Couple more points that I acquired from this year’s Comic-Con.

Firstly, Lincoln is gone from AoS, because Luke Mitchell (aka the bloke who plays him) will be starring on ‘Blindspot’ instead. I like ‘Blindspot’. It is influenced by AoS, but it has found its’ own niche soon enough, and one of the crucial differences between the two shows in question is that ‘Blindspot’ treats its characters with respect. It also has a consistent script that goes exactly where the staff of ‘Blindspot’ wants it to go, and does not meander over the last two seasons, as it did in AoS. ‘Blindspot’ already has Jaimie Alexander as its female lead – and she was lady Sif in MCU, meaning that she was much more prominent than Luke and his character were, but-

But regardless, one feels that there is some bad blood between Luke and the cast of AoS – judging by the official AoS material that found its way online – YouTube, the official AoS sites – the cast didn’t mention Luke/Lincoln at all; rather, they pretended that Chloe/Daisy was dating Brett/Grant all this time – sort of. What gives?

…Luke’s choice not to stay with AoS did cause extra problems for a show with already problematic and re-arranged plot; in particular, the finale of S3 would’ve made more sense if Daisy’s not-interaction ‘6 months later’ was with Mack and Lincoln than with Mack and Coulson, for example; much of S3 plot was to build-up Lincoln and Daisy as a couple – and then Luke shot it all in the foot by going over to ‘Blindspot’, so now Chloe’s character is single, again. Yes, it is just a show, yes it probably was just the matter of money or something similarly pragmatic, but apparently Luke’s decision not to stay with AoS hurt some feelings altogether.

So now, they will probably just sweep Lincoln under the metaphorical rug and almost do not mention him in AoS S4 and beyond. The show already did it with Kara Palamas and her plot line after the S2 finale; ditto for Raina, (Ruth Negga, who played her, is one of the female leads in ‘Preacher’ now); and Jaimie Alexander’s character, Sif, so far isn’t appearing on ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ movie either. Fair enough, and besides, MCU is having larger problems, apparently – the InHumans own movie was postponed, (and frankly, in S3 they were largely a plot device than anything else), and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is now going to be a single movie, rather than two. Between that, ‘Agent Carter’ and ‘Most Wanted’ TV series cancelled leaves one wonder if MCU is not experiencing some problems – with budget, with viewers, etc.

Of course, things are not rosy over at DCEU either. If MCU has problems with its’ TV series, (frankly, it might’ve been better to keep ‘Agent Carter’, rather than AoS – but Hayley Atwell, who was the titular heroine, decided to star in ‘Conviction’, not unlike what Jaimie Alexander or Luke Mitchell have done), then DCEU just cannot make it big on the movie screen. Their ‘Arrowverse’ is developing nicely: there are ‘Arrow’ and ‘Flash’, there’s ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, and now ‘Supergirl’ is joining them on CW, and now that TV show is going to star Superman proper…perhaps as a special guest superhero?..

This is all very good and outright impressive – but DC movies are not connected to this at all. This might actually be for the best, since when it comes to films DC seems to be largely trying to rip-off Marvel: ‘Batman vs. Superman’ was very reminiscent of the latest ‘Captain America’ movie, ‘Wonder Woman’, (both the film and the titular heroine) is ‘Captain America’, gender-flipped, complete with WWII scenario, while the ‘Avengers’…pardon me, the ‘Justice League’ (the film) is showing similarities with the ‘Avengers’ even in the trailer – Diana is Cap, Bruce is Stark, (complete with an iron suit), this version of Barry is the latest incarnation of Spider-Man, etc. Seriously, how does copyright infringement here works?

However, while DC suffers from being too similar to Marvel, Riverdale (the upcoming 2016 TV series) suffers from the opposite problem – it has too few connections to the original material, the Archies’ comic.

Let us be fair. Archies’ main feature is that it is a comic about teenagers, and it is generic. It can be transformed into anything – there was a crossover with Marvel’s Punisher, (way before he appeared on Daredevil’s S2), with ‘Alien’ the movie franchise (you know, the one that fights the ‘Predator’), currently they are doing something both with zombies and with the Lovecraftian mythos, etc. The fact that CW (yes, the same CW that has DC ‘Arrowverse’) took the characters and made them into another teen drama is no big deal.

