5 Reasons to Start - Godzilla

Welcome to a new series of articles I had the idea for whilst trying to get a friend to give Godzilla Minus One a go. Basically, each of these is a short list of reasons that getting into a franchise, even a sprawling one, might be worth the commitment of time. Personally, the big one for me is One Piece, a series so long (and still getting longer at the time of writing) that I honestly feel like starting is a massive commitment that may never be worth the investment of time. To start this series off, we're going to the top of the heap, the king of the monsters himself, Godzilla.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Godzilla. From my first few glimpses on the SBS Wednesday Cult Movie through to the Monsterverse and Minus One, the King of the Monsters is one of my favourite pop culture fixtures and rarely fails to be entertaining. More than that, there's almost a piece of Godzilla media for every occasion, from the body-horror and intrigue of Shin Godzilla to the child-focused films of the 1970s that play for laughs. However, Godzilla can also be seen as a bit twee, silly and just a couple of stuntmen in rubber suits slapping each other. To that end, here are five quick reasons that it's worthwhile diving into the world of Godzilla.


1. The new stuff is really fucking good

I feel like this is something that warrants pointing out, but in the past decade or so, Godzilla has become a quality brand. From the award-winning Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One, through to the just-for-fun and well-realised Monsterverse entries like Godzilla II King of the Monsters and Kong Skull Island, Godzilla has never been better. Godzilla is quality viewing now, with big ideas, big action and plenty to engage your brain with as well as the little kid inside that likes explosions. Jump on Godzilla Singular Point next time you want a "smart" Sci-Fi series, or Shin Godzilla if you want a political thriller, you might be pleasantly surprised.


2. Slappin' Theme Song

The King of the Monsters has a king of a theme song and it's time we acknowledged that. This theme is so iconic, it's barely changed in over 60 years and it just keep coming back. Seriously, the 'Godzilla Theme' hits so hard I'd put it up against Star Wars, Superman, Lord of the Rings or anything Hollywood has put out. Once you're hooked into the big G, that opening string will raise the hair on your neck like nothing else. Godzilla doesn't need an updated theme because they got it so right the first time, it's scary.


3. It's a big cultural thing

Godzilla is a big deal in Japan, and not just as an entertainment property. The King is an official cultural ambassador, has been granted citizenship and even appears on currency from time to time. If you are at all interested in Japan as a culture, beyond the media and cliches, then it's probably worth having some Godzilla rattling around your brain. From the historical elements of some films, to the time-capsules that the Showra era has become, Godzilla has changed as his country has changed and it can be fascinating to see. There are versions of Godzilla for small children, model kits, toys, novels and so much more that help inform the Western viewer of just how the King of the Monsters is so important to the Japanese.


4. Ease into subtitles

For many, subtitled media can be a real challenge to enjoy. Trying to follow the action while reading the translated text is something of a skill, and if one doesn't acquire it, they can miss out on quite a great deal of quality entertainment. Many of the Godzilla films from the 1970s and 80s are pretty light-on for plot, so there's not a lot to miss during the exciting parts. The big Kaiju fights also provide a nice visual break from the subtitles so the entire viewing experience doesn't need to be reading if that's something you have struggled with. Also, who doesn't love a good monster fight? Isn't that worth a little reading?


5. It never ends...

It's fairly obvious that, at this point, Godzilla isn't meaningfully going away in the near future. I know long series can be daunting (I'm still yet to start One Piece), but as not every part of Godzilla is homogeneous, you can jump in just about anywhere and pick it up. You can watch a little of the King, leave it for years, and there's more to come back to. I'm not the biggest Godzilla fan in the world, but I can keep up and always enjoy when there's something new to check out, but it never feels like a chore. I have plenty of Godzilla left to see, if I ever do see it all, but I know there's something new, or at least new to me, if I go looking. I like franchises like that, where I can dip back in whenever I like, and I'm hoping you will too.

Superhero Media: Iron Fist - Season 2

Finally, we're done with the Netflix Marvel experiment, and although I still defend the first season, Iron Fist is a flat note to end on, given the greatness that came before. At the very least, this second season is shorter, though only has the one genuinely good episode, the penultimate one, with the rest being pretty much just a mess of ideas. Most of the characters are just kind of there, and have no motivation, meandering from plot point to plot point as the writers just seem to be padding their resumes for HBO rather than doing anything superhero-related. Again, the team doesn't seem to want  to be doing a superhero drama, as the action is minimal and any glimpses of fun are quickly stripped away for more people talking in rooms about their feelings. There are faltering steps towards a "Nightwing Investigations" spin-off, but they're essentially dead on arrival.

The series starts out with Danny Rand trying to fill the shoes left my Matt Murdock, and whilst that could have been interesting, the idea is quickly jettisoned for Davos as the villain and the Steel Serpent arc for what passes as the story. Somehow, even with the shorter episode count, Iron Fist finds time to be incredibly slow, introduce too many characters and have less than one fight per episode. It's baffling really, and almost impressive how much worse it managed to be in the second season. Yes, I'm 90% sure that the cast and crew knew going in that their days were done and wanted to get it in the can and bail as fast a possible, but the lack of attention to quality is entirely off-putting and smacks of a much cheaper production that what is there. Iron Fist may not have had the best run in comics, but I cannot understand why one of the more famous or just better stories wasn't adapted, especially knowing that they wouldn't get another chance.

Know what's actually kind of funny? The Elektra film does a better job of adapting the character of Typhoid Mary than Iron Fist. Sure, she's not a really important character in the grand scheme of things, but she's interesting (Assassin with DID and amnesia) and the Netflix version is utterly bland. I'm not sure what the actor is doing with the role, as the personalities have the mode of "way too nice", "boss bitch" and "not on screen", it's such a damn dull take on what could have been the showcase character of the season. Oh, and did you like the costume Danny wears in the trailer? Well, it only appears in one scene because no one can wear a bloody costume apparently. Seriously, Misty and Wing wear fucking jumpsuits in the comics, you telling me that would have broken the immersion of this crap? I like Iron Fist and I hope we're not waiting too long for him to get back to the MCU, but I'm glad we're done with this version.

Thinking Out Loud: The Council of Lizzies

This isn't really a Superhero article per se, so unless you're really into Georgian Literature or the works of Jane Austen, we'll see you next time when we talk about Stardust or Captain Ultra or something equally as silly.

