoon had aired in the US for a bit, but the Latin American dub hadn't been released. Fun fact: Latin American VA for Michelangelo in season 1 was also the voice of Mr. Miyagi and Hordak. The LatAm VA for Leonardo in Season 1 was the same for Daniel LaRusso, Teenage Gohan, AND Carlton Banks!
The VA for Donatello was Stan Lee in Spider-Man 3.
The VA for Raphael was Zordon and Apollo Creed.
Splinter's VA was Freddy Krueger, Mufasa, Trap Jaw, Chopper, and Man-at-Arms.
April's VA was Bulma, Sailor Mars, and my beloved Glimmer!
Shredder's VA was also Krang's... but he was also Wolverine and Austin Powers.
Rocksteady's VA is the voice of Johnny Cage in the good MK movie, Ken the Eagle (LatAm Dub for G-Force) and Louis Tully in the first dub of Ghostbusters.
Bebop's VA was King Kai, Android 19, and Him (PPG)
I'm losing my point here but, we kinda still have a TMNT/Fresh Douche connection... but that doesn't matter where the story that's just a fun fact I wanted to throw out.
Wave 1 of the toys had come out, but I hadn't truly paid attention until I saw the Wacky Action toys.
Something drew me towards Rock n Roll Michelangelo. I can't tell if it was the vibrant colors, or the tongue sticking out. All I know is that I needed to have that figure. My dad bought it for me. Little did I know that those $5 spent woild change my life. That Rock n Roll Michelangelo fought the few remaining MOTU toys after a Grandmother donated most of my MOTU toys away.
The cartoon received the Latin American dub and I got hooked. The Gap that He-Man had left after he went to outer space was finally filled. Pizza became cooler to eat and toywise, TMNT was the next step after He-Man. Even back then the lines had some similarities.
Weekends with my dad usually meant that I ended up with one or two new Turtles figures. Also, my dad coordinated with the parents of a neighbor when buying TMNT toys to ensure that pur collections complemented each other.
Technically speaking I kinda had two collections: One with my Mom and one with my Dad. Very rarely these two collections crossed over. That few instances they did there were times that I had duplicates of a figure or two. Keeping track of them was a bit of a pain in the ass, bought thanks to that collection crossover at my other grandparents' house SOME survived the "dark ages" when I had the horrible notion that toys were lame. Sadly I couldn't save most of my old toys at my grandparents' house after my grandfather died and my grandmother began suffering from Alzheimer's. I'm sure I had TMNT, Thindercats, Beetlejuice, super powers ET, and Defenders of the Earth that I recall seeing there AFTER the Dark Ages.
Summers at my grandparents house were great. I played a lot with my TMNT toys I also spent a lot of time playing that NES Port of the arcade game, not to mention when my grandma would have to run errands during the day we should have stopped by a pizzeria that had the arcade game. Eating pizza playing Street Fighter 2 Ninja Turtles the arcade game were great times. I could beat the arcade game with less than a dollar. Sadly in 97 the pizzeria removed Ninja Turtles and added MK3. Once again I'm going to be the off topic let me real bad into the topic Ninja Turtles toys.
I did ignore your final waves from the original toy line because they were rather lame. Next Mutation came and went and I ignored them.
Oh... we're at THAT point in time. College era me: dude had eyes for 2 things at that time:
Marvel Legends and 200X MOTU. I was aware of the 2003 Ninja Turtle toy line, but I wasn't drawn to the toys in comparison to the original line. I enjoyed the cartoons and the modern era video games but the toys I wasn't interested in. It wasn't until NECA released the Mirage inspired that I got Back In The Ninja Turtles game. We all know how that story ends, because the ending was after I began writing the house of rants blog, which you're reading now. The fast forward and back to the spin-offs trying to me off from Ninja Turtles until the 2012 series. Rise of the TMNT well the less we talk about it the better.
It seems that I am forgetting one key element here the prime Turtles. I must admit that I didn't have too much of an interaction with the original Eastman and Laird Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles due to the comic being an indie comic. I did manage to actually read the original issue with Casey Jones first appearance... I did also get a chance to read some of the issues during the city at War Arc. Unfortunately most of my main knowledge or other Turtles came from the 1987 cartoon. And to be honest as a kid I wouldn't have liked the original Mirage Turtles. Teenage me on the other hand would have lost the heck out of it... especilly during the "dark ages". I know it sounds kind of bad but Ninja Turtles was kind of my rebound chick after He-Man left me... I'm kind of dreading the moment I have to do ThunderCats
The VA for Donatello was Stan Lee in Spider-Man 3.
The VA for Raphael was Zordon and Apollo Creed.
Splinter's VA was Freddy Krueger, Mufasa, Trap Jaw, Chopper, and Man-at-Arms.
April's VA was Bulma, Sailor Mars, and my beloved Glimmer!
Shredder's VA was also Krang's... but he was also Wolverine and Austin Powers.
Rocksteady's VA is the voice of Johnny Cage in the good MK movie, Ken the Eagle (LatAm Dub for G-Force) and Louis Tully in the first dub of Ghostbusters.
Bebop's VA was King Kai, Android 19, and Him (PPG)
I'm losing my point here but, we kinda still have a TMNT/Fresh Douche connection... but that doesn't matter where the story that's just a fun fact I wanted to throw out.
Wave 1 of the toys had come out, but I hadn't truly paid attention until I saw the Wacky Action toys.