And yet… from what we have seen on Comic-Con? K.J. Apa is not a redhead, which is strange, because Archie is THE redhead, that is his trademark shtick. Lili Reinhart may be playing Betty, but she came across like a blonde Veronica, while Camila Mendes, who will be playing Veronica, looks like a Latin American Betty instead. Cole Sprouse, who was one of the twin stars in Disney’s ‘Suite Life’ series does not look like Jughead, and so far, his character is something of an anti-Jughead, since he is a ladies’ man, and the canonical Jughead is anything but.

So… we got AoS, who got problems with its cast; we got Marvel in general, who has greater problems; we got DC, who has creativity problems; and we got Riverdale, which is basically a teen detective drama with characters who share names, and some personality traits, with the characters of the Archies’ comics. Whether this will hinder or help Riverdale the show, we will have to wait and see when Riverdale comes out; until then, there is always ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ to keep our spirits up…

S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming back - July 23

AoS came to the Comic-Con with the rest of the Marvel™ and threw its’ weight around. Marvel™, that is, not just AoS, but it still worked. Yay.

The big stuff. The Ghost Rider – (Robbie from Earth 616 for those who care about this sort of thig), is coming to AoS. Basically, he is the Ghost Rider take II, the heir of the original GR, Johnny Blaze. The latter has a couple of his own movies, but they are not exactly a part of MCU, so it is unlikely that we’ll have the original GR giving Robbie the one-two; ‘with great powers comes great responsibility’, etc. After all, the original Robbie did not want to be a vigilante, but rather a street racer, until Mr. Hyde and his people came across him.

Now, Mr. Hyde has already appeared in AoS S2 – he is Daisy’s father and a former ally to Raina. ‘Former’ because Raina died at the end of AoS S2, (and got promptly reincarnated as ‘Tulip’ on ‘Preacher’ these days). ‘Preacher’ is a wonderful show; though it differs from the original comic that has spawned it a lot. Then again, if we are to talk about differences in shows and comics in regards to AoS proper…just no. The point is that at the end of AoS S2 Mr. Hyde, or Cal Zabo, got redeemed, sort of, via T.A.H.I.T.I., and did not appear at all throughout S3, so now, apparently, he will return – and back as a villain.

Now, throughout S2, Cal was a more sympathetic, ‘redeemable’ character, rather than outright evildoer (that was Hydra’s job: Whitehall, Bakshi, in S2 – Malick), so if he is to appear as an S4 villain, then he will have to go through some major character reworking…AoS should have plenty of practice after Grant Ward in the first half of S3 especially, so no problem there.

The problem is the ‘recycling’: starting in S3, especially in the second half, AoS began to recycle ideas, primarily from S2, (though S1 was there too), complete with such characters as Carl ‘the Absorbing Man’ Creel. The result was that the viewers’ ratings dropped, and for now, the second half of AoS S3 had some of the lowest ratings in the entire series. Period.

Now, AoS is a good show still; when it works, it really works; however, it does not work all the time and sometimes, it outright does not. The entire agent 33 plotline in S2, for example, really did not work, to the point where Kara was largely ignored by the entire S3, except when it was unavoidable, the elephant in the room, you might say. Now, on the Comic-Con, the cast of AoS largely ignored Lincoln Campbell, (played by Luke Mitchell), as well as the entire Static Quake relationship; instead, they focused on Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), and his non-relationship with Skye. Yes, it did make some people happy, but because Dalton is gone from the show for good, (just look at the new poster), alongside Blood, Palicki and Mitchell himself, it was way too late and pointless (SkyeWard fans are not interested in this sort of bones anymore; they will continue to watch AoS or stop altogether regardless of audition videos and the such), and it pissed the Static Quake fans too. It is unknown why Mitchell hadn’t worked out on AoS, (there were hints, for a while, that Lincoln would be the one working alongside Mack in S.H.I.E.L.D. and tracking down Daisy in the conclusion), but he didn’t, so now Bennet (Daisy) got either to work out with Henry Simmons (Mack), or maybe she’ll just stay solo for a while. Or, of course, one of her ex-boyfriends could always come back from the dead. Cough.

However, regardless of any behind-the-scenes-problems, AoS will still be going strong, at least for a while. ‘Carter’, who became a much more compact and collected show by S2, is finished. ‘Most Wanted’, a spinoff of AoS, never came to be. AoS still keeps on going. Good luck to them. Mind you, given how the TV-land works, S4 just might be the season to break them, but in general? They are suffering because MCU has its own problems – the InHumans movie got scrapped, Dr. Strange film is coming out in 2017, etc. AoS is here to stay. Live with it.