Although it's an obvious choice, I would say that Pride and Prejudice is probably one of the greatest novels ever written in the English language. It's sharp, witty, romantic, and funny as fuck two centuries and change later, which is quite an achievement. Elizabeth Bennet is an iconic heroine and so beloved that she's seen to represent everyone who reads the books, even men, people of colour and those who are against the very traditional marriage which Lizzie seeks. So it should come as no shock that many authors over the years have taken a swing at either expanding the seminal novel or simply penning flat-out sequels. Just taking into account properly published novels, the list exceeds one hundred books, and add to that what is doubtless a mountain of fan-fiction and self-published works that also add more to the world of the sisters Bennet. I, myself have read Death At Pemberly by P.D. James, The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow and Charlotte by Helen Moffett.

Through perpetuation, there are probably hundreds of Elizabeth Bennets and other characters floating around their local multiverse. Ok, so I guess I need to mention Pride & Prejudice and Zombies before I go too much further on, but I never got too far through that one, it was so badly written. Although academically fraught, biographical readings of Lizzie Bennet as a stand in for Austen herself are pretty hard to resist for die-hard fans like myself; especially as both Jane and Lizzie were complimented on their "fine eyes", but knowing a little about Jane's life puts paid to this pretty quick. In fact, even biographies on Austen tend towards the romantic (pardon the pun), inventing marriage near-misses for Jane that don't seem to be much more than wishful thinking. As her books only really gained fame after she passed, much of Austen's life is a mystery, so it's tempting to fill in the gaps. Anyway, in one of those novel sequels I mentioned, Mary is seduced by a vagrant living in a cave on the family estate.

Look, this article is another one of those ideas that was stuck in my head for months and I had to get it out somehow. The image of The Council of Kangs/Reeds/Ricks but all various Elizabeths Bennet in a massive sitting room is oddly compelling to me. What would they be talking about? Would it be the "sensible" prattle that trapped them inside their own minds, unable to communicate their true feelings, or would they find a new and unique kind of freedom that they rarely found in the stories from which they spawned? What impact would a veritable army of Lizzies have on the multiverse? I can't imagine that there would be a single buffoon left un-skewered by rapier wit in all of creation. The tendency to see Lizzie as a modern woman-in-waiting is tempting, the television series Lost In Austen has fun with this idea, but again, this is us reading into the text what may not actually be there. Jane and Lizzie are women of their time, for good or ill. We love them for who they are as much as who they are to us. So get out there and get reading; endless possibilities await.

Superhero Media: The Rocketeer

I've been wanting to watch this film again for quite a while, but kept putting it off for one reason or another, mostly to try and finish series or films I was already partway through. Which I'm still doing by the way, but I just rarely feel like watching more than one episode of My Hero Academia or Ultimate Spider-Man at a trot. The Rocketeer is a hands-down masterpiece and if you've never seen it, log into Disney+ right now and check it out, you won't regret it. Yes, it's pulpy and silly and the big reveal involves jet pack Nazis, but my god, the cast on this alone should get you on board, with Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin and Timothy Dalton, just to name a few. And the famous faces are also in the film, which is nuts. Sure, Howard Hughes is obvious (and really well used), but what about famous gangster Eddie Valentine? Also, Neville Sinclair is probably meant to be a take on Errol Flynn, what with the swashbuckling film roles, gaolbait girlfriends and links to the Nazis.

Should I maybe actually talk about the film? Ok, well the whole thing is pretty simple, when a failing aircraft business finds a prototype rocket pack after some gangsters lose it, a young, all-American man has to become a hero to stop the Nazis, save his girl and maybe save the business. The plot is pretty thin and full of leaps of logic, but the ride is so good and the scripting so tight that it really doesn't matter. When the FBI and LA Mob team up to fight Nazis, you don't care, you cheer on  and enjoy the the sequence with the Rocketeer against the American flag, as cheesy as it is. There's a Zepplin fight, because of course there is, and maybe there's fewer flying sequences than one may expect from the posters, but overall everything is fun and wraps up in a little over an hour and a half. The Rocketeer is exactly the kind of film that MCU-haters claim doesn't exist anymore, where one hero turns up and does his dash and there's no more. Sure there's some comics, but that's pretty much it really.

I kind of wish Disney/Marvel would bring this one back. And no, not just as the animated series for kids, but actually rolled into the MCU somehow. I'm not saying that the Rocketeer needs to appear in an Avengers film, but maybe have him with the Invaders in a flashback or an episode of What If? Just a little Easter Egg to tie this classic pulp adventure to Captain America the First Avenger, which, of course had the same director. Miniature wargaming is one of the few communities I know of who are still obsessed with The Rocketeer more than three decades after it came out. To that end, wargames forums and blogs are full of versions of all the characters and scenes if that's your bag, I won't go into it here, because others have done much better jobs than I could. For me, I reiterate that you really should take the time to watch this film, it's great on many levels.

New Crisis, Same Protocol

So I spent the weekend at PAX Melbourne, demonstrating games for Let's Play Games. Frankly, I needed the money for something important, so I did a fun 60 hours in the one week with my day job as well. I got to run a few things, from the new Starcraft miniatures game (solid game, but not for me), Marvel Crisis Protocol and the new MCP board game, Alliances (also fun, but probably not going to end up in my collection). I ran into a few friends, as I typically do at these cons, and some mentioned that they were wanting to try MCP again. Well, after having to cancel a few things this year (see above about needing the money), my main hobby focus has been about finishing projects that can get me games at my local clubs and stores, so given that I have a bunch of MCP Avengers in various stages of painting, why not jump back in for a while? However, I needed a few more characters than I had to field a full team, and the two-character boxes I had been buying have been replaced by "Affiliation" packs, most of which would have had me doubling up or getting characters I was unlikely to play. Also, they weren't the cheapest models on the market, so I had to plan carefully. 

