S.H.I.E.L.D. Meet the New Guy - Sep 27

…In ‘Meet the New Guy’, AoS continues to develop the plotlines that began in the season’s premiere. Too abrupt?

Let us try again. In ‘The Ghost’, AoS has introduced the new lay of the land as well as the Ghost Rider, this season’s heavy hitter, and also – a ghost. In this episode, firstly, we meet the ghost for real: it is a new character, and she comes with her own team of other ghosts, and a possible scientific explanation for their origin, rather than a supernatural one.

To elaborate, back in S1, AoS did feature a ghost-like villain, who proved to be misunderstood, and in love, and was able to pass on once the team was able to figure it all out. His roots were scientific, not supernatural, and so the case might be with those evildoers, (who are able to turn incorporeal and drive people crazy by going through them), although this Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, is clearly connected to them…possibly through his uncle? (Basically, Robbie became the second Ghost Rider because his deceased evil uncle fused their souls with their car…or something like that…we will probably learn MCU’s version in the future episodes).

Either way, ‘Meet’ has given us the greater, further, general shape of where Ghost Rider’s plotline is going to take us; Robbie is very different from Daisy, which means…that this is what was probably supposed to happen with her and Ward, but it didn’t. The end.

Well, just the beginning for Daisy and Robbie, though for now Daisy is on the outs with the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., or at least – with Fitz. Mack and Elena – it is trickier to tell, but still. For the next few episodes, (and AoS is going to skip a week now, in real life), Daisy will be working with Robbie, opposite to the rest of the team, giving the show the possibility of depicting various episodes from different P.O.V.’s. They tried something similar with Grant & Hive back in S3, but this will probably be more polished than S3, because now AoS got some of the kinks out it as a show, so while it won’t be a smooth sailing, neither will it be so bad as it was with S2 & S3, right?

…While Robbie and Daisy are beginning to tentatively work together at the end of this episode, on the other hand we have the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., who have a new director – his name is Jeffrey – and he is an InHuman. The show isn’t dismissing InHumans at all, (nor the Watchdogs), they are still going to be an important part of AoS, as it was shown first in the person of Jeffrey, and secondly, in the next episode’s promo, where the Watchdogs are back. So?

Well, Jeffrey appears to be some sort of a strange cross between Andrew Garner (Lash) and the Mayor from BtVS (S3). He has this really annoying bodyguard, but he is genuinely trying to be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., too. Of course he is ruthless as well, as part of his plan concerning May, (who was driven mad by the ghost woman), is taking her somewhere in a straightjacket.

To be more precise, ‘Meet’ is developing new plotlines, (unlike ‘Ghost Rider’), as well as the old ones. It seems that the Watchdogs are the new main villains in place of Hydra, at least for now, (so maybe we will see more of ex-agent Felix too). The world has changed, it has accepted InHumans and other super-powered people – it just may not like them, and outright hate them, but S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to handle this hatred, and it will, especially now that it is a part of the U.S. government.

So: the plot continues apace. Part of this pace, apparently, is skipping a week – other shows have tried it, hell, S.H.I.E.L.D. itself always had a midseason finale, but this is something else. Hopefully not because they will have a shorter season, with less than 22 episodes. Previously, all AoS seasons had 22 episodes, S2 and S3 had two major arcs with 11 episodes each. If this will not happen in S4, this would be bad, especially since the Rabbs’ tree frog has just gone extinct – oops, this happened in real life, never mind.

On the other hand, this episode especially was full of references to the greater MCU – the scriptwriters, the cast, etc., are really trying to integrate the AoS into it. Considering that even judging by the commercial, they are already doing (going to do?) with Luke Cage (the TV show, not just the character), this may be just in time to do so. Why, even the latest Dr. Strange movie commercial mentions the Avengers directly, so go them!

Ergo, in conclusion: AoS has entered a new era, alongside the rest of MCU. Let us hope that it will have a better showing now, than back in S3 (and even the second half of S2). See you later. 

S.H.I.E.L.D., The Ghost - Sep 20

S4 of AoS has premiered – and?