PS: And as for J.T. James, aka Hellfire? Since we do not have Blaze as GR, it is anyone’s guess how he is going to fit into the entire dynamic, which, apparently, is now supernatural/occult than extraterrestrial. How will the FitzSimmons deal with it? Or is it why they will be going to Seychelles? Who knows!

Pathfinder: shadow creatures

For a change, here are two shadow creatures - a giant squid and a great white whale with the shadow template from Bestiary 4:

SHADOW GIANT SQUID CR 10

XP 6,400

N Huge outsider (aquatic, augmented)

Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +22

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +9 natural, –2 size)

hp 102 (12d8+48)

Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +5

Defensive Abilities ink cloud (20-ft. radius), shadow blend; DR 10/magic; Resist cold 15, electricity 15; SR 16

OFFENSE

Speed swim 60 ft., jet 260 ft.

Melee bite +14 (2d6+7), 2 arms +14 (1d6+7), tentacles +12 (4d6+3/19–20 plus grab)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (30 ft. with arms and tentacles)

Special Attacks constrict (4d6+10)

STATISTICS

Str 25, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 2

Base Atk +9; CMB +18 (+22 grapple); CMD 31

Feats Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (tentacle), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack^B, Skill Focus (Perception)

Skills Perception +22, Swim +15

ECOLOGY

Environment any ocean

Organization solitary

Treasure none

SHADOW GREAT WHITE WHALE CR 15

XP 38,400

N Colossal outsider (augmented)

Init –2; Senses blindsight 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +13

DEFENSE

AC 28, touch 0, flat-footed 28 (–2 Dex, +28 natural, –8 size)

hp 225 (18d8+144)

Fort +21, Ref +9, Will +8

Defensive Ability shadow blend; DR 10/magic; Resist cold 15, electricity 15; SR 21

OFFENSE

Speed swim 40 ft.

Melee bite +25 (6d6+20/19–20), tail slap +20 (3d6+10)

Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.

Special Attacks capsize, smashing breach

STATISTICS

Str 50, Dex 6, Con 27, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 5

Base Atk +13; CMB +41; CMD 49 (can't be tripped)

Feats Critical Focus, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Iron Will, Power Attack, Staggering Critical

Skills Perception +13, Swim +39

SQ hold breath

ECOLOGY

Environment any oceans

Organization solitary, pair, or pod (3–16)

Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Smashing Breach (Ex) As a full-round action, a great white whale can make a special charge attack against creatures on the surface of the water. At the end of its charge, the whale breaches, then slams down onto the target with incredible force. Any Huge or smaller creatures in the whale's space must make a DC 27 Reflex save or take 4d8+30 points of bludgeoning damage and be forced into the nearest square that is adjacent to the whale. This breach automatically attempts to capsize any boats caught wholly or partially in this area. The save DC is Constitution-based.

AFO: Sperm whale vs. giant squid - July 20

The final episode of AFO, (but no, this is not the final time that I will talk about this series and shows that are similar to it), was something special indeed – ‘sperm whale vs. giant squid’! Wow!

Indeed, and for several reasons. Not unlike the ‘polar bear vs. walrus’ or ‘African lion vs. Nile crocodile’, the ‘sperm whale vs. giant squid’ episode was based on real life footage – as much as possible, for, unlike the African savanna or even the Arctic, the ocean depths still aren’t readily assessable to the humanity – and that is where the sperm whale and the giant squid dwell.

Next? The giant squid, (and its’ cousin, the colossal squid, of which even less is known than about the giant squid proper), is a squid, of course, meaning that it is a mollusk, a close relative to the smaller species of squid, octopi and cuttlefishes, and a distant relative of the snail, the mussel, the oyster and the nudibranch. The sperm whale, meanwhile, is a toothed whale, meaning that it is, technically, a dolphin, and its’ closest relatives are the so-called pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale, each being a fraction of the sperm whale’s size. They are shy, timid, retiring creatures who don’t behave anything as the sperm whale does, and some scientists, who specialize in classification of animals, wonder if the three species of sperm whales are actually related to each other or not. But for now, they are classified together, period.

What of the actual face-off? People who traveled the seas saw the sperm whale fight the giant squid irregularly, but they did see it. Plus, many sperm whales, especially the bulls, show the scars caused and created by the beaks and sucker-claws of squids, (though not just the giant ones), so the battles between the two orders of animals happen on a regular basis – the humans just usually aren’t there to see them.