Thankfully, most of what I needed, without too much doubling up, was in the current "Earth's Mightiest Core Set" box, and, even better, I could actually get this AUD $250 box for free at PAX Melbourne if I completed a series of QR codes. With the help of some friends, I got my box, and I only have a double of Winter Soldier to do something with now. I may, in fact, sell off the Cabal/Villains and the measuring devices as I don't need them and it might help fund another project along the way. Now, of course, I had to dig out my collection and see what I already had that matched the Avengers affiliation. Now, I'm not certain that this is everything (I suspect I have more somewhere not obvious) and I have some Cabal that I'll probably consider moving on, but looks like I'll have way more than 10 models that should be Avengers available to me, as you can see below. 

Can I just say that it's a shame Atomic Mass Games don't have all their free online resources updated as they used to? Seems like doing that would be a huge boon for your game and company when the models cost so much and the rules are updated so frequently. For all their faults, when I was playing Warhammer 40,000 regularly, the free version of the app updated quickly, not to mention the various fan resources. I think I'm probably going to have a little difficulty playing MCP casually, so don't be too shocked if I stall out on this after a few games. Last time I was looking at getting back into the game, I was working at a FLGS five days a week and there was a scene building; this time it will be the odd game for fun here and there, so I really won't be doing my homework as much as I should be. That said, the minis are nice and I got most of them cheap or free, so I may as well give it a shot. This blog has gotten away from Superhero games the past few years and this is an easy way back in rather than having to build up my SuperSystem Ultimate Alliance stuff again, though I will get to back to that at some stage. 

Superhero Media: Bloodshot

Yes, Bloodshot is a pretty poor film, even by the standards of some of the stuff that gets covered here, and it doesn't have the decency to be at least interestingly bad, just coming out bland and generic. Now, though I was kind of into some Valiant comics in the '90s, I tended to read Harbinger and Magnus, so I didn't have much familiarity with Bloodshot until I heard this film was coming out. Regular readers will also probably know that I tend to be more forgiving of '90s comics than many, embracing the over-the-top silliness and reading them as a kind of high-camp more than grim-and-gritty seriousness. In that, I don't think there's a version of a Bloodshot film that would actually be 'good', but rather, there could have been something at least 'fun' in the manner of Daredevil or Batman Forever. Let's not kid ourselves, at best Bloodshot is basically Deadpool without any of the jokes or irony, so it's never going to be Black Panther or anything.

Where the film does well, actually, is in the messing with of Bloodshot's memories is a plot point, so, if not for the generic nature of much of the rest of the narrative, the whole enterprise could have had an "unreliable narrator" vibe which would have been much more interesting. Frankly, Bloodshot falls into a lot of the same errors that bad superhero films always have, focusing too much on the origin, not letting the characters stand on their own merits and not putting anyone in a costume. By trying to take itself seriously, Bloodshot missed the point of existing, which was to be a possible Iron Man to a potential Valiant Cinematic Universe. As I've said previously when discussing ideas like a King Features/Frew or even a Blackthorne Cinematic Universe, the potential with the lesser-known heroes is essentially unlimited, so why settle for an action film with nothing spicy or interesting happening like Bloodshot?

I really hope the Valiant stuff doesn't end here, as, once again, there is a lot of potential there that seems a shame to waste. Harbinger seems like the obvious one, basically an off-brand X-Men with lots of room to explore the concept of adolescents with super-powers and only really one or two characters that need to be presented with any fidelity, say Zephyr and Sting. Throw in Magnus as a "Superman-lite" for the series and maybe even do the "Magnus: Harbinger Fighter" arc for the first major crossover. XO-Manowar is a little more esoteric, but Marvel Studios has laid the groundwork for this stuff already, so you may as well go nuts rather than make something disappointing like Bloodshot. Even Upgrade was a better version of a similar concept, and did without actual costumes or anything like that. Seriously though, put the characters in their damn costumes, I'm sick of this black leather shit, the Fox X-Men series didn't make it look good, so why still use that as the standard?

Dream Match - Round II

Welcome back, sports fans! Today we continue my new series of "fantasy booking" articles that try to take a more sensible and nuanced look at 'who would win' questions in the superhero fandom than working out which character has the biggest numbers. Rather than prattle on, we're going to jump straight into our next fight, so get ready for some no-holds-barred, one-fall action!

Perfect Cell Vs Lobo

The most deadly Android devised by the twisted mind of Doctor Gero, Perfect Cell and the last of the Czarians, because he killed the rest, the Main Man, Lobo. Both are considered the pinnacle of dangerous foes in their settings and both have incredible recuperative powers, able to return completely from something as small as a single cell and having no trouble at all surviving in the vacuum of space. Both have gone toe-to-toe with some of the most powerful heroes in their respective settings, usually coming off worse, but there's no denying that anyone who can give Son Gohan or Superman a run for their money is a powerful force indeed.

Perfect Cell
Created from the DNA of the most powerful fighters in the universe (and Yamcha), Cell was designed to be the last word in Doctor Gero's revenge against Goku for the destruction of the Red Ribbon Army. After having absorbed his "siblings" Androids 17 and 18, Cell achieved his Perfect form, making him the strongest being on Earth, and possibly in the universe at the time (ok so we didn't know about Buu and Beerus). For the purposes of this article, we're borrowing some ideas from Dragon Ball Multiverse, namely a version of Cell that won the fight with Gohan and has grown in power since destroying the Earth. Power Scaling and that kind of thing are for other versions of this concept, not us, but let's just go with Cell can do everything he did in the Cell Games Saga and probably has picked up a few new tricks since them. Given the nature of Dragon Ball Z in particular, judging just how "powerful" Cell is is pretty fraught, but we know he can destroy a planet basically whenever he wants, regenerate and get a Zenkai boost from a single intact cell and push an Ascended Super Saiyan to breaking point.

Lobo
The Main Man, the last Czarian and the once Pope of the Triple-Fish God, this mercenary, marauder and mayhem-prone monster is generally considered a force of nature more so than a supervillain by many. Strong enough to give the Man of Steel pause, and impossibly durable to the point of absurdity, Lobo has powers for days, and casually breaks the most basic laws of physics by smoking in the vacuum of space and making conservation of mass cry. Being a character better suited to comedy for the most part, Lobo's strength is kind of irrelevant, he can do whatever he wants, at least until a hero turns up to pull him back into line. And this doesn't need to be Superman, with Adam Strange and Animal Man having pulled it off before. Lobo cannot fly under his own power, but has a flying motorcycle or similar to hand most of the time. Being a bounty hunter by trade, Lobo is also perfectly comfortable with using a wide variety of improbably sci-fi weapons, or something as simple as a chain.