Well, Brad and Angelina are divorcing, after 2 years of marriage (and 10 years of living together). As a member of team Aniston, I am certainly not upset; as an average person, I do not really care either way – oh. We are talking about AoS. Never mind.

As an AoS episode, ‘The Ghost’ was a very good starter, in the same vein that ‘Laws of Nature’, (3x01) was not.

In case people have not figured out, back in S2, AoS opened with the action directly following the S1 finale, AoS was shaping to be a different show, from a technical P.O.V., than how it turned out. Then they tried to integrate Blood & Palicki, (Hunter & Morse), the plot line with Stojan (33/Palamas) went really wonky, and starting from the second half of S2, AoS went into a slog, to use a term from ‘Ocean’s 13’ movie. S3 tried to start afresh, but it could not, especially post the ‘Maveth’ episode, where original S3 ideas where intermixed with the older, S2 ideas. Basically, rather than making S2 largely Hydra with the InHumans really coming into their own in the finale, AoS tried to mixed InHumans and Hydra from the middle of S2, and it didn’t work.

What did work was getting rid of both of them by S3 finale – sort of. Obviously, since InHumans are very major part of Marvel, they are not going away, especially since NCB (Yo-Yo) is now a major secondary character on AoS. (Daisy does not count: she is a part of the main cast, and not just an InHuman, period).

With Hydra, it is the same thing – as soon as it can be useful, it will be brought back. (Alternatively, AIM will, or maybe the Secret Empire – they all amount to the same thing, really, a shadow organization that plans to take over the world). But for now there is no Hydra, and as for ‘generic bad guys’? The Watchdogs, (introduced in the second half of S3) can probably do the trick. Maybe we will see S.H.I.E.L.D.’s former agent Felix someday, but considering that Deathlok had not appeared in S3, the odds are against it.

This brings us to ‘The Ghost’ proper; maybe the title is about the Ghost Rider, (who is busy being discussed all over the ‘Net by now), or maybe about the ghost/banshee who were released out of the box in the second plotline (you can see her; she is brief, not blurry). Either way, ‘The Ghost’ did its’ job in introducing the new major character, in reintroducing the old characters, and in introducing new story lines.

Once more – ‘The Ghost’ is an introductory episode; it introduces, it does not develop anything. ‘Laws of Nature’ tried to the same thing, but between the massive placings of MCU elements, the way that S2 has ended, and some other issues, it did not really work. ‘Purpose in the Machine’ did: it mainly concluded S2 and started the new S3 plotlines, primarily regarding Hive, (who looked like the villain in the old ‘Osmosis Jones’ movie, but that is irrelevant). ‘The Ghost’ does the same thing, without the massive installment of MCU elements, and it has started anew…well, no, AoS did. Grant Ward’s conflict with S.H.I.E.L.D. has been resolved, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s conflict with Hydra has been resolved, Hydra’s greatest monster – Hive was defeated, the end. AoS could honestly start anew, with new everything, except for the main cast, unlike the S2 finale (well, duh). Now what?

Nothing. The S4 is just getting started. We saw now that Daisy has gone rogue and vigilante, with Yo-Yo running interference between her and S.H.I.E.L.D. (This raises the question – just how much Mack is in the loop: by now, he and Yo-Yo are clearly in a relationship of their own). This will allow AoS to have several plotlines and P.O.V.’s in their episodes, (they actually did something similar with Grant & Hive in S3). We have seen the new Ghost Rider – Robbie Reyes in action and in his entire CGI glory (and it is a good CGI, BTW), as well as his crippled brother. We have seen all of AoS leading ladies, (not just Daisy) in new getups, (what? We did! I do not think there will be too many complaints regarding this – hence why AoS moved to another time slot). We learned about the new lay of the land in S.H.I.E.L.D. (and undoubtedly will learn more in the future episodes). And we were introduced to the occult not just via the Ghost Rider, but via an actual ghost/banshee/spirit, that has a magical box (Pandora?). Now S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to deal with the occult directly, and while a visit from Dr. Strange is not very likely, (his movie will not be aired anytime soon), S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to call in someone to help them deal with this – and no, this isn’t the ghost of Grant Ward – Dalton is done with AoS for now, and the ghost is a woman, from what we’ve seen.