Something drew me towards Rock n Roll Michelangelo. I can't tell if it was the vibrant colors, or the tongue sticking out. All I know is that I needed to have that figure. My dad bought it for me. Little did I know that those $5 spent woild change my life. That Rock n Roll Michelangelo fought the few remaining MOTU toys after a Grandmother donated most of my MOTU toys away.
The cartoon received the Latin American dub and I got hooked. The Gap that He-Man had left after he went to outer space was finally filled. Pizza became cooler to eat and toywise, TMNT was the next step after He-Man. Even back then the lines had some similarities.
Weekends with my dad usually meant that I ended up with one or two new Turtles figures. Also, my dad coordinated with the parents of a neighbor when buying TMNT toys to ensure that pur collections complemented each other.
Technically speaking I kinda had two collections: One with my Mom and one with my Dad. Very rarely these two collections crossed over. That few instances they did there were times that I had duplicates of a figure or two. Keeping track of them was a bit of a pain in the ass, bought thanks to that collection crossover at my other grandparents' house SOME survived the "dark ages" when I had the horrible notion that toys were lame. Sadly I couldn't save most of my old toys at my grandparents' house after my grandfather died and my grandmother began suffering from Alzheimer's. I'm sure I had TMNT, Thindercats, Beetlejuice, super powers ET, and Defenders of the Earth that I recall seeing there AFTER the Dark Ages.
Summers at my grandparents house were great. I played a lot with my TMNT toys I also spent a lot of time playing that NES Port of the arcade game, not to mention when my grandma would have to run errands during the day we should have stopped by a pizzeria that had the arcade game. Eating pizza playing Street Fighter 2 Ninja Turtles the arcade game were great times. I could beat the arcade game with less than a dollar. Sadly in 97 the pizzeria removed Ninja Turtles and added MK3. Once again I'm going to be the off topic let me real bad into the topic Ninja Turtles toys.
I did ignore your final waves from the original toy line because they were rather lame. Next Mutation came and went and I ignored them.
Oh... we're at THAT point in time. College era me: dude had eyes for 2 things at that time:
Marvel Legends and 200X MOTU. I was aware of the 2003 Ninja Turtle toy line, but I wasn't drawn to the toys in comparison to the original line. I enjoyed the cartoons and the modern era video games but the toys I wasn't interested in. It wasn't until NECA released the Mirage inspired that I got Back In The Ninja Turtles game. We all know how that story ends, because the ending was after I began writing the house of rants blog, which you're reading now. The fast forward and back to the spin-offs trying to me off from Ninja Turtles until the 2012 series. Rise of the TMNT well the less we talk about it the better.
It seems that I am forgetting one key element here the prime Turtles. I must admit that I didn't have too much of an interaction with the original Eastman and Laird Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles due to the comic being an indie comic. I did manage to actually read the original issue with Casey Jones first appearance... I did also get a chance to read some of the issues during the city at War Arc. Unfortunately most of my main knowledge or other Turtles came from the 1987 cartoon. And to be honest as a kid I wouldn't have liked the original Mirage Turtles. Teenage me on the other hand would have lost the heck out of it... especilly during the "dark ages". I know it sounds kind of bad but Ninja Turtles was kind of my rebound chick after He-Man left me... I'm kind of dreading the moment I have to do ThunderCats
Aug 10, 2020
Big Daddy Diesel Shredder sale was a nightmare...
NECA had a limited stock of Super Shredders on sale today...
How bad was it?
Mattycollector looked professional compared to this:
12:59 pm EST
Ready at the NECA store site. Already logged to Paypal on my phone.
1:00 pm EST Super Shredder pops up. Click! Add to cart. Click! Checkout... click... click... click... nothing...
Run to my PS4 boot it up. Get on browser. Log in to Paypal. Enter NECA store. Order Super Shredder... Sold Out!
Phone finally goes through, sold out...
I missed out on Big Sexy Shredder...
I even made a meme about it.
Walmart still doesn't have them online... Don't go to ebay... trust me. It's over $100!!
I was about to go to bed defeated, when someone posted on a toy group that they were getting orders through 30 minutes after the sold out. Apparently, they were cancelling bot orders or duplicates and a small amount of Kevin Nashes dripped through. I checked it out:
And apparently my order got through... all I can say is that NECA is a bit insane with that steep shipping price.
It's nice to see that despite the Nightmarish process, NECA is attempting to thwart scalpers and let collectors/fans get their product. It's a long road, but at least they're trying.
How bad was it?
Mattycollector looked professional compared to this:
12:59 pm EST
Ready at the NECA store site. Already logged to Paypal on my phone.
1:00 pm EST Super Shredder pops up. Click! Add to cart. Click! Checkout... click... click... click... nothing...
Run to my PS4 boot it up. Get on browser. Log in to Paypal. Enter NECA store. Order Super Shredder... Sold Out!
Phone finally goes through, sold out...
I missed out on Big Sexy Shredder...
I even made a meme about it.
I was about to go to bed defeated, when someone posted on a toy group that they were getting orders through 30 minutes after the sold out. Apparently, they were cancelling bot orders or duplicates and a small amount of Kevin Nashes dripped through. I checked it out:
It's nice to see that despite the Nightmarish process, NECA is attempting to thwart scalpers and let collectors/fans get their product. It's a long road, but at least they're trying.
Aug 9, 2020
Hmmm... Maybe Mattel still wants my money
Apparently Classics is dead. This is its replacement:
This is likely a "testing the waters limited run".