Why We Fight
So this is pretty simple, Cell (or at least the version we're using who defeated Gohan and got off Earth) is a cosmic threat, and the Main Man is more than happy to collect on any price that Cell gets on his head as a result. Whilst scaling DBZ characters against more traditional superheroes is fraught, I think it's not unreasonable that a being like Cell, almost unkillable and capable of destroying whole planets on a whim, would pose a major issue for entities like the Green Lantern Corps or Nova Corps, possibly even the Space Knights. Turning to a creature like Lobo for help may just be the best in a series of bad options. Of course, once their paths are set, these two warriors will need little encouragement to start fighting.

How Cell Wins
With energy blasts, insane recovery and zenkai boosts in his arsenal, Cell seems to have an easy win on his hands, but he's never fought anyone like Lobo. Against any protagonist from his own series, Cell can just remove atmosphere for an easy win, but that's not going to stop the Main Man by a long shot. Cell is also a pretty serious character, so Lobo's more comedic style will pose a challenge (assuming that this version didn't have to fight Arale at some point). That said, Cell's durability is probably the best way for him to win this fight. While both Cell and Lobo can regenerate from a tiny fragment of themselves, Cell gets a major power boost after each near-death, so he eventually will be strong enough to win easily, at least in theory. It's risky, but raw power is something that Cell can conceivably never run out of, so stamina is his best strength in this match-up.

How Lobo Wins
The big advantage that the Main man will carry into this fight is experience. Lobo has taken on more foes than Cell, and at a much bigger variety, tangling with Lanterns, New Gods, Kryptonians and more in his long life of mayhem. Odds are, he's fought another regenerating foe in that time, so once he figures out that even a fragment of Cell will enable him to come back not only whole, but stronger, Lobo is in with an even chance. Of course, Lobo will have to lay his hands on a weapon capable of obliterating Cell in a single blast, which, while entirely possible, is no mean feat in the heat of battle. The Main Man is a canny fighter though, and Cell is all ego, so luring the killer android to some kind or armoury or technologically-advanced planet is pretty doable with the right motivation. Lobo has figured out how to fight and defeat foes like Santa and the Easter Bunny, Cell is within his wheelhouse.

And that's that! Two titans of power coming to grips, who do you think would win? Come back next time as a pair of obscure monsters go toe-to-toe in a brawl which could threaten the multiverse itself!

Superhero Media: M.O.D.O.K. - Season 1

I hadn't heard anything much good about M.O.D.O.K., or anything at all, really before I finally got around to watching it. I'd put it off because the idea of waiting a week between half hour episodes sounded a little tedious. When I discovered that M.O.D.O.K was a Marvel version of Robot Chicken with the voice cast of Ducktales and Patton Oswalt in the lead, I was intrigued, when Mandrill showed up and wasn't even the deepest cut in that episode, I was all-in. The buy-in for M.O.D.O.K. is pretty steep, with the extreme sitcom elements taking over more than the Superhero stuff in most episodes and the character being nothing like any representation in the comics, there is a tonne of stuff to enjoy, even if it's just getting Dewey Duck flashbacks every time Ben Schwartz speaks.

I never really got into Robot Chicken, but I watched the compilations on YouTube, and I feel I appreciate what they were going for, so a Marvel version unafraid to give us versions of Tenpin, The Living Corporation and the Clagmarites is pretty much perfect for me, even if I've never liked MODOK much outside of his appearance in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I'm sure if you're a fan of MODOK, then this series is a little grating, to say the least, but given that I'm specifically the kind of person to love this specific thing, I can't help you there. I'll admit that the more sitcom style elements don't really do it for me, but that said, the episode where MODOK and his wife accidentally time-travel back to the 1990s and see themselves as students was one of the best in the series. And if you can't laugh at a joke about Mandrill's dick, are you even really a Marvel fan at heart?

I get that people don't like M.O.D.O.K., as it's odd and full of stupid jokes and way more clips of MODOK on the toilet than are probably strictly necessary, but I do find it strange that people are so vocally hateful of the series online. I mean, if you don't like it, don't watch it? I had seen nothing about M.O.D.O.K. online and wasn't even aware it was essentially Marvel Robot Chicken until I started watching it, so surely it's not that hard to avoid. Unless, of course, you're someone like me who has to watch, read or play every piece of superhero media they can get their hands on and then write about it on a blog almost no one really reads. Oh god, am I the MODOK? Nah, I have a Master's Degree, two jobs I love, plenty of friends and I own my home, I'm doing alright and don't tie my self-esteem to this blog. I'll watch more M.O.D.O.K. if it happens, I certainly enjoyed the first season enough.

Thinking Out Loud: Why the Encore Matters

Back in 2019, in the wake of Avengers Endgame, I wrote an article called "Why the Endgame Matters" about the cultural impact of the film and why a silly superhero adventure was one of the most important moments in the decade. Like most of the insightful, thoughtful and passionate stuff I write on here, no one read it. My review of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter however, still gets regular hits. Media literacy was already dying before AI folks, AI is just the cowhammer to the skull of an entire generation of readers. Anyway, I went to see Avengers Endgame Encore the day after it dropped (that was a soon as I could get there) and, once again, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings. So let's do this again. Whatever it takes. For starters, the "additional content" in the Encore is a series of post-credit scenes that tie into Doomsday (which I'll go over later) and an introduction from Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. There are no AI-replaced actors, or changed lines or anything like that. There's been a bit of cleanup and some ADR, but otherwise, Encore is the film that's been burnt into my soul for seven years and counting. 

Watching Earth's Mightiest Heroes battle Thanos and travel through time again, the main feeling I found myself sitting with (aside from unmitigated glee) was one that I have become increasingly familiar with as I approach my 40th birthday; nostalgia. Given my time spent researching online Far-Right radicalisation, nostalgia is something I tend to wary of in general, so it took me a fair chunk of Encore before it occurred to me that the time I was being whistful for wasn't some mythical time of my childhood when I had an incomplete understanding of the world; it was for less than 10 years ago. I missed 2019. Acutely. The obvious reason behind this feeling was clearly that I miss the MCU films being good, right? No, actually. Though the "Superhero Media" will take a while to come through the backlog, I have enjoyed much of Wave 4 and think that after nearly 20 years, expecting every film to be the same quality is a little silly. Nor was I more than reasonably melancholy to see Chadwick Boseman in his iconic role again; rest in power, king. No, as I sat there positively rapt with joy, I found I wanted to return to a world before COVID. 