And when they do, it is one of the biggest, not just the rarest, spectacles on Earth – the Biblical Leviathan battles the Kraken of the pagan Norse myths! Ladies and gentlemen, make your bets!

(Note: Jormungandr the World Serpent, while also a Norse monster, is not the Kraken. The two are separate entities, and when ‘Clash of the Gods’ TV series tried to rationalize Jormungandr as the Kraken/giant squid alongside Scylla of the Greek myths, it didn’t work. However, there are reasons why ‘Clash’ failed and did not go beyond a single season, and this is one of them.)

Where does this leave AFO? Well, they know that the sperm whales usually win this fight, so they adjust their CGI face-off accordingly. Their approach was to technically define and experiment with the physical properties of the two combatants, and this was what they did in their last episode. Since the sperm whale and the giant squid have nothing in common, the result was an epic (in scale) examination of the two combatants, because you cannot really compare the sperm whale to the giant squid: the two have nothing in common, not even convergent evolution! As such, AFO’s approach to their combatants transformed from a comparison into a study, two separate studies of the duo, with the show’s scientists studying and figuring out how each element of either combatants would fit into the face-off. AFO had plenty of authenticity and realism in it, and the last episode had showed it to the max. The major aspects of the sperm whale and the giant squid were shown in the most professional light possible…

Yet AFO got cancelled. Well, that is life. JFC, too, lasted for only 12 episodes and 1 season. The aforementioned ‘Clash’ – for just 10 episodes. ‘Beast Legends’, which also featured the Kraken as one of its monsters – 6. AFO didn’t do so poorly in the long run, when you think about; ‘Beast Legends’ wasn’t exactly a bad show in itself, but it was still worse than ‘MonsterQuest’, and RM is a better show still, (though lately it may be preparing to jump a different shark)… yet this is another story that we will talk about at another time.

As for the sperm whale and the giant squid in the real world? They are still around, though the human-based pollution of the environment, as well as of the global oceans and seas in particular, is slowly killing them off; the sperm whales have to deal with the issue of whaling too – nowadays it is less intense than how it was in the centuries past, but it is still there, and still a problem. People are trying to resolve it, (as well as the pollution issue), but with mixed success. I, for one, hope that in the future, they will succeed, before all that is left of the sperm whale and giant squid are live footage and CGI.

Pathfinder: exoskeleton

For a change, I give you two exoskeletons: mindless undead, introduced in Pathfinder volume 91 - 'Battle of Bloodmarch Hill'. Enjoy!

EXOSKELETON GIANT SPIDER CR 1

XP 400

NE Medium undead

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +2 natural)

hp 21 (4d8+4)

Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +4

DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

Melee bite +2 (1d6+2)

Special Attack web (+5 ranged, DC 12, hp 2)

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 17, Con 0, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 10

Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 15 (27 vs. trip)

Feats Toughness (B)

Skills Climb +2

SQ burst (DC 12)

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary, pair, or colony (3–8)

Treasure incidental

EXOSKELETON GIANT SCORPION CR 2

XP 800

NE Large undead

Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 9, flat-footed 16 (+7 armor, –1 size, +3 natural)

hp 58 (7d8+21)

Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +5

DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 50 ft.

Melee 2 claws +6 (1d6+6 plus grab), sting +6 (1d6+4)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks constrict (1d6+6)

STATISTICS

Str 21, Dex 10, Con 0, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 10

Base Atk +5; CMB +8 (+12 grapple); CMD 18 (30 vs. trip)

Feats Toughness (B)

Skills Climb +6

SQ burst (DC 14)

ECOLOGY

Environment warm or temperate deserts, forests, plains, or underground

Organization solitary

Treasure none

MBW, AFO, JFC & co. - July 19

Now, we shall briefly switch our attention from AFO onto ‘Monster Bug Wars’ (MBW). No, I am not talking about how Kim and Kanye tried to double-team Taylor Swift and it backfired upon them; meanwhile, Kim’s sister Khloe tried to take-on Chloe Bennet, and it also backfired, while others, like Snooki from ‘Jersey Shore’ and Selena Gomez are trying to put their two cents in without getting involved in this for real. I am talking about an actual show, which went down in 2011-2012, instead. It would depict two sorts of invertebrates (well, arthropods – insects, arachnids, centipedes, etc.) in a stimulated natural environment, where they would fight each other as gladiators would. Put otherwise, this is AFO, only with invertebrates, and for real.