I'm guessing He-Man, Trap Jaw, Skeletor, Evil Lyn, Man-at-Arms, Teela, Beastman, Adam make this wave.
To be honest, I'm extremely wary about these. My biggest fear is that these are MOTUC but with Origins styled articulation.
I would rather have them using the classics body but with new pieces that reflect the new style. I guess we'll have something more tangible by the time of New York Toy Fair.
This hastily thrown together 2 slide presentation feels like but they also how great the Hasbro GI Joe classified figures we're doing them decided to slapdash a new "MOTUC" based on Revelation...
Mattel now wants to price gouge the hell out of oranges...
The battle armor will now be $20... remember when hemanth release worth $3? well now these vintage wannabes are over 6 times the vintage pricing and are done Far Worse!! The normal figures should have been at best $10 and these so-called Deluxe figures should be $15.
They are also redoing the Landshark for the origins figures.
I'm guessing He-Man, Trap Jaw, Skeletor, Evil Lyn, Man-at-Arms, Teela, Beastman, Adam make this wave.
To be honest, I'm extremely wary about these. My biggest fear is that these are MOTUC but with Origins styled articulation.
I would rather have them using the classics body but with new pieces that reflect the new style. I guess we'll have something more tangible by the time of New York Toy Fair.
This hastily thrown together 2 slide presentation feels like but they also how great the Hasbro GI Joe classified figures we're doing them decided to slapdash a new "MOTUC" based on Revelation...
The battle armor will now be $20... remember when hemanth release worth $3? well now these vintage wannabes are over 6 times the vintage pricing and are done Far Worse!! The normal figures should have been at best $10 and these so-called Deluxe figures should be $15.
They are also redoing the Landshark for the origins figures.
Street Fighter: How did I became a fan?
Have you ever wondered "Why am I a fan of x?" I have, especially now that I'm getting closer to Mid-Life Crisis era. There are some things that are easy to explain like say He-Man: it was my first toyline and the Filmation cartoon hd a huge influence on me as a child. Legend of Zelda, It vexed me as a child, but the DIC cartoon made me have some appreciation for it. And it wasn't until Link's Awakening where my English skills were good enough to Master the Legend. Street Fighter is a peculiar one. I wasn't a fan of Fighting Games until Street Fighter II... to be fair the genre didn't truly explode until Street Fighter II.
How did I became a fan if I didn't care about the genre?
I wasn't very interested at first. I avoided playing it for some time, until I simply couldn't weasel my way out... I want to slap 10 year old me for being such a wuss.
So, I got to the character select screen:
OK so we have a Daniel-san-like dude, a surfer Johnny Lawrence dude, Sumo guy, girl (eww!), creepy monster, white Mr.T, Duke (GiJoe) with a weird hairdo, and Mola Ram... 10 year old me went with "Daniel-san" and got his ass kicked HARD by the creepy monster. IIRC, Blanka starred in a few nightmares of mine. Saw the game at Time Out and Dhalsim kicked my ass... Nightmares of him and Blanka haunted my 10-year old self. As I started to "git gud" the nightmares were about the gay man in a Jason Mask trying to stab me with his Wolverine claw.
By the time I was eleven, I had gotten better at Street Fighter 2 and was able to beat the game. The nightmares were memories of the past. Ryu became my favorite character and go-to guy when playing. When Super Street Fighter 2 came out, I had become a full-fledged Street Fighter 2 fan. Over 90% of my drawings were either TMNT or Street Fighter II related.
I recently have been trying to reestablish a relationship with my old man. He commented that he had kept for a few years a couple of my tween era art until for some reason he threw then away. It's a shame, because I would've liked to see it. I know that compared to many artists it wouldn't be good but I don't have any formal training and I had an OK abilitry to draw. I know some of you have seen some sketches I've done an older it came from the toy chest videos and some quick Doodles that I've done ask references to explain some things. But there's a part of me that would have liked to see how much I have improved. In fact that conversation was the thing that sparked this rant. the police station came and eventually I got my hands on Street Fighter Alpha 2 gold and Super Street Fighter 2. Hay cancelara en Joy that game and eventually PlayStation tu cama Street Fighter anniversary Edition Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Street Fighter 3.
If I'm being brutally honest I played more of Super Street Fighter 2 turbo than the Street Fighter 3 game.
I've commented add-on switch I got ultimate Street Fighter 2 Turbo on the street fighter Collection Games. And the reason is because they have a version of Street Fighter 2.
and since Super Street Fighter 2 turbo is one of the games that I Rely Upon when I want to have a familiar and predictable experience in gaming, I may have created some attachment to it. Unlike Metal Gear Solid Final Fantasy 7 or shenmue Street Fighter 2 I can take care of it in it under half an hour. This makes it a bite-sized nostalgic experience, that can give me some sense of stability when I'm not feeling that well emotionally and don't want to watch 80s TV.
While I Like Mortal Kombat, I prefer Street Fighter 2. Gameplay in SF feels more balanced than in MK. The difficulty feels constant in Street Fighter vs the mostly easy gameplay until you reach the bosses in MK (digitized sprite era) where you need to become a spammer to win...
But in all fairness, Street Fighter has another ace in the hole:
Raúl Juliá
Yes, the Other media adaptations: while technically speaking Mortal Kombat is the better movie, it's a bit less memorable than Street Fighter. Sure, Aussie Kano, Johnny Cage's sunglasses, catchy techno song, and Cary Hiroyuki Tanaka's performance as Shang Tsung are Memorable they pale in comparison to Raul Julia's Bison:
The man carried the whole film while dying!! That's badass!