Now this isn't just some "the last decade has been shit" rant (though it has), but rather, I believe Avengers Endgame was the last big cultural moment the Global North shared before the pandemic started and that by watching again with all that behind us, not to mention the wars, genocide and climate collapse due to AI ahead of us is a genuinely uplifting experience. And one we can learn from. The tech bros, governments and billionaires they all work for and aspire to be are Thanos. They aren't just winning, they won a long time ago, before most of us were born. We may not be able to pull off a time heist, we may not save the world, but we can sure as hell Avenge it. If this is the end of everything we've known then I want to drag the ones who caused it with us. Whatever it takes. We lost so much during the pandemic because the few didn't want to make less money and it never changed. We don't have super powers but we can vote, march, join unions, write letters, shoplift, engage with the community, punch a cop, bomb a pipeline, delete Facebook, use public transport, help each other. Assemble. We are Groot. 

Superhero Media: Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla

Ok, where to start this one? Spacegodzilla was created when DNA from Godzilla was taken into space by Mothra in a previous film and merged with alien spoors. What? This is Godzilla, this is what you get. Aside from the typical absurdity of science, Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla is a great outing for the King of the Monsters, playing like a kind of finale for the previous few, even though there is at least one more considered to be in this series to come. Minilla is quarantined on an uninhabited Pacific island by the United Nations' Anti-Godzilla task-force where he can be studied and guarded by the "last Japanese soldier who can't let go of the war" cliche, which I would have though was a little racist, but hey, if the Japanese are doing it I guess it's ok? There are competing plans to use a team of psychics (who exist in the Godzilla universe) to control Godzilla's actions and to use Minilla as bait and kill Godzilla with a high-tech super bullet, but these are put aside as soon as Spacegodzilla turns up and starts destroying cities.

There is a big focus in Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla on the human G-Force and how they scramble to combat the new threat and the fallout related to the conflict. This is actually really good, as the Kaiju action scenes are brilliant, but the damage and trauma that the human characters suffer, albeit in a PG-ish way, provides a counterpoint and grounds the entire film. Having lost Mechagodzilla, G-Force is fielding a makeshift robot with a crew made up of whoever is still alive and has the correct skill-set, so there is a very Japanese sense of fatalism pervading Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla, though the ending is more hopeful than many Japanese films that follow a similar thread. Whilst Godzilla is the preferable alternative to Spacegodzilla, so far as G-Force and humanity is concerned, the presence of either is a problem to be resolved, once again framing the Kaiju as a force of nature, or walking disaster more so than actual characters. To say that the Kaiju are devoid of any personality, there is a scene with Godzilla on the beach dodging booby traps that really shows off how well a rubber suit can convey emotion, would be false, but it's the humans who really sell the story.

As much as I love the rubber suits and classic Kaiju cinema, films like Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla do run up against the limits of this approach. The "Mosterverse" Legendary films out of the USA, which use CGI of course, can have the Kaiju show a lot more personality and carry the story in their own ways. Trust me, Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla is amazing, one of the best I've seen lately, and I had a ball watching every minute of it, but much like Final Wars, it's not the kind of film I'd be showing someone to get them into Godzilla as a franchise, it's just too... too Godzilla? Like, look at the first few sentences of this article, Spacegodzilla's origin is really silly and the entire film ends with two guys in rubber suits slapping each other, this genre is almost nonsense! However, the "there" that is there is really damn good. It's a story about the human spirit, fatalism and the dangers of unchecked technology. Godzilla is the human potential and all of the dangers inherent within that potential. Godzilla is both the alpha and the omega of development, and understanding that going in is perhaps the secret to enjoying these films beyond the silly fun.

Five Video Game Genre Conventions that need challenging

Regular readers will know that I'm not really a big player of video games. I enjoy them and put some time in on the Switch or PlayStation most weeks, but I don't keep up with new releases, don't follow the culture, and probably couldn't pick between a picture of DOTA and League of Legends. I grew up with Zelda and Mario and Tetris like most of my generation, but as I hit adolescence, my interest tapered off, not because I wasn't interested in Video Games, but Video Games became increasingly less interested in me.

Back in the day (read: My Day, you ungrateful kids), titles like Commander Keen and Day of the Tentacle tried to be fun and innovative; taking risks and trying new directions for the still-emerging Video Game market. With the exceptions of Nintendo and Sega, Video Game software wasn't a market that one could expect to make a great deal of money in, people did it (partially) because they loved it. This view may seem nostalgic in the extreme, but have a look at companies like Midway or Rare back before they hit it big; I'll wager the "CEO" was living off instant ramen and really cheap coffee until Mortal Kombat or Goldeneye hit the shelves for the first time.

These days, Games are big business, which is (typically) a good thing for the industry; developers get the funding to put out some amazing titles and the boundaries are really being pushed as to whether Games can be considered Art or 'read' as 'text' in the same manner as Film and Television (in an academic sense, of course). However, success has always bred imitation, and the Video Games industry is feeling this trend hard at the moment. Take a good hard look at your favourite game and you'll probably find that it "borrows heavily" (or steals directly) from another popular game before it. The problem with this trend is not only the obvious stagnation of experimentation within games development, but also half the games you get to play seem exactly the same.

So, without further ado, here's a shortlist of five common features of Video Games that have shown themselves to be problematic, at least according to me in my grumpy and stagnant corner of the internet. 

1. Time Limits

As with most of the things on this list, I'm not saying that Video Games need to do away with Time Limits entirely, just that it proves to be an unnecessary crutch for poor storytelling. Back in the misty, far-off days of Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo Entertainment System, there were no Continues, no Save Points and only so many 1-UP Mushrooms, so the only reason not to take a painfully long time agonising over every jump was the timer counting down from 300 in the corner of the screen. The original The Prince Of Persia also made good use of this mechanic, docking time from the Game Clock for each death. So it's not a big conceit to admit that a timer on a game can ratchet up the tension and aid in the suspension of disbelief.