And? And, perhaps, MBW was a show that could be considered as good as AFO. Yes, there was less science, (proportionally), but there was less entertainment as well, paradoxically. By showing live subjects, MBW introduced the element of chaos into their fights, so to speak. The combatants’ behavior is unpredictable, as is the outcome, for MBW shows how a tarantula can lose to a giant cricket, for example, or how a spitting spider can overwhelm a jumping spider. Size and strength do not matter…okay, they do, but not exclusively, not unlike how these qualities were being depicted in AFO back in 2004. Here, between venom, silk, swarming, etc., a smaller arthropod can overwhelm a bigger one…sometimes. The ants, using their swarm tactic, win over their individually larger opponents, as they do in real life…

What about the flaws? Well, from a technical P.O.V., MBW has no flaws. It was (one of) the final evolutions that such a show as AFO could evolve into. The other ‘branch’ was JFC, mentioned in some earlier post, when a show is done away with the actual science altogether, and all that is left is speculation: whether or not an Utahraptor can defeat a Gastonia; a Ceratosaurs – an Allosaurus; and a(n prehistoric American) lion – a (prehistoric short-faced) bear. The last one even sounds slightly like an AFO episode, but it was nowhere as professional or precise. AFO was done…scientifically, especially the season’s/series’ finale, (which is definitely a separate discussion), while JFC wasn’t – it was more like ‘The Future is Wild’, (TFW), which discussed speculative animals of the future, (which is neither here nor there), and JFC discussed speculative fights between dinosaurs, and between other prehistoric animals, and for their season’s/series’ conclusion, they discussed the K-T mass extinction…in a very unprofessional way. Period. MBW, AFO, and TTAKD – they all have professionalism in their composition, in one way or another. JFC did not. As a result, it lasted only one season, (though its host, Dinosaur George, hanged around for some time in the future), while MBW lasted for at least two. The moral?

The years 2011 and 2012 had more scientifically integral shows on TV than 2016 does. Very sad. However, that is life. Did team Kimye win, or did Taylor? Who knows?

PS: Who cares?

Pathfinder: Divine guardian II

Another divine guardian - this one is a feeder in the depths, a shark-like monster from the Pathfinder Monster Codex:

DIVINE GUARDIAN FEEDER IN THE DEPTHS CR 9

XP 4,800

LE Huge magical beast

Init +2; Senses blindsense 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., keen scent, low-light vision; Perception +25

Aura blood feast (30 ft.)

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex, +10 natural, –2 size)

hp 105 (10d10+50); blood feast, fast healing 5

Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +7

Defensive Abilities ability healing; Immune disease, mind-affecting effects, poison; Resist cold 20; SR 19

OFFENSE

Speed swim 80 ft.

Melee bite +15/+10 (2d6+10/19–20 plus deadly bleeding)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks swift bite

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +12)

At will—blood biography (on any creature bitten in the past day, DC 15), dimension door

3/day—alarm, knock

1/day—arcane lock, augury, clairaudience/clairvoyance, commune, dismissal, hold portal, summon monster V (summons 1d4+1 hammerhead sharks or 1d3 great white sharks)

STATISTICS

Str 24, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 18

Base Atk +10; CMB +19; CMD 31 (can't be tripped)

Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (bite), Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Vital Strike

Skills Intimidate +23, Knowledge (religion) +11, Perception +25, Sense Motive +5, Swim +15; Racial Modifiers +10 Perception, +5 Sense Motive

Languages Aklo, Aquan, Infernal

SQ blessed life, divine swiftness, sacred site

ECOLOGY

Environment any oceans

Organization solitary

Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Blood Feast (Su) When a creature within 30 feet of a feeder in the depths takes bleed damage (including ongoing damage), the feeder heals an equal amount of damage.

Deadly Bleeding (Su) A divine guardian feeder in the depth's bite causes bleeding wounds that resist healing. The first bite that damages a creature deals 1d4 points of bleed damage, and each subsequent bite increases the amount of bleed by 1d4. Stopping the bleeding requires a successful DC 24 Heal check or the application of any magical healing. However, anyone attempting to cast a healing spell on a creature suffering from deadly bleeding must succeed at a DC 24 caster level check or the spell does not affect the bleeding creature. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Keen Scent (Ex) A feeder in the depths can notice creatures by scent in a 180-foot radius underwater, and can detect blood in the water at a distance of up to 1 mile.

Swift Bite (Ex) When making a full attack, a feeder in the depths can make a second bite attack at a –5 penalty.