Take this less popular scene: (I know the Biblical and Tuesday scenes are more popular)
You can see how devastated Bison is by the news of Guile's death. The admiration he has for his opponent and how he takes it over the top without hamming it up too much.
So, long story short:
Memorable characters, addictive gameplay, a disastrous movie whose antagonist made it a delightful experience that was burnt deep into my heart.
How did I became a fan if I didn't care about the genre?
I wasn't very interested at first. I avoided playing it for some time, until I simply couldn't weasel my way out... I want to slap 10 year old me for being such a wuss.
So, I got to the character select screen:
OK so we have a Daniel-san-like dude, a surfer Johnny Lawrence dude, Sumo guy, girl (eww!), creepy monster, white Mr.T, Duke (GiJoe) with a weird hairdo, and Mola Ram... 10 year old me went with "Daniel-san" and got his ass kicked HARD by the creepy monster. IIRC, Blanka starred in a few nightmares of mine. Saw the game at Time Out and Dhalsim kicked my ass... Nightmares of him and Blanka haunted my 10-year old self. As I started to "git gud" the nightmares were about the gay man in a Jason Mask trying to stab me with his Wolverine claw.
By the time I was eleven, I had gotten better at Street Fighter 2 and was able to beat the game. The nightmares were memories of the past. Ryu became my favorite character and go-to guy when playing. When Super Street Fighter 2 came out, I had become a full-fledged Street Fighter 2 fan. Over 90% of my drawings were either TMNT or Street Fighter II related.
I recently have been trying to reestablish a relationship with my old man. He commented that he had kept for a few years a couple of my tween era art until for some reason he threw then away. It's a shame, because I would've liked to see it. I know that compared to many artists it wouldn't be good but I don't have any formal training and I had an OK abilitry to draw. I know some of you have seen some sketches I've done an older it came from the toy chest videos and some quick Doodles that I've done ask references to explain some things. But there's a part of me that would have liked to see how much I have improved. In fact that conversation was the thing that sparked this rant. the police station came and eventually I got my hands on Street Fighter Alpha 2 gold and Super Street Fighter 2. Hay cancelara en Joy that game and eventually PlayStation tu cama Street Fighter anniversary Edition Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Street Fighter 3.
If I'm being brutally honest I played more of Super Street Fighter 2 turbo than the Street Fighter 3 game.
I've commented add-on switch I got ultimate Street Fighter 2 Turbo on the street fighter Collection Games. And the reason is because they have a version of Street Fighter 2.
and since Super Street Fighter 2 turbo is one of the games that I Rely Upon when I want to have a familiar and predictable experience in gaming, I may have created some attachment to it. Unlike Metal Gear Solid Final Fantasy 7 or shenmue Street Fighter 2 I can take care of it in it under half an hour. This makes it a bite-sized nostalgic experience, that can give me some sense of stability when I'm not feeling that well emotionally and don't want to watch 80s TV.
While I Like Mortal Kombat, I prefer Street Fighter 2. Gameplay in SF feels more balanced than in MK. The difficulty feels constant in Street Fighter vs the mostly easy gameplay until you reach the bosses in MK (digitized sprite era) where you need to become a spammer to win...
But in all fairness, Street Fighter has another ace in the hole:
Raúl Juliá
Yes, the Other media adaptations: while technically speaking Mortal Kombat is the better movie, it's a bit less memorable than Street Fighter. Sure, Aussie Kano, Johnny Cage's sunglasses, catchy techno song, and Cary Hiroyuki Tanaka's performance as Shang Tsung are Memorable they pale in comparison to Raul Julia's Bison:
The man carried the whole film while dying!! That's badass!
Take this less popular scene: (I know the Biblical and Tuesday scenes are more popular)
You can see how devastated Bison is by the news of Guile's death. The admiration he has for his opponent and how he takes it over the top without hamming it up too much.
So, long story short:
Memorable characters, addictive gameplay, a disastrous movie whose antagonist made it a delightful experience that was burnt deep into my heart.
Aug 7, 2020
The infamous Trolls Toy: a rant
You've heard about the Hasbro Singing and Giggling Trolls World Tour toy that has enraged morons, Karens, a tiny group of parents, claiming the dumbass theory that Hasbro purposely made the doll to groom kids.
No. Hasbro isn't going to risk their company by doing that. This is nothing more that an unfortunate design choice that fell through the cracls as the company raced to have licensed movie tie-in product ready for a deadline.
Yes, the figure has an unfortunate button on her crotch, but it's not a sinister thing. It's nothing more than an action feature not fully thought out. These things happen constantly: Mattel's Nimbus 2000 from their Harry Potter line in the early 2000s.
There's the Oozinator... let's see what else?
Me Tarzan... Me fap!
Nants igonyama bagithi Baba
ibhubesi lengonyama lidlwengulwa imfene
(Father, is that a Lion? The lion cub is bwing raped by a baboon)
As you can see both Tarzan and Simba where victims of not well thought-out action features. That's the case with this Trolls doll people might argue that they could have put the bottom somewhere else and it would have worked.
They are not taking into consideration many things regarding toy design. I'm not an expert bought since I've been most of my life tinkering with toys I have a bit more experience than the average mom and dad who don't deal with toys constantly.