This actually brings us to not-a-love-machine that Radcliffe has built and Fitz is helping to further improve. You know what, however? These are the FitzSimmons; apparently to AoS they just have to have some sort of personal drama in their lives, so why not Radcliffe’s robot? Maybe the ghost will fuse with it and make it an entirely new entity, who knows? AoS is big on twists like this. We will just have to wait until the future episode to see how it goes.

So: a very good starter episode and a good episode, with good acting and plot overall. Let us hope that remains like this in the future, too. 

Pathfinder: Lestrygonian champion

Basically, here is another giant from the Odyssey (cough). The Lestrygonians were a race of man-eating giants - think Cyclopes, but much more vaguely depicted. Here is one of them, based on a character from the 'Giantslayer' campaign arc:

Male hill giant ranger 4 CR 11

CE Large humanoid (giant)

Init -2; Senses low-light vision, Perception +14

DEFENSE

AC 24, touch 9, flat-footed 24

Hp 138

Fort +16, Ref +7, Will +5

Defensive Abilities rock catching

OFFENSE

Melee +2 handaxe +18/+13 (1d8+11/19-20/x3), mwk handaxe +17 (1d8+4/19-20/x3) or

2 slams +17 (1d8+13)

Ranged mwk composite longbow +9/+4 (2d6+9/x3) or

Rock +9 (1d8+13)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks combat style (two-weapon), favored enemy (humans +2), rock throwing (120 ft.)

STATISTICS

Str 29, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 7

Base Atk +11; CMB +19; CMD 29

Feats Endurance (B), Improved Critical (handaxe), Improved Iron Will, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Power Attack, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (handaxe)

Skills Climb +14, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (geography) +9, Linguistics +3, Perception +16, Survival +10

Languages Common, Giant

SQ favored terrain (forest +2), hunter’s bond (companions), track +1, wild empathy +0

Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds; Other Gear +1 scale mail, +2 handaxe, mwk handaxe, mwk composite longbow (+9 Str) with 20 arrows

For Honor II - Sep 13

Today the next three characters of ‘For Honor’ were released for the viewers to, well, view – the Orochi of the Samurais, the Berserker of the Vikings, and the Conqueror of the Knights.  

Now, this is somewhat odd – in some of the promo pictures, the Conqueror does not ‘mesh’ with the Orochi and the Berserker – more with the Warlord and the Shugoki; it is the Peacekeeper who does ‘mesh’ – but that is beside the point.

Leaving aside the matter of ‘meshing’, what else is there? The Orochi (Orochimaru from Naruto™ says hi, BTW), is as a ninja, just one that is more like a Samurai, armed with a katana instead. It is the longsword, as the one used by the Warden of the Knights, while the nodachi of the Kensei, as I wrote earlier, is more like a Claymore or a greatsword (it is bigger). Judging by the photos, in real life the Samurais could stab with it as well as slice – it is not as clear how it figures in ‘For Honor’. Yet regardless of whether or not he can stab as well as slice or not, the Orochi is clearly sneaky and is using subtlety rather than the direct force to win his battles.

This, of course, is in direct opposition to the Conqueror. Leaving aside the issue just what does the Conqueror conquer here (so far the Knights’ backstory is that they are protectors of the weak, something that in real life conquerors were not), he is designed to a be human battering ram, complete with his weapon – the flail.

Yes, another sticky point here – just what is a flail, how is it different from a Morningstar or a mace? As the Conqueror’s video promo shows, the flail here is a smaller, one-hand version of the weapon, with a round, metal striking head. (There is also a bigger version that required two hands to use, and the striking head was bigger and cylindrical, rather than round – it looks slightly like the nunchakus, actually, but is bigger). In both versions, that striking head is connected to the rest of the weapon by a chain. Neither mace nor Morningstar have chains – their striking heads are directly connected to the handle. The Conqueror’s weapon has a chain, hence it is a flail.