However, when every second level (or mission or whatever) throws a timer up on the screen and screams at me to get out of the burning building (or away from the bomb or get to the hostage), the sense of tension is replaced by a sense of irritation. I'm in a freaking burning building, how is my natural intention to do anything but run for my life? In a film or television programme, dramatic tension can be added with music or other, less melodious, background noise; only in 24 and one episode of M*A*S*H can one see a clock up on the screen to increase tension. There are many films where a bomb is counting down to a climax, but it is only in video games, where the player is directly linked to the narrative, that a ticking clock is a common device to keep the protagonist under the pump. If only this technique was not included in almost every game, it wouldn't be so bothersome.

 

2. Boss Fights

Back when games were made with a resplendent 8 bits of graphics, the occasional fight against a fire-breathing turtle was an important signpost of progression amongst dozens of same-looking levels. What is interesting is that, in today's world of Quick Time Events and complex interactive storytelling, at least one Boss Fight can be found in every game. Certainly, a climatic and thematically appropriate battle against a worthy opponent at the end of a game can be satisfactory, but not every game can make this formula work. Think back to Red Faction for a moment, did the boss there really add anything to the game? Shooters are particularly bad at boss fights, a game that has primarily featured goons with a variety of guns and body armour throughout has its tone shattered when the head Mafioso turns up in a walking tank with jets and lasers.

As with my complaint against time limits, it is not the concept of Boss Fights that I find disagreement with, the Metal Gear Solid franchise has always made its Boss Fights engaging and story driven. Instead, it is the seeming necessity of repeated Boss Fights in games where they simply do not fit. Personally I think that because video games have always had Boss Fights, that they continue to do so, gamers expect and accept them as part of the gaming experience, regardless of their suitability in any given game. Once again I point to cinema as a proof that conflict is not the only climax that a story can utilise.

3. Downloadable Content (DLC)

With increasing profits in the Games Industry comes an increased drive to create successful titles and release them to the public. When a highly anticipated game is pushed back due to unforseen circumstances, the furore released is akin to that evoked by the Nuremberg trials. To combat this, many developers leave parts of a game unfinished, making "patches" or even whole levels and characters into little downloadable packets so that people won't call them out for putting the game out a few weeks late. In some ways this is a good thing; games are released in reasonable time and overly long delays are avoided. However, is it just me, or does this seem like a little bit of a cop out? If a game is not finished, why is it being put into stores? It's not like a film is put into the cinema with some of the post-production remaining to be done. Perhaps it is too much to assume that the gaming public could be expected to wait patiently for the whole game to be ready, but honestly, is it that much to ask? Think about it this way, if you wait a little bit longer for a game, you could play it straight away, no patch downloading, no wait to play the bonus missions, just the whole game, in the box.

Of course, it is not merely a lack of completion that causes DLC, there is the ever-present driving force of money to consider. If someone is willing to pay $100 for a game, what are the chances that the same person will pay a few dollars for an extra mission or a new character to play? When a story is continued through extras like this, it evokes in me the same feeling as the "Extended Universe" novels associated with various Television and Film franchises. If someone is so engaged with a text as to pursue every permeation of it, it always seems that the makers of that programme/game/film are right there with an open till. That's my real problem with DLC, I guess, it's a cheap cash-in and unabashedly so; like "Collector's Edition" DVDs and fake Master Swords to hang on the wall.

 

4. Chase Sequences

When playing a game like GTA or Need for Speed, one expects to chase another vehicle down a hazardous road a few times, it's part of the experience of the game and an accepted part of game play. When one is tasked with chasing someone down in a First-Person Shooter however, something feels amiss. Much like Boss Fights and Time Limits, chases have become a common element of most games from Platformers to Shooters. Once again, the odd chase that works within the narrative of the game is fine, but far too often a chase can be used to bridge an obvious gap. If travel needs to take place to link up the various narrative strands of a game, there are more options than a chase, if nothing particularly interesting is going to happen during the journey from A to B, perhaps it doesn't need to be covered. Too often the length of a game is padded out with unnecessary sequences that distract from the story and the chase scene is one of the worst culprits.

5. Push Start to Play

This may be a bit of a petty complaint, but why is the Start Screen different from the Menu Screen? The time and effort of programmers, designers and artists has been wasted on a screen that is seen for seconds at most. What difference would it make to have a game load up straight into the menu? In the worst cases, after pressing Start, more time is spend loading before one can access the menu and actually start playing the damn game. Admittedly, I'm not a programmer, and perhaps there is something important about pressing Start that I'm missing, but it really seems like a convention of games that is only still around because almost every game in history has had it. I understand that sometimes a demo or cut scene is visible before the menu appears, but again, is this really necessary? Also coming into this category are the self-promotional ads that games start up with, Gamers seem far more astute about production than one would expect, so many would know exactly the origin of a new game. The fact that a handful of game creators are becoming as well known as Film Directors (in the right circles) makes the self-promotion seem a little unnecessary.

 

That's all for today, hope you enjoyed the read.

Superhero Media: Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Is Marvel Ultimate Alliance the greatest superhero video game ever made? Well, I think it's great, but you may have a different take. When Doombots and Ultron Drones make a coordinated attack on the SHIELD helicarrier, Nick Fury assembles a team (initially Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor and Wolverine) to fight off the villains, kicking off an adventure that touches some pretty damn obscure corners of the Marvel Universe. In terms of game-play, Marvel Ultimate Alliance can be repetitive and the whole thing is very dated by now, but the story and core concept of the game directly inspired me to start Supers gaming and my SuperSystem Ultimate Alliance project in particular. Although the game doesn't have every character (Hawkeye and Hulk always felt absent to me), the fact that Luke Cage, Deadpool and Black Panther are playable years before they hit culturally is pretty impressive; I may be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that Marvel Ultimate Alliance was my first introduction to Luke Cage. As was the style at the time, the game is heavily influenced by the Ultimate Marvel comics, with Cap and Thor in their Ultimates costumes, and some story elements having that general kind of vibe.