People have suggested that the button could've been on the back of her legs. No they couldn't. The legs are articulated and because of this articulation they couldn't put the button there. The figure already has the soundboard near her belly because there is another button on the belly. Having the button on the legs means having to pass the wire through the leg all the way to the belly... the leg articulation when abused will eventually break the wires. Putting the button and the soundboard on the leg would probably have added some stability issues for the doll. Have they moved the bottom a little bit to the back it would be closer to the doll's butt and that would bring a couple of additional problems. The complaints on the bottom being in a No-No place would still remain. Then there's the possibility that the button would interfere with the leg articulation. Also it could create a weird somewhat heart-shaped button and that would cause people to freak out. No; putting the button on the back wouldn't work either.
To me, this seems, like as I mentioned earlier, a rushed toy that wasn't fully thought out and rush to meet the tie-in deadline. This is the one overreaction by people who see pedophiles everywhere.
While, yeah, misusing the doll can be very awkward, but it is NOT part of a pedophile ring that is using toys to groom kids. The button's unfortunate placement was based on cost-cutting measures.
No. Hasbro isn't going to risk their company by doing that. This is nothing more that an unfortunate design choice that fell through the cracls as the company raced to have licensed movie tie-in product ready for a deadline.
There's the Oozinator... let's see what else?
Me Tarzan... Me fap!
Nants igonyama bagithi Baba
ibhubesi lengonyama lidlwengulwa imfene
(Father, is that a Lion? The lion cub is bwing raped by a baboon)
As you can see both Tarzan and Simba where victims of not well thought-out action features. That's the case with this Trolls doll people might argue that they could have put the bottom somewhere else and it would have worked.
They are not taking into consideration many things regarding toy design. I'm not an expert bought since I've been most of my life tinkering with toys I have a bit more experience than the average mom and dad who don't deal with toys constantly.
To me, this seems, like as I mentioned earlier, a rushed toy that wasn't fully thought out and rush to meet the tie-in deadline. This is the one overreaction by people who see pedophiles everywhere.
While, yeah, misusing the doll can be very awkward, but it is NOT part of a pedophile ring that is using toys to groom kids. The button's unfortunate placement was based on cost-cutting measures.
Aug 6, 2020
Top 20 Disney Characters who I would most likely buy if Super7 made them.
I know my reaction to the Disney Ultimates was lukewarm at best. No I will try to give a positive spin to that line I'll try to figure out which characters would tempt me to buy them. The list will not be made from worst to best just in the order they come out of my mind; they characters where it will not simply be from Disney animated movies. There will be other sources but it will not include acquired things like Star Wars or Marvel...
20: Launchpad McQuack Vintage version:
I have to make this very distinction because there is a newer version of Ducktales. The Launchpad I want this the one from the 80s and 90s and it's a very obvious reason:
19: Darkwing Duck:
Come on you were supposed to expect this one with the a character in the number 20 spot. You can't ask for Robin without a Batman. Obviously you have been that you are asking for a lunch but I said you can pay him with DuckTales characters Darkwing or gizmoduck... also Darkwing Duck is a nice character for super7 since they could do a Negaduck repaint.
18: Timon and Pumbaa:
Hakuna Matata bitches!! so here's the deal I want a rather large Pumba because their theoretical Simba I'm thinking of would be the size of MOTUC Battle Lion. Also would like to see some articulation and Pumbaa and maybe a couple off barely articulated Timons. ( normal Timon, Pumba riding Timon, and last but not least luau- Timon) the accessories would be slimy and satisfying.
17: Adult Simba:
What do you mean I would be getting a second one to paint bank for Clawdeen? you're wrong I would be getting the single Simba then I would take my SH Figuarts Leonardo, my custom 200X He-Man, and have them ride Simba... obviously I'm making a Jimmy Flinders reference... also super7 could save a lot from the Simba buck and add a new head for Mufasa...
16: Max Goof:
You probably know where this is going it's going to be alarm set up for a reference to a joke and you'd be correct!
15:Goof Troop Goofy:
If you thought the whole Goofy having sex thing watch to set up a for my joke you'd be totally wrong! That's part of it! My job involves the character in number 14 and a diamond select figure.
14: Quack Pack Donald:
Okay so now you may guess where I'm going to be going with this joke. Both Donald and Goofy wearing normal civilian clothing and not their traditional outfits. It would be almost as if they visited another world... Hit it!
Yes I just suggested wasting $135 for a Kingdom Hearts joke... How to recover the sweetest Dream would be Great companion to Kingdom hearts figures.
13: Scar:
If I mentioned adding Simba we kind of need a Scar...
I don't think I really need to explain why adding Scar is important... maybe we could get like a young Simba with Scar... If Adult Simba comes with an alternate Mufasa head... Long Live The King!!
12: Stitch:
If you think about it this is another great character for super7 to make because he has reaping potential in the shape of Leroy. Also having the full alien Berry and band dog disguise variant it's a nice way to re-release him.
11: Goliath:
I've mentioned the Gargoyles a couple of times in some posts. Seriously, A MOTUC COMPATIBLE GOLIATH... I rest my case!
10: El Capitan:
One of the freakiest/best villains in the 80s Ducktales series... wait, he was played by Pooh!?
Heck this would be one of those rare instances where I'll take a cloth Coat on a figure...
9: Scrooge McDuck: 80s Ducktales version:
For Scrooge I must emphasize the 80s DuckTales version because classic Scrooge wears a red coat the recent DuckTales.
8: Winnie the Pooh:
I honestly had a hard time here because if I want Pooh but I kind of want the to make a gummi bears reference seeing that Jim Cummings has been referenced in this list a couple times. Now my issue is which Pooh should I add?
traditional Pooh, or
Live Action Pooh?