He also has a shield, something that he shares with the Warlord and the Valkyrie of the Vikings (we have not seen them yet). Their shields, however, are more like bucklers, and as ‘Deadliest Warrior’ had shown in the past, the Vikings’ shields weren’t very good – a Samurai’s kanabo broke one of them – unlike the Spartan’s shield. However, there are no Spartans in ‘For Honor’, while the kanabo is the weapon of the Shugoki, who had not appeared yet either. What we do know is that it is speed vs. strength, when the Conqueror faces against the Orochi, or – the Berserker.

The Berserker is self-explanatory, obviously. Anyone who has read about the Vikings has heard about berserkers. They were the crazy warriors who (supposedly) shunned armor and won battles with their insanity alone. In ‘For Honor’ game, the Berserker’s weapons of choice are twin battle-axes – they are the same Danish axe of the Raider, just smaller in size, proportionally lighter in weight and with shorter hafts. The Berserker’s fighting style is that of the Orochi – speed, rather than strength, but with energy rather than precision.

That’s it for ‘For Honor’ for now – until later!

real life - Sep 10

We had to euthanize our cat this morning. He was 10 years old. May he rest in peace. God, I really hate my life some times.

Pathfinder: Polyphemous

For a change, here is Polyphemous (from the Odyssey, cough). He is the Cyclops barbarian from the Inner Sea Monster Codex, albeit advanced to the 6th level (from the 4th).

Polyphemos, Cyclops barbarian (smasher 6)  CR 11

NE Large humanoid (giant)

Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +24

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 7, flat-footed 17

Hp 175

Fort +20, Ref +7, Will +12

Defensive abilities ferocity, improved uncanny dodge, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee +1 greatclub +22/+17/+12 (2d8+14)

Ranged longbow +12/+7/+2 (2d6/x3)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks destructive +2, rage (24 rounds/day), rage powers (ground breaker, smasher, strength surge +4)

STATISTICS

Str 29, Dex 10, Con 23, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8

Base Atk +13; CMB +21 (+23 sunder); CMD 29 (31 vs. sunder)

Feats Alertness, Extra Rage, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, Step Up, Weapon Focus (greatclub), Weapon Focus (longbow)

Skills Climb +14, Handle Animal +8, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +22, Ride +7, Sense Motive +7, Survival +10, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception

Languages Common, Cyclops, Giant

SQ battle scavenger, flash of insight

Combat Gear potions of cure serious wounds (2), potion of fly; Other Gear +1 leather armor, +1 greatclub, longbow with 15 arrows, cloak of resistance +2

For Honor I - Sep 9

In the last few days, ‘For Honor’ has revealed 3 out of 12 heroic characters of their franchise – the Kensei of the samurais, the Raider of the Vikings and the Warden of the knights. Now what?

Firstly, they are the ‘nominate leaders’, the specialists of their team. Each one has their own special weapon. For the Raider, it is the Dane axe. It is really ‘just’ a battle-axe, but extra-large, with an extra-long shaft. As the Raider’s demo shows, the Raider uses his weapon more like a club, I suppose, without any particular finesse, (but then we are talking about the Vikings, who are famous for many things, but not for finesse with their weapons), just smashing and slicing through his enemies at the same time, utilizing both the blade and the shaft of his weapon (the blunt end). He was seen physically manhandling his foes too – unlike his counterparts.

Secondly, there is the Kensei of the samurai. He is probably all about precision; this is what the samurai – at least in fiction – are famous for. He uses the nodachi, or, if you want to use European terms – an oversized sabre, similar, vaguely, to the cavalry sabre used in the U.S. Civil War, as an example. It is a blade with one cutting edge rather than two, and it cannot be used for stabbing, only for slicing. This makes the nodachi (there are several spellings, but this one is the most Western one), different from the longsword of the Knights’ Warden.