Throughout the game, the heroes will travel to locations as diverse as the Omega Base, Atlantis, Attilan, Mephisto's Realm and Latveria, really getting around the Marvel universe and embracing some of the sillier elements of the setting. Of course I want to take Ghost Rider to Skrullos to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier to defeat Doctor Doom, who has stolen the powers of Odin. Something the later games would struggle with is adaptation, trying very hard to realise certain comic stories (or even films) in the game narrative; Ultimate Alliance avoids this, coming across more as a "greatest hits" of the Marvel comics. Trip to Asgard? Hell yeah! War in Atlantis? Why not! Murderworld? Yes please! There is a lack of fear in Ultimate Alliance, it revels in the weird and the wonderful, not trying to be overly serious, in the Murderworld level the players fight Clowns, play dodgem cars and play a crane game to unlock Blade as a playable character. It's amazing and every time I play it I look at circus terrain online and consider a small table. My little gaming clique is getting ready for some Reign In Hell at the time of writing, you can bet I'm eyeing off the terrain for a Mephisto's realm scenario at some point.

Suffice to say, Ultimate Alliance is a big inspiration for my own games with miniatures. Not just the "anything goes" ethos, but in that I tend to use teams of 4 heroes. Basically, I played Ultimate Alliance and came away thinking "but what if I could use the Justice League, Hellboy and the Phantom"? And the rest is basically history, the long history of this blog and my never-ending project of collecting, painting and writing games. Four is a good number because you can get a spread, but the game doesn't slow down much, plus tends to be about as many people as I can get involved in a Convention game. I've never got much of a campaign going (yet), so my games have rarely left the city table, but you can bet I want to go to space, Atlantis, Hell and just about anywhere else I can scrounge the terrain for. Marvel Ultimate Alliance is dated as hell and maybe not a great game when all is said and done, but I maintain it's some of the best inspiration going for Superhero tabletop gaming, especially with miniatures. Just be warned, you'll almost certainly be adding Terracotta Warriors, Vikings and Demons to your shopping list of Supers minis.

Thinking Out Loud: Public Image Unlimited

Launched at the height of the Speculator Boom, Image comics, a creator-owned alternative to the big boys Marvel and DC, set out to be a unique and fresh voice in the comics industry. Famously, they did so with a lack of quality control, lawsuit generating disagreements and a great many missed deadlines, but despite a rough start and nearly collapsing several times, Image is still around today and is considered a purveyor of quality product. As well as producing the wildly-successful The Walking Dead and Invincible series, Image has become a home for smaller works like Empowered and Madman as well. Just what is and isn't part of the Image "universe" can be tricky to discern, as they don't have separate divisions like DC with Veritgo, but much like Marvel, quite a bit happens in the main Universe. If you've taken my advice and read Invincible, for example, during the "Invincible War" story, we see Youngblood, Spawn, Madman, Cyberforce and more fighting to save the Earth.

Actually, it goes beyond that, because an evil version of Invincible jokes that he thought Cyberforce broke up, a reference to the fact that the comic was canceled mid-run and had an excuse retconned in later. It's interesting, because back in the '90s, in order to have the appearance of having an actual continuity, Image comics did their own take on the New Gods that was pretty poorly received and way overblown to the point that they hired Alan Moore to write the wrap-up that buried the damn thing forever. No really. But, like the greats they strove to be, all that nonsense happened in the broader continuity still. I've been reading the series Local Man, about a former '90s heyday character being disgraced and having to move back to his tiny home town; it does a great job of capturing the mood of classic Image, whilst playing like a riff on Fraction Hawkeye combined with the early seasons of Smallville. In one part Jack, the protagonist, tells a priest about the time he met god during a massive crossover event and he was massive golden robot. That event happened in the comics, but Jack wasn't there as he was invented for Local Man.

What's the point of mentioning all this? Well, the willingness of Image to acknowledge and even celebrate their awkward adolescence, combined with Frew comics having unbroken continuity since Thor knows when has kind of got me thinking about my own work and the stuff I've jettisoned Vs what I kept. I've often said that I'll never bother posting my Dragon Ball Z fan-fiction, and I still probably won't, as it's really badly written, but maybe I can have those characters return in some way. Hell, I posted that Danton stuff as an exercise in preservation, but who's to say that having a Tri-Colour Dynamo or humanoid Badger wouldn't be fun in a game sometime? I mean, I love that Spider-Man had a Spider Buggy and an antagonist called "Turner D. Century", so why not embrace the times that what I did was a little cringy and silly? I never really delete old documents or throw out old notebooks (seriously, I found hand-written 3rd Edition 40k army lists the other day), so maybe some of my abandoned ideas have some merit I'm missing out on or have just ignored? Let's find out.

Superhero Media: Loki - Season 1

Ok, I'm starting to get a little worried over here. Now again, I'm writing this in August 2021, a few days before Shiang Shi and The Ten Rings drops and months away from Spider-Man No Way Home, but it looks pretty much like we're getting an MCU Multiverse. Now, I'm not against a superhero multiverse in concept, my own Equalisers setting has characters like Ulysses and The Champions of the Omniverse, but I'm very wary of how it will play out in a major film release and ongoing series. You see, the MCU is excellent as a separate entity from the comics precisely because it's a stripped-down version of classic stories, without all the baggage of continuity and keeping track; which I also love, but get why that's a barrier to comics for many. Once a multiverse is opened up, the fans have to start tracking a lot more content to make sense of things and that wonderful simplicity will be lost. My hope is that this trend is only for "Wave 4" and doesn't represent a permanent change for the MCU, excepting, of course, What If? and any potential Exiles project.

All that aside, I really enjoyed Loki, especially as it is a cleverly-written series with a strong cast and a director with a clear vision. As a fan of Marvel obscura, seeing the TVA realised on-screen is wonderful, even if they're stripped of a lot of the more fantastic elements from the comics. Spending more time with the character of Loki is great, as he is able to shift from campy-yet-sinister foil to a more rounded and human individual driven by their history of trauma. The scenes in which Loki and Sylvie discuss their histories, where they diverge and where they're the same, almost play like a form of therapy, and is one of the best representations I've seen in fiction of the notion of going over the possible alternate paths of our own lives. I think that's the real appeal of Loki, that very-human tendency to look at ourselves and wonder what might have been. What is the version of me who became a teacher or took that sommelier course doing now? I mean, both are probably drinking, but you know what I mean.