7:Jasmine from the bad Aladdin movie:
I mentioned the live-action version because that way they be closer and scale to Classics and I could used to characters as generic people... I can't do that with the animated versions and at the end of the day I'm looking more for MOTUC compatible stuff than anything else.
6:Aladdin from the bad Aladdin movie:
like I said was Jasmine that's the reason why he's here and don't worry I'm not going to ask for Will Smith... August has come and I don't want to entangle him in one of my lists...
5: Mulan from the dishonorable movie:
Dishonor on your family, dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow and all that. Again I just want her to make her a different character within MOTU classics.
4:Beast:
He would look so badass! Also, yes, if he were to come out of the Toy Chest, Prince Adam jokes would be made...
3: Gaston from Beauty and the Beast:
Some characters need to be paired up against their villain. I know that Belle would have made more sense with the Beast, but she's not as impressive as Gaston.
2: Ned Land from 20000 leagues under the sea:
Disney's greatest live action movie of all time deserves some recognition.
Before I reveal the Number 1 character, who I'm probably sure you suspect the identity of this character, here are some Honorable mentions:
-Zummi Gummi
-Elsa
-Genie
-Jafar
-Frollo
-Pocahontas
-Eilonwy
-Bernard and Bianca
-Lady and the Tramp (with Spaghetti)
-Mary Poppins
Now for the Number 1 choice... drumroll please!
You KNEW this was coming. She WAS a favorite topic at the House of Rants... Disneyfied Jem Knockoff: Hannah Montana!! The hair pieces would be exchangeable as well as the heads that way you can have both Miley and Hannah.
20: Launchpad McQuack Vintage version:
I have to make this very distinction because there is a newer version of Ducktales. The Launchpad I want this the one from the 80s and 90s and it's a very obvious reason:
19: Darkwing Duck:
Come on you were supposed to expect this one with the a character in the number 20 spot. You can't ask for Robin without a Batman. Obviously you have been that you are asking for a lunch but I said you can pay him with DuckTales characters Darkwing or gizmoduck... also Darkwing Duck is a nice character for super7 since they could do a Negaduck repaint.
18: Timon and Pumbaa:
Hakuna Matata bitches!! so here's the deal I want a rather large Pumba because their theoretical Simba I'm thinking of would be the size of MOTUC Battle Lion. Also would like to see some articulation and Pumbaa and maybe a couple off barely articulated Timons. ( normal Timon, Pumba riding Timon, and last but not least luau- Timon) the accessories would be slimy and satisfying.
17: Adult Simba:
What do you mean I would be getting a second one to paint bank for Clawdeen? you're wrong I would be getting the single Simba then I would take my SH Figuarts Leonardo, my custom 200X He-Man, and have them ride Simba... obviously I'm making a Jimmy Flinders reference... also super7 could save a lot from the Simba buck and add a new head for Mufasa...
16: Max Goof:
You probably know where this is going it's going to be alarm set up for a reference to a joke and you'd be correct!
15:Goof Troop Goofy:
If you thought the whole Goofy having sex thing watch to set up a for my joke you'd be totally wrong! That's part of it! My job involves the character in number 14 and a diamond select figure.
14: Quack Pack Donald:
Okay so now you may guess where I'm going to be going with this joke. Both Donald and Goofy wearing normal civilian clothing and not their traditional outfits. It would be almost as if they visited another world... Hit it!
Yes I just suggested wasting $135 for a Kingdom Hearts joke... How to recover the sweetest Dream would be Great companion to Kingdom hearts figures.
13: Scar:
If I mentioned adding Simba we kind of need a Scar...
I don't think I really need to explain why adding Scar is important... maybe we could get like a young Simba with Scar... If Adult Simba comes with an alternate Mufasa head... Long Live The King!!
12: Stitch:
If you think about it this is another great character for super7 to make because he has reaping potential in the shape of Leroy. Also having the full alien Berry and band dog disguise variant it's a nice way to re-release him.
11: Goliath:
I've mentioned the Gargoyles a couple of times in some posts. Seriously, A MOTUC COMPATIBLE GOLIATH... I rest my case!
10: El Capitan:
One of the freakiest/best villains in the 80s Ducktales series... wait, he was played by Pooh!?
Heck this would be one of those rare instances where I'll take a cloth Coat on a figure...
9: Scrooge McDuck: 80s Ducktales version:
For Scrooge I must emphasize the 80s DuckTales version because classic Scrooge wears a red coat the recent DuckTales.
8: Winnie the Pooh:
I honestly had a hard time here because if I want Pooh but I kind of want the to make a gummi bears reference seeing that Jim Cummings has been referenced in this list a couple times. Now my issue is which Pooh should I add?
traditional Pooh, or
Live Action Pooh?
7:Jasmine from the bad Aladdin movie:
I mentioned the live-action version because that way they be closer and scale to Classics and I could used to characters as generic people... I can't do that with the animated versions and at the end of the day I'm looking more for MOTUC compatible stuff than anything else.
6:Aladdin from the bad Aladdin movie:
like I said was Jasmine that's the reason why he's here and don't worry I'm not going to ask for Will Smith... August has come and I don't want to entangle him in one of my lists...
5: Mulan from the dishonorable movie:
Dishonor on your family, dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow and all that. Again I just want her to make her a different character within MOTU classics.
4:Beast:
He would look so badass! Also, yes, if he were to come out of the Toy Chest, Prince Adam jokes would be made...