More precisely, the longsword is shaped like a crucifix, with two cutting edges and a pointy tip – and a proportionally short handle. It can be used with one hand, unlike the nodachi, which usually requires two, (not sure about the Dane axe). The difference, I suppose, is cosmetic – the Warden is something of a sacred figure, not unlike the Raider, who is claimed to have ‘blood of the gods’ and be a raid leader at the same time, (cannot wait and see how his backstory differs from the Vikings’ Warlord), while the Kensei is more secular, (it’s doubtful that the Kensei’s title of ‘sword saint’ means anything Christian-like in regards to the saint). As it is, apparently we have been shown either the leaders or the specialists of their respective teams – and in interest-provoking style too. Cannot wait and see what will we see next.

Killjoys, S2 - September 3

...’Killjoys’, S2, has come to an end. Now what?

Well, AoS is coming back soon; ‘Blindspot’ and other earlier 2016 shows are coming back; now shows are coming forth – but ‘Killjoys’ did earn a special mention for several reasons…

First, the show – accidentally, no doubt, showed that evil does not have to be grand and complex, as AoS, and AC, and the rest of the MCU franchise have shown. The ‘Company’, which was something of a big bad in the first two seasons, (but especially in S2) is faceless and doesn’t have any humane characteristics: Jelco is a jerk, but he is also a petty jerk, who enjoys kicking on the weak, but doesn’t appear to be ready and willing to stand up to the strong. The rest of the Company probably is not any better. Yes, they want to contaminate others with the plasma so that they would become immortal workers for the Company and possibly for the Nine royal families, (how the two power groups interact is not certain), but there is no grandeur, no glory, just the rich who want to get richer via the poor. Meet the pre-WWI, maybe even the pre-WWII capitalism (read ‘Native Son’, would you?).

The Nine royal families? They are largely represented by Delle Seyah Kendry (the ‘Seyah’ is apparently something of a title in the Killjoys universe) who kills Pawter after the latter resigns; Pawter’s death was unnecessary, on one hand, and on the other Pawter died for the sake of people of old Westerly (maybe ‘Killjoys’ are trying to channel Whedon’s ‘Firefly’, who knows?) not because of some political crap. For Delle, politics are everything, therefore, when John probably killed her in S2 finale, she got what she deserved – in an empty, dirty alley without anyone. But…

One of the flaws of ‘Killjoys’ (it is an enjoyable show, just not without flaws) is its’ lack of back history, so to speak. Often, it seems to unroll with one episode or another, and this ‘unveiling’ is not consistent. Consequently, the odds are that that is the reason why the evil in the show was so petty and all that that ‘pettiness’ entails – the crew of ‘Killjoys’ probably just cannot afford to go in-depth – at least not yet. With just 10 episodes a season and a very small cast (3 main characters, 5 or 6 recurring ones, and now two of them, Pawter and Khlyen, are dead for good) they really cannot go all-out, not how AoS does (at least once every season so far).

As I may have written before, this seems to be a problem with Michelle Lovretta, as ‘Lost Girl’ had its own issues with backstory – it constantly shifted from Celtic, to Norse, to Greek. Now, ‘Killjoys’ appear to avoid this by avoiding the backstory save for the absolute minimum – the Killjoys need a universe to in, a coherent universe to exist in, and the show did its best to deliver, trying to utilize variety to compensate the lack of an extensive backstory. It did not really work in S1, so in S2 there is more backstory, (especially concerning Khlyen, his own biological daughter and the plasma) and less variety. As the result, the S2 of ‘Killjoys’ is more interesting and intriguing to watch; perhaps the upcoming S3 will be even better?

And then there was the cameo of Rick Howland, who used to play Mr. Trick the Blood King on ‘Lost Girl’. True, ‘Lost Girl’ stars tend to appear on other shows – Ksenia Solo has appeared on ‘Orphan Black’; Zoe Palmer – on ‘Dark Matter’. They made it work there, so perhaps Rick will re-appear on ‘Killjoys’ in the future?..

So: Killjoys are continuing to pull their shit together. Now we will have to wait and see if Aos, ‘Blindspot’, and the other shows will continue to deliver as well. Later days, everyone!