I think the Disney+ Marvel programmes are really demonstrating what I've been saying for years about the Netflix Marvel programmes, in that they're too long and really should be cut down to a handful of episodes. Loki, as well as Wandavision, is strong because it plays more like an episodic film than a television series that is stretched to a particular length and padded out to meet a contract. One thing I will say is that the power behind the Time Keepers is clearly Immortus, not Kang. Seriously people, he's even wearing the Immortus costume (minus the hat), not to mention that it's Immortus, not Kang, who is traditionally linked with the Time Keepers. I am certainly enjoying all these deep-cuts of Marvel lore, but, again, I hope we're not heading towards a live-action Avengers Forever or anything like that. Though Marvel Studios should 100% get a Rick Jones happening in the MCU as soon as possible. Loki, despite my trepidation, is an amazing series with a hell of a lot of potential, and I'm excited to see where it goes in the future, so long as it doesn't mean that the MCU becomes an extended series of references to past media, as that's just kind of sad for the studio who brought us Black Panther, Civil War and Endgame.

Thinking Out Loud: Major League

Hey gang, just wanted to take a minute to talk about something that has been bothering me a little lately; people know that Yamcha isn't a loser right? Like, Yamcha actually has it pretty good, in the grand scheme of things. I think Dragon Ball Z Abridged kind of perpetuated the idea into a meme, but even back when the Funimation dub was being broadcast on television, I remember fans talking about how much Yamcha sucked, and hey, I was probably one of them. Now that I'm way older and have actually watched pretty much all Dragon Ball audio visual media that's ever been made (not all that keen to start Heroes and can't get Xenoverse to play properly on my Switch), I kind of realise that Yamcha is a pretty lucky guy for the most part and has never really been represented as a loser in a sense beyond being one of the weaker members of the Z Fighters.

So yes, Yamcha is not the most powerful fighter in a series about fighting, pretty much being left behind since losing his fight to Tien at the World Tournament in Dragon Ball, but in terms of strength and skill, he's still ahead of every person on the planet that's not an alien, cyborg or one of his friends. Dragon Ball Earth is pretty sparsely populated compared to our reality, but Yamcha is stronger than a couple of billion people at least, including some real powerhouses like Ox King and Tao Pi Pi. A lot of people focus on the fact that Bulma and Yamcha break up at the start of DBZ, but that means they were together for like ten years, so hardly a failed relationship by any measure; sometimes people grow apart you know? Not being able to achieve his dream of being a champion martial artist, what does Yamcha do? He goes and gets a bunch of high-paying jobs. No, really, it barely gets covered in the series, but Yamcha has been a professional Baseball Player, a Male Model and a Bodyguard; dude has had a pretty sweet life.

Although I'm a big fan of the character, I have to admit that, in many ways, Tien is a bigger "loser" than Yamcha ever was. Tien keeps chasing the power and skill of fighters like Goku, even though he can never get there, forsaking everything else in his life to chase a dream he can't reach. Meanwhile, Yamcha is getting cheered on by thousands of fans as a star pitcher or jetting around the world to do fashion shoots. Damn son. Not bad for a dirty kid who robbed people in the desert to get by in his teens. I think the reason I'm liking Yamcha more as I get older is the very reason that many fans malign him; he doesn't need to be the best. Yamcha has been the hero in the past, helping defeat Pilaf, King Piccolo and the Saibermen, but he's outclassed against a lot of foes, so he does other things to fill the days now, but hey, if you need help, he'll be there. Yamcha is fine, he's doing his own thing, and that's pretty cool. Wolf Fang Fist-bump buddy.

Superhero Media: Joker

I don't know if I just happen to be stubborn, or if it's something held over from my degree in Film Studies, but I almost never fail to finish watching a film, even if it's utter dross like I'm Not There or it takes me a few goes like Jonah Hexx. If I'm watching a film, even if I'm not enjoying it, I tend to finish it, usually putting anything else off that I can until it's done. Following on from that, and apologies if this gets too personal, there are only two films I have stopped watching to have sex instead. Not that I don't enjoy sex or didn't want to have it with the person in question or anything, I just typically wait until the film is finished. One film I stopped watching in such a way was the dull Australian horror film Daybreakers, and the other was Joker. I've since watched Joker uninterrupted to give it the best chance I could, but I still just couldn't make myself care about it. And I feel kind of bad saying that, because a lot of people love this film and Joaquin Phoenix is amazing in the lead, but when you get down to it, Joker just really isn't about anything.

A lot happens in Joker, but I'm left baffled as to why any of it is happening, and much of it doesn't seem to mean anything. There are themes of a broken mental health system, but they're undercut by the setting of the film in the 1980s. Setting the film in the '80s seems to want to be about something, but Joker is shot and dressed like it's the 1970s because it wants to look like Taxi Driver and King of Comedy. The film strongly apes Taxi Driver, but there doesn't really seem to be a reason for that beyond borrowing some of the little gloss that Scorsese has left after the past decade of mediocrity and complaining. The soundtrack is bafflelingly tone-deaf, especially the inclusion of a Garry Glitter track, which, again, is from the wrong decade entirely. What, was "Psycho Killer" too obvious? Separating Joker from the Batman mythology is potentially interesting, but they wuss out on that too and Bruce FUCKING Wayne is in this film because we can't do anything in the DCU without reminding the audience that Batman exists. Hey, want to see the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne again? No? Too bad, because that's happening again.

I think I'd be less down on Joker if it had just been an uninteresting film that came and went and didn't occupy space in my brain. But because it has a solid lead performance, some quotable lines and the illusion of depth, I'll be bothered by people telling me that "actually, Joker is the greatest and most relevant superhero movie of all time" and I may roll my eyes so hard they actually eject from the sockets. Joker has nothing to say, but the words it uses, to belabor the metaphor, are flowery and sound educated, so people listen and start to believe. There, Joker is the film equivalent of Jordan Peterson, I solved it. No wonder internet Nazis love it so much. Do yourself a favour and watch King of Comedy instead, it's actually interesting. Want to watch a good film about a descent into madness, how about Eraserhead, Manhunter or The Lighthouse instead? Broaden your horizons, try something new, get away from Joker and the Joker in general, life is too short to keep going around on this monorail of diminishing returns, insisting that opinions you held when you were fourteen are still valid. It's not good, and I'm tired of pretending it is.