3: Gaston from Beauty and the Beast:
Some characters need to be paired up against their villain. I know that Belle would have made more sense with the Beast, but she's not as impressive as Gaston.
2: Ned Land from 20000 leagues under the sea:
Disney's greatest live action movie of all time deserves some recognition.
Before I reveal the Number 1 character, who I'm probably sure you suspect the identity of this character, here are some Honorable mentions:
-Zummi Gummi
-Elsa
-Genie
-Jafar
-Frollo
-Pocahontas
-Eilonwy
-Bernard and Bianca
-Lady and the Tramp (with Spaghetti)
-Mary Poppins
Now for the Number 1 choice... drumroll please!
You KNEW this was coming. She WAS a favorite topic at the House of Rants... Disneyfied Jem Knockoff: Hannah Montana!! The hair pieces would be exchangeable as well as the heads that way you can have both Miley and Hannah.
Aug 5, 2020
Super7 news: Turtles, Thundercats, Disney
The Ultimates TMNT wave 1 started shipping a few days ago. I just got my shipping notice. So, we're getting closer to see them out of the Toy Chest!!
But not only that: THUNDERCATS ARE ON THE MOVE, THUNDERCATS ARE LOOSE! THEY ARE COMING ON A BOAT. THEN TO CUSTOMS DUDE! THUNDER THUNDER THINDER THUNDERCATS!!
Yes, they're FINALLY coming: Wave 1 is supppsed to start shipping out in the next 10-14 days approximately. Adter close to a year, they're FINALLY reaching us. Since wave 1 of Thundercats is literally remakes of the Mattel figures, comparisons between them will be made by most reviewers. Wave 2 will be the truly interesting one: Mumm-Ra the Everloving, Tygra...
Disney Ultimates was the surprise wave this month.
The figures are:
Prince John, from Disney's Robin Hood.
Pinocchio, from Disney's Pinocchio
Mickey, the Sorcerer's apprentice from Fantasia.
They look kinda nice, buuuuuuut, I won't be getting them.
Sure, they have accessories, but they look rather unposeable. Out of the 3 Prince John is the best. I hope those who are into these can enjoy them.
But not only that: THUNDERCATS ARE ON THE MOVE, THUNDERCATS ARE LOOSE! THEY ARE COMING ON A BOAT. THEN TO CUSTOMS DUDE! THUNDER THUNDER THINDER THUNDERCATS!!
Yes, they're FINALLY coming: Wave 1 is supppsed to start shipping out in the next 10-14 days approximately. Adter close to a year, they're FINALLY reaching us. Since wave 1 of Thundercats is literally remakes of the Mattel figures, comparisons between them will be made by most reviewers. Wave 2 will be the truly interesting one: Mumm-Ra the Everloving, Tygra...
Disney Ultimates was the surprise wave this month.
The figures are:
Prince John, from Disney's Robin Hood.
Pinocchio, from Disney's Pinocchio
Mickey, the Sorcerer's apprentice from Fantasia.
Sure, they have accessories, but they look rather unposeable. Out of the 3 Prince John is the best. I hope those who are into these can enjoy them.
Seth Rogen's TMNT: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Seth Rogen, yes THAT Seth Rogen, is making a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? That is the question:
Can Rogen make a better TMNT than the previous Michael Bay produced movies?
Yes.
Am I afraid of Seth Rogen focusing WAY TOO MUCH the TEENAGE aspect of TMNT and turn it into a stoner comedy?
Yes.
I get that many movies don't touch the Teenage aspect, because they are Teen Soldiers in Splinter's revenge quest. Raised as ninja, the Turtles wouldn't be ordinary teens. In fact, their behavior would be closer to a Japanese family than American teens. Splinter lived with the Hamatos (or was a Hamato depending on continuity) so they would be different to the type of teenagers Rogen is thinking about...
But he has a point. THEY ARE TEENS and they probably had access to American Media, being raised under New York. So, the dichotomy between Splinter's Child soldiers and "normal American teens" would be an interesting way to look at the TMNT... it could bring a new layer to the character dynamics.
Leo is content with being Splinter's Child soldier because he's good at it. Meanwhile, Raph, who is also good at being a Child soldier, yearns for the freedom they've observed from the sewers. This causes them to butt heads with each other, and then add the sibling rivalry angle. Mikey would be Seth Rogen turtleized. You know, mr. Chill, laid back dude. Donnie, well, his freedom lies in technology.
What I'm trying to say is that Rogen needs someone to keep him in check, to stop him from going Full Rogen.
A somewhat subdued Rogen and a team of people who UNDERSTAND TMNT and we could have a great movie.
I really hope this doesn't suck...
Can Rogen make a better TMNT than the previous Michael Bay produced movies?
Yes.
Am I afraid of Seth Rogen focusing WAY TOO MUCH the TEENAGE aspect of TMNT and turn it into a stoner comedy?
Yes.
I get that many movies don't touch the Teenage aspect, because they are Teen Soldiers in Splinter's revenge quest. Raised as ninja, the Turtles wouldn't be ordinary teens. In fact, their behavior would be closer to a Japanese family than American teens. Splinter lived with the Hamatos (or was a Hamato depending on continuity) so they would be different to the type of teenagers Rogen is thinking about...
But he has a point. THEY ARE TEENS and they probably had access to American Media, being raised under New York. So, the dichotomy between Splinter's Child soldiers and "normal American teens" would be an interesting way to look at the TMNT... it could bring a new layer to the character dynamics.
Leo is content with being Splinter's Child soldier because he's good at it. Meanwhile, Raph, who is also good at being a Child soldier, yearns for the freedom they've observed from the sewers. This causes them to butt heads with each other, and then add the sibling rivalry angle. Mikey would be Seth Rogen turtleized. You know, mr. Chill, laid back dude. Donnie, well, his freedom lies in technology.
What I'm trying to say is that Rogen needs someone to keep him in check, to stop him from going Full Rogen.
A somewhat subdued Rogen and a team of people who UNDERSTAND TMNT and we could have a great movie.
I really hope this doesn't suck...
Aug 4, 2020
Hentai: The Rant
Yes, you're reading correctly. I'm going to rant about hentai. I like hentai... This should be no secret, since I've snuck in a few references to iy in the past.
Am I part of the Avengers Initiative now?
What is hentai?
Pornography but anime style... Japanese cartoon porn.
This goes way back into the 90s, when I was an impressionable teen before the internet. Back then the sailor scouts transforming made my pants a bit tighter. Semi censored anime Fan service on Sci-fi channel made weekends a bit awkward.
Renting edgy 90s anime didn't help.
That Chun Li shower scene was a bit too uncomfortable with a parental unit walking past the living room.
Then I discovered hentai... a couple of friends somehow got hold of some anime vhs. Copies were made. I can't remember which I saw first: Variable Geo, La Blue Girl, or Injuu Seisen. I do recall that an underclassman had original copies of Doukyuusei: Natsu no Owari Ni. I remember these because the VHS tapes were RED!! And these were the ones that started it all. A combination of PK anime with a little bit too much fan service, extreme tentacle action, and vanilla harem.
Now I've seen waay too much hentai... futa, yaoi, yuri, etc. Been there, done that. Heck, drunk me has bought copious amounts of hentai online. I have the DVDs and BluRays to prove it. So here's my advice don't get drunk or you'll spend $200 on anime porn... 90s hentai can be very expensive. That's the only reason I don't own La Blue Girl yet.
You're probably wondering what's my point. I'm getting to it.
Some moronic politician from Florida is equating Dragon ball Zetto to hentai.
This pisses me off to no end: How can you call screaming monkey men who like to punch the crap out of each other porn? How dare you!?
Hentai is a wonderful genre... sure you get some that have a paper thin plot to pretend they're not a sex romp. Others, despite having a paper thin plot to pretend they're not a sex romp, have an INTERESTING PLOT!! They even make you CARE!! About the characters. Others (these are the rarest) are so good in the story that you could literally remove the sex scenes and have a kickass anime. Not to mention that plenty of standard anime genres can be used as the foundation for a hentai...
Let's say: Magical Girl... can be turned into a hentai.
Isekai: Easy hentai.
Horror: Creepy hentai
Slice of life: What do you think most vanilla hentai is based on?
Sentai: dude that's one English letter away from Hentai.
Real pornography does not give you such variety. Western Animation is still treated as a children's thing... while Japan can be ass backwards wiith their genital pixels, they are far ahead in making hentai a multi-genre thing. It also stimulates both the reptile and mamal brains...
...
Am I part of the Avengers Initiative now?
What is hentai?
Pornography but anime style... Japanese cartoon porn.
This goes way back into the 90s, when I was an impressionable teen before the internet. Back then the sailor scouts transforming made my pants a bit tighter. Semi censored anime Fan service on Sci-fi channel made weekends a bit awkward.
Renting edgy 90s anime didn't help.
That Chun Li shower scene was a bit too uncomfortable with a parental unit walking past the living room.
Then I discovered hentai... a couple of friends somehow got hold of some anime vhs. Copies were made. I can't remember which I saw first: Variable Geo, La Blue Girl, or Injuu Seisen. I do recall that an underclassman had original copies of Doukyuusei: Natsu no Owari Ni. I remember these because the VHS tapes were RED!! And these were the ones that started it all. A combination of PK anime with a little bit too much fan service, extreme tentacle action, and vanilla harem.
Now I've seen waay too much hentai... futa, yaoi, yuri, etc. Been there, done that. Heck, drunk me has bought copious amounts of hentai online. I have the DVDs and BluRays to prove it. So here's my advice don't get drunk or you'll spend $200 on anime porn... 90s hentai can be very expensive. That's the only reason I don't own La Blue Girl yet.
You're probably wondering what's my point. I'm getting to it.
Some moronic politician from Florida is equating Dragon ball Zetto to hentai.
This pisses me off to no end: How can you call screaming monkey men who like to punch the crap out of each other porn? How dare you!?
Hentai is a wonderful genre... sure you get some that have a paper thin plot to pretend they're not a sex romp. Others, despite having a paper thin plot to pretend they're not a sex romp, have an INTERESTING PLOT!! They even make you CARE!! About the characters. Others (these are the rarest) are so good in the story that you could literally remove the sex scenes and have a kickass anime. Not to mention that plenty of standard anime genres can be used as the foundation for a hentai...
Let's say: Magical Girl... can be turned into a hentai.
Isekai: Easy hentai.
Horror: Creepy hentai
Slice of life: What do you think most vanilla hentai is based on?
Sentai: dude that's one English letter away from Hentai.
Real pornography does not give you such variety. Western Animation is still treated as a children's thing... while Japan can be ass backwards wiith their genital pixels, they are far ahead in making hentai a multi-genre thing. It also stimulates both the reptile and mamal brains...
...
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